Mouthwashing: The Good Ending

Chapter 9: Almost There

A month and a half had passed and nothing seemed to be going well with (Y/N)

Waking up feeling like the world is on her shoulder - that's the whole experience that has been bugging into (Y/N)'s mind. It made Anya, Daisuke, and Swansea worried.

(Y/N) didn't clean up her bedsheet, skipped meals, always had something to do, and was overall not calm-headed. Her mind drifted into something else entirely that (Y/N) completely abandoned her well-being.

Or so (Y/N) thought. Just like Jimmy had said, (N/N) wasn't good at taking care of herself, but that also applies to (Y/N). The similarities between (Y/N) and (N/N) made her identity crisis worse.

Even when fixing the ship. (Y/N) was first to say goodbye, Swansea noticed that she felt unmotivated and ran off to where they couldn't find her.

"Hey, Anya" Daisuke walked down the stairs, approaching Anya who was carefully watching the large imaging screen. It shows an image of the beach, "Have you seen my Game Boy and wristwatch?" He asked.

"No" Anya looked at Daisuke with wide eyes, "I also lost something. Have you seen my phone?"

"No... Well, that's a coincidence" Daisuke slumped on the sofa. The yellow lamp and the blue image of the beach illuminate both of them.

Anya sat silent for a moment. She kept thinking about what happened to her phone. It's not like it matters since they are in space, she does think it's necessary to have them.

"Uh, is it just me or the screen is missing a part?" Daisuke pointed his finger below the imaging screen. Its rectangular hollowness wasn't apparent due to a pot of plant covering the majority of it.

Anya hadn't noticed the missing part. She's too immersed in her home back on earth, the digital beach made her even more homesick.

Anya and Daisuke look at each other, confused and uncertain of what to do with this weird predicament.

Swansea suddenly appeared from the corridor and called, "Hey, Daisuke!" His voice was ragged with annoyance. Swansea was smeared with black oil and sweat.

"Yow!" Daisuke grinned, waving his hands indicating Swansea to come down, "I thought it was break time? You need some help on something, Mister Boss?"

"No, and even if I have trouble, I could just do it on my own. With you helping, it'll make the whole process time-consuming" Swansea crossed his arms. He didn't even go down, he simply leaned on the metal rails while eyeing the two with his usual frown.

"What brings you here then?" Anya asked.

"I'm here because someone has been stealing my equipment. It's a complete set of tools and 40 percent of it is loss. It's like someone has sneaked it in someone's pocket every day in a slow progression. I can't continue fixing the ship tomorrow if the majority of it is gone"

"So?" Daisuke mused.

"It's you who stole it!"

Both argued though Daisuke found it fun with his witty comments. Anya paid them no heed, she wanted the screen to change to something else - something less melancholic.

She gazes to the table but the remote isn't there. She then turns her eyes to the couches, at the back of the screen, and upstairs, but to no avail - the remote can not be found.

Anya thought that this wasn't the first day that things got weird. A few weeks ago, the kitchen utensils had some missing items as well, Jimmy had also complained about his Nokia Phone going missing, and Daisuke reported that some metal pieces were missing from where the vents should have been.