Chapter Text
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DESPAIR
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A short girl with violet hair without eyes and without legs dragged herself through the forest with her feeble arms as she bled.
Leaving puddles of dark red on her muddy path as the rain mixed with her blood.
Her throat burning with each pitiful attempt to cry out, her body weakening with every gush of blood from the stumps of whatever remains of her legs.
"For just a day? Yeah, I did say that... I guess." She heard her own voice giggling out, willing her to drag herself towards the sound but unfortunately... her arms- no, not her arms, are giving out, she's slowing down, her strength- no, not her strength, is leaving her body- no, not her body.
"Hehehe, you're a really great friend. You know that, right?"
The legless, eyeless girl wanted to cry out, to scream, but everytime she tried she could only wheeze, not a single word she could let out.
She didn't like one bit how genuine those words were, those words from her own voice as its occupant laughed in joy.
"I was in so much pain that I couldn't even move in my bed." She heard her own voice speak, walking closer towards her as she heard the steps on the land. "But you... you came for me! You pitied me! And you-" The person possessing her body raised her voice in glee as she lowered herself and gave the broken, suffering girl a warm embrace.
"You gave me your body! I can't ever thank you enough for that!" She hated it, she hated the witch using her voice and face, she hated herself for being so naive, she hated herself for being so trusting, she hated herself... for not listening to her father. "My, Viola, you wouldn't want me to suffer, right?"
"You don't want me back in that rotting body, right? You don't want me, your friend, to be in pain, right?!" She wanted to lash out, to fight back against the witch, but she could only whimper as she pathetically tried to bash her- no, not her arm, her weak and thin feeble arms against the witch.
"That's right! You don't want me in pain, that's why you're such a great friend, Viola!" Her own hands, the witches hands, caressed her, the witches, face.
She tries once again to cry out, whatever control she had of magic she desperately tried to will, to lash out on the witch, to reclaim her own body, to make the pain of having no legs, of having no eyes, of her skin rotting gone and awat.
"So that's why... that's why..." The witch in her body trailed off, the legless girl paused hoping, wishing, that the girl she pitied-
STAB
Her throat burned as she tried to scream, a knife stabbed through her neck as her feeble hands tried to pry it away. "That's why... I'll do the same, I won't let you suffer in my body any longer, my... my only friend!"
"GHH... A-AH...!"
"Your father... is a good man. Don't worry my friend, I will... care for him, I will love him in your stead!"
Viola couldn't even scream as blood filled her throat and burning pain of the knife going through and squirming around overwhelmed her mind.
She could no longer think coherently. She was hopeless, she couldn't do anything as the witch pulled the knife out of her- no, not her throat.
Viola braced herself for another stab at her- no, not her throat, the feeling of dread giving her a sinking feeling in her-
"Viola!" She heard her name being called, a gasp leaving her as hope rushed back to her. Her Papa has come! As the witch ran away leaving the knife on her- no, not her neck, she dragged herself towards her Papa as hope gave her the strength to drag herself to her Papa. "Why- Viola, are you-?!"
"What... what is this?!" She heard her father shout out in shock, she heard him working his hunting gun's mechanism. "Viola, stand back!"
Viola would never again not listen to her father's words, and so, with what strength she could muster on her- no, not her weak arms, she pushed herself as far away from the witch as she—
BANG!
Viola... felt a sudden surge of pain going through the side of her- no, not her head, the pain leaving as fast as it came and... she couldn't feel that side of her- no, not her head.
BANG!
Another shot from her father... going through her head thrown back, the bullet going in and through her head, as she felt blood splatter out of her... no... not her face as she dropped on the wet muddy ground.
"Come, Viola, we're leaving!"
'What... no, no! Papa, I'm here!' Viola wanted to scream out, but she couldn't move, much less speak.
"Y-yes! Daddy!"
Viola... couldn't even cry, couldn't even shed tears through her bloody and dirty empty eye sockets as she heard her Papa and the Witch running away, their steps getting farther and quieter with each splash of mud until... nothing.
With only the rain, the thunder, the dry air she's screaming out with her, Viola felt... nothing, her consciousness fading as it sunk in for her. She is dying- no, she will die, alone and miserable, her Papa has abandoned her and the damnable Witch she foolishly trusted has stolen her place, her face, her father's love.
In her last living moments in a rotting, dismembered, already decomposing body that is not even her's. She whimpered for her miserable fate in the mud, she resented the Witch for making her suffer such an end, she despaired for the father who loved her turned his back on her.
Viola shut her eyes- no, not her- it no longer mattered to her. She shut her eyes close hoping the pain would end sooner, that she will pass on sooner, that she will not have to spend a second longer in the rotting body she was left with.
The thing that held his father's warm hand turned her gaze back upon her.
"Viola" smiled. Smiled warmly at the rotting corpse that would be her.
Even without eyes, without feeling, without the nerves to spark her brain to think... she can feel it. The smile of a friend.
A smile is so kind, so warm it was utterly sickening.
"Thank you... my dear friend."
Those last words are the last thing Viola heard from the crooked thing that now wore her face.
And those last words, and the movement that got so far out of reach burned her soul as she descended to the dark, inky abyss of hell itself.
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
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IS THIS REALLY HOW IT’S GOING TO BE?
The heavy rain kept on pouring from the dark, tainted heavens above, mud and murky water washed away the deep, dark crimson blood which leaked from the Witch's body, as the legless eyeless girl laid unthinking and motionless in the defiled, dirty mud.
Lonely and unimportant deserving nothing but irrelevance in her black and crimson stained story until… one of two observers finally came out of the shadows.
A black cat strolls out of the bushes, hopping past puddles it would sink, and whatever solid surface it could land its paws on as the rain drenched it's dark furs. It walked, it hopped, and navigated a path past the mud that would trap it and any puddles it would sink in–until it reaches its object of interest,
The lifeless bloody body of the Witch.
Or at least what it should’ve been.
Nothing more but a pathetic thing. Could it even call the corpse “human” anymore at the state it's in?
Disgusting.
The black cat circled the carcass, its mouth seemingly meowing out in amusement as it tapped its paw several times on the Witch's eyeless face, her last expression frozen permanently on her pathetic, weeping face. One full of despair and regret, yet nothing could change that now.
The dark feline halts its movements, facing the lifeless body in amusement. The demon who orchestrated Viola's miserable, pathetic end opens its jaw, preparing to devour the body infused with its power, to reclaim what it gave away. As it prepares to bite into the corpse's flesh, a crack and click of a wood interrupted the demon in it's dinner.
"Why I cannot allow that, dear viewer."
The demon cat stopped, pulling itself away as it frantically turned side to side looking for the source of the distorted voice, a voice that is not human much like it.
"Such a marvelous performance, a stellar display of emotions.
Quite a shame to let it end so soon, no?”
The demon cat felt a shiver coming in its spine, the hairs on its body rising from the chill as it felt an approaching, menacing aura of something else creaking closer… and closer with every splash and squelch of the deep, dark, murky rain water.
"The desperation willing her to act even without eyes or legs,
the glimmer of hope that was immediately snuffed out…”
The demonic entity froze as it felt the overwhelming supernatural aura of the being approaching, something far more powerful than itself. Creaking and cracking as it crept closer and closer to the corpse.
"The despair, the terror, the pure unfiltered horror and unfairness she felt in her last, dying moment…
all of it accumulating into a singular point of a magnificent performance.”
The demon cat finally saw the owner of the distorted voice, eyes opening wide and fur rising in pure terror as the figure left the shadows.
A two headed puppet wearing high class clothing befitting of its noble profession, a simple yet elegant blue tailcoat suit, as he gently raised the creaking hands towards his chest.
“Greetings, it’s nice to meet you face to face o’ miserable interrupter."
"You may know me as the face of this grand stage,"
"For I craft the grand plays and scripts for our dear performers to act… and for our watchers to enjoy."
"The very same act that YOU tried to interrupt.”
HORROR.
A MISTAKE.
Every cell in its body screamed for an escape, the primal instinct of a prey staring at a giant predator. To fight means death. No, it wouldn't even be considered as such for the two headed puppet outclassed it too much for any sort of competition to be considered. It would surely be crushed without a second thought.
"I cannot simply allow a young woman of such talent, of such prodigal capabilities, of such potential for terror,
to pass on without even knowing the limits of her talents!”
THE PERFORMER proclaimed with a dramatic gesture of his arms before he lowered his body down to stare directly at the golden eyes of the cat.
“No… it wouldn’t simply do. It would do her injustice,
and it would bring shame to actors and writers everywhere…”
His tone lowered down and down every decibel as it kept staring. Forcing the cat to stare deep at his singular, unblinking painted eye.
“Now you understand… right?”
There it is again. The absolute horror felt right in its beating heart. The demon had came across another supernatural being much like itself, it was no longer the only invasive being without competition which could do as it pleased.
“YOU. ARE. NOT. IN."
"CONTROL OF THE PLAY.”
It made the only logical decision as its survival instincts prevailed, turning away from the menacing two headed puppet, and with all of the strength it could muster up in all four of its legs, it started running. Running and running and running and running as fast as it could into the endless night.
Nevermind its paws sinking down mud, never mind it was being dirtied, never mind that it fell into puddles leaving it cold and trembling, anything would be better than whatever fate facing THE SHOWMAN directly.
Now, only THE LEAD ACTOR and the unmoving pathetic remains of a “human” stood in the lonely–rainy night.
THE ARTIST walked closer to the Witch's corpse, ignoring the mud staining his high quality trousers, ignoring the fact neat clothes being ruined by the elements–
THE CONDUCTOR drops to a knee with a hand tracing the Witch's, now Viola's frozen expression of death she wore on her face.
"You need not worry any longer, young prodigy, for that little uncultured feline has gone away."
THE AUTHOR spoke with care for the lifeless girl, much like an artist would show care for their magnum opus.
THE ENIGMATIC ARTIST’S fingers glow with light blue flames as his hands trace the Witch's remains. The unnatural flames spread across in and out the body as it engulfed it.
Yet… strangely enough, it does not burn the corpse.
Merely raising her to the stage, and the spotlight she deserved.
"Come, my young prodigy, come forth to a world far more civilized and cultured, to a world where your talents will shine forever more in a magnificent stage without an end!”
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
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A NEW STAGE AWAITS.
In another world separate from the one of pain and misery she remembered in her last moments, in a near incomprehensible world from the one she was born and raised in, a city of steel and glass, the Witch– no, not the Witch, Viola opened her eyes.
She rubs her- no, yes, her eyes- no.
EYE.
She had an empty hole on what should be her left eye. A gaping, sickening hole where it should’ve been.
Her body felt unnaturally heavy as she pushed herself off of the... concrete ground?
'Where am I?’ Viola asks herself. She was not even trying to speak out knowing it would only burn her throat.
‘This body... doesn't hurt as much.’ She thought once again.
Slowly, with fear and uncertainty, she starts to turn her head up, left, and... Viola's mind blanks at the mere sight of the world around her, a world of glass and steel buildings in the far off distance, a clear blue sky with what... is no doubt magical lights atop the city. Is this... heaven? The afterlife? She wondered in her mind as she processed what her eye was seeing. She recognizes the buildings closer to her, around her belonging to people of wealth would own or go to a lot, not something her fa... her fath... at the…
GUNSHOTS. BLOOD.
PAIN.
PAIN.
PAIN.
DARKNESS.
She chokes at the thought of her father, the horrible moment, the most agonizing betrayal, her only family's voice... the last thing she remembers before the loud–
BANG! BANG!
Viola's thoughts come to a halt, she whimpers as she shakes her head left and right, she covers her ears with both hands, she shuts her one remaining eye shut.
BANG!
RATATATATATATAT!!
KABOOM!!
She shook her head more, sinking her head low as hot tears stung her eyes, desperately trying to silence the echoing gunfire from both near and afar.
BANG! BANG!
