Chapter 51: Friendship is Forever
"Oh my, what an adorable outfit." Nurse Joy, the real one, said as she delicately removed each shard of glass inside Clair's tight with a pince.
She did it in such a precise manner that I didn't have to take the pain of Clair, as there wasn't any to take at all.
And even if there was, I have the impression that she still wouldn't feel it, as her embarrassment was even bigger.
"Stop all of you! I know that you're all mocking me! Theirs no way you actually like it!" Clair cried out in embarrassment as she tried her best to hide her red face behind her hand.
"Oh yeah sure, I hate it so much that I would want you to give it to me so I could throw it inside my trash. And just so we're clear, by hate it I mean I love it, and by trash I mean my closet! SO GIVE IT TO ME!" Cynthia almost jumped at Clair just to get her onesie for herself, but one look of Joy in her direction was enough to make her rethink her decision.
Cynthia was scared of no one…but if she did have to answer who she was the most afraid of, Joy would be the answer.
Currently, we are in the common room of our dorm with all of us sitting on the sofa. And for this unfortunate occasion, Clair was allowed to use a little rest-feet for herself, which, according to Cynthia, was the highest favour she was willing to give to her.
Well, it was understandable, not only did Clair need to raise her leg to help Joy do her job, but it was also necessary to make sure she didn't hurt herself more. When she got rid of her precedent outfit, we all realized that maybe we underestimated how much hot water entered her boots.
Needless to say that she would probably be unable to walk for a long time…if it wasn't for nurse Joy reassuring her that by tomorrow morning she would be healed up with just a little scar.
Clair still seemed defeated by the fact that she will still have a scar at the end of the day.
But I think that the idea of watching a movie did make her a little happier…or maybe it's the fact that she learned that I didn't hate her for her supposed betrayal.
"I do not understand why you seem so ashamed of it. It's really cute. In fact, I want one for myself…preferably a pink one if possible." Mina said as she eyed Clair.
"Oh, and if you have a gible version, I would take it too!" Cynthia added with excitement, something that I didn't forget to remember well for my 'project'.
Of course, Allister was also deeply captivated by it, but he was probably too shy to make any comment on it. I will have to ask him about his preference later.
Clair's eye grew more distant as she heard these questions, before leaning more deeply into the sofa. "I received this costume as a punishment for not having failed as much as the others during the Dragon Cave Ceremony. They say I should wear this to feel the shame I brought them, and to remind me each day how much of a failure I am."
The eyes of everyone…except me, cause I have no eyes… widened.
But the silence didn't stay for long, as Cynthia rose from her seat in indignation. "What do you mean you get to have such a comfy-looking outfit for your success while all I got for mine was to be forced under Volo's guidance!?"
Mina was weirded out at Cynthia's answer, but she ignored it to ask her own question to Clair. "You're sure you didn't just mishear them? Maybe they say it was actually your reward for your success in the dragon cave whatever it is. The material does look like too high quality to only be a penitence."
Mmh? What is Mina saying? Isn't it usual to reward the success of others with punishment? I also thought that it was another lie from my progenitor
"…it made out of wooloo wool that was collected by an ashamed farmer from an ashamed wooloo then made by an ashamed tailor who was so ashamed of making it that he threw it in an ashamed trash that then my ashamed parent collected to…give it to me." Clair's last word trailed off as she probably realized how unrealistic that story even was.
The tailor would have probably killed himself if he were too ashamed after all.
"No wooloo would ever get ashamed of themself! They are too gentle to feel any remorse!" Allister said confidently as if the idea of a wooloo feeling anything but joy was a personal insult to him.
But Cynthia was clearly imperventilling as she watched Clair with clear greed in her eye this time. "IT'S MADE OUT OF WOOLOO WOOL!?"
