Chapter 7: Obsession Pt.1
Severa was cleaning the apartment one Sunday afternoon after a small party she and Inigo had held the day before to celebrate the death of the enormous bug that had entered their bathtub. She was picking up plates and cups that were left on the table. Inigo was absent, having simply told Severa he had plans that day.
There was no reason for him to tell Severa what he was doing. She already knew that he had planned to go out with one of the many girls he spent time with. However, it didn't anger Severa; in fact, she didn't mind at all. She had come to accept that Inigo would always be a womanizer, no matter how much she tried. She chose to ignore it and be grateful for his continued support with the bills.
After collecting everything, Severa placed them all in the sink. She then sat on the couch and turned on the T.V. "It's nice to be done with that. And I cleaned my room too." She laid down. "It's nice." She said.
Cosmo ran over to Severa and jumped next to her. Reina jumped onto the counter and began walking around. The curious kitten paid mind not to knock anything over. She had knocked things over before and been scolded for it, quickly learning her lesson.
"Although…" Severa sighed. "It's a little unfair that Inigo's room is staying all dirty while I've been cleaning all of the other rooms. Maybe I should stop inside and make sure that everything is in order." She sat up. "I don't think that he'd mind too much. As long as I don't mention it to him."
She got off of the couch and walked to his door. She stopped for a moment before opening the door. She had never been inside of his room and expected the worst. Instead, she found a very ordinary room. She walked in closed the door. Turning around, she noticed a poster on the back of the door.
"Of course." She said grudgingly.
The poster was an adult image of a busty woman wearing nothing but an apron having spilled batter in her breasts.
"I am not surprised." She continued into the room and stopped next to his bed. She got on her knees and began looking underneath the bed. "Where could they be?" She saw several pairs of shoes and pulled them out from under the bed.
In the back, she saw a box and laughed to herself. She pulled the box out and opened it. Like she had expected, she saw an adult magazine cover as soon as the box was open. She picked it up and found that rather than a magazine, it was a thick book.
"Wow. This is a lot bigger than I thought." She began looking through it, taking her time.
It was the usual array of buxom, half naked woman in compromising positions often having spilled suggestive white substances on themselves that is supposed to be ice cream or something else.
When she was about halfway through it, she heard the door open.
"Hello, Severa." Inigo stood in the doorway, looking at her disapprovingly.
She turned to him and smiled innocently. Her voice was childish and sweet. "Oh, hello Inigo. How are you, today?"
"Fine." He stepped towards her. "I'd appreciate it if you gave me that back." He reached his hand towards her and waited.
"Not yet, I'm almost done." She reached to turned the page, and noticed Inigo's face quickly become panicked. "What; does it turn into some weird Yaoi shit halfway through or something?"
She turned the page to see a tankōbon volume sitting in the middle of a large cut out hole. On the cover was a young girl being hugged from behind by an older woman with thin, light blue pixie wings.
"What the…" Severa looked at the title. "Ramifications of Mana?" She then turned to Inigo. "Is there a reason you have this?"
He stared at her awkwardly, his face a deep crimson. "Uh… Well…"
Severa stood and looked towards a bookshelf. "Let's see…" She began walking towards it.
"Hold on a minute!" Screamed Inigo, running in front of her. "You should really leave my room! And give me that back!" He held his hand out once more.
Severa shoved him aside and took one of the books from the bookcase. From behind it, she saw a spine that read 'Ramifications of Mana' like the book she held in her hand. She giggled and began tearing the books off of the shelves. Inigo sat on the ground, watching in terror.
When she was done, she had discovered that all of the normal books were simply hiding a huge collection of manga.
"You're obsessed." She laughed and looked at him, a smile on his face. He was looking at the bookcase, utterly horrified. "What's up?"
He began picking the books and shoving them back into the bookcase. "You're horrible, Severa! Why would you do something like that?!" He swiped the volume she held and put it among the others.
"If that one was hidden in a huge porno mag in a box behind a bunch of shoes under your bed, why just put it on the bookcase?"
He ran his finger along the spine. "The first volume of 'Ramifications of Mana' is actually quite rare. If somone who was knowledgeable of this broke into my room, they could steal it. I can't have that. But seeing it here got me thinking." He looked at her, a serious look in his eye. "It would be better to just hide it in plain sight." He began sobbing quietly.
"What's wrong?" Asked Severa, taking a step towards him. "Are you alright?"
"N-now you know my dark secret…!" He backed up against the wall. "My life is over…"
Severa reached out and took his hand. Inigo gave her a quizzical look, but said nothing as she dragged him out of his room and down the hall towards her own. Cosmo and Reina were standing at the end of the hall, looking at their owners.
She stopped in front of her door and looked back at him. "Normally, I would never let you go into my room, or else I'd kill you. However, given the circumstances, I think I'll let it slide."
"What is this about?"
She opened the door slowly. Reina and Cosmo joined the two at their feet. The black and white kittens screeched when the door was fully opened. The room was covered in pink; pink wallpaper, pink bed, and many stuffed animals spread throughout the room. The majority of said stuffed animals were pink.
Inigo slowly walked past her and into the room. Reina took a step forward, but stopped when Cosmo remained at the door. The white kitten turned, but Reina grabbed his tail and began dragging him inside.
"There's so much pink." Inigo said in shock. "This must be why you never wanted me in here."
She walked next to him. "That, and you might go snooping."
"Like you did in my room?"
She sat on her bed and placed a large stuffed bear in her lap and hugged it tightly. "Yeah, exactly. If you were gonna tease me about it, I'd make sure you forget. But since you're taking it so well, I'll let you stay here a little longer."
He spun in place slowly, taking in the room. "All the walls, the bed, the the stuffed animals." He then looked at her. "You really like pink. And stuffed animals." He took a few steps towards her and ruffled her hair. "Guess you're still a kid inside, huh?"
"I am not a kid!" She shouted, throwing his hand away. "These are just things my parents bought me when I was a kid that I couldn't bring myself to get rid of, okay!"
He chuckled. "I see. Well, we're even. You know of my love for manga, and I know of your obsession with pink and stuffed animals."
"About that, actually." She stood up, the bear still in her arms. "You'll have to let me read those sometime, especially that 'Ramifications of Mana' thing!"
He scratched his cheek nervously. "I'll think about it, okay?" He smiled wide. "I got an idea! When we next see the others, we should find out if they have any obsessions like ours!"
"If that's the case, you should be prepared to tell them about yours." She said. She set the bear down. "It was nice having this little 'bonding' session, Inigo. I feel like I know you a little bit better. But you have to leave now."
She began pushing him out and Cosmo followed right behind. "I understand, but you don't have to push me out, y'know."
He was outside of the door and she began closing it. "I know, but I don't trust you to not take a long time doing that."
She shut the door and Inigo sighed. "Interesting."
He walked back to his own room and looked at the pile of books sprawled on the ground as well as the shoes that had been taken from underneath his bed. He sat on his bed, looked at his magazine and picked it up. "Who knows, maybe she'll trust me a tiny bit more or something. You did me good." He lay back on his bed. "Pink and stuffed animals, huh? Actually pretty cute. Wouldn't have expected that from her, but I kinda like it."