Chapter Text
The steady sound of the moving truck driving down the road had Aphmau zoned out, leaning her head against the window as she stared out at the houses and people. They had been driving for several hours at this point and Aphmau was getting sick of being in the cramped moving truck. She leaned her head against the window, feeling the steady bumping of the truck on the road against her body almost made her start to doze off. She quickly snapped back into reality when she realized they had taken a wrong turn… again. She may have not been in Phoenix Drop since high school, but she still knew the directions relatively well. “Katelyn, are we going the right way?”
Katelyn, the one who had been driving because she didn’t trust Aphmau or Kawaii~Chan to drive, didn’t take her eyes off the road as she answered. “Aphmau of course we’re going the right way. I would never get us lost.”
The Meif’wa sitting in between the two piped up. “Katelyn~Sama… the three of us got lost twenty minutes ago…”
Katelyn huffed, taking one of her hands off the wheel to shoo her off. “That wasn’t getting lost. We simply got turned around. There’s a big difference.”
“Katelyn I think that’s the definition of getting lost,” Aphmau let out a slight laugh before turning to look back out the window. “It feels so weird being back in Phoenix Drop. I haven’t been back here since I went overseas.” After graduating high school, Aphmau knew she needed a change of scenery and also had always dreamed of studying in a different country. When she had gotten into a university in the Tu’la region, she had jumped at the opportunity to pack up her life and move away.
“Kawaii~Chan is so excited to be living with her friends! Especially since the house is so big and pretty!” Kawaii~Chan clapped her hands together excitedly. The three of them had only reconnected a few months before deciding to move in together. Well, Aphmau had suddenly reconnected only a few months before the three decided to move in and live together. Kawaii~Chan and Katelyn had stayed in touch and had been good friends since high school.
“We also got such a good deal on the house so that’s a big plus,” Katelyn said. “I still don’t know how you pulled that off Aphmau but I got to hand it to you.”
“I mean what can I say, I’m good at getting a good deal,” she chuckled, quickly switching the topic of conversation. “How far out are we? I saw we just passed Phoenix Drop High so we can’t be too far away?”
“Only a few minutes,” Katelyn glanced at the GPS for a quick moment before her eyes fixating back on the road. The three continued to talk until the moving truck turned onto the street they would be living on. “Alright, we’re almost here so get ready to get out of the car.”
“Kawaii~Chan is going to start baking as soon as she gets into the kitchen!” Kawaii~Chan started to gather up the pillows and blankets she had been cuddled up in during the drive. It was only a couple pieces of her massive collection of pillows, blankets, and stuffed animals that had been packed into the back of the moving truck.
“I’m going to take such a good nap as soon as I can make my bed,” Aphmau said as she also started to gather her things that had been messily shoved on the floor by her feet.
Katelyn let off a soft chuckle while watching the two scramble as she parked the moving truck on their new driveway. “Well before we go off napping and baking, we need to unload everything from the truck so we don’t get any late fields from the moving truck company.” With that, she unbuckled her seatbelt and stepped out of the moving van. She groaned and stretched, her back being super stiff from the drive.
“Yes Katelyn,” Aphmau said as she climbed out of the moving truck, stretching her arms above her head as she looked at the house in front of her. It was quite a nice place, clearly nicer than the amount they were paying would make it seem like. She then turned to help Kawaii~Chan get out of the van, being careful to make sure she didn’t drop any of the pillows she was holding.
“Well,” Katelyn said after a moment of admiring their new home. “The truck isn’t going to unload itself. We should get going. Aphmau, why don’t you and Kawaii~Chan unlock the house and then you two can help me unload the truck?” Katelyn was often the one to take charge. At least one member of the trio had to be or else they would get absolutely nowhere.
“Yes Katelyn~sama,” Kawaii~Chan answered as she hurried towards the front door with Aphmau a few paces behind her. She stepped to the side to let Aphmau unlock the door since her hands were super full.
Aphmau quickly fumbled through her pockets trying to find the key she was mailed a week before they made the move. She soon found it, stuck it into the keyhole, and unlocked the door to their new house for the very first time. She smiled as she pushed the door open and took the first steps into the house. The first steps of her new life…
Meanwhile, in the house directly across the street, four men crowded around their living room window, peering out at the house across the way without drawing too much attention to themselves. Garroth, Laurance, Dante, and Travis had been living together for the past two years. The four had decided to move in together after finishing college. The four were as close as friends could be and they loved living together. However, their peaceful life in this neighborhood was being turned upside down right in front of their eyes.