Cynthia was about to jump on Clair just to steal her clothes from her, decorum be distorted.
snap
But a clear snap of a hand completely changed her change of idea as she looked at Joy with worry. "Now my dear, I know that her outfit is simply lovely, but this isn't a reason to scream when I'm treating a patient. And if you want one, then I'm sure they sell them in the clothes shop." She said with a passive smile that betrayed the violence that would pursue if Cynthia dared to go through her idea.
Cynthia seemed like a retreating pokemon as she gave up her plan for now.
But the first one to take the parole again wasn't her but Mina, "No…they're all bad. I checked them up yesterday and they were not only made of poor material, but they were also extremely pricey." Mina said with a pout.
Nurse Joy widened her eyes before closing them as if she suddenly got extremely tired. "Right…I suppose they don't want to let you enjoy the most basic comfort." She almost seemed like she wanted to chuckle, but found no force to do so.
It was true that I didn't really concern myself with the price of the outfit, but they did look rather pricey for some rather simple articles of clothing. Yet strangely, the most professional-looking clothes were cheaper despite being made in similar quality silk.
Maybe they just had too much and just tried to dispose of them…or they wanted us to wear them.
"Well…I'm sure that with time, they might start to import more of these types of clothes if the demand is high enough. I heard that these companies only accept a particular company to commercialize their resource here to make sure to keep this place a secret from most. So once they are ready to reveal the academy to the rest of the world, then I'm sure the companies will fight each other in order to make available their own products available here. Which means of course a better quality." Joy reassured us as she took out some pecha juice and sprayed some onto Clair's leg to act as a disinfectant.
Cynthia grumbled that she didn't want to wait, but she still ended up just sitting down without causing a fuss.
Seeing that no one was willing to speak anymore, Joy changed the subject. "Well now, I heard that you were organizing a movie tonight, so which one will it be?"
It was Mina who perked up. "Oh, we still don't know, Luciel said he wanted to invite a friend, so we're waiting for him to bring them before we make that choice."
"Oh, why not invite you too then?" Joy asked with a smile while Clair stiffened at the minor pinching she felt in her leg after applying her medicine.
Mina looked at Joy as if she had just asked a stupid question, and it probably was for her. "All those I could consider friends are currently in this room…and sincerely, it's only Luciel…well, I guess you can also add Allister to that short list, he's nice."
Allister, who was about to answer, looked at her in shock as his face heated up in embarrassment. "I…I…am…?"
Mina simply shrugged her shoulders at his doubt. "Well, we barely met, but from what I can see, you're a very cute mess."
"Me?! A mess?" Allister almost screamed in indignation before puffing his cheek and looking away from Mina.
It didn't impact her much, as she even sneakered at his gesture, probably finding him even more of a mess…or cute. One of the other.
"I…I do have another friend…and I did plan to call her." Alliater still answered Joy's question, who radiated a smile.
"Ah, that's some wonderful news, but I have a better idea for you if you're all willing to hear me." Everyone's gaze was directed toward her. "What if instead of only calling your friend, you would instead invite every student to watch this movie with you!"
Mina rapidly blinked as she tried to understand what she was even saying. And the moment she did, her expression grew disgusted at the simple fact of having this idea in her head. "Why would we even do that?"
As if she expected such an answer, Joy answered immediately. "Because don't you want to make more friends? Watching a movie with a lot of people is a good starting point to build relationships."
Mina only looked at her with tired eyes before looking back at the screen while pointing at Cybthia and Clair. "…well, I'm fine with the number of friends I currently have, and if any of them happen to be more annoying than these two currently are, then I would be quite in a malaise, wouldn't I?"
… it's the first time I've heard of this expression…why a malasada?
From the way that Joy blinked a little faster, it was clear that she was also unable to recognize what the expression even meant, but she was still able to understand what she wanted to say. "Well, there's only one way to learn about it, isn't it?"
Mina scoffed as she grabbed the remote to look at the catalogue again. "Well, others can do it while I check up this little catalogue while waiting for everyone to arrive here with wide arms and a dream to become best friends with the whole world. The other can go look for those if they want."
