Unwelcome Change (1)

"A million cages," Ethan scoffed.

"Sure, give me more cages and I'll fill them," I agreed.

"Seriously?" He briefly froze.

"The third district is filled with bugs. It's easy," I nodded.

"I already have around ninety cages filled," I added.

Although Ethan didn't believe me, he was curious. I gave him my current location and he agreed to visit tomorrow. The next morning, I woke up earlier than usual, momentarily startling Luke and Alex, who were studying. I stretched my arms before going through our suitcase to change out of my nightgown. I wanted to wear a more comfortable dress today, planning to catch more bugs for the entire day. Since I was making a mess, Luke asked to stop me, "which dress are you looking for?"

"The simplest one that's here. I have to go out soon. One of my friends is visiting today," I nonchalantly answered.

"What?" Alex spun to me.

"You invited someone from our school?" He tried to confirm.

"Yea, he messaged last night he plans to come around in the morning," I revealed.

"Who?" Alex was devastated.

"Ethan," I smiled when I found a decent dress.

Luke instantly began to clean and organize our room like it wasn't already spotless before. Meanwhile, Alex mumbled to plan how he would hide grandma's outdated furniture and interior. Both of them were making a big deal out of Ethan's visit, whose aim was to gather more bugs. I interrupted Luke to have him help me change into the dress I picked. His face seemed soulless as it took him a longer time than usual to start our morning routine.

When my marble vibrated, I opened my screen to read the new message. I let them know after quickly reading, "Ethan says he's already at the front entrance."

"Rika!" Alex's hands slightly shook.

"I have to go greet him," I began to rise.

"I'll go with you," Luke sighed.

I ran towards the entrance, and opened the gates for Ethan. His thoughts were clearly displayed on his face, studying the scene in front of him. The railed dirt grounds, the fruits and vegetables in the farm, acting as a great potential food source. The dirty and old house, a perfect breeding ground for more insects. This place was heaven for a bug lover. Ethan's eyes were watery, "this is the perfect environment I failed to replicate."

"Here are ninety cages in advance for payment," I transferred to him.

"Can I stay here for the night?" Ethan accepted the cages.

"I'll have to ask," I turned to face the house.

"Unfortunately, we do not have any space in our room," Luke didn't want him to stay.

Since grandma was normally in the kitchen in the morning, I ran to the same place. Luke hung his head down as Ethan followed us, scanning our surroundings. I opened my arms to hug grandma, slowly moving onto my request, "this is my friend Ethan, can he stay for the night?"

"I admire your house. I always searched to purchase a place like this," Ethan held her hands.

"Well, if it's for one night," grandma found him strange.

I led Ethan to our room, barely enough space for three people. Since Luke was slowly walking behind us, I opened the door for him. Alex stiffened from the sight of Ethan as he was in the middle of cleaning. To break the news, I let him know, "Ethan is sleeping over tonight. We already got permission from grandma."

"If you are fine with our room," Alex's shoulders slightly drooped.

"Did you have breakfast yet?" I wondered if he would join us.

"I did, maybe I'll just have lunch and dinner here," Ethan decided.

Ethan fascinatedly watched our family dine together, accepting some plates for himself. As usual, Adam was screaming and running around the dining room. Meanwhile, Ally was busy scrolling through her phone to determine which photos to upload today. Ignoring April who continued to beg if she could play some games on her phone. To distract Ethan from this chaotic scene, Alex began to talk about the new vaccine.

"It made the headlines in the first district too," Ethan revealed.

"Don't these things happen all the time in the lower districts?" I was suspicious.

"It's extremely rare and competitive to produce the vaccines," he disagreed.

It was really true I had terrible luck. Unlike excitedly greeting Ethan like Luke and Alex,

my cousins either ignored or avoided him, thinking he would be the same as them. I could tell both April and Adam were traumatized from having the TV become a decoration for them. On the other hand, Ally thought he would be a clean freak. There was a clear wall, separating the people coming from different districts.

Until Ethan joined us when we started to go bug catching. Trying to convince my younger cousins, I grimly faced them, "not everyone from the first district is as petty as Luke and Alex. They're exceptional cases, known for easily earning everyone's grudges."

"Can't we chase Luke and Alex out?" April surprised Ethan.

"I tried, it's impossible," I wanted the same.

"I can hide some bugs in their pillows," Adam mustered his courage.

"Why do your cousins hate them so much?" Ethan wondered.

"They took our TV away from us!" April angrily trembled.

"They're bad people," Adam agreed.

