Ball of Nothing

"Seconds please!"

Zero didn't know if he should look amused or disgusted by Leon's dining manners. The werecat hybrid ate with gusto but lacked the elegance Rima had. He ate more with his hands than with the spoon and shovelled way too much food into his mouth, causing bits of it to fall on the table. Zero toyed with the idea of texting Freya and have Leon go through the dining etiquette class he experienced. It might do Leon some good to behave more civilised so that he wouldn't be receiving looks of disgust from Jacqueline and Rima. Zoe smacked him across the head when Leon laughed out loud and caused everything in his mouth to go in all directions. The lady was scary when she was angry and Zero kept in mind never to anger her.

That aside, Zoe was a really great cook. Her food had a different kind of warmth that Zero couldn't get enough of. It could've been the spice or the unique method of cooking but it was definitely something irreplaceable to him. Of all the fine delicacies he'd tasted before, Zoe's food was the best. Rima told him that it was the taste of home and nobody's food could ever compare to Zoe's. Zero agreed readily and Zoe blushed under their praises. The village's foster mother was a really shy person and Zero found her to be very precious. He loved Zoe and all her shyness even though he'd only known her for a day.

Roovan had made himself scarce and flew away as soon as he dropped Zero off at Zoe's place. Hua Tuo stopped by briefly for a quick bite before excused himself hurriedly, telling Zero to meet him at the farms before dinner. Zero was equally excited to know that he'd be meeting Lovina and Cleo for dinner tonight. The ladies wanted to get to know Zero more and Hua Tuo simply couldn't refuse them after they requested to interview Zero about his theory of using healing magic in a revolutionary way. For all they knew, it might be a ground-breaking discovery that would accentuate the prominence of healers. What better way than to promote the effectiveness of it with one of the best magicians and healers in existence?

After letting out a long and loud belch, Leon grinned widely and announced that he was done. Rima's face was scrunched up in disgust at Leon's rudeness while Jacqueline rolled her eyes, accustomed to the boy's lack of manners. The children were told to wash up by a stern Zoe and they left obediently. Only Zero stayed back to help clear the dishes, much to Zoe's surprise. The woman tried to refuse the help but Zero's stubbornness and cuteness won her over. In the end, she let the brunet bring the dishes to the basin and help her wash it while the kids played in the living room.

The task was completed in record time with two people doing the dishes, they fell into a wordless routine with Zoe washing the utensils and Zero drying them. Rima watched them silently while Jacqueline and Leon wrestled on the floor with the werecat hybrid losing. The spirit propagator blinked at the strange sight but didn't comment on it. They waited for Zero to finish the chores with Zoe before dragging him outside near the huge open area beside the warrior quarters.

Zoe bid them goodbye with kisses on their foreheads and Zero received one too. He blushed a little at the intimate contact, unused to anyone showering him with such affections. It made him all tingly and warm inside but didn't have time to think about it as Leon dragging him away by the hand, too excited to wait. The brunet managed to wave goodbye to the silent woman before they completely disappeared from sight.

On the way there, Zero decided to as Rima the question that had always been on his mind.

"Why doesn't Zoe speak? Is she always this shy?"

The spirit propagator gave him a weird look before shaking her head. "Zoe is shy but that's not why she doesn't speak. She can't speak."

"Can't speak?"

Jacqueline stopped squabbling with Leon for a moment and turned to Zero. "They say she's mute. Zoe's a little special after all. She can't leave this village either."

"But why?" Zero was confused.

"Well, they say that Zoe is part of this village so she can't leave? Grandma Moppo says that Zoe has been in the village even before she was born. However, she only showed herself when Rima came to the village. She's been taking care of children ever since. Even Clowis and Amaraline were taken care of by Zoe so nobody really knows how old she is."

Rima smiled gently. "Zoe's a great mom even though she's not actually alive."

Zero froze. Not alive? Was Zoe also a zombie? Wait, something's not adding up. Zoe probably came before Soon so she couldn't possibly be a zombie.

"What exactly is Zoe? Is she a spirit?"

Rima frowned. "Something close. She's actually what humans call a ghost? However, she is not a ghost formed by the soul of someone with strong attachments to the world of the living. She's what we call a household ghost, born from the feelings of love and family in a village. Grandma Moppo's previous family and village must have been a loving bunch. They call her a Zashikiwarashi."

Zero hasn't heard of that before so he was slightly lost. Thankfully, Mii was able to give him some background information about household ghosts.

Race: Zashikiwarashi (Household Ghost)

Traits: Usually very shy, full of love for the household occupants, loves children, normally doesn't like to be seen. Can be very protective when the household occupants are endangered or if the house is on fire. When the household is neglected or abandoned, the Zashikiwarashi becomes negative and will feed on the life energy of any living creatures that enter its territory. Cannot leave the household they are protecting. Has the power to materialise and move things in their territory if there are occupants in the house.

"That doesn't explain how Zoe cannot talk..." Zero mumbled.

Leon heard that and shrugged. "Lovina and Hua Tuo tried many things to give Zoe back her voice. According to Grandma Moppo, Zoe has a beautiful voice and she heard it many years ago when she was still a young child. Zoe's voice sounded like wind chimes but for some reason after materialising, she lost the ability to speak. We don't know how Zoe lost her voice, she won't tell us."

