One More Day (For Dismay)

I woke up to, the usual, an intoxicating smell of day-old pizza making me fall off the couch.

And if you remember the last chapter, you may think that I’ll just go now and do the deed but no, that would make them just try to find me.

Can’t make that mistake again.

I’ll just say that I'm going to the convenience store to pick something up.

But I just want to stay here for a bit. I know I'm selfish, but it’s just one more day.

Before I can even do the act of waiting, Anton finally wakes up from Daitan knocking him out.

“So, you awake?” I ask.

“No,” Anton retorts.

He then has a face of realization and starts walking toward me.

“So you wanna-” I try to say.

“Not talking to you,” Anton says as he walks right past me into the hallway.

“I- uh” I try when Anton slams the door.

……

Anton comes back out to get ready for work. Without saying a word.

I try to say bye but he closes the door before I can.

……

Anyways, the next thing I do is actually check if that person actually fixed the door.

I walk up to the door and see a sticky note on the door, probably put by the person that Daitan ordered.

It says:

Hey so when I arrived everyone was asleep so I just tried to fix the door quietly

I just asked the person from the room right here for 2000 yen as a tip.

From the Houyuu Kensetsu company

-Katsuko Nishikawa

I tried to open it and it works!

The door was a bit squeaky but it’s more like how if you had a childhood toy that had a broken thing and it was just a small quirk of the toy, the door was kinda like that.

Reina’s room looks like a bomb went off. a few thousand yen scattered around the room, the Asuka costume from a few days ago on the floor haphazardly.

I close the door and just do nothing for an hour.

After that, Jiro, Daitan, and Atsuo came out, after the only other person who could cook, Anton went out to work. And I, who can only really cook miso soup and rice, both ran out from the last time I cooked.

So we just had the leftovers of the day-old pizza, it wasn't that good but it’s pizza, it’s not like it’s awful.

“So how was work” Jiro asks Atsuo, doing the quotation mark gesture on the word work.

“What does that even mean?” Daitan asks.

“Ah, I'm sorry,” Jiro says sheepishly”

“You’re really still scared of me after yesterday?” Daitan asks.

Before Jiro could say something, Atsuo goes outside to work.

“Wait could you actua-” Jiro tries to say.

Atsuo closes the door.

……

“Welp, I'm gonna record now,” Daitan says.

Once again, before someone could do something, we heard some banging in Reina’s room and that’s when we realized that Reina was not with us (Don’t blame me I’ve been here for a week).

“Reina, are you stuck?” Jiro asks.

“WHAT DO YOU THINK” Reina yells.

“So even the repair person couldn't do it,” Daitan remarks.

“No wait I literally opened this door just fine earlier today,” I say “What happened earlier?”.

“JUST GET ME OUT” Reina yells.

I go to the door and open it.

“So what you lied about being stuck?” Daitan asks.

“NO” Reina yells “I don’t know what happened, it just wouldn't open on this side”.

“Just double checking,” I say “The repair person, Katsuko I think, came here and woke you up for the tip right?”.

“Yeah,” Reina replies “I spent an hour trying to find any money”.

“So that explains the room,” I say.

“We need to get the money back,” Jiro says with a fire in his soul.

“Eh, it’s fi-” Reina tries to say before Jiro drags her out of the house.

……

Man, I've done that like 4 times now.

Now it’s only me and Daitan in the house.

“You wanna talk?” I ask.

“Nah I gotta record,” She says.

“It’s about Anton,” I say.

After I say that, Daitan pauses and looks at me.

“I kinda told Anton that you-” I say before getting interrupted by Daitan who lunges at me.

“Wait wait let me finish” I try.

“YOU NOT ONLY TOLD SOMEONE” Daitan scolds “BUT YOU TOLD HIM SPECIFICALLY”.

“Long story but he forced me to tell him and even then he thought it was a lie” I blurt out.

Daitan still has a face that looks like she could just melt my face at any moment but her voice calms down a bit.

“So what happened specifically?” She asks.

“Well, he just didn't believe it,” I say.

“No, I mean like how did he not believe me?” She asserts.

“When I said it, he just said that’s a lie” I clarify.

“So would that mean-” Daitan mutters to herself “No, no way he definitely-”.

“What are you thinking about?” I ask “He just said it was a lie”.

“What happened after’ Daitan says enthusiastically.

“Nothing of importance” I lie, kinda “I’m pretty sure that Anton didn't even mention you at all for the rest of the trip”.