I urged my cousins to begin working as they vented their stress by shoveling. Meanwhile, I used large spells to fill the cages, making the number of empty ones decrease. Like I predicted, there were loads of bugs in this area, transfering the filled cages to Ethan at a rapid pace. Unexpectedly, Ethan helped me in trying to make him my servant, following my actions.

"You came here for the bugs?" Alex was stunned.

"This place is a perfect breeding ground," Ethan was satisfied.

Alex hid his current impression of Ethan lowering, and slamming onto the ground. The four of us were inside our room, done with dinner and bathing. Squished together, Luke reorganized the beds with the addition of one more person. I had spent the entire day transferring more cages to Ethan, eventually giving around half a million. There were no more bugs inside a thousand-mile radius from grandma's house.

"How are you spending your summer vacation?" I wondered.

"The usual days in the holiday villas," Ethan shrugged.

"I can try to convince grandma to let you longer," I pitied him.

Luke elbowed me, gesturing I was touching the limit of his patience. However, Ethan seemed to notice both Luke and Alex didn't want him here anyways. Catching the hints, he declined, "you can send me the rest next semester."

After sleeping together for the night, he left early in the morning. Alex brightly smiled as he hoped Ethan would never come back. As the hosts, they decided to give Ethan more than half of the bed, barely getting any rest while sleeping on their sides to save more space. Luke never viewed Ethan the same way again after watching him passionately gathering the bugs. I noticed he always stayed more than a meter away from him if possible.

"This is usually what our activities are like in the bug catching club," I revealed.

"Your bug catching club and their members are ridiculous," Alex looked down on them.

"Ethan was the founder," I went into the details.

"Many people have unique hobbies, including our business circle that's actually a cover for gamers collecting harems," I found it reasonable.

"They're normally an exception," Luke disagreed.

Days passed as I finished filling the rest of the cages I possessed, and I faced the ceiling again, struggling with boredom. My usual members joined me as both April and Adam were sick of bugs now. I sighed as I searched for more things to do, eventually noticing Evan playing some games on his phone. Why didn't I think of this before? I could have asked him to let me borrow his phone again! Instantly rising, I ran towards him, who was sitting on the couch, and started to massage his shoulders.

"Can I borrow your phone again?" I made my voice sweeter.

"Sure, just give it to me before it runs out of batteries," Evan passed his phone to me.

I silently cheered inside my heart, and walked towards the room Ally and April shared. If I played the games in the open, there was a chance it would get confiscated from me. I knocked on her door, and Ally opened it a few minutes later. Although Ally disliked Luke and Alex, she didn't have anything against me. She let me come inside as I sat down on her bed. I smiled to thank her, "I'm planning to stay here for the rest of the day. You know who I'm hiding from."

"How do you even live with them? They're sensitive about nearly everything," Ally pitied me.

"The same as what you're doing. Avoiding them when possible," I unlocked the screen.

"You don't have to knock anymore, you can come here whenever you want," she offered.

"Isn't that Evan's phone?" She noticed.

"It is, mine is an empty shell since they restricted access to nearly everything. I can't go on any social media platforms or read some decent manga," I sighed.

"How are you still alive?" Ally gasped.

"I borrow other people's phones," I held Evan's phone in the air.

"I read that manga too," she peeked at my screen.

"I'm behind since it's been a while since I had access to these kinds of stuff," I wondered what volume she was on.

This was how me and Ally quickly became close, and laid beside each other on her bed. Showing me many posts on PicUs, I shared my thoughts, discovering we had many things in common. When April entered her bedroom, she joined us, having nothing else to do. These siblings were only rowdy with Adam around, and were normally calm and peaceful. It wasn't like I couldn't understand, possessing the experience of having a younger sibling in my former life.

When we heard someone knocking on the door, we stiffened from knowing who was on the other side. I whispered to Ally and April, "don't open the door. You know what happens if they enter this room."

"I'm never going to open the door," April hated them.

"Same here," Ally rolled her eyes.

"It's time for our study session Rika," Luke continued to knock.

"Rika isn't here," Ally shouted.

"We searched the house, we know she's here," Alex answered.

"You can't come inside anyways," she was on my side.

Within a few minutes, my aunt opened the door for them, revealing we were playing on our phones. My shoulders slumped as I noticed Luke's eyes instantly landed on our screens, full of disapproval. I gripped Evan's phone tighter, fearing what was going to happen next. Thankfully, Ally tried to cover for me, "what do you want from us?"

"Are you using social media right now?" Alex narrowed his eyes.

"I'm using a phone," I covered my screen.

"You should be aware of the dangers coming from using these kinds of platforms. Pass me the phone Rika," Luke gestured.