Day 4: The Day Off

The phone, yet again, woke up Ryan. Today was Saturday, so Ryan was sleeping in. Hope flashed in his eyes. Was Sabrina calling him back? He grabbed the phone and looked at it, but it wasn't Sabrina's contact. His shoulders slumped, but he accepted the call anyways.

"KIKKERIKIII~" Kiara shouted through the phone.

"What do you want?" Ryan growled through the phone. After a couple seconds of silence, Ryan realized that he might have been too aggressive. Despite the phone calls, Kiara didn't really do anything to warrant such a reaction. Other than keeping secrets from him, but "special" could really mean everything. Perhaps it could have been an inside joke. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for."

"You alright?" Kiara asked. Ryan didn't miss the genuine worry coming through her voice, which only succeeded in making him feel worse.

"Yeah, I'm alright, I just didn't sleep well," Ryan pinched the bridge of his nose. He wasn't exactly wrong. Ryan has been a card-carrying insomniac for a couple years now. He's been trying to fix his sleep schedule, but instead of sleeping, he would often stay up at night with his thoughts when trying to sleep. With Ryan, that wasn't healthy at all. "What did you need?"

"Hey, why don't you come down to the restaurant," Kiara replied. Ryan was going to say something, but Kiara continued. "You don't have to work today, but maybe spending time with others might get your mind off things."

"That," Ryan was going to reject her offer, but thought about it. He spent the better part of a whole year alone. More often than not, he was wallowing in his own thoughts and demons. He hates to admit it, but the past few days have been the happiest he's been in month. Despite the secrecy, people telling him that he was special made him feel good. He felt valued. Maybe spending time at the KFP would be a good idea. "Would be nice. I'll be there in a few."

"Alright! I'll prepare you some food!" Kiara chirped, cutting the line before Ryan could say anything in protest. He sighed, forcing himself out of bed.

-

Meanwhile, somewhere in America, a girl no older than seventeen or eighteen stood over several piles of ash. She felt her phone vibrate and sighed, cancelling the fire spell placed on her hand before grabbing the phone in her back pocket. She looked at the phone. "One missed call: Edhas".

She smiled.

-

"RUSHIA IS BOING BOING!" Ryan had to cover his ears as he entered the restaurant. He looked over to the counter and saw Kiara laughing joyously, Calli, a short, green-haired girl who was continuing her tirade, and a red-haired girl who Ryan swore had stiches on her skin.

"Morning," Ryan walked over and sat next to Calli and sighed.

"Oh! I didn't know the Holostars idols came here too!" The red-haired chirped. Ryan looked at the girl, confused. She had an eyepatch over her left eye and faded makeup on her face, reveal stitched, rotten flesh. Ryan pretended not to be disturbed by the sword that was stabbed through her temples, but that definitely wasn't the case.

"What's Holostars?" Ryan asked, confused. "I just work here. I'm on my day off."

"Nah, they all hang out at Roberu's bar," Kiara got a tub of KFP Birb Legs and placed it in front of Ryan. "I mean, they're welcome here, but I don't know if they know about this place."

"That doesn't answer my question," Ryan grumbled.

"Oh, can Tamaki-kun come?" The green-haired girl asked. Ryan looked over to see a small girl with short, green hair tied up in two buns. For some reason, her crimson eyes unnerved him. His instincts told him to run away before she ruthlessly slaughtered him, but he promised Kiara he would stay here and frankly, the crushing sense of guilt that he unnecessarily puts on himself would hurt far more than death.

"I'll consider it," Kiara said. "As long as you don't kill anyone again."

"Watame-san respawned!" The green-haired girl protested. "And she was asking for it! No one gets to look at Tamaki-kun like that except me!"

"You can kill me, Rushia-senpai~," The red-haired girl swooned, closing her eyes and putting her hands on her cheeks as she swayed side to side.

"Ollie," Calli groaned, reaching over to swat the Ollie zombie on the back of the head. "Sensei jumped through many hoops to let you stay here. Stop trying to sacrifice your life to simp."

"But Calli-senpai~," Ollie whined. "I'm immortal!"

"No, you're not," Callie facepalmed.

Ryan looked at Kiara pleadingly who just giggled. "Rushia-senpai, Ollie-chan, you haven't introduced yourself to my little egg yet."

"Little egg?" Ryan shot Kiara a look, but she ignored him, pouring another glass for Calli.

"Oh!" Ollie hit her forehead with her palm, looking shocked before looking at Ryan, a bright smile on her face. "Nice to meet you! I'm the world's number one zombie idol Kurrrreiji Ollie!"

"Oh, hello!" Rushia lowered her head in greeting. "My name is Uruha Rushia the super sexy boing boing necromancer!"

"Uh…" Ryan thought about correcting her, but those crimson eyes of hers made him consider otherwise. "Sure…"

"See?!" Rushia shot her head up and whirled towards Kiara, jutting a finger at Ryan. "He gets it!"

"Uh…" Ryan looked around uncomfortably.

"Rushia-senpai, he hasn't introduced himself," Kiara chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her head.

"Oh!" It was Rushia's turn to hit her forehead with her palm. "I'm sorry!"

