Chapter 25:

Babysitter Mona pt 1.

Maid School

On a warm summer day, Mona was playing some video games in her bedroom. Halfway through an important cutscene, her Mom yelled at her.

“Mona, please come downstairs - Lisa has arrived”

She completely forgot that her mom pressured her into babysitting her little cousin for a couple of days. There goes her valuable gaming time…

“Give me a minute Mom!”

Mona paused her game and went downstairs.

She opened the living room door, and there sat her little cousin Lisa. She seemed really excited to see Mona.

“Hey, Mona-nee-chan!”

“Hi Lisa”

Mona said with a grumpy-sounding voice.

On the other side of the room sat Mona’s big sister Saya - holding a cup of coffee in her hand. She had returned from college to spend her summer vacation here.

“Excuse me Lisa, I have to discuss something with Mom”

Mona tried to convince her mom that her sister should babysit Lisa instead of her. But Mona’s mom was adamant about Mona doing it.

“But mom, Saya is a lot better with children you know”

“Mona - please stop. Your sister is busy - meanwhile, the only thing you do is hang around your room all day playing video games.”

“This will do you good Mona. Besides that, Lisa explicitly asked for you - not your sister. She really looks up to you, you know?”

“Looking up to me? She really shouldn’t..”

“You shouldn’t put yourself down so much Mona, we talked about that”

Mona sighed, it looked like she wasn’t going to get away with it. Even with her usual with, there was no going against her mom.

“I’ll concede defeat, Mom..”

Mona mumbled to her Mom. After that, she went back to the living room to talk to her cousin.

“So Lisa, what do you like to do?”

“Play with you, Mona!”

“But what activities?”

“Going on an adventure with big cousin Mona”

This was going to be a thought time.

“What about playing some games Lisa, do you like these?”

“I love them!”

So Mona decided to take Lisa to her room to play some games.

Mona’s bedroom

“So that is how you perform this mortality attack, Lisa, press these buttons to decapitate the guy.”

“Excuse me, Mona! What exactly are you teaching your little cousin?”

Saya was standing at the doorpost - she looked really angry.

“She seems to be enjoying it”

Mona pointed at Lisa, who was hooked to the TV.

“Please continue, big cousin Mona!”

“No way!”

Saya walked to the outlet and pulled the plug.

Saya pulled Mona out of the room.

“She is only twelve years old Mona, please something appropriate for her age!”

Mona sighed.

“That didn’t stop me when I was that age”

She rubbed her head.

“Do you have any ideas what she might like to do because I am out of options…”

“Why don’t you take her outside and buy her some icecream”

Saya rubbed some sweat off her face.

“It’s ridiculously hot here”

“Anyway, I am out of the house so please lock up if you leave”

She then walked down the stairs.

“I think you are the one who needs a babysitter”

Saya mumbled as she walked down the stairs.

Mona returned to her room, where Lisa was still sitting in the same place, glued to a turned-off tv.

“Can we play again Mona?”

Mona sighed.

“You heard her, no more videogames for you”

She could see the disappointment on her face.

“Let’s have an adventure outside okay?”

Lisa seemed all excited again. Mona took her downstairs to put on some shoes.

“Let me help you put on your shoes”

“I can do that myself, I am not five.”

With their shoe’s on, the two of them left through the front door.

The neighborhood park

Mona and Lisa walked together through the neighborhood. It mostly consisted of older-style, single-family housing, some of them in need of serious maintenance. A stark contrast to the modern glass highrises found in the city center. It’s the neighborhood Mona had grown up in, together with her mom, dad, three older sisters, and her brother. Definitely not a place to boast about, but Lisa seemed intrigued nevertheless.

“What is that building there?”

Lisa pointed at a big old traditional building.

“Some shrine, I would guess”

“Could we go there, big cousin Mona?”

“I am afraid they don’t sell any icecream there”

A little later, the two of them entered the neighborhood park area.

“Wow, this park looks so pretty!”

The park consisted of a little area where people walked their dogs, as well as a playground. Her mom and sisters used to take Mona here a lot to play. However, it looked different back then. A lot of the play equipment had been removed or was due for repair.

“Look, there is my old elementary school”

Mona pointed at a boarded-up building.

“This is so cool, is this where you and big cousin Saya went to school?”

“Yep, but as you can see, nobody goes here anymore. They build a new school.”

Mona sat down on a swing in the playground.

“This is where we used to play”

“Can you push me, Lisa?”

Lisa tried her best, but Mona was a little too heavy.

“Ahh, now I see why big sisters usually push the smaller ones…”

Moan stood up and started pushing Lisa.

Higher… higher and higher…

“Let’s have you make a roll, okay!”

She started pushing even higher, but Lisa wasn’t having it.

“Stop! Stop! Too high!”

“Okay… okay”

Mona stopped and started laughing.

