EATING HOURS ARE OPTIONAL

Leith and Atma returned home, and the first thing Atma did was run to the kitchen to have a little before-bed snack. He finished and took a long gulp of water before falling onto a couch to rest.

“Aaaahhh… That was delicious…! I’m glad we always have some food available to eat, Leith! You cook some great stuff, too!”
“Of course, master, that’s what I’m here for”, answered Leith with a smile and a nod. “Now that you had your snack, I think it’s time to rest.”
“Yeah, I agree, I’m tired and… still a little dazed from that explosion, haha”
“S-sorry, Master, it was an accident, I hope you can forgive me for that…”, said Leith with an exaggerated gesture of apology.
“Yeah, I know, don’t worry about it! I mean, I got my vision and everything, and tasted some flames for a moment there, that was an awesome experience~”

Leith sighed and nodded with a smile.

“I understand, master. Then, let’s get our well-deserved night’s rest for today.”
“My stomach is full, so I’ll sleep like a baby tonight! You sleep well too, Leith!”

Atma waved goodbye to Leith while going to his room, which was close to the kitchen, and Leith took the stairs to his room on the second floor. He had a round room with a big window, and lots of books and paper he had brought from his old abode.

Before sleeping, he looked at the window and the moon, hoping to see a vision, too. His master had gotten his after the explosion, so maybe now it was his time! He was a more… quiet and contemplative type of bun. His master got his vision eating, he would get it in calm solitude.

So he waited… and waited… contemplating the moon while looking for any sort of message…

But nothing happened. Leith was disappointed, and he was about to turn away from the window, when he heard something spoken in the air, or maybe in his mind…? It was a distant voice (or thought?) that faintly said…

“Aren’t you going to write something?”

Yes… Yes, of course! How could he have forgotten? He was about to go to sleep without writing a new entry in his diary, something he did every day to chronicle the events of the day. He was so distracted by the vision and everything that happened in the day that he almost forgot.

This couldn’t be! He needed the records, not just for himself, but for his master, as well! He was kind of forgetful, after all. Also, the food log was REALLY important; his master’s gourmet quest was ongoing, and it was imperative that he knew what he had already tasted, so he could prioritize new delicacies.

He sat in front of his writing table and began to do it earnestly. He wrote about the mochi, the fireworks (carefully omitting his overexcitement about the whole thing), his master’s trophy and the accident. He spent quite a while detailing everything, as he always did.

“A lone fireball,
By a misguided individual.
An explosion in the night,
The herald of a vision.”

A short poem indicating his mistake and the result of it was added in the middle of his writing. He then annotated the mochi (all the different flavors) and explosives his master had eaten in the day. He was getting more and more sleepy by the minute, but he needed to write the closing statements, when…

A mysterious sound could be heard coming from outside Leith’s room. He stayed still to hear it better, and the sounds continued outside, this time more fiercely. A clash of metal, some scurrying sounds, opening and closing of drawers… To his mind came some scary stories about apparitions and beings from the afterlife, as well as some nasty demons or monsters that attacked homes at night.

Yeah, this could be what’s happening… Leith had to act now, or his master could be in danger!

He hurried down, and it soon was obvious that something was moving about in the living room. He heard the scurrying sound and saw a shadow of considerable size moving about near the sofa, and towards the kitchen. Maybe a thief…? And, to make matters worse, he was going to where they kept the food! That thief’s shadow was kinda large, more like a monster or animal, and it wanted to steal his master’s food!!

Leith went to the living room and took the trophy that Atma had left there. He walked carefully to where the thief was now munching something and, standing a few centimeters behind the figure, raised the trophy, ready to bring it down towards the intruder…!

But the shadow was faster and, moving into the light, Leith saw a big claw holding and squeezing the trophy until it was destroyed.

“W-w-what…?”

The thing moved more into the moonlight, and with the help of Leith’s own fire, he could see most of the figure’s true shape. It was a four-legged monstrosity, with claws in each leg and spikes on its back, scurrying in the ground and looking at him with one big and seemingly pupilless eye.

