Point Of View: Roy Payntace
Arkas had unfortunately not really gotten us any information on what had happened, but at the same time, he got an IOU from someone who I like to think is very reliable. Yes, present tense on that. I was willing to give her as much as Arkas was at the time, too. Yes, I was worried, but if she knew what was going on and knew it was important, then she also knew how important it was. I trusted someone as level-headed as her would be able to make a call like that.
And with that, I waited... a lot... I waited patiently without speaking a goddamn word about it. Eventually, days turned into weeks and before long it was the last Monday of September. October began on Thursday and on Saturday was homecoming. You almost couldn't avoid the idea as there were fliers up all around the school, a banner in the cafeteria, everything. It was a little tiresome, truth be told, but that's coming from someone who was never a huge fan of homecoming to begin with.
I was thinking about that as I sat down at lunch that day, all the daily chatter between people kind of passing over my head for a bit. "What about you, Roy? Did you do your weekend reading?" Blanc asked.
"What? I did most of it," I admitted slowly.
"See, it's really not that hard. You could have done some of it, at least," Blanc said with a tiny huff.
"I was in the middle of a raid," Vert countered, frowning with her arms crossed in front of her. "I would have been abandoning several of the world's top players in their time of need if I simply left."
"You're responsible for getting the work done, though," Noire alerted.
"Sssoo..." Uni diverted awkwardly over them, looking over at me. "Roy, what were you planning on doing for homecoming?"
"I wasn't planning on going," I answered nonchalantly.
"Aww, why not?" Nepgear asked, giving me a smile. "It sounds like fun."
"The music isn't gonna be my type of stuff. I'd rather spend the time at home, honestly," I said.
"Aw, alright," Uni sighed.
"Um, we could all still do something as a group on Saturday," Nepgear suggested.
"Kind of like an anti-homecoming?" I asked.
"Oh, goodness, no, nothing to discourage anyone else. I just mean something for our group to replace it since almost none of us are going," she blurted hastily.
"What would we do?" Uni questioned.
"I could see if AJ could make us all something," I threw out. "We could hang out at my place, listen to music that doesn't suck, maybe watch a movie or something?"
"Would AJ be willing to do that for us?" Nepgear asked, tilting her head.
"I think I could convince him," I responded with a smile.
"I, for one, think it all sounds like a wonderful idea," Vert interjected, the outer-lying argument we were avoiding seeming to have come to a close at some point. "Your older brother is such a dear."
"Rom and Ram will be staying home this weekend to work on their grades, but I suppose I could come," Blanc said, her nose firmly pushed in her book.
"Then it's settled!" Neptune yelled out, standing up and holding her fist in the air. "We'll have our own festivities at Roy's place this Saturday!"
I sighed. It was gonna be one hell of a festival with nearly everyone there. At the same time, I wouldn't have it any other way, and in a weird way it made me look forward to it more, but I still had to do the preparing for it and everything, too.
That had to wait for a bit because that particular day, I already had plans after school. it was another tutoring session with Uni, the third one we'd done up to that point. We'd agreed to do it at my house this time and I had agreed without thinking twice. I didn't really mind, truth be told.
The bell soon rang and everyone soon dissipated off to their respective classes, most of them with a smile and a wave to leave me with as I went on my way. It was nice to get that, even if it didn't really do much to dull the boredom of sitting in class that came immediately after. Still, time ticked by slowly and eventually fifth period became sixth and sixth became seventh, and before I knew it, I was picking up my stuff from the floor of the weight room again.
Uni picked up her stuff sat neatly down next to mine, slinging her bag over her back. "You ready to get going?" she asked.
"Yeah," I said, turning and getting started out the door. "It's pretty easy to remember the way there from here, so..."
"Yeah, just follow you," Uni said sarcastically. "I'm not dumb."
I didn't say anything in response. Instead I decided to change the subject. "You're in Orchestra class right?" I asked.
"Yeah," she responded quickly. "Why?"
"I was just wondering," I said, scratching my head. "I mean, I am a music guy, so I was just curious how that's going and stuff."
"It's going fine," she said. "I've gotten good at reading music, so it's one of my easier classes, truth be told."
"I'd love to hear you play sometime," I mentioned.
"I can make that happen," she said, looking over to me. She quickly looked away with a huff, though. "Only because it's fair, though. You did play for me, after all."
"Hey, however you wanna justify it," I said, stifling a laugh.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.
"I'm joking," I defended, giving her a smile.
Uni pouted. "Yeah, whatever."
We finally came up on the front driveway to my house. Even from there I could tell something was off. There was movement inside through the front window. Two figures stood in the middle of the room, and I could hear their voices pouring over from inside. If it was what I thought it might be, I was going to be very upset.
"I can't fucking believe you, does she mean that little to you?" AJ's voice blared as I opened the door a crack. Uni winced hearing his voice raised like that.
"We just can't keep spending this much! We literally cannot afford it anymore!" Espen yelled back. "I don't get what's so complicated about this! I already did everything I can, but like usual you want to shoot the fucking messenger about it!"
"This is going to fuck with her for so long, don't you get it?! She's barely adjusted to where she is now! You keep doing shit like this without telling us first!" AJ shot back.
