I tried to talk to the Star-man when Maka had told me to, but the kid looked more prepared to have his own requiem than to wake up. So I spent the next four days visiting his deathbed, hoping he'd wake up; he did after a whole week after the Elements mission. I had just entered the room when he yawned and shouted "SOUL, MY MAN! HOW LONG WAS I ASLEEP?!"
"A whole week, Black Star," I replied with a serious face. "You had us worried!"
"Worried about what? You know I'm too awesome to die!" his smile widened and he stood up in his own bed, making yet another one of his heroic poses. "Say," he added after looking at his surroundings, "where're Maka and Tsubaki?"
"Maka's all right," I said. "Actually, her mom just asked her old man to get divorced!"
"Whoa! I didn't expect—okay, I did," Black Star chuckled as he got down from his bed and followed me around the DWMA's grounds and into the streets. Another boy's voice called us from behind.
"Soul and Black Star! Could you come here, please?" he said.
"Wait, ain't that Ox?" asked Black Star while he and I went to the geek with two hair pillars on his shiny bald head. "'Sup, Ox-kun?!"
"Is it true?" Ox Ford asked.
"Is what true?" I asked back.
"That you took on the Elements and defeated them, of course!" the geek said impatiently. "C'mon, Soul, everyone's talking about it!"
"Oh," I said. Of course, that's what everyone was talking about; I mean, it's not like gossip about Black Star and Tsubaki hadn't reached my ears yet. "Right… Well, I'm pretty happy because I now am 20 souls and one witch away from being a Death Scythe!"
"Speaking of Death Scythes," the wannabe god interrupted me. "Did you hear about Maka's old man?"
"Of course, Black Star," Ox rolled his eyes. "That's old news, man."
"ARE YOU CALLING ME SLOW?!" the blue-haired meister bellowed in the bald one's face. "WELL, EXCUSE ME, BUT I'VE JUST GOTTEN OUT OF THE HOSPITAL WING!"
"So then you don't know…?" the other boy asked.
"I don't know what?" Black Star was confused.
"That Tsubak—" I punched Ox in the mouth—and, hopefully, knocked out a few of his teeth—to prevent him from telling the Star-man the horrible news. Laughing nervously, I said in a tremulous voice "Ah, don't worry, Star-man! It's prob'ly nothin'!"
We kept walking to Death Café to get the blue-haired hothead some nourishment before going back home. When we entered, a maid with short blond hair, bright blue eyes and interestingly big breasts attended us.
"Yo, welcome to Death Café, blahblahblah… ARE YOU GONNA HAVE ANYTHING?!" she said in a voice in the pitch of a piccolo. Black Star seemed interested in this girl's personality.
"Well I, the Great Black Star, am gonna have a god-worthy cup of Puerto Rican coffee!" he said proudly. Then he looked at me and asked, "Ya gonna have anything, Shark-Teeth?"
"'Shark-Teeth'?" I repeated under my breath, but I said loudly "Of course, Star-man! Imma have a…" my stomach grumbled, begging for souls and a big plate of anything for breakfast. "I want the large order of scrambled eggs! Straight up on the pepper!"
Maybe it was because we'd adopted a horrible version of gangsta douchebags or because our orders were equally ridiculous, but the girl laughed for thirty seconds straight before, still chortling, she left to hand the order over to the people in the kitchen while another maid that looked somewhat similar to the previous one led us to our table. There she noticed Black Star's shoulder's star.
"Nice tattoo," the maid said in a more oboe-ish voice.
"Oh, this isn't a tattoo," replied the blue-haired boy with a wide smile. "This is actually a birthmark!"
"Really?" both the maid—whose nametag read "Liz"—and I asked in unison. Uninterested, the maid left us alone. I said "How'd you get a birthmark to look that cool?"
"Duh, 'cuz it's my birthmark!" he laughed and crossed his arms. "No, really… It's just that I'm the last surviving member of the Star Clan…" he then told me about his deceased family, which were apparently a clan of assassins and mercenaries; about how Lord Death had issued the order to terminate the whole Star Clan; how Professor Barrett, Sid, had rescued him when he was just a baby; how he wasn't sorry his family had died, etc.
The maid named Liz had brought us our order when Black Star was about to finish and had listened to the last part of Black Star's story. Noticing her, I started eating my food for politeness; the blue-haired meister beside me wrapped his tale up and started drinking his 32 ounces of coffee. Once we were both done with our food, the maid took our stuff away; when she returned, she talked to Black Star.
"You know, we have a drinking contest later tonight," she said. "My sister wants to see you there."
"Are you insane?!" I blurted out. "It's illegal for kids to drink!"
"Challenge accepted!" Black Star contradicted me. His glare at me surprised me even more than what he said next: "And don't ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever EVER call me a kid again, Soul."
I took that as a dismissal, so I said "Well, good luck, then, Black Star…" and I left for my apartment.
Maka and Tsubaki were giggling together and talking about something I wasn't interested in when I entered the apartment's living room.
"Hey, Soul!" my meister greeted. "Did you talk to Black Star today?"
"Nope," I lied. "He's still dead as a doornail."
"He's not dead! He can't be dead!" Tsubaki cried, tears filling her eyes.
"It's just an expression, Tsubaki!" Maka consoled her. Then she stared at me, as if I hadn't had any tact in saying that; the whole thing reminded me of a cliché novella my mother had once told me about.
"Well, anyway…" I muttered and went to my room.
