"Yes, it's finally complete!"
Aletha smiled proudly, setting her pencil down as she finished the last line of the creature.
She felt elated as she saw the perfect sketch displayed on the silk paper before her.
"I can't believe I did it!"
She pushed her chair back, jumped to her feet, and clapped her hands together in excitement.
Aletha's grey eyes sparkled, bouncing from wall to wall, stomping on the floor, and disturbing her neighbors.
As Aletha celebrated and cheered, jumping on the bed and having not a care in the world, her eyes quickly caught something.
"Ooo, what's this?"
Aletha found a glass jar filled with sweet sandwich cookies, cream between wafers, making her even more ecstatic. Her jaw dropped; drool streamed down her chin as she moved to the jar.
Ignoring all her doubts, Aletha swiftly cracked open the lid and smelled the chocolate scent rising from her nostrils.
She grabbed one cookie, and without hesitation, she shoved the entire cookie in her mouth, chewing and savoring the delicious taste.
Aletha beamed while pulling two more cookies out of the cookie jar.
"Mmmm, so my brother was right! There are sandwich cookies here! Tee hee! Maybe eating another won't hurt."
She completely underestimated her craving.
Eating two or three cookies gave Aletha a gluttonous appetite for these sweet, tasty treats.
Before she knew it, all the cookies in the jar were reduced to crumbs; not a single sandwich cream cookie remained.
She belched loudly and felt the crumbs stick in her mouth. Aletha was too dazed by the cookie craving that all that flickered in her mind was to...
"I... NEED...MORE!"
Tossing the idea of the sketch aside, Aletha's mind thought of something.
(If cookies are in my room, there may be cookies in other rooms.)
And thus, the "Great Cookie Craze" began.
Aletha hastily busted down the door and raced to multiple rooms. Her eyes widened, seeing a jar of those same sandwich cookies on another table.
"YES!"
Aletha searched room after room, whether occupied or empty. She grabbed cookie jars wherever she found them and ate each one eagerly. Her craving disregarded her safety; all that mattered was finding more cookies.
One, two, three... twenty-five jars of cookies were robbed by Aletha. She couldn't speak because of how many cookies were crowded inside her mouth.
Her mind grew blank as she continued devouring and shoving the chocolate sandwich cookies down her throat.
She heard angry guests scream at Aletha.
"Hey, those were our cookies!"
"You can't just barge in and steal them."
"H...How did you even get in my room?"
The Great Cookie Craze caused hotel guests to call security to control the chaos.
As Aletha tried to rob another room for the cookies, a gray-haired young man wearing hoop earrings on his ears bent over to Aletha and asked kindly.
"Hey, could you please return those hotel guests' cookie jars? They're not for you," he said.
"Silence!" she said, hugging and cradling the jaws in her arms. "They're not for you. All for me!" The gray-haired man sighed and shook his head.
"I don't even work here, and I think this is absurd. I never thought a girl like you would be such a monster regarding cookies," he said.
"SHUT UP!"
Aletha shoved the man aside, hurried back to her room, burst through the door, and dumped the cookie jars on her bed. As she gazed dreamily at them, Aletha heard Asahi's voice from behind the door.
"Why won't you let me through?!"
The silver-haired man crossed his arms and scratched his chin.
"I'm afraid your cookie jar has been stolen. A white-haired girl was charging from room to room, stealing cookie jars and shoving the desserts down her throat."
Asahi's eyes enlarged in disbelief. He couldn't possibly believe that the man was describing Aletha. Stepping forward, impatient and restless, Asahi responded to the gray-haired man.
"That's my sister."
The man's eyes widened.
"She's your sister?! No wonder you two look so alike. Hey, that doesn't release your sister's debts. She has to pay for all the cookies she has eaten."
Asahi shook his head and dodged the gray-haired man by running near the right wall. He gasped, seeing the several hotel room doors busted wide open with no cookie jar in sight.
"Oh my goodness."
To make Asahi's thoughts worse, Telos joined in.
(I never knew your sister had such a craving. Are there more secrets you're hiding from me?)
Asahi raced to Aletha's door, hyperventilating and running from the man.
"Now's not the time, Telos."
(Understood.)
While approaching the last entry in the hallway, Asahi saw Drimi, Phthonus, and Sally all grouped, knocking on the door and asking Aletha to come out.
Drimi's loud, dominant voice echoed over the walls, with her amethyst eyes glittering from the ceiling lights.
"Alright, buttons! Stop messing around and come on out."
Asahi slowed down, hearing Aletha's voice scream out from the other side of the door.
"No! These cookies are all mine! Mine mine mine mine mine!"
Phthonus gritted his teeth and shook his head, absolutely disbelieving that the girl he had looked up to was acting like a child.
He slammed his knuckles on the door and raised his voice, his scarf dangling over his chest.
"Come on out, or you will be kicked out of the hotel! Drimi, Sally, and the others are preparing the carriage for the ceremony. If you don't come out and face your consequences...."
Sally's soothing voice. A silence fell. Asahi pushed past the group, pressed his face to the door, and called to Aletha. Against the surface, and hollered to Aletha.
"If you won't come out... I...."
Asahi tried to be careful not to hurt his sister's feelings. The last time he said something terrible to her, it made her cry and wail in front of the public. And so, Asahi thought of another strategy.
"I will travel with Drimi and the others instead."
"NO! Don't do that!"
Suddenly, the door swung wide open, with Aletha charging out. Everyone noticed Aletha's body was covered in cookie crumbs, and her robe was messy from the jars. The gray-haired man Asahi met before padded behind Drimi and the others, commenting.
"The cookie bandit in all her glory."
Phthonus bumped his elbow on the man.
"Shh..."
Drimi shrugged her shoulders and mumbled.
