So I watched Cinderella and Frozen Fever yesterday. I think Cinderella is not so bad, it's actually better than the 1950 animation, and maybe it's just me but it made me cry a bit. *blows nose in a handkerchief*
And then in Frozen there's an ICE CREAM THREE LAYERED BIRTHDAY CAKE. I bet Crysta can magic that out. SO YEAH. THIS IS THE PRIZE FOR THE REVIEWERS OF THIS CHAPTER. I know it might not be your birthday, but REVIEW THIS CHAPTER AND YOU'LL GET A LIFETIME SUPPLY OF ICE CREAM CAKE!
Let the chapter begin!
"Mr. Gowland, I've finished the interview."
"Then, what about that snapchat?"
"It's a young woman, a doctor from that town. She claimed to see the ghost in the cemetery where the fans made an empty burial, and took a quick snapchat."
"Rent me a flat in that town – I don't care how you do it, but I need to keep an eye on that Liddell boy." Gowland fixed his glasses with a stern scowl decorating his face. "And make sure that Vivaldi lady believes she's seeing the ghost of our Superstar."
Ethic
It's the last year—the fourth year for Alice to finish her degree. There's a lot of things to do; mind-melding, discussions, quiz, essays, projects and choosing scripts to write as their final report. With her current emotional state, it wasn't fun anymore at the campus. She hadn't been playing action games or first-person games.
And then there's Airay, an additional burden in her life. First she had to share her clothes—boy clothes—to Boris, and she was burdened with additional laundry. Then food, of course, she had to spend more money to feed the two of them. All the ex-super star did was staying in her flat, sleeping and watching TV or using her laptop to browse. Though it wasn't a big deal since Alice had always locked her files. She also made a new user account for Boris.
Only the second week of February and she was on the verge of fainting. Alice found herself staring blankly at the wall of a coffee shop across her campus.
"Yo Al. What are you up to, mate?" her friend, Elliot March greeted, pulling a seat beside her, but then smiled, noticing the earphones on her.
The only thing that kept Alice insane was of course, homoerotic drama cd she bought online and saved in her smartphone. Alice smiled eerily, her glasses gleaming and she licked her lips, completely oblivious to Elliot beside her.
That's right...lower yourself slowly...
Ahn! Ahh...ugh...!
Please...just trust me...blame it...all on me...
Uhk! Nn...! It's...it's in...!
Yes...I'm going to move...
Alice then made it necessary to suddenly let out a muffled squeal like the fangirl she was. Elliot stared at 'him' awkwardly, feeling slightly nervous to see the nerd 'boy'. Then again, that's normal. 'He' was a geek, right? Al was probably listening to a audio porn or something. He decided to mind his own business and drank his coffee.
Totally oblivious to the intensity Alice was actually listening.
Ah! Ahh! Ah!
Let's...come...together...!
H-Hurry up...! I can't...Aaahh! Ahh! Nn! Hhnn!
Ahh...
Katsuya...-kun...I...love you...
...Me too...
"The best!" Alice exclaimed and popped her earphone off and grabbed her frappe which was already melting. She then glanced to see Elliot was staring at her with an odd look. "Hello, mate! Were you there for a while already?"
"You bet," Elliot snorted, but then smiled. "What's that? Some hentai audio?"
"Yeah, something like that. You want a copy?"
"Nah, I'll pass, but thanks, mate." Elliot finished his coffee and slightly turned his stool to look at 'him'. "So what are you going to pick for the final script?"
Alice stared at her frappe emptily, though she could only see her glassess reflected on the liquid.
"Mm, haven't made my decision. Actually, I don't even know what I'm doing anymore."
Elliot quirked an eyebrow. "Mate, you're a creative and innovative student. You bloody invented a fucking Omni-Mod; and you're saying you don't know what are you bloody doing?" he asked exasperatedly. Alice gave him a wry smile, and he shook his head in disbelief. "I didn't know much about you, but we've had years of learning together. I sort of assumed you wanted to be a game creator, mate."
The cross-dresser glanced at him with a warm smile. Well, being a game creator. Yes, she used to want that so much. So much that she went all her way cross-dressing as a boy to study at Lewis Academy. Now she just...didn't know if she even deserve being a game creator. Not after what happened. Her parents never agreed to it, she wondered why she was so obstinate about it.
"I guess these past few weeks had been so overwhelming, mate. I just feel so tired I wish that everything would slow down a bit, you see?" she chortled and then finished her frappe in one gulp. Elliot watched 'him' adjusting 'his' glasses, and noted the tape used to fix the frame of 'his' glasses.
"Mate, how did you broke it?"
"Oh, this?" Alice chuckled, already forgetting about that tape—she had gotten used to wearing it so much she didn't remember anymore. "I hit my face to the table in my flat." Choking from meatballs, she mentally added. That was the day Julius revealed that he knew her secret. She took it off and stared at the silly heart-patterned tape. "I totally forgot about it. Why on earth did I pick this pattern anyway? See?"
Alice showed her glasses to Elliot, who was gaping in shock with red face. She totally forgot how feminine she looked, and thought that Elliot was on a trance or something. Alice shrugged and put her glasses back on and got off her stool.
