Goal: Less dialogue, more humor, less about me (Let's hope I accomplish it).
DAY SEVEN, WORD SEVEN: ETERNITY
The air was apparently very dry again, and the delicious smell of the air was gone, to my great disappointment. Ah, well. I got better, anyway.
I worked around the same area as two days ago, when Garuru and I discovered that Rita and Kitty had his two teammates in their house.
The cold air stung my face, though, when I glided into the shadows. Garuru's device, which he had let me borrow, was dead-silent, a dark gray color in contrast to the bright rapid blinking it gave when Garuru used it.
A dog chased me. What do I look like, a mailman?
I was just really glad that I didn't bring my own little dog with me.
I let the bike flow into the opposite street, the one that was by Royale Rd's park. Sunnyside of the area; the bright light warmed my skin, the wind didn't bit me as bad.
Farther and farther I go.
"Johnny!"
I stopped my bike as soon as the familiar racetrack girl stood in front of my way. Well, more like skidded. My bike I mean.
"Ruby?" I asked, blinking. I placed a foot on the floor for balance and gently balanced my bike against it. "What's up?" I gave a playful grin. "Are you bored again?"
"No," She said, somewhat sternly. She pointed at the device. "What is that?"
"H-huh? O-oh. It's. Um. A walky-talky?"
"Do you have a frog alien too?"
I stared at her in bewilderment. "W-what did you just say?"
"I said, 'do you have a frog alien'?" Ruby crossed her arms. "'Cuz I have one too."
I couldn't believe it. "Are you playing with me?"
"I'm not," She said. She gestured at Garuru's device again. "The Keronian that lives with me- she also has one of those." She grabbed my arm, her eyes sparkling. "C'mon! I'll show you."
"W-w-what?!"
"Don't you want to see her?"
"L-let me go for a couple seconds," I said quickly. I jumped off my bike and composed myself. "What does she look like?" Unless I'm mistaken, her name was something like Pururu, right?
"She's… this really light purple," Ruby attempted. "Um… with really big dark purple eyes. And a pink hat."
What a… very cute alien. At least, she sounds it. Totally unlike my completely grumpy un-cute alien. Life's so cruel.
"Are you coming or not?"
"I-I'm coming, I'm coming!"
She ran to her house (and, of course, beat me there) as I followed her, walking with my bicycle trailing beside me.
"C'mon slowpoke!"
"I'm coming!" I sped up my pace.
"You can come in," Ruby said, opening the door. "My parents won't mind."
How very kind of her to answer a question that I didn't even… wait.
…Never mind, moving on.
"Come up here," She said sweetly, pointing up the stairs. "She's in my room."
"So does Garuru," I smiled. "I-I mean, he stays in my room too."
"Pururu!" Ruby called out, opening the door. "You can come out! It's just someone who might know where your friends are!"
Pururu peeped out from behind her bed, her eyes widening slightly when she saw me.
She had a white face- like Tororo did. Was Giroro a kid too?
…Wait, wait, wait. Garuru. Giroro. Tororo. Pururu. Taruru. Whatever that other guy's name was. Was it just me, or were all their names some sort of pattern?
"Who are you?" Pururu asked politely, creeping out from her hiding place. "U-um. I'm Pururu. It's very nice to meet you." She bowed.
Such hospitality! I felt embarrassed. "U-um, I'm Johnny. The pleasure is mine." I nodded to her, not sure whether or not bowing from a guy would be some sort of insult where she came from (Garuru, Tororo, and Taruru never did that when I met them; can't blame me for assuming).
"Johnny," Pururu said cheerfully. "So, Ruby said that you know where the others are?"
"U-uh, actually yeah! Yeah, I do. Well, three of them."
"Three?" Pururu beamed. "Oh, thank you! I really appreciate it!"
"Although they're not together," I said, hoping that that wouldn't get her upset. To my relief, it didn't. "They're more or less separated. Tororo and Taruru are together, though. They're with these two other girls- Rita and Kitty."
"And… Garuru?" Pururu inquired, albeit a bit hesitantly. "Did you find him, or Zoruru?"
"Garuru lives with me."
"Oh," Pururu said pleasantly. "And how is he?"
"He's really good… I think." I thought for a bit. "…Is it normal that he's a bit-?"
"Distant? Oh yes." She nodded. "He tends to be a little like that."
A little?
Understatement. "Um. Okay."
"He might warm up to you if he likes you though," Pururu said sweetly. She smiled brightly. "That's our leader for you!"
"Wow, you're so optimistic," I said, a little taken aback. "It's actually making me feel really good. No wonder Garuru speaks so fondly of you!"
