Chapter Text
- Come back.
- Come back.
- I want to hear your voice.
/ 2 missed calls from Parasite
Those were the messages Parasite had sent from her phone. The messages he still hadn't read despite it being hours. Why is he still ignoring her? Why won't he notice her despite her constant efforts. Why does he get to be happy-
"Are you okay-meow?" Animal chirped, tapping Parasite on the shoulder lightly. The gentle scratch of her acrylic nails was enough to pull Parasite out of her depressive spiral.
"Ha- uh, I'm fine." Parasite sighed, quickly closing her phone.
Ya' know, I only brought ya' here because I didn't wanna see ya' sad..." Animal pouted, "So, what upsets Our Highness-meow?"
"I'm just... tired. That's all."
"It's your ex-meow."
"What! I-"
"Nya~~ Why haven't you blocked him yet!-meow"
"What if he wants me back-?"
Animal didn't have to say anything. One look into her eyes, and it was clear what she was trying to convey.
Parasite sighed, "Fine. I'll stop messaging him from tonight."
"Let's go! Now for the real issue. Bet ya' can't beat me in Taiko: Drum Master!"
"You're going to be playing to your own song, won't you?"
"We'll take turns picking, if that makes you happy.-meow"
Animal dragged Parasite to the recently-vacant Taiko: Drum Master machine, her nails digging into Parasite's skin.
And just for a moment, the mental burdens in Parasite's mind lifted just for a second. She was no longer tied down to the painful memories of a love she didn't fully want to forget. she wasn't worrying whether or not her ex still loved her or wanted her back. For once, in quite a while she was feeling a rush of excitement, of happiness. That giddy feeling when you don't want to leave.
With Animal ending on a passionate beat, the scores rolled in.
"Heh. Still beat ya' by one. Thought you were gettin' good for a sec there-meow..."
"I'll get you in the next round..." Parasite smiled, losing the competition in her voice.
Before they knew it, hours had gone by in the arcade.
***
Today it was Parasite's turn doing the groceries. She wasn't really in the happiest mood to do so, but maybe it'd be better for her than hiding under tables and doomscrolling.
"Alright... so I just want some tomato juice for Vampire..." she muttered to herself as she passed the drink aisle, "Or should I conveniently 'forget'..?"
While she was reaching for the bottle, a clichéd moment of a love story happened where someone's hands touched hers. Parasite's face flushed red, but when she turned to see who it was, she fell in horror.
She snatched the tomato juice from the fridge, her hand feeling a stinging cold despite the gloves.
"It's... you..." Parasite choked on her own breath, her words stinging her "You're... here..."
"Of course, I live in this area."
"Why did you ignore my messages? I've been trying to reach you for a while now..."
"I honestly thought I blocked you..."
"W-well, now that you're here, what if we went on a date or something. Anything-!" Parasite's heart began to flutter in false hope.
"Ah, about that- no. I have a new girlfriend. "
"Wait no, please-! Stay with me-!" Parasite begged, clinging to his arm when he tried to leave, only to get thrown off once more.
She tried to grab onto him again as he left, but she accepted defeat.
"Are you going to be paying for that." the shop-owner reminded as Parasite froze in distraught.
That afternoon, Parasite simply locked herself in her room and cried into the bed with the lights off. Dilemma tried to help her, but ultimately couldn't do anything.
"What happened?" Vampire asked, sipping her tomato juice.
Dilemma left Parasite's room, and shut the door, muffling her loud, vagely musical crying.
"She saw her ex-boyfriend at the grocery store and he's moved on."
"Poor thing. I still remember how shook up you were about it... Actually never mind- you're still upset about it-" Vampire rambled.
Dilemma bit her lip and put herself in Parasite's shoes. She basically felt the same way, constantly in that state of internal loneliness and a hesitatance to move on. She was just as hopeless as Parasite was, she only acted more mature and put-together so that the rest won't worry about her.
"What was her ex even like-meow..?" Animal butted in, still lazing over the couch.
