Chapter Text
“Noelle, you can’t be serious!”
Berdly put his hands on his hips and gave Noelle a hard stare. Noelle avoided his gaze and attempted to tuck a strand of long blonde hair behind her ear. It fell loose by the time she placed her books in her bag, obscuring her face a bit.
“W-Well, I was just thinking… it couldn’t hurt, right?” Noelle stammered. Berdly made a big show of rolling his eyes as he collected the papers that were scattered around his desk.
The school day had ended 10 minutes ago, and Berdly and Noelle were the last two students in the room. Alphys had barely mumbled out a “Have a happy weekend” before the other monsters bum-rushed the door.
Berdly had stayed behind to ask their teacher when the next academic decathlon meeting would be held (Alphys: Did we ever run a c-club like that?) and Noelle, being the kind-hearted friend that she was, had stayed behind to wait for him. However, as they were packing up to go, Noelle had sprung an absolutely ludicrous idea on him.
“Just the idea of it… working alongside those two … I can feel my IQ points decreasing!” Berdly said.
“C’mon Berdly, it w-would be a lot less work to have 4 people working on a project.”
“Ha! Like we’ve ever needed school to be even easier ! We’re already too overleveled for anything Ms. Alphys could throw at us. Working with those two would be an unnecessary trifle upon our perfect partnership!”
Berdly gave a self-satisfied smirk and hoisted his bag above his shoulder.
“Besides, I already said I didn’t want Kris in our group when we started. Why do you want them in again?” Berdly asked, only half-curious.
“...well, this might sound kind of silly. But, um, do you remember when we fell asleep in the library?”
The two monsters hadn’t realized it yet, but their experience in the library was ingrained deeply into their memories. The dream only had to be faintly alluded to, for Berdly to hear the bustle of the cars in that digital city, smell the battery acid that permeated throughout the Queen’s mansion, and feel the sparks that buzzed in the air around him while he powered up his attacks.
He wouldn’t have admitted it to anyone, but parts of that adventure had been exciting. Even though the Queen had betrayed him, with her kidnapping of Noelle and her love of mobile games, he had enjoyed fighting and exploring.
In the present, Berdly adjusted his glasses.
“Vaguely,” he responded. “What about it?”
“When I was asleep, I had this dream… and Susie and Kris were there…”
Susie and Kris. Another two elements of his dream that Berdly wouldn’t be able to forget. (Berdly felt as though there was a third person with them, but he quickly brushed that aside.) At every turn, they had opposed him and ruined his plans. Their smarmy faces stared him dead on while they smashed their custom carts right into his, blowing it up. Susie had the gall to mock him when he had failed to do those rigged light puzzles like she could have done any better.
Between the two of them, Kris was the worst offender. Constantly throwing their arm out, commanding their party members like some sort of leader! Solving puzzles in front of Berdly to rub it in his face! Getting Noelle to turn against him even when he was only trying to protect her! Kris strutted through that dream like they didn’t have a care in the world, and it seriously ruffled Berdly’s feathers.
Yet, those dream versions of Kris and Susie had also surprised Berdly. Dream Kris won him a stuffed animal in his likeness. Dream Susie had been all for his plan to save Noelle. And when he told them about the spelling bee, neither one of them had insulted or made fun of him. Dream Susie had been… understanding? Telling him that he didn’t need to be smart all the time and that he would still be respected if he was stupid. She was so confident and strong, Berdly could see why his dream self was so smitten.
Wait. Berdly shook his head. What was he thinking? Having those feelings for Susie of all people. It must have just been the strange nature of dreams, Berdly rationalized. There’s no way that he’d ever actually fall for her in real life. The day after the library event, he had kept an eye on Susie the whole class and as he’d suspected, no romantic feelings ever struck. Besides, she probably wasn’t even a gamer in real life.
Berdly dimly realized that, as he’d been on an intellectual journey through his own psyche, Noelle had still been speaking. To the unenlightened, it would have seemed like he had been spacing out! Berdly adjusted his focus back to his friend and tuned in to catch the end of her explanation.
“S-So I just think that… maybe we could try doing some stuff together. Like as a group, y’know? With Susie and Kris.”