Joy sighed as she understood to lack of commitment Mina was ready to give to her idea. "I know it may appear useless to you…but from what I've heard, the students are already starting to get themself divided over little thing such as their pride…and…and I would love to make an activity that would make other realize they don't have to divide themself, they can be friend instead."
Mina looked back at her with the same tired eyes as before, but she ended up sighing as she stood up from her seat. "Fine, I will help then…but not immediately."
Cynthia eyed her in surprise. "Wait, that seriously convinced you?"
"I guess it did…and let's just say that I also disliked the atmosphere in the cafeteria last time…so I wouldn't mind just doing a little something to dissipate it."
Cynthia looked at her in honest surprise before shrugging. "Well I didn't really mind it, but I also don't have any attraction to it. But still, what are you going to do?" Cynthia said as she eyed Mina going into her room.
"I'm going to take out my art equipment and I'm going to draw a poster or something to advertise our little movie party."
"Oooh, now that's more my thing, you don't mind if I help you." Cynthia said with clear excitement in her eyes as she joined up with Mina whether she agreed to her help or not.
"The biggest help you can actually give me is to not break any of my things." Mina clearly knew there was no use stopping the blond menace, so she simply allowed her to follow.
After entering her room, only me, Allister, Clair and Joy stayed in the room.
"Do not expect anything from me, I was already ridiculed enough for my entire life." Clair said before anyone could ask her anything.
"Of course not, you have the duty to relax until your wounds heal up, so no any other taxing activities from your side." Joy answered in a tender tone, yet still asserting one.
Which only left me and Allister to fulfill Joy's demand. And despite looking shy about it, he was still motivated to do it.
"Well then, we would take care of going to see everyone to invite them." I said to help Allister before jumping away from the sofa, with Allister following close behind.
"Wait Luciel." I stopped to look at Joy quitting Clair's side for the first time since she arrived the join my side.
Indeed, Joy didn't really say anything special to me when she arrived except a small greeting, as she instantly put her attention on the wounded.
But I suppose that now Clair was in a more stable condition, she was willing to see me again.
Without a word, she lowered her knee to arrive face to face with me, before petting me gently on the head. "I'm glad you're doing well Luciel, and even happier to learn you made such good friends already."
She then reproduced an act I only saw other mother giving to their own children, and gave me a gentle kiss on my brow.
I looked at her with my mouth agape, but she only chuckled in a sweet voice before returning to Clair's side.
My brain almost gave up on me as it tried to understand what sort of emotion I was supposed to feel, but the sensation of Allister grabbing my arm allowed me to regain my senses.
"Let's…go"
I absentmindedly nodded at him as he dragged me to the door to leave, as Joy waved at us from behind.
***
"Is everything alright, Luciel? You didn't say a thing since we left." Allister's voice took me back to the real world as I looked at my surroundings in surprise, to the worry of Allister.
But despite seeing him in such a state, there was still something I needed to make sure of with him. "Allister, can I ask you a question?"
Allister stifled before nodding with assurance. "Yes, you can ask me any question, Luciel!"
"Allister…is Joy my mom?"
Whatever question Allister expected, this one wasn't one of them. "Wouldn't….wouldn't you be the one to know that?" Realizing that this was probably not what I wanted as an answer, he decided to give me another. "But…but I really don't think she's related to you, I doubt that someone as kind as her would leave you with someone who did…well…that." He said as he pointed in the general direction of my blindfold.
The gesture instinctively made me want to cover my eye, but I resisted the temptation to not make Allister think he did something wrong. "I also don't remember her birthing me."
I added, which only made Allister to look at me with a concorded smile. "You remember that?" He murmured in disbelief before shaking his head. "No, that's not important. Instead, if you remember that, then why did you ask me if she was your mother? Not…nit that I mind you asking me a question…I'm…just curious."
I found his question extremely confusing, especially due to the obvious nature of the answer, but I still answered, as he was willing to answer mine. "It's because it's only a mother who would kiss their child on their brow and accompany it with sweet words…yet if she's not my mother, then why did she even do this? Does my brow taste delicious or something…do you want to eat it, Allister?"
