Third Person
Paris, France: Oeillet de règne Académie
12:57 P.M.
"Miss!"
She was in a deep slumber on a stranger's shoulder. The middle-aged woman beside her shook her shoulder gently. They wouldn't bother to wake her up if it wasn't for the fact that her white-haired companion left her there while he crossed the street towards the Academy.
"Miss!"
The others came to help wake up the sleeping beauty while the people near the driver requested to stop so the young lady could get off safely. It was one of the perks of being Raine Aksenov inside public transportation.
"What?" Once she pried her eyes open, she was welcomed by the concerned faces of the citizens. Embarrassed, Raine stood erect before shooting them a questioning expression. She was about to open her lips and pull Dione out of the seat next to hers, but she was dumbfounded when Dione was nowhere.
With panicking sight, she looked around and searched for a familiar platinum blonde hair and red piercing orbs. "Your boyfriend just got off," the lady held her hand gently and pointed to the bus's exit.
"Oh, thank you!" the black-haired girl exclaimed and squeezed herself through the narrow spacing. Remembering Klavier's precaution when riding buses, she used her palms to cover her plump behind to block potential predators from harassing her. Once, she got off, her eyes instantly threw a death stare at the white-haired teen waiting at the gate of her school.
"Dione!" called Raine while Dione looked up from his phone and smirked at the raging girl, "Why didn't you wake me up?!" the girl asked and pointed to the moving bus in which they came from.
"It's not my duty to wake you up! You dozed off on your own, You wake up on your own," Dione scoffed and finally walked towards the entrance, "It's about time you learn to be independent..."
"I'm tired..." Raine pointed out after yawning, "Cleaning the wounds you made on Nightmare takes 5 hours!"
"Another reason why we're late..." Dione rolled his eyes and grunted before walking ahead of the girl.
Raine waited for the boy to be checked by the guards, they inspected him for he was a visitor. Dione crouched down to remove his shoes for inspection. One guard greeted the girl as she showed her the identification card. Before they let the white-haired boy in, they were given strict rules about avoiding the crime scenes. Some investigators and forensic scientists are still checking for possible evidence, especially since another victim was added to the case.
On the way to the dormitory, the two brought themselves to discussing Raine's relationship with the one they will be visiting. Their conversation was great until they got to the particular part where Raine exclusively said, "We both love Saccharide," the female sniffled and whimpered, "Romantically!"
Dione listened without interrupting her narrative. As the girl came to a stop, the male only said one word, nothing within the context of comforting his companion, "Cliche."
The quiet wasn't pleasing anymore as it was at the beginning which was a new atmosphere whenever he was around the usually talkative male. The girl felt peculiarly awkward. Bashfully, she gazed upon him and decided to start a conversation, "It's rude to leave me there, I was dreaming!"
"Did you dream about the evidence and how to accomplish this mission?" he asked, "That would be really helpful."
They neared the Dormitory and unfortunately, there were no elevators to make it easier for them to climb up the third floor. Dione was able to make it to the second floor faster as he was skipping two steps using his longs legs. The girl tried to do the same but ended up slipping. Thankfully, she caught the railing before gasping. His laughter and unwillingness to help her get back to her original stance assured her that the day will be longer than she planned.
"It's nice traveling with you," Raine sarcastically snubbed and got back to stepping one step at a time on the stairs, "I always learn new things..."
"It's the same as you," Dione winked and raced her to the third floor, "I learn things that I must never do in my life," His voice trailed off before Raine slowed her way up to the third floor.
She sighed before whispering to herself, "Rude..."
xXx
Room 304
Racquel Porscha
Raine first took a deep breath before knocking on her best friend's door. She wasn't expecting immediate action, considering their little argument about the boy they both love was still fresh on her mind. The girl was genuinely concerned for the blonde girl. Her aunt who stood as her mother all these years was killed by a suspect they don't know about.
No one was answering the door then, the black-haired girl knocked again and called out, "Racquel!" her voice became louder and her knocks became more forceful, "Please answer the door..."
Bored as fast as he climbed the stairs, Dione leaned on the wall before sliding down to sit while the girl kept knocking on someone's door, who obviously wants nothing to do with her, "I guess I'm wrong," Dione purposely said loudly, "We have 5 agendas to console!"
Ignoring her companion, Raine knocked again and shouted once more, "Racquel!"
After a few more banging on the poor wooden entrance, a tall man with slick back brown hair. It was Edward Broshe wearing his normal uniform, looking professional with his posture. But for a change, he wasn't wearing his glasses as he squinted his eyes to see the girl closely.
"Raine," he finally recognized his student and smiled before closing the door with a thunderously loud click, "I'm sorry I took long. I was getting Racquel's paper on the memoir project..."
Still shocked by the unexpected encounter, Raine muttered before sending the older male a bright smile, "Sir Broshe..."
"Racquel is not here. Her father took her away for a moment..." The brown-haired professor explained with a tone of sympathy in his voice, "It was a traumatic experience for her- she became a suspect for killing her own aunt."
