~Chapter 03~

"Get back here, you little twerp!"

Loud footsteps came from the halls before a crash was heard. The douji who were currently resting in the living room cringed when they heard that voice. Everyone knew better than to bother Rage when he was composing something in the music room, so they could only assume who was the idiot who was bored enough to do just that.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH! I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!"

Avaro came running into the living space, and proceeded to crawl under the kotatsu to escape his impending doom. Unfortunately for him, Rage saw his foot wiggling under it and grabbed it.

"Got you! You're going to pay for ruining my limited edition vinyl records, you little shit!"

Avaro just kept screaming for his life. He ended up being dumped in one of the kitchen's trash cans (albeit the filthiest one), which could be considered as a very lucky occurrence if one took Rage's uncontrollable anger into account. The cause of this merciful act was the fact that Pardonner had wondered into the living room to see what that racket was all about, which managed to distract Rage long enough to change his mind.

After Pardonner went back to the infirmary with a book on natural remedies he deemed useful, Rage found himself under the smug looks his fellow douji were giving him.

"What?"

Désir giggled lavishly, earning an irritated stare from Rage.

"Oh, nothing. Just noticing how you're always staring at Pardonner with goo goo eyes~"

This caused the mocking laughter of all of the Evil Douji present except for Jealousy, who just shook his head in annoyance at his comrades' immaturity. Rage's face reddened and nobody could tell if it was in anger or humiliation. He left with a muttered "Don't bother me…" while the others' laughter continued.

Mindful of the others hearing him, Service, who had surprisingly decided to stay still and read instead of going outside to play, crawled over to Jealousy.

"How long has that been going on?"

Annoyed at being interrupted once again, Jealousy looked up with bored eyes at the blue haired robot.

"I'm assuming you mean the whole Rage-likes-Pardonner thing. About two months, I guess. Apparently they had a confrontation when they accidentally crossed paths. I don't know all the details, and Rage won't say anything, but the others seem to think that Pardonner defeated him, or 'handed his ass to him' like Edile says, and that made Rage develop some sort of infatuation. Vice wasn't happy when he heard that, and Rage refusing to make things clear frustrated him even more. Personally, I don't think we will know exactly what happened unless he decides to talk about it, which probably won't happen in a million years. Maybe you should ask Pardonner yourself."

When he said this, Jealousy still had the bored expression, but his eyes glittered with curiosity as he also wondered about that day. Noticing this, Service gave him a cheeky smile and saluted.

"Don't mind if I do. Seriously, though, I doubt he will tell me anything either since we never heard about it until now. Pardonner keeps to himself most of the time, and if it really was an easy fight, maybe he didn't think it was important mentioning."

Jealousy thought about it and nodded. Just then, a disgruntled Avaro appeared in the kitchen's doorway with bits of garbage and grime sticking to him.

"Don't say anything…."

At this, Edile let out a guffaw which soon enough had the others joining in the laughter once again. At this, Edile let out a guffaw which soon enough had the others joining in the laughter once again. Jealousy groaned in irritation while Service smiled at him apologetically.

Ultimo had been in the kitchen reading a cook book he had found to get ideas on new dishes to make, when he was startled by Rage barging into the kitchen with a screaming Avaro. They both ignored him while Rage dumped Avaro into a trash can. After Rage stormed off, Ultimo walked over to the trash can and lifted the lid.

"May I ask what did you do this time?"

"NONE OF YOUR DAMN BUSINESS!"

"Very well then. Enjoy the smell."

Ultimo sniffed indignantly and replaced the lid on the trash can, ignoring Avaro's squeaks of "No, wait!"

He was about to sit down when the door opened again. Vice paused at the doorway for a moment, not expecting anyone to be in the kitchen. Deciding to ignore him, he crossed over to the refrigerator and rummaged around the back for a bit. To Ultimo's surprise, he took out a bottle of Calbis and immediately started chugging down while he leaned on the counter.

"Where did you get that?"

Vice smirked a little, then took his time savoring his drink before answering.

"The old guy knows everything about us, right? Obviously, I like drinking this stuff, so he stashed a bunch at the back of the fridge. I found them last night."

Ultimo immediately got wary. What was Vice doing wondering around in the middle of the night?

"Lock your door if you think I'm going to kill you in your sleep."

Vice had the biggest smirk on his face. He loved making his enemy squirm. Ultimo frowned, determined to not let Vice get to him. He harrumphed and got up to make supper. Vice perked up when he saw him take out hamburger meat from the freezer.

"What are you going to make with that?"

Ultimo blinked at him, put off by the sudden question and Vice's sincere interest.

"Well, I'm not entirely sure. I was thinking about mixing it with some vegetables or something."

"I have a better idea."

"What's that?"

"HAMBURGER STEAK!"

Finally an update! I've been writing this for three days, I'm not even kidding. I would write bits of it when the idea struck in my note book and since I was going to be sitting in front of the computer writing an outline for an assignment, I decided to type this up once I finished.

I don't know when the next update might be done, but please bear with me. Hope you enjoy! :)