Movements

"I… was just buying some snacks for me and my roommate." He stiffly held up the plastic bag in his hand.

"Hey, we're gonna miss the sprinter if you stand there for any longer," Gilbert called out from behind.

I took a step back from the door. Forget the ice cream. I returned to where the Prussian was standing and headed for the station.

…Ryan, since when did you start living here?

"…Fraulein."

I was shook awake. I knew for sure that that wasn't a dream. I wished it was. The weariness of my body told me that it was nowhere near eight in the morning. I squinted at the clock. It read five AM. I rolled over to the side to see who in the world decided that it was a great idea to get up so early. I rubbed my eyes. "…Ludwig, what's wrong?"

He crossed his arms. "It's time to go run."

From the faint light coming through the blinds, I saw that he was all set in his workout gear. I groaned. "Why now..?" From behind him, another figure swayed up to me.

"I'm tired too, Ludy…" Feliciano collapsed onto my bed.

Is he making all of us get up for this..? I moved back a little due to the close proximity that Italian was from me. "I got to bed late last night. Could we do this another time—"

"Nein. If you slack now, nothing will ever get done." The stern look in his eyes prevented me from spouting anymore objections.

I sighed, sat up, and combed my hair into place. "Fine."

So the four of us- Ludwig, Feliciano, even Gilbert, and I, went running around the neighborhood, up a hill, and back home as the sun slowly dragged itself up to the sky. On the bright side, while we were taking a quick break on the hill, I saw my first sunrise. Maybe Ludwig wanted to show this view to us. Who knows what's on his mind at times. Either way, I was dead tired by the time we made it back to the house.

I dabbed my face with a towel. "It's too early for vigorous activities…"

"Ve… I can't feel my legs." Feliciano was face-down on the couch.

"You guys are so weak!" Gilbert huffed arrogantly as he looked down at us. "That was nothing. The Awesome Me could go for another round."

I set down my water bottle. "Then why don't you?"

There was some hesitation written on his face. He stomped into the kitchen area. "In any case! You need to watch your physique now that your stupid face is going to be shown to the public."

Thanks for reminding me… "I would appreciate doing this an hour later then…" I headed to my room to take a shower. Apparently Elizabeta had woken up so the bathroom was occupied. Oh well. I can wait.

I sprawled onto my bed and stretched. I didn't stop to think that I would have to watch my body if I'm going to be a model. Just as long as I don't need to cut my eating habits by that much, I'll be satisfied.

The weight of exhaustion closed my eyes. The flashback from earlier played through in my head again. Why was Ryan there..? He never mentioned anything about moving here. Maybe he was accepted to a college in this area so it was a complete coincidence. I opened my eyes. Yeah, a coincidence…

"Good morning~." Elizabeta glomped me as I was about to sit up.

I moved my head back. "Your hair's still soaking wet…" I could feel my shirt gradually getting soaked.

"Hey, you're already wet anyway." She tugged at my t-shirt. "Ludy made you go run, huh?"

"Yeah… So I was waiting to take a shower after you." I shifted uncomfortably to the side. "If you're all done then..."

She got up and adjusted the towel around her. "I'm good, go ahead."

After I got myself feeling fresh and clean again, it was time for breakfast. The police duo, and now firefighter Ludwig, left for their jobs. As I saw them off, I wished the German luck. They filed into the car and drove out of the driveway. He got the job, huh… I returned inside before I could start thinking about anything stupid.

"Nana, can you pass me the hammer?"

I rummaged through the tool box and pulled out the tool. I handed it to the Canadian. "Here—" A long yawn interrupted me.

Matthew chuckled. "You must be very tired." He hammered the nail into the wood. He was building a shelf for the room he was sharing with Ludwig.

"Yeah… but I think I'll manage." I got up and stepped over a napping Kumajiro. "I'll go get us some drinks." I went up the stairs and as I headed to the kitchen, I bumped into someone when I turned the corner. Instinctively, I jumped back. "Oh, sorry—" I raised a brow. "Al?"

"Oops, my bad." He laughed nervously. "I accidentally put my badge in the fridge with the butter."

How do you even make that mistake..? "Well, be more alert, officer." I walked past him.

"Hey..!" He went up to the counter.

I grabbed two cups and filled them up with fruit punch. "Yeah?"

"So I hear there's this awesome movie coming out today. Wanna go check it out after my shift's over?"

Movie, huh..? I returned the pitcher in the fridge. "Sorry but I can't today. I have to go back to the agency to take more pictures later tonight." I swept by him and headed to the basement. "Maybe some other time."

"Oh…" His hair kink curled down a bit. "That's fine then."

From taking a quick glimpse back, I saw two movie tickets gripped in his fist behind him. So he already got the tickets… I returned to where Matthew was in the room and set the cups of juice on a desk. "I'll leave these here."

"Thanks." The Canadian was examining the instructions. "Did someone come home? I heard the front door earlier."

"Oh, Alfred forgot his badge." I spun on the desk chair. "He wants to see a new movie that's coming out. I think you should go check it out with him."