“Look” I continue before Daitan can mutter again “If you’re wondering if Anton likes you back or not, why does that matter?”.

“What I’m not interested in tha-” Daitan lies.

“You literally told me that you like Anton” I interrupt

“Ok fair,” Daitan says.

“Look, one day, the opportunity will pass you, so don’t let it pass you,” I say.

“What? Did you go through a heartbreak” Daitan teases

“Well you could say it’s something like that,” I say

Before Daitan could press further and make me emptier, I say “But continuing, why would it matter if he doesn't like you or not, just take your chance, I’d be the same if you find out or not later on if he liked you or not”.

Daitan is about to retort, but then she thinks about it and decides not to argue.

“Look, promise me that you’ll confess when you get back,” I say “I know that some people need time but I know you’ve got this”.

“Yeah you’re right,” Daitan says “I’ll do that”.

She pauses for a bit and then says “Can I stream it?”.

I just stare at her for a full 5 seconds.

“I guess that’s a no,” She says.

“Also about that Twitch thing,” I say “Isn't Pokesane already a Twitch streamer?”.

“Oh that” Daitan expresses “Basically Pokimane had a huge following of simps on Twitch and somehow didn't get into any controversy until 2018 when she began to get into some Twitter drama and copyright struck multiple YouTube videos which are taking the video down completely and after that, her reputation shot down into the ground”.

……

“What?” I ask.

“Basically I just thought the whole situation was insane so I just named myself that but sane” She clarifies.

“So you named your streamer persona after a pun?” I ask.

“Kinda?” She says.

“It’s at least better than whatever Pewdiepie is supposed to be” She continues.

“You do know you can just google it,” I say.

“Really?” Daitan asks as she takes out her phone.

As she’s googling it, or as she says it “Opera gx-ing it” I realize something.

“Wait, why did Jiro and Reina go to the company building when they could just complain with a phone number?”. I ask

Literally right after I say this, Reina and Jiro come back with Reina pulling Jiro’s ear into the house.

Daitan smirks and asks “How far did you get before you realized it’s stupid?”.

“We got all the way to the train,” Reina said “And then I said to Jiro ‘Wait what are we doing?’ and went back”.

Reina then throws Jiro onto the floor and shouts “You should say sorry, NOW”.

Idk why but Daitan starts to laugh.

“Fine, I'm sorry” Jiro cries out.

“Ok cool,” Reina says, all of the anger going out.

“Well let me go and stream,” Daitan says “I’m finally not playing a visual novel game”.

I casually say “Remember” And she gives me a thumbs up.

“Remember what” Jiro asks “You always leave me out of the joke”.

“Yeah it was a really funny joke” I lie.

“Ok, I’ll remember that,” Jiro says, doing the quotation mark thing when he says remember.

“Is that also an inside joke?” I ask “Doing the quotation mark thing?”.

“I don’t think so,” Jiro says, doing the quotation mark thing with the word think.

“What does that even mean?” Reina asks.

“I honestly don’t know,” Jiro admits.

“I have a new idea for a web novel,” Reina says “It’s about a guy that everybody hates and deserves it”

“Hey you stole that from Everybody Hates Chris” Jiro asserts

They both glare at each other for a second, then start to laugh as well.

“Can’t wait for the new thing you're making, how many chapters do you plan to have?” Jiro asks.

Still somewhat giggling through the sentence.

“3 parts with 80 chapters each” Reina says still giggling

Jiro instantly stops and just looks dumbfounded.

“It takes you 1 month to make a single chapter,” Jrio says.

“Yeah, it’ll be my pride and joy,” Reina said “And that’s what it’s called Pride and joy”.

“That’s stupid” Jiro remarks

“Idk, when I asked Atsuo she said it was good,” She says.

Also, I just realized that back in the last chapter I said that Atsuo was there then said that she left. I guess I forgot to say that there was a 1-hour difference between those scenes.

I made mistakes and my editor didn't pick this one up. I'm just human.

“Also, how did you pay for that trip?” Reina asks Jiro.

“Freelancing,” Jiro says

“I don’t even know what freelancing is,” Reina says.

“Oh, freelancing? I just do random work, kinda works for me you know?” Jiro says

“Ok but what do you do?” Reina asks “I mean from what I remember you don’t have any skills in anything”.

Jiro then falls like he was just shot by a bullet.