Berdly placed his hand on his chin and looked up into nothing, buying him some time to come up with a response.
“Say no more Noelle. I think I get the gist of it.”
“Really?”
“Mhm. You’re obviously worried about your childhood friend Kris spending so much time with the class brute and you want to make sure they’re alright! I understand your concerns, Susan’s quite the frightening monster. Who knows what she’s making Kris do when they’re alone?”
“U-Um, that’s not really, well, I am c-curious about Kris, but they’re-”
“They’re in potential danger! And a friend/rival in need is a friend/rival indeed! Very well, if Ms. Alphys agrees to it, I have no problems inviting them to our group.”
“Oh, uh, t-thanks!” said Noelle, zipping her bag shut. “I already asked Ms. Alphys, she said it was alright! Thanks again Berdly, I’m gonna go ask Susie.”
Noelle hurried out of the room, stopping at the door to ask Berdly one last question.
“We’re still going to meet at the computer room today, right? I’ll catch you there!”
Berdly’s project partner dashed out before he could get a word out.
On the short walk to the library, Berdly ruminated about the possibility that he’d have to work alongside Kris Dreemurr, his old childhood rival. Back when they were all kids, Kris was consistently causing some sort of trouble. For some reason or another, they had always been put in the same homeroom together.
Berdly couldn’t remember a time when they hadn’t been competing in something. During tests and projects, Berdly tried his best to get the highest grades in their class, studying as much as he could in between sessions of Super Smashing Fighters. And yet, when all the grades were tallied up, the class rankings always, always, came out to be:
1# Noelle
2# Kris
3# Berdly
Kris was always just a few points ahead. And even when Berdly tried to flex his superior gaming skills in a game of Super Smashing Fighters or Mobster Kart, Kris still managed to beat him more often than not! Berdly couldn’t even tell Kris off for cheating, or else their older brother would appear and ask what all the “hubbub was about?” The “hubbub” was about your CHEATING SIBLING Asriel!
Berdly took a second from introspecting to wonder what he was doing. He hadn’t really thought about Kris in a while. He huffed and shook his head while he walked.
“I guess I’m just as susceptible to dreams as you, Noelle…” he mumbled.
Kris had faded into the background over the years. If they hadn’t sat literally right behind him, he probably would’ve forgotten about their existence. He supposed that’s what happened to the people who couldn’t keep up with their academics and always showed up late to class.
Somebody like that working on a project with him… it was hard to believe Noelle had talked him into it. But he had to admit that all this reminiscing had made him a bit curious about how his old rival was doing.
He quietly wondered if Noelle could really convince Kris to join their group.
“Thanks for the help, Kris! My salsa’s lookin’ better than ever!”
Lancer bounced up and down, holding a jar of black and red goop labeled ‘The Squishy Batch.’ On the table behind him were a couple of Suite Peppers chopped into little pieces by Lancer’s lesser dad. The human Lightner had obtained the ingredients at the Party Dojo as a prize for beating the Swatchlings at a dusting competition.
Kris nodded as Lancer grabbed a handful of Pokurr Chips from a bowl under his bed and dipped them into the goop.
“Mmmmm, that’s tasty! It’s like my mouth’s having a party that went on past midnight!”’
Kris raised an eyebrow at the Darkner Prince while he swallowed down the last of his snack.
“It’s got a weird aftertaste,” he explained. “I like it!”
“Hey, is someone eating salsa without me?”
Lancer’s door slammed open with a loud SQUELCH as a familiar purple Lightner entered the room.
Susie, in the typical black vest and spiked bracelets that made up her dark world outfit, gave Lancer a toothy grin before shifting her attention to the other person in the room.
“Kris, you didn’t tell me you were helping Lancer make a new batch! I bet you were gonna hog all the good stuff to yourself, knucklehead!”
Susie laughed while punching Kris in the shoulder. Lancer smiled and pulled yet another jar out from somewhere.
“Don’t worry Susie! I made sure to get you your own jar of salsa! Special ‘bad guy blend’!”
He waddled up to Susie and placed the jar in her large hand.
