Exalted

Blessings from heaven

"This is truly a lobotomy kaisen experience"

Alex Murphy, age 19, sat alone in his dorm room, watching shorts on his phone.

He is tall with a lean build, blonde hair, and clear sky-blue eyes. His face is sharp, and to anyone who doesn't know him, he seems like your typical high school jock.

But to those who know him well, he's a nerdy dork. With a build like that, no one would expect him to be an 'otaku'.

The blame can be held responsible to Robert "Bob" Crook. He's the one who introduced Alex to the wonders of the Japanese animation industry.

Both of them have been friends from a very young age.

Their friendship blossomed for the first time after they had a fight in elementary school. Their parents got called in, and they were forced to make amends, y'know, the usual.

After that whole fiasco, both parents agreed to have dinner together, since surprisingly they come from the same county.

At first, both of them hated each other guts, but after so many dinners together and being forced to play along by both of their parents, Alex and Bob found a genuine liking for each other.

They have similar tastes in games they've played. They hate the same teacher in school. Heck, they even have matching shirts by accident, and they take it as a sign, for granted.

Soon, their friendship deepened. It was like having a brother from another mother.

They always had each other's backs, with their own secret handshake and password, and most importantly, 'bros before hoes'.

The last one stemmed from an accident that caused a crack in their friendship.

But fortunately, they made up and became brothers again.

After graduating from high school, Alex and Bob decided to go to university together, pursuing the same major and all.

Both of them seemed to really not care about which path they would take.

They just wanted to have fun.

"Sup, jackass, I bought some food," Bob's voice echoed as he entered the dorm.

Alex looked at the source of the voice, then put his phone down and replied in a frustrated tone, "Finally, what the hell took you so long?"

Bob then placed the food on the table and brought out some drinks he bought alongside it.

"Eh, I had to take a detour. Mr. Glasses is on patrol again," Bob shrugged.

Both of them then took out their food and began to split the chopsticks.

"That guy has some serious fucking issues, dude. He needs to relax a little," Alex remarked.

"Agreed, I mean the assignment isn't due for another two weeks. We still have plenty of time," Bob nodded.

The food they bought was some classic Chinese stir-fried noodles, with extra meat and sauce.

And before Alex could reply, he noticed something was missing.

"Son of a bitch, they forgot the ranches again!"

"Seriously? Damn, that's unlucky. For you, at least," Bob grinned as he revealed his ranches. "I guess I'm the only one who's gonna eat well tonight."

"Not if I steal yours, gimme that!"

Alex immediately tackled Bob, his hand reaching for the ranches, while Bob tried his hardest to keep his sweet and sour sauce out of Alex's reach.