Kronii Ouro sat at her computer, eyes fixed on the blinking cursor which sat tauntingly atop a blank page. With a sigh, she began to type.
Roommate wanted.
Then after a beat she added.
No Betrayers.
Armed with a stack of flyers, Kronii left the house, she wasn't exactly sure where she should, or was even really allowed to, post flyers. Actually now that she thought about it, did people really even do flyers anymore? Maybe she should have just posted online. Then again there were weirdos online, so flyers were the only option, and besides she'd already spent an hour cutting out the tabs.
Two hours later she had managed to put up zero flyers. Nowhere seemed like the right place for them, too public or too private, too classy or too tacky. Kronii sighed, her breath turning to mist in the cold January air. Maybe she just needed to have a break. Pulling out her phone she looked for local coffee shops and, after filtering out any chains, headed off to a place two blocks south.
Chaos Coffee was an oddly named place, a little ways off the beaten track, the wildest thing about it being the bright red paint job. Inside, it was almost blissfully quiet and, well, empty. Kronii approached the counter, scanning the place to see if there were any staff about, though there didn't seem to be. Taking the opportunity to put the stack of flyers down she placed them on the counter and pulled out her phone, to check the opening hours.
"Oh Hey!" A sudden loud voice startled Kronii and she almost dropped her phone. She turned to look back to where the voice came from and a head had now appeared over the counter with a mess of red hair tied up into uneven twintails. "Sorry. I don't get many customers this time of day. What can I get'cha?"
"Um, just a large latte please." Kronii said, regaining her composure.
"No wuckas!" The girl with red hair beamed. "Just take a seat, I'll bring it to you."
"Thanks." Kronii replied, putting her phone away and moving to pick up the flyers, though one was already in the hands of the girl behind the counter.
"Roommate wanted. Large bedrooms available, shared bathrooms, kitchen, living room and garden. Fast Wifi. No Betrayers." The batista read aloud with a giggle.
Kronii felt her cheeks flush and her heart beat hard in her chest. She opened her mouth to retort, but before she could form the words....
"I love it!" The girl behind the counter exclaimed. "So to the point, tells you all you need to know, then, bam! No Betrayers. You wanna put a couple of these up in here?"
Kronii closed her mouth, she felt the tension that was building inside her drain out of her.
"Yes please."
"You don't have to leave. We can stay here forever." Kronii pleaded.
The girl smiled softly and giggled. "Maybe you can stay here forever. But..."
But what? But nothing! But we'd always been together. Always...
The girl opened the door and walked out. Kronii said nothing. The door swung closed. Kronii didn't move. The latch clicked shut. Kronii woke up.
Her breathing was ragged and her body shivered. "That dream again..." She mumbled to herself.
She lay there for some time, looking out of her bedroom window at the bare trees against the red morning sky. Her mind raced with thoughts, and though she tried to not pay any of them much mind, it was always going to be a losing effort. Twenty minutes after she had woken up she pulled herself out of bed, threw on the nearest, warmest piece of clothing and left her bedroom.
To say Kronii's home was nice was an understatement. It was a masterpiece that she had had no small part in making. It was also, however, designed for more than one person to live in, and standing in it alone, it felt almost mockingly big to Kronii. The open plan design now seemed to only amplify her loneliness.
Kronii found herself sighing as she slid two slices of bread into the toaster and pulled out her phone, logging into the burner email account she's set up to look for housemates. Of course she didn't have much hope that there'd be any responses, she'd only managed to put flyers up in that one coffee shop and the library. She was pleasantly surprised then, when there was a new message in the inbox.
To whom it may concern,
I am interested in the room advertised. What is the rent? Also do you need a rental history as I cannot provide that.
With regards,
Nanashi Mumei
"Oh right, rent." Kronii muttered. In truth, she'd not even considered that. A quick search showed that the median rent for the city was, a couple hundred a month, well, she didn't exactly need the cash so... round it down to a nice even five hundred.
Hello Mumei,
Rent is 500 a month. Rent history shouldn't be a problem, but I would like to meet with you first.
Ouro Kronii
Kronii placed her phone to the side not expecting an immediate response, though she was shocked to hear it ping-pong halfway through buttering her second slice of toast.
Hi Kronii,
To check I'm not a betrayer right? I saw your poster at chaos, do you want to meet there today at say, 1pm?
Kronii smiled.
Sure, see you at 1.
"Hey Bae." Mumei beamed as she entered Chaos. "The usual please."
"Oh hey, Mumei. Staying in or taking out?" The shop's owner said, poking her head above the counter.
"Staying in please." She replied, "I'm supposed to be meeting someone at one."