“Nice, I’m gonna try some right now!”
Susie scooped out a large handful of the salsa and slammed it into her maw. The sounds of slurping salsa echoed strongly throughout the room. Kris watched as Susie’s expression slowly turned from ‘happy’ to ‘shocked’ before finally settling on a grim smile.
“...not bad. Not as good as your last recipe though.”
“Hm, you think so?” Lancer tilted his head, sticking out his tongue in thought. “Maybe that’s the extra kick I gave yours.”
“Nah, the kick is awesome. Feels like my mouth is kicking its own ass! It’s probably too sweet for me.”
Susie pocketed the jar and placed her non-salsa hand on Lancer’s head while wiping the other one on her pants.
“Thanks a lot, little dude. I’m definitely gonna enjoy this later. Oh, by the way, Kris, Ralsei said he wanted to meet us in the town square. I’m guessing that the swatchlings want us to destroy something so they can clean it up again.”
After their adventure in the library, Kris and Susie had been spending their free time in the dark world’s Castle Town, helping the Darkners with their problems and suggestions. The new influx of citizens had caused a number of complications within the town, not the least of which was helped by the addition of yet another evil tyrant. The first day back in Castle Town was dedicated solely to convincing the Queen that she couldn’t rule over all the dark world’s inhabitants again.
Besides Queen, the rest of the Darkners’ problems were small requests that Kris, Susie, and Ralsei would try to hear out. The cafe asked for more ingredients to make tea, the dojo wanted a new disco ball, the bakery filed a restraining order for a chef that wouldn’t stop crying: most Darkners had some sort of demand that the Lightners tried to fulfill.
Ralsei set up a bulletin board in front of the castle for the citizens to leave their requests, which made their meeting with him seem all the more curious. If it was another request, they could’ve just checked it on the board.
Kris nodded and left Lancer’s room with Susie, waving goodbye to the young prince.
“See ya Lightners! Say hi to toothpaste boy for me!”
Ralsei was found in the center of Castle Town, sound asleep; his fluffy frame leaning against the cafe. Another citizen of Castle Town had tied a marker to one of his horns, with a post-it note on his forehead stating “Draw here!” Nobody had heeded the note any mind, and the rest of the citizens had let the sleeping prince be. Except for Susie who, upon returning to the town square with Kris, immediately drew a mustache on Ralsei’s fluffy white fur.
After completing her work and removing the post-it, Susie extended her arms as far back as they would go and brought them together with a resounding CLAP, right next to Ralsei’s ear. The fluffy prince instinctively jumped back, slamming right into the wall he was leaning against, causing him to hit his head and fall over.
“Wake up nerd!! I only left like 5 minutes ago!”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Susie! I didn’t think you’d be back so soon.” Susie huffed and held out her hand. Ralsei happily grabbed it, letting Susie pull him to his feet.
“Howdy Kris!” Ralsei beamed. “How did Lancer’s cooking turn out?”
“It was alright but way too sweet. He gave me my own jar.” Susie held out her container of gunk and started swigging it.
“That’s good! I was worried that he wouldn’t have enough ingredients for it!”
Susie took a breath and wiped the remaining salsa from her mouth. She put away the jar.
“So what didja want to talk about? Did somebody make another request? I swear, if this is that stupid trash can trying to set up another speed dating event...”
Ralsei shook his head, swinging the marker that still dangled there back and forth.
“No, it’s nothing like that! Also I told him that he can’t set those up anymore,” Ralsei mumbled. “I was just wondering something…”
“What?”
“I was thinking… maybe you guys should… take a break? You’ve been working non-stop since we finished our adventure in the library, and I just hope you’re not tired out.”
“Us? Tired out?” Susie laughed uproariously. “No way! Kris and I are always hype to do stuff in the dark world, right Kris?” She punctuated Kris’s name with a series of punches to their already bruised shoulder.
“Besides, it’s not like we’ve got anything better to do.”
“What about your project?” Ralsei asked.
Susie stared at him with a blank face, her arm frozen mid-punch. When the realization hit, she let out a long groan and threw up her hands.
“AH FUCK! Kris, we totally forgot about that! Goddamn, we haven’t touched our project in like 2 days!”
