[Chapter 1 - 008]

Some of them were more standoffish than others, but I still enjoyed getting to know the folks aboard this station. And time flies when you’re having fun, of course… Soon it was 1900 hours, the time Honoka had given us for supper.

She’d made a simple stir fry– maybe not as dazzling as Jurou’s cooking, but few things are. It was still really good, of course! I would’ve gone back for seconds if I didn’t eat like a mouse.

Vash sat down at my table while I was eating, with a plate of food and– the scarf! She’d finished it in just under two hours like she’d promised, and it was absolutely perfect.

It might’ve been a little too warm, but I put the scarf on anyway. Looks like Michi got his, too! I wondered who she’d make one for next…

I didn’t see Ishi at supper, so I dug up another tupperware from the kitchen and filled it with some stir fry. Honoka was busy cleaning the dishes… I offered to help her, but she insisted on doing it herself. Ah well, I probably would’ve just gotten in the way.

Ishi’s door opened to a cacophony of snoring– not only had she fallen asleep already, but so had Gugalanna, sitting on the floor at the side of her bed like a guard dog.

Ishi was probably stable enough by now that she didn’t need someone to keep an eye on her all the time… But I appreciated the concern, and I’m sure she appreciated the company. I left the tupperware on her desk and closed the door gently.

I headed back to my room, and had just started to get ready for bed when I saw the bottles of Zoloft in my cabinet and remembered one last errand… Nikola blinked sleepily as he answered the door, but he thanked me for the bootleg meds and said I looked cute in my new scarf.

Unable to handle either the compliment or how cute he looked with his hair all a mess, I quickly apologized for waking him up and ran back to my room once more.

I changed into my own pajamas, put up my hair, and settled in for the night with a book from the shelf over my bed– Crooked House, by Agatha Christie. A murder mystery at a time like this sounds incredibly tasteless, I’m sure, but when it’s one you’ve read a dozen times before, there’s an odd comfort in knowing exactly what’s going to happen.

I’d only made it a chapter or two in, though, before the little red screen blinded me again.

Ding dong bing bong!

Only my second time hearing that announcement, and already it was getting on my nerves…