Catharsis | AVOOCU Sequel

Chapter 4: Once More, The Nostalgia of a Show

[Chapter 4: Once More, The Nostalgia of a Show]

"Hey, hey, Ashley!" I hummed at the energetic boy's voice, turning to him. Naruto raised an object in one hand. "What's this?"

My eyes widened. "What do you...!" I let out a gasp, hastily grabbing it away from his hand. That's my laptop! "What are you doing?! What if you dropped it?!" I hissed out, cradling it tightly with both hands. My heart pounded in sheer panic. I spend so much for this shit!

I heard Sasuke shift in his seat on the couch. "We're ninja. We wouldn't drop something like that." Aah... I sort of not miss his dumb remarks as of the moment.

"Aha." My laugh was dry, so dry. But then I sighed, settling down on the conch next to him. It was the third day of being back here, believe it or not. Yesterday, Tae-young and I decided that it was best to just adjust and research on our own time— considering that I had to monitor team 7. He had came earlier to drop clothes for the boys but now... I didn't know what to do.

"Anyways, Naruto," I huffed as the blond sheepishly turned at me. "Since ya so curious, might as well show you." The boy made a loud noise of excitement, rushing over to the kitchen to call over Sakura and Kakashi. I was a bit skeptical— how did we not get a noise complaint? But then again, I'm pretty sure most people would've gone home...

My lips pushed together. Home...

I shook my head and opened up my laptop. I need to find a solution to get back— soon. I ignored the dark-haired male's not-so-subtle staring as I pushed down on the power button. Within seconds, the electronic board lit up, shoving me with the question for the password. It was practically muscle memory when my fingers danced against the plastic keyboard, pressing enter with my index finger.

"Come on, come on!" I heard Naruto come back, dragging along Sakura and Kakashi with a grin.

"Cha, whatever." The pinkette said with a groan, slightly glaring at him. But then she relaxed her shoulders. "So what was it you wanted to show us?"

I turned my laptop around, smiling as it showed Google. Man, never would I have thought that I would be so happy to see the logo of a greedy and terrible company. "This," I pointed at the screen. "Is a laptop. A device that's connected to..." I rolled my eyes to the ceiling, searching for a way for them to understand. "Multiple digital intel networks."

Like a fuse, their expressions contorted into ones of shock. With small gasps of awes heard, the teens all crowded around the device like it was a messiah while their teacher only placed a hand under his chin. "Multiple digital intel networks? That... very handy."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, while you guys focused on your magic— chakra— whatever, we improved on mainly technology." Everything else? Not really, unfortunately. I then rose a brow in sudden thought. "You guys do realize there is no chakra in this world, right?"

They all whipped their heads at me. Blink. Blink.

"What?!" Naruto's the first to break the silence with a shout, hunching his shoulder up. He was immediately smacked by the kunoichi. The other two just contained staring with wide eyes.

I rolled my shoulders for better comfort, lifting a finger. "Yep, why do you think nobody's been..." I placed a hand under my chin. "What's the word? Uh... setting houses on fire?"

"Not that."

"Thanks, Sasuke." I resolved, tilting my head with half-lidded eyes.

My ears picked up a slightly muffled huff from the scarecrow. "No wonder this place feels so different." He then raised a hand, going back and forth with clenching and unclenching it. "And do you know why it's so... stuffy?"