“This… isn’t happening,” Dante said, scratching the back of his head. “It.. clearly can’t be them. There’s no way.” He took a step back from the window, trying to rationalize this.
“No way. Definitely not. That would be way too much of a coincidence for Aphmau, Katelyn, and Kawaii~Chan to be moving in directly across from our house,” Travis agreed, also backing away from the window. Travis and Dante then turned to look at Garroth and Laurance, who were still staring out the window with their mouths slightly agape. The two of them almost resemble two dogs drooling over a treat. “Are you two seriously drooling?!”
Laurance snapped back into reality, straightening himself up and quickly closing his mouth. “Of course we weren’t drooling!” He defended himself, but still didn’t take his eyes off the window.
“Right. Definitely not. Of course not,” Garroth agreed, also straightening himself. He took his eyes off the window for a moment in order to look at Travis and Dante. There was an awkward silence, their four minds all racing with so many different questions about the situation that they found themselves in.
“It seems very unlikely that this is all just some big coincidence,” Dante said after a moment. “Garroth. Laurance. One of you knows something. Both of you look guilty constantly so I’m going to believe it was one of you.” His accusation is baseless, but then again most of his accusations are baseless and he still had a seventy percent success rate. “Especially since you both had that massive crush on Aphmau in high school.”
“Dante.” Garroth looked almost offended. “Laurance and I haven’t seen Aphmau in years. There is no way that either one of us would even be able to pull some mysterious strings in order to miraculously get Aphmau to move in across the street.” He then gestured towards Travis. “What about Travis? He used to have a massive crush on Katelyn. So, by your logic, he could've been the one to get them to move in across the street.”
“Hey don’t rope me into this,” Travis said, putting his hands in the air as if to prove his innocence. “If we’re going by THAT logic, we should just say that Dante was the one who got them to move in there because he and Kawaii~Chan used to date.” Travis then moved towards the window and closed the curtains. “We should also probably stop staring at them too before we get caught.”
“Hey. Kawaii~Chan and I dated for like two months several years ago. The girl is sweet and we’re chill now but there’s no way I would purposefully try to find some way for them to move into this neighborhood.”
The three then turned to look at Laurance, who had moved the curtains ever so slightly to stare out the window and had proceeded to zone out from the conversation currently taking place. “Laurance!” Dante walked over and slapped him gently on the back of the head, almost as if he was trying to activate a reset button.
Laurance winced slightly, even though the slap really didn’t hurt. “What?!” He turned to face Dante, giving him a playful shove. “I didn’t do anything,” He defended himself, but there was an ever so slight tone shift in his voice.
“We’ve been friends long enough where I can tell when you’re lying. So spill,” Dante looked into Laurance's eyes, holding his gaze. They seemed to be locked in a power of wills. After a long and awkward moment of the two making intense eye contact, Laurance let out a sigh and looked away.
“Alright alright I confess,” he put his hands up in the air in defeat. “I saw on Katelyn’s Facebook that she, Aphmau, and Kawaii~Chan were looking to move in together so I may have… anonymously sent the listing for the house across the street to her in hopes that they would move in there because things have gotten boring and I thought it would shake up our lives a little bit.” He let out a breath after he finished his explanation, avoiding the eyes of the three others.
"Laurance..." Dante said. He sounded like a disappointed father more than a disappointed friend.
"What?! I thought it would shake things up! This street is so boring!" Laurance said, trying to defend his actions. “We’ve been in the same monotonous routine for like a year so I wanted a little excitement!”
"I would just like to say that I had no part in this." Garroth announced, taking a step away from Laurance to distance himself.
“You’re insane,” Travis chuckled, leaning back against the wall. “I got to admit though, that’s kind of hilarious. I’m also not gonna be totally mad as it will be nice to get to know them again.” He shrugged his shoulders. "Do they even know we live here?"
"Not that I know of." Laurance said as he scratched the back of his head.
“Especially since Aphmau went completely off the grid when she went overseas,” Garroth pointed out.
“If Katelyn moved in across the street, I’m assuming she doesn’t know Travis lives here,” Dante teased gently, giving Travis a playful nudge.
Travis rolled his eyes. “Whatever dude,” He crossed his arms and let out a slight huff. “I wasn’t that bad in high school.”