Rima sighed and Zero looked troubled. Hua Tuo was right. Every villager here has a painful or troubled past. He was very curious about what happened to the lovely lady's voice and would help get it back if he could. But for now, he would have to pretend to know nothing about it. It wasn't good to pry into somebody else's business if they weren't comfortable with sharing it.

"We're here!" the werecat hybrid announced. Zero didn't even realise how fast they were travelling as Leon simply ran and dragged Zero behind like a kite. The brunet didn't even complain as he was half lifted into the air with the speed. Herein lies Zero's next concern. He heard that the game of tag consisted of chasing each other and tapping them to 'pass' the role of the tagger. Zero didn't know how it wouldn't be possible to catch Leon with his astonishing speed.

"Let's decide who the tagger will be," Jacqueline said. However, before she could continue, Zero raised his hand to interrupt her.

"Yes?"

"I have a question. How does the game work?"

Rima blinked. "Oh right. Sorry, we forgot to explain the rules. It's similar to normal tag but because we're not humans, there are some extra rules."

Jacqueline grinned. "The rules exist because certain people couldn't accept being losers."

That earned her a glare from Leon and his ears twitched. "It's not fair that you can hide underwater for the whole time while others run in circles to find you! Besides, I hate water! It's totally unfair."

"Hey, nobody faulted you for climbing all the way up into the tree and jump off branches or use your super speed to get away. Tag is more than speed. It's about the brains as well. Too bad you don't have any of those."

Rima had to break them apart before another fight could break out. She sighed tiredly.

"Alright, let me keep this simple so that everybody can understand the rules. Firstly, no hiding in the underground passages. Secondly, No going out of the play area. That means no going across the river or past the guardhouses. Thirdly, the use of magic is only restricted to helping yourself. For example, flying and camouflaging is allowed but trapping the tagger is not allowed. We don't want anyone getting hurt. Lastly, Each tagger will have up to half an hour to tag someone. If nobody is tagged, the tagger will be reselected. If you are tagged within twenty minutes, you will become the tagger and your twenty minutes starts from the time you were tagged. Any other questions?"

Zero was impressed by Rima's maturity and leadership. Jacqueline and Leon were attentive and didn't argue. The brunet admitted that he couldn't have handled the situation better. If not for Rima keeping them in line, the two would've cause Zoe a lot of trouble.

"No questions? Let's select the tagger. Who wants to go first?"

Jacqueline volunteered and Leon grinned. The quarter mermaid started counting and faced a tree. Leon took off immediately and Rima disappeared. Zero didn't know what to do and Jacqueline was counting down really quickly. With only twenty seconds left, Zero decided to dive into a nearby bush. He knew it was cheating to be hiding when he was supposed to run but Zero honestly didn't know what to do after being abandoned at the start of the game.

"Ready or not, here I come!" Jacqueline announced and took off in the direction that Leon disappeared to.

Zero heaved a sigh of relief when he was sure nobody was around. He decided that using Mii's map to locate everyone wasn't considered cheating. After all, that was magic used not directed to other players. Zero decided to leave his bush in search for a better spot.

The moment he left the bush and ran to the nearest tree apartment, he bumped into someone. Both parties collided hard and Zero fell to the ground. The other party also fell and Zero was horrified to find that he'd terribly injure another person due to his negligence. He didn't know where that person came from because he didn't reflect on Mii's map when he was running. But that didn't change the fact that a detached arm was lying by his feet.

"I'm so sorry! I can fix this... your arm... oh no, we need to stop the bleeding first!"

The man blinked as Zero fused over his torn arm. With his other arm, he lifted it and patted the panicking apprentice and smiled.

"It's ok, I got this."

Calmly, he picked up the arm that fell off and stuck it back to where it should've been. There was no blood and Zero was confused. The man wasn't bleeding but that arm had definitely fallen out. What was going on?

The stranger chuckled at Zero's bewildered expression. "I'm guessing you haven't seen a zombie before?"

Zero blinked. The man had light grey skin, black eyes that lacked a certain sparkle and looked completely human on the outside even if he looked sickly. This was a zombie?

The zombie didn't take offence to Zero's scrutiny. In fact, he seemed amused.

"I'm on my way to see Soon and Manny. Would you like to come upstairs? I'm sure they would love to have a guest over."

Zero smiled. He might be in the middle of a tag game but who said that accepting invitations for tea was against the rules? Zero could definitely manage to play tag and chat with new people. He'd been curious about the zombies ever since he heard about them. He just didn't think that he would be meeting them so soon.

"Is it really alright? I don't want to intrude on anything..."

The zombie smiled. "Don't worry about that, we'll be glad to talk to the famous young apprentice. I'm Peter by the way."

"Zero here, it's a pleasure to meet you. Sorry about bumping into you earlier."

Peter seemed amused. If that collision was a bump, he wouldn't dare to imagine what a real collision would've been like. Maybe he would've to reattach his head or something and that thought entertained him. He wondered what Zero would do if he ripped his head off right now only to make funny faces at the child. It was always fun to tease the young ones but he refrained himself from doing so. There was no point in traumatising the young aspiring doctor.

"Shall we head up?"

Zero nodded and followed close behind. He couldn't wait to meet the other zombie and their creator.