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Chapter one (Neru’s pov)
I don’t get it. It’s almost like Teto’s trying to show off to me. With the way her and Miku always sit close together when we watch TV together, or how Miku always hugs and kisses her, especially when it’s just us. Like she wants me specifically to see them together. I have a nagging feeling I need to take matters into my own hands. I needed to get Teto away from Miku so that I could have her. All to myself. I needed to humiliate Teto in a way that made me look better.
And what better way to do that than to get Miku fired and frame Teto for it?
This was my plan- I know Miku didn’t quit. She got fired. I just needed to find out why. And once I did, I’d show the Olive Garden manager how she’s a terrible worker and needs to get fired. And when she gets fired, Miku will ask, “why?” And when they tell her, she’ll know Teto’s the only one who knew. And they’ll break up. And I’ll be there, like a shoulder for Miku to cry on. And she’ll finally realize how much better I am. So I was at the McDonald’s she worked at, trying to talk the manager into telling me.
“Look, lady,” the manager said, “I don’t care if she asked you personally to come out and humiliate yourself like this. It’s not happening unless you bring this girl herself.”
This was the fourth time I asked him. I counted.
“What if I buy food? Come on, it’s easy money!” I pleaded.
The man rolled his eyes and put his hand on his face. “We have hundreds of other customers getting more food. You’re nothing special to us.”
I sighed. I was really about to sacrifice pretty much anything to find this out. But it would all be worth it in the end.
“I’ll leave an extra tip! Ten- no, twenty dollars!”
The man let out a long, exasperated sigh. “Look, I really like the sound of the extra money, but I’m not sacrificing the privacy of an old coworker for a few extra bucks. It’s not right to me. So either get out of my face and come back with this girl, or get out of my face and don’t come back.”
I crossed my arms. I was already this far. He wasn’t about to stop me just because of some “privacy” bullshit. So, I walked right into the manager’s office to get the information myself.
“I warned you, and you pulled your stupid stunt anyway. Now you’re gonna suffer consequences.”
He basically shoved me into the street, walking right back into the store and slamming the door behind him. I had to run away before some car leaving the drive-through ran me over.
So it was going to be like that. If they were seriously not going to tell me why Miku got fired, I’d find out another way.
Chapter two (Teto’s pov)
Neru’s been gone almost all afternoon. We have no idea what she’s been doing, but Miku and I don’t care. She brought home another basket of breadsticks and we’re sharing them at the table.
“I’m really glad you got that new job, because these breadsticks are actually really good,” I told Miku as I took out another breadstick.
“Yeah,” Miku told me, “I guess people around here don’t really like the breadsticks as much anymore.” She licked the butter off her fingers. “Not us, though.”
I nodded. Then I turned and looked at the clock.
6:37. Neru left the house at around 4:00. She had been gone for two and a half hours.
“Miku, am I the only one wondering where Neru’s at right now?”
Miku shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe she went out to eat.” She chuckled. “Doesn’t matter as long as she brings leftovers for us.”
I nodded. But still, it felt weird. Neru only said she was going to run some errands. This felt a little longer than a couple errands.
That’s when she finally opened the door.
“Speak of the devil,” I whispered.
She looked exhausted. But for some reason, I saw satisfaction on her face. Weird for someone who always looks annoyed.
She looked over at us. “Hi Miku.” She said, looking over at Miku. “Oh- and hi, Teto.” She said, a little quieter. Then she walked off.
I turned to Miku, who looked disappointed. “No leftovers…” she remarked to herself sadly.
As soon as Neru walked out, I asked Miku, “Did you see that?”
Miku shrugged. “No. What?”
“She’s being all happy!”
“Good for her.”
“She’s never like that!”
“You didn’t think she was gonna be angry all the time forever, did you?”
I quit arguing with Miku. There was no point in repeating myself when Miku didn’t care. There was something up with Neru, the question was; what?
So I tried to go to her room and ask her.
