TWO

This is one hell of a school, I thought to myself as Rutile, or the gem in a white coat applied powder to where my skin would be if I were still a human, giving me a white skin-like appearance that doesn't sparkle like mad. Rutile is the doctor around here, and they (that's what the pronoun for the gems are, though honestly, it's confusing to me) are the doctor around here.

"Alright, you're done. Go look for Red Beryl for your clothes and hairstyle later, I'll have to patch up Morganite and Goshenite now."

"No problem, thanks. I think I'll sit around here for a bit more first," I replied.

"Need any help?" Phos asked Morganite, which was the girl with pink hair.

"Nope. You put my legs on backwards the last time, so no thanks."

"Hmph, haven't forgotten that, huh?" Phos retorted while snatching the bowl containing Morg's parts.

"Hey! Stop! Don't you have an encyclopedia to write?" Morg shouted while grabbing onto her bowl.

"No one's ever going to need it anyway and it's just a pain to deal with," Phos brushed aside while the two began pulling on the bowl.

"Sounds just like you!"

"Oh, just shut up!"

I decided to chime in for a bit. "Well, I think an encyclopedia is important for us to record present data so that people in the future can look into them. You can get some interesting information that nobody knows and put it in, that way you can get everyone to learn something new."

"You're oddly bright for a newborn," Morg commented while still struggling with the bowl, "you sure you're just born today?"

"Pretty much, I woke up today on the small beach in between the plains and the sea, to the right of the cliff."

"Not the Beach of Beginnings? Odd, that's where we've all came from, you're a first. Near Cinnabar's cave too."

"Cinnabar? Who's that?"

"They live in the cave under the cliff, coming out in the night only for patrol," Rutile explained. "Their poison kills anything it touches, and any part of us hits it and it'll go dull, and we'll have to chip it off. You'd lose some memories though, but probably nothing important."

"Hey, Rutile?" the silver-haired gem, Goshenite spoke.

"What is it?" Rutile replied while they fitted in Goshnite's right foot with a crack.

Goshenite winced in pain for a moment as their right leg reconnected with their torso.

"Helio got turned into all of this," they said while pointing to a bowl full of yellow fragments, "but if we get back all the pieces, you can reform them, right?"

"Of course. Our very bodies are home to microscopic organisms, you see. Thanks to them, even if we break into pieces, as long as we collect enough pieces, we can be put back together. It's a wonderful characteristic of ours seen in no other living being."

I've noticed that Phos and Morg had stopped fighting. "So, we're basically immortal?"

"That is right, Danburite. We have an indefinite lifespan, unlike most other living beings. We get our energy from the sun, instead of consuming food like the others."

"Fascinating."

"But thanks to that, we have grown incapable of giving up on anything," Rutile finished as they applied power to cover the remaining minor cracks on Goshenite.

"There you go, good as new."

As Rutile moved on to work on Morganite, a red twintail-haired gem popped out and ran towards me.

"Hey, newbie! I'm Red Beryl! Stand up and I'll take down your measurements, you're going to get your clothes in a jiffy!"

"Alright," I replied and stood up, and Red Beryl immediately began to take down all my measurements.

"Alright, all done!"

"So quickly?"

"Yeah! By the way, allow me to style your hair, I wonder what hairstyle would fit you. Ponytail seems okay, but that's not good enough, free-flowing hair doesn't suit you, neither does short..."

"Twintails," I muttered to myself.

"Ah, right, twintails! Long twintails look perfect on you, let's do it!" Red Beryl enthusiastically said as they began styling my hair. In a short few minutes' time they were done with my hair.

"You look great! Stay here, I'll get your clothes out real quick!" she exclaimed as she ran off, probably to her room.

Just around this time Rutile was done putting Morganite back together.

"Alright," Morganite declared, "let's head back out then."

The two gems started to run, until Phos turned around and grabbed them by the arm.

Surprised, the two gems stopped and turned around.

Morganite reacted really quickly. "WATCH IT!"

Phos flinched.

"You're the one who would break if we bumped into each other, you three-half!"

"Oh, I'm quite used to it, O Great Seven. Take me wit-"

"Absolutely not!"

"You have to!" Phos seemed rather angry from my side. "If I hadn't told Kongo-sensei, the both of you would be out on the moon right now! Don't forget it!"

"Rutile," Morganite gazed over, "you sure you can't make Phos' body as strong as the mouth and vice versa?"

"Come on," Phos went on, "just get me out of this awful job, will you?"

Morg snickered. "You really hate it that much, do you?"

"Of course! I want a cooler job!"

