“Oh, is it starting?” Safu leaned over to ask Shion as the lights began to dim, and the chattering crowd hushed their voices.
“Yeah, he’ll come out on stage soon.” Shion had taken his dear friend to see a performance by a certain stage actor named Eve. “It’s really amazing to watch, ah, here he is,” he pointed his finger to the figure that had just walked onstage.
From the moment Eve opened his mouth, Safu was entranced. The melodies that flowed from his mouth captured her, and made her listen, not by force, but rather by compelling her gently to listen to the enchanting tune. She felt the melody carry her far away from the stuffy little playhouse in the West Block to further and further lands, to lands of rolling hills and canopy forests. Safu wasn’t exactly sure what it was about the way Eve sang, but she could tell that the singer held an important piece of his heart in these far away lands. The enunciation of the words held too much elegance to be nothing but a performance.
She was brought back to her seat in the playhouse by Eve’s bow, and the audience’s raucous applause. She looked over to Shion, who had an infectious smile on his face.
“I asked Nezumi to meet us after his performance, let’s go see him outside.”
***
Nezumi was leaning against the wall of the playhouse, next to a backdoor that led backstage. It wasn’t quite the snow season yet, but the cold wind did bite at him harshly.
Where are they?
“Sorry, we didn’t keep you waiting long, did we?” Shion’s voice called out from the darkness, as his and his friend’s figures approached. Her name was… what was it again? Safu. Her name was Safu.
“Nah, it’s fine. Glad to see you brought the pretty lady with you.” As he came closer to them, Nezumi could see Safu more clearly. She was rubbing her red fingers together, and blowing on them. She must not be used to the cold.
“Hello, nice to meet you, I’m Safu,” the girl held out her hand for Nezumi to take, which he did graciously, of course. “The show was beautiful. It- spoke to me, in a way. The performance seemed to be very, ah- loving. Like the places you sang of were very important. I loved it.” She spoke extremely earnestly, and looked Nezumi straight in the eye.
Nezumi put on his best “you’re in Eve mode right now, don’t be a bitch” act. “I’m so glad to hear that. It’s not every day I receive such glowing praise from such a beautiful young woman.”
Safu pulled her hand away from the handshake, and furrowed her brows slightly. She seemed flattered, but also a bit confused.
“Yeah, it was great,” Shion grinned from beside Safu, “if only you were that well mannered all the time.” The smile disappeared in an instant.
“What ever do you mean?” Nezumi opened his eyes, concerned, and placed his hands over his chest innocently. “I’m always mannerly. I haven’t done anything offensive, have I?”
“Sure, whatever you say. Hah,” Shion let out a sigh, “let’s go somewhere warmer before the light fully disappears, shall we?” Safu had been staring very intently at the boy’s interactions, but seemed to relax a bit at Shion’s suggestions.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
***
Safu sat with her hands in her lap in a very worn armchair. She was sitting in the library vault that Shion had been living with Nezumi in for the past few months. It sparsely had any furniture, but the number of books put Safu in a state of awe. Shion had popped into the bathroom, and she had hardly met Nezumi, so she felt a bit at a loss for what to do.
Nezumi was pulling a pot, a spoon, and various ingredients from what Safu assumed must be some kind of cupboard hidden under all of the books, as she couldn’t see where they were coming from. “I’m making some soup now, and I think Shion wants you to stay for dinner, but you probably don’t want to stay the night, it’s hard enough to find space to sleep just the two of us.”
“Oh- of course not. I wouldn’t want to impose.” Safu stood up and began looking through the books littered everywhere. “Say, you haven’t read all of these, have you?” It seemed an impossible undertaking.
“Oh, no, definitely not. I don’t even know all the books that are in there.” He was beginning to chop up potatoes with a knife that seemed more suited for combat than cooking. “You probably haven’t read any classics, either, have you?”
“No, the arts weren’t encouraged in No. 6. Any recommendations?”
Nezumi had a really happy look on his face as he scooped the chopped potatoes and put them in the pot, which had broth beginning to heat in it. “Ha, I think I’ve heard Shion say that exact same thing before. Since you have got the same lines as him, you can start out with the same book: Macbeth. I probably have at least three copies lying around here.” He got pulled away from dinner as he moved to the bookshelf, and began muttering under his breath. “Shakespeare, Shakespeare … ah, here it is.” He pulled an absurdly large tome off the shelf, and handed it to Safu, who took it back to the chair and tried to settle in.
