"The crowd walked toward the room,
On one side the flowers bloom.
Hunger brought him to the kitchen,
The other was called on a mission.
It went all night,
They had a great fight.
Now dawn reveals their weary state—
Two heroes late, at heaven's gate."
The morning light poured like gold through the school hall.
The girls moved toward their first lesson of the day.
"Good morrow," Eurika sang, greeting teachers and students alike.
She changed her phrase every few steps — "Top of the morning to you," "A fine day, I say!" — and left a string of smiling faces behind her.
"I liked her better when she was quiet," Shinigami muttered. "Now I want to cut her throat."
"Now, now, you don't want to make a scene," Parmiss teased, amused.
"Whatever." Shinigami rolled her eyes and fell quiet.
As they walked in the hall, something came up behind them, a measured tread getting closer.
They prepared themselves for who it could be and turned back.
"Hello, Parmiss. Shinigami." Kazuto stood there. His eyes were ringed in dark—like someone who hadn't slept in days.
Parmiss blinked. "What happened to you?"
Shinigami cocked an eyebrow. "You look dead; would you like to put you out of your misery?"
Avoiding the barb, Parmiss asked, "Are you all right?"
Kazuto looked like is going to pass out any second.
Behind him came Marv. He also appeared to be suffering the same fate.
Marv dragged his feet like a man halfway to the afterlife.
"Parmiss…" Marv croaked, reaching a hand out. "I see—light—"
"You'll see my foot next if you don't explain," Parmiss snapped, half-laughing, half-offended.
Kazuto leaned against the wall; Marv braced on him.
"I will explain," Marv panted, pointing like that was all the energy he had left.
...
Previous night.
Fog wrapped the dorm gates. The heavy iron stood sealed, no visible lock, no handle to turn.
"So how do we open it?" Marv gasped.
"I don't see any mechanism." Kazuto studied the gate with his hand to his chin.
The wall lantern started flickering, and from the mist, a fairy fluttered out — barefoot, glowing faintly blue. Her wings shimmered like glass, and her smile carried the kind of mischief that could start wars.
"Oh my, look at this… two lonely boys out at this hour," she purred, circling like a cat. "You weren't sneaking around, were you?"
"Sneaking?" Kazuto blinked. "No. We were in a monster's belly."
"Mhm," the fairy hummed. "That's what they all say."
"It tried to eat us—like we were popcorn." Marv spread his palms.
"And did it succeed?" she asked with an innocent tilt of her head.
"Of course not!" they said together.
"Shame," she smirked. "I was hoping to meet something that could actually swallow you both whole."
Marv froze. Kazuto choked on air.
"W-what!?" Marv stammered.
"Relax, sugar," she winked. "I'm Linetta, dorm guardian. I make sure naughty little boys don't break in after curfew."
"We're not naughty!" both protested.
"At least, not yet," Marv added, weaker than he meant to be.
Her laughter echoed as she waved her hand, and the gates creaked open on their own.
"Go on then, brave heroes. Try not to get eaten again—by monsters or otherwise."
"Don't you worry, even death hates me," Marv managed, trying for a grin that came out hollow.
Linetta's wings flickered, her smirk softening.
"Maybe it doesn't," Kazuto said softly. "Maybe it just wants you to keep walking."
For a moment, no one spoke. The fog curled around them like smoke.
Then Linetta clapped once. "Okay! Enough brooding, my tragic heroes—inside, before I charge rent for emotional drama."
"Ah. Yes, ma'am." Marv patched himself together and trudged for the dorm.
Kazuto also walked with him.
"She is scary..." Marv said to Kazuto in a whisper that felt awkward and someone rethinking themselves.
As they walked towards the door Linetta whispered to herself "He is hopeless." and went inside the wall lantern, leaving a spark of fairy dust.
...
"—and that's how we met the fairy," Marv finished dramatically.
Parmiss blinked. "That explains nothing."
"Exactly," Shinigami muttered. "Men."
"I'll continue from here," Kazuto sighed, giving Marv's mouth the rest it desperately needed.
