A little around a month and a half passed after that hellish week of exams, and everything seemed to settle down quite nicely. The cold air of the ber months started to roll in - bringing with it a quiet sense of calm.
The holidays.
Probably the most eventful and anticipated part of the year. The sound of children singing carols echoed down the streets, houses glowed with colorful lights, and Christmas trees brimmed with ornaments - all of it making you feel the season's spirit.
And there's me, watching it all unfold from the window - and her, with that Christmas tree she somehow pulled out of nowhere.
"Uh... Anathasia, I hope you don't mind me asking but..." I watched her carefully pick out ornaments for the tree, but... Why was she holding ghost-shaped ornaments? Didn't she know the difference between Christmas and Halloween?
"Don't you think you got the wrong decorations?" I continued, picking up one of the ghost-shaped ornaments and then showing her the actual ornaments used for Christmas.
She paused; I could clearly see the gears in her head turning. A look of realization washed over her before she promptly snapped the ghost-shaped ornaments out of existence.
Right, she wasn't just a girl, she was a cosmic anomaly in the form of a girl. I've been living with her long enough that I sometimes forget what she really was. With how she acts - forgetful, hating things like cucumbers, overly dramatic - it's hard to believe she's anything other than human.
"Right." she responded, looking at the undecorated tree before pulling out her phone, scrolling through her screen, seemingly looking for something.
"If you want, we could just buy them downtown, I'm planning on heading out for groceries anyways." I suggested, walking over to her and glancing at her phone screen. As expected, she was probably trying to figure out how to make those using her powers.
Hearing my suggestion, she perked up, then looked my way with that innocent look of excitement in her eyes.
"Is that okay?"
"Yeah, why not?"
"Really?"
"Really." I said with a nod, my arms crossed as I watched her put away her phone and tuck the rest of the ghost-shaped ornaments away in some sort of spatial subspace she had.
At this point, I wasn't really surprised anymore. Especially when she casually made things appear out of thin air just because she felt like it. Yet when it came to food, she prefers them either cooked by her or me; "because it tastes better when you make it yourself" or so she said.
But then again, she didn't really have that many opportunities to go downtown, not when I often insisted on doing the groceries myself, and well... I didn't trust her that much not to cause trouble while she's there. But this can serve as a change of pace.
"Alright, we'll head out in ten minutes, so get ready," I said, starting up stairs before pausing by the doorframe. "And don't change here, do it in your room."
It wasn't necessary to say, but she had this weird habit of changing wherever she was, all because she could conjure a set of clothes out of thin air. Still, that's a no from me.
She's smart - I figured she'd understand where I was coming from, or so I thought.
As we walked down the street downtown, she was strangely being quiet - something I wasn't used to since she'd usually talk about things which, I had little to comment on.
Considering this was one of the few times she actually got to go somewhere besides the campus or the house, I expected her to react a bit more... Excited? Maybe, or maybe I was just reading too much into it.
Her silence continued even as we reached the supermarket, which was starting to make me feel like there was definitely something wrong- but I pushed the thought aside, telling myself to be considerate.
After we bought everything on the list, we headed straight home. The silence on the way back felt louder than the cars passing us.
It was honestly getting unbearable, it felt like she was giving me the silent treatment, and I didn't even know what I'd done to deserve it.
Once home, I went straight to the kitchen to unpack everything. While doing so, I remembered the Christmas ornaments, the reason why she went shopping with me in the first place.
"Ah, Anathasia, here are those ornaments you wanted-"
"Just put them under the tree, I'll finish it when I feel like it."
And just like that, she cut me off and stormed into her room without another word.
"... what's gotten into her?" I muttered to myself, wondering what brought this sudden shift in her demeanor.
Usually after I got back from getting groceries, she'd either help with putting them on the fridge or checking if I bought cucumbers in secret, but strangely enough, this time, she didn't bother to. Instead, she was giving me the cold shoulder, which only deepened that feeling of having done something wrong without realizing it.
The thought kept gnawing at me, even as I prepared food.
"...ah," it bothered me enough to distract me even as I chopped the vegetables for dinner, only to realize I'd cut myself while I was lost in my own thoughts.
"Damn it... what's gotten into me..." I wrapped my wounded finger with a piece of cloth- just enough to stop the bleeding and simply went on with cooking dinner.
Christmas was only days away, and I didn't want to spend it feeling like this, I had to get to the bottom of what was really going on with her.
Or so
I thought, but that would prove to be more difficult than it seemed.