Settling Down

Like Bishop Cecilia's office, the bedroom is very plain. There isn't much at all except for six small beds organized into two rows and a drawer beside each of them. On the wall facing outside, there is a window with colored patterns on it, making it pretty difficult to see out into the city, but there is a handle on it, so it can be opened easily.

Everything, except for the window and bedsheets, is made of dark-red wood. It reminds me of the typical rooms vampires from movies would sleep in.

It's pretty tight in here, but not too bad. If two more people were to join us, that might change, though.

Astra goes around the room to get a feel of every bed. Once she has found the best one, she plops onto it and exhales deeply out of pleasure.

"You two should pick your beds, too," I say to the other girls.

Faye nods and scans the room.

"Can I have that one?" She points to the one in the back corner beside the window.

"Sure, and what about you, Lohikaarmi?"

"I will sleep beside Master's chosen bed," she says.

I guess I didn't really expect anything else.

"Um, okay."

I like the feeling of having the sunlight on my face every morning, so I go to the one across from Faye that's also beside the window. Lohikaarmi follows me to the one between me and Astra.

I sit down on the bed. It's not as soft as the one in South Cimavetta, but it's good enough.

"I am pretty tired from the journey, so I will take a rest first. You guys can take a tour of the convent if you want," I say and lie down on my bed.

"I want to explore!" Astra exclaims as she jumps up from her bed.

"Go ahead," I respond sluggishly.

"Can I come with you, Astra?" Faye asks.

"Sure!"

"Are you coming too, Lohikaarmi?"

"I will stay with Master."

"I'm fine, Lohikaarmi. Go spend some time with your friends."

"Are you sure, Master?"

"Yeah."

Lohikaarmi nods and turns to Faye. "Then I will come with you."

"Yay, alright," Faye says and claps her hands together.

"Last one to get to the lobby is a dumb egg!" Astra yells as she bolts out of the room.

"W-Wait!" Faye chases behind her.

Lohikaarmi looks at me.

"Go," I say and give her a wave, and she leaves the room, closing the door behind her.

Finally, some peace and quiet. I am not sleepy, just exhausted. After lying down on this bed, I don't feel like getting up anymore, but I can't fall asleep, either.

With nothing to do, I take out a copper coin from my pouch and start fidgeting around with it.

I always knew that the coins have engravings, but I never knew what exactly they were. I hold up the coin above me and examine it under the tinted sunlight through the window.

The print quality is not good enough for me to tell what the picture on the coin is, but it vaguely resembles a flower.

I wonder if these coins have different pictures on them like the dollar bills on Earth.

When I am about to put the copper coin back and take out another one, it accidentally slips out from between my fingers and lands on my chest, pressing the button that activates the helmet of the Exosuit, but nothing happens.

"What the…," I mutter and take the coin off my chest. As I did that, I can feel the sensation of the Exosuit against my skin disappear.

BUZZ

I can't see what is happening because the suit is beneath my tailcoat vest, but I think it's transforming or something.

The sleeves and pants retract, and two chains pop out of the button on my chest and reach around my neck, connecting on the other side.

A second later, my Exosuit folded itself into just the helmet button hanging on my neck like a pendant. The weapons on my belt disappeared with it, too.

What the hell? The suit has always had nanotechnology features? Why did Cisca not tell me about it?

My body feels so much better now. My skin can finally breathe, like the last time at the hot springs, but this time, I didn't need to take the whole thing off.

How did I even do that? Press and hold? Was that it?

I stand up from the bed and hold my finger down on the chest button. With the same buzzing sound, the Exosuit unfolds out into existence and wraps around my body again.

It would have been nice to know about this feature earlier.

I stretch my limbs around, and it's just as a tight fit as before.

I turn the Exosuit back into a necklace and lie down again on the bed.

Cool. With this, I can, well, it doesn't really unlock any new things particularly, but I guess it's a nice thing to have.

I put the coin back into my pouch and begin to examine the Exosuit pendant, instead.

I don't think Cisca has a degree in design engineering, but even though, this is well made. The black leather frame with the silver button that looks like a gemstone in the center gives it a very slick, minimalistic, and yet luxurious style. I am sure this can sell well even if it weren't advanced military-grade protection equipment.

I don't know if it's the lack of the Exosuit on my body or just the progression of the afternoon, but the room is starting to get warm.

I can't see exactly what is going on outside through the glass window, and I am too lazy to open it, so it's probably just because of the fact that the Exosuit is not providing me with temperature normalization anymore, and my body is not used to the heat.

It's getting warmer and warmer quickly. A minute later, my sweat begins sticking the coat to my skin. I am not unfamiliar with heat, as summers on Earth can get pretty unbearable, even in a place as north as Toronto, but this is not losing to Earth by a stretch.

How did it suddenly get so hot in here?

Since Astra and others will probably not come back anytime soon, I decide to take off my coat to cool off. It's not much better.

Just as I was about to put the Exosuit back on, the door to the room opens, with no prior knocking whatsoever.

A nun, one that I haven't met before, is standing at the doorway. She is a bit older than me and has shiny jet-black hair flowing out from her veils down to her sylphlike waist. Her big eyes curve like the moon in a strange smile, leering at me as if I am the prey she has successfully chased into a corner.

Around the door beside her are the heads of the twins peeking out. They are both quietly giggling. Melody has her hands together, and they are glowing. Is she the one turning the temperature up?

"Oh, um…" I mumble as I grab my shirt and try to cover my body.

The other twin, Melanie, claps her hands and begins praying. An invisible force snatches my tailcoat and shirt out of my hands and drags it across the room to the doorway. Melanie grabs it from the air.

Just what is going on?