28 Chapter XXVIII - The Penalty Pt. II

I blink up at the blank white ceiling, unable to fall asleep. In this unfamiliar room, the smell of those moonflowers was the only thing that was strangely comforting.

I observe the hands on the clock- three a.m.

Holding up my hand, I watched as the moonlight from the window passed between my fingers, little white particles drifting through the silvery light. I close my hand around the air, before dropping my arm with a small exhale.

"This scent of night-blooms..." I whispered to myself.

Stirs a far-away memory.

I close my eyes, my mind wandering back to where it all had started. Before it started.

When everything was still perfect.

A single tear rolls down from the corner of my eye before I realized it, and I slowly slip into slumber as I let the melancholy settle over me like a blanket, the ticking of the clock lulling me into a restless sleep.

After a fitful few hours with fitful dreams, I was awakened by an abrupt knock on the door, startling me awake.

"Rise and shine," They called out, "Time to get up."

I turn onto my side, the sun already up in the sky, I note how the other bed still laid empty. I put the thought aside, getting up begrudgingly.

They rap on the door again, "Hey-"

I pull open the door, annoyed, "What?"

Reo backs away and holds up her hands, "Whoa! I came in peace!"

"...Reo?" I said.

"Oh, Uishi! " She drops her hands when she realizes it's just me, "Whew, I'm glad you weren't a Corrupted or anything, but you sure surprised me for a moment there."

I raise an eyebrow, my tone sarcastic, "Do you suppose I'm that scary?"

"Ah, you just surprised me that's all! I was expecting somebody way scarier if I'm being honest," Reo chuckles, shaking her head, "Anyways, I'm here to get you to your morning duties. As instructed by the staff member in charge of these things. They just told me to get the girl in the dorm room one-hundred sixty-nine."

"...Figures, but how long will it last?" I asked, hoping perhaps I could catch up with North on time with the informant.

"As long as we take to get it done, probably all the way till the afternoon if I had to guess. We're to finish cleaning both of the storage rooms after all." She said, shrugging slightly.

"Ah...and, we?... You're on cleaning duties too? "

"I volunteered, but you're the one that needs to do it with me because no one else wants to, there is another student that will help too." She grins, "It won't be that bad! The only thing that happened last time was we came across the corpse of a Corrupted while sifting through the football equipment."

I stare at her blankly, "A..whole-ass monster? No wonder no one wants to do the job..."

"Come on! Get ready, meet me outside when you're done alright? No backing out now!" Reo waves over her shoulder, already down the hall, "See you at the entrance!"

I close the door as her form disappears around the corner, sighing. Running a hand through my tangled hair, I glance around the room, then noticing the boxes I had overlooked last night at the foot of the bed I was sleeping in, my name neatly printed in the corners. Looking into the contents I find all of my clothes and keepsakes. I carefully pick up my fox mask from one of the boxes, my thumb brushing the jagged edge of the missing corner, running over the painted surface of the thin delicate wood.

The memory of my mother's face

"I'm sorry to have failed you once mother, I won't fail you again." I put it back into the box, and close it, cold determination filling my chest, "The murderer will get what he deserves."

I quickly wash my face in the bathroom first to help clear my head, before heading out of the dorms. Downstairs, a couple of students were up and about, greeting their friends and making plans for the day. I walk out to find Reo by the door, leaning against the wall, observing a flower in her hand.

Reo looks up as I approach her, and smiles, "There you are! Come on, the other student should already be at the storehouses already. Wouldn't want to keep her waiting." She smells the flower in her hand once again, before placing it in the hands of a girl who was just walking out of the doors. "Have this flower, it compliments your beauty," Reo gives her a quick smile and turns back to me.

The girl accepts the flower with clear confusion, blushing at Reo's sudden compliments.

Or I would call it unintentional flirting if I didn't know better.

Reo walks off down the path, taking us to the two buildings at the side of the fields, looking almost like your average tool sheds, except slightly larger.

"Looks like you made her day," I said, "You do that often?"

Reo just smiles, "Sometimes all we need is a little act of kindness from a stranger to make the day better, good use of the flower anyways. Would be such a waste if I just threw it back into the grass."

"I see..."

As we approach the storehouses, we find one of the doors already open, and then Skylar stumbles out, covered head to toe in dust.

"Zagato! Skylar! I see you have already started working," Reo said, "How's it looking?"

"Kof! Dusty." Skylar sneezes, covering up her nose, "Ack -I can see why no one wants to clean it."

"Sad that the janitor's out, but having students doing cleaning duty serves a good punishment for the people who never even touched a broom or mop before," Reo says, grabbing one of the brooms near the door.

Skylar coughs into her hand, "How else do you expect nobility to be? I doubt you would find one that will help clean your dishes for you." She looks at me, "Oh, the new student. Are you in trouble too?"

I give her a faint nod, "You can say that...and how are we cleaning this?" I gesture inside the storehouse, where I can see piles of messily organized sports gear, some just seemed to be thrown in from who knows where. -Is that an ax in the ceiling I see?

Reo grins, "We just clean it! And make sure to watch out for falling weaponry, the guys once pinned magicked almost invisible knives to the roof. We're not sure if we got them all last time."

Great, hopefully, I don't get accidentally impaled by an invisible dagger and die. I still need to pay back North for the time he put dye in my shampoo. THAT was a true travesty. Well, at least I learned bubblegum pink wasn't a good look on me.