Episode 2

Prince slams the neatly organized stack of papers he's been working with down onto the big oak desk with a resounding thud, effectively snapping Isamu out of his mindless stacking.

"Do we really have to do this?" Prince asks in a borderline whine. Isamu's gaze stays locked onto the stack of books in front of him as Prince's piercing dull blueish-grey eyes glare into his back. He shifts his legs slightly from his position on his knees. "Not like I want to do this either, Prince," He calmly enlightens the blond.

Prince walks over, plopping onto his butt beside Isamu and folding his legs. "Let's take a break." Prince eagerly tries convincing him. "We just started five minutes ago," Isamu tells the other as he offhandedly flips through book pages, too fast to be reading words. Prince pouts, then reach into his back pocket, pulling out a small device. "What are you doing?" Isamu asks, suspicious. Prince types away onto his phone, Isamu notices, before giving him a half-grin and responding, "Getting help." Isamu looks at the other curiously before peering over their shoulder to see what that statement fully means.

"Sos, who's all free?" The text reads. Isamu distantly feels a buzz from his phone as Prince presses send. "You're texting our roommates for help?" Isamu states as a question, Prince nods. "Exactly." Isamu slightly narrows his eyes at the blond. "No one's gonna just jump at the opportunity of cleaning." He deadpans. Prince stares back at him as if he said something stupid which, in his opinion, is quite rude. "I'm not going to tell them." He states as if obvious. Isamu rolls his eyes. "So you're going to lie." Prince looks at him in offense, "I'm not going to lie!" Isamu shrugs, going back to flipping through his books-...

"Oh," he whispers casually. "What happened?" Isamu shakes his head dismissively before raising his hand to show the other. "Paper cut," He says simply. Prince looks at him surprised; "Well... does it hurt or..?" He speaks, confused, words drawn out. Isamu shrugs. "Yeah." Prince stares at him incredulously, he stares back blankly.

A faint buzz interrupts them, making Prince glance back to his forgotten phone. He smiles down mischievously at the read words, then types his reply after a second of thought. Isamu curiously glances over his shoulder, he blinks and then looks up at the blond with a glare. "I can read, you know." Prince responds with a casual, "I know," before pressing send once again. "Doing more charity work for Isu. Dorm B23." He examines further up and then notices that all of the responses have been different variations of "Yes," and "Why?"

He hums, "How unusual for everyone to be free at this time," He murmurs, voicing his thoughts out loud. Prince nods in agreement. "Class rarely gets canceled... maybe the sudden change has to do with that donation."

Isamu perks up in interest, "Donation?" He echos in question,

Prince puts his phone away, sighing dramatically. "Oh yeah, I forgot how much of a slacker you are," he retorts.

"The biggest donators at City Region—the Akira family, ten straight generations of category three; angels—topped even their most invested sum by donating over nine-hundred thousand crowns." Prince stands, brushing off his flowy pants with a huff. "My guess is that it has to do with this being their son's last year," he shrugs. "But I only know rumors."

Isamu nods, noting the faint elevator ding from down the hall before Prince goes to unlock the door, and goes back over to Isamu's desk to sit on top and flip through the papers on top mindlessly. Isamu pauses then turns around to the blond.

"Don't.. read them." He frowns. Prince shrugs. "They're drafts, so why not?" Prince picks up the stack to skim through—he blinks then his eyebrows furrow in confusion.

"Are these... doodles of your snake-?"

Isamu snatches the paper when he'd gotten so close—Prince will never know.

"...No." He lies carefully in a deadpan, tossing the papers to the floor.

"H-Hey! Idiot, I just cleaned that area up!" Prince grumbles, and Isamu shrugs. "Sorry," He speaks, sounding not sorry in the slightest. Prince sighs. "This is a horrible charity...

can't I withdraw my donations?" Isamu stares back at him blankly before noting the elevator tell-tale ding once again, followed this time by familiar footsteps. He hums, going around his desk, oblivious, Prince rolls his eyes and starts to play with his blond curls absentmindedly.

"Urk-"

He falls forwards onto his face with a thump. "Bastard, Get off!" He yells, muffled by Isamu putting his full body weight on top of him and sitting comfortably. At that moment the door clicks open, revealing a short young lady with an aloof air and pink champagne-dyed hair. Isamu adjusts his place from on top of Prince to questioningly gaze at the door. She stays silent as she witnesses the scene in front before deciding to back away, slowly closing the dorm behind her. The tall figure behind takes out their phone, snapping a quick photo before they are fully out of view.

The door closes almost as quietly as it opened.

...