"Yeah, see you around, mate!" she left the shop, jingling the bell on the door.
Totally oblivious that she had made Elliot having a crisis towards his sexual preferences.
~.X.~
Boris stared out of the window. It was raining; talk about boring. If he hadn't faked his death, he would probably be at a studio to record a song or practice a new coreography. He couldn't even watch TV or browse the internet without seeing news about his death. A smirk grew on his face as he dropped himself onto Al's bed.
"So this is life." He muttered to himself, closing his eyes.
However, he then heard a vibration and a music from the table. Right, Al left his laptop for Boris to use. It had an automatic alarm to turn itself on and installed updates on its own. Boris was also used to the music. It was a gentle song, a Japanese song. He didn't realize he had started humming along.
"Darn, someone needs to fix the bloody roof, it's leaking here." He heard a voice from outside, and soon, Al entered the flat with a bag of grocery. He glanced to Boris. "Oi mate. Mind some pasta for tonight?" he said while walking to the kitchen.
"I don't care." Boris said, sitting up. His bangs were hiding both of his eyes. When he's a super star, he always had his hair pushed back, and he found out that he liked the feeling of his bangs on his forehead. It's warm and a little ticklish. "What's that song?"
Al paused when he was in the middle of filling a pot with water, listening to the alarm song from his laptop. He smiled.
"Ah, that's The Jellyfish Song. Nice, innit?"
"I don't know." Boris dropped himself to the bed again. "There's a lot of news about my death. It's boring. I never know how it feels to have such a lot of free time."
"You want to go back, then?"
"Bloody hell, no. I'm just wondering if there's something I can do to spend time." He turned on the bed so he could see Al cooking.
"There's a lot, you know. You never...chill or something?"
"What's 'chill'...?"
Al stopped whatever he's doing and frowned to Boris across the room. He certainly looked bored, his eyes were cold and lifeless. Boris had been a child star, he didn't have a normal life like other people. Additionally, his parents were highly strict of his carreer. He wasn't allowed to choose for himself. He had never taken a vacation because he was used to work all the time. That's one of the reason he was so popular—he was a 24/7 super star. Everything in his life was scheduled. Now that he's free, he didn't really know what to do with his life.
"I know, you can watch Netflix or my collections." Al pointed out and walked across the room, kneeling before his laptop and gestured with his hand to get Boris come closer. Boris lazily dragged himself to sit beside the dark blonde nerd as he unlocked several files. "I have Studio Ghibli movies, MadHouse, a lot of anime...If you don't want to watch 2Ds, I also have great serials like Sherlock, Merlin, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones...Have you really never watched any of these?"
"Never." Boris shook his head.
Al glanced to the bookshelf he shared with Julius, and then scooted towards it. "I also have a lot of mangas and novels if you want to read, okay? So just chill, mate. And I think I need to attend the pasta." He stood up and slightly run back to the kitchen.
Boris stared at the laptop, and then at the books. The books looked thick. Maybe he should start with books. He stood up and observed each titles. He had never read anything beside the newspaper or magazines to check news about his performance and popularity in public. He randomly pulled a title; Doraemon. The cover was colorful with a strange raccoon-shaped creature and a boy with round glasses. He then dropped himself onto the sofa.
~.X.~
Alice might be a girl, but she probably had long lost self-conscious concerning that fact. It couldn't be helped, she had to adapt with the academy's curriculum. Aside of programming there's also metalworks and training. Not only creating digital things, they had to build generic robots, calculator or even computer. Though Alice used to be so excited about it; she even built her own laptop.
Living with guys for years had made her oblivious to Valentine's day. Well at least until she was shopping for groceries and saw a lot of sales on any kinds of chocolate.
"Hey, you're Liddell, right?" Alice turned to see a dark curl of hair, and tried so hard to remember the girl in front of her. "Thanks for fixing my laptop the other day." She smiled.
"Ah, right. You're Antonio!"
"Uh, no, I'm Vivaldi."
"Sorry, I just connected your name to that Antonio Vivaldi, haha," she laughed awkwardly. If she were a real boy she would be cursing himself for that uncool moment. However, despite having lived as a guy for three years, Alice was eternally obsessed with hot men. Especially 2Ds. The nerd. She turned and began to check for cheese. She's been running low on cash lately.
"What are you shopping?"
"Ah, just dinner. I'm so low on budget. I think I'll make something with...these beauties!" Alice brightened upon seeing big potatoes with half-price.
"You can cook?" Vivaldi asked, and Alice just realized that this girl was probably going to stick around until cashier.
"Yeah, of course. In my family, a—" Alice held her tone, realizing that she almost said 'girl', and her brain was very trained to lie. "—nyone has to learn to cook. And I'm running out of cash...and it's only half of the month." She checked her wallet, and pursed her lips, adjusting her glasses. "Bloody darn."
"I know, what about part-time job?" Vivaldi suggested, leaning her torso suggestively while looking up to Alice. "My sister has a printing shop, and I'd love to have more...hands. Five poundsterling per hours, open everyday." She then tentativaly slipped a brochure of her printing shop into Alice's hoodie pocket. "Come anytime, dear." She winked and turned, leaving.
