With the time spent going out and hanging out a lustrous time with Catrina, eventuality led to the both of them to head on back home. Cale stepped into the living room after arriving back
"..?"
A crumpled letter sat in the living room, clearly in misery from the individual who forcibly plucked it out of a textbook. taking off the slick white and black shoes he went to pick it up.
"Ah, so that's what it was"
The contents in the paper were in fact surprising to Cale, but also understandable
[Mom will be late since they called me to go back to work since there were more people at the Café than usual and needed the extra hands, I made you some pasta If you are hungry. I made this letter because you weren't answering your phone!]
'She did?'
He checked his phone. There were a lot, a lot of missed phone calls and messages
"Haaah"
A palm slapped disapprovingly on his forehead and then deciding to cease his thoughts, he went on to mind his own business and get on with already chaotic day
The word pasta hovered around him, his mouth salivated at the thought of filling his plate and plumping it up full with no restraint
No time was wasted, social batteries were swapped with batteries full of hunger and thirst to charge
Cale blew on the pasta, the warm steam hovering and dissipating with each lust-filled blow that threatened to eat it all up
"This is so good~"
Every braincell held a festival at the welcome guest that influenced their taste buds with pure undiluted dopamine
Murmurs quietly exited the festival hosted by the mouth as the continued to swallow in crisp silence. Deep in his mind though. Cale anxiously? awaited for the day to pass and mentally prepare himself for whatever bullshit tomorrow might curve ball with him.
***
Outside of Gardenia High School, a weak drizzle resistingly pounded against the hard floor, the thirst filled plants happily gulped all the liquid down to their roots for growth
Cale stayed sitted next to the window, trying to catch a whiff of those humanoid monsters but no matter how long time was wasted waited not a single glimpse of them could be caught in high quality anywhere in Gardenia.
'Where are they?'
It didn't make sense, not in the least. Ever since Yesterday they were no where to he found, at one point. Cale even thought that they might just be actually gone, or at least...gone from the perimeters of the school
'Are they avoiding the building?'
Yesterday one of them killed some of the sludge like monsters, but afterwards they completely stopped and avoided the school building entirely.
'Now why is that?'
They were avoiding something and Cale needed to know what exactly they were avoiding at all costs.
Rooms where checked twice when setting a step forward
The cafeteria stuffingly became more crowded than yesterday but the Sludges that were there didn't move around, they just sat In silence, some even curled up in a ball. A weird sight to Cale
'They are like stray animals...'
The creatures that were so scary before were now laying on the ground, disheveled and wimply quivering with fear
'Now that I think about it... Where is that Sludge from Yesterday?'
No matter where in the building he went. It couldn't be found at all.
"Hmm?"
Cale cocked his head at the motionless Sludges and realized a detail, something that wouldn't have been able to been noticed unless one took a closer look at them.
'They have different shades of colors?'
The sludges bodies weren't all the same, for example some Sludge's bodies color were more dark green than others, some had small horns that protruded from different parts of their body with a variety of different colors on them. Some even had small tails stuck to them. They were all different in some shape or form.
It felt like walking in a mismanaged zoo, not wanting to stay longer, he reached for the exit, but before he could yank open the door. Cale caught a glimpse at the edge of his eye, a glimpse of a figure patrolling through the Cafeteria.
'A teacher...'
Wearing a neat black suit with blue stripes. Its body resembled a human's, however it wasn't anything like a human.
'A dragon?'
That's the only accurate description he could give based on limited fantasy knowledge on dragons.
Cale read mystery novels, not medieval-fantasy ones, they were simply not suited to his tastes as a reader is all
'Well Information about dragons isn't really consistent to my knowledge...actually now that I take a second look at that thing...It looks more like a Lizard. Doesn't it?'
Black Scales shimmered like jewels on its body with the end of his horns and tail changing its color from black to a blue hue. Eyes electrifyingly purple
The teacher passed by Cale, utterly ignoring his existence all together. Its tail swayed with each step, waving and slithering like a snake.
'He was one of the people who were behind Zenox when he gave his speech.'
Other than that time, it had never been seen again, not even yesterday, which should of been its den by all means.
[Hm? Bringam Is that you? what are you doing so early here patrolling?]
A mucus-like creature greeted brightly at 'Bringam'
'A green blob runs the cafeteria?' Was Cale's first thoughts when reaching the cafeteria yesterday to see who even runs something like this in the first place.
'It looks like a Sludge monster that you'd find In a poison swamp while playing a game...'
If the other monsters he had seen weren't a Sludge, this thing was 100 and 10% definitely the living embodiment of Sludge.
[I'm not...I'm just here to ask you to give me a double-patty burger since I didn't eat anything this morning]
Bringam answered, sounding tired for whatever the reason may be.
[Ho Ho Ho, that's not really healthy you know? Well I'll whip you up a burger!]
[Ah, don't put tomatoes or onions on it]
[Got it!]
Cale lingered in the cafeteria longer than expected, but eventually he left Bringam back at the cafeteria run by a monster who knew how to cook than most humans
The urge to question the teacher and make him spill his secrets did surface above his rationale but it plunged into the trenches just as fast as it resurfaced.