“Sure you weren’t,” Dante let out a soft chuckle. “And your hair isn’t platinum white either.”
Garroth knew that Dante and Travis would start playfully bullying each other for hours if this kept going, so he changed the subject. "Should we go say hi to them?”
"Absolutely not." Dante said, quickly. "We'll wait for them to come to us and then pretend we know nothing of Laurance’s plan. Knowing Kawaii~Chan, I’m sure she’s going to introduce herself to all the neighbors soon enough.”
"Fair plan. I'm ordering a pizza." Travis said. He took his phone from his pocket and wandered into the kitchen. The three quickly followed and an argument started about what pizza flavor to order.
After a few hours of unpacking, Aphmau stood in the middle of her new room. It was an absolute mess, but that wasn’t surprising since she just moved in. She thanked Irene that the bigger furniture pieces had been delivered and set up beforehand. Now all that was left to unpack all these boxes and decorate. She started going through boxes one by one, taking things out and putting them into piles to be more precisely put away. As she was unpacking, she seemed to be lost in thought. Like her mind was somewhere else. She didn’t even realize she had been spaced out for almost fifteen minutes until she was snapped back by a voice coming from the doorway.
"Aphmau?" Katelyn’s voice was gentle as she spoke. “Are you alright?” She moved to sit next to her.
"I'm fine." Aphmau said quickly, almost as if trying to hide that she had been spaced out. “What’s up?”
Katelyn’s eyebrows furrowed. She knew she was being lied to, but right now she knew better than to press the issue. Aphmau had been having these weird space out moments since they reconnected, and the one time Katelyn did bring it up Aphmau freaked out and called her crazy. So, she decided to just let it go. "We were just gonna order lunch since Kawaii~Chan wants to stay in and make cookies for the neighbors. Do you want anything?"
"I'm not hungry,” She said quickly, which wasn’t a lie but wasn’t necessarily the truth either. “Just order me something for later."
"Are you sure you're alright?" Katelyn asked, a hint of concern coating her tone.
"I'm fine," Aphmau said again, a small smile forming on her face as if to convince Katelyn what she was saying was true. "I'll be down in a second to help with the cookies."
"Ok..." Katelyn said. She didn’t seem convinced, but she walked out of the room and closed the door gently behind her.
Aphmau took a deep breath. She hated lying to Katelyn and Kawaii~Chan, but they couldn’t understand the thoughts that were racing through her mind. She knew that the second they knew they would see her differently and she couldn’t have that. At least not yet. After a few more minutes of being spaced out, she stood up and went into the bathroom. She splashed some cold water in her face, trying to get her mind to focus on realty. After drying her face, she hurried downstairs to join the other two. She walked into the kitchen to see Kawaii~Chan humming and stirring cookie batter. "Hey Kawaii~Chan!” She put on a smile. "How are the cookies coming along?"
"They're coming along great Aphmau~Senpai! They should be done in about 30 minutes!" Kawaii~Chan said quickly, looking over. “Chocolate chip cookies are pretty basic but Kawaii~Chan thinks they’re going to be a real crowd pleaser!”
"That's great! We can go around and deliver them to the neighbors after you’re done,” Aphmau hummed slightly, wondering what her new neighbors would be like. Maybe they would become her friends?
"I think a lot of people that we knew from high school live around these parts." Katelyn commented from the couch in the living room. "I know Lucinda just lives a few blocks down."
Aphmau nodded, seemingly not surprised by this information. "Well then I can't wait to see old friends!" She walked into the living room and sat down next to Katelyn, who had started watching TV. After about thirty minutes, a ding from the kitchen pulled both Katelyn and Aphmau away from the show they had been watching.
"Aphmau~Senpai! Katelyn~Sama! Kawaii~Chan's cookies are done!" Kawaii~Chan called from the kitchen. Aphmau and Katelyn stood and entered the kitchen to see Kawaii~Chan putting the cookies in little goodie bags.They were pink, just like everything else Kawaii~Chan owned.
"These are cute Kawaii~Chan," Katelyn said as she picked one up and examined it.
"Thank you Katelyn~Sama! Now let's go deliver the cookies!" Kawaii~Chan said. She then put several bags of fresh pink cookies in a basket. With the cookies and high spirits, the three left the house and headed towards their first target, the neighbors across the street.