Chapter 107: Chicken Popcorn
Moon stayed still, thinking long and deep.
Trying to use his poor memory to recall whatever he could, everything he had heard or was told until now about Echo and his situation specifically.
On a very specific day, that was just two days ago actually. Yet, it felt so long ago he couldn’t tell.
That day in the eatery when he first discovered his Echo was a useless lump, or so he thought back then.
That day Ed said that Echo gets rigid when unused or being suppressed for a long duration of time. Or something along those lines.
Moon rubbed his chin. "If Echo, unused, gets rough and rigid, then I gotta use it," Moon concluded crudely.
He had punched it till his body nearly gave out, and Samuel did hit it with his shockwaves repeatedly.
With a thought of his, the lump left his body. He wanted to test it.
Did it soften?
He held it with both hands, trying to squeeze.
It was still rough.
"Didn’t mustache bastard beat it hard enough?" He thought of one possibility.
"Does it still need time?" Then another crossed his mind.
He didn’t know.
Thus,
he just let it be, or so he decided.
Out and about, bouncing around.
He would let his Echo run freely everywhere he goes. He will fight in the arena while his Echo is bouncing somewhere.
He’ll go to sleep while his Echo is smashing into someone’s window.
He nodded; the image he drew in his head was perfect. "This is the only wa..."
SMACK~
Moon jumped to his feet at the sudden movement; someone had intruded into his room. Liquid Mountain was ready in his hand. His Echo was hovering around his face.
"YOU STUPID BRAT," Ed’s voice came with his foot and belly before he could be seen. "Didn’t I say come after class?"
"Oh!" Moon responded. "I forgot," he explained honestly.
Ed walked in, face displeased, hands holding something big, cylindrical, and white.
"A bucket?" Moon inquired.
Ed nodded. "A bucket indeed."
"What for?"
"Don’t you smell it?"
Moon sniffed, then he sniffed again... "Smells like food, good food," he stated.
Ed nodded. "Pretty much."
"So, what is that?" Moon asked.
"Ever heard of chicken popcorn?"
Moon sheathed Liquid Mountain before scratching his head.
He wasn’t sure which kind of meat was chicken until recently anyway, so chicken popcorn was not something he had ever heard of before.
"No need to think hard. Didn’t you want to have MUSCLES?" Ed asked.
"OH, THIS GIVES MUSCLES?"
"I, THE CHEF, MUST PUT SOME MEAT ON YOUR BONY BUTT!"
"MY BUTT ISN’T BONY, BUT I WANT MUSCLES!"
"THIS IS HIGH PROTEIN, HIGH CALORIES."
"OH, HIGH PR... What?"
Ed’s face fell all of a sudden. "What the hell is really happening on the first floor."
He shoved the bucket into Moon’s arms. "Eat everything," he instructed before turning around to leave.
Bewildered, Moon looked at the door of his room, checking if it still could be closed, and thankfully it closed just fine.
He looked down at the bucket full of golden, roundish, tasty-looking things, not knowing what they were.
He put one into his mouth.
Crunch~
And chewed on it...
All of a sudden, he held his chest.
"So good." He felt the pain in his soul, everything Samuel made him go through, healing rapidly.
He shook his head, hugged the bucket, and decided to find a seat outside to get some fresh air.
Followed by a bouncing lump of Echo.
Outside, many eyes were attracted to the usual sight. A bucket of food and a transparent something that bounced like a slime, begging for the food in the bucket, or so it seemed to the bystanders.
Moon ignored all the eyes surrounding him and sat down to eat.
He placed the bucket on his right, leaned back, and started fishing out one piece after another.
A stupid smile crept rapidly onto his face. ’So what if I want to live well and let go of everything?’ he thought, savoring the salty crispiness and tenderness on the inside.
’Turned out I only needed to try tasty food, a new something to eat,’ recognizing the rapid improvement in his mood.
Little did he know, something was lurking...
Close, very close to him.
Something was eyeing the bucket of chicken he was eating by himself, without sharing any.
"OH MY GOD, IT’S MISHU AGAIN!"
"OH NO!"
"Mishu?"
"Guys, stay away from him."
Moon looked at the commotion; the eyes of the crowd aimed at him... His eyes darted around, trying to locate the menace, the Fluffy Mass of Murder.
Everyone started running away from where he was, which was something that usually happened, but this time, they were moving further than usual.
After looking around, he still failed to locate or find him anywhere.
He squinted. "Behind me maybe?" he asked himself, yet before his head turned around...
"Meow!"
He heard an unusual sound from behind the bucket, something he had never heard before. He moved his head to the side.
Mishu was already at the bench where he was sitting, walking elegantly on the backrest of the seat. Once he made eye contact with Moon, he started tapping the bench with his claw.
Looking like someone who was demanding payment, using the universal gesture.
A gesture Moon had no business knowing.
Tak~
Tak~
Softly, rhythmically.
Moon squinted his still swollen eye. "What do you want?" he asked, resting his elbow on the bucket resting beside him.
Mishu crept closer, slowly; the tapping stopped and was replaced by the claw resting opposite Moon’s elbow.
Their eye contact was never broken since the beginning, and for some reason, Moon felt like that small face was smiling with confidence.
Moon’s gaze sharpened. "Mine, not giving you any." His tone turned more aggressive.
His left hand waved. "Shoo, shoo, go tell Chef Ed. Ask him for some if you want any. I am not sharing."
His words didn’t seem to reason with the orange cat, who crept closer to Moon.
Moon wasn’t feeling like getting humiliated one-sidedly, not in public and not by a cat. He decided he would extend his right arm to half cover the bucket and assert dominance.
Though, to the cat, his dominance wasn’t exactly working very well.
"I said I am not giving yo—"
Ack!
"Get your han—"
Ack!
"You thie—"
Ack!
Mishu kept smacking Moon with his paw, throwing small, tiny punches into his face.
Still, Moon refused to move his arm off the bucket. His food was his own and would never be let go of, even if he died.
That was the way of someone who lived as a slave.
Food would only be shared with brothers, but never stolen.
Mishu had no business knowing this. Still, after smacking him a few more times, Moon’s eyes opened again. He had a bitter look on his face.
"You bully," he said. "You’ve lived for centuries, but here to steal food from a kid."
’Ah, fuck... I’ve really said it.’ Moon felt pent-up stress released off his chest all of a sudden.
He felt reborn, but also... in grave danger.
As for Mishu, he didn’t look too pleased with what was just said. Now, that playfulness on his face had completely disappeared.