"Like... controlling as shit. Like he'd get mad if she wasn't spending every second of the day with him or fitting perfectly to his standards. And he almost convinced her to cut ties with us." Vampire recalled.
"But later on he ended up constantly making excuses to blow her off. And calling her 'obsessed' whenever she complained about it..." Dilemma continued, "Even laughing about her and talling her friends she was crazy behind her back."
"That asshole..." Animal hissed, her claws digging into the couch.
"Never really liked him," Vampire shrugged, "Parasite didn't listen when I warned her though. Too deeply in love."
"Looks to me like she's STILL too deeply in love." Dilemma sighed as she looked at the door, sad music beginning to accompany the crying.
As Dilemma went back in to see if Parasite was okay, Animal skipped out the door.
"H-hey! You're not just leaving me here!" Vampire pouted as the two leapt off on their merry way.
***
Animal didn't need to hear the stories of Vampire and Dilemma to know that Parasite's ex was awful. She remembered herself every time Parasite would come home home to her crying because she'd been ignored or cancelled-on last minute. She remembered helping Parasite go above-and-beyond on gifts that were thrown away immediately after. And she remembered the days when Parasite was too afraid to come back home and talk to her.
It was awful.
Animal took out her phone and began doing some stalking on social media. After not so long, she was able to find the account she wanted.
- You're the asshole that ruined Parasite's life? ୧(๑•̀ᗝ•́)૭
Who are you? -
- Get to the arcade. You have one hour. If you're not a coward. ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡)
Why are you contacting me? -
*miku_nyan has sent a location*
- If you chicken out, I will personally find you (^-^)
Animal secretly smiled to herself, proud of what she had done. And now, she just wait.
She waited at the arcade, playing a piano game as the time simply passed by. As she was too wrapped up in the game, she didn't notice the three shadows looming behind her.
"Hi guys. You're early-meow." Animal meowed as she lost her combo on the last note from the distraction, "Parasite. What are you doing here."
"I was following him. What's going on." Parasite huffed.
"She invited me to the arcade and threatened to hunt me down if I didn't come!" Her ex complained, "Is she your cat or something? Did you put her up to this?"
"Wait. Who's the third girl-meow?" Animal hissed, pointing to an unknown blonde girl.
"I'm Kotono. His girlfriend." She smiled, a bit hesitantly.
Parasite wanted to object to bringing her along, but Animal stood up onto the piano stool and announced.
"Aight- Listen up losers! Just wanna make it clear that no-one out there messes with MY best friend without facin' any consequences. Since YOU had the gall to mess with Parasite, you're gonna face my wrath. In Dance Dance Revolution-meow!" Animal announced.
Parasite coughed, hiding her face in embarrassment, "You're a little late for that..."
"I still don't get the point of all this." The boy huffed.
Animal jumped down from the stool and got closer to him, "Point is: If I win, you apologise to Parasite. If you win, the two of us will leave you alone."
"Fine. But only because I don't want to deal with the two of you again."
With the two on the board, the game started.
Animal turned her own song, and began dancing like her life depended on it, hitting the board so hard the arcade began to quake. Even her rival was intimated by the sheer passionate anger in her moves, but proceeded to stay focused.
Soon, no eyes were on them. The music was blaring, the lights were flashing, and the two were focused solely on the chart. Not on the flashy surrounding or the pain of slamming your hands and feet on the dance-pad, simply living in the moment and faintly singing along.
"I'm sorry about my cat- i mean my friend" Parasite flushed as the game was starting to get intense, "She got a little defensive of me. The breakup was only recent and the other girls are still upset about it..."
"I think its a little sweet she's angry on your behalf... even if her ways of 'revenge' involve a game of DDR." Kotono shrugged.
"She's cute in ways like that..."
"How bad was it. What could oh so possibly trigger such aggression to the poor DDR game..."
"I guess she picked up how mad I was. From how I'd be constantly texting him every day, neglecting everyone else to chase him..."
"Yeah. He told me."
Of course he did. Although Parasite only had herself to blame for that one. Stalker behaviour gets you seen as a stalker.