“I mean it’s true” Reina clarifies “He doesn't have any skills,”

“Hey, I'm kinda funny,” Jiro retorts.

“Ok but how does that get you a job?” Reina asks.

“I do satirical digital art mostly,” Jiro says, standing up “Just needed to ask Daitan for permission to use Photoshop, Michaels vs The Machines lied it’s easy”.

“Oh, could you make my new cover?” Reina asks.

“Yeah but it’ll cost you,” Jiro says.

“I literally told you I had to scrounge around my room for hours for that tip, which by the way we still need to call up that company”. Reina scolds.

“I guess you’re not gonna have that cover” Jiro smugly says, imitating Reina a bit.

Then they just argued for a while, they did say something really funny but I forgot what it was.

Then the door opened.

“Wait, aren't you on police duty?” Reina asks Anton.

“Apparently something is happening in this part of the neighborhood so they want me to stake it out and since I have a home here, they just said be here,” Anton says.

I hear Daitan curse in her room.

“Okay?” Anton asks “Also where is Atsuo”.

I hear Daitan curse in her room again.

“Um. uh.” Anton says “Is that Daitan?”.

“Yeah, I guess,” I say.

“I’ll just go and check on her,” Anton says.

I then hear Daitan start screaming.

……

Daitan bursts out of her room and scurries to Anton.

“Um hey,” Anton says cautiously as if Daitan is about to pull out an incendiary bomb “What was that all abo-”.

“I like you!” Daitan quickly says and scurries back to her room.

……

“Ok then,” Anton says, starting to walk to his room “I guess I'll just go stake out.”.

I look at Reina and Jiro to see if they heard that but they both seem to be in a phone call with that Houyuu Kensetsu company so I think they didn't hear that.

I decide to just follow Anton, they got the phone call it seems.

I enter the room and Anton jumps.

He looks at me and his face turns into one of disappointment “Oh it’s just you”.

“Yup,” I say “Just me”.

I look around, There’s nothing remarkable, there is a queen-sized bed in the middle of the room, a closet to the right, and a poster of a band called <Led Zeppelin> on the wall, it honestly looked kinda barren.

“What do you want?” Anton asks while getting some binoculars from his belt.

“You should probably do it a different way,” I say “I mean if you did it like this people would probably report you to the police”.

As soon as I say that, Anton starts to have a meltdown and shouts.“WHY ARE YOU ALWAYS RIGHT ABOUT EVERYTHING?”.

I sigh “This is about Daitan right?”.

“It's more than that,” Anton fumes. “It's everything from yesterday, it just made me feel insignificant, and you even being right about Daitan, I just don’t know what to say”.

“Well that’s wrong,” I say “I mean a police officer is important to society right?”.

“Tell me,” Anton asks “When was the last time you heard of a good police officer”.

“What?” I ask.

“Tell me truthfully” Anton asserts.

“Um,” I say “I guess never but I don’t really look at the news”.

“Now tell me if you have ever heard of a bad cop,” Anton continues.

“I guess a few times, mostly in the USA,” I say.

“Exactly,” Anton says “And even the good ones, they get fired before they can become known, there are many examples, especially in America”.

“So are you saying that America is bad?” I ask.

“No,” Anton says “The fact that these stories are actually being known by the common person shows progress”.

“Well how do you know that anything nefarious is happening in the Japanese police force” I ask “Plus you already are a good cop”.

“Was a good cop” Anton corrects.

"Wait, you got fired?” I ask.

“I quit,” Anton says “I pointed out that in interrogation rooms, instead of actually interrogating, they beat and threaten the integrity until they confess”.

“Wait, that actually happens?!” I ask befuddled “I’ll be honest I thought that just happens in movies”.

“No it’s real,” Anton says “In Japan, the only piece of evidence that really matters is confessions so the prosecutions are pressured to get a confession and nothing else. In the USA it’s innocent until proven guilty while in Japan it’s guilty until proven innocent”.

“And what happened after you pointed this out?” I ask.

“Nothing,” Anton says “My boss dismissed me, saying that that’s just how this works and my American mind couldn't handle it. That’s why I quit”.

“So what are you gonna do now?” I ask.

“Nothing much probably” Anton says “I’ll probably try to get this story out there but I'll probably have to go to America”.

I’m about to say “Report them to the police” but I realize that’s stupid, so instead I say “I guess I wasn't right about that”

Anton smirks “I guess so”.

……

“So why are you pretending to look for something in this Neighborhood?” I ask.

