3. Killer Peacocks and Noisy Phone Calls

Suwabara let out a sigh as he and Meister entered their room, closing the door behind them. "That was completely..." He trailed off, at a loss for a word to describe the whole bathing situation.

"Awkward." Meister suggested, wiping the back of his neck with a towel. The two dumped their things on the ground, before Meister noticed something. "...Crap."

"What?" Suwabara asked, turning towards Meister. "What is it?"

"It's..." He didn't bother finishing the sentence, and he gestured towards the now open and empty bird cage. "Dang it, Coo broke out again.."

"What happens when he breaks out?" The teen asked, looking around in the hope of finding the colourful bird. "Does he do it often?"

"Well..." Meister paused, before continuing. "He doesn't break out often, but when he does he often makes elaborate traps that usually end up with me being tied up, injured, or knocked out completely." Suwabara stared at him. "What? He's a highly intelligent peacock that's just really knows how to use his brains for something innovative. I can't do anything to suppress it unless I got him to take half his brains out and throw them into an incinerator."

Suwabara just let out a sigh, before stepping forwards. A very, very thin piece of rope caught him off guard, and he fell onto the ground face-first. "Ow!" The samurai sat up and looked at the rope, before letting out a smirk. "That's what you call elaborate?"

Before the other could speak up, there was the sound of several alarm clocks going off, before a large net suddenly was shot out of a nearby mini cannon and pinned the two Pantasia workers to the ground, getting tangled in the process. Coo flew around the two men, before perching itself on a nearby shelf.

"...I. Hate. Your. Pet." Suwabara hissed at Meister after a moment of silence. The peacock did not take the news too well, and it dive-bombed the samurai before starting to peck him like a madman. "OW! OW, DANG IT! CURSE YOU!" He screamed as he waved his arms about in an attempted to get the bird away from him. He would have used his katana blade, but his sword had been knocked out of his hands as soon as he was tangled in the net earlier.

"COO! STOP IT!" Meister snapped at his pet, who refused to do so. "Stop it, or else I swear I'll take out half your brains and throw them into an oven to bake, before feeding them to the dogs!"

The peacock froze, stared at its owner in horror, and flew away from Kai and back into its cage.

"Thank goodness..." The Pantasia General Manager muttered in relief.

Kai just stared at him after getting untangled. "GM...you were kidding when you said that you were going to...do all that to him if he didn't get away from me, right?" He asked, swallowing nervously afterwards.

Meister blinked for a moment, before responding. "Oh, no, I wasn't...did I sound like I was kidding?"

The samurai did not want to comment any further on the issue. Luckily, he didn't have to once the phone started to ring.

"I'll get it!" Both scrambled for the phone, but they tripped over the net and fell onto the ground face-first. "Ow..."

"I got it, Suwabara-san..." Meister trailed off before picking up the phone. "Hello?"

"General Manager!" Monica's voice could be heard. "Can I speak to Kai, please?"

"She's asking for me, so give it to me!" Kai shouted, snatching the phone from Meister, who lost his balance and fell, dragging the younger one down with him. "Ow!"

"Sorry!" Meister called back as the two struggled to get up. "Ow! Suwabara-san, you bit my foot!"

"Get your foot out of my face!"

"Get your face out of my foot!"

"Uh...are you two alright? Should I call back later?"

The two froze, before blurting out statements at the same time.

"No, can you call back in an hour-we should be fine by then/Of course we're fine! GM, give me the phone!"

Kai finally snatched the phone away from the older man, before speaking into it. "Monica, I'm sorry about...just now. Blame the GM's pet peacock for it."

"Huh?"

"...I'll explain later." The samurai muttered in response. "So...why are you calling?"

"Um, I just wanted to see how you two were doing with the handcuff situation..." The patisserie queen trailed off awkwardly. "From what it sounded like just now, it doesn't seem to be doing so well."

"It's fine, Monica. Really. It is." Suwabara lied. Right after he said that, a gumball hit him in the side of the head. "Ow!" He turned to glare at Meister, who pointed at Coo. The peacock just glared at its owner. "Okay, maybe it's not that fine..."

As far as anyone knew, the next couple of days would only worsen the handcuff situation...