Chapter 5: | Uninvited, Unrequited? (II: Fondness)
Maya crossed her arms and adopted a lecturing tone. "You're so helpless... Let me show you how to cook a real Adobo." she sighed, affixing an apron with a pink heart in the center of it around her waist. Loi was overcome with a rushing flashback to when he was young.
***
"Grandma Conching, your Adobo is the best!" a young Loi cheered. His grandmother paused and softly let her face slide into a reserved smile. "Loi, remember that grandma will always love you..." her words echoed. The young boy beamed at her. "I love you too, grandma!" he said, joyously.
***
'Now that grandma is gone, I feel so lonely...' his mind wandered. Reality began ebbing back in. "I'm done cooking~ Hurry! Try my Adobo!" Maya called to him, a melody in her voice. Loi took a careful bite and made sure to chew it well. He stopped chewing. 'This food... It's the same as grandma's cooking...' The pain of the memory pierced a gaping hole in his restraint and he began to cry, tears pouring down his face.
Maya slid up to him and tried to see how he was doing, subtlety at the wayside - she was laughing softly. She sensed neither protest nor sarcastic dismay. In their place was a deep and suffocating anguish. "Hey! Are you crying?" Maya asked, gently. "You can laugh all you want if that's what makes you happy... It must be SO funny to see a guy crying...is that it?" Loi sobbed. Maya's mouth was stuck in an "o" formation due to her blatant misunderstanding.
Softening her approach, she pulled the broken Loi into her arms. "You idiot...you don't need to hold back your tears... Cry it out...you suffer too much inside." she reassured him with a slight press. "That food was so delicious...thank you. By the way, you suck at haunting." he hiccupped between sobs.
Afternoon, following school, the next day. Kenta and Jaja burst through the doors exiting into the purest freedom they had felt at the institution in a while. "Finally, it's over!" Kenta exclaimed. "I passed the test!" screamed Jaja, ignoring the possibility that they may be getting strange looks. A crowd was gathering nearby, for some reason or another.
"There's so many people outside, what's with the commotion?" Loi commented, somewhat doggedly, before something very familiar came to his attention... 'Maya?! How did she get out here? More importantly, WHY did she come out here?!' his thoughts yelled. "Wow, she's beautiful...Is she a cosplayer? Cute..." the crowd was saying. The cluttered chattering of the crowd was that of commentary and praise for Maya?
Maya peered over past the group and caught a glimpse of the boy she'd come out just to see. "Loi!" she yelled in his direction with fervor, waving enthusiastically. Loi grit his teeth and pulled her aside when she grew near. "What are you doing here, outside of our school?! What if they notice that you're a real ghost?" he castigated in a hushed tone. "Don't worry, they're all distracted by my beauty..." Maya clipped back, with a snarky self-aggrandizing aire.
She shifted into a delicate and peaceful smile. "I just came to see your school..." she trailed off. "Don't bother coming here just to see our school," Loi dismissed, before wave of jealous eyes were cast upon him from somewhere nearby. 'I can feel the malicious aura of the forever alone boys...I'm sure that they're cursing me...' he thought, interlocking hands with the phantom surprise.
"Let's go home, Maya." he said - stern, unyielding, determined. "Eh? But...why?" Maya whined, confusion in her eyes. Kenta's face gleamed with streaming prideful tears. "A boy...is now a MAN." he said, sniffing deeply. Jaja shifted her eyes quizzically. "What are you even saying, Kenta?" she replied in a dropped manner, feigning her interest.
---
A deserted street in the midday sun, two voices, one ragged and burdened, the other slight and whimsical. Huffing and puffing from the spontaneous sprint he'd taken Maya for, Loi felt an overwhelming sense of relief. "Phew! We finally managed to escape the forever alone boys..." he coughed, hands clasped to his knees, fighting to still his anxious breathing. Maya looked across the street when something caught her eye and she fell madly into an instinctual longing...the allure of the most delectable food for which she could crave. One for which there could be no substitute... Cake.
Her eyes melted with confectionery lust as she beseeched Loi take her to it, only to receive a rather exasperated reply. "Need I remind you, I'm broke." Loi said, rolling his eyes into his cerebrum. Maya flung a desperate pleading look at him, honing her puppy dog eyes to 11, and then some. Loi brushed her away with a shy diversion. "Don't use that look on me, it's useless." he coldly stated. Maya threw herself in his sightlines once more and gathered all of the whimsy that she could muster, sparkling her eyes magically.
Loi stared at her as one would an object in the distance, studying it for a while. It was no use, he could not deny her request, she was simply too powerful. "I can't resist that...ugh." he groaned. Bells tinkled softly on the shop door as they exited, the cake wrapped carefully in a charming pink box adorned with a plaid ribbon. "Thank you, come again!" chimed the kind shop assistant, bidding them well before they went their merry way. Maya's visage shone a visible scorn and discontentment.
"Hey! You could at least be thankful that I still bought you some cake..." Loi carefully pointed out. "Hmpf!" Maya puffed, and spun haughtily around, making her contempt all the more identifiable. "What's with that attitude now, hey?!" Loi piped, irritably. She continued spinning, blissfully unaware just how dizzying this must all be. "I wanted the whole cake, you simply got me a slice. Since when does a mere piece of cake equal a whole, hm?" she jibed.
