It took them a while to get away from Tulin Auntie.
They had to listen to a story about how, back when she was young, she once ran through the streets after a handsome man herself.
Luckily, Tulin Auntie was the kind of person who let people go once she realized they were tired or just didn't want to listen.
Even though having someone constantly watching her could feel a bit suffocating at times, having someone watching to protect her made Chiaya feel safe.
It was one of her favorite things about the neighborhood.
They were finally going to take a shower and sleep.
This time, Chiaya went in first.
Even though it had only been one day, she had already dropped the polite guest act.
When she came out of the bathroom and Karan saw the steam, he asked,
"I didn't know there was hot water."
"What do you mean you didn't know there was hot water? You really showered with cold water this morning? In this weather?"
Chiaya couldn't decide if she was more upset that Karan had showered with cold water, or angry at herself for not realizing it.
The next morning, Chiaya woke up to the sound of the door opening.
Someone had come into the house!
Whenever she heard a sound at the door, Chiaya would jump out of bed, grab the first thing she could find, and rush toward it.
She didn't even know why she did that—
after all, an intruder wouldn't see her and just run away in fear.
Pretending to be asleep was probably the smarter move.
But Chiaya had a kind of brave stupidity when it came to things like this.
One time, she'd run to the door with a plastic hanger in her hand.
What was she even planning to do with it?
Poke the guy? Scratch his back?
Thankfully, none of her door-rushing moments had ever ended with someone actually trying to break in.
If they had, she would've been a dead woman by now.
This time, she was holding a pair of scissors.
She quickly got up to check—and saw Karan coming in.
"Did I wake you up?" he asked. "I went out this morning to get a few things. I'm sorry, I took your key without asking. I didn't want to wake you, but I guess it didn't really work."
"Why are you holding a pair of scissors?" Karan asked.
It was only then that Chiaya realized what she was holding.
"Nothing," she said, setting the scissors aside.
Karan had bought sandwiches and coffees from a food stand.
When she opened the package, Chiaya smiled and asked,
"Who's going to eat all four sandwiches?"
"I've never seen you eat just one thing," he said. "Since I don't really know what you eat or don't eat, this seemed like the safest choice.
And don't worry, I didn't forget to leave a tip, Chiaya the Sage."
Even though Chiaya teased him, she was very happy to be eating four different kinds of sandwiches.
While they were eating, Karan asked,
"Humans don't cook at home?"
Karan's observation was based only on Chiaya, since he hadn't seen anything but coffee at her place.
"They do," Chiaya answered, "but it takes too much effort.
I don't want to spend hours on something I'll finish in 20 minutes."
"Are you rich?" Karan asked.
"No, of course not. Haven't you seen my apartment? If I were rich, do you think I'd live here?"
"Yours is the only home I've seen, so how would I know what a rich human's house looks like?"
"I'll show you one when we see it," she said with a smile.
"By the way, Karan... I told you we're meeting my friends today, remember?"
"Yes. You also said we'd be practicing lies," Karan replied.
Chiaya felt a little embarrassed, but she had no other choice.
If they knew the truth, they'd tear her apart—
and honestly, they'd be right to.
She could already hear Buse's voice in her head:
What were you thinking, Chiaya? Bringing a complete stranger—clearly schizophrenic—into your home?
What if he saw you as a threat and attacked you? Are you stupid?
What would she even say in response?
"He protected me all night and seemed trustworthy, so I thought it was a good idea"?
Her friends would absolutely destroy her.
And if she didn't take Karan to the meetup, she wouldn't be able to answer all the questions that would come afterward.
At least if Karan was there, they wouldn't dig too deep.
"I told them you came to work for a short time at an action figure store.
Just for the opening week—you're here to hand out flyers and roleplay as a fantasy character.
That explains why you dress differently."Out of all the questions he had asked so far, this was probably the hardest one to answer.
And it opened the door to a whole set of new ones—
What is a video game? What is anime? What is a comic?
Still, at least the lie was starting to build its own foundation.
Not a total waste of time, Chiaya thought.
When Karan learned that people liked keeping small figures of characters they loved in their homes, he was surprised at first.
Then he remembered the children's toys in Narval— kids there played with small statues of giant, colorful beasts.
Maybe humans never really grow out of that part of childhood, he thought.
If he found out that some people never even played with the figures and just kept them sealed in their boxes, he probably wouldn't be able to make sense of it at all.
Without realizing it, hours had passed.
Chiaya said, "We can head out a bit early. I'll show you around a little," and went to get ready.
When she came back, she saw Karan putting on his vambraces and belt.
"Oh no, Karan—please, you can't go out wearing those today," she said.
"What happened to 'you should wear what feels right'?" Karan asked with a grin.
"Not today!" Chiaya shouted.