TWENTY-THREE
Rutile brought up two of those little "things", showing it to both Phos and me.
"It came right up to me while I was out," she explained, looking at them. "So I tried dissecting it to pass time, but it just split in two and came back to life."+
"Right..." was the muttered reply from both me and the peppermint gem.
"Not even that cute little thing could stop you, huh..." Phos continued. "You're really something."
The doctor responded by throwing one at her. "I have to attend to Dia. Go off and find the rest of these things."
"Yeah, yeah," was the reply from the peppermint gem as Rutile threw the other one at her. This time, I grabbed the little fella before it managed to run away.
It just wagged its tail at me, panting.1
Just a few minutes ago, Phos had rung the bell five times, giving the signal for the other gems to move around. After that conversation with Rutile, the peppermint gem explained to the others the current situation, so everyone's now working together to catch the puppies.
Man, the whole school's in a mess.
Extending their alloy arms, the peppermint gem simultaneously grabbed four of those puppies, then retracting them back and carrying all of them under her arms. She passed one over to me.
"So," I asked, "where do we put these things?"
Phos shrugged. "I don't know, let's hold onto them for now."
The both of us looked around. Everyone was busy chasing after the puppies, which were pretty fast and agile when it comes to chasing them. Jade was chasing one, one managed to take a sharp left and evaded Neptunite, and the Amethyst sisters accidentally collided into each other while trying to chase one, just to point out a few.
"Hey, Dan."
"Hm?" I turned to look at the peppermint gem.
"There's... some things that I'm not sure whether to tell you."
"What is it?"
"... Never mind, you don't need to worry."
I frowned. "Aw come on, please?"
Phos looked down.
"Well... alright, but we'll need to go to somewhere quiet."
--------------------
"Alright," I said as I sat down on my bed, "what's wrong?"
Phos sat down on the window sill. "Hey, do you know how we gems were born?"
I thought for a moment. "Chord Shore, you guys came out from that large rock, Sensei picked you guys up, gave you guys powder and clothes, then taught you guys?"
The peppermint gem chuckled, shaking her head. "It's not that simple."
"Hm?"
"We are born from that rock, yes, but it's not just applying the powder finish, giving us clothes and teach us about this world. When we're born, all of us were very rough, Sensei had to cut and trim us so that we look the way we are now. Even after that, we still had to have our quartz eyes made, with the irises made out of our own fragments that were trimmed off. After everything, we actually are smaller than what we are now, and Sensei still has to teach us how to speak."
"I see," was my reply. "Wait, didn't I practically skip everything except getting my powder finish and clothes?"
"That's exactly why I'm worried about you, Dan. The others didn't overlook this when you were born; on one morning meeting between Sensei and all of us the day after we made the promise to Cinnabar, Jade brought that up. It was only with Sensei's orders that everyone else decided not to pursue the matter. That still doesn't mean they're not suspicious though."
Phos looked at me in the eye, worried.
"Do you think you can keep it hidden?"
I looked down.
"I have to. Sensei accepted Ventrico because he considers shells to be a type of gem. I'm figuratively flesh and blood, if he knows I'll be booted out of here real quick. I really don't want that day to come, ever."
Phos raised an eyebrow. "Booted out?"
"Ah, kicked out."
"Oh," uttered the peppermint gem. "In that case, you have my backing when it comes to this. I don't want to lose you either."
She smiled. "Alright, don't we have more of those things to catch? Back to work it is!"
------------------
"101, 102, 103, 104, 105... 106... 107..."
Phos threw the remaining "puppies" into the makeshift wooden cage before slumping down, exhausted. I lay beside her on the grass, equally tired, just like everyone else.
"That's all of them, I hope..." the peppermint gem muttered to me.
"Hopefully..." was my reply, barely able to move.
"Good grief, Alex," I heard Phos say, "you sure you should be looking at those?"
"Nnnnhh, I think I can handle these, so long as I can just squint a bit... I heard there were two sunspots? I want to compile all information about its appearance."
As those two talked, I closed my eyes.
Feeling a shadow over me, I opened them again, thinking it was just Phos standing over me.
It was not.
"Woah!" I shouted, jumping up and looking at the massive Lunarian.
"... something like that," I heard Phos finish right before everyone began to scream.