Marv collapsed to his knees, gasping like he'd just fought for world peace.
"So... after we got to our room..."
...
They'd found a small room for two: a window between the beds, moonlight pooling on the floor. Simple. Two beds, two tables, a quiet that settled on them like a blanket.
As both made themselves comfortable, Kazuto hopped on bed and turned on his game like he wasn't in a monster's belly an hour ago.
"You're not going to sleep?" Marv asked, already half-buried in blankets.
"I will just play for a little while to fresh up my mind." Kazuto replied with a faint smile. "Gaming is my therapy, you know."
Marv sat up slowly, eyes gleaming like he'd just discovered gravity.
"Kazuto… tonight, I'm going to make history."
Without even glancing up, Kazuto muttered, "You mean make food?"
"No!" Marv declared, climbing to his bed's edge like a king on his throne.
"Magic Toast — the future of breakfast!"
"Do whatever you want, brother. Just be careful," Kazuto said, thumbs still moving on his screen.
"Don't you worry, brother!" Marv announced proudly, chest puffed out with ridiculous confidence.And with that, he hopped off the bed and marched toward the kitchen — the man, the myth, the culinary disaster waiting to happen.
A bang shattered the quiet. The bed shuddered where Kazuto was playing the game.
"What was that?" He quickly closed his game and ran out like a ninja.
He ran to the stair grill and peered down.
He saw Marv propped against a wall, surrounded by broken furniture.
Marv pushed himself up, swept dust off his clothes, and announced, "Ah—what a waste."
As the floor shook again and Kazuto thinned his grip on the grill.
It was a toaster—wrong in every way: chrome and huge, a plug like a tail, slots that spat out writhing, toasted slices of bread that scuttled like tiny monsters with jagged teeth.
"What the hell—" Kazuto froze, "How did you— actually, no, I don't even want to know." and then ran back to the lobby. He snatched an umbrella from the stand and grabbed a mop leaning in the corner and jumped on the battle ground.
"Here Marv!" He threw the mop to Marv and landed on the ground safely.
Marv caught the mop and spun it like the reaper wielding its scythe.
"It's for me to show you what I am made of! Toastrous!" As he charged in towards the toaster.
Kazuto carried the umbrella like a blade, slicing the evil minion army of breads.
"What the hell happened here, Marv!?" Kazuto screamed, not with rag, but trying to balance between his attacks and the noise that was building up.
"Fate obviously!" Marv said as the toaster started to fire toasted bread on him like the bullets from a machine gun.
As Marv dodged the attacks like questions asked in an exam.
"Great! Just great, Brother!" Sweat dripping from Kazuto's face. He was fast, cutting sharply through all the chaos.
"Taste my... Mop of Destiny!" Marv yelled — then hit the beast and left not even a scratch.
Kazuto side-eyed him mid-swing. "You seriously named it that?"
"Fate clearly wants me gluten-free!" Marv added at his lost shot.
Plug-tail of the monster whiplashed and smacked him into a wall. Smoke thickened, dust fell like snow.
Smoke filled the air as the walls began to fall apart.
"Are you alright, Marv?!" Kazuto called, fighting and watching.
Marv gave a thumbs-up from the smoke.
"Is there anything that can be done to defeat that thing?" Kazuto asked, fighting between the bread and his thoughts.
The breads had monstrous faces and a sharp mouth that appeared to be made to devour anything it came in contact with.
"I know a technique, that can destroy it, but I have never actually done it before." Marv said as he stood up, clearing up the blood he got on his jaw with his arm.
As the hall started to shake like it could collapse any second. Kazuto screamed "Use it now! It's the last resort!"
"If you say so brother!" As Marv stood holding the mop like he was against death itself, the purple glowing fog started the wrap around the mop.
"The reaper that takes our souls and guides us through the night!" The air started to move like tornado, where he stood, "Grant me your blade, so I can alter fate!" As the mop started to twist and turned into a scythe. For a second his heart pounded, a hesitation.
Kazuto blinked. "Is this an exorcism or a cooking show?"