“Hey, Neru,” I said as I opened up the door, “What were you doing while you were gone?”
Neru was sitting on her bed on her phone. She shrugged. “I told you I was going to run some errands.”
“I don’t think errands take that long,” I countered.
Neru didn’t look up from her phone at all. “Well, there was a car crash on the way home. I had to go all around it because there was way too much traffic.”
I knew she was going to tell me something like that and expect me to shut up. So I gave her what she wanted.
“Alright, Neru,” I sighed, “But maybe tell us something if you get delayed like that next time.”
Neru nodded.
I left the room and went back to the kitchen. There was no point in worrying about the situation.
Oh, but there was.
I was looking at the traffic updates for our city. And you know what I found?
Nothing.
Absolutely no car crashes had happened in the past two days.
Neru was lying.
I examined five different websites for thirty whole minutes. I could’ve sworn my eyes were deceiving me!
Miku, who was laying right next to me, noticed how tense I was.
“Hey, are you alright?” She asked, groggy from her nap.
I thought about telling her. But it’s not like it mattered to her. Plus, I didn’t want her to worry about Neru. I would take care of it.
“Uh- yeah,” I told her, “Uhmm, I’m just a little cold.”
She pulled the blanket over me. “You should go to sleep. It’s kinda late.”
I figured she was right. So I went ahead and put my phone down to sleep.
Chapter three (Neru’s pov)
I finally managed to figure out why Miku got fired. Turns out, she got into way too many fights with customers.
How I did it, exactly?
I looked through all the photos of the manager, lying behind the McDonald’s building. His nose was bleeding, and his eyes were full of tears. I smiled with satisfaction.
This would be my last resort to get the Olive Garden workers to fire Miku if I needed it.
It was that night that I called the Olive Garden manager and told him the story.
“Look, Miku has a really good reputation for her to have done that kind of thing,” he explained, clearly exhausted, “Besides, it’s late. We’re both exhausted. I’m pretty sure that’s what’s going on here.”
This was the second time he told me that. But I wasn’t about to give up.
“I’m telling you! She killed that man and nobody knows about it!”
“Look, I have work to do. Just- just think about it and, I don’t know! Call the police!”
Call the police? And let them investigate and find the real culprit?
If he wasn’t going to help me, I had to resort to a different approach. And I was going to use the exact same approach I did on the McDonald’s manager.
I asked Miku the next day about the manager.
“His name’s Victor. Why?”
“Just curious.”
Then I did a little stalking.
I managed to figure out what high school he went to. I accessed their old yearbook, picked a random classmate, and prayed it worked.
I texted Victor. “Hi, Victor. It’s me Sarah from school. Just wanted to see if we could meet up sometime and catch up.”
“I thought you hated me and always will hate me.”
“That’s why I’m asking you to meet up. I’m in town and thought we should put our differences aside and just talk about how things have been going for us. How about we go for a drink?”
“I cheated on you with Henry because I realized I was gay and knew you weren’t very fond of gay people.”
I thought about what to say for five minutes, but then he said something else.
“But it has been a while, and I guess I could use a drink or two. Does right now work with you?”
“Yeah. How about we meet at the Seven-Eleven by the McDonald’s and find somewhere to eat?”
“That’s a weird way to go about it but alright.”
Next thing you know, I have this man in the trunk and we’re driving into the middle of nowhere. He fell right into my trap.
“Sarah! I swear to god! I don’t even like men!” He was begging, “Just let me go! What did I do wrong? Please! I’ll fix it! Whatever you want!”
Then I parked the car. I didn’t even know where we were.
Then I told him, “You know, you’re really easy to fool.”
He must’ve recognized my voice from our phone call. “It- it’s you! That girl from the phone!”
I nodded, turning to the backseat. I pulled my hood down, letting him see me.
“What- what do you even want?” He asked.
“As far as you’re concerned, I want Miku fired.”
He blinked tears from his eyes since his hands were unavailable.