The massive seven-eyed creature looked at us.
"WOOF!"
It inched closer to us.
"Did it just..." Phos muttered, "bark?"
The creature raised and slammed a hand into the ground, throwing all of us back.
"Alex!" the peppermint shouted beside me. "Time to bring out the other you agai-"
The two of us looked at the cyan gem, who had fainted on the spot.
"Not like that..." Phos muttered.
"That's gone Alex," Yellow Dia commented.
"Quick, Dan! Follow me!" Phos shouted as she grabbed me, dragging me behind a pillar and hiding there.
"W-what the hell is that?!" I cried.
"That's the full size of that Lunarian!"
A massive slam abruptly came, surprising the both of us.
Peeking out, I saw Jade stuck under one of the Lunarian's hands, with Obsidian being held upside-down on one hand on the other side.
The blacksmith began to cry in fear. "You creep!"
"Jade!" Euc shouted as she tried to drag her partner out from the creature's clutches. "Hang in there!"
I turned around, looking at Phos. "What now?"
The peppermint gem thought for a moment and smirked lightly. "I have a plan."
Extending out her right arm, Phos made a humanoid decoy out of the alloy in front of the unsuspecting Lunarian, who was preoccupied with Obsidian.
"Halt!" the peppermint gem yelled out in a different voice.
The creature turned towards the decoy, which somewhat resembles a messy-haired Cinnabar.
"I am the one you want!" Phos continued.
All the other gems stared at the decoy in confusion.
"Who's that?" I heard Zircon ask.
"Show me what you got!" my peppermint senior went on, further taunting the Lunarian.
The creature tossed Obsidian aside, lifted its hand from Jade and attempted to punch the decoy, but Phos moved it back just in time. Now interested in the new "gem", the Lunarian followed the alloy as it moved back.
"Yes, yes yes yes," Phos muttered while I peeked out from behind her, "Just keep on heading this way. I'll lead you right to Sensei and- WOAH!"
The creature grabbed the decoy with its tail and yanked, sending me and the peppermint gem flying out towards it.
"Maybe not!" Phos yelled in surprise.
My hand slipped while we were still airborne, sending me flying towards a pillar.
The Lunarian stared at Phos as the peppermint gem slipped into its fur.
Oh no.
"Phos!" the Amethyst twins called out.
Trying to get out, I realized that I was stuck. Again.
Oh, joy.
The creature turned towards the other gems.
Obsidian began crying again. "Phos!"
"Phos..." Jade uttered, "not again!"
"What are we going to do?" I heard Yellow Dia ask.
"Slice it up again and segregate all its parts," was the reply from Bort. "There's nothing else we can do..."
I heard someone step onto the grass. Looking down on my left, I realized that it was Sensei, who looked surprised at the scene.
The Lunarian turned towards him.
Both of them stared at each other.
The creature's eyes widened and it sprinted towards Sensei.
"Sensei!" a few gems shouted.
He swiped his right hand to his side, seemingly telling them to stay back.
As the Lunarian got closer, Sensei put out his hand.
The creature raised its right hand...
... and placed it on Sensei's. Like a pet dog with its owner.
"Sit."
The Lunarian listened and sat down. Like a pet dog.
"Lay down."
It did just that. Like a pet dog.
"Chin."
It also followed and allowed Sensei to stroke its chin.
Like a pet dog.
"Hm?" Sensei noticed, looking at the Lunarian's first left hand as Phos climbed out of the tail's fur. "Poor Shiro, what happened to your hand?"
The creature didn't respond, moving to lay on its back instead.
Sensei stroke its belly as it sighed.
That looks... pretty cute.
"Sensei..." Phos called out, managing to climb out of the tail.
He turned to look at the peppermint gem. "I didn't see you there."
"Right... So, why did you call this thing 'Shir-' woah!"
Everyone stepped back as the creature got up and ran a few circles before sitting down again, facing Sensei.
Just like a pet dog!
Phos fell out of the tail, shaking and trying to get out.
"Sensei..." I called out.
He looked up. "I didn't notice you there either."
"Sensei... I'm stuck."
--------------------------
As everyone else worked to repair the damaged places and items in the school, Phos and I stood in front of Sensei, after I was freed by the peppermint gem.
"Sensei," Phos began, "do you know this thing?"
