Hello There, Old Friend

There was a day where Nox had just come back from a regional cooking event. I vividly remember it. We hadn't been able to hang out much because of how busy he was, so it was sheer coincidence that I caught sight of him while wandering through the quiet hallways of our school, with classes still in session.

Something about the way he moved struck me as unusual. It was as if he was forcefully dragging himself along. I also found it strange that he had allowed me to creep up so closely behind him. Nox wasn't the type of person to be so unaware of his surroundings.

Before saying anything about it, I decided to get a look at his face.

That was all I needed. I understood.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I had caught up with him, and we silently walked together. A good minute passed.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

"...Wanna ditch?"

Tap. Tap. Tap.

No answer.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

Another minute of silence.

Tap. Tap. Tap…

His pace had begun to slow. I glanced over.

Tap…tap…

A gaze fixated on the floor.

Tap.

He looked up at me.

"I wanted…"

Speak.

"I wanted to know…what failure was like."

Ah.

I see.

Smile. Say it in a gentle voice.

"Yeah. I get it."

***

Lyra's house wasn't the largest, nor was it the most luxurious. That much was obvious. Still, after living in it for a few days, I'd come to realize that there actually was a certain appeal to it. I particularly enjoyed sitting out on the grass in the rather spacious backyard, distantly gazing up at the sky and feeling a calm breeze every now and then. It allowed me to get away from the critical eyes of the three grandchildren, even if only for a moment.

I was doing just that on this fine morning, and it was so relaxing that I eventually found myself dozing off. I didn't want to let the day go to waste by napping, though, so I forcefully jolted my head upward in an attempt to brush off the drowsiness.

"Every time I check up on you, I find you doing the strangest things."

A raspy voice from behind. It was clearly the old hag's.

"You always catch me in my worst moments," I said, sighing. "Imagine if someone did that to you."

"Why, that's impossible. How could an elegant flower like me have any bad moments at all?"

"Elegant flower…? Oh, that reminds me. I've been wondering, Lyra…how old are you really?"

She smirked. "Why don't you take a guess?"

I thought for a few seconds.

"You don't look a day over 110."

"Huh? How rude! Just for that, I won't tell you my real age."

I chuckled. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean it."

A short pause followed. I could feel the mood shift.

"You know," said Lyra, "life is never guaranteed. I might end up dying tomorrow. The same goes for you."

"It sounds like you're trying to tell me something."

"…Do you have any family, Adriel? Or anyone who would worry about you?"

"I don't."

"Not even any close friends or relatives?"

I looked over at her and, in an effort to relieve her of her uncertainties, smiled calmly.

"Nope! I have nobody at all."

With those words, Lyra examined my expression. She almost seemed skeptical.

"How sad," she uttered. "In that case, forget I ever said anything. Let's go inside and have breakfast now. Come."

After patting myself on the back for avoiding further dialogue on that matter, I followed her lead. Soon enough, all members of the residence had gathered at the round table: myself, Lyra, Erin, Marius, and little Maya.

Things were quiet at first, at least until Marius let out a cough. I instinctively looked his way, and it seemed that he took offense to this, almost like a wild dog that saw eye contact as a threat.

"What are you looking at?" he barked.

"Relax," I said, smirking. "I wonder who raised you to be so aggressive."

I was clearly taking a shot at Lyra, but it was Erin who responded in her place.

"Your snarky remarks are getting old. You should try to be more likable. I bet you got bullied a lot in school."

"That hurts! I've never been bullied in my life."

There was an unexpected pause, and everyone in the room began to stare at me.

"What?" I asked. "Why are you guys acting like you're waiting for the punchline or something?"

Erin snickered. "Come on, someone like you had to have been bullied."

"Well…there was a nickname that some of the other kids would call me every now and then. But that was it."

"What was the nickname?"

Damn. I said too much.

I didn't want to answer that, but even Maya appeared to be waiting on a response from me. I'd backed myself into a corner and now had no other choice but to say it.

So I averted my gaze and did exactly that.

"...G-Gaydriel."

It took everyone a second to process it, and then, as expected, they all burst out into laughter. I was miserable once again.

"Gaydriel! It's perfect!" Marius exclaimed through his giggles.

"Haha!" Maya said, pointing at me. "Gay! Gay!"

"Stop! Don't say that!" I pleaded as I covered my face.

Would I ever get used to humiliation like this? And was getting used to it supposed to be a good thing? I didn't know, but I truly was worried for the future.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

As everyone continued to revel in my suffering, the doorbell had begun to ring. Erin got up and checked to see who it was.