“I remember that there was going to be an interrogation of someone here in their own home, it was actually gonna be my job but since I quit they probably picked someone else”.Anton asks, looking back outside.

“You don’t really want to be a police officer do you” I ask.

“What?!” Anton exclaims, pivoting to face me “That is obviously not true, have you seen how much I try”.

“You literally admitted to me that you became a cop because you wanted to be like your late sister,” I say.

Anton sighs “Well yeah but I do still want to be a cop”.

“I believe that at first you genuinely wanted to be a cop,” I say “But, not even now, but probably for a few years, you have been dreading being an officer”.

“And why would I do that?” Anton asks “And what proof do you have?”.

“I mean literally yesterday you asked us what was a good place to go because you were tired of your job, what more do I need?” I say.

“People need breaks you know,” Anton says

“But you took one a few days before that as well didn't you?” I ask “You said that you have breaks on Sunday but you are a police officer, well you were one, unless you specifically asked I wouldn't think that you would be off duty”.

“Ok well fine you caught me,” Anton says “What are you going to do now?”.

“Ask you to go to a therapist?” I guess.

“What?” Anton asks.

“Well I'm not a registered therapist and having someone else to talk to who is by law can’t put it against you,” I say.

“It’s a waste of time and money,” Anton says.

“Both of which you have an abundance of now,” I say.

Anton is about to say something but then stops.

“Alright, so you got that right?” I ask.

“I guess,” Anton says.

“Oh and also,” I say “You know what you’re doing about Daitan?”.

“You’ve talked to Atsuo right?” Anton asks.

“I guess”.

“Does she like me or not?”.

“Um no” I lie, I think.

“Oh”.

(I really want to know, should I do this more where there is no name between two people, I know it’s a bit late into the story but I just want to know if I decide to make a new story”.

“So yeah give her a chance,” I say “Daitan I mean”.

Anton stays silent.

“Also could I use your car to go and get something from 7/11 real quick?” I ask.

“I guess but make sure the car doesn't get damaged,” Anton says.

“Promise,” I say.

I’ll be the one that gets damaged

As if I wasn't already damaged

I went outside Anton’s room to find Reina and Jiro still complaining to that Houyuu Kensetsu company.

I look at Reina's door, the thing that has been causing everyone else so much trouble, and then I realize something.

I start to remove all of the “Fixes” from the door with some of the practice I got from yesterday.

“Hey, what are you doing?” Reina asks, understandably.

“Let him cook,” Jiro says.

“What the hell does that even mean,” Reina asks “We ate day-old pizza because none of us can cook”.

I finished unfixing the door after a while.

“Why did you do that?” Reina asks “We have just wasted days of work”.

“Hey, whenever you are going out of your room, just say I’m coming out,” I say.

“Oh, she already has,” Jiro jokes.

“You have to,” I say.

“Ok but that still doesn't fix the door,” Reina says “What if I forget and I hit you again”.

“It’s not like that instantly kills me,” I say “It’s starting to actually be funny”.

Reina is about to say something but then has a face of realization.

“It’s an analogy,” Reina says.

“Of what?” Jiro asks

“Basically, you know how some people put their kids into some therapy thing to quote on quote fix them but it actually makes things worse?” Reina says “This is that”.

“You know I kinda hate analogies,” Jiro says “Instead of doing an analogy, just show me the actual thing”.

“But for something that is still socially unacceptable that’s really the only way to do it, like did you know that high school musical is an analogy of bisexuality” Reina claims.

“Ah,” Jiro retorts “Bi-school-musical”.

“You stole that from the internet!” Reina exclaims, and then they both laugh.

I smile, then mumble to myself “Guess this will be the last time I’ll see you guys”.

I start to walk out, and both of them seem to not notice me saying that.

Go to the car, turn the car on, and drive to that bridge from all of those days ago.

“Feels like just yesterday,” I say.

The night sky with its lack of stars in the sky “Time flies huh” I say.

The plan, just wait for a car to drive onto this street and jump in front of the car before that person can react, I don’t care about the repercussions, I'm sure that they can prove that I threw myself onto the road.

I wait for a few minutes and see some headlights coming in.

I prepare a bit to jump into the street and jump.

I smile, “It’s quite a fitting end for me,” I say.

Then the car stops in almost an instant.

I am about to try to, idk, take out the tire and crush myself when the person in the car comes out.

“Atuso?”.