"Execution!" As Marv charged in with his weapon, using the collapsed walls to get a higher ground. His eyes glowed with purple lightening as the blade on his scythe grew larger than the Monster itself.
"I will cut you down!" Marv screamed, his body moved slow in the air.
Kazuto felt something rise inside him, a resonance with Marv. His aura flared blue. As his umbrella turned into a blade, he charged like lighting towards the hundreds of minions.
"I swear, if we survive this, you're banned from every kitchen on Earth." As Kazuto's own power started to expand.
As Marv struck the Monster, it felt like the whole thing was breaking into atoms, fading like a blackhole is sucking it like atoms. The flash of light filling in the room. The noise of the strike felt like a scream.
Kazuto also charged his attack and fired. The whole room glowed in blue and purple light before all the pieces of bread were burned like dust.
As the threats vanished, their bodies cooled and the auras faded.
The umbrella as well as the mop were burned into ashes.
They both collapsed on their knees.
Kazuto coughed. "We just saved the dorm... from breakfast."
Marv wiped sweat from his brow. "We are legends... heroes of carbs!"
Then came a slow clap.
Clap! clap!
"That was an entertaining fight!"
They turned to see the dorm boys standing at the doorway, completely unharmed, holding snacks.
"You guys were watching!?" Marv yelled. "Couldn't you help!?"
The leader shrugged. "You looked like you were having fun."
Another boy added, "Five stars. Would watch again."
Marv groaned. "I hate this place."
"I think you two should stay up tonight and fix the mess you made!" The boy that appeared to be standing in the middle of the crowd said with a smirk.
"Have fun you both!" He said like a brat and left the scene.
Other guys followed him. Back to the room to sleep.
One boy stood left there. He was short and appeared to have blonde hair.
"I wish that I could help you both, but they will all punish me if I do!" The blonde boy said.
"It's nothing!" Kazuto said lifting his hands.
A short blonde boy lingered, cheeks flushed. "I'd help, but they'll punish me." He fumbled a scrap of paper, scribbled a quick rune, and tossed it to Kazuto. "This fixes broken things. Use it on the hall"
Kazuto caught it and nodded his thanks. "You saved us a lot of work."
"I will be leaving now. Take care." As the boy left.
"Kazuto! He said to use it on broken objects!" Marv said standing up, "Does that mean, you can use it on me?"
"What?" Kazuto said with a confusion on his face.
"Nothing..."
They worked through the night fixing the mess; time flew by like a bird.
The hall was cold. The blue fog was filling the windows.
Finally, after fixing everything, they were heading to sleep moving like zombies and then the school bell rang, and the sun grew up from the sky.
...
"... and here we are." As Kazuto ended their long tale of suffering.
The long silence filled the air.
"So... you two destroyed half the dorm because of toast?" Parmiss finally spoke up.
"Magic toast!" Marv corrected her.
Shinigami added under her tone, "I'm surrounded by idiots."
"And somehow you lived to tell the tale." Parmiss asked, her hand on her chin.
Kazuto, barely able to stand, managed a single word. 'Barely."
"You do realize... you're both banned from the kitchen now, right?" Shinigami added in.
Marv pointed towards them and said, "So you're saying we made history."
Parmiss facepalms and replied, "I'm saying you made a mess."
As the team was talking to each other, another cheerful voice came from behind them.
"Good morrow!" Eurika who was passing by called them out loud.
"I'm going to strangle her." Shinigami, lifting up her sleeves.
Parmiss stopped Shinigami and said, " I think it's not a good idea to strangle someone at a cheerful morning like this."
Shinigami stopped and then Parmiss moved towards Marv and Kazuto, "You should both go to the nurse's office."
Marv and Kazuto thumbed up, but their legs couldn't hold in any longer and they passed out.
Shinigami walked up slowly to them and added with a face that felt sorry for them, "They are hopeless"
"I will go call the nurse so she can take them to the sanatorium" Parmiss with a cold expression as she headed to call the nurse.
Shinigami walked to the two fainted boys and said, with the barest hint of softness, "Don't die before the next class, idiots..."