The Toast Swears Revenge
"Is Luka awake?"
"I don't think so, Kaito."
Kaito!
"What does he want with me?" Luka grumbled.
"Luka?" Kaito gasped.
"Go away," Luka retorted without opening her eyes.
"You don't have to be so mean," Gumi said, seeming to be offended for Kaito's sake.
"I'd better leave," Kaito murmured. Luka heard a door open and close. As soon as she was sure he was gone, she opened her eyes.
"What happened?" she asked, licking her dry lips.
Gumi held out a cup of water to Luka. She accepted and drank as the younger girl updated her.
"I'm not entirely sure myself. Miku, Len, and Kaito had to fill me in. Miku said there was creepy toast in the kitchen. She told me she had gone to you in the morning and that the toast was gone. She said she was watching you as you went into the kitchen, and that you kept talking to yourself. Len reported a lecture about avoiding toast. And Kaito was called in at the last second and knows nothing. You know, he caught you and carried you here."
"Where are we?"
"In Gakupo's room. It was closest."
Luka craned her neck and saw the samurai sitting quietly in a chair nearby. "I'm glad to see you're okay, Luka," he noted in a deep tenor tone. "It's not often someone faints around here. It's always concerning." Luka's heart beat faster at the sound of the handsome man's voice. He was so much easier to get along with than childish Kaito.
"Thanks, Gakupo," Luka whispered, afraid that her voice would crack.
The man closed his eyes and resumed meditating.
"Luka," Gumi began, drawing her attention from Gakupo, "why did you faint? Gakupo's right; it's not normal for someone to faint."
"There was this toast…," Luka confessed, feeling awkward. "It talks to me. It says it steals souls. I know I'm not crazy; Miku saw it too. I think it likes me."
"Likes you?" Gumi asked, raising an eyebrow. "Likes likes you or just likes you?"
"Both, probably," Luka replied. "I feel crazy. Do you want to hear my account?"
Gumi sat back expectantly, and Luka retraced the whole story from Miku waking her up the day before to the toast's challenge to find it in the garbage can.
"…So, it said, 'I thought you didn't like dumpster diving,' and I figured it was in the garbage can. I dumped it out, and then I heard this awful noise in my head. It was like…like fingernails on a chalkboard. The toast was laughing. Then I thought I saw it climb out of the trash on the floor, look at me, and disappear." Luka touched her hand to her head. "That's all I remember."
"I assume you passed out right after that," Gumi concluded. "Well. I wonder what kind of toast could talk in your head and—" She interrupted herself. "Where is it now?"
Luka felt lightheaded; she had felt worry-free when talking with Gumi. "I don't know. It disappeared."
Gumi shook her head darkly. "We have to find it."
—This—is—a—line—
"Okay, toast," Luka announced, twirling her anti-Kaito bat. "Come on out. I've got a score to settle with you."
So soon, Luka? This is only my second day here, the toast replied smugly.
"That's two days too long," Luka retorted. "Out. Now."
"As you wish, Luka."
The toast hopped out from behind the fan. Its face was a mask of self-satisfied triumph. "You'll never get rid of me, Luka," it purred. "I'll always be with you."
"Not if you're gone," Luka protested, painfully aware of the poor retort.
"But I won't be gone," the toast pointed out. "I'll be here."
"That logic makes no sense," Luka snapped. "What do you want from me?"
The toast widened its eyes creepily. "Souls," it breathed.
"And how do you get souls?" The words were out of Luka's mouth before she could think of the consequences. She flinched, expecting a mystic chant of some sort or perhaps assault by toast.
Instead, the toast looked almost embarrassed. "I don't know yet," it confessed. "It's kind of a cover thing, y'know? People will be more scared of soul-stealing toast than of creepy toast. All the brave ones will try to get a glimpse of me, and it's kind of a strain to be creepy. And these colored contacts irritate my eyes."
"How do you get contacts in without hands?" Luka wondered.
"They're invisible," the toast explained. "Pretty cool, if I may say so myself. You can only see them if I wear gloves."
"You seem like a nice piece of toast," Luka commented.
"I know," the toast whined. "But everyone ignores me. They just want to eat toast. Yum, toast. And I'm the runt of my family now. My smaller brother was eaten a while ago."
"You're a bully," Luka concluded, trying not to sound mean.
The toast's eyes widened in hurt. "You don't need to be so mean," it hissed. "We'll never be friends. I'll study up on soul-stealing. Leave me alone!"
And it was gone before Luka could protest.
This story took a different turn than I expected. I kind of like the upset toast. It's a cute piece of toast. Now its story is in the open…what can Luka do? And, random question: do you like Luka x Gakupo or Luka x Kaito? In this story, both are cute.