Channel Surfing - Short Fic

Oh no, Jack wrote a thing about his favorite.

Words: 814

Jinta sat down on the couch, having just gotten home from work. It was exhausting, being on his feet all day. He was glad to be in the confines of his home, even if it was late at night. Yawning slightly, he glanced around. Izumi must have already gone to sleep- that figured. As for Mai, God knows Jinta couldn’t coax her out of her room unless he had good enough reason to pique her interest.

As he began to mindlessly flick through the channels, he realized nothing good was on. Or rather, nothing he felt like following. He didn’t watch much TV; he didn’t have the time. At the very least, trying to follow a series was difficult because of his fluctuating work hours. As a consequence, he would always pick of weird bits and pieces of various shows with no context or continuity to enjoy the series.

Resigned, he settled on an episode of some odd reality show- Total Drama or something? He’d heard of it and was known to check it out when it was on. It wasn’t a sitcom, so he didn’t have to worry about the episodic nature, and it was zany enough that each episode was entertaining even if he didn’t know the characters well enough.

He sunk into the couch, his eyelids feeling heavy as he watched the program. He quickly found out that the season he was watching was Total Drama City, where multiple teenagers competed for a million dollars. He let out a soft grunt.

“A million dollars just for that? That sounds too easy….” he muttered, pompous even when there was nobody to impress. The episode he was watching appeared to revolve around some sort of fashion show? He didn’t exactly follow, as he was so sleepy. Regardless, Jinta took note of the various characters, judging them as they showed up on screen and made their confessionals.

A tall man with black hair showed up on screen, blathering incessantly about friendship. Jinta rolled his eyes. He wondered what episode he was watching- surely this one would be an early boot…

Jinta shared similar thoughts when a blue-haired magician was the focus of the scene. “What a gimmick.” he muttered as the magician pranced across the screen. At each new face, he made a passing comment: “He would be more suited for Jersey Shore.” “If she’s so business savvy, why does she need to compete to earn money?” “How does she expect to win if she’s too shy to function?”

Admittedly, Jinta enjoyed watching the reality show. It was entertaining in its own right, as it was intended to be. “Hmph, if I were there I’d have already won the whole thing.” he insisted to nobody in particular. The thought of himself on such a show humored him to some degree. Although it was a one-way ticket to making a fool of yourself, it was a lucrative deal if you won… and there was no doubt in his mind that he could win such a show without breaking a sweat.

As he pondered this, a petite girl came onto screen, working with her teammates. She was skipping merrily about, with thick pink curls billowing around her. Jinta raised a brow at the lolita girl. “This must be early in the season. The nice ones always get eliminated first.” he hummed as she was shown chattering and working with her team.

The episode went on, and he kept an eye on a few of the contestants in particular; although she was obnoxiously kind, Jinta found himself eyeing the pink girl- mostly because he figured she would be eliminated soon. Either her or the black-haired dancer, he figured.

However, towards the end of the episode, a shot of the pink-haired girl came on. She scampered around in the background, a screwdriver in hand. A wicked smirk crossed her face, and she tampered with the other team’s efforts, effectively cheating. Jinta’s eyes widened slightly, as he actually didn’t expect this development. He sat up slightly, just in time for it to cut to her confessional. When she spoke in privacy, her tone was much more sinister, and almost frightening. She spoke of her plans to ruin the other team, and even her own teammates… she was plotting, and she showed no remorse for whatever she would have to do to accomplish her goals.

“Looks can be deceiving, I suppose.” Jinta mumbled, shaking his head. The episode soon ended, and he checked the TV guide. The program had been a rerun- it seemed that the show was near ending, based on when the episode originally aired. He let out an amused hum, and glanced at the clock. Another rerun was on next, and he had nothing better to do.

Jinta didn’t even notice the sun rising as he spent ours on the couch, half-awake and engrossed in the show.