"Oh! You're the one she's been waiting for!" Bae's constant mischievous grin somehow getting wider. "Over by the fireplace. Take a seat I'll bring it to you."
Meanwhile by the fireplace, Kronii pretended to be doing something, anything, on her phone. In such an intimate and quiet space it was hard not to eavesdrop on the only conversation happening, but that didn't mean she didn't feel conscious about it, no matter how inane. "Pull yourself together, Kronii." She whispered to herself.
"Hello!" Mumei's almost singsong greeting pulled Kronii out of her own head.
"Oh, hey-" Kronii responded, turning to look at Mumei for the first time. She was immediately stunningly cute, with big hazel eyes, gentle features and long brown hair tied up in a ponytail. Suddenly conscious that she might be staring, Kronii extended a hand. "Um, Ouro Kronii, nice to meet you."
"Nanashi Mumei, nice to meet you too!" Mumei smiled warmly, taking Kronii's hand, shaking it before sitting down at a seat across the table. "Have you been waiting long?"
Kronii thought about how she hadn't done anything but fret about this meeting since about 5 minutes after it was made this morning. "Not long no. Do you come here often?"
"Does she ever!" Bae exclaimed, startling Kronii who hadn't noticed her approach. "She practically lives here!"
"What she means is, I'm currently sleeping on her floor in the room above this place." Mumei clarified.
"Oy! There's a futon, it's not the floor." Bae corrected, placing mumei's drink, some kind of smoothie on the table.
"So have you two known each other a while then?" Kronii asked.
"As long as I've known anyone!" Mumei grinned.
"Are you okay with her moving out?"
"Am I okay with losing my freeloader..." Bae faux pondered, tapping her chin in an exaggerated manner for effect. "Hmmm... Yep!"
"Right, I guess that's kind of a weird question to ask." Kronii said with a nervous laugh.
"Anyway, I should get back to work. What if I get three customers in one day?" Bae said, eyeing Kronii briefly and walking away.
"Don't worry about Bae, she's just a little protective of me since the accident." Mumei said, taking a sip of her drink.
"The accident?" Kronii repeated, "Oh sorry, I understand if you don't want to talk about it?"
"Oh, no it's fine." Mumei said, her smile unwavering. "There was an accident and I lost my memories, pretty much all of them. I only know my name because I had an ID on me when I was found. So I've been relearning a lot of stuff."
"Wow, that's pretty crazy." Kronii said. "So what do you do for work?"
"Oh I'm a librarian! I was there a lot after the accident learning about stuff and I heard they were hiring." Mumei responded enthusiastically. "How about you?"
"Oh, I uh, I'm a streamer." Kronii said, suddenly regretting having brought up the topic.
Mumei blinked. "Why are you embarrassed by that? It's cool."
"I mean yeah but..." Kronii trialled off.
"But?"
"Nothing, it's nothing." Kronii's cheeks felt like they were on fire.
"Oh are you *that* kind of streamer?" Mumei said, her singsong voice as innocent as ever.
"What?! No! No. Not that there's like, anything wrong with that... No I'm just a regular game streamer." Kronii protested, sure her face was now redder than Bae's hair.
"Oh. Then why are you so embarrassed?" Mumei chuckled.
"Um," Kronii scratched at her cheek. "Just out of practice at this I guess."
"At what? Talking to cute girls?"
"What? No!" Kronii was fit to burst. "I mean not that you're not cute, just, talking to anybody, I guess."
"Isn't your job to talk to people?"
"I guess... It's not really the same as talking to another person face to face though."
"Well, I think you're doing fine, and for what it's worth I like talking with you, so don't be too down on your conversational ability."
"Oh, uh, yeah. Thanks Mumei." Kronii smiled. "So, do you wanna come check the house out then?"
Almost as soon as they had left the cafe Kronii worried that she'd jumped the gun on inviting Mumei to see the house for whatever reason. Though she couldn't quite put a finger on what it was, or why it mattered or if it was just ridiculous to even worry about that. After all, she'd lived alone in that house for months now and it had been years since she had moved out. Why was it so wrong to occupy the rooms of people who clearly didn't want to live in them.
"Kronii, are you okay?" Mumei's soft voice pulled Kronii out her own head and she realised she had been frowning.
"Ah, yeah." Kronii mumbled, massaging her temples with her right hand. "Sorry, just... I don't know. It's nothing."
Mumei looked a little concerned and less than less than a little convinced. "If you say so..."
Great job Kronii. You're freaking her out.
"Sorry. Just a bit of a headache." Kronii lied. "We're almost there, I can grab some painkillers when we're there."
"Okay!" Mumei seemed reassured by that at least, smiling sweetly.