“This isn’t one story, is it?” Safu asked as she wiped the dust off the leather cover. Reading the entire volume seemed a very daunting task.
“God, no. That’s a Complete Works of Shakespeare. Macbeth is like… 2,000 pages in if I remember correctly. It’s towards the back. Just look at the table of contents, you shouldn’t need me to walk you through the steps-hopefully.” Nezumi got back to his cooking, and Shion came back into the room shortly after.
“Sorry I took so long- ohh, did Nezumi force you to read some plays? It’s not polite to make guests study. He should learn some manners.” Shion placed strong emphasis on the final words as he turned to stick his tongue out at Nezumi.
“No, I asked for recommendations, and he gave me one. Maybe you’re the one who should be a bit more polite, he is cooking for us after all.”
“Hah! She’s a lot smarter than you, Shion.” Nezumi turned to stick his own tongue out in turn. “You should take some tips from your girlfriend on how to treat people.”
Safu tensed. She also felt Shion tense from beside her. “Sorry if my actions have been misleading, but um, Shion and I are not dating.” Shion nodded his head at that statement. Safu felt he was annoyed at Nezumi, in a way she hadn’t seen him annoyed before. It did not contain the weariness she knew of him.
“I know. Jeez, you can’t take some teasing,” he directed at Shion, before turning his attention to Safu. “I’m sorry, my dear lady, if I’ve said something to offend you. My intentions were only to offend Shion, but I did not think of the way that my actions could potentially hurt an innocent bystander. Is there anything I could do to atone?“ He kneeled in front of the worn armchair, and gently grabbed both of her hands in his own. His fingers were fridged. It made Safu shiver.
“Ah, er, no. It’s all fine.” Safu was aware of the fact Nezumi was acting, but answered seriously nonetheless. She was a bit caught off guard.
Nezumi immediately switched back to his usual self at these words, and hopped up from the spot he was crouching. “Perfect! Well, I think the soup should be done in about fifteen minutes- hey, Shion, can you set out some bowls?” He was already standing back over the pot, which was simmering, when he called out to Shion.
***
Shion spent the next fifteen minutes acquainting Safu with the mice, whom she was a bit apprehensive of, but quickly came to like. The mice seemed to like her back. Maybe it’s because of her relationship with Shion. The mice really like him too.
Nezumi set out the food, and the trio dug in. They discussed much over dinner, with Shion very animatedly recounting stories to Safu about his time with Nezumi.
“Tsk, you act like coming here was the biggest thing in the world. Let some other people get a word in. Have some manners.” Nezumi had done a pretty good job at keeping his emotions in check most of the evening, but Shion was really pissing him off.
Safu looked up at him and spoke quite matter-of-factly. “I don’t think it’s an issue. I enjoy Shion’s stories, and he speaks glowingly of you in them, so I don’t really understand the problem. Do you dislike praise?”
A moment of silence.
“Oh. I’m sorry if that was impolite, or not my place to say. I shouldn’t have said that.” Safu suddenly became quite nervous.
Nezumi shifted his sitting position a bit. “No, you’re fine, it’s nothing. Go ahead Shion, continue.” He almost sighed, but caught himself. He hadn’t been expecting Shion’s friend to have such authority in her. He was a bit surprised, and a bit disappointed in himself for letting himself get bossed around by a girl he barely knew.
Shion smiled softly as his gaze roamed from his friend, to his roommate, back to his friend again, before picking his story back up.
During a lull in the conversation Safu remarked on how delicious Nezumi’s cooking is.
Nezumi flashed a smile. “Thank you, I try.”
Safu neatly folded her hands in her lap, and seemed a bit concerned. “I’m sorry to have taken up so much of your time, I should probably get going now. I don’t want to potentially disrupt your sleep. Thank you so much for having me over, it’s been a wonderful evening.”
“Of course, dear madam. It has been an extraordinarily successful dinner party, and I do hope your carriage makes it home safely.”
Safu cracked a smile from her previously solemn face, and began laughing quietly. “I hope so too. Shion, would you privilege me with your company until I arrive at my destination? My escort couldn’t make it.” She giggled a bit more.
“Yeah, I’ll take you home.”
Shion and Safu left the room into the cold with a click of the door, and Nezumi was left alone.
