Chapter 9
And somehow, for some reason I still don't know, I ended up walking home with Maka, Soul, Kid, Liz, Patty, Tsubaki, and Black Star in tow. "We're here," I say, standing in front of the apartment. God, protect me, please. I open the door. Eric stands in the doorway. "Hey..." I point to the group standing behind me. "Give us a moment," Eric grabs my arm, and shuts the door. "A KNIFE? YOU ALMOST CUT MY HEAD IN HALF! AND WHAT THE HELL WAS WITH ALL THE RANDOM FLYING OBJECTS? WAS THE FLYING TOASTER REALLY NECESSARY?" He glares at me. "How the hell do you rig a toaster so well?" I yawn. "Done? Good." I turn around and open the door.
We were sitting in the living room. Everyone was silent, aside from Patty. So, I decided to start up a conversation on what she seemed to like best: giraffes.
"You like giraffes, huh?" She nods and giggles, strangling the paper giraffe in her hands. (Apparently it was her test paper.) I soon realize that this conversation is going nowhere, so I decide to start on dinner. As I get up, Maka says, "You have a very big apartment." I nod and give her a small smile. "The real estate agent was a bimbo, and we negotiated and got this apartment. I'm very proud of it. I'll have to thank my Mother," I respond. "When you kicked Black Star's knee...wasn't that an illegal knee kick?" Tsubaki asks. "I'm making soba noodles," I say quickly, and speed-walk to the kitchen. Eric stands over a large pot, holding a ladle filled with a mystery liquid. He stops, and stares at me. I stare back. "What are you making?" I ask cautiously. He was wearing a yellow apron, and protective goggles. The liquid in the ladle was bubbling, and smoke was coming out of the pot.
I return to the living room. "We're eating out. The kitchen's contaminated. I need to call the health department before I allow any guests- or anyone, for that matter- to walk into the kitchen. Anyway, how are your injuries, Black Star?"
He laughs and says, "I'm fine. Nothing you could do could've ever hurt a transcendental being such as I!" He points his thumb towards his chest.
"I mean, I saw you coughing...and stuff...so..." He waves me off. "Like I said, that couldn't have hurt me too bad. It was just a small cut and the punches combined." I raise an eyebrow. "What do you mean by 'small cut'?"
"Your blade is sharp, but not as sharp as it could be."
"How sharp could it be? I mean, my knife is sharp, but it's not sharp enough?" I ask, crossing my arms. "Think of a dull blade," He says.
By now, it was starting to get dark. They left, and Eric and I were finally alone.
I sat at the table with Eric, eating the soup he made. Apparently, what I thought was poison ended up being a delicious soup. Though, I didn't know what kind.
"You made a lot of friends, huh?" He says. I nod and swallow a spoonful of soup. "Anything on the news?" I ask. He shakes his head. "Only a matter of time, right?" Eric doesn't respond. "Maybe we should call Ace and Kyle. They might have heard something." He sighs, and runs his hands through his hair. His hair was dyed a natural brown with blond highlights. His natural hair color was a beautiful black. Though I would never admit it, I was jealous of his hair. His natural eye color was a brown so light, it looked golden. Now, he wore contacts that made his eyes look a boring shade of brown. He noticed my staring and said," After all of this is over, we can walk without looking behind our backs. And we won't have to wear these stupid disguises anymore." He stands up. "I'm going to take out my contacts. You should take your's out too. The brown is an insult."
I take out my phone, and stare at my reflection through the camera. I take off the hat I've made into a habit of wearing, and my newly red hair falls in loose curls down my back. I turn my head to look outside the window. I trace a shadow to behind a tree. I panic inwardly, and quickly shove my hair under my hat, and pull the curtain down.
"Eric!" I yell. "What?" He yells back. "I'm going outside! I think someone's watching me!"
He runs down the stairs. "The hell? I'm coming." He pulls the knife out from the wall above the door that I rigged to prank him, and I take a cleaver from the kitchen. One minute later, Eric was intercepting the owner of the shadow from the front door (the right side) and I was intercepting them on the left (the back door). We crouched beneath some shrubbery, and slowly inched closer. As we got within seeing range behind the tree, the shadow disappeared. We sat there for a while, listening for any footsteps. And after that, we went back into the house, shut all the curtains, and called Ace and Kyle.
"What did they say?" I ask as Eric hangs up. We were sitting in the living room and Eric looked increasingly distressed as he talked with the Tweedle twins on the phone. "They said that the police aren't any closer to identifying us, but you know how one of the Gang's member's father works high up in the government?" I nod. "Ace and Kyle had a little run in with them the other day, and they suspect that that member is pulling some strings with his father. Also, another one of the members of the Gang is in Death City right now. And he is attending DWMA."