"Does he?" Pururu blinked at me. Her white face took on a complete red color. "D-d-d-does he really?"
"Oh yeah," I grinned. "He said you were a valuable asset to the team."
Her hands made their way to her cheeks as she continued to blush.
…I'm probably still a little sick or something, because I think I saw little hearts begin to float from her scalp to the air. Popping sounds, too.
"Aww," Ruby giggled.
"'Aww' what?"
"Don't you see it?" Ruby asked, gesturing to Pururu.
I felt stupid. "What?"
"Never mind," She said with a mild sigh. "I'm sorry, you're a guy. I forget that sometimes you don't understand."
"….Understand what?"
"You just proved my point."
"…I did?"
"Yeah, you did." She shook her head teasingly.
"Pururu?" I waved my hand toward her face, and immediately stopped the overproduction of the cutesy pink heart bubbles. "You okay there?"
"O-oh? Y-yes, I am," Pururu smiled weakly. "Um. Ahem. Right. So-?"
"All of us are going to meet up on Friday," I told her. "I'm planning on bringing water bottles so that you guys don't dry up, too."
"Thank you!" Pururu clasped her hands together. "I appreciate it."
My phone began to ring. "Ah, speak of the devil." I pointed at it before I answered. "Hello?"
"Did you find anything?"
I couldn't hide the smile from my voice. "Yup."
"Really."
"Yeah. I'm not soincompetent that I can't find anyone!"
Garuru grunted. "So?"
"I found Pururu."
"…Really."
"Yeah. Want to talk to her?"
I could hear Pururu hold her breath.
"No, it's fine," Garuru said dismissively. "Very, very good job, Cadet. I commend you for your hard work. Signing off."
He hung up before I had a chance to say bye. Hm.
"Sorry, Pururu," Ruby pouted, crossing her arms.
"It's alright!" Pururu said tightly, turning to a corner.
….Okay, I swear there's got to be something wrong with me. The whole room just turned dark and a spotlight that came out of nowhere shone on Pururu as she leaned one hand against the wall.
…Was the world trying to highlight her untold misery?
"Don't lose hope, Pururu," Ruby said encouragingly. "Didn't you say that Garuru was always like this?"
"Yes, you're right…" Pururu sighed.
"…Should I believe? I-I mean leave?" I squeaked, feeling very, very awkward and extremely out of place. "Girl chat. Not good at girl chat. I think I should go."
"Okay," Ruby stood up. "I'll be back, Pururu."
"Take your time…"
"What happened?" I asked after Ruby closed the door behind her.
Ruby grinned mysteriously at me, as if she knew something I didn't.
The knowledge of women.
Why isn't there any emphasis on the knowledge of men these days?
….
If you know what's good for you, do not answer that question.
"Do you want another race before you go continue your search?" Ruby inquired.
"No, I'm fine," I chuckled. "I just want to get to Garuru."
She shrugged. "Okay… but if you ever want to redeem yourself…"
"I know where to go," I nodded and picked up my bike. Just before she closed the door, I called out, "Wait!" She stopped midway. "We're meeting at the park by Royale Rd. Bring Pururu along too, okay?"
"Okay! I will!"
My phone buzzed in my pocket when I was about three minutes away from my house. I plucked it out, looked at the caller I.D. Stella.
Okay, maybe I should give something of a back story… You see, I'm a bit of a baby duck. I kind of attach myself to one person for a whole year and practically follow them around until the next year tumbles around. For the first year, it was Mario. Second, it was Stella. This year it's Penelope, Stella's friend.
Pfft, I don't complain, to be honest. I just wanted someone to hang around during lunch.
I answered the phone. "Hey!"
"Hi! How are you?"
"Good. And yourself?"
"I'm okay. So when did you want me to come over?"
"…Come over?"
"Oh, that's right!" She laughed nervously. "You weren't here yesterday. Well, we have a project to do at Mrs. Miller's class. She partnered me up with you."
"What kind of project?"
"It's for 'Tess of the D'Ourbevilles'."
"Oh, right. The book." I made a face. Speaking of the knowledge of women…
"We're doing a project on themes; do you have an idea?"
"Hm. Okay, how about how the author distinguishes the scenery between the pastoral life and the city life? We could make a little project or something."
"I was… actually thinking about drawing for it…"
"I know," I assured her. "You could. But what I was thinking is like… a box. We could take two things and use them in comparison to each other. Let's find something that could represent the city, and make it look kind of cold-looking and ugly. And for the pastoral, we could have a cute doll or something with flower patterns and stuff. Do you have anything like that?"
It was quiet on the other line.
"…Stella-?"
"Yeah! I have something for two of those things. But can I still draw something?"