Kris raised their eyebrow at her use of the word “we.”
“Susie! Kris! I thought you two were working on it outside of the dark world!” Ralsei chastised.
“Well, uh, we already have like the base done? We just gotta add the, um... everything.”
Ralsei scrunched up his cute face.
“OKAY SO MAYBE WE DIDN’T START IT AT ALL! We can just work on it later.”
“Then I’m making a decree, as your prince, that you cannot return here until your project is done! That’s a royal order!”
“Didn’t you already try to banish us until we completed our project?” Susie asked.
“Um, maybe? B-But this time I really mean it! Finish your assignment and then you can come back!” Ralsei proclaimed, taking a confident looking stance.
“Tch. FINE. We’ll do the stupid project and be back later. C’mon Kris,” Susie said, herding her friend towards the exit.
“Bye guys! Good luck on your assignment!” Ralsei waved and called out to them.
“See ya, mustache boy,” Susie called back.
“Mustache boy?” Ralsei reached up and felt his upper lip.
Kris and Susie reached the entrance to the light world. They stood in the luminescent pillar, letting the brightness wash over them. Kris felt their body being lifted off the ground. Then…
“FUCK!”
Susie and Kris burst out of the closet, limbs tangled and hair in each other’s faces. Fortunately for them, there wasn’t anyone in front of the school’s closet to witness the two students struggling to detangle themselves in a heap on the ground.
“That wasn’t our best landing,” Kris said, spitting Susie’s hair out of their mouth.
“Get offa me.” Susie pushed Kris to the side and got off the floor.
“Dammit… now I want some apple juice.”
“We should get some from the store on our way to my house,” Kris suggested. They coughed, clearing out their coarse throat.
“Sure, if you’re paying.” Susie grabbed Kris by the collar and lifted them to their feet. “So... I guess we really have to do our project now.”
Kris shrugged.
“Dammit, there’s really no way around it. Ralsei’s gonna get on our case if we go back there without doing our homework. Maybe we can-”
“S-Susie! Kris!”
The duo turned their heads to see a familiar deer running at them in the hallway as though they were wild animals ready to bolt. Noelle stopped only a few inches short of Susie’s massive frame, looking down at her feet as she approached.
“T-There you are… I was looking for you all over…” Noelle said, continuing to stare straight down.
“Uh, you were? Why?” Susie asked.
“I was w-wond-” Noelle turned her head up to make eye contact, suddenly noticing the close proximity she had to Susie. She turned bright red and took a few steps back. Susie scratched the back of her head, taking her turn to avoid eye contact. Kris stood there.
“Well, uh, I was wondering how your project was going?” Noelle said.
“Our project? Um…” Susie glanced at Kris. Kris offered a modest shrug. She glared at them.
“It’s… great? I mean, we kinda just started but-”
“Oh, that’s perfect!” Noelle said. Susie raised her eyebrows.
“Wait, I-I don’t mean it’s perfect that you just started! I mean, uh…”
A long pause halted the conversation as the three teenagers exchanged blank expressions. Noelle wiped her palms on her sweater and started again.
“Berdly and I were just w-wondering… if maybe… you’d want to join our group?”
“Huh? What’d you say?” Susie asked, leaning in closer to Noelle.
“You and Kris? W-W-Would you want to… j-join our group?” Noelle stammered.
“Oh. Uhhhhhhhhh-”
“Sure.”
Susie and Noelle turned to face the other potential group member in the room. Kris brushed their bangs out of their face and put their hands in their pockets.
“I don’t mind joining,” Kris said.
On hearing their partner’s words, Susie’s brain jumpstarted back into gear.
“Yeah! We can, uh, join your group or whatever. It’ll be like the last time when we were at the library.”
“Yep! Even though we didn’t really get anything done that time…” Noelle turned around to leave. “We’re meeting back at the computer room today. I-I’ll see you there!”
With those words she was gone, leaving Susie and Kris as the last people left in the school.
“...why’d she leave so fast? We’re going there now,” Susie murmured, plodding down the hall.