She cries and screams, not even realizing that she could once again either as she heard more gunshots. The memory, the sound of her father's voice, the sound of his hunting-
BANG!
RATATATATATATAT!!
The sudden pain at the side of her head leaving as soon as she felt it, the feeling of missing half of her head as blood poured out, shards of skull stabbing into her inner flesh and breaking off, her very mind leaking out. Viola kept on crying, kept on whimpering as she shook her head left and right trying hopelessly to stop the memory from replaying in her mind, the echoing gunfire, the blaring sounds of gunfire from just about everywhere, the gaping feeling in her left eye socket.
She cried out in absolute distress, not even noticing warm tears leaking from her one eye, she didn't notice the feeling of her cheeks wet from the tears, she didn't notice the group of delinquents approaching her with guns at the ready.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?!" One of them laughed out through her cross marked mouth mask, her peers laughing along as they walked towards the small crying girl. "What, someone stole your candy or something?"The group of delinquent girls, all in gray uniform, chuckled on their way to the weeping little girl in distress. It did not matter to them, the cries of the girl would merely be an annoyance once they ransom her off to whoever. The girl dresses nice and fancy, yeah?
"Damn it! Shut her up will you!" One of them demanded with a snarl.
"What? Can't handle a brat crying?!" Another teased.
"You can't even deal with that, you'll be a walk in the park for Valkyrie!" The last member of the group teased along.
"Huh? What'd you say?!" The one being teased shouted out in indignation, pointing her weapon at her own comrade.
"Lol, just a light teasing and you're already mad!" The delinquent friends, if she could even call them that, teased again.
"Can't handle a crying kid, can't handle teasing, what can you handle?" Another laughed at her pitiful display.
"If you're gonna be like that then you're useless in our group." That struck a nerve in the delinquent.
"Fine then, I'll deal with the little runt!" The weakest among this particular group of delinquents said, eyes narrowed in irritation at the screaming little girl on the ground as she approached.
Viola couldn't comprehend nor could she even think with her overwhelmed mind, the sudden events being forced upon her, the foreign world of glass and steel she's found herself in, the echoing unending gunfire everywhere invoking the terrible last memory of her- Her mind blanks, eye and eyeless socket shooting open as she felt someone grabbing a handful of her hair and yanking hard, pulling her face to stare at the delinquent with a few clumps coming down to hide the empty socket.
"Oi, will you shut your mouth already!" She heard the masked dark haired girl shout down at her, eyebrows furrowed as the masked girl in a gray uniform- "Oi, you deaf or something, huh?" Pointing a gun at her.
Viola cared not for the gun's strange shape and color, only that she knew it was a gun. The sight of the barrel aimed directly in her face, she could see a glint of something bronze deep in the barrel, the sight made her imagine... her father... his hunting gun- She screams and cries once again, shutting her eyes closed as she swung her head left and right trying to shake the hand roughly grabbing her hair.
"Hah, Goddamnit! She's retar-"
The girl who's hands painfully held and pulled on her hair would not laugh, nor hold Viola's hair any longer.
EVERYTHING ACHES.
Viola simply lashed out as she cried out louder, the supernatural force she's inherited moving to do as she willed, to make the bad person stop.
MAKE IT STOP.
The sukeben screamed out in pain as an invisible crushing force grabbed a firm hold of her, gripping her as her arms were compressed onto herself.
“AAARGHHH!!!”
MAKE.
HER.
STOP.
Then, at mach speed she was thrown away, just as Viola wanted the bad person to go away. The delinquent slams into the side of a building, the entire side trembling and breaking into cracks as she comes upon it like a cannonball, rendering her unconscious from the sheer force and pain she felt.
“HOLY SH-” Without hesitation, the delinquent girl's fellows aimed their guns at the crying girl.
Viola couldn't hear what the bad person's friends were saying, she only knew that they were also aiming guns at her, that they were also bad people... and that was all that she needed to know. She wanted them to go away, she wanted them to leave her alo-
"Get down!" Viola heard a voice shout out behind her. "Flashbang!" That person shouted once again, not that she has any idea what that meant nor that she ca-
BOOM!
Once again, as if her life couldn't get any worse, her world turned to blankness once again. The only thing she could see in her sight is that of a bright white light burning through her remaining eye. Her ears ringing from how loud its explosion was leaving her deaf. Blind and deaf. How fate laughs at her. Not that she knows it's only temporarily, screaming and crying as she's been doing the entire time on the ground.
She had no idea nor did she care of the events she could not see, of how she was being protected from the delinquents, how the bad people with guns were being chased and beaten away by the Vigilante Corps. Viola then felt someone hold her again, this time the hold... was…. soft, soothing, caring. Like she was in an embrace of a loving mother. She stops thrashing around as she was pulled up but not into her feet, not that she has any in the first place.
As Viola calms down, as the effects of the "Flashbang" or whatever it is she heard, fades away. Her sight and hearing coming back, gasping at the sight of her knights in shining armor.
"Are you okay, friend?!" A girl with... such bright colorful hair shouted out in worry as she shook Viola, the girl's bright demeanor freezing Viola still. Friend? I'm... her friend…? The thought echoed in her mind. The last time someone called her a friend, the last time she trusted a so called frie-
"Uwaagh! Suzumi-senpai! H-h-HER EYE!!!" The girl who called her a friend, the girl with light purple hair tied into fluffy pigtails, her...
"H-H-H-H-HER HALO!!” Viola remains still, in shock at the sight of something mystic floating above the girl's head, a bright pink star with a bigger bright pink star around it.
"An... angel..." She mutters out in shock, the somewhat clear words from her mouth... her throat not burning with pain as she realized she spoke out those words. She tries to sp-
"Not now, friend! First, we're bringing you to the Remedial Knights!" The girl calling Viola her friend shouted out once again in worry, her expression that of absolute determination and... sincerity.
Viola could do nothing but stare at the girl calling her a friend, she could do nothing but gawk as said girl carried her up, she could do nothing but be in awe as the girl carried her gently on her back.
"Reisa, come, no time to waste!" Viola turned to the other voice, a girl with another halo, this time a bright purple circle with arrows pointing outwards, long freely flowing white hair, a small wing sticking out of the side of her head, another angel who had come to save her.
Viola... could do nothing but sink her head on the girl's shoulders, the girl who's carrying her, rushing to a place where she would get help. Nevermind that these angels had guns themselves, she hasn't noticed nor does she care to notice.
"Don't worry, friend! You're in, The Knight of Trinity, the Arbiter of Justice-"
"You're in Uzawa Reisa's hands! Safe and sound!" The angel girl carrying Viola on her back shouted out, the girl's titles, Uzawa Reisa's title, brought Viola nothing but comfort. "How about you, friend, what's your name?"
"V-Vio... Viola... Williams." She choked out, sinking herself deeper into Uzawa Reisa's back, her arms wrapping around her new angel friend's body into a warm tight embrace.
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Curtains Close
Play Ends
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THE FIRST PLAY ENDS HERE.
Notes:
Dalubhasa41st A/N:
We're writing this with 5 more dudes.
I picked Williams as Viola's family name as Abigail Williams, the girl who pointed to witches in the Salem witch trials. Hope you guys enjoyed my and big daddy Profums combined cooking.Profum’s A/N:
Dalub did the most cooking, and I edited a lot more just giving some sentences love and my own personal magic with some workskin bullschitt. Things will be ramping up soon enough with fluff here and there.
Thank you all for reading~ see you~By the way... psst. We have a server. Join the insanity here,
https://discord.gg/ub9dnCYH8ZAnd Profum have his own. Join him here,
https://discord.gg/jPfRk9seD6
Chapter Text
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RELAPSE
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Viola’s heart throbs. Her golden, bleeding heart aches for the girl writhing in crimson and pus stained white sheets.
Bandages covering her eyes, blinding her for the world that had so much color.
A world so vibrant, so beautiful, a sparkling gem and the most beautiful gift someone should have experienced.
Yet for the girl in front of her…
She had her gift unfairly robbed.
Stolen, and broken apart.
Bless her golden heart.
She’s her friend. Her friend that she trusted. She wouldn’t want to see her friend—or anyone being robbed of such a gift.
She wanted for the girl to feel the world as well. Viola smiled warmly, and agreed.
A single day. Just a single day.
A single, harmless day where she would experience the world from her own eyes.
To smell with her nose, and to feel with her fingers.
For the poor bedridden girl, her bleeding heart aches.
For the friend she loved dearly, she agreed to switch places.
Viola and Ellen. Hands clasped, and hearts beating in unison.
Two becomes one, and one becomes two.
Black becomes white,
and white becomes black.
And… when she opened her eyes-
EVERYTHING CAME LIKE A RAMPAGING TSUNAMI
,as her hands curl, twitch, clench, and grasping the sticky sheets.
WITH A SCREAM IN HER THROAT.
EVERYTHING HURTS.
Her eyes.
Her hands.
Her chest.
Her abdomen.
Her leg–
SHE CAN’T FEEL HER LEGS.
SHE CAN'T FEEL ANYTHING.
WHERE ARE HER LEGS?
Her throat whimpered pathetically for relief,
Whispering a hushed word to her friend.
YET WHAT ENTERS HER MOUTH BURNS WHAT REMAINS OF HER THROAT. MELTING FLESH, SCORCHING HER CLOTTING BLOOD AS IT CONGLOMERATES INTO A FOUL MIX.
TAINTING HER TONGUE WITH IRON AS THE HALF DIGESTED MEAL FOLLOW SOON AFTER.
LEAVING HER MOUTH IN A DISGUSTING RETCH.
Beep beep beep!
She’s going critical!
BETRAYAL
DENIAL
REFUSAL
ANGER
HATRED
FEAR
BARGAINING
DESPAIR
SORROW
IDIOCY
LOATHING
“We’re losing her!”
“Her halo is cracking!!”
ACCEPTANCE
A GULLIBLE FOOL.
A TRUSTING, PATHETIC FOOL.
A FATE SHE SO DESERVES FOR TRUST AND HOPE. THE REWARD FOR HER BLEEDING HEART.
“Clear the table!”
SHE DESERVES THE EVERLASTING TORMENT.
AND HER DEATH BY THE MAN SHE TRUSTED HER WHOLE LIFE.
“Administering anesthesia!”
With a gasp and a scream, her nightmares left the confines of her mind, as the bed shook on its roots–with the blanket flying off from her body, and down into the white and blue tiles of the infirmary.
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
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OPEN YOUR EYES.
Reisa hummed to herself with a skip in her steps. She sang the same old tune of an anime she loved to rewatch during her free time, as she crept closer to her destination. In hand, she held a large basket of fruits, a bundle of balloons, a small gift she made herself, and a lavender card, matching her hair, drawn in colorful crayons and stickers.
“Get Well Soon!”
-Reisa
Shiny stars and glitter with a smiling cat in the middle. The stranger, Viola Williams. The crying, trembling, wounded girl she rescued from god knows what horrors she endured. It was like she had escaped from a horrific kidnapping that had gone wrong. Cracked halo a-and an empty eye socket…
Reisa shuddered at the memory, the way the girl trembled, wept, wearing nothing but the bloody, grimy, and mud-stricken damp dress that clung to the mysterious girl’s skin–knowing full well her usual bright spare clothes still remained in the washing machine for the fourth time.
She just couldn’t get the blood out.
Suzumi said she would interrogate the thugs later on, leaving Reisa without anything to do but the usual patrol or to visit the girl.
She chose the latter. With a push, the doorknob popped open, and Reisa entered the well lit room of the hospital.
2 Minutes Prior
The Wit— no, Viola screamed as she shot up from the bed, her singular eye snapping open as the nightmare lingered in her mind, arms flailing as if reaching out to something. With deep heavy breaths and her heart pounding, Viola observed the brightly lit room she occupied. A room of marble tiles, pristine white curtains, fluffy blankets, and whatnot. She felt the strange fabric of the thin light blue gown she wore, the soft comfortable bed her body is sunken into, the many layers of bandages around her empty left eye socket, her body, her legs…
Legs?