Upon seeing the darkness in Parasite's eyes once more, Kotono fell in worry, "But I never fully bought everything he said about you! There was a part of myself that questioned if he was just trying to scare me...!"
And now she was being used as an example of what not to be, "Maybe you should have believed him..."
"No- don't talk like that! I mean, has he ever tried to pressure you into changing anything about yourself... or had you act a certain way..."
"All the time. I was basically walking on eggshells around him. It was so scary to think he'd leave me at any moment..."
"Do you think that's a bad thing?"
"Really bad. I suggest you break up and save yourself as soon as possible."
Kotono laughed at the remark, "Of course you'd know best..."
The two's chatter was interrupted by a long, defeated "NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA---!!!!"
"Best of 3-meow!" Animal perked up in defeat before anyone could say anything.
This round, Parasite's ex picked. And he did not pick a DECO*27 song.
Animal was determined to win this one. To defend her honor and make things right once and for all. She focused on the screen and swore on accuracy, Just watch the note, and hit the right area of the dance-pad. After a while, it was becoming second nature. It was easy to do without thinking.
Until the music simply became a part of how she played. Don't think about trivial things like how victory is going to feel until you taste it yourself. Don't think about Parasite's feelings. Think about yourself, your connection to the song, your precision with the notes. Put all your energy into each step, your passion into each hit.
And do so until you...
"I win, yaaay-!"
Animal cheered as her score was ever-so-slightly higher.
"Oh no, its a tie!" Parasite declared sarcastically, "Now lets go before we embarass ourselves further."
"Actually," the NPC ex-boyfriend declared, "We finish what she started. It was best of 3."
Parasite sighed, and forced herself to watch the last round.
"Since we STARTED this whole thing for you: You pick the song this time." Animal offered, pointing to Parasite.
She looked at the song list and thought for a bit. Her own song wasn't even on the listing, so that was out of the question.
"Uhh... pick Otome Kaibou."
The two select the song and set the difficulty- to Hard mode.
At this deciding moment, it was time to dance.
Without a second to think, Animal immediately begins to slam her hand on the dance-pad, moving so fast you could barely catch her, her hits louder than the song itself. She leaped in the air, becoming a blur of the cat she once was.
She was determined to become a DDR legend. Everything in her life led up to this moment.
Until she slipped- and her acrylic nail snapped of her finger.
She didn't have time to scream in pain. To mourn the loss of her fingernail. She had to keep going.
After an energetic performance given by both sides, the song came to an end. The scores rolled, and Animal had won. By one point.
"Let's... go...! I... won..!" Animal cheered through exhausted breaths. She stepped off the machine and leaned on Parasite's shoulder (who was very relieved this was over). She checked her hand to see the nail that was broken off, to let off a distressed, "NYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!"
"Alright, you won," NPC Ex-Boyfriend sighed, "I'm sorry for not treating you well.
A half-hearted apology. Parasite was willing to accept it nonetheless, as she was quite grateful that she had gotten at least he had taken some kind of accountability.
Animal was about to stop Parasite and make her settle for something better, but she had messed with him enough. Besides, that apology was impressive. While poor Animal was shattered her fingernail, had he shattered his ego?
Kotono and her boyfriend turned to leave the arcade, but Parasite tried to stop them.
"I'm sorry too... for not being being able to get over you."
The two stopped for a bit to locate her voice, but ultimately gave up and left. Parasite could feel the loneliness coming back as those words escaped her mouth.
But as she felt 4 of Animal's nails clawing into her shoulder, something fought that loneliness. A sense of peace, one of security. One where she knew she had a friend beside her who would go through hell to defend her.
"You pesky cat." Parasite scolded, unable to hide a playful gratitude in her words, "Can't believe you'd sneak off to play DDR with my ex."
"But I did it for you-nyan~" Parasite whined.
"While we're here, do you want to play something?"
"Anything but DDR."
And soon, they were hours in with no worries. Simply enjoying the freedom of being with each other and putting all the energy they had into the game.