Allister hastily shook his head before he became only a stuttering mess because of his embarrassment. "No! I do not want to! I…I…be be be mormorrere serious Luciel!" Allister took a deep breath to calm himself before looking at me with annoyance. "And someone doesn't have to be the mother of the child to do that. Miss Segreta also did it to me when I was sad. It…did help…it was reassuring."
I nodded at Allister as I finally understood what I felt when Joy did the same to me, I felt safe. However, at the same time as I realized that, I saw that Allister seemed suddenly quite sad.
I took a little moment to figure out what could even put him in this situation, but I was able to figure it out, and surprisingly, it wasn't my fault. "Do you want me to kiss your brow, too, Allister?"
"Eh?" Allister was trying to decipher what I even meant, but the moment he processed it, he grew even redder than before. "No…no…I…it wouldn't feel the same…" As he saw me confused, Allister elaborated. "Miss Segreta was one of the nuns who helped in the orphanage where I stayed…and she was the kindest to me, always making sure I wasn't bullied while Bea was absent…so when I think of her, I see a kind protector."
"…and when you think of me?"
Allister looked at me in surprise before smiling at me. "I think of a friend. A friend that is ready to protect me from anything…even himself."
I grew stumped at his declaration, which was why I wasn't able to react to him patting my head…even if it was more sage to call it tapping, as he simply hit my head rapidly, but I still recognized the attempt.
When he removed his hand, he immediately put it back to his side, then he looked around while standing on the tip of his toes before looking back at me while slamming his arm to his side again.
His action made no sense, but it was normal, as Allister simply felt too guilty to think straight.
It would only take a few moments before he rolled on the floor in embarrassment and tried to hit his face to try to forget about what he just did.
But happily for him, there was a big enough distraction for him to avoid this scenario.
"Oh, we've arrived at Bea's dorm." I pointed behind him to a normal door, yet Allister's excitement grew even more.
"Great! Let go Luciel! With Bea on our side, we will be able to convince everyone to join us!"
The reason why we were even there instead of knocking at every door to invite every student was because Allister proposed we invite Bea first, because she was much more confident than us, so she would be able to easily convince everyone to join us.
Of course I couldn't see a single flaw in his logic, so I agreed. Now we were close to fulfilling our plan.
So with the same excitement, he knocked at the door just to be met with…Korrina?
"Greeting, how may I help you?" I immediately covered my ears to make her loud voice lower in volume.
I don't know why she decided the be so loud for every word, but she certainly was.
Even Allister instinctively made himself look smaller with how aggressive her greeting was.
Korrina's eyes widened as she realized her mistake. "Oh, wait, I wasn't trying to scare you, don't worry, I'm not as mean as this big bad Lance." She crouched in front of Allister and tried to pet his head.
An action that had as resulted from Allister flinching away from her hand, which only saddened her even more, but she didn't pursue.
She coughed in her hand before trying to stand up, but as she did so, her eye landed on me, and they widened even more.
"OH! YOU'RE HERE TOO!" She also made an attempt to grab me, but she stopped at the last second as her eyes were filled with hesitation…and also worry, as if she was afraid I would break the moment she grabbed me.
"Well…listen, I'm sorry for what I did to you, I just thought you were gonna kill Lance, so I just tried to push you back…I didn't think you would be this…fragile."
I leaned my head to the side. "Apologies? Apologize for what?" I was truly confused until I remembered my earlier conversation and pushed a yelp. "Oh! I see, you're like Clair, did you also like…choose another camp and think that makes me mad at you? But don't worry, I'm not! I'm even inviting you to watch a movie with us!"
Korrina rapidly blinked before removing her face from me. "No…I mean, yes…but no…who is Clair? No, that doesn't matter, I'm speaking to the time I blee open your torso and made your gut fall off your body…how are you even alive by the way…if it's too much to ask?"