'I don't have nine lives for that recklessness'
The only time Cale would willingly go up to him and question the slit-eyed lizard was If he had over a thousand lives at his immediate disposal, but even then hesitation was likely to win.
'Anything could happen after all'
Of course If there was a way to do it guaranteeing safety. Cale would definitely risk because of his curiosity to know more of Gardenia but otherwise
'I wouldn't do it'
A life was left dangling on a thin line here, how could anyone risk it for something that wouldn't allow them to gain anything significant.
Dong~ Dong~
Dong~ Dong~
A bell rang from a distance. It wasn't the School bell. But based on yesterday whenever that bell rang. It would signal the return back to Cale's world.
'It overlaps with the School bells though, so it's difficult to tell If It's ringing when you're Inside the school. I only found out because I went outside'
Trrr~
Trrr~
The school bells, though delayed for a few seconds started ringing as well, overlapping with the other Bell's ringing and drowning its sound out.
Shutting his eyes closed. Cale waited for a few seconds before opening them again to see if he returned
And in one piece did he return, though was the goal for today accomplished?
'Can this be considered a fail?'
Cale tried to spot the humanoid monsters in order to observe their behavior and attempt to at least spot any weakness and see how strong they really were.
However they couldn't be spotted at all during recess, but Cale still thrived and survived in the end which didn't make it seem like he failed In the long run.
'What now?'
'Ideas without risking my life' were presented in an imaginary council conjured by his brain, each braincell argued and objected to every idea, however one unorthodox brain cell came up with a dangerous yet milkable idea
"Wait I have an Idea" The conjured maniacal Cale spoke to the council of thousands of dozing Cales
"Oh? Do tell us your idea even when the geniuses here can't solve, crazy bastard" The wise Cale spoke to Ma-Cale
"Don't listen to him Wi-Cale! He's just a maniac that would throw someone off a cliff when he could!" The intelligent Cale pleaded with Wi-Cale
"In my defense, that girl was our crush who rejected us" Ma-Cale shrugged the defamation he faced
"You said you'd do a harmless prank! Not try to commit attempted murder in broad daylight?!"
Ma-Cale's tongue snapped in defense
"I object! My actions were justified! I would have accepted her rejection if she just came clean about it, but she had the gall to call us out on a date then make us! US! The goddamn third wheel in someone else's date!!!"
THUD!
Ma-Cale banged on the conjured wooden table
"But even then. I still held myself back! If she just did-"
"Enough!"
Wi-Cale caught Ma-Cale mid-sentence
"That is a thing of the past, we are wiser than our past, so let us stick to the origin topic of today"
"Yes..."
"You two"
"..?"
"??"
Both of them looked at Wi-Cale
"Apologize and hug each other"
"No"
"Wi-Cale, as the most intelligent one here, we should stick to the main topic"
The wise Cale drooped slightly
Int-Cale fixed his hollow glasses on the bridge of his nose, nodding at Ma-Cale to continue
Ma-Cale understood and began patiently to unravel his case to everyone...Who were all sleeping since it had nothing to do with them since they were all in charge of different things
"Here is what I think we should do..."
The idea was... reckless to say the least, but safe in the long term at the same time. It was akin to walking on a extremely high, narrow and dangerous mountain pass but you were also wearing a parachute in case something went wrong during hiking.
"Your wise excellency, we can not stay in our turtle shell forever. We must counterattack while they still underestimate our wits!" The humanoid monsters don't even know Cale's name and that he ever existed
"You make a convincing argument but what happens when we die? Have you thought of that?"
"Then we just die" Ma-Cale scoffed as if it were obvious
"What?"
"Does anything change if we just stay in one place? The contents of the letter that cursed us here is already evidence that there were predecessors before us, no? Don't you think they would think staying in one place?"
"Yeah but we don't know what exactly happened to them???"
Ma-Cale sighed
"Your argument is like saying 'where did the sandwich I just ate go?"
"????"
The face of Int-Cale distorted, to his ears. It was like hearing someone genuinely believe that numbers cannot be counted infinitely because 'humans can't count that high'
"That has nothi-!"
"Ah ah ah!!! No talking when the defense is speaking"
"What defens-?!!"
"Now Wi-Cale, what is your verdict on this?"
He bowed to the judge after pleading his case to, abruptly cutting Wi-Cale off again
"Hmm"
Wi-Cale thought for a while before finally landing onto a decision
"Everyone!"
Every braincell in the council woke up
"We have reached a verdict!"
'We did?!' Int-Cale felt his stomach drop
"Now we shall strike and research our enemies and weakness! Prepare to flee when we see them!"
Scrambling themselves up, they prepared and moved busily about
All but one
"Huam, hm?"
Lazily prying an eye open, Mystery Novel Enthusiast Cale looked at the chaotic scene below, yawning at the sight but still managing to wring out a sentence
"I feel like this is going to go so wrong"
While he did want to contribute, he also wanted some shut eye
"We won't die...The plot needs to move doesn't it?"
He tucked himself with a warm blanket and fell asleep. Completely forgetting that in the end of a novel, some times.
Even the main character may have to die for the plot