With a shiver, her one remaining eye drifted down to the lower part of her abdomen. She was expecting nothing but stumps dripping blood and the wriggling of flies, picking and prodding on her open wound–but… there it is.
“Ouch.”
She felt a sting in her left arm, and turned towards it to see... a transparent tube of some sort attached to a needle. Injecting an indiscernible clear liquid right into her veins. The more Viola saw of this unfamiliar room and this unfamiliar world, the more she felt this uncertainty. Like she was out of place. Try as she might, she couldn't calm herself down, not when she felt... something indescribably wrong in what is now her body, not when she's... alone.
The mere thought of that one small word sent her pulse running, her head throbbing as she grasped, scratched at her chest trying to hold her heart still, to keep it from beating so much so that it could very well burst out from her chest. Once again, she cried and flailed her body around, her bed clanking by the bolts and screws, the tube attached to her arm was thrown off with small droplets of blood leaking away as she kept on flailing, the strange feeling of her legs under the knees still being present as she flailed her thighs.
Crawling. Her hands grasping on the floor, throat long destroyed as she moaned and groaned. Sensing the vibrations and each noise echoing on the walls.
Footsteps.
Her mind raced back to the moment where their hands met, and souls intermingled. Just a day. A single innocent day.
HONEY LACED VENOM.
“YOU’RE MY FRIEND. RIGHT?!”
Viola screamed. Her mind burns with words she couldn’t understand as the mere thought of it scorched every fiber of her being, the word which THE LIAR tainted, sent her into an uncharacteristic frenzy.
‘Friend... friend... friend…’
‘Don't worry, friend! You're in, The Knight of Trinity, the Arbiter of Justice, Uzawa Reisa's hands!’
The word kept on repeating in Viola's mind when the memory of the angel mixed with the bedridden girl resting peacefully and calling her with the same word that brought untold horrors to her heart.
"Fri…frie-…f-" Viola trailed off. Clutching her throbbing mind as she tried to focus.
Uzawa Reisa.
Uzawa Reisa.
Uzawa Reisa.
Not El- NO.
Not her.
THE LIAR.
Uzawa Reisa. The girl with bright blue hair, the pink stars floating above her head, the girl who came to save her before her consciousness faded.
Not THE LIAR. The girl who lied to her, the girl who thought that she was her f-
Her thoughts died once more. “Fri-” She couldn’t say the word. She is afraid of the word.
“...Rei…sa. Where…?” She whimpered to the empty room knowing full well she wasn’t there. She was alone. Utterly and unmistakably alone.
ALONE.
With a yell, Viola threw herself out of the cushy clinical bed she occupied and dropped down the marble tiles with a small cry of pain. Falling down the floor on her stomach with a resonating crash. Her legs… her legs wouldn’t move.
She gritted her teeth, clenching her fists as she digs into the marble tiles, Beckoning her legs to move, and yet, it still remains motionless. She had been crawling for what felt like an eternity, and she had forgotten how it felt to have legs again.
Viola dragged herself forward with her arms.
Each and every time she reached out and pulled back she felt the thin gown she wore sliding through the smooth marble flooring with ease, unlike the scraping feeling that came with dragging herself through the Witch's House. Her feeble arms crawl faster and faster, throwing her hands as far as she could towards the sole door at the end of the room.
Faster and faster as she chased after her stolen body.
As Viola came within arm's reach of the door, she brought her weak arms under herself, preparing to spring herself upwards to reach the handle. And just as she did, just as she reached one hand up towards the doorknob, it opened and-
Thud!
The door burst open and struck her right in the face, sending her a few feet away. The side of her body ached as she was thrown aside, and a snarl left her lips. She clenched her fists and something swirled within her as she snapped her head up towards the panicked figure standing in the doorway.
"Waah?! Williams-chan, w-what were you doing?!" The angel, Uzawa Reisa, raised her voice in shock and worry as she sprinted to the younger girls’ side. “Are you alright?!”
Viola stared in disbelief as she took in the sight in front of her, of Reisa carrying a basket of fresh delectable fruits, letters with bright colorful drawings, colorful bundles of balloons only the other kids in her home could afford, and... a colorful box with a ribbon tied around it.
"Y-you need to stay in bed!" This stranger, even if they've only just met, already showed so much care and compassion. "You need to rest more!" Reisa yelled out, dropping her fruit basket as she rushed to carry Viola.
The stranger said nothing but small whimpers. “...Are you… worried about… me?” Viola asked the ray of sunshine.
"Huh? Of course!" Reisa said with utmost certainty. “Um, why do you think otherwise?” She asked as she carried Viola up from the ground.
“...I…”
Why did she think otherwise? “...Don’t know.”
Reisa held her close with pity in her eyes. Reisa didn’t have a clear picture of what she had endured, at what… or who had done that kind of thing to someone. Though one thing is certain.
She needed… someone.
The cheerful Vigilante said as she gently lowered Viola back into her bed. "Either way, I'm the Knight of Trinity after all! I'm a friend to all who need me! So, don't worry about anything!”
She pointed a confident thumb to herself with the usual bright smile of pure positivity, the likes of which would bring calm and reassurance to whoever is in fear.
But the stranger remains skeptical. Her expression changed between shock, to pure neutrality. Dimming down Reisa's initial confidence.
“So uh, really, if you need something please contact me. Do you have a Momo?”
“...Mo...mo?” Viola asked. Her confusion is clear as day.
“Huh?” Reisa was taken aback. “Um- Yeah! Momo! You know, MomoTalk?” She scrounged inside of her pockets for her phone. The bright purple cover, decorated with the same cat, a sword, and a few stars for good measure.
“This!” Reisa swiftly displayed the screen upon her phone with a cheerful smile. The bright pink application violated Viola’s eyes. Walls of text, names, last chats, everything and anything as it flooded her mind.
“...What…” Viola raised a curious finger before catching it an inch from the screen. She looked away and shook her head.
Reisa’s cheerful demeanor died down at that point. Once more, she thought of Viola’s origins and whatever horrors she experienced.
She doesn’t even know what a MomoTalk is.
Swallowing a lump,
Reisa pocketed the strange device and closed the distance.
Viola doesn’t understand what is happening. The angel, the self proclaimed superstar of Trinity wrapping her hands around her. Pulling her tightly in the comfort of an embrace.
“What… are you doing…?” Viola asks, in which it was replied by a shrug.
“You seem like… you could use one.”
The warmth of an embrace, and the small circles Reisa made on her back. Viola raised her bandaged arms as it hovered above the angel’s back, hesitation in her movement as she wondered if she should return it. Eventually, her trembling hands wrap around the angel.
“Ehehe, there’s nothing a good hug could’t fix.” Viola's savior said with a revitalized joy as she released the hug, and the side of the bed as she picked up the fallen fruit basket.She placed it right on the table. Reisa was just about to say something, until her eyes saw blood dripping from the young girl’s hand. As well as the broken IV fluid needle and tube–freshly leaking the clear liquid down to the floor drip by drip.
“Oh no! How did I not notice that until now?!” Reisa jolted in disarray. “Hold on tight for a moment, Williams-chan! I’ll call the Remedial Knights! Don’t you worry!”
Without wasting another second or waiting for a reply, Reisa sprinted out from the room in urgency.
"Uhm... ah..." Viola raised her hand towards the angel before she left. Her words dying in her mouth. Not that she could even say something with her thoughts in disarray, for she's in the audience of one of God's messengers.
The church sermons she never thought much about came back to her.
Viola didn't listen to her... to her…fath- Viola shook her head to clear her thoughts, focusing on the other words Reisa had said.
Remedial Knights.
Knights.
Blades, and oaths. Armored heralds and protector of God’s might.
Her hands gripped on the sheet as her still murky thoughts scrambled once more. Is she here to be judged? To perhaps be punished for disobeying her father? For straying too far from the path? For the burning furnace that had taken root upon her golden heart?
Hateful and ravenous upon THE LIAR? Trauma and fear accumulating into a slow hate. Regret for offering her body, regret for the pity wasted upon the one that stole everything. Her hands tightened on the sheets as her something started to hammer away right into her skull. Thumping and thumping as if someone is drilling a hole right into it.
WHAT IF REISA IS JUST ANOTHER LIAR?
YOU ALREADY GOT FOOLED ONCE.
YOU’LL FALL INTO ANOTHER LIE, JUST THE SAME.
Her furnace heart burns bright for a single second, as a deep crimson liquid flows freely from her bandaged eye socket until the fire faded away.
Would an angel lie to her?
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
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WILL YOU LEARN TO TRUST AGAIN?
The doors open not to a pair of blazing knights with burning swords, but healers donned in pink, purple, and blue. But the one in the middle, so tall and demanding of every ounce of her attention. The image of an angel right in her dreams… even more than Reisa herself.
“Hello, Miss Williams. My name is Aomori Mine, I’m the President of the Remedial Knights.” The winged angel introduced herself politely with a hand on her chest, striking a small bow. “You may call me Mine.” Then her hands waved to the other angels behind her.
“This is Sumi Serina.” She motioned to the pink haired angel waving her hand shyly with a smile.
“And this is Asagao Hanae.” Lastly, she motioned to the violet haired angel that really reminded her of THE LIAR. Though her bubbly personality quickly demolished the thought.”Heya! Nice to meet’cha! Salvation! Hope! And love! Hanae has it all!” Viola’s lips cracked into a small smile at Hanae’s personality before it fell down.
“I’ll do some quick check up on you, and change your um- bandages. Is that alright?” Mine continued.
Viola nodded.
“Thank you. Serina, hand me the sanitizer, cloth, fresh bandages, and some warm water. Hanae, bring the new tube and needle” Mine called for action as she slowly unfurled the bandage around Viola’s arms, neck, and… head which had been stained crimson.
Even if the trio had seen it before, it still unsettled them. They had seen their fair of carnage before. Broken bones here and there, bruises, a broken nose, the greatest damage they’ve ever seen was a poor girl who had broken her arm in an accident.
But this? This is something else.
“Okay… let’s get this done.” Mine said to herself as she tried to hold onto her usual calm demeanor.Yet, the way her hands trembled, even for a fraction of a second, cracked the mask she wore. “This is going to sting a little, but bear with me, alright?”
She hoped that her voice was soothing enough as she poured sanitizer into the cloth.
Viola nodded her head to the blue haired angel nurse with little hesitation. She was certain of the holy healer’s good intentions, yet still nervous about the wet piece of cloth nearing her eye socket.
At her dear patient's display, Mine forced her hands to keep steady. Her patient trusted her, and so she shall trust in herself.
“..!!!” Viola hissed as the cloth touched the edges of her eye socket and closed her eyelids in response.
“Just for a little bit, Miss Williams, I promise.” Mine soothed the young purple haired girl as she lightly pressed the sterilized cloth around the eye socket. The cloth cleaned off possible contaminants that might have made their way in, and soaked up excess blood and other fluids. "Well done little one, you're... strong." She said, grimacing as she discarded the red-stained cloth.
"Now..." Mine trailed off as she observed her poor little patient. "Hanae, take the needle out of her arm." Without question, the violet haired girl rushed to Viola's side.
"Serina, please hand me a sanitized towel."
"Of course, President Mine." The pink haired nurse said with a nod, as she moved to sterilize another piece of clean white cloth.
"Heya! What's your favorite color?" The one-eyed girl turns to the other angelic nurse girl with confusion at the seemingly frivolous question, but she does feel compelled to answer.
"...Blu-"
Viola winced as she felt a sting in her left arm. Her eyes were still on Hanae, who was with a small smile staring down at a needle with red droplets.
"It hurts much less like that." Hanae giggled out as she wiped the spot with disinfectant and patched it with a pink bandage. "There, good as new!" She cheered out as she moved away to let Mine take her place.
