I rested my chin on my palm and stared blankly at the papers on my desk. I refused to eat because I don't have the appetite and stayed in the classroom instead.
It was a coincidence that Mr. Bolter came in without notice and handed the papers to me.
Ha... A zero. Should I celebrate?
I took my paper which was above the rest and looked at the answers written on it. The answers are undeniably nonsense and unrelated to the topic.
I even drew a hand with a peace sign on the lower left part of the paper.
I browsed at the other's paper and saw what I expected from them. They all got high marks. If I am excepted, the lowest had five wrong answers over all the thirty items present in the quiz. As I continued browsing the papers, I stumbled upon a red one-half paper. The contents were written in white and it was short. It was also typed in a typewriter.
Unbothered, I stood up and went to the dining room.
As I gently and silently closed the door where I passed through, a question welcomed me. "Are you gonna eat?" Vezkud asked when he noticed me first.
I shook my head and opened my mouth even though they might not notice it because of these bandages. I said something that made their jaws and utensils drop, surprised and stunned at the words that I used in my sentence as an announcement.
"Scarlet left a letter."
. . .
The class became quiet and stoned after they didn't expect the thing that Violet announced to them. Vantel was about to ask if she was joking until he saw the red paper that she was holding.
"Are you serious?" Delora asked and stood up followed by the rest then later on went to her.
"Give me that." Neodelle said and snatched the paper from Violet's hand. "Where some things were fixed recently. Scarlet." He read the content of the paper. "It's not a question but a sentence. Is this supposed to where we should go and see her?"
"Go and see her? I thought she will see us?" Virgo asked, baffled.
"Just ignore Virgo. The thought will just make us angry." Theodore said and took the paper from Neodelle's hand. "Where some things were fixed. Althea fixed almost everything before the school year starts."
"It said recently." Vantel pointed out. "It means, Althea fixed something recently."
"Where and what did they fix? We don't even know that. Where not a bunch of people with magic who fix things." Brian said. "Do we look like some repairmen in this institute?"
"Maybe she mistook you as one."
"Shut up, Virgo."
Aaron looked on every edge of the room. "Recently... Was there something damaged recently?" Aaron asked them.
"My doorknob?" All of their eyes went to Vezkud whose answer was too far off the answer that they want to consider. "It just got fixed last week." Vezkud added, reasoning that it might have a chance since it was the recent thing to be fixed from his perspective.
His cousin's sour face looked at him, confused and unsure at what happened to his doorknob. "Just what did you do to your doorknob to be damaged?" Vantel asked his cousin.
Vezkud shyly scratched his neck, not realizing how everyone was looking at him like he was some kind of idiot. "You see... I tried to lockpick it with my strings and... Boom. It was suddenly damaged like hell."
"You dumbass."
"Thank you, cous'."
"I'll look if there's more letter where I found it." Violet said as she turned her back but Neodelle suddenly grabbed her wrist, stopping her from taking a step from her spot. Violet look at Neodelle from her shoulder. "What?"
"Where did you find the letter?"
"Between the papers Mr. Blocker gave to me."
Neodelle examined if there was some movement on her facial muscles. "I see, go find if there's more." He said when he failed to see some. Neodelle, freed her wrist and Violet went out the room. Virgo silently followed Violet to help her search through the papers to make the process faster.
"Recently... Recently..." Theodore repeated the last word from the letter while he was looking forward. He held his chin and he noticed Lily who walked away from them because she doesn't feel like participating in thinking about that specific place.
Lily stared at her empty plate and produced a flower from her hand and ate the whole flower except for the stem.
Theodore's eye twitched at the unpleasant action Lily did but his face slowly changed and lit up when he remembered something.
"Recently!" He exclaimed which made the rest look at him. Theodore faced the rest and made some hysterical hand gestures. "Recently! Guys, recently! The orcs attacked and destroyed the wall! There was huge damaged in the south of Althea which was fixed immediately!"
Their eyes widened in realization after hearing Theodore's words. "Ah!" Brian pointed his index finger at Theodore.
"You're right! It was that place! It's where we fought without her!"
"If that's so, we already knew where would we meet her." Neodelle said, slightly contented at the question that they just answered. "But when?" He added another main problem and question that made the rest fell silent.
Theodore looked at the latter. Yes. They did figure out where they will meet her but the real question here is when?
"Maybe she left another letter besides that." Vantel said, eager to participate just to seek the answer to their question. "Let's go—." But even before he could finish talking, he got cut off when the door opened and someone talked.
"Aside from that letter, there's no other one left." Virgo said as she went in with Violet. "Violet and I figured out that she wants to meet us at the south gate where the orcs suddenly destroyed." She added.
"We also got to figure it out," Theodore said. "But we don't know when will we be going."
"Maybe it's tonight." Brian said.
"Not after class?" Lily asked.
"Don't ask me. I'm just hunching." Brian went and sat down on his seat. "If possible, ask the one who wrote that."
