Chirp

Chirp

Chirp

The birds' morning choir gradually filled Mine’s ears.

Maybe he was about to wake up by how the things were perfectly heard - from the birds chirping to someone's breathing noises (rather snores) - but he didn't want to. The bed was so comfortable and cozy…

… but the snores were annoying.

He lifted his head, confused and curious to know where the snores were coming from, and he found Addai slumped by his side on the bed. He was still wearing his thin golden eyeglasses, which Mine hardly saw him wearing it. It was so thin that Mine worried it could bend and eventually break, so he carefully took them from Addai's sleeping face.

Addai had dark circles under his eyes, his clothing was partially changed – PJ's pants and casual shirt, plus a sole sock partially covering the right foot – and Mine assumed he fell asleep before his brain could help him change his clothing and go to the guests' mattress on the floor.

Bandages were spread on the bed, and they (fortunately) were all clean. The ointment Mine had been using the past week was opened, which made the room to be filled with its minty scent.

Scent?

Scent!!

Mine suddenly widened his eyes in such a manner! Almost cartoonishly!

He quickly looked at Addai and sniffed his hair.

No weird scents.

No weird smells.

“Ah…………” Mine sighed. "It was all a dream…" he said, relieved, and looked at the bedside table.

His sister's weird book was there. It was its fault he had such a weird dream!

Mine made a self-note to not read that book before sleeping.

His sighing made the cat who slept on Addai's borrowed pillow lift her head and softly meow at him, calling his attention as if she asked: "what was going on?"

“Good morning, Umbra,” he chuckled, messy hair fluttering as the wind blew from the window. “Sleep a bit more, or- oh,” and the cat jumped on his lap, resting right after like a purring pillow.

He couldn’t help but laugh. He loved the mornings with the cat and wondered if he could adopt a kitten so he wouldn’t feel too lonely when Addai came back to his own home that afternoon, far away from Mine’s neighborhood.

"What will I do without your morning purring?" he chuckled, and Umbra glanced at Addai, then glanced at Mine again. "What's with this funny face?"

Umbra made a silly face, arching her brows to her owner and then at her newest beloved human.

"You're so silly!" he laughed, and Umbra meowed proudly. "You can always stop by if you're fine with that. You're one of the few beings who can visit me anytime, now that I'm almost healed," he smiled, and Umbra licked his nose.

Mine was relieved his body was way better than the past days, but his mind... it was a mess. ‘Body in paradise, soul in the abyss,’ contrary to what a lovely prince once said in a book Mine have read.

But why that? He always caught himself questioning his own reflection in the mirror. Many answers were found, and most of them turned to a common issue: the person who slept beside him.

Addai was a big question mark, hard to decipher.

He could be as sweet as sugar sometimes, but then he also could be as salty as rock salt or as bitter as eggplant, and he could also be as sour as lemon… A myriad of flavors Mine didn’t know he could find it all in a single person.

He then stroked Addai’s bangs, revealing his pale, sleeping face. Was it worth trusting someone again? He caught himself wondering, thorny words pricking his skin and throat.

A dilemma.

Another one.

"Umbra, what would you do?" he looked at the cat, who meowed softly.

Mine patted Umbra's back, and she purred louder, standing to nuzzle on his bare, now half-healed chest. He chuckled, and she licked his chin, purring as if she wasn't tired to show him how much she liked him.

Animals are simple and honest creatures, Mine pondered, scratching Umbra’s chin, who meowed and hopped off the bed. Meanwhile, Addai was still passed out beside Mine.

“Why didn't you leave?” Mine stroked Addai’s fluffy hair. “You should have left…” he said, his words weighing a bit.

Addai could have left, and Mine would completely understand.

But that option wasn’t available.

On the same night after the hospital, and after Mine asked Addai for a dance, the last music barely finished, and Mine started getting hotter and dizzier. First, he told Addai the room was too stuffy and his clothes, so Addai took Mine's shirt off and replaced it with another shirt with lighter fabric. Second, he told Addai the room was spinning, and he couldn’t feel his legs anymore, causing him to faint. His last memory was of Addai measuring his temperature and telling him he would call a doctor, but all Mine could say was that he would be fine if the meds kicked right…

… but he was terribly wrong.

He squirmed, coughed, and groaned in pain while waiting for the doctor to arrive.

It was unbearable.

He even tried to go to that dimension with his Chronos – isekai himself to that dimension (let’s put it this way) – but when he was about to do so, he felt his body being tied on the mattress and that ill creature staring at him with a wide grim, collecting his tears and boosting his hallucinations.

When the fever slightly went down, he felt like a wounded animal.

Scared.

Hurt.

Tired.

Desperate.

Then, when everything went dark once again, he was ready to feel his body cooling down and foreseeing that wet-non-wet sensation from that exquisite flooring and hearing the creature’s joyful and dubious talking… but he got something warm instead and a vibration on his lap.

He opened his eyes and found a dark, fuzzy plush on his lap, purring out loud and someone holding him in their arms.

But it wasn’t pleasant.

He ached.

It hurt.

It hurt so much that his swollen eyes made hot, silent tears roll down his cheeks.

But he liked that.

It was way less scary.

So, he gave in, allowing himself to be fragile. But only that time.

Still, he always asked for Addai to stay.

One more day.

One more night.

Just… a little bit more… until that day he received a message from Soleil telling him his leave was about to end.

Coming back from the feeble memory travel, Mine laid back on the bed. He faintly smiled while facing Addai's sleeping face, but something still made his chest ache.

“Friend…” Mine stroked Addai’s forehead, tracing the fine lines of his face. “Just don’t get too attached. It’s for your own good, ok?” he took his hand away, observing how peaceful Addai slept.

Mine then leaned and attempted to hug that sleeping, tender body to warm his cold, bare chest… but his hands and arms were locked, stiff, and hesitant. He tried again, but with no success; only his heartbeat went faster and made his hands tremble, so he collected the coldness to himself, covering his bare chest with the bedsheets instead.

"I should take my own advice," he muttered to himself.

Outside, Umbra walked in Mine's front garden, looking for suitable prey to give to her owner and his adorable friend. She looked for feeble cockroaches – her favorites – but only found a small mouse and a pile of leaves she was tired of searching until she suddenly hissed out loud!

A flyer - that came out of nowhere - hit her and startled the poor cat.

She practically destroyed it with her claws, and the thorn pieces became one with the small amount of leaves she quickly left behind.

On the flyer, a photo of an old lady was almost perfectly preserved. Alongside it, some other fragments had a few writings left.

She was found mysteriously dead at her shop, at ________________________///////// The neighborhood is thrilled, and another woman disappeared and left behind traces of the same mana found at the Mrs. ________ shop. The woman, Bella ________ wasn’t found in three days. _________________________ blood and other materials are being collected, and all nearby neighborhoods need to be alert. The police is working to solve the case __________________ may God watch for us.

Another flyer flew, and it was the same as the thorned one. But this one showed a few more details - way better to read.

One line written by someone would certainly catch everybody’s attention, followed by a fancy signature starting with a big and adorned letter ‘A’.

‘I will watch for you. As long as you wish for me to do so.’