Mine brought the wet towel to Viola's cheeks, making sure to gently yet firmly clean the dried blood from her skin. Mine moved the towel left and right, from her cheeks to her forehead and under her chin. Viola kept her eyes closed, savoring how fresh she felt with each rub and movement of the towel.
Gentle and genuine in touch.
"There, how do you feel, Miss Williams?" Mine asked with a radiating smile, as she caressed Viola's cheeks in a very comforting way.
“M-Mm. I feel… good.." Viola stuttered out, watching her own words as to not upset the angel treating her, alongside her two companions.
"That's great!" Mine smiled warmly. She then turned to and ushered her pink-haired companion to assist. "We're wrapping you up with new bandages. I know those are uncomfortable but you still need them to recover." Viola could do nothing but nod to her words.
"Here, Mine-senpai." Serina said, handing over a tray with rolls of bandages to Mine. "But first, can I apply an eye patch?"
"Of course, it wouldn't be any good if anything got in there." Mine replied, holding Viola's hand and pressing down two of her fingers, checking her patient's pulse. "Don't worry, Miss Williams, you're in good hands."
"Great. Now, Miss Williams, could you face me?" And so she did, turning and seeing the pink haired nurse with a radiating smile of her own. "Now stay still." Serina said with focus.
Viola forced her head still as a... a flat piece of cotton was placed over her eye socket and held in place by some cuts of bandaid.
"Just a little more and..." Viola listened to Serina trailing off with a hum as something was put around her head. She felt two pairs of strings, one under and one over her ears, as well as another piece of cloth pressing over her eye socket. "There, clean and secure."
"Alright. I will be bandaging your injuries now, do tell if I wrap too tightly." Mine said as she grabbed a bandage roll.
"Y-Yes… M-Mine." Viola stuttered out the angelic knight's foreign name, nodding her head to the blue-haired hospitaller.
And so, the winged angel began her operation of reapplying bandages over her dear patient's broken body, making sure to cover the wounds that have yet to seal themselves into scars.Making sure to roll the sterile adhesive firmly around said wounds, yet not so tightly as to cause Viola discomfort.
With care and dedication in her heart, Mine wrapped bandages around Viola's arms, legs, and neck. With each roll of adhesive tape around her patient's damaged body, Mine felt both sympathy and hatred.
Sympathy for the little purple haired girl who was made to suffer such pain and misery, and hatred... hatred for the scum who would do such a thing.
"I swear... to my pride as the leader of the Remedial Knights." Viola looked away in fright as she took in Mine's tone and expression. "That I will never let anyone harm you ever again." Mine said just as she finished wrapping Viola in bandages.
At Mine's words, Viola felt... something indescribable, at least to her. Here was a most beautiful angel woman treating her, pledging herself to her protection, so far away from the misery that was forced upon her by-
"T-thank you..." Viola said before turning away, unable to muster up any more words to the healer of God before her.
"It is our duty after all, to care for those who need it the most, without exception.”
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
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LEARNING, KNOWLEDGE, ADAPTION.
THESE ARE THE CORNERSTONES OF LIFE.
It didn’t take long until the nurses left her side, leaving her alone with her thoughts and the gnawing rancor inside her furnace of a heart. The steel was seeking fuel, and she barely gave it any. Calmed by the other side of the spectrum. The kindness, assurance, and… h-her new potential f-fr-.
Another round of headaches struck her skull, resonating within before it died down.
“...Ugh…”
Her heart burned bright for a fraction of a second. Rising pains until it calmed itself down. It came back again, the fleeting memory, the pain, the despair… the hatred.
Retribution for the wicked, as her heart shouted, yet the still sparkling, bleeding part of it said something else.
What now?
She was too tired to do anything, yet too tired not to do anything. So, she idly stroked the new eyepatch and bandages, and the silky smooth fabric of her blue gown to pass the time until her eye snapped to something interesting.
The fruit basket, and the other thing she saw for the first time.
A neatly wrapped purple box with a handmade card.
“...Get well soon.” Viola said the words on the card. Decorated with a hand drawn crayon image of a cat, surrounded with glittering stars.
“U…Uzawa…Rei…sa”
Her singular eye, and the empty socket stung. Did dust… get into it?
“Uuu… uugh… sniff. Ugh… uuu…”
Another card was inside the box.
“Hey! Sorry to break in the news but… in our sprint for safety, I lost your red ribbon. So I have made you a replacement!
I hope you like it.
-Reisa.”
Red ribbon… yes… she faintly remembered it. The red ribbon THE LIAR wore in this very same body now she inhabits. One way or another, Viola must learn to adapt—to learn how to live in this… this new body because of her foolishness.
One way or another… she needed to live again.
“...U-Uzawa… Re-Reisa…”
Perhaps this was the first step towards that.
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A PLAY NEEDS ITS DRAMA.
Moonlight washed over the balcony and the pristine white table neatly tidied and prepped with desserts for the single patron sitting in her lonesome. The light highlighted the corners, the still-lukewarm tea swirling on the white ceramic, and her face. It was locked into a permanent expression of pure thought.
Footsteps shuffled into the room, breaking the trance she was in. “Lady Kirifuji, here’s the documents you asked for.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, my lady.” The member bowed before making her leave, leaving the politician alone once more with her thoughts.
REMEDIAL KNIGHTS
PATIENT #010
ROOM #18
“Viola Williams…”
VIGILANTE CREW
UNAUTHORIZED CLUB’S
INCIDENT REPORT
1/11/2024
The angel took a slice of a strawberry shortcake as she sipped on her jasmine tea. Flicking through the document as the manila folder was left to the sides. “...An interesting fellow you are.”
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THE SECOND PLAY ENDS HERE.
Some Doodles by Dalub
Doodles by Profum:
Notes:
Dalubhasa41st A/N:
Off topic but I reinstalled Nikke! Uoooooh, I wanna bend Rapi over and make her preggers! I don't need a womb force, my semen is mighty! Uoooogh, Mommy Graves, plap plap plap! I'm sorry Rapi, I'm cheating on you again!!
(I did the second scene and the majority of the Remedial Knights segment Don't let Profum tell you otherwise)Profum's A/N
Hey, there it is. The 2nd chapter of this thing.
For most of it like before, Dalub did the 2nd scene while I did the first and the last. (then got edited the hell and chewed out by our beta. Thanks Mr. Boat!)
I've been dying in finishing my report and the assignment given by the office so yeah. Anyway, see you later!
Send us your thoughts in the comments, or... join the discord.
Chapter Text
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CONTROL.
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“Thanks for coming, everyone.” Nagisa clapped her hand to the guests gathered around the tea table.
The Vice Chairwoman of the Justice Task Force, Hanekawa Hasumi. The President of The Remedial Knights, Aomori Mine. The Leader of The Sisterhood, Utazumi Sakurako. And finally, the “Leader” of the unauthorized club,The Vigilante Crew, Morizuki Suzumi.
Nagisa took a few more seconds to observe her guests before looking to her one remaining companion sitting on her left as her large ears twitched for a moment. Yurizono Seia. Sitting curiously with her bird perched on her index finger.
…Nagisa’s heart achedfor the vacant seat on her right. She couldn’t help wondering ‘Where was she right now?’
Shaking her head, Nagisa cleared her thoughts. “Let’s start the meeting without any more delays. Miss Morizuki, please start with your report.”
Suzumi nodded as she opened her document. “Unknown student report. Miss Viola Williams. Her affiliation, currently unknown. But she said something along the lines of ‘England’.”
“Her state when we found her-” Suzumi paused. “...Um, she was dirty and bloody. Speculated from a scuffle… or horrifying bullying. H-Her current missing eye made us lean to that conclusion. Not only that, her halo… is cracked. She was on the verge before Reisa and I found her. As far as we know, the thugs that caught her didn’t do the horrific damage to her body.
They were even ignorant of the missing eye until we pointed it out.”
Suzumi ended the paragraph there. Letting the information of the stranger’s state sink in for a while longer before she continued to the last part of her report.
“We did some searching around, asked the KSPD and some, no records of… any missing persons with the name of ‘Viola Williams had ever been reported… or existed. Chief Kanna confirmed it for us. She doesn’t even have any facial ID. That… is all.”
Nagisa nodded. Watching the unease in Hasumi’s and Sakurako’s expressions as they read the reports themselves. “Thank you, Miss Morizuki. Miss Aomori, if you may.”
“Right.” Mine cleared her throat. “We did our best to keep her condition stable, but as far as we know, she experienced… a lot of trauma. It caused her to experience constant nightmares, and she couldn’t even sleep properly without sleep tablets.”
Mine paused for a moment.
“...And she had… this strange… ability. During moments when her nightmares became exceptionally disturbing, her eye socket would glow and leak blood. My professional opinion?”
She folded the document, tapping on it with a stern look on her face.
“Therapy.”
“I guess this is why you called for The Sisterhood…” Sakurako sighed, concern etched on her face. Every detail she had read, every picture—it all just made her feel disgusted at whoever or whatever had inflicted such inhuman torment on the girl.
“I’ll personally see it through, along with Sister Mari. But as skilled as we are in handling these matters… we’re not total pros.” the nun admitted.
“Of course, Sa—Miss Utazumi. Miss Aomori has contacts for an outside therapist if… things escalate.” Nagisa reached for a paper with the contacts.
“...But in all of this, Nagisa, have you told Sensei about it?” Seia, who had remained silent until now, finally spoke up.
“...Not yet.”
The ex-prophet exhaled deeply. “I thought I had reminded you. Sensei needs to know.”
“You haven’t informed Sensei yet, Nagisa?” Sakurako followed up with a raised eyebrow.
“This is a matter that concerns Trinity,” Nagisa defended. “She was found in our district, and SCHALE’s intervention isn’t necessary.” She mumbled, almost inaudibly, “...and I don’t want to take sensei’s time.”
“But that doesn’t mean she belongs to Trinity. She could have been a student from anywhere.” The nun tapped on the document with disapproval in her voice.
“...Looking at the facts,” Hasumi raised her hand, “we could very well be dealing with someone who never existed in the system in the first place. Whoever Miss Williams is, she is clearly distressed. I think the best thing we can do is either take her to Trinity or leave her in SCHALE’s care.”
“Right. You’ve read my mind. That’s the main topic of this discussion,” Nagisa said. She glanced around the table, observing the guests' expressions—a mix of determination, confusion, and a shared desire for justice to be served.
“Bringing her to Trinity would allow us to monitor her closely. Her abilities, her mental and physical health, and any threats that might arise to her or the school’s justice.”
But there are undeniable advantages if we leave her in sensei’s care.”
Nagisa reached for her tea and took a sip. “So, let us continue with our discussion, before Seia and I make our decision.”
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DETERMINED BY A STROKE OF A PEN.
Days passed, and Viola kept this strange routine. She would wake up, and sit on the bed. Thinking of nothing until Reisa would’ve come knocking. She would tell her stories, her day, and literally anything she could think of in her mind.
Reisa is a well known superstar around the school they’re in—part of a vigilante group called anticlimactically, “The Vigilante Crew” to track down and bring any trouble makers in and out of Trinity to justice. Being sending them to the police… as in the KSPD… or the elite group called… “The Justice Task Force.”
But for this place to warrant the need for Vigilantes... Viola decided not to think of the worst. Instead as a way of the people to help others when no one else could. Every chat they had, and stories she told reminded Viola of a reflection. A mirror of herself before everything came down burning.
Viola clutched her head. The horrific images.
The bitter memories.
The darkened hole that is slowly coming to consume her heart.
KNOCK KNOCK!
Viola flinched at the knock, breaking the trance she had been in. That was the secret knock… the one they had created together.
Viola hesitated as she looked at the door. There was… someone else with her. Another angel dressed in silver with piercing crimson eyes.
“Heya, Williams-chan!” Reisa greeted cheerfully as she stood beside the stranger. Yet Viola couldn’t focus on her… no…
Her attention remained fixed on the red-eyed angel.