"Excuse me?" I asked. The room fell firmly silent as Espen was caught in the middle of saying something.
"... What?" AJ demanded impatiently.
"I know this is probably a big deal, but uhhh..." I motioned to Uni.
Espen rolled his eyes. "Of fucking course. Look, it's not like there's a conversation to be had here anymore, anyway. She's already being moved."
"Glad to know that what little stability that woman had left meant nothing to you. What a great fucking son you are," AJ griped back.
As Espen turned around to lay back into him, I stepped up between them. "GUYS! Cool it!"
"You don't even fuckin' know what's going on! Shut up!" AJ spat.
"I've gathered enough that I know yelling about it isn't going to fix it. Can you not work this out like regular adults?" I pleaded.
"I'm getting a drink," Espen moaned, roaming to the cabinets to grab his glass.
"Of course you are," AJ muttered.
"Or you could both act like overgrown children who file taxes," I sighed. "Come on, Uni, ignore them. Let's go." I lead her out of the main room and down the hall to my room. She remained quiet and rather fidgety and awkward most of the way, not that I could blame her given what she had just seen.
The moment Uni was clear of the door, it was closed and locked behind her. I could hear them talking again and it sounded like it was only going to get out of hand again. "So, that was unpleasant," I sighed, sitting down on my bed.
"Do they... fight like that a lot?" Uni asked, her hands behind her back as she looked at the floor.
"... Yeah, they do," I admitted. "AJ's just... he's taken the whole thing with mom harder than any of us."
"That was what that was about?" Uni asked.
"Sounded like it. Our mom is in assisted living and it sounds like Espen can't quite cut the payments anymore."
"Oh..." Uni's only quiet sentiment was appropriate. "What about your father?"
"Dad died ages ago... That leaves Espen as our sole provider for everyone," I explained.
"I'm sorry..." Uni uttered, sitting down next to me. Her gaze shifted to look at me, then back to the floor, then quickly back to me for a moment. "I kinda get what it's like... not having that parental figure, you know?"
"Well, I usually had my friend Dante to rely on, but he kinda... went missing a few years back and nobody's ever heard from him... It's just kinda... All I have to rely on anymore is my brothers, you know?" I hesitated a moment and then looked over to her. "Until now, of course... You kinda make that list of people now that I'm telling you all this."
A blush lightly pasted across her cheeks for a moment. "Really?... I'm glad I can help, Roy." She took a deep breath. "I know what it's like to have only so many people to rely on, so... I... appreciate you being one of them."
"I'm glad you can edge that far out of your shell for me," I teased, giving her a grin.
"Wh- hey! I'm opening up to you right now!" She blurted.
I laughed. "I'm joking, I'm... I'm glad."
A silence fell over the two of us as that exchange between us sort of... sank in. Before long, though, she spoke up once again. "We should probably get started," she said, grabbing her bag and zipping it open.
"Ahah, probably, yeah," I echoed, opening my bag and grabbing out my math book. Unceremoniously, right there on the bed, we got to work... okay, reading that back, it sounds a lot worse than it was. We were still on math homework here. And on math homework we stayed for a good long while, letting whatever troubles we were thinking about before fading into the background again.
"Is that the last problem?" I asked.
"I think so," Uni sighed, putting her pencil down. "It's not getting any easier, Roy."
"Really? I thought you were doing pretty well," I pointed out.
"It doesn't feel like it," she frowned. With a few movements, she had put her book and pencil away. I did the same.
"You probably just don't see it considering you're experiencing the whole rise in real-time," I said, throwing my bag to the side of my bed.
"What?" she asked, cocking her head.
"Never mind, it's a lot to explain," I passed off. I didn't want to bore her to death with personal philosophy, even if she was asking for it.
"Whatever," she shrugged. "So, now what? You think they've stopped fighting out there?"
"Probably," I answered. "Usually by now Espen is drunk and AJ is deep in one of the TV shows he usually watches."
"That's... concerning," she commented.
"It always goes like this. They're fine," I assured her. "Come on, I'll go check." I got up from the side of the bed and made my way to the door, slowly opening it and peeking my head out. The door to Espen's room across the way was shut tightly. I could only assume he was in there. I slowly stepped out further into the hall. The faint smell of cooking vegetables began to waft up the hallway as I crept down. Finally, I stepped into the main room to observe AJ simply standing at the stove. "So... that whole debacle is over, right?" I asked.
"Yep," he responded.
"You're, uh... taking it better than usual," I commented. Maybe not the most sensible thing I could say, but it was relevant.
"Well, I've internalized my feelings firmly and I'm probably going to die a few months sooner because of it, but I dunno, I actually feel kind of okay," he confessed. "Besides, it's over now, so you can shut the fuck up and stop talking about it. You want some stir fry? I'm making some stir fry."
"This is a part of the problem, you know?" I pointed out, leaning on the wall.
"What is?" he asked, setting his wok aside and looking back over to me.
"... Never mind, I'll tell you some other time," I sighed, turning around and heading back to my room.
"I'm sure you will," he quipped, going back to what he was doing.
