Music of the Night

Chapter 70

Chapter 70

Arthur was going to need more than peppermint or ginger tea to pull through for the rest of the week.

No, for this two whole weeks since that assembly!

Not only did he received a braille letter from Ten, inviting him to the Inarigumi hideout for lunch with his dad, he had two exams coming up which he needs to study and on top of that, the drama club has requested him to be a guest star for their upcoming play.

Arthur felt like his mind was going to shatter at the though of all of the tasks he was assigned to do this week. He admired how some animals can multitask without breaking a sweat but he himself had a slow pace due to...minor setbacks.

His ears were plugged with headphones, listening to two hours of rainfall in the forest or the breeze of the wind while the crunching of leaves were heard. There were no music except the feeling of his fingers typing on the braille machine. 

He was so deep into his work that he did not hear the sound of his dorm door opening by the dorm mother, who led in the visitor.

The minute Arthur felted someone tapping him on the shoulder, the poor Honduran white bat squeaked in surprise, falling off the top of the bunk bed where his feet was hanging. He unplugged his headphones.

"Y-yes?" he began to open his mouth to use his clicks, cloudy blue eyes widened at who it was. "H-how did you get into my dorm, Louis?"

Arthur's ears perked up when he could detect a laugh in the deer's tone. "The dorm mother did. Are you sure you are really blind? How can you tell it's me without touching my antlers like the last time?"

"Oh, I just use my clicks which roughly estimates what you are and knowing you're the only deer who has ever come here..."

He could hear Louis let out a breath. Arthur couldn't tell if his answer had offended the red deer or not. Arthur decided to stumble in the dorm, feeling his way for the hot kettle.

"Would you like some tea? The water is already boiled since I'm going to be drinking a lot this week."

He only heard silence. Arthur decided to just pour for two since he can't really tell what is Louis' expression. The last time he ever chatted with the deer was during that faithful night where all four gangs of the Black Market were at war.

"I've heard a lot about what you did back at the Black Market," said Louis. "Not only did you manage to survive the four gangs but rumour has it that the leader of the Inarigumi has been eloping with a Honduran white bat?"

Arthur lowered his ears, clearly flustered. "My dad loves her and likewise. Honestly, it's awkward since my dad and grandparents have been raising me up all my life besides my friends so having a mother might be nice."

"Don't you find it weird that she's a fox and you're dad's a bat?"

Arthur tilted his head. "What's wrong with that?"

There was silence again before he heard Louis sigh. "Anyways, I heard from other students that they know you're the mysterious musician and played during assembly. I bet you enjoyed the praises and recognition."

Arthur would rather not answer that since all the students suddenly act nice around him just because they want to hear him play. Not only that, he has been stressed out about being a guest star for the upcoming play at the drama club.

"How fitting," he heard Louis chuckle and the sound of paper being held. "Your roll in the play is a  ghost who plays music in an underground lair of the opera house? That's a big roll for something as small as you."