“F..oo..d…?”, growled the monster while looking squarely at Leith, who was now aware he was the creature’s current objective.
“N-no, get away, I’m not your food!!”, said Leith while backing away from the creature, horrified.
“Whe…re… foo…d…?”

The thing was hungry, and the fact was accentuated by all the saliva the beast was spilling on the floor. Leith thought about the kitchen and all the cabinets where his master’s food was kept. It was more than enough to satisfy a gluttonous bun, so it could satisfy this monster and make it leave. On the other hand, that was his master’s food, and not his to give.

No, he needed to stop that monster, no matter what, no matter how scared he felt…!

“S-sorry, monster, but there’s no way you’re getting any food!”

Leith hurried to the living room while the beast trod behind him, and he got to a small stash of fireworks he had bought on the festival. It didn’t matter if some of them were noisy or too fiery, he needed them to fight!

“Here, have this if you want to eat that much!”, said Leith while igniting one of the loud ones and throwing it in front of the monster. The monster sniffed it for a second and found it acceptable, eating it on the spot.

The fireworks exploded, and Leith let out a triumphant “Take that, disgusting thing!”. Smoke came out of the monster’s mouth and didn’t move for a couple seconds. Then, licking his lips, the thing advanced again towards Leith.

“Mm… Fie..ry…”
“O-ok, maybe that wasn’t enough, but how about this?!”

Leith lit more fireworks, this time some rockets and pointed them towards the monster, trying to hit his big eye. However, the rockets didn’t do anything, and the monster even ate one of them! He took some of the colorful ones, hoping to confuse the monster while looking around the living room for something else to use as a weapon.

“What else… what else…?! Oh!”

Leith remembered they had a fireplace poker he could use, so while the monster was distracted by some of the fireworks (he was even eating the small ones!), he got to the metal rod and prepared himself. Threw some other fireworks to distract the monster and prepared to stab him in the back when he wasn’t looking.

“Ok, here I come…!”

Leith put all his strength into his next strike, but… The monster’s tail hit the metal pick and made Leith stumble back, falling backwards.

“Oh no, why…!”

The monster turned around and, from around him, a series of hideous wraiths came out and surrounded Leith. They looked… oddly familiar, but scarier. He then noted the monster’s tail, and realized it was made out of bone... What…? But…

“M…Master…?”

The monster got closer and closer, until it was almost above him.

“Lei…th… Foo…d… Can’t… con…tain… hun…ger…”

How could this happen…? How could his kind master transform into this hideous thing…?!

“No… you… you can’t, master… don’t do this, please…!”

“Atma” got closer and soon his fangs were upon poor Leith, who did his best, even in this situation, to not scream.

“I’m… so…rry…”

Yes… he was the monster. He was about to eat his friend without any remorse, and he knew… it wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his unending hunger.

Probably nothing would ever be enough…!!

“Leith, no…!!”

Atma woke up in a cold sweat, and the first thing he heard was the loud rumbling of his stomach.

He looked at the clock and realized about three hours had gone by since he went to sleep.

“A nightmare…? Ugh, I shouldn’t have eaten that dirty mochi… even if it was tasty… Oh.”

He remembered the dream and the insatiable hunger he had felt. In it, he was more like… a monster… Just like a lot of buns had said to him in his life. He felt really bad and for a moment didn’t want to eat anymore, but his stomach wasn’t gonna stop.

He went to the kitchen and began to look for a 3 AM snack. Usually, he just woke up hungry and ate happily, but now he had woken up from a really nasty nightmare, so he wasn’t his usual careful self when getting his food. He made a lot of noise, something he normally avoided to not wake Leith.

He began eating in a sad demeanor, when he heard sounds around him. Uh? Was someone else eating at this hour…?

“Stop, miscreant, leave my master’s food alone! You’ll be punished for this transgression!”
“Uh? Whof steafingf my foof??”
“MASTER?!”
“LEIFH?!”

BONK!!

It was too late to stop the trophy from falling down, but Leith could at least lower the force of the impact, enough to not leave Atma unconscious, but not quite enough to stop him from spitting the food he had in his mouth.

