Ramen

The cup ramen rotated in the microwave. A pair of eyes stared at it. The owner of these eyes wondered if this would hurt his eyesight. After all, he's staring at a screen at a close distance and in a dark room. Theoretically, that would hurt his eyes, but it wasn't that big of a deal. He heard that that advice was because of old TVs, not the new ones. However, the microwave wasn't a TV, but it still had a 'screen' I guess you could say. Was that window into the microwave closer to a new TV or an old TV? Or was it closer to neither TVs? Did a microwave have its own properties? After all, it was using microwaves, an invisible type of light, to heat the food. Did that light hurt his eyes? Probably not. The window into the microwave could be protecting his eyes. Why was there a window in the first place? Maybe it's because people wanted to know if their food was burning or not. Yeah, that makes sense. Then why do people watch the food while it cooks? Was it some dark reason like people are so attached to their phones that the simple image of a screen is entertainment? Or was it something to do like how you look out of the window during a road trip? It could be a lot of things. Maybe people just like to see a plate of food rotating. What kind of primal instinct would that be? Spinning things are cool.

Beep. Beep.

"Ah, food is ready," he said, opening the microwave door. He set the cup ramen on the counter.

As he waited for the ramen to cool, he decided that the darkness wasn't for him, and he opened the curtains. For background noise, he put on the TV.

The news was on. Apparently, there was a hostage situation in a WcDonald's nearby.

"Scary," he said to himself, preparing to eat the ramen noodles.

"The hostage situation occurred after two men robbed a bank nearby, but after being chased by the police, the two men ran into a WcDonald's to take in hostages." The screen showed a picture of two ugly men. "However, they weren't able to capture any hostages as one of the customers in the restaurant was able to take down both of the armed men. Her name was Kasumi... Just Kasumi. A first-year high school student. We don't have a picture of the girl currently."

"What kind of high school student could do that?" he said.

"Here's a clip of the two men being delivered to the police:" the news reporter continued.

The clip showed a WcDonald's being surrounded by the police.

"Get out of that building out!" a police officer said through a bullhorn.

Right after that, the two men fell out of the front door and onto the sidewalk.

They turned back to the news reporter.

"The two men were promptly arrested and detained, according to the chief of police. The girl who took down the criminals refused to talk to the press."

They switched to a clip of Kasumi, Risa, and Yuri trying to cut through the crowd.

"I don't want to say anything. Get out of my way! I just want to go to the mall," Kasumi said.

"That's all of the information for this story. Here's Tanuki with the weather," said the news reporter.

"Thank you," said Tanuki, "Tomorrow will be a beautiful Sunday. The sun will be out and we are seeing a warm temperature of..."

"Ryouta! Where are you?" a little child screeched.

The little girl entered the TV room to find the weather still going and a half-eaten bowl of cup ramen on the counter. The little girl was short (as the phrase "little girl" implies) and had a rough haircut for her brown hair. Perfect candidate for a magical girl, but only in appearance. The Helpers don't just pick up random girls from the streets. They pick up girls from the streets, but they have some criteria like is she happy? If no, then you are on your way to becoming a magical girl. The little girl was simply too happy and in a too stable life to become a magical girl. Even though at the moment she was quite angry.

"Ryouta! Did you leave again?"

The silence in the house suggested that he was in fact gone.

"Just because he got a little taller, he thinks he rules the world! Argh!"

Meanwhile, Ryouta was biking down the road with his phone held to his ear.

"Look, man. I'm tall. That means that I can do whatever I want," he said.

"That's not how it works. Look, entering a mall with a disguise isn't going to make Yuri fall in love with the disguise. That makes absolutely no sense. Think about it. She will just think that you're weird or something."

"Nah, man. The girls dig the mystery. Also, I don't expect her to fall in love now. It will take a while."

"Don't you think that she will figure out it's you?"

I already approached her in the disguise. She can't tell it's me. Even after I gave her the pair of underwear I found at the mall. She couldn't tell it was me."

"What? Why would you do that? She has no reason to fall in love with you in that disguise. What was the point of that?"

"To be honest, my original idea was to prank her a bunch of times until she snapped, but I decided against it. She's going to be falling in love with me now."

"I really don't follow what you are saying. If I was a girl and some mysterious fellow gave me a pair of underwear, I'll never fall for the guy. That makes no sense."

"Look, man. You just don't understand women. That's why I'm a ladies' man, and you're single."

"I literally have a girlfriend. What are you even talking about?"

"Shut up with your reasonable junk. It's conspiracy time."

"Sigh. Fine, what else do you need to talk about?"

"Can you do anything about her friend Kasumi?"

"What? What's wrong with her?"

"Well, you see, Kasumi just beat up a bunch of bank robbers with her bare hands. If I'm trying to seduce Yuri, I can't have Kasumi showing any aggression towards me or my alter ego: the Shadow Man."

"You named your alter ego the Shadow Man?"

"Yes, I did. It's a good name don't you think."

"Sure... Either way, how am I supposed to get Kasumi off your back? She's just a first year."

"You are the distraction. Invite her to the MMA club in school. Then you show her a lesson. While she's knocked out, I'm tricking Yuri to fall in love with me."

"I guess I will invite her. We could always use someone with that kind of talent. If that story with her beating up the bank robbers is true."

"Search it up. Kasumi stopped a hostage situation or something. It was just on the news right now. That's why I know that they went to the mall."

"The mall?"

"Yes, Kasumi said, 'Get out of my way. I want to go to the mall' or something like that."

"Was that your impression of a girl? It sucks."

"Hey, I don't exactly practice talking like a girl."

"Anyway, you said that the mall was the place they were going?"

"Correct."

"And you are going to the mall right now?"

"Yes."

"I don't know if you know this, but the mall closes by 9. It's past 10."

....

"You know, it's a beautiful night to bike around. The stars are pretty, and you can see the moon so clearly."

"Just admit that you're an idiot."