“Hello. I believe we haven’t met before,” the second angel said with a warm smile. “My name is Morizuki Suzumi, I’m part of the same… unofficial-” Suzumi paused before clearing her throat. “The OFFICIAL club with Reisa.. The Vigilante Crew” The girl said with a beaming, proud smile, unlike Reisa who had her jaw wide open and down to the ground.
“WHAT?!?!”
Her shout reverberated across the room, shaking it in the process, and ringing the ears of the others like the world’s most powerful flashbang taped together with a megaphone.
“We- we’re an official c-club?!” The young superstar’s eyes had stars in it. Shining bright with excitement and glee. It seemed like nothing will bring her down from the pure joy emanating from her.
“Y-Yes… we are now.” Suzumi tried to compose herself, but the ringing relentlessly assaulted her eardrums. “I had just got the recognition from The Tea Party-”
Reisa was just about to squeal again before the door opened to a very, very displeased Captain of The Remedial Knights. “Miss Uzawa. I must remind you that this. Is. a. Hospital.”
Mine entered the room, and cleared her throat. “Please, don’t shout like that. You’re disturbing the other patients.”
“I-I’m sorry…” Reisa instantly deflated. It seemed like something could kill her excitement after all.
“Ahem.” Mine cleared her throat. “Miss Williams, greetings. Suzumi, please continue.”
Viola turned to the white haired angel clearing her throat. “R-Right. But before then, I have something to say." The white haired angel once again spoke up, this time with her gaze away from Viola as she showed... shame?
"I must apologize about the flashbang." Suzumi bowed her head to Viola politely. “It must’ve shocked and disoriented you. So I’ll apologize again.”
"I- um…" Viola had to cover her mouth as she stuttered and stammered, shyness and embarrassment flushing her cheeks red—as thoughts lingered on the white flash of light and the ringing in her ears haunting some of her nights.
"I... I forgive you." Viola said in a low meek voice, showing Suzumi a smile as the angel turned her head back up. She holds no hatred for what Suzumi did, she at least had the decency to apologize even if she didn’t know that she was the one that threw the… thing that blinds her.
“It’s an… accident. You weren't doing anything bad." Viola quickly spoke, trying to forget the thoughts she would've had.
"Thank you.” Suzumi sighed in relief. "Now… Please listen to what I’m going to tell you. Miss Williams, you are invited to attend the meeting with The Tea Party along with myself, Miss Mine, Miss Hasumi, and Miss Sakurako tomorrow morning.”
The angel reached for her pocket, and there it was. A letter sealed by wax and the emblem of a tea cup with wings. The Tea Party logo.
“...Lady… Nagisa…?” Viola tilted her head. Lady… and the pieces clicked.
Her one remaining eye widened as large as volleyballs, limited only by the human limits as she stared it down. Afraid even of opening it. Viola may not know what The Tea Party is, but by the looks of it and it’s implication?
She’s a noble.
Trembling, nervous hands inched to tore the wax seal away from the paper and expelling the letter within. Her fate, destined on a parchment written in ink. A future waiting to be seen.
To, Miss Viola Williams
November 10th 2024.
With great pride, we, the current hosts of the Tea Party, Kirifuji Nagisa and Yurizono Seia, would like to formally invite Miss Viola Williams to join us for an audience alongside our esteemed fellow representatives on:
Monday. November the 11th, 2024. 9:00 AM.
Furthermore, along with this letter, it is our pleasure to offer you an invitation to enroll as a student at Trinity. This enrollment comes with the provision of a full tuition waiver and a monthly allowance of 320,000 Yen for the duration of one year.
We dearly hope we will see you tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Kirifuji Nagisa
Yurizono Seia
“Williams-chan?”
Reisa tried to call her out of the trance. She was still a statue—mind churning on an unbroken cycle trying to process such big words crushing her adolescent mind like a hammer. Repeating on those same words, locking on that as if nothing else in the world mattered anymore.
Tuition?
Invitation to enroll in this… this academy?
Viola never would've expected to hear such words, a personal invitation from someone that had this much status. Who is she to gain such privilege? She had just arrived here barely a week ago, and she…
Maybe she’s dreaming all of this. Angels? And yet, the pain… it’s all so real. The paper is real, and the document behind her is so… so real.
A document regarding her enrollment. Signed by the duo and… and this Johnathan with a stamp of…
SCHALE?
“Miss Williams?”
A hand on her shoulder snapped her back to reality. Every eyes in the room looked at her with concern.
“Are you nervous?” Mine asked with a soft tone.
“...I am.” Viola trailed off as she thought of her next words carefully. Wanting not to disappoint any of the angels surrounding her. “...L-Lady Nagisa is an important person… right?” She sounds so stupid right now.
“Oh, right. We haven’t told you yet…” Mine clapped her hands. “That is correct however. You could say The Tea Party is the head of Trinity. Responsible for holding it together as the student council.
Miss Nagisa here and Miss Seia are the current heads of it. We used to have… another.”
The angel’s eyes looked uneasy and almost… saddened by mentioning it.
“Trinity is a triumvirate, but… certain things happened to the previous head. A story for another day.” She instantly waved it off. “What’s most important is you shouldn’t feel so pressured. As official as it is, take it as meeting a new friend.”
Her reassuring hand tapped her shoulder. “So you don’t really have to be so formal and stiff in her presence, okay?”
“Yup yup! Lady Nagisa is actually really kind!” Reisa followed up with a wide grin. “So really, you don’t have to worry so much okay? Big Sis Suzumi and I got your back! Williams-chan!”
Once more, for the nth time… Reisa's words gave her the relief she needed. “Big sis Suzumi…” the little witch mumbled before her cheeks burned. “Sorry.”
Instead of rebuttal, her shoulders were gripped tightly by the vigilante. Her eyes shining as bright as Reisa’s in the peak of her joy. “No, don’t apologize. I’ll allow it. Willams-chan.”
The witch’s rising embarrassment came back with vengeance. Though…something else was tugging at her mind. "Williams…” Even if it was her name, it doesn’t sit right to her. It feels too polite, too formal, too… close to heart reminding her of her father.
“...Vi-Viola. Please just um, call me Viola.”
"Oh, I get it!" Reisa exclaims as her eyes shimmered until it was replaced by something genuine. A heartfelt smile on her lips, parting away for a single sentence that chipped away the wall Viola had been building around her even more. Cracking it, breaking it apart.
“Then… Viola-chan… is fine?”
A shining smile that could match the brightness of the sun itself.
“Mm… I… don’t know what um, -chan means but… it’s okay… Reisa.”
Time came to a halt, and the universe stopped moving. In this singular moment… it was like that Reisa… this angel—this Uzawa Reisa is someone she could truly… truly trust. A true friend… perhaps. Can she move on?
“Hm, you’re really not from here, aren’t you?” Mine hummed to herself. “ To put it simply, it is honorifics, easy enough to understand. Take it like… a title from someone that feels you’re close enough to them.”
"Say, Mine-senpai, when can Viola-chan leave?" Reisa asked.
"Hmm. Soon enough. In fact, I’ll just need to do our final check up." The blue-haired hospitaller said with a hum as she approached the currently bedridden girl and sat in a chair right next to the bed. She unpacked a black bag right next to the small table and pulling out the same alien instruments Mine had used on the visitor before.
“First let me check on this…”
The thing wrapped in her arms inflated as air was pumped into them. Mine wrote down on a paper. Flipping it for another paper behind it for the lab results the other day.
"Your blood count is steadily rising to normal, blood pressure normal, other functions fine, your wounds are... surprisingly healed—apart from the eye..." Mine trailed off as she narrowed her eyes.
The head hospitaller observes her most pitiful patient to date. Viola's bandage clad body, cotton eye patch, her only eye staring back with uncertainty... and hope. Perhaps hope for good news to come from her isn’t so far away.
“I can offer a glass eye if you’d like.
“...Would it hurt?”
“No. Not even the slightest. You have my word.”
“Mm.”
More scribbling. Her pen danced across the paper as sentences were written one after another about her condition.
"Other than the fact that you’re a little underweight, you should be fine Miss Viola. You’re a strong girl, I could see that.” Mine said as she flashed Viola a most reassuring smile. "Once the IV pack is emptied and with some last physical exam, I can discharge her."
Viola looks up to where Mine's looking, the source of the clear white liquid being injected into her arm. She never knew how to feel regarding whatever that clear liquid was, but she trusts Mine enough not to question it.
"That's great!" Reisa happily exclaimed. "Hear that, Viola-chan? You'll be alright and out in no time!" Viola couldn't help but feel giddy, Reisa's joyful aura having its effect on her.
"Thank you." Was the only thing she could say, barely keeping the tears of joy from leaking. "That's..." Viola paused as she turned to Reisa.
"Can I... can I also... be a Vigilante?" Not that Viola knew anything of fighting or enforcing peace, nor did she even think of it saying those words. The only thing in her mind is her angel knight, Reisa.
"Hm?! Y-You–”
"Not so fast." Reisa stiffened hearing Mine's serious tone. "While I can see that she's eager to join your club, she still has to rest outside of medical confinement."
"Yeah. Besides, she still has to start classes before she can join." Suzumi further explained, and Reisa deflated a little more. "We're an official club now, we have to follow the same standards as the Justice Task Force."
"I understand." Reisa said with a saddened tone. "Don't worry, Viola-chan. You'll join us Vigilantes soon enough!" She reassured the little witch.
"Of course. I... I'll do my best!" Viola cheered herself on, wanting to express the same joyful demeanor Reisa has.
"Speaking of the JTF, Vice President Hasumi was coming to visit, yes?" Suzumi asked.
"With Head Sister Sakurako, yes." And Mine replied.
‘More visitors…?’ Viola thought to herself.
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MANY EYES ARE WATCHING,
YOUR ASCEND ON THE STAGE.
It was late in the afternoon when someone knocked on the door. Viola was engrossed in reading a book Reisa had lent. It was a simple fairy tale that she had told her about. A prince trying to save his land only to fall and become the villain.
An interesting read as she flipped through the pages until the guests came along.
“...Um, come in.”
The door slid open and three figures entered. She dropped her book immediately.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Miss Viola Williams. I am Hanekawa Hasumi, Vice President of the Trinity Justice Task Force." The dark haired, dark winged angel politely greeted with a smile. "I'm sorry I couldn't come to meet you sooner, I had my duties to attend to."
Her halo is a menacing crimson with four daggers pointing outwards.
"Uhh... that's no p-problem." Viola stuttered out with wide eyes, mouth wide open in awe at this "Justice Task Force's" Vice President. Whatever that title meant.
Viola's eye was fixed on... the Vice President's tall stature, and magnificent figure—the way she stood with such confidence. The way she is dressed, promiscuous, with her inner thighs exposed, her enormous mighty wings, and… those piercing scarlet eyes
Viola would've thought that Hanekawa Hasumi was the school's principal or a teacher, but apparently not. She’s just a student.
She wonders about the adults here…
"Hmm. Is there a problem, Miss Williams?" Hasumi asked with a hum, worried for the little purple-haired girl before her. She subconsciously crosses her arms to cover her stomach, feeling the little girl's stare.
"I-It’s nothing. Sorry." Viola quickly replied as she turned her gaze away from the well endowed angel. “I was… lost in thought.” Her eye landed on the two other angels dressed as holy sisters.
"I see. Well then, these two are also here for you." Hasumi said as she turned to the two holy maidens, gesturing for them to come closer and introduce themselves.
"Greetings. I am Utazumi Sakurako, current head of the Sisterhood." The silver haired holy angel introduced herself politely with a bow. Head Sister?! But she’s so young… on top of having to meet with a noble lady, Viola has been graced by an angel Madre as well!
Everything is really spinning in this city of angels she found herself in…
"Come, Sister Mari." Her halo is a brilliant golden light with the holy cross at the top.