About another 2 minutes passed in not entirely uncomfortable silence before the pair arrived at the gate to Kronii's home. "We're here." Kronii said, matter-of-factly, lifting the latch on the gate and swinging it open for Mumei.
"This is the place?" Mumei said, her eyes wide as she took in the building. "How many people did you say lived here?"
"Just me." Kronii shrugged. "Oh, It's a 4 bedroom place, but one we converted into a dedicated streaming space with soundproofing and stuff."
"We?" Mumei parroted.
"Oh, uh. I bought this place with two friends when we graduated. Neither of them live here anymore though." Kronii scratched at the back of her neck. "Don't worry, the girl who used to live in the room you'd be renting... She won't be coming back, so you won't get turfed out at a moment's notice or anything."
"I see." Mumei said. A moment of quiet passed. "Can we go in then?"
"Oh sh- Yeah! Of course." Kronii exclaimed, pulling out her keys and unlocking the door.
"Want to go get yourself those painkillers?" Mumei asked.
"Need an excuse to be rid of me while you snoop around?" Kronii joked, pulling her boots off and pulling a pair of sandals off the rack for both of them.
Mumei giggled, pulling her own shoes off. "Yep! You'd better hurry if you don't want me to learn all your secrets."
"Got it." Kronii smiled, making her way to the kitchen. Pulling a glass out of the cupboard filling it with water and drinking it in two gulps. Pull yourself together, Kronii. She could see Mumei milling around the living room, quietly examining the spines on the bookshelf. It was kind of adorable how hard she was concentrating on them, turning her head to the side to read them.
Mumei turned to look at her as she approached. "I haven't seen a bunch of these books before, are these first editions?" Excitement was palpable in her face and voice.
"Huh?" Kronii glanced towards the bookshelf which housed the books her old housemates hadn't taken with them, each one as immaculate as the day they were made decades or even centuries ago.
Kronii began to internally scream.
"I- uh, dunno. They can't be that valuable if my housemates just left them behind right?"
"Oh yeah, I guess so." Mumei giggled. "Just well looked after old books."
"You, er, wanna see the garden?" Kronii asked, scrambling for a reason to both physically move away from the books and any questions about who her old roommates who would just leave them behind might be.
"Sure!" Mumei nodded, following behind Kronii as she walked over to the large French window at the house's rear, her eyes lighting up as she scanned the area.
"So, yeah, uh, no lawn, Fau-, er my old roommate insisted it was damaging." Kronii explained. "We grow a bunch of vegetables and herbs and stuff in the greenhouse too."
"Do you grow berries?" Mumei asked.
"Berries? What kind of Berries?"
"Any!"
"Uh, yeah there are some cranberry plants in there right now, never swapped them out after the holidays."
For some reason this seemed to really excite Mumei, though the why eluded Kronii. Still she couldn't help but smile at her earnest enthusiasm about such a little thing.
"Guess I should show you the room you'd be renting." Kronii said, turning to leave,if only to hide her grinning face from Mumei.
"Okay!" Mumei said, following behind.
As Kronii approached the door a cold chill seemed to run up her arm. This was the first time she'd even gotten this close to the door for what, almost a year. She pressed on, but suddenly worried about what might be on the other side as her hand touched the cold door handle. She shook her head slightly to dislodge the thoughts. It was an empty room. That was all, it didn't matter who once lived there. She pressed down on the handle.
The room was as empty as the day she had left on that cold February morning.
"Ooh it's big." Mumei said, peeking in behind Kronii. This much was certainly true, to say that it's prior occupant was concerned with space was an understatement.
"Yeah it's the biggest bedroom." Kronii said absent-mindedly,running a finger along the surface of a table and realising exactly how much dust had built up.
"How long exactly has this room been empty?" Mumei asked, presumably noticing the dust too.
"Exactly?" Kronii tapped her chin. "2 years, 11 months and 23 days. Why?"
"Er, just curious." Mumei giggled. "You're an interesting one Kronii."
"I'm going to assume that's a compliment."
"It is." Mumei smiled sweetly. "So if this place has been empty so long why haven't you moved in or rented it out before?"
"Honestly, that's just how long it took to get that it really was going to be empty forever." Kronii found that she was scratching her upper arm. "Sorry, I know that's kind of a weird answer."
"No, I think I get it." Mumei said, placing a reassuring hand on Kronii's. "After my accident I wondered occasionally if I had some home far away that I would never return to. If there was someone there waiting for me to come back, who I'd never come back to. If there is someone waiting out there for me, I hope they'd move on like you are."
"Thanks, Mumei." Kronii felt herself on the brink of tears, and blinked them back, trying to regain composure. "So, are there any other questions you have?"
"Hmm..." Mumei tapped on her chin in exaggerated thought. "Just one. When can I move in?"