He kept his eyes closed. "No. Not at all."
The peppermint gem frowned. "Are you telling me I just mistakenly heard you call it 'Shiro' then-"
Sensei began to nod off.
"Sensei! Don't doze off on me!"
He quickly woke back up.
"Apologies. The fluffiness is just so inviting. It's magnificent. Magnificently fluffy."1
Phos sighed.
"Is the thing's name really that big of a deal?" Jade asked, walking up.
'No, that's not really the point..." was the reply from the peppermint gem.
"Why not ask it yourself?" Rutile asked, walking up as well.
"Eh?"
"You and Dan were able to speak to that slug, after all."
Phos thought about it for a moment, turning to look at me.
I shrugged. "Anything you say."
------------------
Yep, we're asking the "dog".
"Uh..." Phos began.
The Lunarian opened its eyes.
"It's just... if I might just inquire something from you..." she continued.
"Truly a lost cause, that one," I heard Rutile comment quietly.
The creature woofed in response.
"It just said 'woof, woof'..." the peppermint gem said, looking at both Rutile and Jade.
I placed a hand on the Lunarian's nose. That didn't seem to bother it, since it closed its eyes.
--------------
"'Poor Shiro, what happened to your hand?' I definitely heard Sensei say that," Phos muttered as we walked on the plains. "Mmm, maybe I'm just overthinking the whole thing..."
I walked silently beside her.
"The way it was said, though."
The peppermint gem stopped.
"It sounded like the two of them were so much closer than any of us. Sensei and a Lunarian..."
Phos gasped as the wind blew, turning to look at me.
"Have I just allowed myself to imagine the unthinkable?"
"What's 'unthinkable'?" I puzzled.
"Sensei and the Lunarians, working together..."
"Woah, Phos, slow down. Is there any real reason for your conclusion?"
The peppermint gem looked down and pondered for a while.
"Nope, not at all. Still, the way he said it..."
"Hey, Phos, do you know what a 'dog' is?"
She looked up. "What's that?"
"An animal. Four legs, a tail, and barks. People own them as pets back in the day, they're known to be very loyal to their owners. Shiro acts like one," I noted.
"Interesting. So you're saying that Sensei kept one a long time ago?"
"Something like that. Also, I think," I suggested, 'the real question would be 'who exactly are the Lunarians?' If Sensei really had that dog back then, why does that Lunarian supposedly act like it, and shares the same name too?"
Our discussion was interrupted by increasingly-louder barks. Turning around, both Phos and I noticed Cinnabar approaching, holding a pair of shoes and having one of those puppies trying to climb her.
The mercury gem stopped and looked at us.
"Here," she suddenly said, throwing the shoes at Phos, who barely caught it. "This must be Bort's. This thing too," she added, throwing the puppy, which smacked the peppermint gem in the face, making her fall backwards.
"This isn't Bort's," Phos replied, holding the little creature.
"Well, then what is it exactly?" Cinn asked. "It was right there with those shoes."
"This is a piece of the Lunarian that showed up today," the peppermint gem replied, looking at the puppy. "And as far as I can tell... it belongs to Sensei."
She stood up, letting go of the creature.
"Cinnabar, I'm starting to feel like Sensei is hiding something from us."
"You mean in relation to the Lunarians?"
Phos and I were taken aback, surprised.
"You knew?!" the peppermint gem shouted. "Then why-"
"Everybody knows."
"What?" I blurted out.
Cinn turned back.
"Well," she continued, "everyone has come to guess as much. But no one knows the truth."
I heard the puppy yelp as it played with something. Probably the shoes.
"They've all made an unspoken agreement to trust in Sensei no matter what the truth may be," the mercury red gem finished, turning their head around.
There was a brief silence, only filled with the panting of the puppy.
"Even you?" Phos asked.
"I'm still debating it. What are you going to do?"
Cinnabar just turned back and walked off, without waiting for an answer.
The wind blew again.
Turning right, I noticed Phos staring straight ahead, visibly shocked.
"Phos?"
She slowly turned her head to look at me.
"I..."
Small cracks began to form on her face.
"I just..."
The cracks grew much larger than they were.
"I want to know the truth. It's going to take courage to confront Sensei about this. Courage... I don't have courage..."