“Look- I-I can’t fire her without it seeming suspicious. She’s way too good for anyone to believe that stuff. The- the killing stuff, I mean.”
“Find something, or Sarah’s gonna come for you again. And this time, she’s coming for revenge, not dinner.” I warned him.
“Okay! I’ll do something! Just- just please, take me back!” I could see him crying. Clearly, he meant it.
Satisfied, I drove him back to the gas station and went home.
Chapter four (Teto’s pov)
I watched Neru as she slept, completely confused. It was two in the morning. She had just gotten back from who knows where.
That’s when I got the bright idea to go through her phone. I had seen her unlocking her phone many times and knew her password like the back of my hand.
First, her text messages.
Everything seemed normal.
Then her phone calls.
One call to Olive Garden. Weird.
Then I checked her camera roll and couldn’t believe what I saw.
One of the very first photos was a photo of a man. He was lying behind a building, all bruised and beaten. His nose was even bleeding!
Where did Neru even get this?
Did she… take it?
Then I looked at the door. There was a McDonald’s logo on it.
Was that at the one where Miku worked?
I had so many questions. Who did this to that man? And why? I really wanted to wake Neru up and ask her, but then she’d know I was looking through her phone.
Was this what she was doing that one time she left for two hours?
I checked the time the photo was taken. 5:43 PM. That was during the time period she was out of the house.
So she was lying about the traffic. That’s why there was nothing on the news about it.
So she was doing something stupid.
Anger boiled inside of me as I looked at Neru. Except, to my surprise, she looked back at me with those angry eyes she always had. At least one thing was normal about her for once.
“What are you doing with my phone?” She asked.
I thought about whether I should tell her or not.
“Uhhh- I was just checking the time,” I told her, closing the photos app and turning the phone off.
“I didn’t know checking the time takes ten minutes,” she countered, “What were you doing?”
“Uhh-“
“I saw you unlock my phone. And I saw you opened something.”
I was absolutely fucked. I had no choice but to confess.
“Look- you just- you’ve been acting weird lately, and-“
“And you think checking my phone is gonna fix it.”
“I mean, I did see some pretty questionable things.”
She sat up. “Like what?”
I opened her phone to the picture of the man. Then I turned the phone and showed it to her. “I think this is pretty self-explanatory.”
“It- it’s not my photo-“
“It is. It was taken that one day you were out for two whole hours and said it was because of traffic. That’s way too much of a coincidence.”
“Look, Teto! That was none of your business-“
“You lied to me and Miku.”
“So what? You went through my phone!”
“Because I knew you were lying.”
“So what? I don’t want you guys to worry about that!”
“Worry about what?”
“Uhh- look, that man, he, uhh- he was a groomer! So, I killed him!”
“And the photo?”
“I-I was gonna use it to threaten his friends!”
I couldn’t make up any better excuses for Neru to use, so we’re gonna go along with this despite how out of pocket it is 😭😭😭
“Look, Neru,” I sighed, “I can’t technically say it’s wrong or anything, but like, maybe don’t lie to us about it?”
“Yeah. So- can I go back to sleep now?”
“Okay. Goodnight.”
Chapter five (Miku’s pov)
I was just about to go home after a long day at work when my manager called me.
“Miku, I have to talk to you about something.”
I was actually anticipating this conversation beforehand. Victor hadn’t said anything to anyone all day. He looked tired, actually. Like he barely slept.
“So, what’s up?” I asked him.
He looked down, like he was almost sad. “Look. I just- I’ve had multiple customers complain about blue hair in their food,” he explained, “A very distinct color of blue.”
I had no idea about this!
“Look, I’ll tie my hair back, whatever you-“
Victor sighed and shook his head. “No, Miku. This has happened way too many times.”
“I didn’t even know about it!”
“Miku, I gave you a lot of leeway when I hired you,” Victor continued to explain, “I let you have your hair out despite it being so long. But, I can’t really do this anymore. I’ve been trying to explain to so many customers-“
“Just let me tie my hair back!”