Suddenly a throaty cough boomed through their eardrums as they looked to the side and there was the bothered white-haired. He was giving the girl the signal to end the conversation, but the girl rather took it as one of his mocking devices yet again.
"Hello there, young man!" Edward cheerfully greeted the new guest. Dione's face was familiar to the 23-year-old male so he crouched slightly to the teen's level and asked politely, "You're one of Mr. Heinz's little friends. Are you not?"
Rolling his eyes at the social convection he has to perform, Dione dusted himself off before standing up to return the greeting, "Hi, fine sir!"
Edward's smile couldn't have been wider as he was relieved that the gentle girl such as Raine, managed to find herself a companion close to her manners and personality until Dione muttered his next words.
...
"You're the one who set the garden on fire. Are you not?"
...
It was in these times that Raine has to slap him across the face like a malfunctioning remote. The white-haired lad was smart enough to operate his frank and straight forward tongue in front of the girl's senior in which in any circumstances, she cannot inflict harm on him.
Clenching the fingers on her itching palm, Raine ran up to Dione, hugged him, and turned him around with one pull before laughing nervously, "Dione!" she whispered to warn him not to cause a scene where Investigators and police might suddenly appear.
"Oh, those cops and Investigators are the same people who throw money at young strippers at night. Let me tell you," the cunning boy whispered back before looking behind at the shaken teacher.
The white-haired boy felt disgusted after Edward laughed at his joke, not even showing a little nervousness, "Oh Raine, why do you surround yourself with-" he paused and looked the other male from head to toe, "- such people?"
"I- well, he's a great friend," the girl stuttered and looked down, despite being sandwiched by the two males.
"That was rhetorical. Don't sweat it, dear," Edward smiled.
Raine flinched in her spot when her senior brushed his fingers along her hair followed by a gentle massage on her shoulders. The fact the girl had the knowledge of Sir Edward as the suspect for the fire didn't help her calm down as the older male showed her the usual care and gestures. His actions were now perceived as hypocrisy and gives fear in the spine of his student.
Having enough of the father and daughter scene, Dione clapped and continued his frank tactics, "Great, I'm one of Saccharide's little friends!" he sarcastically rejoiced, "Now it's your turn to answer my question, Sir..."
"I might set on fire the last batch of manuscripts I'm obligated to check!" Edward joked before chuckling playing with the girl's hair as he did, "But never this sweet girl's garden..."
After his response, he freed her from his arms and it felt like a big anaconda had released her from its scaly and breath-shortening grasp. Raine lightly caught her breath and walked behind her initial companion before hooking her arm around his bicep. The boy didn't mind and just watched Edward's following movements.
"I must inform you that Racquel and Klavier were being detained by their parents until Saccharide's trial is over," Edward smiled warmly before clipping a portfolio under his arm, "You have to stay in my place for a while. Seeing as you don't have a guardian in custody."
"I'm already staying at Aunt Measan's so I- I'm fine, Edward," Raine's obvious stuttering pissed Dione further that he yanked his arm away from her touch. Despite his action, the girl continued conversing with the older male, "You- you don't have to worry..."
As gentle as his voice, both of the teens detected a little shift in his voice while he spoke, "Call me, Sir. I'm still your senior, Madilyn..."
It wasn't just the shift, Dione detected from his sentence. He miscalled the girl as someone else - Madilyn.
"I'm here for you," Edward sweetly acknowledged, "Nothing's going to come at you. My students are very important to me. Everything's going to be alright. Just be a good girl, like you are." He patted her hair and just sent the white-haired teen a smile in which the teen returned by sticking his tongue out.
They waved farewell to each other before the male. Raine let out a breath before panicking again as Dione pulled a revolver inside his pocket and pointed it to the walking older male.
"What are you doing?!" she asked and backed away from the male.
He just wanted to play Russian Roulette. But with a twist- the other player doesn't know he was a player.
"Change of plans, we'll kill the imposter," he answered and pushed the trigger, but the first bullet slot was empty so, he pulled to the other slot before pointing it again to the clueless teacher. Attaching the silencer he bought from an illegal source, the boy wished to get a lucky bullet. Raine bit her lip and pushed Dione the exact moment a bullet escaped the gun with a mild pop.
"How did you get that inside?!" the girl asked and looked outside the terrace and hope the bullet will not cause harm to someone else.
"There's something called distract-the-guard-then-slide-things-across-the-floor-so-the-guard-will-not-see-you-carrying-gun-inside," Dione rapped his explanation and raised the gun again while the female either kept pushing it to point on the floor or point it to other open space with no people.
"You said, he only lit the garden on fire- he didn't kill anyone," she defended and looked at the determined white-headed companion.
"I'm worried Saccharide will kill him and he'll go to jail," Dione laughed and pointed the gun again which, the girl argued again, "It's too late now, isn't it?"
"Why?" Raine asked and bought Edward a time to get to the stairs.