Isamu and Prince are left in silence—staring back at the door in bewilderment.

Fully registering his roommate's actions, Prince tosses Isamu off of him, running towards the door. "Noah, delete that!" He's whining as he throws the door open with sudden self-discovered strength. Isamu sits on the floor in a small daze before he waves to the remaining of his friends, who stand at the door in hesitation. The dread-locked figure runs off, mockingly waving his cell phone in the air as Prince chases after him through the hall.

Isamu stands, taking the time to brush off his pants. "He called me a charity case," He explains vaguely. Since they all are familiar with Prince they nod and shrug in understanding.

The pink-haired woman tip-toed inside the room further with a look of disgust. "What happened here?" She grimaces. "It looks like the common area when Prince has to pull an all-nighter."

Fong Xie-Li nods in agreement. "Except without the multiple candy rappers and empty coffee mugs," They add. Isamu sighs and plops down back onto his knees at the spot beside his staked books.

"This was my dorm room..." He starts to explain. "You have a dorm..?" Fong Xie-Li speaks curiously. Prince then enters, a dismembered device in hand. "Yeah but now He was assigned a new roommate and is now forced to tidy all of this by daytime," Prince adds while he dumped the device onto the desk. Isamu distantly notices a look of horror plastered onto his blue-haired roommate's—Noah's half of face that is in view. "Papers, books, shredded papers, and more than not, broken pencils." Prince turns around, a smile placed upon his freckled face. "We're doing community service," He comments jokingly with a wink.

An olive eye-colored male crosses his arms with a raised eyebrow. "And how is this a "sos?" Prince rolls his eyes at his friend's inquiry. "I would've gone crazy if I had to do all of this alone, Rai." Isamu goes back to his cleaning, "You barely did anything," He casually reminds. "Quiet, Isu, the adults are talking." The blond says, ignoring the red eyes glaring at him from the remark.

Prince tilts his head, "And of course, you don't have to help but, who wouldn't want to help their favorite two people, me and Isamu?"

The woman sighs dramatically, rolling her eyes at the comment. "I could be doing so many better things right now, you know?" She enlightens them, yet walks over to the other side of the room, rolling up her puffy sleeves and crouching down to clean. Xie-Li is the next to follow, sitting beside Isamu on their knees and tiding up there.

"This sucks," Noah mutters, stepping inside the dorm to clean at the opposite end of the others.

Prince raises an expectant eyebrow at his green-eyed friend, earning a glare. "Yeah, Yeah," Rai murmurs as he accompanies Prince near the big tanned desk located at the center of the room.

Even after all this time—this type of generosity shocks Isamu. "...Thank you," He speaks out gratefully to them in a low voice.

"No problem"s are said along with Prince grinning proudly and smugly giving him a "You're welcome," in response as they finally begin to clean.

The pinkette sighs. "Okay, I'm too curious." The girl speaks up after a moment. "Who the Abyss is this roommate of yours..?" She gazes at Isamu with a look full of curiosity. "I must second that," Xie-Li adds, not looking up from the pile of mess they're managing.

Isamu hums. "I have no idea." He admits casually.

"Hm..." Prince hums, "Didn't that red lady say something about a top student from a different department?" He questions from his spot hidden behind the desk. Rai leans over to give the other a confused look. "Red lady?" Prince glances up with a nod, "Red hair, reddish eyes, and a red outfit to match." Prince recites dutifully. Isamu snorts. "Name was even a red flower, "Rose," he explains.

"Oh, Are you talking about Lee-nim?" The girl cuts in curiously. Prince peers at her from behind the desk, "You know her, Dayeon?" Dayeon nods. "She was my counselor in my second year," She explains, going back to cleaning with a grimace. "Never really liked her."

Prince laughs. "Glad we're on the same page then."

Fong Xie-Li looks up, giving a questioning tilt of their head. "Is Lee Xiaojie that bad?" Dayeon looks over at them with a surprised look, "Isn't she a colleague, Xie-Li?" They shake their head. "Not a close one," They explain. "Counselors and advisers are usually spread apart from each other, we don't quite get along very well is why,"

A reverberant thud interrupts their conversation leaving them all silent as a groaned curse filled the quiet space.

"He hit his head," Isamu explains dryly without even taking a glance over to the source. Prince stands to his feet clenching the back of his head as he glares back down at the desk. "...Are you-?" Prince cuts off Rai's question of concern with a frown.

"No."

Glaring menacingly at the desk, and now deeming the area clean enough—or just disliking the mere idea of being near said desk, Prince moves on to go help his other roommates. "We're heading out to get boxes," Prince announces as he gestures for Rai to follow along.