Berdly readjusted the position of his belongings on the library desk for the 4th time that minute. Checking his phone, Berdly noted the time. 3:14 pm. He sighed and put his phone back on the table. His shift at the library would be starting soon, and his partner had disappeared. Granted, he wouldn’t have to physically go anywhere, but it was still rude to be kept waiting.
“What’s keeping Noelle?” Berdly wondered aloud.
Kris and Susie, Berdly thought, answering his own question. He knew it was a bad idea to invite them to their group. Kris was probably tormenting her at that very moment! Berdly felt himself rush to his feet, ready to run out of the computer lab and protect his-
“Hey Berdly, I-”
Noelle entered the lab and was greeted with Berdly standing upright with a wild expression on his face.
“Oh… is everything alright?” Noelle asked. Berdly coughed into his fist and sat down quickly.
“Everything is superfluous, Noelle. Thank you for asking!”
“I didn’t keep you waiting, did I?”
“Not at all, milady. I am perfectly capable of entertaining myself while you’re gone. Why, it feels like I’ve only been here a few short moments.”
“Oh, that’s good.”
Now that Noelle had returned to the room, Berdly felt a strange sense of foreboding. It was familiar, and it took him a few seconds to place the sensation. The bright fluorescent lights of the lab felt dimmer when he remembered falling into that dark void. Noelle screaming as they dropped, Queen’s laughter echoing in the corridors… Berdly shook those thoughts from his head. He really needed to get over that dream.
Berdly glanced behind Noelle, spotting neither Kris nor Susan. His mouth curled up in a smug smile.
“It seems as though you were unsuccessful in recruiting new members for our project. What a shame…”
“Actually, I-”
The door to the computer lab crashed into the wall as Susie walked in, with a demure Kris following behind. Berdly’s smile fell into a frown.
“Yo Noelle!” Susie shouted. Noelle blushed and muttered a hi back.
“Hi,” Kris said, pulling their hand out of their pocket to wave. Without another word, Kris sat down at one of the library’s bulky computers and logged in. Susie, looking entirely unsure as to what to do with herself, sat down in an empty seat next to Kris. Noelle seated herself at the spot adjacent to Susie, leaving the chair beside Berdly completely empty.
“Susan. Kris.” Berdly said, eyes narrowing at the both of them. Kris silently waved again and went back to tapping keys on the keyboard.
“Hey, Berdly. Real, uh, nice of you guys to invite us to join your group,” Susie said.
“Hmph. You can thank my partner for that. This whole experiment was her idea.”
“Berdly!” Noelle cried out. Neither of the two new partners paid her any mind.
“So, uh, what’s this project supposed to, like, BE?” Susie asked.
A loud and obvious sigh exited Berdly’s beak as he shook his head at her.
“Asking such a stupid question on the third day of the project? Honestly, I shouldn’t even act surprised at your behavior. Though I guess I expected you to pay at least a small amount of... attention… in class… ”
He trailed off after noticing Susie snarling at him from behind her long bangs. Berdly suddenly felt glad that Kris was separating him from the rest of the group. A fist slammed down on the desks, rattling the keyboards and monitors laid atop it. Kris glanced over, but quickly returned to their screen.
“...so are you going to answer my question or am I gonna have to make shredded chicken?”
“Well, uh…”
“Berdly and I, um, researched a bunch of t-topics that we could do for our project. We can, uh, decide on one together and figure out, um, the actual project part… together.”
Noelle frantically pulled a sheet of paper from her folder and held it out to Susie.
“Potential Project Ideas” was written on the top in bright green calligraphy. Susie scanned through the list, rolling her eyes at most of the suggestions.
- Speedrun History Progression of Mobster Kart 6
- How To Spot Spliced Runs
- Theories and Speculations on “Tundra Eel Chapter 3”
Between the garbage scribbled in blue ink, one idea stood out to Susie.
“‘Holidays Around the Globe?’” she said inquisitively.
“Oh, I wrote that one. I thought it’d be kind of fun to look up some celebrations from other countries and re-enact them in class. There’s this one festival I read about where everyone in town will bring an ingredient to throw into a pot and they make a giant soup!” Noelle said.
