Chapter 111: Damn Cute
"Mishu, enough. I’ll fry some for you. Leave the kid be," Ed said while waving his hand, sending a wave of his own Echo at Moon, who was hurtling toward both the bucket he tried so hard to protect and the underlings he didn’t want to involve.
Ed cushioned his fall, landing him softly. Moon did feel it, but he didn’t know who sent his Echo for help right now.
Even Mishu suddenly stopped his cat assault and started walking away, wiggling his tail.
Landing softly, Moon tried to comprehend what had just happened. Mishu was leaving, so he now had a moment to think.
He remembered sending his Echo to take the orange cat’s punch in his place, and it did. Yet, there came the problem.
The Echo should have returned to his body; he was already prepared to send his Echo back for another maneuver, knowing too well his attack wouldn’t do the slightest damage to the orange menace.
Instead, the Echo didn’t even return to him.
He was blindsided instead... by his own Echo.
’How the fuck does that work?’ he asked himself, looking down to examine his own body.
Only then did he start to scream.
"NOOOOO, MY PENDANT, NOOOOO!" Without warning, Moon began to wail.
It was a simple realization that the Echo didn’t return to his body, but had actually smashed into the pendant instead.
"NOOOO, I WAS SUPPOSED TO PROTECT IT!" With shaking hands, he took it off his neck, holding it carefully in both hands.
Now, he examined it for damage.
"I FAILED YOU, I FAILED YOU ALL." He looked around under the perplexed gazes of everyone who suddenly began to gather again now that the assault was over and the cat was already walking away.
Suddenly, Moon stopped his pained screams and squinted his swollen eyes.
"Oh," he casually exclaimed. "It’s fine!"
Unbothered by the gazes aimed at him, Moon put the pendant back around his neck and walked over to his bucket and shirt.
Far away, Mishu stopped in his tracks and started staring at him for a while. Moon was aware of him through his peripheral vision that never left the cat, but he managed to ignore him, fishing out some chicken popcorn and eating it.
"Hey Barrett, is Basil okay?" He walked over to his underling.
"Not badly hurt," he answered, pulling the unconscious Basil’s arm tighter over his shoulder.
"Want some chicken popcorn?" Moon asked casually now that Mishu had left.
"It’s fine, just had my meal," Barrett declined. "Gotta check on Basil first."
Moon nodded. "Sure, I’ll check on him soon too once he’s awake." With those words, he turned around, ready to leave.
"He seems to like you a lot," a familiar voice came, stopping Moon in his tracks.
He squinted, trying to remember the person’s name. He turned his head to take a look.
A girl with black hair and big grey eyes.
’Oh, it’s that one again,’ he thought. But more importantly...
"Does being toyed with look like being liked?" Moon decided to correct her, whatever her name was.
The speaker wasn’t satisfied with his answer. "I got punched once and nearly died; you got punched a few times and look perfectly fine."
Moon subconsciously touched his slapped cheek; the paw mark was still red and swollen.
His face contorted. "Does this look like a perfectly fine face to you?" he asked her, completely displeased.
"But the damag—"
"Damage my ass, you approached it and got bashed... I did nothing, just eating and minding my own business." He angrily threw his shirt on the ground.
"I mea—"
"Did that bastard sneak in and smack your face while sleeping?" Moon pointed his index finger at her face.
"I... No—"
"Did you get your food stolen by him?"
"No?"
"Did your underling get thrown like a shuriken by him?"
"N—"
"SISTER..." Nola came running, shouting. "SISTER LEXIE, WHAT HAPPENED HER—"
Only for a moment, before her eyes fell on Moon.
She suddenly slowed down. "What happened here?" She asked Lexie before her eyes turned to Moon reluctantly, her cheeks reddening slightly. "Sir Savior, are you okay?" she asked.
Moon, whose face was fully displeased by Lexie’s claims, turned to Nola. "Of course, do you think a damn cat could steal my food?"
He reached out to grab his shirt, tightening his other arm around the bucket. "I’ll go back to my meal." He had muscles waiting for him to make.
As well as something he must check.
As he walked away, he left Nola and Lexie behind, surrounded by ruins and rubble.
"Um, sister..." Nola spoke first. Lexie looked on with pursed lips.
Nola continued, touching her cheeks. "It looks cute!"
Taken off guard, Lexie blinked a couple of times.
She nodded. "Too damn cute," she affirmed before adding in a hushed tone, "bastard nearly ruptured my head."
She shook her head before walking on her way with her aide.
Before long, Moon was finally back in his room, unbothered by anyone’s thoughts or concerns, and definitely not thinking that slap mark was cute.
He looked into the mirror, his anger flaring up again.
He threw his shirt angrily on the ground before sitting by it.
’This bastard, I’ll cook it sooner or later.’ He had averted a disaster, but his anger wasn’t lessening.
He reached out to his Book of Grudges, for it was time to write a new one...
Or maybe two.
More long-term grudges were being recorded.
orange bastard tried to steal my food
orange bastard slapped me and left a mark
Thud~
He closed the notebook angrily, taking a deep breath.
And these two girls, whose names he didn’t remember, had to show up too.
He still wasn’t comfortable around girls; he was trying to act normal but wasn’t sure about it.
"Haaaa, did they even mention their names before?" he wondered, not sure.
And that girl he saved before—he felt rather bad about it every time he saw her...
"Why is that?"
He stretched his body out on the floor between the bed and the desk. Topless as he was, he left the bucket of chicken popcorn as it was and his Echo in his body, unlike when he had decided to keep it out.
His eyes felt heavy; life was heavy with many things he was unsure of.
Thus, he let his eyes close. For a short moment, he allowed himself to relax again after what the Fluffy Mass of Murder had done to him.
"It’s fine," he told himself.
Time ticked, slowly, very slowly... for Moon, who was trying to relax with the feeling that he was forgetting something.
Something important.
Probably?
He wasn’t sure what he forgot, but it didn’t let him relax or nap.
Still, he refused to move or open his eyes.
He stayed still for a while longer, refusing to give in to the ghost of whatever he had forgotten in the time he had checked on his face and noted down the new grudge.
’I’ll leave the food for now, so it isn’t the food.’ He started doing a mental checklist. ’And it isn’t the Echo, probably?’
His eyelids twitched. ’Can’t have my Echo ruin my food in my sleep!’ He justified it and moved on to the next.
Nothing came to his mind.
’Hmmm, so this is the forgotten part?’ He wasn’t sure.
He moved his body slightly for a better feeling of comfort.
Siiiiik~
A sound came, soft and muffled, from around his neck.
He bolted up, sitting straight. "Oh fuck, how could I?"