Neodelle suddenly looked at Violet when he remembered Scarlet. He wants to see what kind of actions will she react when Scarlet is the center of the topic. H
e wanted to cuss when he can't fully examine her reaction because he can't see her face which is bandaged and hidden from their sight.
"Let's go after class." Vezkud suggested. "Or let's choose a person who will stay for an hour to wait then change with another person until she arrives."
"Let's choose a person instead of waiting in group," Vantel said. "It's more efficient that way and we can still have some people see if another letter comes."
"Okay. Let's go per person." Virgo agreed to the two. "But who'll go first?"
Everyone fell silent at the question. "The afternoon makes me sleepy." Lily said with an unenergetic tone and the rest nodded except for one.
"Then I'll go first." Violet volunteered. "I had nothing to do anyways than to space out."
"And drag some cousin of yours out from our floor." Vantel said.
"Let's forget about what happened two days ago."
"The south wall isn't visited that much. You'll be all alone there. Wouldn't you get bored and sleep instead?" Delora ask in a tone with a perceptible hint of hesitation, worried if their plan would fail.
"Huh?" Violet tilted her head. "No—."
"Yeah. That might happen. How about we make it per two persons instead? That way, one can go and report to us that she's already there while the other one talks to her." Brian said. "It wouldn't be good if you were run away after she arrives just to report it to us."
"We have phones." Theodore reminded him.
"I don't usually use my phone so I threw it away." All of them looked at Aaron who just sat comfortably on his chair. "The alarm's vibration annoys me too." He added.
"You can turn the vibration off in the settings, you know?" Lily said.
"Tapping it repeatedly is annoying too."
"It's not like you'll run a meter just to turn it off."
"Holding it is annoying too."
"Bro..." Theodore tapped his shoulder, debilitated. "If the phone has its own life, the phone would be more annoyed to have you as its owner."
"Thanks for defending the phone, Theodore."
"You're welcome."
"Hey, hey! You're drifting off the topic here! We need to choose someone to be with her!" Delora reminded the rest.
"I can manage myself, Delora." Violet said, trying to keep herself away from an activity that should be done by partners.
"No." Delora was solemnly eager to have someone go with Violet.
Aaron looked at Violet who shook her head and it reminded him of the things he was wary about her. "I agree with Delora. We should do it by two." He seconded. He also wanted someone to keep an eye on Violet whom he was cautious about. "We don't know if Scarlet would attack us for a test. We need to be able to plan things ahead."
"Why would Scarlet test us?" Brian asked Aaron. Brian was thinking that being tested by Scarlet doesn't make any sense.
"She might want to see how powerful we are or how attentive we are to our surroundings. We never know so it's better to be careful."
"Aaron makes sense." Virgo said.
"I always make sense."
"Don't get too full of yourself."
"Whatever." Aaron sighed and looked at everybody in the room.
"I think Neodelle can go with Violet." He suggested.
Neodelle's eyebrow went up, surprised and unhappy with the sudden mention of his name. "And why me?" His tone of speaking holds a disagreeing one.
"Yes. I think Neodelle would go with Violet." Theodore supported Aaron's suggestion, causing Neodelle to look at him with a betrayed expression. "Neodelle's been annoyed by Violet's mere presence recently and sometimes they would bicker. I think they wouldn't feel sleepy with those fiery exchange of words."
"You want us to argue until Scarlet pops out?" Neodelle unbelievably asked his friend who just nodded. "You asshole."
"I don't need someone with me. I can manage to do it alone." Violet butted in. Even her, she doesn't want to be with Neodelle. 'Who knows when he would set me on fire again?' She thought.
But in the end, below the tree not too far away from the south wall of Althea. There sat the two who stayed silent as they looked everywhere to see a sign of Scarlet. Forced and got picked as partners for the task.
"This is ridiculous." Neodelle scoffed while still roaming his vision around the place.
"I can say the same."
"You're no fun to be with."
"Should I be thinking of some jokes to avoid getting myself in fire?"
"Funny."
"I am not joking."
Neodelle just made a face and stood up. Being with her alone was making him uncomfortable and he didn't know why. This wasn't the first time they were alone but the first time was complete mayhem. Fire, blood, and open wounds. What a good exchange of gifts.
"Hey." Neodelle called Violet after staying an hour standing up. He was already bored and there was no sign of Scarlet to be seen ever since they started.
"What? Are you now planning to set me on fire?"
"Why are you wearing those bandages?"
"Why do you ask?"
Neodelle looked at her, sitting on the grass with her cheeks on her palm. Her elbow rested on her knee, facing the wall in front of them.
"I'm curious." He said.
Violet sighed and faced him. He felt uncomfortable at first but he was already adjusted to her weird set-up and weird feeling that she was staring. "I'll tell you if you'll tell me yours."
"Is that another way of saying no?"
"Yes."
"Then what if I tell you my deepest darkest secret? Will you tell me the truth?"
Violet scoffed.
"Of course not. How would I even know if it was your deepest darkest secret?"
Neodelle went down and sat beside her. "Are you not trusting me?" He asked, irritated by her reply.
Violet faced him.
"We both know that none of us trust each other."