The Book : Chapter 4 - Lost
Allen and Lavi stepped off the final step of the stairs, and turned from the landing to find themselves face-to-face with Krory. They drew back from him, faces braced with expressions of sheer horror, out of reflex, conspirators' guilt and the not-so-distant memory of Krory's fearsome behaviour under the influence of Komui's virus. Mistaking their response for an absolute fear, Krory blushed and examined his shoes.
Lavi was the first to recover. Breaking the awkward silence that was building around them, he said "Hi Krory! Nice to see you out of the ward."
Looking up, Krory smiled meekly. "Sorry to have bothered you; the matron told me that my stomach was growling pretty badly while I was unconscious."
A smile played at the corner of Lavi's lips. "It wasn't too bad. Noise had it worse, with his excellent hearing and all." As soon as the words left Lavi's mouth, he felt like replacing the words with his foot, for Krory's head began its familiar path to some embarrassed shoe-related introspection. Allen came to the rescue. "In any case, you were better than Komui-san. He could've woken the dead with his lullaby robot."
Lavi added in relief, "Yeah, thank god the matron..." At this point, all three stomachs growled in universal impatience, and all three faces froze in their own characteristic states of comic astonishment. Allen then spoke up in the midst of the laughter that now swirl around them. Since Jerry's pudding sounded like an excellent reprise for their late morning appetites, the three young exorcists proceeded on down the corridor with a sense of camaraderie that can only be invoked by shared turmoils and delectable food.
They stepped into the dining hall to find no difference to it, thanks to the experienced clean up crew trained by post-Komurin carnage. Jerry looked up from his frying pan behind his usual grilled counter to see his favourite patron. "Ah, Allen-kun! Just what can I get for you this morning? It's a little early for lunch, no? And, yes, it's nice to see you again, Krory. I'd gladly cook for you, just so that I won't have to forcibly undergo blood transfusions...mmpf!"
Allen hurriedly silenced Jerry and whispered "Don't talk about that!" In a louder voice, he removed the hand that he silenced Jerry with, and said "Erm, yeah, we'd like some pudding." Observing a developing minor blush amplified by the pallor of Krory's cheeks, Jerry resumed his normal tone of voice and said "Sure thing! 3 puddings coming right up! Extra large?" Jerry's eyes caught three eager grins as they peeked from the top of his glasses.
In no time, the boys walked away from Jerry's brilliant smile, each carrying a bucket-sized pudding, with Krory staring at the colossal tub of shining flan as if he had no idea what to do with it. They settled down at an unoccupied bench, and dug in with youthful gusto.
"Oh, Jerry's pudding is so delicious!" was what Allen said from behind a whole mouthful of the sweet mushy stuff. Lavi and Krory could barely make out the simple statement amidst all the chomping, but the gist of the statement was apparent from Allen's satisfied grin. Lavi mirrored the grin, and said "Yeah, after all the work in the morning too... OH NO! Allen, the book!"
"It's lost?!" "It's lost!"
---------
Writer's comments: I have no idea whether I'm being distracted by writing from work and games, or was distracted by work and games from writing. In any case, sorry for the wait! Hopefully, I'll be more diligent in updating the next chapter, seeing that this short chapter's an evil little cliffhanger. ^^