"I- uhm..." Viola turns to the other angel sister, an orange haired girl with… something sticking out under her veil.
"Hello.” The nun made a small bow. “I am Iochi Mari, nice to meet you Miss Williams.” The orange haired sister bowed, showing her yellow flower shaped halo.
"It's... it's nice to meet you." Was the only thing Viola could say in her current state, flustered at the thought of meeting such high class ladies who were no doubt nobles. "L-Lady Hasumi, Lady, S-Sakurako, Lady Mary…?" She said to each of the three, pronouncing the last hesitantly.
“It’s Mari, Miss Williams.” The young nun chuckled, correcting the mistake the stranger had made with amusement.
“O-Oh. Sorry… Lady Mari…”
"You do not have to address us as such, Miss Williams." Hasumi said in a reassuring tone as she approached Viola. "Myself and the Sisterhood, are here for your wellbeing. For your betterment. Titles mean nothing compared to that." She said, holding the little girl's shoulder softly.
"Yes, that's right. The Sisterhood wants nothing more than to help those in need." Sakurako said with an equally reassuring tone. "The only thing I would ask for is your appreciation.”
"... T-thank you." Was once again the only thing Viola could say as she felt the compassion of God's holy messengers. “Um, then can you just call me… Viola?”
A small smile pricked on the corners of the tall angel’s lips. “Of course, Viola. And you are welcome.”
Hasumi replied for her fellow representatives as she sat by Viola's side, one of her wings moving up so as to not hit the smaller girl.
“If something is troubling you, please do not hesitate to ask the JTF or the Sisterhood for a helping hand. While I myself am here to act as tomorrow’s escort, Sister Mari here will be your private confessor.” Her hand gestured to the orange-haired nun.
Sakurako nodded in affirmation. “Mm. So that is why, everyday from now on, we ask you to visit the Sisterhood right in the afternoon or after class. We… do not have the full picture of what has happened to you, but the best thing we could do is to offer you our ears and blessings.”
"Yes. No matter what, I’m willing to listen. You don’t have to be afraid or anxious… Everyone is not free of the burden. I hope just by it I could lessen it bit by bit.”
Mari declared with a trembling yet determined voice.
Viola knew she would only stutter at the sight of the bigger woman's serious gaze, so she simply nodded her head.
"I know it will be painful, but..." Hasumi paused, her expression hardening for a fraction of a second before it softened.. "Could you tell us about the person that had done so much harm to you?"
She asked in her calmest tone she could muster. Yet her wrath, thinking about what kind of person would do such a thing to a little girl who almost betrayed her usual visage. "We simply cannot let such a wicked person go without being punished for such crimes. Any help would do.”
Viola wanted to tell Hasumi, but simply reminisced... of the purple haired girl, who used to be the purple haired girl...
Viola's heart started beating faster, she started breathing heavily as the pulse sensor mirrored her rapid heart beats. She tried to calm herself down, her hands grasping at her chest over where her heart should be.
She must tell Hasumi, she must tell them. They asked for so little when they're giving so much, it's only fair. She must tell them!
Yet she can't. Her lips wouldn’t part and her tongue would stay limp no matter how hard she flexed it. The image of her. Her laughter. Her deceit. Everything clouded her mind, bringing forth the murky darkness that seemed to envelop her mind in its horrific tendrils.
Terror and rage. Hate and despair. All of it locking her lips shut with reinforced chains and a lock without a key.
“...E-e-e… g-...”
They all watched, waited, wondering, and yet all she could do was to tremble and grip the sheets so hard, the fabric slowly becoming undone. Then sparks came out from her eye as the stranger clenched her teeth. Eyes widening to its limits, and blood… thick dark blood seeping out and pooling in the bandages.
“M-Miss Viola!” Hasumi rushed in to hold her tightly by the shoulders. Shaking her awake and out of the trance the best as she could.”MISS VIOLA!”
She broke out of the trance with a jolt. Blinking her singular eye to watch the room and eyes all around her etched with concern, mixed with the seeping righteous anger at… at the one that wronged her. Even if they don’t know, Viola could feel it from them.
"Are you alright? If it's too much then you do not have to force yourself." Hasumi reassured, letting go of her grip on her shoulders with a relieved sigh before moving to pat the young witch’s back.
"We’ll find whoever has done this to you and bring them to justice.." Viola kept her head down, hot tears pricking at her sides as she nodded slowly—turning to stare at the angel’s concern mixed with her gentle smile.
“I and President Tsurugi will make it happen. I promise.”’
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Scene Ends
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DON'T YOU WANT TO SEE
HOW MAGNIFICENT YOU ARE?
Time passed, her visitors said their farewells as they left for their duties, and Viola was once again left alone with her thoughts as midnight came. For the past nights, Viola has only had her own thoughts to keep herself busy. At first, looking through the windows and observing the city of steel, glass, and concrete brightly lighting up the night sky... was a wonder to behold.
Then came the books Reisa had brought her. It was interesting, and now she had read it all, and re-read it all over and over again. Now once more, only her thoughts remain to keep her anchored in the present. What is she to do now? How long will she be able to stay here before she overstays her welcome? And once she is free to leave the clinic... where can she go?
Viola was naturally going to accept the free scholarship being presented to her on a silver platter, but the question still remains... she does not have a place to call home in Kivotos, and does she really… really deserved all of this?
She could only eavesdrop outside of schools whenever there were lessons, her fath- her family could not afford the costs. They were simple hunters after all. She would have to earn a living if she wanted to feed herself, but... what exactly can she do?
Viola knew nothing of proper work and living, she may feel some optimism, especially with Reisa, with the kindness and compassion she has been receiving but she is certain that it will not last. Unbeknownst to her thankfully enough, she had yet to find out about paperwork, bureaucracy, and whatever else served as a pain in the neck for the unfamiliar society she now resided in. Before Viola could sulk any further, she takes notice of a rhythmic tapping from... somewhere. She turned side to side until she found the source of the tapping, a sight so absurd that she would never be able to think of.
It is Uzawa Reisa, her rosy cheeks flattened on a window as she flashed Viola her signature giddy smile. She taps her fingernail on the window ceaselessly, her arms holding onto... many things that Viola knew nothing of.
Viola knew that her room resides on the second floor, she could only wonder how Reisa climbed up with her arms preoccupied. Perhaps it is her gift, perhaps it is magic, or maybe it is both. One thing is for certain, and that is Viola has to come and slide the window open.
She took a deep breath, preparing her still recovering body to move. Then, Viola pushed herself to the edge of her bed, slowly reaching her feet down until she was out of the bed.
Viola's legs shook and trembled as she struggled to keep herself up. Everytime she has had to move with Ell- with that new body of hers, she did so by crawling, so this is her first experience trying to balance herself.
Slowly but surely, Viola familiarized herself with her body's new legs, along with her now shorter height. She noticed the tube attached to her arm moving with a frown, realizing that she has to move the IV thing along. Thankfully, it had wheels so that will not be too much of a problem.
One step, two steps, three, four, and then Viola began walking towards the window Reisa wished to enter through. With each still shaky step, she grew more and more accustomed to walking, fitting the new body as if it were boots or gloves.
Viola reached her hands to the windows, and slid it up.
"Heya, Viola-chan. I... uhm... I thought you would be lonely. So... here I am." Reisa spoke with a slight hint of uncertainty, she looked at Viola as if she was asking for something. "So... can I come in?"
"Yes, of course!" Viola would naturally never have a second thought to welcoming Reisa. "C-can I help you with those?" She asked, pointing to whatever Reisa held in her arms.
"Yup! That would be nice! Here, Viola-chan, can you grab the laptop for me?" Reisa asked, leaning into the window.
"Uhh..." What exactly is a laptop? Which of those things is a laptop? Viola asked herself such questions, and found only confusion. "And w-what exactly is a l-laptop?" Even though it made sense for her to ask, Viola still felt embarrassment having to do so.
"Oh yeah, it's this... rectangle thing." Reisa did not feel the need to wonder why Viola had to ask.
Carefully and nervously, Viola reached out to take a hold of... the strange thin metal thing from Reisa. She observed it, left, right, up, and down as Reisa carried herself in with her leg.
"Uzawa Reisa, ha-" The Knight of the Vigilante Corps halted her usual loud self introductions. "I came with snacks, Viola-chan." She whispered with a smile, putting them aside with a proud smile.
The little witch had no idea what to think of it. She was just about to ask until her legs buckled and she stumbled down to the floor if Reisa hadn’t been there to catch her.
“Woah! Hold on, let me help you to bed.” Reisa held the young witch up, and slowly supported her all the way to the bed.
“S-Sorry… my legs…”
“It’s alright, Viola-chan. Miss Mine said it herself, right? You just need time! Now… here we go.”
Back to the warm and comfy sheets.
“Here, try this! It’s one of my favorite snacks to have.” Reisa took a seat on the chair right next to her, reaching for one of the bright yellow colored wrapping as she tugged it with a small rip.
It reads, “PotatOS” with a logo of a potato… wrapped in… is that metal and wire?
Viola held the now open wrapping, a strange snack that Reisa gave her. She took a hold of the thin chips, and brought it to her mouth.
Crunch.
Viola widened her eyes at the flavor, cheesy was the most she recognized yet... there were so much more. So much spices and whatever else flavors in one small bite.
"Hehehe. You like the chips, Viola-chan?" She nodded to Reisa, who had unwrapped the thin piece of steel open. "Yeah, it's good. But too many chips is unhealthy." She added, pushing a button in the unfamiliar technology, at least to Viola, and the contraption’s screen lit up.
Magic, it is... magic? Viola questioned in her mind. No, that would have been her very first thought before finding herself in Kivotos. It is similar to the lights, the beeping device that somehow mirrored her heartbeats, something only Kivotos has.
"Ah, it's been a while since I last watched this." Reisa happily said as she felt a sense of nostalgia tinkering with the device. "Viola-chan, I... well, I thought you'd like this." Reisa shyly said.
"Most people would be called childish for watching this, but..."
"N-no, that's fine." Viola reassured her after swallowing some chips. "I... it is better than... nothing." She added, grateful for the angel girl's brave visit.
"Well, I guess so." Reisa said as she finished tinkering with the laptop, moving from the chair to the side of her bed. "Viola-chan... I'm sure you'll love this."
Viola blinked at Reisa's words, the angel girl simply smiling as she kept her eyes on the device's screen. Viola then turned to watch the device as well, the sight of moving pictures and music immediately catching her attention.
Viola watched, her eyes fixed on the moving pictures. She watched what looked like to be wagons of steel transforming into enormous giants with guns.
The Peroroformers, more than meets the eye!
She watched as... Some machines flew through the skies, transforming as well into the same giants wielding weapons of light to their arms, sprinting on two legs as they made their attack.
Momobots wage their battle to destroy the evil forces of The Deceivicons!
A battle of good and evil, Viola thought. Her eyes wide open as the images continued moving across the little rectangular object.
"Yeah, I was just like that when I first watched Peroroformers." Reisa said aloud as she took in Viola's expression of wonder.
"I... can see why." Viola replied as she kept on watching.
She learned of the story of their home, how the Momobots and the Deceivicons fought one another for what remained of their races' dwindling life blood. She watched nervously as two Momobots tried to sneak past some evil Deceivicons even larger than the puny looking Momobots. She sat at the edge of her seat as a chase ensued.
She felt relieved when the Momobots got away, and slightly panicked as the Deceivicons transformed into something that let them fly. High up in the skies, they rained down explosions on the Momobots.
Once again, Viola sighed in relief as the good guys got away-
"Lasermaw, eject. Operation: Espionage."
The Deceivecon known as Noisewave said in a distorted monotone voice as a small metallic bird shot out from his chest.
-and shock followed as it was revealed that they were being followed.
Peroromus Prime and his fellow Momobots were on a quest to find a replacement for their world's life blood, the evil and greedy Gigatron of the Deceivicons followed them to the human world.