Alice stared at the brochure, and then looked at the corridor where Vivaldi just left.
"Cool, I'll drop by right away. Like, this evening!"
The curly-haired girl giggled.
~.X.~
Evening. Boris set down the 42th volume of Doraemon on top of the manga stack he had read. He dropped his body on the carpet and curled, holding his abdomen. Just when he was thinking about how hungry he was, the door was open, and Julius entered, holding his coat and a plastic bag filled with boxes of Fish n' Chips.
"I'm hungry—"
"Sure, Liddell called me and asked me to buy you dinner." Julius scoffed and set a box of the food on the table beside the laptop. Boris sat up and quickly pulled the box closer to him. The navy-haired man set his own dinner by his PC and hung his coat.
The evening continued with typing of keyboards and the flip of pages filling the room. Almost six, Boris stood up, washed his hands, grabbed a different manga of Pandora Hearts and dragged himself to Al's bed. Julius sat still, reading an e-book for his project reference. Several more hour passed in silence.
Almost nine and the door was opened again, Julius just exited the bath, Al entered while letting a big yawn, dropping his coat on the floor and jumped straight to the sofa. Once again filling the silence with a soft; "G'night, gentlemen." Before he was out like a light.
Julius stopped typing and turned his seat to look at his roomate with narrowed eyes.
Valentine's day passed like nothing when you live with men. Well, that was how it's supposed to until Boris suddenly asked, out of the blue;
"He was having a date, innit?" Boris turned to look at Julius. "He's got a woman?"
"I doubt it." Julius crossed his arms, collecting the coat and stood up to hang it. "S—He never thinks about women." He snatched a blanket from the freshly ironed laundry and spreaded it to cover Al. Boris' golden eyes followed the gentle gesture until Julius returned to his seat and turned towards the screen.
"Sure. Whatever."
~.X.~
March was busy, but a certain nerd seemed busier than necessary.
Surprisingly Alice was right, the former super star didn't make much of a ruckus. Though it didn't take long for Julius to realize that she had been working part-time. But when he found Alice fell asleep outside of their flat, curling on the staircase—he decided that it's hard to be ignorant. And that Airay had made a ruckus of some sort.
"Liddell, you need to stop—actually, you need to kick him out." Julius said under his breath when they were in the Welding Shop. Alice was holding the motherboard, and Julius was holding the alumunium they're about to solder. She looked up at him with a confused frown.
"Oh, why? Well, I can't. He'll kill himself!" she whispered, looking around cautiously.
"Well so what? It's his life." Julius snorted and turned on the solder and set it down, waiting for it to heat up. "Pass me the vent. Put on your mask."
"Holy God, mate. If he kills himself because I don't take care of him, then it's going to be my fault, innit?" Alice and Julius flipped their mask. Julius held the vent and Alice took the propane torch and began to shape the vent for a Smart Car's CPU. They didn't talk, watching the fire bursting like stars and carefully shaping the metal.
It didn't take long. Julius and Alice opened up their mask again, and changed course to solder the circuit board.
"Does he bother you or what?"
"No. He freeloads, he eats food with your money and he spends his day reading. He bathe, his laundry also used your money. You ran out of money and you work bloody part-time job for him. Of course it doesn't bother me."
Alice opened her mouth to argue, but then looked away, gritting her teeth. They silently worked on soldering. They've done this for three years so it didn't take long. Soon they tested the program, set it inside the car and closed the unit with the vent they had made and sealed it close with screws.
Their professor announced that next week they'd begin to create programs for the Smart Car, and they were to make a proposal of what program should be included in a Smart Car. The practice was finished and they had no more lectures for the day. It's already the first week of March. They only had eight months left, and the lectures or the practice grew more and more intense by the day.
"Look, Monrey, I don't know why it bothers you, I mean it's my business." Alice said as they exited the Welding Shop while slightly massaging her temple.
Julius suddenly set a strong grip on her shoulder.
"It bothers me." He said through his gritted teeth, eyes away from hers. "Because I care. You're...my friend, Liddel...I mean—Al." He let out a low sigh in defeat.
Alice stared at him through her glasses, and them grinned. "That's the nicest thing ever said to me, mate." She sniffed a little. "I think I'm gonna cry—" she sneezed instead. "Ok, wrong alarm."
The navy-haired man frowned, and they had to stand side-by-side, letting the passerby have their way. Neither could look at each other nor talk. After the crowd exiting the shop ceased, Alice cleared her strangely sticky-feeling throat.
"Thanks, mate. But I have to do this. I have to take care of him." Julius noted how serious and stubborn her tone was. "I don't want...anyone else kill themselves because of me." She coughed, and adjusted her glasses. She felt like they're fogging up that she couldn't see anything.
"Anyone else?" Julius finally looked at her, only to see her taking off her glasses, frowning at them.
"I can't...see? But—" She stumbled a little, and Julius quickly caught her back. "Whoah. Am I turning blind?" she yawned. "False alarm, I'm sleepy."
Rather than falling asleep, Julius knew very well that his roomate just blacked out.