"Wait," I chimed in, "three-half? Seven? What do they mean?"

"Oh, that's a scale of how hard we are," Rutile said, "Phos here is pretty fragile at 3 and a half, while Morganite has a hardness level of 7. The highest on the scale is 10, and the only two gems around here at that level are Diamond and Bort."

"Ah, I see."

"Right, we still don't know how hard you are, but we're not going to test you now."

"Anyway," Goshenite spoke, "Phos, would you want to trade places with me then?" They offered her sword to Phos.

Slowly, Phos stretched their hand, but then quickly retracted it.

"'I'm not quite so pitiful as to take that what does not belong to me...'" Phos began.

"Is what you probably thought I'd say! You're mistaken" they finished, immediately grabbing the sword with force, throwing Morganite and Goshenite back and the notebook into the air. Having grabbed the scabbard instead of the hilt of the blade, Phos sent the actual sword flying in the air while they grasped the scabbard.

"That's heavy you know!" Goshenite shouted, but it was a bit too late.

Phos fell backwards, knocking over a wooden stool in the process.

"Maybe this will teach you a lesson," Morganite commented.

"I just finished putting you back together..." sighed Rutile.

As Phos looked up, the notebook landed flat on their face, and moments later the sword's tip came down, straight into the notebook.

The notebook and sword slid down Phos' face, showing a shaken but physically unharmed Phos behind.

'Oh, thank goodness!" Goshenite sighed as they slumped over in relief. "I didn't think you'd really take it!"

"Hey." Phos stared at Morganite with an expressionless face. "You were hoping it would hit me, weren't you?"

"You got me," Morg smirked.

"Jeez, all right," Phos relented, "Fine then."

My only friend here..." they said as they picked up the notebook, looking at the thin silt

caused by the sword.

"... is you."

"I can help out," I volunteered.

"Eh, really?" Phos lit up.

"Yes, but I'm not doing it alone, it's your job after all. I'll see what I can do to help you, but ultimately you're the boss, alright?" I offered with a smile.

"Aw, thanks Dan!" Phos shouted while they lunged towards me for a hug.

"Woah, easy," I managed to voice out as I nearly stumbled. "But first, I'll need my clothes."

"I'm back!" Red Beryl shouted from a few meters away, holding what seems to be my new clothes.

----------------------------

I'd say, these clothes are really nice.

I've got the standard uniform most of the girls were wearing, a high-collared undershirt with a tie along with a short-sleeved, V-collared outer black shirt. To top it off at the bottom, I've also got the standard black shorts. Both shirts and shorts are a perfect fit with only a minimal gap between my "skin" and clothes, making them feel pretty tight if I were still human, but as a gem these aren't uncomfortable. In fact I'd say they're absolutely comfortable. Red Beryl has also decided that I look great with black overknee socks, so there am I with them. I've never tried shoes with heels before, but now that I have these black shoes with heels they honestly feel great.

Looking in the mirror, I can't help but admire the design of the "uniform". Red Beryl is really talented at tailoring.

"So, do you like it?"

"It's perfect. Thank you, Red Beryl."

Red Beryl smiled. "You're welcome, this is my job too! Alright, I gotta go, see ya!"

As they ran off, I turned around to face Phos.

"So, shall we begin?"

------------------------------

"Dammit, we've really gone nowhere."

"This job sucks!"

Phos and I stared at the blank notebook.

"By the way, Dan, did anyone tell you that you somewhat resemble Diamond?"

"Sensei said that when he looked at me, but how so?"

"Well, you have the same color, just more dull and less colorful when you glitter. Change your face and cut your hair like hers, and I'll not be able to tell both of you apart!"

"Ehehe, by the way, this 'powder' on me..."

"Ah, it's to hide our actual looks. Having your own body look like that isn't nice, isn't it? I mean, your whole body's going to sparkle, and for me it'll be both green and sparkling, it's not going to look good."

"Yeah, I agree with you."

"Hey, Dan," Phos asked, "what's an encyclopedia?"

"You didn't know?"

"Nope."

"Eh," I started, "an encyclopedia is something like a book or a collection of multiple books that contain information about, uh," I lost my words for a moment, "uh, basically anything. Like, recording stuff."

"The library is full of information already though, is there really anything else for us to record down?" Phos grumbled.

"Well, we have to find something interesting then."

"So how well are you two going?" Morganite questioned as they walked up and took the notebook before Phos or I could stop them.

"Woah, it's blank?!"

"Don't peek!" Phos blurted out while blushing lightly.

"You two really put in all your efforts into not doing anything, huh?" Morg commented just as Phos managed to snatch the notebook back. "I'm amazed."

