Chapter 13: Sleep
The human fiddled with the dial on his radio, settling on a station that was playing My Favorite Things by the Lennon Sisters. As the song came to a close, he sighed and picked up his newspaper, glancing at the front page.
"Uuuugh..."
"Oh. So you're awake." The human said, tossing the newspaper down. The guest got up, resting her hand over the newspaper as she woke up. She yawned,
"Huh? Wh-What? Where am I?"
Panicked, she noticed the newspaper and grabbed it, reading the front page,
September 6, 2011
The Colorful Rainbow Gatekeeper discovered sleeping in the middle of a traffic jam!
Intersection of Wall Street and Sesame Street.
"W-Where am I?" Meiling cried.
"The Human Realm."
"GYAH! Who are you?"
"Your host."
"What do you mean the Human Realm?"
"Exactly what it says on the tin."
"Who are you?"
"Your host."
"I mean, what's your name?"
"A guest that's only staying for a few days doesn't need my name."
"Huh?"
"Any other questions?"
"Yes."
"Well they'll have to wait, I'm making lunch."
"LUNCH?"
"Yes."
"Oh boy! I haven't had lunch for a week."
"That's nice to know."
"S-So...what's there to do?"
"I'm making lunch. Unless you want to skip it, go find something to entertain yourself."
Meiling looked around as the human fried some eggs.
"There's a lot of plants around here." Meiling said, reaching towards a sunflower.
"Don't touch them."
Meiling retracted her hand quickly, but frowned as she studied the flowers closely, "Hm. You don't take good care of your plants do you?"
"What are you talking about?" The human asked, placing down the sidedishes.
"I mean...they just seem to be cared for, but not...well cared for."
"Point?" The human asked as he came back out with rice.
"You could try a bit harder is all I'm saying."
…
"What? What are you looking at?" Meiling asked, gobbling the fried eggs savagely.
…
"Are we going to eat that rice or what?"
"I'm just saying." Meling said after her one-sided lunch, "The flowers outside the SDM are in better shape than you houseplants."
"That's a laugh."
"What do you mean?" Meiling frowned.
"It sounds as if you think the flowers bloom because of you."
"Yeah. So?"
"With the amount of sleeping that you do, I think it's nature's fault more than you."
"Hey! I'll have you know I take great care of my plants!"
"Between naps."
"Grr...Fine! I get it!"
The human looked up.
"I shall take a completely new plant and raise it to be a better plant then you!"
"Well that's completely stupid."
"Eh?"
"For one, both of us shall only give biased judgments."
"No, I'll judge fairly!"
"Mmhmm...Well, I suppose it'd waste time if anything else."
"YAHOO!"
…
…
…
"So where do I buy one?"
"I'll get one for you."
"Oho. It's you again." Mama laughed as the human entered her shop.
"Hello madam." The human greeted, "Sorry. I promised I'd never appear before you again didn't I?"
"Oh, it's nothing. I'm sure Yuma would be glad to see you if she was here."
"I'm sorry about her."
"It's nothing, my dear boy. Both of us had the time of our lives with that girl. She will be missed, but we've lived without her before."
"..."
"AH! This one!" Meiling cried, coming into the store cradling a Chrysanthemum, "I'll raise this one."
"Oh. Seems you've been busy." Mama smiled.
"It's nothing like that." The human said, digging out his wallet, "She's just a guest."
"Oh? Well, be careful. Yuma wouldn't like to see you with another would she?"
"Our relationship wasn't anything like that."
Meiling just stood there confused.
"Alright! Let's get this contest started! First I'll water it!"
"It's already been watered."
"Oh."
…
…
…
"This isn't as exciting as I thought it'd be."
"What a shock."
"...I'll take a nap."
"The difference in our techniques are amazing."
"Shut up, I'm trying to sleep."
Meiling woke up who knows how long later. She watered her plant and sat there for a while, completely awake. Then she got up to look for the human.
"AH!" Meiling cried when she found him, "You're playing a game?"
"Hm?" The human turned around and noticed Meiling, "Oh. Yeah."
"What are you playing?"
"Touhou."
"Hey, isn't that me?"
"Yes."
"Yahoo, I'm in a game!"
"There. Well that wasn't so hard."
"Eh? You killed me? How could you kill me!"
"You were the enemy."
"How rude! I bet you were trespassing too!"
"Look, can I concentrate? I have to dodge danmaku."
"Well what can I do?"
The human gave her a rubix cube.
"Mmmmmm...Hmm...Mmhmm..."
…
"GODDAMMIT THIS IS HARD!" Meling cried and raised her hand to smash the rubix cube against the floor.
"How barbaric." The human interrupted.
"What?" Meling barked.
"All brute strength. If you had an ounce of brains you can solve that cube. Well?"
Meling silently debated over whenever or not to prove him wrong or screw it. She then calmed down and began to work on her cube again.
"I'm done!" Meiling cried, triumphantly raising her rubix cube after hours of playing around, "I've got it! HA!"
Pichun~~!
"Well? Well Well WELL?"
The human rubbed his eyes and muttered something. Meiling couldn't hear it properly, but it sounded something like,
"That was the Extra Stage."
None the less, "WELL?"
"What about your plant?"
…
…
"Oh..."
"That's not fair!" Meiling cried as she watered her plant, "You distracted me."
"So?" The human asked while watering his own plants, "You're a gateguard. You shouldn't be getting distracted."
"W-Well..."
The human sighed, "Your room's over there. Go to sleep already."
"So what game were you playing yesterday?" Meiling asked after she had watered her plant and fiddled with her rubix cube.
"Touhou?"
"Yeah, can I play it?"
"No."
"What? Why?" Meiling frowned, "It's not like I can ruin it."
"At the risk of sounding cliche, the game is more than just a game to me."
"Huh?"
"The game...was a gift from a friend."
"The game...a gift?"
"Yes."
"...Is she that important to you?"
"No."
"Huh?"
"My friend felt very strongly about that game. If it broke, I don't know what she'd think."
"How'd I break it by playing it?"
"You almost broke the rubix cube."
Meiling pouted and returned to fiddling with the afore mentioned rubix cube.
"By the way." The human said as he entered with breakfast, "When does this contest end?"
"Oh. Oh..."
"You don't know do you?"
"A-A-A Week!"
"Starting now?"
"What? W-Well I brought it yesterday, so I guess starting yesterday..."
"A week by time or a week by days?"
"Wh-What?"