Youthful Allies

[Shuu Kamino]

When we arrived, I had no choice but to leave the car to someone's care when we went inside the mansion's front gate.

Every time there was a 'calling', there would always be more personnel to assist my Father. But today was an unscheduled one so it's just my father and me.

"Right this way please," a girl in a maid uniform leads the way. "Please enjoy yourselves," she then storms away in a hurry after she opens the door of the party for us.

It's a party for wealthy people in disguise. Because in reality, everyone here is either looking for business partners or just boasting about their success.

Every inch of the silverware, to the carpet and people, is jaw-dropping. Everything was shiny and the room was filled with soft music too. It's not that bad of an atmosphere if you're rich like them.

Here, the butlers or bodyguards hide their identity with masks that are decorated with their family's or contractor's wealth. They do this to hide the 'filthiness' of their job and personal background. The head of the house or their relatives gets to show off their face to exclaim that they aren't ashamed of who they are.

Quite a messed up point of view.

"Another dazzling mansion for today too," my Father exclaimed after he got a glass half full of wine.

"I'm glad you made it today my friend," a familiar client greeted us first, walking towards us with a beautiful lady in a golden dress.

"Well if it isn't Mr. Wilston," I'm in awe every time Father puts on a great show even if he'd rather pull the trigger on him. "And who might be the magnificent lady beside you?" he continued.

"This is my daughter," the man smiled with pride.

"My name is Susan Wilston it's nice to meet you," she extended her right arm in Father's direction.

"The pleasure's all mine," Father took her hand and gave it a soft and quick peck. "I didn't know you had a stunning daughter," he forced a compliment.

"I know, it's such a shame, she's the same age as your deceased son," I could tell that he plucked the wrong string when I saw how Father took a sip at his wine. "They could've been great with each other," he bickers as if he were endorsing his daughter. And insulting us at the same time.

"I doubt that, because your daughter could've outshone my son without lifting a finger," my Father replied.

"Master Kamino, may I lead you to our destination?" I asked after I got another coded note passed to me by a maid who was holding a tray full of glasses of wine when she walked past us.

"Pardon me, but we must take our leave now," my Father said and placed the glass of wine on the table that was near us.

"Understood, you're excused," Mr. Wilston said with the audacity of belittling my Father by that phrase.

~~

"Dirty bastard," he only whispered, pissed by the sudden encounter after we took quite a distance from the party.

"Someone might hear you, Master," I say in a polite tone.

"You will not lecture me," he yelled, slapping me so hard that I almost lost my balance.

"Forgive me, Master. That will never happen again," I bowed with utmost sophistication.

Yes, this is how we act every time there is a 'calling'. He will treat me rudely and even harm me just so no one won't be able to guess what our true relationship is.

People who saw us were grinning with satisfaction and whispered gossip.

After a few more walks, we arrived at a staircase that had guards with bulky bodies, asking for identifications. My Father just showed them the ring that has a large ruby stone.

Each household is represented with a crystal as its identity. Our house, as you have guessed, is the ruby. Any kind of ruby that you could think of or search for.  Because we have the largest mines of it.

There are seven major houses in total. The diamonds, sapphires, amethyst, quartz, emeralds, ruby, and opals.

And behind this door that stood in front of us, lies them.

"Do your job properly," My father gave me a stern look and entered the door. Because no one is ever allowed to enter that besides the Masters of the seven major households.

I am left outside with the other five butlers who were supposed to guard this door at all costs.

Four people were already on stand-by on the left side so I lined up on the right where there was only one person.

"Where's the other one?" I asked Diamond's servant. It was easy to distinguish who they were. It's thanks to the mask that we're wearing, that has our household's gemstone decorated in it, each having a unique design.

"Amethyst ran off to scare some rats," he sighed. His blond hair makes the diamond fit well with his outfit and personality. He's wearing a dark blue patterned outfit with streaks of light blue linings and his mask matches his color wheel for today. The mask covered his eyes only and was decorated with diamonds all over the lines with a little amount of it also scattered around. Simplicity is their virtue.

"Shouldn't we help her or something?" I whispered.

"Nobody's stopping you from lending a hand," I raised an eyebrow after he said that confusing answer. "I'm not in the mood to go hunting with so many guests and so are the others," he explained more clearly.

He meant to hunt down spies or party wreckers in a room full of the rich who will only bully us. Especially without our Masters, they can harass us to their heart's content with us also putting shame on our houses without even moving an inch.

Fraud, mockery, name any type of harassment you want because that's the only way they can inflict damage on our Masters, through us. But it's not like they aren't going to be punished, they just want to show the difference in 'their' etiquette. Hence they are trying to convey that who would dare protect a low-life?

~~

After a couple of minutes, the other butlers came to talk with us. I guess we were all bored, judging from the way we all told our side of the story of how we hated the guests at this party.

And today is quite refreshing because everyone was young and the old-geezers didn't come to assist their Masters. To put it simply, everyone gets along well with our age gaps being the reason. But that doesn't mean that we're less capable than the elders.

"Isn't Amethyst taking her sweet time?" said the Emerald. You might not believe it when you see her in person. Despite being short in height and hair, like most of us, it's a she. One of her reasons why she has it cut was because it's troublesome to take care of. Her mask is almost identical to the Diamond's, some differences are only the size of the gemstones are only a little big and that they cover her whole face. She's also wearing a very dark green suit that is perfect for her pitch-black hair that has stips of dyed dark green at its ends.

"How can she withstand those harsh looks?" a confused Quartz asked. He has peached-color hair partnered with a plain black suit. His mask has quartz designed like tears running down under his right eye, and a few patterned tattoos that look like a scar on his left eye that hides only his eyes too.

"She must be a glutton for self-harm. A masochist" chuckled Opal. He also has a black suit that is outlined with a colorful thread that suits the design of his mask. A mask that used little bits of opal gemstones as glitter around his black mask which was also connected with a black veil that covered his mouth and had two thin rainbow ribbons at the left side of it. In addition to his habit of foisting feminine gestures, his mask also has metals as a few eyelashes with opals by the end of it. His hair was also painted silver to match the theme of their gemstone.

"Shouldn't we take turns helping her out?" I asked. "I'll volunteer if no one wants to," I hurriedly say when they give me weird gazes.

"Do as you want. Just don't come back running to us while bawling your eyes out," Sapphire jokes. He's a redhead with green eyes. His mask has a black base but a yellowish-orange outline was made using different vibrant sapphires to make it look grand and stand out, which also only covered his left side. His left side was exposed but also designed with three sapphire-affiliated chains dangling from his cheeks and connected to his ears using two yellow strings. Paired with a black suit.

His Master did a great job as he didn't dare to hide and portray how handsome he was.

And just like that, they made me assist Amethyst and continue with their chatting as I walked away to head to the party again.