Stella loves drawing- and she's really, really talented too. "Of course! We could have a huge box with the two… I dunno… toys, I guess… and in the background, you could draw the actual characters from the book that compares the two scenes."
"Oh!" Stella piped up. "You mean like Alec for the city? Oh! We could dress up the doll as Alec!"
I chuckled. "That sounds really cute. And maybe we could have the other doll dressed up as Tess, for Pastoral."
"That sounds so cool! Okay. So when can I come over to start on the project?"
"…When's the project due?"
"Next Monday."
"Yeesh."
Stella laughed. "That's why I wanted to come over okay. But it's fine if I can't."
"Well…" I rubbed my neck. "How about tomorrow?"
"Okay."
"Hey, Stella? How much of the stuff do you have anyway?"
Stella pondered at this. "Um… I can bring a box. Oh! And bring one of the dolls."
"Tess?"
"No, I have something for Alec."
"Oh, really."
"Yup. Do you think you have something in your garage for Tess?"
"Sure." My sister has a lot of old dolls from the golden years… before the day she decided to use them as weapons of mass destruction. "I'll see if I could find something."
"Cool! And I think I have some fabrics to make some clothes; I'll ask Jessie and Penelope to see if they could help."
"Okay. Well, I'll see you… tomorrow. Okay?"
"Okay. Bye!"
My friend's coming over tomorrow. No doubt to work on a project…. in my room.
Fate, why oh why do you hate me so?!
Garuru was playing cards with himself.
I actually felt a little bad for him.
"Hey, Lieutenant?"
"Yes, Cadet?"
"We're going to have a bit of a problem." I sat down on my bed and sighed heavily. "A friend of mine is coming over."
"And why is that a problem?"
"You, for one thing…"
"Familiarity."
"I'm being serious!" I said, a little too forcefully. "U-um. I-I'm sorry. But I am. Stella needs to come over for a project, and… well…"
"I understand," Garuru nodded stiffly. "However. I will need somewhere else to hide."
"I do have a big walk-in closet. I'll just close the door and leave the light on."
Garuru neatly stacked the cards on top of each other and rested them on my furniture. "And how long will that be?"
"About… two hours. At the most. Probably."
Garuru folded his arms. "…Alright."
"Good. Thank you." I bunched up the thick brown blanket that was just there on my bed and folded up neatly. "Hey. We still haven't really shared much about ourselves, you know."
"Maybe there's a reason."
"Okay, okay. Um. Let's see…" I looked up thoughtfully. "It doesn't have to be really serious… just something to make us laugh."
"…Go on."
"When I was little, I taped my feet with duct tape because I thought I could run up the walls."
Garuru stared at me.
"…It didn't work."
He rolled his eyes slightly.
"C'mon! That has to count!" I protested.
"It didn't make me laugh."
"And tell me, ol' chap… what does make you laugh?!"
"Familiarity."
"Right, right, I'm sorry," I mumbled. "And what about your friends?"
"Teammates."
"Teammates."
"And what about them?"
"Tell me something about them?"
Garuru looked at the ceiling and rested a bent finger against his mouth.
-Cue flashback; yet another Nick Carraway narration-
"Someone took them."
Garuru and Pururu glanced up from their plans.
"Someone took what?" Taruru asked innocently.
Tororo narrowed his eyes in irritation. "You took them, didn't you?"
"I seriously don't know what you're talking about!" Taruru said, raising his hands up defensively.
"You say that," Tororo snapped, "But I know you took them!"
"Took what exactly, Tororo?" Pururu asked gently.
"Whoever took them knows exactly what they are!"
Garuru, Pururu, Taruru, and Zoruru all looked at each other.
"I think you should start from the beginning," Garuru said, as calmly as he could muster.
Tororo let out a breathy sigh. "Alright. See, y'know how Pekopon really makes some good mochi? You know, those dumplings with the really yummy fillings?"
"I… guess?" Zoruru said from the ceiling, his eye slightly bent upward.
"Well, I ordered some specifically for me."
"Go on…" Garuru prodded.
"They came in five different flavors! They were still frozen, so I left them on the counter to thaw… and now they're all gone!"
"Devastating," Zoruru said, rolling his eyes.
"We have to figure out who stole my mochi!"
"It is indeed a case," Garuru said. "Whoever took Tororo's mochi, speak up."
No one said a word.
"…Very well," Garuru said, frowning. "Did anyone at least see them on the counter?"
"I did!" Taruru said, waving his arm in the air while puckering his lips. "I saw them!"
"I KNEW IT!" Tororo cried out, pointing an accusatory finger at him. "YOU DID EAT ALL MY MOCHI!"
