It was a strange sight to Haruto, sitting on his bedroom floor across from someone that came from outer space. Part of him still wanted to believe it was just a strange cosplayer or something, or perhaps he had hit his head, but nothing could explain the fact that this boy had been glowing in that alley, or that, for a moment, he could fly. That was still a sight that was hard to believe on its own. Water droplets fell from Pix's hair to the wooden floor. They sat in silence for a moment, except for the "plip, plop" of water hitting the hardwood. It was kind of awkward.
"Okay, so, I rescued you from that storm, and then that puddle right outside just now," Haruto said matter-of-factly. "Can I have superpowers or something?" The alien ruffled his hair with the towel, glancing into the distance and smiling wanly.
"Umm… I can't really do that, hehe." He sounded sheepish.
"Oh, yeah? And why's that?" Haruto crossed his arms. "Aren't you the 'master of the universe?'" He flinched.
"I'm just low on power! Being the master of the universe is kind of a demanding job." He shrugged. Haruto could see that, despite having pale blue skin, his cheeks were very rosy. "I can't really fly now, either. Usually I can, though– falling out of windows isn't normal for me." He looked embarrassed. Haruto sighed.
"Shouldn't you be on your way by foot, then?" He gestured toward the door. "I gave you a snack and some water."
"W– Wait! No!" Pix jumped a little. "Uhh…" He looked at his lap. "I was hoping I could stay here awhile, actually." Haruto was silent for a moment.
"You can't be serious."
"I AM!" Pix clasped his hands together, shuffling forward on his knees to stare at Haruto pleadingly. "Pleasepleaseplease lemme stay, I have nowhere to go! I won't mess anything up! I– I can cook?!" There was another moment of silence, then a sigh of defeat.
"Alright. You can stay. But we're gonna need to figure some things out, so–" Pix dove forward, looping his arms around Haruto excitedly.
"OOOH, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU~! ❤︎" He was beaming, and his golden eyes and antennae seemed to be brighter than before. Up close like this, it was weird to see that he really did just look like a regular person, but a strange one. The soft light from his eyes lit up his face even further. Haruto gently pushed him off.
"Okay, okay. My mom's on a work trip, so that gives me a week to figure out how to tell her about you. I guess you can just stay here until we figure out how to get you home… Uhh, where IS home for you, anyway?"
"Hmm, well… I live on a planet that's very far away from here, but I like to travel around a lot." Pix tapped his chin, looking around thoughtfully. "I guess it doesn't really matter. But I lost my UFO, which kind of sucks!"
No way… So he actually came here in a UFO, huh… UFOs are real…
Haruto was in a daze. It really was like something straight out of some corny alien movie. Pix shook his head, and the towel flopped to the floor.
"Well, in any case, I'll be able to find it soon," he said cheerfully.
"You're awfully confident."
"I'm very lucky!"
Haruto wasn't so sure any of these were lucky events, but he decided not to say anything further.
"Okay, well… My older sister is away at college. You can sleep in her room. And, uh, let's see… clothes…" Pix was wearing what seemed to be regular Earth clothing, actually– a purple hoodie, purple shorts with white seams, light lilac socks and lavender sneakers. It wasn't what one could expect an alien to wear. "Well, I guess you can use her clothes, too… But she dresses kind of girly, so…"
"Hm? I don't mind." Pix tilted his head. "Where I come from, clothes don't matter so much."
"Really? You're dressed like a regular, uh… Earth person."
"Well, that's…" He glanced off into some corner again. "I just like these clothes." Haruto didn't press it. He showed Pix around his house briefly, and answered a slew of questions about household objects. Yeah, that's how you turn on a bathtub here. Do you guys not have that in space…? Haruto managed to prepare some frozen pizza without scorching it completely to a crisp– he was not the greatest chef.
"What do you even eat, where you come from?" he asked, taking a big bite out of a slice. Pix had already devoured four.
"Ummm, well," he mumbled with his mouth full, "it depends… I guess we just eat whatever is available. Space food is weird."
"Weird in a good way or bad way?"
"Just pretty weird!" Pix shoved another slice of pizza into his mouth. "I like Earth food."
"So you've been to Earth how many times…?"
"Ahh, I lost count. The food is just so good…" Pix was still chowing down on pizza.
He's kind of ditzy, huh… I can't believe aliens are actually real. Maybe I hit my head or something.
The rain was pelting against the roof, but softer now. The room was well-lit, and quiet aside from Pix snarfing down the last slice. Haruto began to think he had no clue what he was in for.
The very next morning, he carefully crept across the hall, poking his head into his sister's bedroom. Pink hearts and lacy designs lined the walls, and the bed was adorned with a silky, lush pink curtain. But right there, sprawled across the bed and snoring soundly, was an alien! Haruto rubbed his eyes, barely able to believe it.
So it wasn't a dream… It made him feel like the main character of some crazy show, or a movie. He sat at his desk in his room, pulling a tightly-bound journal closer to him. I should be making more progress on this, but I just can't figure it out…
"What's that?" A voice made him jump and sent him swiveling aside in his chair. Pix was floating, wearing an oversized college sweatshirt and some old sweatpants. "Oops, my bad!"
"Don't just sneak up on people like that!" Haruto ran his hands through his hair, sighing. "It's nothing, just a project for school that I have to work on over the summer."
"Oh… Say, what's school like on Earth?"
"Uh, pretty regular. Do you have school in space?"
"Yeah, but it's super boring."
"I guess it's not so different from here, then." Haruto had a small, barely noticeable smile on his face for a moment.
"Well, what sorts of things do you learn about?" Pix asked, tilting his head at him.
"Really basic stuff," Haruto said, leaning back in his chair. "Uh, math, biology, English… Wait a second, I was pretty surprised you can speak English." Pix smiled.
"Actually, I can speak any language! Bonjour, monsieur… Hallo, Guten Tag… Buongiorno, principessa!" He puffed out his chest, obviously proud of himself.
"... How do you know all of that?" Haruto was speechless.
"Simple! I learned it!" Pix floated around the room. "You know, learning things about different places is really fun to me. Where are we right now?" He landed on his feet gently, and made his way over to the window, pressing his face up against the glass and sitting on Haruto's desk.
"Uh, it's just a regular beach town," he said. "Do you… have beaches in space? And hey, wait a second, I thought you couldn't fly…"
"I've never been to the beach," Pix mumbled, his face still pressed against the glass. "We don't have any in outer space. Also, I can float, just not for a very long time right now... It tires me out!"
"Ah… Well, why come here, anyway? What if the government found out or something? Isn't that risky?" Pix paused, and didn't respond right away. He moved away from the glass a bit, leaning with his elbows on the desk in front of the window.
"I guess so. But Earth is a really far place from home," he said, "and I just wanted to get away from home." There was quiet for a moment after that, and Haruto thought about it.
I wonder if he was running from something…
"Anyways," Pix said, turning around with a smile, "I just like to travel a lot."
So it's like a vacation…? "Do you usually impose on other people?"
"Well, umm, not like this…" He seemed to get bashful, and looked out the window again. "I've never really met anyone before. I tried to talk to people a lot of times, but they were never very friendly with me…"
Well, yeah, you're an alien! But Haruto didn't say that. He swiveled back over to the desk where Pix was sitting, and looked up at him.
"You seem alright to me," Haruto said. "I haven't seen any evil space armies just yet." Pix looked surprised, and his eyes seemed to shine a bit brighter again. I guess he's happy. Even though it was a strange turn of events, it didn't seem bad. He seems kind of silly.
He decided it wouldn't hurt to let him stay, just for a while.