"Sorry, Hound. I shouldn't have taken that shot at Gigatron."
The Momobot, Ironshell, apologized.
"Shouldn't have missed is what you mean!" The injured Momobot, Hound, simply laughed, prompting the other Momobots to laugh along.
Viola… truly enjoyed the display of camaraderie and true friendship.
The Deceivicons’ first actions in the human world were to attack the humans to loot whatever they wanted. Diabolical was Viola's thought of them.
But one Deceivecon caught her morbid interest the most.
"I will find a way to overthrow Gigatron, there is always a way."
The Deceivicon known as Starshriek.
Viola couldn’t help but compare him to THE LIAR who had stolen her life, the only difference being... Starshriek never hid his intentions. He was utterly honest for a traitor.
"Energon... low. Must... contact Gigatron!"
The Deceivecon known as Thunderwave said on the moving screen.
Somehow, Viola felt a hint of admiration for the supposed evil giant.
After all, he had never betrayed his leader after such a long time.
The Deceivicons kept on attacking humans and stealing the "Powercube" they sought, while Momobots did the opposite.
They fought for humanity. Protecting them against The Deceivicons no matter what.
Viola admired how the Momobots trusted each other with their lives. How they made use of such teamwork to overcome overwhelming odds while the evil Deceivicons failed and failed many times over.
They were overconfident, they had little trust for one another, and they were too selfish.
Viola frowned as Gigatron was lost in the machine that connected the human world to the Peroroformers world, and Starshriek the traitor immediately assumed the position of leader without a care for his comrades death... Gigatron still lived… but still.
Yet despite how much Starshriek reminded Viola of THE LIAR, she couldn’t bring herself to hate Starshriek.
"Transform, you fool!"
The flying betrayer shouted to his comrade as he saved said comrade from the Momobots.
Because Starshriek did not leave his friends to die.
They kept on watching well past midnight, with Viola witnessing more and more of the moving colors, dancing images flashing on her eyes.
Peroromus Prime. She admired the Momobot leader for being so strong, yet so... gentle. He could simply act the same as the Deceivicons, he could simply take and destroy as he pleased. Instead, he used his own body to shield the weak, to risk his life for so little if it meant that innocents would be safe.
A true hero is what Viola thought of the giant.
She wanted to watch more, and wanted to witness more of the spectacular battles.
She tried to keep her eyes open, no matter how sleepy she got, how heavy her eyelids got. Reisa shared her sentiment, chomping on chips as they watched episode after episode, picture after picture, uncaring of how quickly time passed—like an arrow shooting by.
Until, at last, the laptop goes dark, the empty bag of chips slid off from their hands and down to the floor,
and the duo had closed their eyes… and drifted into the land of dreams.
The only thought that remained on Viola’s mind in the end… is how warm she was.
Wishing that this moment would last for an eternity.
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Curtains Close
Play Ends
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THE THIRD PLAY ENDS HERE.
Doodles by Dalubhasa
Doodle by Profum
Notes:
Dalubhasa A/N: I don't have much to say this time around, just enjoy the chapter dear readers.
Profum A/N : Too much Peroroformers, my head are spinning. On the record, it's not my idea.
What do you think of the fluff? Viola needs it after the shit she had experienced. Next up, the Grand Trinity tour. See you on the next one!Send us your thoughts in the comments, or... join the discord.
Chapter Text
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WARMTH
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Viola stumbled out of a changing room dressed in the cotton uniform she was given, white with a blue collar and short skirt. Instinctively, her hand goes down to the skirt, gently pulling down and stretching its fabric to cover more of her exposed thighs as her two escorts face her.
"Looking good, Viola-chan." Suzumi commented with a smile.
"Mhm. You’re already looking like a Trinity student. " As did Hasumi.
"T-thank you... I did not take too long, did I?" She nervously asked, both of her hands covering her bare thighs. "Uhm... are skirts normally this short?"
"Not exactly, it's simply that students your size are rare." Viola's hands trembled at Hasumi's explanation. After all, she was taller in her old body. "I had to ask for some pairs from little Koharu." The JTF Vice President muttered to herself.
"I see. I suppose that... I must thank this person later." Viola sighed, uncomfortable with her thighs exposed, yet still thankful for this Koharu person.
Clothing such as these must be expensive, Viola thought. So the person who gave the uniform must be charitable! But for now, Viola could only dream about meeting them.
"If you want, we can commission uniforms for your size." Suzumi said. "There should be a tailoring shop nearby."
"T-that's fine, Miss Suzumi." Viola denied the offer, her arms waving around expressing so. "I'm f-fine with this." She has already received so much, she has no right to demand anything.
"You sure?" Suzumi asked, to which Viola nodded her head. "We can see how much you're covering your thighs, Viola-chan."
"Uhm... I'l live with it!"
"Nonsense! If you're so uncomfortable with such a short skirt, then just say so." Hasumi sternly, yet softly scolded. "After meeting with Nagisa-sama, we're getting you measured. Understood?"
"Y-yes, Miss Hasumi." Viola answered with her head down.
"Come on now, Viola. Don't be so down, I- no, we only want what is best for you." Hasumi said as she knelt down to Viola's smaller level, comforting her as she held her by the shoulders. "If there's something you want, then you need only to ask."
Viola nodded her head with a hint of shame deep inside, for the bigger girl is treating her like a child... her child even!
"Hasumi-san." Suzumi called out to the winged girl, pointing down to her wrist as Hasumi turned to face her.
"Ah, that's right. We should not keep Lady Nagisa waiting any longer." They had kept a high noblewoman waiting, wasting her time even. There would be consequences to offending a noble, but Viola hoped that this Lady was forgiving. "Come now."
"Yes, Miss Hasumi."
Everywhere her eyes gazed upon her heart beats against her ribs. Despite the escorts surrounding her, it does not bring any peace into her at all. Architecture brandished with marble and gold— grander than the glimpses she saw out from the window, and Reisa’s stories that were… truly out of her league.
Girls with guns and haloes all in different shapes and sizes are everywhere like it was their own clothes. What made her even more scared was some even have guns that were far larger than their own bags. Viola couldn’t help but to feel truly… truly out of place. This feeling of melancholy, and homesickness amped to a thousand.
“Viola.” She turned her head up, looking at the concerned expression of the tall angel. “Are you okay? If you need a break, give me a sign.” Hasumi’s voice was so soft and reassuring, She almost reminded Viola of her late mother… and the kind woman she had known in the orphanage.
Calm your beating heart.
Bury the trauma, even for just a moment.
Her arms and legs definitely felt like cold pudding. But how can she allow herself to stop their journey to meet someone high in position like Nagisa just because she was scared.
“No, I am fine. Just…” She trailed off, trying to break away from seeing girls of her own age open carrying weapons. “... Let’s keep going.”
One bullet from those guns. That is all it takes.
One bullet, and Viola would be no more.
Hasumi clearly does not believe her words. Nonetheless she decided to let it go for now and instead held Viola’s trembling hand.
Why would she hold my hand all the sudden?
When does holding one’s hand feel so reassuring?
Maybe she was yearning for something she was not aware of; But she definitely appreciated a gesture of reassurance. It brought a great deal of stability to her entire being.
The group stopped their journey while a party of girls with black uniforms and rifles marched past. All of them did stop for a moment to salute at Hasumi and, if Viola’s sole functioning eye were right, some of them looked at Suzumi… and herself with a strange expression mixed with intrigue.
“At ease, everyone. Continue your patrol and report to Ichika if there are any issues.”
“Yes ma’am!” Orderly would be the best description she would give when the mob marched away, guns slung over their shoulders, and probably loaded.
“A-are those your soldiers?” Viola wondered if being the vice president of Trinity Justice Task Force means she had her own army to command.
“Not soldiers. They are subordinates that my president and I look after. They may listen to our instructions but at the end of the day their wellbeing is our responsibility.”
Wellbeing. Responsibility. None of these traits can be applied to THE LIAR.
“Do the Vigilantes have their own… uhm… subordinates?”
Suzumi shook her head. “Up until now, we aren’t exactly an official club. We just recognize anyone who performed vigilante activities as part of our fellow helpers and invite them to our Momo group chat.”
She paused for a moment when clarity enlightened her mind. “Wait, since Vigilante Corp was an official club now that meant all of them have to sign up to be recognized as a vigilante too.”
“I wish you good luck with the paperwork.” Hasumi playfully teased Suzumi and the latter returned with a worried frown. Even with the reassuring and understanding hand upon her shoulder.
“T-Then… Do I… need a gun?”
She felt like breathing underwater. Each breath became a heavy task on their own with each and every time she inhaled and exhaled.
To hold something so cold, so painful, so harmful that took her life is… is…!
“Let’s worry about that later.” Suzumi quickly took Viola’s other hand and gave a squeeze. “For now, we will meet Lady Nagisa first, next would be your clothes. Okay?”
She didn’t realize that she was shaking hard enough to cause a miniature earthquake. She slowly nodded in understanding, and the oxygen became easier to take into her lungs. But the sight of girls with instruments of her demise still unnerved her.
It might be selfish since everyone has been very acclimating to her. Everyone actively reassures her, treating her like some glass princess in a fairy tale.
If this is a fairy tale…
She doesn’t want to wake up from this story.
“Can I… close my eyes and both of you lead me?”
Her escorts blinked in surprise for a moment before smiles adorned their faces.
“Of course.” Hasumi gave a reassuring squeeze.
“I wouldn’t mind.” Suzumi, too, gave a squeeze.
So Viola closed her eyes, darkness enveloped her vision.
Yet with warm guiding hands,
even darkness does not scare her.
A large leap of faith
Another step to walk from pain.
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
Curtains Close.
Scene end.
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
THE PORCELAIN LADY,
FORGED BY DESPAIR
The steps towards the balcony felt like an eternity. Every step reverberated onto her ears like a thunderous drum—amplified by her selective blindness. The small glimpse she had is enough to affirm that Nagisa really was an incredible person. The halls, everything, all of it… she shut her eyelids again. She felt the stairs, the warmth of her senior’s hands, and the smooth handrails upon her delicate finger tips.
“Viola, we’re close. Just around the corner,” Hasumi said, like a mother soothing her own child. Somehow, their footsteps felt heavier as they ascended higher and higher.
Then, with a tap on her shoulder, a whisper followed soon after: “Viola-chan, we’re here. Please open your eyes before we enter.”
Mustering her courage, the witch reluctantly opened her glued eyelids… and the door to her destiny creaked open.
The angel in a pure white uniform and wings, shining so brightly under the sun. Flowing, majestic pale-blond hair danced across as the winds blew… and a radiant crimson halo, forming a spiked circle—akin to a crown of thorns beating up and down above her head.
It took every single cell and fiber in her body to fight off the urge to scramble to her knees and bow down on all fours. Viola nervously kept her eyes down at the pristine table, the uncountable luxurious tea and pastries presented on a silver platter. She kept her body straight, her hands on her lap as she tried to appear proper.
"Miss Williams, is something the matter?" The aristocratic angel on the other side of the table asked calmly.
Slowly, Viola turned her head up. The noble lady serenely sipped her tea, her crown of thorns floating gently up and down as she flapped her wings faintly.
"N-no, Lady N-Nagisa. I... I h-have simply... never met a noble lady." Viola meekly replied, doing her best to speak formally. "F-forgive m-me if I... uhm... I am unsightly." She bowed her head to the noble woman.
"Please, we no longer live in that age." The Tea Party Host said with a comforting smile. "I am Kirifuji Nagisa, you have no need to refer to me as Lady. Simply, refer to me as Nagisa." She introduced herself with a hand over her heart.
"Of course, La- Nagisa." Viola meekly still, yet eagerly said with a smile of her own. "I'm... I am Viola Williams. A p-pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise. Now, to the more important topics." Nagisa paused, sipping more of her tea. Viola looked at the pastries and tea before her once again, contemplating whether she could take some... or if it was a test of her manners. "I hear you have accepted the Tea Party's scholarship, that is good news."