"Good morning! How are you on this fine day?" said the person at the door. I immediately recognized that voice.

"Oh God…why are you here?"

"That's simple. I came for Adriel."

"Nox! It's you, isn't it?" I shouted, getting up and excitedly walking over.

"There you are!" Nox said as he caught sight of me. "So the rumors are true. You really are living with Erin and her family."

"Hey Gay—I mean, Adriel, did you invite him here?" asked Erin.

"You were totally about to call me Gaydriel, weren't you?!"

"No, not at all."

"Haha!" said Maya, creeping up from behind. "Gay! Gay!"

Nox had begun to laugh. "Never in my life did I expect you to be bullied by a little girl." He then knelt to get on Maya's eye level and gently patted her on the head. "Hello, munchkin. Keep being mean to Adriel for me, okay?"

To everyone's surprise, Maya's face reddened in response. She had become flustered. I turned around to see Marius staring at Nox with a clear intent to kill, and it was probably the funniest thing I had ever laid my eyes on. It's like he was thinking, why do they always choose the bad guys?

Lyra was actually the one who ended up intervening, grabbing Nox by the ear and pulling him away from Maya.

"Ow, ow, ow!" he yelped. "Unhand me, woman!"

"Look at you, charming my granddaughter before she's even had a chance to finish preschool! What a naughty boy!"

As she finally let go of him, Nox pressed his hand against his ear to make sure it hadn't fallen off.

"Jeez…it's not like I can help it. Stuff like this always happens because I'm just too handsome."

"You're quite full of yourself, aren't you?"

"Why wouldn't I be? I'm perfection embodied."

It took a few seconds, but once he saw that nobody had given even a hint of a response to his cocky statement, Nox awkwardly rubbed his neck and apologetically smiled.

"That was a joke, by the way."

I snickered. "Let's just go on our date already. You've been testing Erin's patience this whole time."

"You're going on a date?" asked Erin. "I guess you actually are gay."

"I didn't mean it like that…"

"Oh, what does it matter?" Nox came up and patted me on the shoulder. "Let's go, Gaydriel."

"Die!"

We finally went and walked off. For the first time in a while, I would hang out with a friend solely for the purpose of having fun. We chose to head to a new mall in the area, and, not even a minute after deciding on that as our destination, my old buddy asked me a very difficult question.

"So…what have you been up to these past few years?"

I hesitated for a moment. But then I told him. I told him most of what happened. There were parts that I didn't feel comfortable sharing, so I omitted them. He could probably notice inconsistencies in my story because of that, but what was he going to do about it? Fight me?

Anyway, after listening to my little narrative, he pointed out something that even I had not realized.

"Since I'm someone from your 'old life,' doesn't that make me one of the ghosts of your past that you're trying so hard to avoid?"

It made me think for a moment.

"…I guess not all ghosts are bad," I replied. "Things were nice when we were in high school."

"Oh, stop it! You're making me blush!"

I laughed. "You really haven't changed at all."

"To tell you the truth," Nox said, his tone becoming a little more serious, "I've been stuck with that imbecile Yannis ever since I left culinary school and started Celestia with him. Meeting you again was like a breath of fresh air."

"Your parents forced you to go to culinary school, didn't they?"

"Yep, and it was boring as hell! They're still mad at me for dropping out, but can you blame me?"

With all this talk of the past, I suddenly remembered something ridiculous we used to do. It was hard to hold in my amusement while thinking about it.

"Hey, Nox…do you still catfish people?"

He immediately smiled. "I can't believe you remember that. I'd like to forget it, if possible."

"Why? You made a lot of money from it."

"It was lucrative, but don't you remember how many nudes I was sent? Opening my messages and seeing the hairy things of old men still sends shivers down my spine."

"But…if I recall correctly, you used to say that was your favorite part."

Nox abruptly froze in place.

"...Did I really say that?"

I burst out into laughter. "Yep! You totally did!"

He broke character after a few seconds, letting out a chuckle and swatting me on the head. "Yeah, right, you vagrant!"

It felt like we were back in high school. The days where we catfished random men on the internet were by far the most fun of my life, and reminiscing about them helped me recall the memories of us dying from laughter at all the desperate, horny guys we fooled.

My friend and I continued on our way to the mall as we laughed and poked fun at each other. Things weren't so bad like this. We were both probably content with our current situations. In a sense, it all had become pure.

Alas. No matter how pure it was, one measly drop of poison was all it would take for this vessel to become contaminated.

Just one drop.