X

Stoic tells me that I remind him of the protagonist in X, an anime he watched several years ago. That I carry myself with a slow deliberation, but at any instant I can unleash death and destruction to everybody around me. This is why I like Stoic.

While at the gym, met by chance a Croton.

He asked me, 'What's new?'

Never fails to stump me, these two words.

'Nothing much.'

'Maybe that's a good thing.'

'Not really.'

Probably he could have asked, 'What's old?' That night, I reminisced about a movie date with Beach, when she rested her head on my shoulders, as if expecting some gesture in return. Heart pounding, I lay still, unmoving, and just enjoyed the gentle pressure on my shoulder. Later, I explained to Cherry the difficulties of smoothly extricating my arm in that position, to bring that arm over Beach's shoulders. I think I convinced Cherry, but not myself. Beach has always been one step ahead of me, in the games we played.