“Huh, a whole day just to eat a giant pot of soup. I could get behind that,” Susie grinned.
“I’m not so sure. I mean, Noelle’s idea is brilliant, but I don’t think our classmates are smart enough to appreciate the value in studying other cultures,” Berdly quickly remarked.
The three monsters continued in that manner for a while: Susie reading off a suggestion, Noelle offering an explanation, and Berdly shooting it down. By Berdly’s fifth comment, Noelle and Susie were staring at him with varying levels of exasperation.
“...so it seems illogical, that we would discuss an issue like CLIMATE CHANGE, when there are other topics l-”
Susie slumped over on the table with a solid thump.
“Goddammit Berdly, you literally hate, like, everything on this list. You’re such a fucking dweeb.”
“I’m not a ‘dweeb,’ as you so eloquently put it, I just think that we should carefully consider every angle before we decide on a topic.”
“Fine, then ask Kris for their opinion,” Susie smirked.
“K-Kris?” Berdly looked at the blank expression facing the computer monitor.
“They’ve been on the internet the whole time,” Noelle said. “M-Maybe they, uh, found something on there?”
“Ha! Like Kris w-” Berdly cut himself off. For some reason, he felt hesitant to start criticizing them. After all, they had immediately started working as soon as they entered the lab. Maybe they had an idea they wanted to pursue. Visualizing his dream, Berdly remembered Kris, the confident, steely leader who took on everything with the same cool and collected demeanor.
“It’s... possible. Kris, what have you been working on?”
Berdly craned his head to look at Kris’s computer monitor.
“KRIS!! Have you been playing FunAlgebraGames this whole time!?”
On Kris’s monitor, the pastel colors of the kids educational website seemed to brighten up as the rest of the group leaned closer to their computer. A cooking simulator titled “ICE-E’S PEZZERIA” was displayed on the page. It seemed as though Kris had reached day 76 and their online pezzeria was filled to the brim with items and accessories. The incessant squawking from Berdly alerted Kris to the fact that all eyes were now on them.
“Did we decide on a topic yet?” Kris asked.
“Nah, Berdly has been bitching about all the good topics. And, uh, why were you playing a kids game?” Susie said.
“I’m good at it.”
“Tsk. That is so typical of you Kristiana-” Berdly started again.
“That’s not my name.” Kris interjected.
“-to waste your time playing games when the rest of us have been at least trying to make a decent presentation. You...you didn’t even get that far! I’ve reached level 85 in much less time.”
He took a moment to cross his arms and harden his annoyed face.
“I can’t even believe I expected you to have an idea in the first place. This whole 4 person group thing is such a bad idea.”
Berdly cast his angry eyes over everyone in the room: Noelle, for having initiated this, Susie, for having prolonged this, and Kris, for finally ending this whole charade.
“Noelle, I hope you realize that th-”
“I’ve got an idea for our project.” Kris interrupted. They felt the familiar burn of all eyes in the room boring into them as Berdly coughed out the last parts of his remaining sentence. When he regained communication abilities, he sat down before addressing Kris again.
“Y...You do?”
Kris nodded.
“We should do something about the War between Humans and Monsters.”
The first moment of unified silence swept over the group as they took in what Kris had suggested. Noelle was the first to speak up.
“The War between Humans and Monsters? From what I remember, that’s when they tried to seal us underground…”
“Uh, I don’t know about any of that. But war and shit sounds pretty cool,” Susie commented.
Berdly scratched the feathers on his chin, sincerely considering the project proposal.
“...that’s a pretty good idea. We could definitely create a satisfactory project using that concept! Heh, I-I bet I would’ve come up with something like that sooner or later,” Berdly said, hastily spitting out the last sentence.
“So, it’s settled then? Our project will be about the War between Humans and Monsters?”
The other group members nodded at Noelle as she wrote down the idea as a title on a piece of lined paper. She looked at the paper and smiled before tucking it away in a folder.
“Alright, I should probably head home soon! So unless anyone has anything else to add…?”
“No more addendums from me, Noelle. May the winds of fortune grant you a high luck stat on your way home,” Berdly said.