“No, Miku. You’re fired.”
Teto was trying to comfort me in the living room.
“It’s okay, Miku. We can just look for another job for you somewhere else.”
“I loved my job at Olive Garden!” I cried, “I don’t even know what the problem was. I just learned about that whole situation today!”
“I mean, I do miss the breadsticks…”
I continued to sit and cry on her lap for what seemed like ages. Then Neru walked in.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, “Sorry about your job, Miku.”
I turned over and looked at her. “What- how did you know?”
Neru completely froze up.
“Oh- uh- know what?”
Teto immediately stood up. “Neru. You clearly know something we don’t.”
Neru tried to explain. “No, it’s not what you think-“
“You’ve been doing all kinds of weird things, and then telling me and Miku lie after lie. What’s going on here?”
“Teto, I swear-“
“Is the groomer thing really true?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at that. I had no clue what was happening whatsoever.
“It is!”
“No it’s not!”
I really couldn’t help but laugh. Then I realized Teto and Neru were both looking right at me.
Then Neru snapped out of it and took her chance to get out of the situation. She just turned and walked right out.
Chapter Six (Neru’s pov)
I couldn’t believe it. Teto was an inch away from finding out everything. But I couldn’t let that happen. I still wanted Miku. She was mine, not hers.
I was taking a walk when I suddenly saw two familiar faces. It took a little bit, but I finally figured it out.
They were the dudes that Miku and Teto hit with the car.
And, clearly, they were still angry about it. I could hear their anger as I walked behind him.
“Man, I don’t think I can even walk into Walmart anymore,” one of them explained, “I feel like I’m gonna get hit by a truck any minute now.”
“Yeah, that really sucked,” the other one said.
I figured it was my chance.
“Hey, you two,” I called out to them, “You were the ones who got hit by those two girls, weren’t you?”
They turned and looked at me, totally confused.
“Do you want revenge?”
Then they looked all excited. I knew I had to easy from here.
Chapter seven (Miku’s pov)
I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands.
Teto had been the one looking into Neru’s unusual patterns lately, and all it’s done was stress her out. So, when Neru finally got back from her walk, I went and asked her.
“Neru, what have you been doing lately?”
Neru shrugged. She was in her bed, on her phone.
“I just took a walk,” she explained, “Do you like, maybe wanna come with me another day?” She turned and looked at me like she was excited.
“No, actually,” I said.
The excitement on her face vanished.
“Okay,” I continued to explain, “I just- see, you’ve been acting weird. And, like, I’m not saying this has anything to do with you, but-“
She put her phone down and got out of her bed. She walked right up to me.
“No, Miku. It’s not like that,” she reassured me, “Why would I get you fired from a job you’re so obviously happy with?”
“I didn’t even say that!” I exclaimed. “Okay, now I know what Teto meant. You really have some explaining to do-“
Then Neru burst out crying. I stepped back, shocked. She was bawling.
“Look, Miku! I’ve always loved you! I always have! I just- you’re with stupid Teto and like- I feel like she’s taunting me! So- I just, I had to get her out of my way! So I could have you!” She continued to slowly fall apart in front of my eyes, “I beat up your old manager at McDonald’s so that he’d tell me why you got fired! Then I fucking kidnapped the Olive Garden manager so that he’d agree to fire you! And- and, it all fell apart because I forgot the whole reason I did that was to show that Teto is untrustworthy, but I guess that bastard told you some other reason instead of how I told him to say that he found out you beat up the McDonald’s manager!”
I was practically in shock when she finished. All this time, Neru had gotten me fired, and I didn’t even know? I didn’t want to hear whatever she had to say next.
“You- you really did all that over some stupid obsession? I really hope you realize you hurt me more than you made me love you!” And not even knowing it, I was practically bawling with her, “You know what? I’ll always love Teto more than you!”
That’s when Teto stepped into the room.
“What!?” I couldn’t tell who she was more mad at.