The hammering stopped for a moment. He continued again as he smiled and shook his head. "I suppose I should… Are you sure you can't go?"

"Yeah. He seemed pretty bummed out though." I watched as Kumajiro was pulling his owner's cellphone from his back pocket. That reminds me… I got back up to my feet. "I remembered I needed to do something so I'll be right back."

I scampered back up the stairs and into my room. I grabbed my phone and sat on my bed. I need to see what's up… Several keystrokes later, I placed the phone back on my desk and went back to help the Canadian.

Even with a two hour nap, I was still feeling extremely tired. I was in no condition to get my picture taken but I had no choice. I had Yong Soo accompany me since I felt that I would fall asleep on the sprinter on my way to the agency building, in which I did end up doing so.

"Well, I hope you can catch up on your sleep." Camille scrolled through the pictures taken today. "We need you to be in good shape for these, you know?"

I hung my head. "Yes, I understand…" Another retake tomorrow…

She smiled and patted my back. "You're done for today. Have a good sleep, okay?"

I nodded. I met up with Yong Soo in the main hallway with the water tank. He was busy having a stare-off with a fish to notice I was done. "Hey—" Someone abruptly brushed past me. I looked back and naturally, I apologized.

The girl had long, voluminous, wavy brown hair that went down to her waist. Due to her shorter height, she wasn't in my line of sight. She stopped but didn't bother to turn around. I heard her scoff. "Amateurs…" She continued to walk down the hall, with step echoing after her.

"What's with her, daze?" The Korean went up to me.

"Who knows…" I glanced at my phone for the time. Oh. I grabbed him by the wrist and hurried up the stairs.

"A-are we late for the sprinter?" Yong Soo almost stumbled on the top step. I didn't respond to him.

Once we were outside the building, I released my grasp of him and decided to go ahead on my own since he was slowing me down. I stopped at the 7-Eleven I was at yesterday. The muscles in my legs were aching again thanks to the run from this morning. I glanced around. He's not here yet… I sat at the nearby bench to catch my breath.

I texted Yong Soo and told him to wait for me at the station since I had some business to take care of. In the meantime, I went through the texts I sent earlier today. I sighed. Leave it to Ryan to only respond once with an "ok" after my longish messages… I told him to meet me here at nine so that I could talk to him directly and to apologize for abruptly leaving last night.

My patience was running thin. It became nine thirty. Then nine forty-five. Then eventually ten. I sent my fifth text asking where he was. He hadn't replied once. My ears perked up when I heard footsteps approach me from behind. I swung around but pouted when I saw that it wasn't him. "It's just you."

Yong Soo tossed me a can of soda. "Well that just hurt, daze." He looked around the place. "Were you waiting for someone?"

I clenched my phone. I stood up. …Screw you, guy. I opened the can of soda and walked down the street. "Let's just go…"

"Uh… okay then." He followed after me.

What's with him..? I know I was rude and all for ditching him but at least I had the mind to meet up and apologize… I tossed the can into the trash just as the sprinter arrived. We got on and sat in the back. It was almost empty in there but that was fine. Ten minutes in, I was starting to fall asleep.

"Nana!"

I jolted awake. "What? What?" Yong Soo held up his phone. The unit owner forum was opened and he urged me to read the page he had opened. My eyes ran down the block of text. My hand started to tremble a bit. I grabbed the wrist with my other hand. "W-What is this..?"

He took the device back. "Something very bad…"

It was a warning post. The user claims that there was a group that terrorizes unit owners. There were cases where unit owners were attacked for 'enslaving units to do their dirty work' and depending on the group's attitude towards them, the owners were either brutally beaten or even murdered. The units themselves are kidnapped and taken away to a 'better place' so that they don't have to be working under people anymore. However, if they tried to fight back, they were shut down. The locations of these crimes occurring were still small and sparse but the fact that there was one two cities from here wasn't comforting.

"This is terrible…" I rubbed my arms. "Why would they go as far as murdering unit owners?"

"I wish I knew, daze…" Yong Soo put his phone away. "We have to be on our guard again, don't we?"

I sighed. I knew things were too peaceful lately… "Yeah… Let's pay Mark a visit tomorrow and see what he thinks about this."

"I'll forward the page to the others." He pulled out the device again and started forming a group message.

I looked out the window in the meantime. Summer had only just begun and there were so many things happening already. Ludwig joined us, I got a job, I ran into Ryan, and now there's this terrorist movement against unit owners. Things have been relatively calm for almost two years and now we get this.

"…My phone just died. Can I use yours?" I handed him my phone.

This was going to be some summer…

Choppy chapter is choppy. I felt like I crammed too many ideas into one chapter that's barely part 2,000 words (when my average is 2,500). . . I write best when I'm in the mood for it and it really does show within the text. You can tell whether if I'm writing because I want to or writing because I feel the need to update for you guys. It's the latter this time.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still dedicated to this. I'm just a bit tied up with college stuff, yearbook, and school in general right now (…and summer anime... But they're all done now -sob-).

At least it wasn't a cliffhanger this time. Thanks for reading!