"Are you going to let me explain so I won't have enough time to shoot him?" Dione sighed and shot the last bullet outside the terrace.
"Yes?" Raine looked outside and said in an unsure tone.
"Alright, you got me. I have a bad aim anyway," he confessed and walked away like he didn't plan to kill someone, he left the girls standing there flabbergasted and ready to lose consciousness.
The two decided to wait for a few inside her dorm and read the article about the crimes. Most of the contents were useful for note-taking except the part where the Investigator brags about how cool he looked in the mirror while solving the algorithms of the crime scenes. They spent the whole evening in the girl's dorm, searching for pieces of evidence and context clues, but it fit exactly, there were no plots or evidence scratch in his deductions.
Both are busy drowning themselves in the pool of events that they didn't hear the first knocks on her door. Upon opening it, Raine almost slammed it back on if she wasn't too afraid of the blonde-haired boy's emerald orbs.
"Phoenix," she mentioned as a form of greeting.
"Aksenov," the boy said as well.
"Phoenix," Dione joined and playfully out his shoulders around the girl as a mocking act. In their gang, all of them knew that Phoenix has subtle feelings for the girl. Except for their leader who was too busy throwing challenges to prove the girl's love for him.
The white-haired male waited for either one of them to call his name, but no one dared to utter it, "Seriously, no one is going to mention my name?" He looked at the two before pouting and walking away from the scene, "Alright. It's your loss..."
"Don't leave me here," Raine pulled his hand and whispered lowly.
"Nope you're the one he wants," Dione winked and shrugged the girl's hand off his
Raine threw a tantrum in her head before facing Phoenix with a battle face, eliminating all her adorable and soft features, "What do you want?" she asked, lifting her chin to project a confident stance.
"The general wants to give you this," Phoenix simply said and offered her a white folded paper.
The girl refused to take it and sighed before pushing his hands away, "If this is a bribery, it'll take more than this to make me stop," Gripping the sides of the door, she looked at him before feeling guilty at her act, "Would you like some tea?"
"No..." He answered without hesitation.
"Then leave! Thank you," Raine closed the door
"Read it..."
"No! If it's a letter to scare me, I'd rather not," she shouted on the other side, but Phoenix knocked once more that made the girl sigh and open it again. Once she opened it, the blonde boy unfolded the paper and said to her, "I'll read it for you..."
"Dear, Miss Raine Aksenov. I was amazed by your stand a while ago and wanted to test you," he read with a fluent American accent, "As you know, the Heinz clan has been initiating people to prove worth since the olden times, my son thought initiating someone into a family would be physical. He already initiated you that way so, I prepared a less haunting initiation for you."
His melodic voice was interrupted by Dione sipping his cup of chamomile tea. Phoenix and Raine both stopped and sent him a 'You're an asshole,' look before he finally stopped sipping the tea and started licking it like a feline. Still, it was creating noise but has a lower sound frequency.
The girl motioned the blonde male to pick up where he left off and he did so. The note from the general changes the concept of his war. No one will sabotage them anymore, they have to find a way to fix the sabotaged. It was another initiation which she wasn't sure if she wanted to be accepted.
"Prove he's innocent. We'll take down our commanding dog for a while so you'll be free to do the task," Phoenix stopped and opened the folded bottom of the paper, "We don't care who will you accuse as a suspect, but we expect this to be done before Saccharide's dispositional hearing. We wish you good luck!"
Before he could let her close the go back in her room with Dione seated on the couch, comfortably munching on ladyfingers biscuits while listening as well, Phoenix added a few words located at the back of the paper, "P.S. Lavender Heinz wrote this, the general would not write such polite letter especially without curse words. Additionally, the general wanted to applaud you for giving him a good laugh by cracking the 'slice show' joke."
The boy looked up and was greeted by a ray of sunlight who possess the hair of a dark night. Smiling genuinely, Raine shed a tear and thanked Phoenix for the convenient letter delivery. She escorted the boy outside the dorm room and accepted the letter. Both were awkwardly stood next to each other. Needless to say, they didn't spend much tackling on socializing as Phoenix excused himself to leave.
"Don't you want to see, Nightmare?" Raine took the courage to ask and make a request before he leaves, "If you're going to see Saccharide. Please tell him I love him and I really miss him - I'll see him once I finally got him out of jail."
Phoenix stopped walking, but didn't respond to her request.
"Oh, man. He's so in love with you," Dione snickered as they watched Phoenix walking away with his hands in his pocket. The blonde boy looked like he was in a rush, he quickly disappeared in their sight as Raine blushed and slapped the letter on his chest, "Stop that!"
The piece of paper fell on Dione's palm, his grin grew like that of the grinch while staring at the italicized cursive writing, "Another initiating, huh?" Dione was more filled with adrenaline with all the challenges, he'll play with. This what makes it fun - when the enemy makes it all harder.
"Good luck, Madilyn!" Dione teased and laughed, "That's hilarious! I'll tell everyone your second name when we get home!"
"I told you- it was from the play!" Raine closed the door with the same loud click.