Internet-Degenerate

I'm baaaaaaack~!

Fun fact: If you took every living male and put them all in a giant human chain, all holding hands, they'd look hella gay.

An unpleasant sight met my eyes, and I'm not even looking in a mirror. I could've sworn I told Chloe to wait for me at the bus stop, but here she is, probably being kidnapped by the delinquent with the gun. I could've sworn he escorted me to the alleyway... but come to think of it I don't remember seeing him. Did he just dip out as soon as he dropped me off? What an A-hole. Anyway, I should probably go do something. I casually walk up behind the armed and dangerous goon. Chloe spots me. As soon as she did, Chloe raised her hand and back backhanded the goon across the jaw with the force of a thousand suns. The shattering noise of the impact was bone-chilling. Even I shuddered at the sound of it. The goon staggered, hunched over and clutching his jaw, cursing. Not wanting to use my aching hands, I kept them in my pockets and kicked him as hard as I could right between the legs. He howls out in agony and collapses onto the ground, clutching his family jewels. Obviously I'm going to kick him while he's down. Chloe seemed to have the same thought. With her emerald eyes blazing in a rage, she drove her foot into the defenceless mans face, knocking him on his back and most likely cracking his skull. To make things worse, I stomp on his face, making the back of his head eat the pavement. It's safe to say that he's out cold.  And possibly dead. Poor lad never stood a chance.

Looking down at the unconscious goon who was sprawled out on the ground, I heave an exhausted sigh. I sit down on a nearby bench, and Chloe follows my lead, sitting next to me. 

"That went well," Chloe says. I suspect she's talking about the grand plan, and is being sarcastic. "What happened to the men you were with?" she asks. I take my hand out of my pocket and show her my bloody knuckles. "Oh," she uttered. Silence fell, and we sat still. I saw the old yakuza man drop by and pick up his subordinate off of the ground. "Should we do something about them?" she asks me.

"Mm... Nah. I'm too tired to do anything right now," I tell her. Silence fell again. All that remained in the streets were two people and a cat. 

Wait, a cat?

I look down at my feet and see a black and white cat. It's none other than the Tux the Traitor, Destroyer of Lives. Come to rub the tragedy of the night of March 31st in my face? As the creature stared up at me, it begun to retch. Seeing this, Chloe started tenderly rubbing its back, trying to help the cat throw up.

"Isn't this Tux?" she asks me. I nod. As she continued stroking the cat's back, it heaved and hucked up a hairball right at my feet. Having accomplished its mission, it prowled off into the night. I look down at the cat's regurgitated food and hair, and felt a spiritual connection to it. As I blankly stare at it, I catch a sight of a familiar colour inside of it that stood out from the rest of the bile. 

No... No way. There's no way that is what I think it is. I mean, what are the odds? I dip down, reaching forward. I grope through the partially digested food and cat fur that lay at my feet. 

"Ah!" Chloe cringes, forcing head away from me in disgust, but she sneaked glances back at me out of morbid curiosity. "What are you doing, Seraph?" I ignore her words as I fumble through the chunder. I grab the wad of paper and unfurl it in front of my eyes. My sticky, stark fingers began to tremble. I was like a man taken by a sudden fever, and my jaw drops slightly. It was icky and putrid, but the print was clearly legible. There was no mistaking it. I could... still use this... I leapt to my feet energetically. Surprised, Chloe jumped a little in her seat. I hold the ticket up to the lamplight with a beaming smile on my face. I'm so happy, my eyes begin to well up with tears. I've done a lot of crying tonight. This is undoubtedly the greatest day of my life. I'm a millionaire!

"Wait here, Miss Chloe! I'm going to the bank!" Without waiting for her response, I take of to the bank as fast as I could, leaving Chloe alone and flabbergasted.

Foiled! Again! The bank was closed! Curse my cursed luck!

"Bank was closed..." I lacklusterly inform Chloe of my findings.

"Yeah, of course it was." She tells me. "So... what was that piece of paper you pulled out?"

"It's my lottery ticket, Miss Chloe! I w-won the lottery, Miss Chloe! The jackpot! I'm a - I'm a millionaire!"

"...What? Really?" Chloe was so shocked even I could tell. So I told her about the greatest story of all time: How I won the lottery. It was a story of betrayal, violence, terrorism, action, um... drama... mystery, maybe... and, uh... love? It was actually very trivial, but it seemed a lot more epic in my mind. Since basically nothing happened for me to win, I quickly ran out of things to say. 

"So, uh... you doing okay?" Trying to hide my shame, I change the subject.

"Oh, yeah. He didn't hurt me." she plainly states, unfazed by the whole ordeal. "To be honest... I didn't think you would come to save me," she confesses. I'm shook. My disappointment is immeasurable. 

"But... D-Did I really seem like I'd run off and leave?"

"Well... I mean... we're just..." Chloe hung her head in shame and embarrassment. "We're barely friends..." I think about what she just said, and I stare at her vacantly. I thought she was smart.

"Miss Chloe?" I call her name, and she looks back up at me. "I thought you were smart."

"What?" She says offended, after comprehending what I said.

"I thought you were smart," I reiterate. "If you used your brain, you'd realize that that is the reason I helped. But you didn't, so you're stupid. don't say stupid stuff."

Because of the little kerfuffle at the restaurant, we didn't get anything to eat. We just settled for fast food and got on the bus back to school. Now that the adrenaline has worn off, I was utterly listless. Maybe I'll get a healthy amount of sleep with out being interrupted by nightmares now. The bus ride was bumpy and warm, which I found quite comforting. I lean my head against the window. My skull is being rattled, but it feels oddly nice and is lulling me into sleep. Life hits different when you're sleepy and on an empty bus at night. As soon as I'm about to drift off, however...

"Ah... Seraph," Chloe, who was sitting to my left, spoke out morbidly. "I'm sorry."

"...For what?"

"Um... for slapping you. Twice." Chloe turned a little in her seat to face me, and gently placed her smooth hand on my cheek. Always, with the touching. I can't help but to reflexively shiver in disgust at her tender touch. I'd find it more bearable if she slapped me across the face a thousand time harder than she had before, and I hate myself for thinking that. Chloe's eyes were glossy with tears, and I found myself uncomfortably locked on them. Her cool fingertips continued to stroke my cheek.

"What are you doing?" I sceptically ask her. 

"Ugh! I don't even know!" She blushed crimson to her ears and quickly turned her face away, frustrated with herself. "I was just... really mad when I did it and now I really regret it, okay?" She tries to explain herself.

"I'm... sure..." I don't know why she's apologizing now, but whatever. Apology accepted. "Were you mad when you hid your face whenever I passed by, as well?" The answer to that question was obvious, but at this point, I'm so tired I can barely do any thinking for myself. I just end up blurting out whatever is in my head.

"Yeah... I guess so. Every time I saw your face I just felt all the blood rush to my head. So..." 

So... what? Don't just trail off there. Even I know not to do that! 

"You know... before you get mad... you could at least... take a few seconds to be happy to see me..." I say, drowsily. My brain is just performing conversational parkour right now, and I'm honestly impressed. 

"Shut up." She huffs and pouts slightly. The fingers that were previously gentle against my cheek were now pinching it. It woke me up a bit. "I-It's not that I'm not happy about it..."

"...Yeah..." I could scarcely make out her last few words as I started dozing off. The cozy atmosphere got the better of me and my eyelids grew heavy. Life hits different when you're on an empty bus at night with a friend sitting by your side. I think I'll just take a quick nap before getting back to school.