"I can't believe my dedicated buttons could be so gluttonous. I hope Buttons isn't like this during the Grand Feast," Drimi said.
. . .
While Aletha, Asahi, and the group all stood in front of the door —most of them irrefutably confused —Drimi pushed her long, dark hair to the side, stepped forward, took a deep breath, and announced.
"Alright, peeps, the driving will be delayed since we have awakened a little too late. Who cares? My crew and the other melon heads have already prepared the carriage for driving to the ceremony. All of them are outside."
Drimi grasped both Asahi and Aletha as if they were dolls, staring at both of them directly in the eye.
"Asahi and Buttons, you will be sitting in the carriage at the front with Phthonus and a rich girl from Destia. Her name is Jesica. You'll get to know her when the time arrives. "
She slowly tilted away from Aletha to face the others; Drimi waved her hands and continued in a loud voice.
"The rest of you will have free choice on sitting on either the fourth carriage, the third carriage, or the second carriage.
I'm afraid we have little to no space left, so please... if you're coming, ensure that you will be outside thirty minutes from now."
Sally, Phthonus, Asahi, Aletha, and the rest all answered with either a nod or a nod. "Okay!"
. . .
During the short downtime, most were already outside and prepared, having eaten breakfast and everything.
On the other hand, Asahi and Aletha were forced to clean up the mess one of them had made in the room.
It's no surprise that Aletha's stomach was upset.
Even Asahi ignored her because of her dreadful mistake, yet he couldn't help but be surprised when his lie turned out to be true.
Asahi never believed that Aletha's favorite cookie was lying on the hotel room's desk, right in the open.
Twelve minutes later, Asahi and Aletha walked down the stairs, their hair clean, their attire ready, and their spirits up. Asahi had yet to tell Aletha what he had experienced and decided to wait until the carriage ride to reveal it.
Asahi and Aletha used this moment to goof around and ponder. Approaching the hotel's lobby, Aletha's face turned green, and her stomach growled in discomfort. She closed her eyes and nudged Asahi, whispering.
"Bro, I don't feel so good." Asahi pointed to a bucket nearby, urging Aletha. She quickly pushed past him and vomited in the bucket.
. . .
Walking back and pouring the bucket into the trash, Aletha rubbed her stomach and acknowledged Asahi while the guests and the others stared at her with disgust.
"Okay! I'm all better now.~"
Asahi sighed and shook his head, walking to the front door where four horse-drawn carriages waited by the hotel.
"Just go...."
As the siblings walked through the clear glass door, sounds of chatter, footsteps, carriages, wind, and birds all filled their ears, making the urban atmosphere resonate within both Asahi and Aletha.
Asahi commented while sensing the fresh floral aroma that lingered in the streets.
"Wow, the sun's up already? It felt like two hours."
Aletha beamed.
"Asahi, watch out--
Voices sprouted out from the rushing crowd.
"Ceremony at noon! I repeat, all citizens are invited to the ceremony! Come prepared! Entry is free!"
Asahi and Aletha could already see ten to twelve carriages, a large group of people, and even pets all sauntering along the streets.
There was so much chatter everywhere that the siblings got a headache from listening to it, and so the first thing they thought was to rush to the carriage.
But only more chatter welcomed them.
"Hey? Did you hear that people even from Wraileza are going to be at the ceremony?"
"Y... Yeah, it's strange. I can't believe their leader is allowing them to go here."
Asahi and Aletha turned toward the group scurrying out through the hotel doors. Drimi was seen first, while the others, like Devlin, Phthonus, and Sally, were exiting last.
As they heard constant chatter and approached the first carriage, Aletha put her hands on her hips and turned to Asahi with her mouth set in a hard line.
"So, now that we are together again. I want to ask you something."
Asahi sighed.
"What?"
"Bro, where did you go? I was genuinely worried about you. Y...You looked like you'd seen a ghost. Is there something wrong? Are you okay?"
Asahi rolled his eyes and shrugged.
"Nothing at all, sis. It's just..."
Approaching and vaulting over toward the carriage inside, plastered in wood, cloth, and the usual, a strident, chiming voice directed to both the wanderers.
"Are you two, my little rabbits, prying around my ultra-deluxe carriage?! You know better than just intruding on something you don't own."
Her jewelry and long, silky lavender hair flew with her scummy movements, racing toward the wanderers and slapping their faces with brutal force.
Asahi backed up and kicked the girl straight in the leg, screaming out with a genuinely surprised tone.
"What are you doing?!"
Aletha joined in, her face crimson red and her legs quivering in shock.
"I...Is this how you greet others?!"
The rather petite lavender-haired girl made an absent look on her face and covered her multi-colored, pearl blue, and rich purple eyes while stepping on Asahi's feet, gritting her teeth and pushing them down the floor.
"Bow down to me, peasant! Your status is nowhere near wealthy compared to my glorious and majestic presence! Do you know how much I paid for this entire trip?!"
She wore a dark purple dress with two crosses dangling from the front, her sleeves swallowing her arms except for her hands, and her slender legs gleamed brightly in the vivid sunlight.
Despite being at a shorter height than Aletha, this girl acted like a pretentious, snobby little twit to others.
Drimi sighed and shook her head, clutching the girl's hands and apologizing to Asahi and Aletha.
"Look, I'm sorry for that. Although Jesica is a wealthy girl, she could be a stubborn brat, too."
Jesica sneered at Drimi and kicked herself off her arms, launching herself like a ragdoll and screaming while everyone around her stared. Her voice couldn't have been any more piercing.
"Stop it! I'm the wealthiest girl in the world. You DARE touch me? Maybe I should request a refund because that dark-haired girl touched me with impure hands?"
She jumped up and down repeatedly, whining and crying while Asahi and Aletha slowly backed away, scared of what little Jesica would do next.