"I didn't eat your mochi!" Taruru said with a huff. "I simply saw them. I didn't eat them all." His face softened into a thoughtful look. "Though… I did see Pururu go in after I did…"
"So it was the old hag," Tororo seethed, glaring at Pururu. "So you stole my mochi!"
"I did not… did you say old hag?" Pururu's eyes widened in horror. "Did he just call me an old hag?!"She pulled out a mirror from her back and proceeded to examine her face for any wrinkles, rubbing her face obsessively.
"Pururu," Garuru said, putting a hand on her back. "Did you see anyone in the kitchen after you?"
"…Well…" Pururu tapped the mirror against her bottom lip. "…You know, I did see Zoruru after I did…"
"SO IT WAS YOU!"
"What?!"
Garuru, Pururu, and Taruru winced as Zoruru crashed to the floor. He jumped to his feet, waving his arms in front of himself. "I didn't steal anything!"
"Then who done it?!" Tororo stuck out his lower lip and stared him down, despite being shorter than the cybernetic ninja. "Who done the deed?"
"And who was after you, Zoruru?" Garuru inquired.
"…Um…" Zoruru closed his eyes in thought. "…Actually… it was you, Lieutenant."
"L-Lieutenant…" Tororo stammered, staring at his leader in horror. "I… I never thought…" He clenched his fists. "So it was you."
"Don't be ridiculous, New Recruit," Garuru growled.
"Who could've possibly eaten Tororo's mochi?" Pururu asked, forgetting about her face for a moment.
Taruru spoke up. "Have you noticed that all our names end with 'ruru' except for Tororo?"
"Thank you for the enlightenment," Zoruru said crisply.
"Wait," Tororo snapped his fingers. "That reminds me!" He ran toward the kitchen, where the rest of the rest of the team followed. Tororo ran his fingers toward one of the corners on the ceiling and pressed the end. "A-ha. I knew I had hidden a security camera here!"
He slipped out a tiny disk and ran to his room before coming back and setting his laptop on the table. "Now we see who the culprit is!"
The team held their breath.
|On the screen, Tororo is looking over his mochi joyfully, touching them and shivering slightly at the frozen shells.
"Well… maybe just one bite." He grabs a frozen bun and bites into it. "Wow, this tastes great even cold! Hm… I still wanna try them when they're thawed out…"
You see him walk out, and there is silence afterward.|
"...I thought you said someone ate all your mochi," Pururu said.
"Th-they're all mine!" Tororo protested, shaking a fist. "Besides, we're looking for the other culprits! Not the one who actually bought the thing!"
"It's true," Garuru said gruffly. "Let's just finish the tape."
For a good five minutes nothing happens, and Tororo quickly hastens the video, to where Taruru is seen on the screen.
|"Ooh! Mochi!" Taruru says cheerfully. "Don't mind if I do!" He takes one and eats it. "Mmm!"|
The team looked down at Taruru, who grinned bashfully. "What? I told you I didn't eat them all… B-besides! I was hungry! Look! Here comes Pururu!"
The Garuru Platoon (slip of the tongue, Garuru disregarded it later) gazed back at the screen, where Taruru was waving to Pururu.
|Pururu looks at the mochi. "Wow! That looks good!" She coyly looks both sides, and gracefully takes a mochi and eats it. |
"So you did eat my mochi!" Tororo pouted.
"I swear, I only ate one!" Pururu defended herself. "L-look! It's Zoruru!"
|Pururu is now patting her lips with a napkin. Zoruru slips in and salutes Pururu as she leaves. The robot-assassin gazes over at the mochi. "Hm, these must be Tororo's…" He taps his chin. "One shouldn't hurt." He picks it up with one knife-like finger and… the screen fizzes out a little. Then Zoruru is complimenting the taste of the unfamiliar dessert.|
"Zoruru!" Tororo shook his head. "Tsk, tsk."
"It was only one," Zoruru huffed, folding his arms. "And it was delicious."
"OOH YOU."
"So do we understand what happened here?" Garuru asked, planting his hands on his hips. "Everyone was involved in the 'crime', but no one was willing to admit it. I hope we all learned a valuable lesson here-"
"Wait, Lieutenant…" Taruru stared hard at the screen. "Isn't that you also eating one of the mochi?"
Garuru was silent. He quickly pulled out the disk and threw it in the air. Within two seconds, he summoned a weapon and shot it twice, snapping it in half.
The whole platoon stared at him.
"No, it wasn't."
"Wellll..." Taruru drawled, poking out his lips once more. "Nothing lasts forever, right, Tororo?"
"One of these days I'm really gonna do you guys good..."