"Eh? By the way...that cake. You're sharing it with me." Loi stated plainly. "Whaaaaaaaaat?!" Maya yelled.
---
"What an exhausting day it has been," Loi sighed. Maya stared blankly ahead, her thoughts lost in the tide of an ocean called contemplation. 'I managed to leave the house today, but how exactly did I manage that - I couldn't leave before, people couldn't see me before... - could it be? no, that doesn't make sense. Even so...I can't shake this feeling that it was...the kiss. It's his kiss?! No, no. Let's be reasonable here, Maya. Then maybe...it's Loi's smut? Could it simply be Loi himself? Is he the cause of this new ability?'
Maya's thoughts swirled about as they headed into the house. "Or..." she immediately grew hot in the face, recollecting Loi changing during her ill-fated attempt at a surprise attack following his shower. "Kiiiiyaaa! NO! Not that! I can't handle that!" she cried to herself, swatting recklessly at the air, as to blow the mist of the memory away - Toink~ a light silencing hit atop her head. "Would you just shut up already? You're so noisy..." Loi griped.
'I don't know why...but when I'm with him, I feel so alive even though I'm a ghost.' Maya mused.
---
A shrill sound created a blanket of deafening din throughout her head and willed Maya awake. It was the alarm! Maya knew that alarms were usually important, and this was no time to wait around and discover why it was. "Loi, wake up." she urged. "Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!" she said, shaking him. "Hey, wake up...you're gonna be late." she finished.
A flushed and diaphoretic Loi creaked open his weary eyes. "Ugh, you're annoying, it's so early." he moaned, disconcertingly. "What time is it, even?" he asked, attempting to stand up, and promptly fell forward after coughing a few times. "Are you alright?" Maya asked, already helping him back into bed and covering him up. The poor boy looked disappointed, but also too worn out to carry on protesting. "You idiot! You're worrying me again! Forget school! I have to make you take a rest day, geez..." she said, less than pleased.
"Ta-da! I've made you some porridge to help you heal." Maya said, doting on the boy a smidge. Loi just lay there, flushing and confused. "Thank you, but what's with your outfit?" he asked, quietly. Maya stuck out her tongue goofily, her bandana augmented with a single red cross and her attire a purple scrub set - she was a nurse.
"Take that off! Wear your normal dress, Maya!" Loi snapped. Maya was slightly deflated, thinking that the play would help perk him up a bit - 'This is the kind of thing boys like, right? Wait - Kyaaa! We're DEFINITELY not like that...' Maya thought to herself. "Alright, don't get mad...I just wanted to tease you. It would only make sense that a pervert like you could be cured by seeing this sort of outfit..." she said, slightly pouting.
Loi stirred as he rested, his face glowing like magma. Maya simply attended him as he slept, unsure of how to proceed. "It's too hot..." Loi rasped, his throat hoarse from sheer fatigue. Maya also had cold sweats. "Ha? Hot? Okay, wait a minute..." she replied cautiously. As Maya helped Loi remove his shirt, the door to the room opened and brought Kenta and Jaja wishing him well...
"Loi...we were worried because you were absent, so we dropped by for a visit!" Kenta called through a closed-eye smile. Jaja simply stood in the doorway beside him, her mouth agape. Maya was holding Loi's shirt and he was lying in bed, appearing fully naked from the waist up. Jaja nudged Kenta and they both stared for a moment before making a hasty exit. "Sorry if we disturbed you!" they chimed, closing the door behind them in a start, Maya calling "Wait!" after them as they departed.
'It's a big misunderstanding...' Maya sighed internally. 'Now they probably think that I'm some kind of creepy pervert who undresses Loi when he's sleeping...what am I going to do? I'll just have to clear things up and tell them that I was cooling him down...because I was. That's right! I wasn't doing anything! Why, if it wasn't for that pervert getting sick...none of this would have even happened!' she resolved to say.
Kenta and Jaja walked beside one another on the pavement outside of Loi's, feeling somewhat confused. "I guess he's doing fine, right? We must've been worried for nothing." Kenta said, trailing off. "Anyway, let's just pretend that we didn't see anything today, sound good?" Jaja replied, her cheeks dotted with a warm blush.
"We'll just let them decide to tell people if it comes to it," Kenta started. "But to think...Maya and Loi...she's a ghost. How does that work, Jaja?" "I-I don't know." Jaja said, shifting her feet a little. "We'll leave that up to those two to figure out. Deal? I mean it, Kenta. Don't go stirring the pot or you'll only make trouble."
Kenta was not one known for his restraint, but anyone with eyes to his actions could see that he'd always considered Jaja's input a mite more highly than others. Loi can have his moment, but if wheels were in motion and denial was the word of the day, he couldn't be blamed if he resolved to give them a little push. After all, he could see Loi warming up to her. Maya just needed to see it too.
Maybe he'd have to convince Jaja that this was a good thing... Kenta wasn't quite sure just what he'd do yet, but one thing was for certain. His friend would be closely under his and Jaja's watch as time went on.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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