I Won't Let Him

A Broken Glass Shard

The door opened, ringing the shopkeeper's bell.

PEDRO looked up from his comic book in interest before seeing two teens come in. Like a quick switch, he was already in work mode and prepared to make a sale. It was already early afternoon, so it looked like business was about to pick up for HOBBEEZ.

After a quick adjustment of his glasses, he looked towards the entrance again, recognizing one of the two boys who came in.

"Tadaaa! Check out the new and improved HOBBEEZ!" BASIL revealed with open arms, welcoming his friend in.

Oh hey! BASIL! One of his fellow four secret veteran PET ROCK players of the town! Ever since MANDO over at FIX-IT retired from the game, BASIL had joined the crew and became a welcomed successor.

"Hey, how's it going BAaaa-..." PEDRO tried to call out at first before quickly going silent as he recognized the other teen accompanying him.

The black-haired teen looked around the place, evaluating it with a neutral, "Hm."

Oh shit. It was that guy again.

A cold sweat dripped from his forehead as PEDRO swallowed nervously.

He still remembered what happened yesterday. He really seriously supremely screwed up, thinking that this kid's eyepatch was just for cosplay.

Stupid idiot, why would you just assume something like that without making sure first?

Guh, so many kids and teens came in wearing SPACEBOY accessories so often (especially the eyepatch) that it made PEDRO too complacent.

PEDRO kept his eyes on the emotionless dark-haired boy as he tried to keep his cool.

When the kid turned to look directly at him, PEDRO felt his mind go blank out of fear.

Look at that cold despondent stare from his lifeless blank eye, it was so obvious that the kid absolutely hated PEDRO's guts ever since yesterday. He probably thought PEDRO was some kind of ableist jerk who makes fun of people's disabilities behind their backs.

The thought of that idea only made PEDRO become even more anxious. For the love of god, he really hoped that wasn't the case. It was just an accident! A misunderstanding! PEDRO wasn't the type to usually point out disabilities for no reason! PLEASE STOP LOOKING AT HIM LIKE THAT.

AaaaaaAAAAAAAAHH-

Meanwhile, OMORI tilted his head as he stared at the shopkeep vibrating behind the counter.

Wonder what has him so worked up.

BASIL glanced over to where OMORI was looking and gave a big smile, "And of course, you probably still remember PEDRO! Let's go say hi!"

BASIL wrapped a hand around his shoulder to bring him up close to the shopkeep.

"Hey, PEDRO!"

"AH-" PEDRO let out a micro-scream in response, before quickly realizing what was going on. With a nervous smile, he pretended to act normal, giving BASIL a casual wave, "H-Hey champs! H-How you both d-doing?"

BASIL gave the jittering shopkeeper a concerned glance, "You okay? Did we catch you at a bad time?"

"NO! No, nono, I'm chill. Cool." PEDRO quickly reassured them with an elegant floof of his fluffy hair. Pretending that a waterfall of sweat didn't just rain all over his hand, he gave his best confident smile as he used the light reflecting on his glasses to hide his eyes.

Guess they were all just gonna pretend that didn't happen. Okay then.

Like before with the priest, OMORI stood there and watched as BASIL proceeded to show him off like a prized dog at a pet show.