The rest of the day was completely Black Star-free, which made me worry. Did that mean he hadn't gone to his apartment yet and, instead, was working out or maybe picking yet another fight? Or maybe he did, found out that Tsubaki had dumped him and went to look for her… I still couldn't believe she left the poor kid when, at 1am, all three of us heard an even louder "YAHOO!" than usual and the door got knocked in.
"WELCOME TO MY BIG SHOW!" Black Star shouted, his face redder than usual, and the smell of something not unlike tequila filled the room. He didn't notice Tsubaki was there, nor did he stare into her flooding eyes again.
"Black Star, what're you doing here?!" asked the pigtailed girl as I tried to stop his drunken berserking.
"What does it look like I'm doing here? I'm here to get my partner!" he shouted and, carrying me while I was still trying to pin him down, he went to Tsubaki.
"Black Star!" Maka rushed in front of us and, stepping between Tsubaki and us, she slapped the drunken blue-haired boy in the face. "Haven't you realized what you've done to her?!"
"I'm gonna get my partner, you plank! Step aside!"
"'PLANK'?! NOW YOU'VE DONE IT! MAKA CHOP!"
"Nononononono wait! AAAAGHH!" I screamed because she used a bigger book than usual and Chopped both the Star-man and I to the ground. Recovering my consciousness before Black Star , I asked "Why'd you hit me too?!"
"Sorry, Soul, but you sometimes call me that, too," she said contemptuously.
"Yeah, but you usually hit me at the precise moment I say it."
"Uhh… guys?" Tsubaki interrupted our bickering and pointed at Black Star, who was standing up again.
"Sorry, Tsubaki," Maka said, "but I'm only defending you this much. You'll have to tell him about how you feel yourself."
"B-but I…" the busty black-haired girl stammered.
"Tsubaki… let's go," said Black Star, grabbing his weapon partner's hand.
"No, Black Star," she said in a soft voice.
"Hm?" the blue-haired meister looked at her, confused but still drunk.
"I don't wanna go with you," she stated. "I'm sorry, Black Star, but I can't have you doing that again!"
"Doin' wha'?"
"What you did with Lluvia!" her voice broke and a tear rolled down her left cheek. "I don't want you to cheat on me like that!"
"I… cheated on you?" his question sounded innocent, even honest. Maybe Black Star didn't realize what he had done after all… "B-but I wouldn't do that, Tsubaki-chan!"
"Don't you 'Tsubaki-chan' me!" the busty girl shot, her cheeks turning a fortissimo tone of sharp red. "You're drunk! You wouldn't be saying this normally!"
"Hmm…" It was amazing how Black Star could remain standing, considering the smell of alcohol in his breath was still very potent. "Well, then… lemme say something else I wouldn't normally say: I find you hot and sexy and I like you!"
"WHAT?!" Maka, Tsubaki, and I asked in perfect unison. I kinda saw that coming; Maka seemed to find that a little too sudden. But Tsubaki's expression was the priceless one here: Her whole face flushed into a shade or two of a deeper crimson than Black Star's drunk-colored cheeks, her mouth dropped open, and her tears burst out like a waterfall.
"Exactly how much did you drink?" asked Maka, making sure her estimation was anything close to the real thing.
"Oh, I drank a whole yard of vodka, and won against three guys in tequila shots…" he said matter-of-factly.
"How the hell are you standing?" I asked, amazed at his ability.
"Duh, I'm a friggin' god!" he smiled before turning to Tsubaki. "Fine then, Tsubaki-chan… I'm terribly sorry, ok?"
"You're gonna have to do much more than that to win her back now, Black Star," said Maka with a serious and rather pompous voice.
"Fine," he said. He then sank to his knees and, to everyone's surprise, started to beg like a dog. "I'm terribly sorry, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa! Wouldst thou give me thy royal pardon to this god who knows nothing but embarrassment to thee?"
"He really is drunk," I whispered into Maka's ear while the Star-man started kissing his partner's feet.
"Yup," she replied with half a smile. "So tomorrow, when he wakes up with a hangover, none of us is gonna tell him about tonight, 'kay?"
"Sure," I agreed.
"O-okay…" Tsubaki looked incredibly pleased with herself, being adored by a drunken blue-haired idiot like Black Star was right now. "Black Star… let's go home…"
"Yes, Ma'am!" he said, immediately straightening up. I then realized something was wrong with him: his face turned a nasty shade of green that clashed with his blue hair—and made him look like an alien from an 80's movie—and his knees shook alarmingly. Maka and I reacted just in time to catch him as he fainted; we looked at Tsubaki, whose face had turned white at the sight of Black Star in such a vulnerable state.
"Should we dispose of him, Tsubaki?" Maka asked, looking at her friend.
"I… I want to take him, if you don't mind, Maka…" the Demon Arm replied. She took the now sleeping Star-man from us and, with great effort, carried him out.
Once she was gone, I turned to my meister and asked her, "D'you think this might've caused some brain damage to him?"
"I hope not," was her reply. "They've been through a lot lately… And Tsubaki really missed him, regardless of what he'd done… She even acquired a new mode; did I tell you?"
"A new what?" I asked.
"She missed him so much; she turned one night into him!" Maka said, her cheeks turning rosy. I knew why she blushed: she was probably waking up one morning, expecting to see Tsubaki in her sleeping bag before preparing to go to school, when she found Black Star instead.
"Well, ain't that adorable?" I chuckled. "Wish you could turn into me like that…"
"That's not funny, Soul!"