"It's okay," Ryan waved his hand dismissively. He was rapidly getting used to these kinds of things. "I'm Ryan Shade. I'm an employee here. I would say I'm nothing special, but someone," he shot a look at Kiara, "tends to disagree."

"I'm sorry," Kiara looked down, looking genuinely ashamed. "I'm not allowed to tell."

Ryan sighed, as he saw Calli shuffled nervously. "It's okay," he smiled. "Secrets aside, you are still my best friend. Even if we've only known each other for a few days."

"Really?!" Kiara's eyes shot up before diving over the counter, tackling Ryan in a hug. "Thank you!"

Ryan was about to say something when he felt a murderous gaze on him. He started to sweat as he saw Calli giving him a death glare, her hand inching dangerously towards her scythe. "Uh Tenchou?" He gently nudged his boss. "I think Calliope-san will kill me if you don't get off."

"Calli you do love me!" She instantly did a 180 and tried to tackle Calli but ended up colliding with her outstretched palm.

"Guh!" Calli's murderous gaze softened, despite the murderous hint in her voice. "Get the f-word off, Kusotori!"

"But Calli~," Kiara whined, making a smoochy face.

"Tenchou, you're still on the clock," Ryan sighed.

"Oh!" Kiara jumped over the counter and smiled at Ryan. "Thanks for reminding me!"

"Yeah, yeah," Ryan waved his hand again.

"Hey, Ryan," Rushia tugged at his hoodie, catching his attention. "Do you love me?"

"Wha?" Ryan looked at her, confused. "Where did this come from?"

"Rushia-senpai~!" Ollie cried, crocodile tears pouring from her eyes. "I love you~! Why are you giving him all the attention~?"

"Do you?" Rushia asked sweetly, looking up at Ryan.

"Um…" Ryan rubbed the back of his head, thinking of a response. "I'm not looking for something like that right now…"

"Really?" Rushia's gaze instantly changed. The light in her eyes faded as her smile turned psychotic. "Are you sure about that?"

Ryan looked towards Kiara, who sighed and shrugged. "Can't help you here, little egg."

"Don't call me that!" Ryan momentarily forgot the situation he was in when those two words came out of the CEO's mouth.

"Why are you talking to other girls, Ryan-kun?" Rushia said, her voice shaking. Ryan never liked having suffixes attached to his name. As someone who was born in America, suffixes sounded weird with his name. "Why aren't you talking to me?"

"Rushia-senpai," Ryan's new guardian angel, Calli pulled Rushia off of the KFP employee. "What would Tamaki-kun say if he caught you like this?"

"Oh!" The light found its way back into Rushia's eyes as she looked at Calli. "Thank you! I'm sorry, Ryan-kun!"

"Please, just Ryan," Ryan held his hand up. "It's fine. Just don't kill me in my sleep please."

"No promises~" Rushia's eyes turned scary again.

"Rushia-senpai, remember what I said about killing my employees?" Kiara said, karate chopping Rushia's head as she scolded her like she was a mother scolding her child.

"Don't do it unless I want to feel the flames that my summons feel," Rushia droned on as if she was a child forced to recite a moral of a fairy tale.

"I think I should go," Ryan said, finishing the last of his chicken. He took out his wallet and took out the 2000 yen that Towa had given him the day before. "Keep the change."

"Bye Ryan!" Kiara called as he stood up to leave. "I'll call you tomorrow!"

-

As Ryan was walking home, he suddenly felt a shudder down his back. He turned around and saw a man of Asian descent who looked in his mid-thirties or forties. He was never really that good at judging age. They locked eyes for a second before Ryan turned around. Probably just some random person. He opened the door to his apartment complex. Time for a nap.

-

YAGOO turned around as the boy walked into his apartment complex. He sighed. He took out his phone and dialed a number. After three seconds, someone picked up.

"How's the kid?" The person on the other side asked.

"He's doing fine. I don't think we need to worry about him for now," YAGOO replied.

"And his magic?" The man asked.

"Nonexistent," YAGOO sighed. "Why are you making me look after this kid? Look, Kiara already took him under her wing. There's no reason for me to look after him at this point."

"Trust me," the person on the other side said. "He'll become valuable later on."

"Whatever you say," YAGOO hung up the phone. That guy… how troublesome. He turned around and walked away. As a gust of wind blew behind him, he was gone.

-

Ryan flopped on the bed before looking at his phone. Maybe he should call Sabrina again. Even if she didn't pick up, it was good to talk about his day. At least he was venting to someone. As expected, the line went to voicemail after a few seconds.

"Hey, Sabby," Ryan sighed as the tone rang. "I got the day off today, but I still ended up going to KFP anyways. I met two new people today. Ollie seemed nice if a bit energetic. Rushia totally seems like a yandere. Luckily, Calliope-san was able to divert her attention. I don't know, but I think Tenchou and Calliope-san are a thing. Calliope-san may act like she doesn't like Tenchou, but I can see through it. She's a textbook tsundere. Anyways, Ollie had an eyepatch. I don't know why, but it reminded me of something. I don't know what, but something flashed through my head. I don't expect you to know what it means, but I just wanted to get it out. Anyways, that's all. Please call back. I miss you."