Vanilla

Eleven

The boy had lost the sound of company when he could no longer hear its creak.

The other side, empty and absent

Of balance he was bound to seek;

It left him quite alone

Indeed.

=======================

[Vanilla]

"You two should have babies," said Si Yin the moment we ran into each other at the campus gate, her text and log books bundled together by a book strap but seemingly in ruins. "You're book-smart. He's street-smart. Imagine the kind of kids you'd have: Naruto-Einstein."

Mentally exhausted and having had little to no time for recovery yesterday evening, I'd taken some time to register Si Yin's presence and whatever she was saying in her usual bubbly voice. Truth to be told, I had myself to blame. After all, my 'superior' intelligence had somehow led to my choosing of dinner with Leroy over a productive evening in the library browsing archives and coming up with new angles for my article. Yet, thanks to the former's disarming words and effective smiles, I'd spent the entire evening thinking about what he'd said. That, and the fact that the administration office had given me a call to inform me of granted access not to campus accommodation, but to other facilities like the lodge pools, gym, study rooms, and common kitchens. Just to acknowledge that I'd set a new record on the test.

"First of all, I don't know who you're talking about." I held my student ID over the card reader and waited for the beep. "Second of all, Einstein—yes, I know who that is but Na... Naruto...?" We took a shortcut up the General Foods Nutrition Center to the second floor of Roth hall.

"Who else would I be talking about other than your knight-on-a-horse? Anyway, Naruto's like, the symbol of big-hit protagonists in every Shonen-genre anime or manga who embody heart before mind or instinct before reason. Einsteins are the total opposite and insanely clever but usually the sidekick," she shrugged, casually dropping the bomb on my sorry self.

I held open the door to 'Kitchen 5' and checked the screen attached to it, scanning the updated timetable to ensure we were at the right place for Product Knowledge. "So I assume you're implying that I'm unfit for the role of a protagonist in any story," I pointed out, albeit light-heartedly. "And that people like Leroy tend to suit that sort of role."

Si Yin flashed a toothy grin. "I didn't say your knight-on-a-horse was Leroy Cox. You said it yourself." At this, I threw in the towel and decided against furthering the conversation for fear that I would only get myself into further trouble.

Fortunately, my companion was distracted by the several teaching assistants that our instructor had hired for the first lesson. Since it was another one of those joint classes (again, with Class 1A), several stations were already filled with students I didn't quite recognize, and others seemed to gather around the assistants who had with them a list of names.

"What's happening?" Si Yin tapped on the shoulder of an assistant by the pantry, lightening her load by taking one of the vegetable boxes she had in her arms.