“I tried to roll many times on this swing, but never succeeded, so don’t worry”

Mona wiped some sweat from her face. The sun was shining on the swing with full intensity. Time to look for some shade - and eat some ice cream.

“Do you want some ice cream, Lisa?”

“I certainly do myself…”

Mona added.

“What flavor do they have? I want watermelon flavor!”

“We see, when we get there okay?”

The two of them walked to a little convenience store that sold ice cream in the summer months.

“What flavor ice cream do you want, girls?”

Luckily for Lisa, they had a large assortment of ice cream on offer, including her favorite, watermelon.

“Three scoops each please..”

Lisa’s face lit up.

“Three whole scoops? Isn’t that… a lot?”

“Please stop saying that, otherwise I might regret it and give you a half instead.”

“I’ll take them!”

The elderly lady laughed as she scooped the watermelon ice cream and put it in a cone.

“Here you go, young lady”

“Thank you, ma’am”

After hanging around the playground for a little longer, Mona and Lisa decide to head back home. They walked back along the same route they took earlier to get to the park. When they turned the corner leading them back to Mona’s home street, the two of them stopped an anomaly. A weird cloaked figure was walking on the opposite side of the street, towards them.

“Mona, is that a - wizard?”

Lisa whispered to her.

“Who knows, in this neighborhood you see strange people like that from time to time”

“I want to live here so bad…”

Mona giggled.

The mysterious figure stopped, by Mona’s house.

No.. no... that is the neighbor's house. They open the door - and get inside.

“Is that magician, your neighbor?”

“Do you know them, Mona…?”

“Can’t say I do…”

When Mona and Lisa entered the home, they were greeted by Mona’s mom. She just got back from doing some groceries. As Mona and Lisa helped her unpack some groceries, Mona asked her about the neighbor.

“Yeah that’s true, the elderly couple that lived next to us moved out, and someone else moved in.”

“But eh..”

Mona’s mom looked a bit disappointed.

“I brought them some muffins, but they didn’t want to open the door. So I just left them on the doormat.”

“Maybe they are shy, since they are a wizard.”

Lisa said.

“They don’t like to hang around a lot of people.”

“A wizard? You have a wild imagination like your cousin.”

Mom looked at Mona with a smile.

“Sure sure, I have a manga about a wizard, would you like to borrow it, Lisa?”

Lisa looked excited.

“So your neighbor has their own comic?”

“Who knows… if you believe in it”

“So awesome!”

“Let’s go upstairs, I’ll show you”

Mona got ready to leave the room.

Mom laughed and winked at Mona.

“Just promise you don’t turn her into a big nerd like you okay?”

Mona’s bedroom

“Here you go, Lisa.”

Mona had laid down an extra futon on the floor where Lisa could sleep. But Lisa wasn’t that interested, she was totally absolved in the wizard manga Mona lent her.

“Meow, meow”

Mona’s cat laid down on the bedding and went for Lisa.

“No, Mr. Cat, those are not meant for you”

She picked up the cat and put him in the cat basket that stood beside Mona’s bed. She then focused her attention on Lisa again.

“It’s time for you to get in the bath Lisa, it’s getting late already.”

No response.

“Please lay down the manga, you’ve read enough for today”

“One more chapter, please!”

Mona grabbed the manga from Lisa and pushed her toward the bathroom.

“Know I finally know how my sister must have felt..”

Mona mumbled to herself.

“Please don’t drown in the bath okay?”

“Will not go in the bath with me, big cousin Mona?”

“Ehhh… I think I skip the bath for today”

A little later, Lisa returned.

“It’s time for you to sleep Lisa - like me”

Mona hid her Niptendo Swatch under her blankets, which she was going to use to play a couple more games before going to bed.

“Sleep well, Lisa!”

“Goodnight Mona”

Mona turned off the nightlight

About an hour later, Lisa started whispering to Mona.

“Mona? Mona?”

“Hmmm…”

Mona was half asleep.

“Do you hear that?”

“It’s nothing…”

But then Mona also heard a strange whiling noise. It sounded like fingernails scraping a chalkboard. Mona tried to go back to sleep, but she couldn’t. The sound seemed to be coming from outside.

She opened the curtains to see if she could see something. But to her surprise, there seems to be a dark figure standing on the neighbor's balcony.

“Is that the wizard? Are they casting a spell?”

Lisa stood right behind Mona.

“It sounds more like they are killing a cat, but everything is possible”

“Killing - a cat? That is so…”

Lisa looked like she was going to cry.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t say that. I meant swinging a bat - they love baseball”

“How do you know that Mona?”

“Mr. Cat told me”

Mona joked. But Lisa seemed more and more confused.

“Your cat can talk? How cool!”

“Haha, it was just a joke, Lisa - please calm down and go to sleep.”