She blew away my torso? Wow, she must be strong.
"I'm not alive, I'm death."
Korrina had a crippsed smile before standing up. "Well, it's fine if you don't want to tell me…but anyways, what was that about again, a movie that is?" She questioned, before I answered with a nod.
This also seemed to have made Allister remember why he was even here. "Right! Can…can we…see Bea…I…I wanted to…invite…her to see the movie…with me…but….but you can join…if you wish…"
"Oh, I am sorry…but we're not available right now. I decided to organize a workout session to strengthen our bond…of course, I can still call her if you want." Korrina proposed, and Allister nodded as he still held hope that at least Bea would still decide to stay with him.
As for me, I already struck Korrina from my mental list of the people I could invite tonight.
Soon, Korrina came back with Bea behind her, and she immediately widened her eyes before capturing Allister into a hug.
"Oh, Onion, I missed you a lot! So how was your first day?"
"Eheheh, it went well, Bettrave…there was just a scary person in the history class…but he quickly calmed down. How was your?" Allister responded in glee and returned the hug.
"Oh, mine was perfect, our teachers were without any doubt the best in all the world, as I was easily able to understand what they were saying. And you know that if I understood, then everyone else must have already mastered the subject." Bea responded as she tightened the hug.
After a few moments passed in silence, Bea rettracted her hug, to the deception of Allister, who wanted nothing more than to stay in the protection that her arms offered him.
"Oh, so you're Onion! Bea talked a lot about you, glad to meet you." Korrina handed her hand to him, but he instinctively avoided it, as if he was scared that she would break his hand or something.
Whe retracted her arm when she saw this and offered no more comment as she hugged her arm.
"Well, what brings you here, Onion? Did you just wish to hang out with me? If yes, then it's perfect timing! We're doing some warm-up, so you could join us and finally create yourself a body like mine!" She flexed her arm, which immediately inflated her impressive muscle, which still glinted from the sweat she produced from the sport she did.
Her arms were so muscled that they easily seemed like Allister had noddle for arm…of course, that would mean I have something like straw then.
Allister flinched at her proposition, probably because he was scared of joining her in what she called, light warm-up. "No…we're here to invite you to watch a movie with us!"
"Ah, movie, what is that?" Bea truly was perplexed by the proposition.
"It's something fun! And it also tonight and in our dorm," I responded, which finally drew Bea's attention toward me.
"Oh…well, that's rather problematic then." Bea scratched her head as she tried to find a way to announce it correctly…but she wasn't able to. So she said the first thing that passed through her mind. "Well, I'm currently busy, so I can't join you…But you can still join us if you want, that's also fun."
Allister watched her with a gasping air. "But…but ours is funnier!"
"…maybe, but our training will allow you to grow stronger! We all saw how you did during the sparing today, and it was great, but I'm sure once you build enough confidence, then you could reach a greater high."
"But…but I already said to my other friend that I will join them."
"Well, tell them no! This is a good step to learn how to grow independent!" Bea put her two arms on her waist as she said it with assurance.
But contrary to the reaction she expected, Allister made himself smaller.
Even Korina noticed it, which made her look worried at her new friend.
But even if she considered herself stupid, Bea was still smart enough to understand why he reacted like that. So she put a knee on the ground and put her other hand on Allister's shoulder.
"Listen, Onion…I won't always be here to protect you…so you need to become strong yourself, so you won't have to rely on others for your protection, and you might even chase away the ghost haunting you."
Allister looked at Bea's smiling face with a conflicted look, but soon after, he decided to chase away her hand on his shoulder.
"Then I will simply find someone who will." Then, he left a mouth gasping Bea behind and walked in a direction he might not know either.
I looked at Allister back, who grew more distant each minute, before looking back at them to be sure of something. "So none of you want to join us for the movie?"
"Eh…wa…no…I don't believe so." Korrina responded clearly, still unsure of what happened.
"Alright, thanks for your answer." I waved before running toward where Allister disappeared.