“MASTER! MASTER!! ARE YOU ALL RIGHT?! I’M REALLY SORRY, I…!”
“Ouch, that hurt… But never mind that, Leith! Who’s stealing my food?!”

Atma didn’t worry too much about the hit and was a lot more worried about his food being stolen, so he stood up decisively and in a fighting stance, looking around the kitchen, his spirits with a menacing grimace.

“N-no one, master. I heard noise, and… I suppose I was so enthralled in my writing that I didn’t think about the most logical explanation, that being you getting your 3 AM snack. There’s no thief…”
“Oh… Well, that’s fine, then. If everything’s ok, then… I…”
“No, master, it’s not ok! I hurt you AGAIN! I can’t believe it happened twice in the same day… I… I’m sorry, master… Please… Please forgive me, I… I don’t want… I don’t want to lose this…“

Leith whispered the last part while he bowed deeply and looked like he was about to cry. He felt SO bad, having injured Atma two times already, but the other bun just put a hoof in his shoulder and replied softly to him.

“It’s ok, really… You know… I just had a… bad dream just now… and I feel like I need to tell you about it…”, said Atma with a noticeable sad demeanor.
“S-sure, master, I’ll listen”.
“Ok… It began with you, coming down from your room…”

Atma related the whole dream to Leith, including how he felt about it. Leith looked at him with a worried face, and some understanding.

“Master, please don’t say that. I don’t think you’re a monster, or someone to be on the lookout for. You’ve never done anything to harm me, and I wholeheartedly believe you only have the best intentions. Me, on the other hand, have inadvertently hurt you already two times, and…”

Leith was about to ramble again about how bad he felt about what happened, but Atma stopped him.

“C’mon, Leith, it’s not that serious. I know that you like to play that you’re my butler, and I’m SERIOUSLY thankful for everything you do for me, but… We’re more than that, right? We’re friends! And not just friends, we’re BEST friends!!”, answered Atma with a smile, and Leith looked up with a gleam in his eyes.
“B-best friends…?”
“Of course! Y’know… When I first met you, the thing that most surprised me, aside from your HUGE collection of books and your awesome poetry, was the fact that you weren’t scared of me, or bothered by me being with you. Before the spirits, people were kind of upset at seeing me eat all kinds of things, and afterwards, well… People were bothered AND scared, too… But you immediately decided to accompany me in my gourmet quest, and accepted those books from rich buns houses as compensation enough. Every day I’m grateful to have met you that day, and after that dream, I’m sure I NEVER want to hurt you, or let anything bad happen to you!”

Atma raised Leith up with his hooves and gave him a big hug. Leith looked at him with an awed expression for a moment before answering.

“You… you think my poetry is awesome…?”
“Of course! I learn a lot of words from it, and it makes my mind travel!”
“T-that’s great…! Also, yes I… I see you’ve become quite verbose lately… master.”
“See, I know you like that butler stuff! But remember that, more importantly, we’re friends and partners! We all make mistakes, all right? Like me! See, I mistakenly ate like half of this book thinking it was rice paper, or something! Hahaha!”

Atma separated from Leith and gave him a munched copy of “Of imps and buns”, and Leith, shocked, opened his eyes wide from surprise, but before he said anything… Composed himself and sighed.

“I suppose none of us is perfect, master. I thank you for your kind words and will strive to be more careful.”
“Yeah, me too, I won’t munch on more books, and I’ll get you another copy of that one, don’t worry. Hey, want to help me finish my 3 AM snack?”
“I’m not too hungry, but I’ll accompany you. Oh! I can tell you about my vision, master, I had one!”
“Reaffy? C’mom, teff me!”

They both spend a little more time talking and eating together on the living room couch, both feeling better about their own feelings of inadequacy. The night went on and eventually they both found themselves asleep on the couch, Leith sleeping soundly in Atma's lap, while the gluttonous bun was snoring and drooling on Leith’s head.

That night, they both dreamt only about the gourmet quest and books, together, looking forward to whatever life had in store for both of them.

When both were fast asleep, from the outside of the house a creature could be seen scurrying out the window in a hurry with some bread, never to return.