“Uh thanks???” Noelle brought her bag to the door and started to pack away her belongings. Susie let out a breath and put her hands behind her head, reclining in her seat.
“I guess that could’ve gone worse. Fuckin’ hate working on school shit after class. Makes me feel...itchy,” she said, scratching the back of her head. “Yo Kris, we still on to hang out at your house after this?”
Kris nodded, causing Susie to give a fist pump.
“Nice. I haven’t forgotten about that apple juice either. We gotta pick it up when we go.”
“You can sleepover again tonight,” Kris said, eyes still glued to the monitor.
For a second, Kris saw the cocky grin on Susie’s face shift to a slightly ajar mouth below wide eyes. She blinked a couple of times before turning to face Kris in her seat.
“Oh, uh… for real?”
Kris nodded again.
“Shit, well uh… Didn’t know you needed someone to watch TV with EVERY night, heh. If your mom is, uh, cool with it, then I guess I can stay over. C’mon, let’s head out.”
Kris moved their head to the left and witnessed Noelle enacting a great struggle with a candy-cane colored pencil that actively defied her attempts to stuff it into her bag.
“Wait for me outside,” they said, receiving raised eyebrows from Susie. “I have to beat this level.”
“Fine, dork,” she said, grinning as she pushed herself out of her chair. “Hey Noelle, you leaving now?”
Noelle took a break from her battle and stared directly at Susie, before looking around the room for any other potential Noelles she could have been addressing.
“Um, yeah. I g-guess I am…”
“You wanna head out to the front?”
“YES! Uh, I mean, sure!”
Susie shoved open the lab door allowing Noelle, who seemed to pack the writing utensil away with ease, to follow behind her. The two remaining members, Berdly and Kris, began the process of finishing their respective tasks. For the final few minutes of the meeting, Berdly had found himself lost in contemplation. Only when his original lab partner was gone did he turn his attention to the last person in the room. Kris’s expression divulged nothing, but Berdly felt himself prompted to speak up.
“You know Kris… that wasn’t a horrible, uh, suggestion you had today.”
“I’d hope not, everybody agreed to it,” Kris said, their simple statement leaving Berdly temporarily speechless for reasons not immediately clear to him. That was the most Kris had directly spoken to Berdly since they were both children. It shouldn’t have affected him so much, having a basic conversation with an old rival, and yet he couldn’t entirely deny the rise their words had.
“Yes, well… I may have… underestimated you a bit.”
Kris tilted their head at Berdly.
“A mistake I won’t be making again! I shouldn’t have assumed our rivalry was on pause just because we hadn’t directly competed for a while. Our last true clash was in a game of-”
“Super Smashing Fighters. You were Eagli, I was Lonk.”
Berdly thought he saw the beginnings of a smile cross Kris’s mouth briefly, neglecting to notice the smile forming on his own beak.
“Hmph. I remember it well! Our final battle and you only scraped by with a victory. Don’t think I’ll be nearly as defenseless this time! You won’t be able to just join our group expecting to ride the coattails of my genius-”
“That’s not why I joined, Berdly,” they cut in with an edge of irritation. Berdly was yet again taken aback, feeling bad for his assumption.
“O-Oh... Tell me Kris, why did you feel the need to join our esteemed project group?”
“Because Noelle asked. And…” Kris’s movements abruptly froze up, fingers hovering delicately over the keyboard.
“And? What is it?” Berdly prodded.
Kris remained still for a beat longer, before swiftly regaining life and logging off the computer.
“See you later,” they said, grabbing their belongings and leaving the computer lab in one motion.
The loud slam of the lab door faded, as soft computer hums filled the empty room. Berdly had never felt more confused in his entire life. He sat for a while by himself, processing the strange event that had transpired.
Typically when he was unsure or lost on something, he’d ask Noelle for her input. Yet, he felt unconfident that she’d be able to assist him in understanding Kris. They were childhood friends, that much he knew for sure, but this Kris seemed so different from the Kris he knew as a child.
There was one thing he was confident in as he left the lab and put on his work name tag that designated him as the ‘Head Librarian.’
He would discover what his old rival was hiding sooner or later.