I instinctively hugged Phos. "Calm down, I'm here with you, always. We'll uncover the truth together, alright?"
I felt her arms embrace me.
"Thank you, Dan. You're the best."
Hearing the rustling of grass, I looked behind Phos, noticing the "puppy" running back to the school.
"Hey, Phos..."
The peppermint gem turned around and sighed.
"Oi..." she called out as we began to head back. "C'mon, wait..."
-----------------
We walked down the empty main corridor of the school, following the excited puppy that was running around.
"Hey, Phos."
"Huh?"
"Let's go to my room after this, alright?" I asked.
"Sure."
Heading towards Shiro and everyone else, both of us noticed all the other gems curled up in the Lunarian's fur, asleep. Sensei was "meditating" beside the creature, while Shiro itself is asleep, lying in a way a pet dog would.
The puppy ran up excitedly to Shiro.
It yelped once and jumped into the arm with the missing hand, fusing with it and regenerating as the new hand, completing the creature's full form.
Looking beside me, I noted Phos staring at the sleeping Kongo-sensei.
She watched in silence for a few moments.
"Sen-" she wanted to ask as she stepped forward, before I quickly pulled her back.
"Not now," I whispered. "We're doing this without anyone knowing."
The peppermint gem nodded silently in acknowledgement.
Hearing rustling, we both turned forward and noticing Shiro get out.
Looking at us, it noted our existence before crawling over to Sensei and curling around him.
Sensei turned and placed a hand on the Lunarian's face.
The creature opened it eyes briefly before closing it again, beginning to glow and disappear as vapor.
"Returning home to the moon, is it?" Phos asked.
"No," was the reply. "It would seem that it has found peace."
Through the mist, I could make out the figure of a small dog resting on Sensei's leg, his hand over its head.
Even that shape disappeared, and only a small drop-like figure remained, floating downwards.
As it reached Sensei, like a dog's tongue, it licked his hand while emitting a small purr before disappearing completely.
The light faded away.
Sensei turned his attention to Phos. "How was it like working alongside Bort?"
"R-right..." Phos said, caught off-guard. "Bort is far wiser and more prudent than I imagined. Above all else, it is that quick-wittedness and precision that we could all stand to learn from. I believe each of us should team up with Bort at least once."
"Hm. And what will you do?"
The peppermint gem briefly turned to look at me, smiling softly. "Dan and I have matters we wish to pursue on our own. About these Lunarians."
--------------
"So," Katsumi clarified, "you want to find out more about the Lunarians by asking them?"
Phos nodded.
"Well, that's pretty okay, if you ask me."
The peppermint gem blinked.
"That's all?"
"Yeah, what else did you want from me?" the dimensional observer grinned.
"I was expecting something like 'That's crazy, don't do it!' actually..."
"Well," Katsumi replied, slouching back on my bed, "how exactly do you want to ask them?"
Phos thought for a moment and shrugged.
"Just ask them?"
"Or," I suddenly thought up, "why not go to the moon and get the answers straight from them? Could save our seniors too."
Phos and Katsumi stared at me, surprised.
I gulped (or the gem equivalent of that). "W-what did I say wrong?"
"That's actually possible," Katsumi uttered.
"Yes," the peppermint gem agreed as she grinned and hugged me. "Dan, you're the best!"
I blushed. "I-I didn't do anything..."
"Oh, by the way," Phos went on, releasing her grasp on me, "I'm sick of this hairstyle. I'm going to try growing my alloy out."
Katsumi and I watched as the peppermint gem shut her eyes and began to concentrate.
Slowly but surely, the alloy seeped out of their hair, extending to form Phos' old hairstyle.
She opened her eyes. "So, is my old hairstyle back again?"
Katsumi smiled. "Sure is, looks even better with that gold finish!"+
"Yep, looks much better," I agreed as I smiled too. "Though, wouldn't Red Beryl be pretty mad when she sees you tomorrow? 'How could you do this?!', I can already hear it in my head."
"Bah, don't worry about that, my little kouhai," the peppermint shrugged off. "That's probably not going to happen, I'm sure."
---------
"How could you do this?! I took your image yesterday and got your measurements, and you changed your hairstyle like that again?!" the tailor cried out as she shook Phos violently.2
Famous last words.