"No! We're just working on a great overall concept, right?" Phos defended while looking at me with a "Please, cover me" look.

"Uh, yeah, something like that, we're finding something interesting to record down."

"I heard that encyclopedias are supposed to categorize everything in Nature itself," Goshenite commented as she walked up from behind.

"Goshe!" Phos called out in happiness while throwing their both arms up. "Like how, though?"

"Maybe recording all the bugs and plants along the shore?" Goshe suggested.

"Eh, too boring," I complained.

"Gonna need more than that," Phos said in agreement.

"I guess we already know about all the important stuff, so maybe the unimportant stuff?" Goshe asked.

"Almost there! Give me more!"

Goshe sighed.

"We aren't really all familiar with this stuff, sorry. Lookouts like us always have our eyes on the skies..." Goshe continued, looking out of the large, netted window.

"Oh! Cinnabar might know, though."

"Cinnabar..." Phos wondered.

"Why not you go ask?" Goshe suggested.

"I can't do that!" was the reply from the green-haired gem. "I can't even get close to Cinnabar! We've never spoken to each other at all!"

"But Cinnabar might know more than us," Goshe pointed out.

"Anyway," Morg chimed in, "good luck on your wild discoveries, Master Scholars."

The words "Master Scholars" seem to echo in Phos. They immediately lighted up, which made me giggle for a bit.

"All right!" Phos exclaimed as they jumped out of her chair in enthusiasm.

"Idiot," was the reply from Morg as they and Goshe left.

Phos sat down on the floor. "Cinnabar, huh? Nope. I should probably ask Master Kongo instead."

"Hey Phos, that sounds like a great idea, why not?"

Phos thought about it for a moment.

"Nope, that'd be even worse. Half a day of lecture at least."

"Ah." I could still remember the lectures I had in school, most of which are boring. I can really sympathize with Phos on that.

The memory from what I now call my "past life" reminded me about home. I know I really wanted to leave that world, but now that I have left, I was slightly worried. What would my family do when they notice their daughter had gone missing? Probably nothing, they don't even care about me other than my school grades. Would anyone in school notice? Absolutely not, in fact I feel that my class would genuinely celebrate my disappearance. Who cares about the livelihood of the bullied outcast in school anyway? Life would go on, perhaps better for some schoolmates, no effect on the other people in the world.

People. That's right, people. Where are the humans?

Nah, I'll keep my mouth shut for now. I'll ask Phos later.

"Still, I'm not really getting anywhere on my own," I heard Phos mutter."I wouldn't mind making some big discovery, though."

"Big discovery. Hey Phos, uh, where are we?"

"Huh? What do you mean 'where are we'?"

"Eh, I know this is probably Earth, but wher-"

"Hold on," Phos interrupted, "What is Earth?"

"Uh... um...." Dang, if she doesn't know what this planet's name is, then she wouldn't know what humans are. Best not to prod it down now.

"Heh, it's nothing. Anyway," I quickly interjected before they could prod further into me, "uh, what's the history of Ear- I mean, this planet?"

"Ah, that's easy!" Phos enthusiastically said. "You're a newborn so you wouldn't know, so hold on, here we go!"

"The planet has been visited six times by meteors. Six times it was broken, and it gave birth to six new moons, leaving it an emaciated shadow of its former self. When there was nothing left of the land but a single beach, all life fled to the ocean, and on that beach, life suited to the sparse environment appeared. They were eaten by tiny creatures on the ocean's floor, turned into inanimate objects. Some creatures who had flourished when the Moon was still one were too slow in their escape and sunk into the seas, crystallized over the ages, and again, they were thrown back up upon the beach. That is us!" Phos explained with enthusiasm.

"Woah," was all that I could voice out. Judging from what she said, looks like humanity didn't survive. I can't blame them though, six meteors which created 6 more moons isn't something light.

"Wait, six moons? So which one of these do the Lunarains come from?" I asked.

"The oldest one, I think," was my reply.

"Luna," I muttered to myself, thinking about the actual Moon of Earth.

"Luna?"

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing! I was talking to myself!" I defended myself. I had to keep my knowledge of the past to myself for now, just in case.

"You're a weird one, newbie," Phos said as they stared at me in a scrutinizing way, which they immediately dropped a moment later.

"Okay! The Master Scholars must be open to the opinions of others. Let's go, Dan!"

"You're going to ask Cinnabar?"

"Nope, others around! Hurry up, let's go!" Phos said while they grabbed my arm barely after I got up and pulled me forward as we ran.

This life isn't bad at all.