"Alright, Uni, the coast is clear," I alerted her, pushing my head back into my room. "It also looks like AJ's making stir fry, so... that's happening."
"Okay, sounds harmless enough," she said, grabbing her bag and getting up. "Do you play games at all Roy?"
"Hmm? Yeah, why?" I questioned curiously. I didn't mean to be an ass or anything, I was just genuinely curious what prompted the question.
"Well, I play sometimes when I have free time and... Well, Nepgear's really the only one I have to play with me. I was wondering if you wanted to boot up a shooter sometime with me." She halted in her tracks and swiftly crossed her arms. "Not that that would make me happy or anything. I-I just thought maybe the offer would be a nice thing to do."
I gently scratched my face. There she goes again. I drew in a sigh and smiled at her. "I think that sounds pretty nice, actually. I don't have many people to play with, so..."
"Exactly! Consider yourself lucky I asked," she returned with a grin.
"Hey, hoo, don't you start talking down to me now," I teased. "Do you wanna start something? We can start something if you really want."
"What would you start?" she asked, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow.
"You wanna decide this with a 1-on-1 deathmatch?" I asked, pointing a finger.
"Oh, you are so on!" she shot back, rushing into the main room and plopping herself on the couch.
I made my way into the room and got the system started up. Grabbing us both our controllers, I popped in an easy-to-play shooter and picked a classic level off its map set. Within minutes, we were consistently at each other's throats in-game. It was the most intense game I've played since AJ and Espen would occasionally sit down and play with me, and that was a long time ago. Before I knew it, one round became two and two rounds became best of five.
"Aw, come on, I had that one!" I griped.
"Nope, victory is mine," Uni gloated, wearing a smile that was quite appealing to the eye.
"God... dammit. Whatever, it's not like it really matters." I set my controller down.
"You wouldn't be saying that if you won," she pointed out.
"You crazy kids want some stir fry?" AJ interrupted from behind us.
"First off, don't call us kids. Secondly-"
"I should actually probably be going soon," Uni spoke up, looking up from the phone in her hand and picking up her backpack. "I've got a long walk back to do. Thank you for the hospitality."
"That's awfully polite of you," AJ commented.
Uni's eyes widened momentarily before she broke into a pout. "Stuff it! I just wanted to be nice about it!"
AJ laughed to himself heartily. "Really, Roy? Like, ten of them to choose from and this is the one you go for?"
"And what's that supposed to mean?" Uni asked, a hint of actual irritation entering her tone despite the blush emerging on her face.
"Don't- he's trying to start shit, don't fuel his gasoline fire," I pleaded, stepping between them.
AJ laughed maniacally as Uni shifted uncomfortably. She gave me a look to the side, her face still adorned with a tinge of red. "I guess I'll... see you at school, then." And then she dashed off and out the door just like that.
My gaze shifted over to my brother, who looked back at me with a modicum of sudden confusion. "What the fuck, dude?" I asked.
"It's a joke, not a dick. Nobody should be taking it this hard," he countered.
"Christ, I take it back, you're definitely worse than Neptune," I sighed, slumping down in a chair at the table.
"... I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push buttons," he apologized.
"Yes, you did," I responded bluntly.
"Okay, I did, but I shouldn't have," he admitted, raising his arms.
"Thank you," I sighed. "At least you're willing to be mature about this."
"I know when to give up," he stated.
"Sometimes," I completed, pointing a finger. "Sometimes you do."
"Sometimes," he echoed. "You want some stir fry?"
"Knock it with the fucking stir fry thing... but yes, I do," I laughed.
"I think that perfectly sums up how we communicate in this family," he pointed out.
"Kinda, yeah." After I said that, the room fell a little silent. No noise really came in from the dry outside. There was a tenseness still in the air.
"Roy?" AJ asked. "Do you actually like this Uni girl? Like, potential dating material?"
"Are you really asking me this?" I questioned, my vision taking focus and shifting to him.
"I'm just curious, man. I know... I had a few people like that back in the day and I didn't do anything about it," he explained.
I looked down, then to the side at the table in front of me. "I don't know, I haven't really thought about it much," I admitted. "I mean, she's a great friend to have when she's not being weirdly defensive about things."
"Honestly, to me, it sounds like you'd work well together," he told me. His eyebrows were raised, but he was clearly saying this with some amount of seriousness. "But that's just one man's humble 'pinion."
"Pinion?"
"I said what I said," he stated proudly.
"Speaking of things that would work well together, my friends were thinking we'd have sort of an anti-homecoming of our own here," I mentioned, getting up from the couch and going to get a plate. "I was hoping you could make something happen for it."
"Fuck, really? You know what? Sure," he decided. "Fuck it, I don't do anything anyways. Besides, your friends are cool."
"Really? Just like that?" I asked.
"Why not? It's about time someone livened up the place once in a while!" he declared. He wasn't wrong, and that was part of why I liked them all. They were much less of the same old thing and were always lively around one another. I got my food and sat down at the table with it as thoughts continued to roll through my head, knocking one another around like mental billiard balls. Unfortunately, the day had only given me more things to think about. At least I had a moment of silence to really let it all sink in, though. At this point, that was as much as I could ever ask for.