LUCEM
LXXIV Chapter

I woke up in a bad feeling. No one was expected to be by my side when I opened my eyes.

I stepped out of the room, looking for something.

"Hello Mars, if you're not busy would you join us?" A mouse colleague made a wishful invitation to my hungry stomach.

When I opened my mouth to answer, that was when my savior arrived, lunch!

Smiling Venus came carrying a simple salad in a foil bowl. I took the proffered food and plastic cutlery with excessive gratitude, and immediately opened the lid of the container.

"Just a salad, no other food for the afternoon, and Moonflower specifically advised that you consume more fiber to speed up your recovery. ” Venus said. "We have to obey it even if we don't keep an eye on it directly."

I smile. I don't know why I felt that man was on his side.

I glanced at Venus. Put a fork full of salad in my mouth. I chewed slowly, still deciding how to respond, as my attention was distracted by movement in the distance.

I looked into the room where the rats were gathered.

All the mice were in a corner gathered around a small table, all holding a lunch bowl of tin foil. They wave at us.

I gestured with a fork full of salad. Talk with a full mouth. "I'm going there to join you?"

I glanced back at Venus, and she nodded. "Go, I'll be busy in the kitchen" he said.

"Mars is coming?" Jimmy asked, glancing back.

"Oh, yes," I said. "Just right behind you."

As soon as I sat down at their table, I knew something was wrong. Sam and Jimmy sat stiffly, side by side, and Jiso had nothing more than glanced at me as I sat down. I found this reception very strange, given the fact that they invited me for a casual afternoon snack as usual. Of course I would think they would be happy to see me coming.

After a few minutes of uneasy silence, Jimmy spoke. "I just told Sam," he said, "that he's the one who should talk to Marbella."

I looked at Sam. "That's a good idea."

I shot him with a dark look.

"No, really," he said, carefully selecting a piece of potato for spearing. Wait — from where they get potatoes? All I got was a salad. "Someone needs to talk to her."

"Someone has to do it" I said, annoyed. I narrowed my eyes at Sam's potatoes. "Where did you get that?"

"This is just what they gave me" said Sam, looking up in shock. “Of course, I'm happy to share if you want.”

I moved quickly, jumping from my seat to spear a piece of potato from his bowl. I stuffed the whole piece into my mouth before I even sat back down, and I still chewed while thanking him.

He looks a bit disgusted.

I guess I was a little caveman when Marbella wasn't there to keep me decent.

"I think Jimmy was right" Jiso said. “You should talk to the cat girl, and soon. I think he's like a loose cannon now, a very good choice of timing, right?"

"You argue and you want me to be the representative of a human who speaks on behalf of a mouse to a cat, is that it? I glanced at Jiso.

I poked a piece of lettuce, rolled my eyes. “Can I have lunch before everyone starts jumping down my throat? This is the first real food I've eaten since I woke up.

"Nobody jumped down your throat." Sam frowned. “And I think Moonflower said normal meal hours re-applied this morning.”

"They did it" I said.

“But you were injured three days ago,” Sam said. "That means"

I put down my knife and fork. Strenuous.

I straighten.

"I'll talk to him, soon," I said again, this time with a final gesture that shocked the rats.

I swallowed my food. Too soon. Almost choked.

"You're serious?" jimmy said, frowning as I coughed up my lungs. “This is a sad time for all of us, and you have more to do with her than anyone else here. Which means you have a moral responsibility to figure out what he thinks.”

"Moral responsibility?" My cough turned into laughter.

"Yes. It is a moral responsibility. And don't you agree with me, sir?" Jimmy asked for justification from his commander.

Jiso looked up, raising an eyebrow towards Jimmy. “I'm sure he did. I'm sure Mars agrees with you all the time.”

Sam seemed to be smiling brightly. Makes me upset with the potatoes. I stabbed my food blindly and muttered, "I hate you," slowly.

"Oh yeah?" I gestured between Jimmy and Sam with my fork. “What happened here? This energy is very strange.”

When no one answered me, I kicked Jimmy under the table. He turned around, muttering nonsense before pulling his water glass for a long time.

"Okay" I said slowly. I took my own glass of water. Sip. "Seriously so. What the hell is going on? You two play rummy

under the table or something?”

Sam became a full tomato.

Jimmy took his equipment and, while staring at his plate, said, “Please. Tell him."

"Tell me what?" I said, glancing between the two of them. When no one answered, I looked towards Jiso like, What the hell is this?

Jiso just shrugged his shoulders.

Jiso was quiet as usual. She and Venus have been spending more time together lately, but that also means I have rarely met her in the past few days.

Sam suddenly stood up.

He patted Jimmy on the back. "Speak to Mars" he said. "He's vulnerable now, and he needs his friends."

"Are you-?" Jimmy makes a show looking around, over his shoulder. “Sorry, which friend do you mean? Because as far as I know, Mars doesn't have it.”

I squinted at Jimmy and Sam.

"Why do you have to make it sound so dramatic?" I said, throwing my face away. “That's no big deal, if you ever talk bad stuff behind my back."

Sam put his hand on my finger. Forcing me to look him in the eye. "No," he told me. "We only argue small and I admit sometimes the debate moves too fast that my empty thoughts jump out without me noticing. That was before you came, and now... In front of you I am truly sorry, I have never not loved any of us, we are family."

I waited until Sam finished talking and slightly moved away before finally putting down my fork. I'm not really upset, and I know he's right. I said goodbye to my friends as I walked away from the table, but not before I saw Jimmy smiling triumphantly at Sam.

The joy.

"I'm so happy for you guys" I said. "really. You guys just made this shitty day so much better."

Jiso looked up, his mustache moving. Sam was beaming at me.