"Bring a broom!" Dayeon calls out before they've left. "And don't break any rules." Xie-Li reminds gaze focused solely on Prince. Prince pouts in response. "Have faith, Xiansheng."

With that, the door closes with a faint click. 

Dayeon hums quietly to herself for a bit before speaking up. "Fong Xie-Li," She sing-songs, directing her attention back to her stacked papers with a small smile. "Since classes are canceled for today does that mean you don't have work either?" She asks with a curious lilt. Fong Xie-Li nods, though it is unseen by the other. "I am also free today, yes," they confirm. "Is there a particular reason as to why you're curious?"

Dayeon hums excitedly. "Xie-Li, you have to be my model for my new drawing!" She proposes as she takes her neatly stacked papers and books over to the desk in the center. She observes the other with a critical eye as she hums in thought. "You've only modeled once for me in high school, it's a shame, really, just look at your body!"

Xie-Li looks up at the girl with a confused frown, "Dayeon... that sounds awfully creepy." They grimace slightly. Dayeon crosses her arms over her chest, giving them a deadpan look. "Just take the compliment and model for me." Noah sighs, standing and dumping his own neatly stacked pile onto the desk.

"Just model for the little lady," he speaks up. "Last time she asked me to model for her she spend three full days convincing me. I didn't even get to use the toilet alone..." He shivers visibly at the thought.

Fong Xie-Li and Isamu look between the two in concern.

"Whatever," They sigh as they also dump their stack onto the desk. "Just don't grope me like last time." Dayeon folds her arms defensively. "I wasn't groping I was measuring you." She says matter-of-factly.

Isamu has never been on the receiving end of being the girl's model and yet he feels extremely relieved for some reason.

The door swings open once again to reveal a tall green-eyed ginger with boxes piled up high in his arms. Prince peeks out from behind Rai's wide frame, "I broke no rules." He announces before his roommates get a chance to question. Rai walks in, dropping the boxes in front of the desk while Prince hands a broom to the nearest person. He takes a step back to observe the room and frowns.

"We're... missing all the required furniture." He narrows his eyes further. "...And wallpaper?"

Isamu shrugs. "In my defense it was ugly." Dayeon gives him a deadpan look. "Like you know anything about art."

Prince sighs. "Where did you put the furniture then?" He asks instead. Isamu easily pushes his desk over to the side and takes down a curtain, which reveals more light into the cleared area and two full raised beds sitting in each corner. He points to the couch from the cleared area Dayeon managed, "There was only one of those." He explains with a shrug.

They look around the room in surprise at the change in lighting. Dayeon excitedly skips over to the two large windows to look down at the busy streets. "Woah, we're so high up!" She declares in awe. Xie-Li and Prince walk over to join her and observe the pink-orange noon sky. "Why did you cover it?" He hears his blue-haired roommate ask with a tilted head. "I work better in the dark." He responds, Prince laughs at the reply, "And here I thought you were just a vampire along with Noah."

Noah frowns at the comment. "I'm not a vampire. You've been calling me one since junior high." Prince glances back at his friend with a mock-serious expression. "I've caught you sleeping upside down, multiple times."

Noah flushes in embarrassment. "I wasn't sleeping!"

"But you admit to being upside down?" Dayeon observes, with slowed speech. Noah pouts before picking up one of the boxes to put one over Prince's head. "I'm done with this conversation." He announces then walks over to one of the beds to, what Isamu assumes, is to sulk.

"Deserved," Rai tells the blond casually. Prince takes the box off his head and offers the other a glare which Rai decisively ignores.

Isamu picks up a box and dumps all of his paperwork, filling it to the brim before picking up another box and repeating the process. Dayeon turns around and almost immediately finds interest in his actions.

"Are you taking them home?" She asks. He shakes his head, "Putting them in the trash." He answers. "The trash?" Xie-Li tilts their head. "Why would you do that?"

Isamu finishes filling up two more boxes and turns to stack them. "I don't like any of these drafts." He answers causally. Prince gives him a concerned look. "Didn't you say your deadline was coming up soon..?" Isamu nods, finally turning to face the others. "Mhm, two days, why..?"

...

They all stare at him in silence.

Prince sighs, "Isu you're such an idiot." He blinks. "W-What!? How?" Prince shakes his head disappointedly.

Dayeon clasps her hands together, earning the attention of the boys. "Isu, you do have a horrible habit," She says. "Prince, sweep the room, Xie-Li find your keys—I know you lost them again, and Noah, stop sulking."

"Yes, ma'am." They obey in unison.

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