"Yes, I could not see myself rejecting that... your benevolent offer." The smaller purple haired girl replied, still growing nervous under the aristocrat's gaze.
"Hmm..." Viola subconsciously shrunk herself as the noble lady hummed to herself, still gazing down on the smaller girl. "I assure you, I have no intention of testing your manners. The pastries and tea, especially the tea, I offer from the bottom of my heart." Viola shook hearing Nagisa's words, it's as if she read her mind!
"Uhm... I am not really hungry."
"And these are not meals, these are snacks." Nagisa kept on insisting, albeit a little too aggressively. "Besides, I... have not shared tea with anyone for some time now." She added, gazing away with a surprisingly shy expression.
"Uhm... okay then." Viola hesitantly said, looking away from the noble lady and down on the teacup before her. She slowly reached her hands towards it, feeling the warmth of the liquid through the porcelain.
Viola brought the cup closer to herself, her eye remaining on Nagisa who only showed her a smile. She returned the smile, and took a sip herself.
It was... sweet and savory, Viola couldn't stop herself from gulping the whole cup.
"Delectable, is it not?" Nagisa asked with a hand on her cheek. "It is my favorite." She added with joy.
"Y-yes, Nagisa. It was d-delectable." Viola replied, savoring the sweet aftertaste as she lowered the cup. "Thank you."
"Moving on, do you know what studying in Trinity General School would entail?" The sudden serious question made Viola uncomfortable. "You will be given food, shelter, clothing, and other such needed essentials."
"I... I w-will work for it, N-Nagisa." Viola, nervous once again, said with a fear in her heart. "I will not waste your generosity." She added as she bowed her head, keeping her eye from watering.
"Dread not, Miss Williams. I will not have you slave away." Nagisa reassured the girl with a raised hand. "I simply want your guaranteed wellbeing, you to study well." She raised her head, and saw the noble lady's reassuring smile.
"Thank you again, Nagisa."
"On that matter, may I ask something personal?" Nagisa asked, to which Viola nodded. "Where were you previously enrolled?"
"Uhm..." Viola had no answers, at least none that she thought would be satisfying.
"I am certain that your friends and classmates would be concerned with your disappearance." Viola has never had classmates, nor did she have any more fri- people like Reisa. "And your family, they must be worried sick." He is not, Viola thought.
"No..." Nagisa heard her, but chose to keep waiting instead of replying. She did not want to pressure the one eyed girl. "P-Papa doesn't... he thinks I'm... that I'm already gone." For the benevolent noble providing her food and shelter, Viola forced herself to speak.
"I see. How... unfortunate."
"And I... uhm... I've never..." Viola trailed off as she felt shame. She has never had any proper education before, ignorant of how the wider world functioned. She hesitated speaking of such a matter. Biting back her tongue to say something else. "I know how to read and write." At least, she knew that much.
"Pardon?" Nagisa’s lips stopped an inch from the tea cup. Her appetite faded away as she slowly lowered it.
"I've never... n-never gone to a school before."
Nagisa blanked, eyes wide as she processed such a statement within her mind. "My family were hunters..." Viola added, shamefully looking away and avoiding eye contact with the aristocrat.
"I… see. Fret not, I completely understand.” Nagisa cleared her throat, and wiped away the aftershock. She was not upset, she was even more worried for the brutalized girl.
"I will leave you to the Make Up Work Club until you can adjust to academic life." Jumping from no education at all directly to high level mathematics would be... disorientating to say the least. That was Nagisa's thoughts on the matter.
A logical one she might add.
"W-wait, Nagisa. I... I don't need any more special treatment!" Viola unintentionally raised her voice at the noble angel. "P-please, let me... let me..."
Nagisa shook her head and raised her hand in motion, seemingly enough to shut the little witch’s lips.
"This is not special treatment, Miss Williams. This is simply equity." Not that she would know, nor care, of the difference. "Believe me, High School subjects will leave you overwhelmed and exhausted."
"P-please, Nagisa. Let me earn my keep!" Viola pleaded, barely keeping her tears at bay. She does not want to take advantage of the noble angel's benevolence and kindness, unlike the damn witch.
"... I see, I will allow it then." Viola rejoiced to herself, relieved that Nagisa conceded and gave her a chance to prove herself. "Keep in mind however. If your grades are insufficient, I will send you to the Make Up Work Club." Nagisa added with a sigh. “Make sure to study hard to catch up, go to the library if you must.”
"Thank you, Nagisa!"
"You are welcome. Your semester will start next week, Miss Williams." Nagisa informed her. "I had opened your official student’s bank account along with some allocated budget to start—for now use this temporary student’s ID for purchases. We need to officially register you along with your photo before we could make your official one.”
A white-dressed angel came to her with a small bow, holding a tray with a single, sleek white card with only her name and the symbol of Trinity along with… lines?
VIOLA WILLIAMS
Trinity General School
Temporary Student’s ID
Viola stared at it like a caveman staring at the first fire.
“Daily necessities, clothes, food, anything you need. Including a firearm for self-defense too since you looked like you lost yours. You know how it goes here, a student without a firearm could be as well naked.”
She stopped studying the strange card as her body was seized at the reminder of needing to use a gun. A tool of taking lives away was just as common as clothes and she will need to take one for herself too.
She has to. No matter her own opinion.
All she needed to do was to try to explain she was uncomfortable with it and, surely, Nagisa would understand to a certain extent.
All she needed to do was speak.
So why would your mouth not move?
Has fear seized you once more?
Do you still feel the bullets piercing your flesh, tearing muscle, and breaking bones?
“I… I…” She was drowning in the air once more yet her mind was forcing herself to steady. Every color drained from her already pale face as she stammered in her speech. She needs to speak up or else no one will understand. Yet it felt like something was choking her.
"COUGH! COUGH!"
“Miss Williams?! Are you… quite alright?!” Nagisa almost stood up from her seat, a look of concern carved on her delicate, porcelain face.
“I never held one… I…”
Blood. A deer laying dead for her food. Prey.
She.
Her.
Collapsing under her wound. Blood pooling below her like a broken dam. His shouts, curses. Hateful and burning. Once more, she coughed the air out from her lungs. Cold sweat trickling and trailing down. Staining the card and the white table.
Nagisa had enough, she stood up from the table and grasped the young witch’s shoulder. “Miss Williams. Calm yourself. In… and out. In and out.” She said soothingly, making circles on Viola’s back as she slowly did… what the angel suggested.
In... and out. Feeling the air flowing through her nose, her mouth, her throat and onto her lungs.
In… and out.
Just like what Nagisa said, and what Miss Mine said.
In… and out.
She finally gathered herself.
“...I-I’m… I’m sorry.” Viola whimpered. Hot tears pricking the corners of her singular eye, and something else threatening to leak from under her eyepatch.
“Did I… perhaps make you feel uncomfortable?”
“N-No!” Viola shot up to meet the angel’s eyes, harshly shaking her own head to prove her point.
“No… no… it’s not… It's not your fault. It’s…” Viola stammered. Swallowing a massive lump on her throat to force herself to say her words.
“I never-I never hold a gun before. Papa.. never allowed it.” Viola explained, drawing from a lighter memory of the past. Without a barrel aiming at her face, without something else marred it.
Yet no matter what, it came back to it.
Viola bit her tongue, thinking to say more or not. She had dug herself into this and… maybe… maybe—no, she knows she would understand.
She is an angel, after all.
“A-And...I’m… I’m afraid… o-of it.”
Shocked was an understatement. Nagisa was absolutely lost from her confession. There was almost no student in Kivotos who wouldn’t carry or even hold a firearm before. The idea of not even holding one was far too foreign for her; It was like a person told you they never drank mineral before.
Perhaps…
Nagisa’s trembling lips carved into a thin line. Engulfing herself in a soothing, mindful memory to calm herself.
“Your father does not allow you to? Why so?”
She didn’t want to pry whatever that caused… this fear for firearms. This was… the better question to ask.
“He… he wanted to protect me and… he was hoping I could focus on being a housewife.”
A frown cracked upon Nagisa’s face for a split second before masking it with a more neutral expression. “I… I see. Even so… Miss Williams, without a firearm you couldn’t protect yourself. I promise, it may seem… a little scary. But we can get acclimated to using one soon enough as firearms lessons are mandatory. Can you promise that you’ll be brave?”
The thought of holding that cold metal, to fire at another. It made her almost sick.
She felt it.
She knows it.
She felt how it tore through her flesh.
Silent screams, piercing through the eternal night, breaking apart the illusion of comfort.
“I…I promise. Mm… I would be brave.”
For you.
…For me.
A knock on the door interrupted the moment, followed by the motherly voice of the tall angel. “May I enter, Lady Nagisa?”
Nagisa glanced at the door, taking a sweet minute to answer—turning back to her new enrollee who had a look of… determination. A miniature smile tugged on the angel’s lips, followed by a pat on Viola’s shoulders.
“Yes, you may.” She answered the question, and the door creaked open. Hasumi entered not too soon after into the balcony, followed by a polite bow to Nagisa. “I’m sorry to interrupt both of you, but I am afraid that Miss Willaims has another appointment to attend to.”
Nagisa nodded in understanding, glancing at the gold rimmed clock on the wall. “Oh, time really does fly fast when you’re into a conversation.”
The noble lady gave Viola one last smile and a nod. “I shouldn’t hold you here anymore, Miss Williams. Thank you for coming here.”
“N-no, it was my pleasure to speak to you!” Viola squeaked out before Hasumi came to her side. Her warm presence calmed the storm within the girl. She stood up from her seat without much accident despite nervous energy coursing through her body.
Bowing for a moment, followed by thank yous before Hasumi gestured to the door.
“Oh, one more thing, Miss Williams.” Nagisa interrupted the duo before they could exit. “Do enjoy your time in Trinity.”
Viola returned the smile. “I will.”
With a click, Hasumi and Viola left the balcony, and Nagisa’s warm smile curled into a frown.
The guards parted to make way for Hasumi and Viola, leaving to the hallway with their fingers interlocked tightly, unaware of the highly amused Suzumi waiting for them just a few meters away—eyebrows raised so high it left the orbit.
“Welcome back Viola.” She approached them as Viola slowly opened her eyes.
“B-Big Sis Suzumi.” Viola said as the white-haired angel chuckled softly, her hand coming down to hold Viola's one vacant hand.
“How was the meeting with Lady Nagisa?” the angel asked.
She shook her head, there was nothing to be concerned about.
“She is… nice.” Viola beamed slightly.
“Fufu. I’m glad, but if there is something that troubles you, be sure to tell me or anyone, okay?” Suzumi added, nodding slightly to Hasumi.
They continued to make their way out of the building, Viola occasionally stealing peeks out of the windows to see the beautiful land decorated under the sunlight. It was truly a paradise on Earth filled with halo girls and wings.
When they finally reached the exit, Viola saw Reisa leaning on the wall while looking at a small box. She looked away from the box and, upon seeing Viola, Reisa instantly dashed to her with an excited smile.
“Viola-chan! How's your talk with Lady Nagisa?”
“She is… nice.”
Reisa gave a toothy smile to the trio, with the box hidden behind her jacket. “Yep! And I bet the snacks are good too?”
Ah, she didn't even get a bite of any of the snacks. “I drank the tea only.”
“Aw…” Reisa looked sad but quickly perked up. “Oh well, maybe next time when you meet Lady Nagisa again.”
Viola can only nod. Excited, yet dreading the day to see Lady Nagisa face to face once more. She was as beautiful and terrifying as one… more so, she felt a little inadequate.
“Anyway, are you up to shopping for clothes?”
Shopping… right. Nagisa said that she should do so. When was the last time Viola got to do so aside from buying groceries? Before coming to Kivotos, or perhaps longer.
But it didn't matter for now. She would put this question aside for now and go out with Reisa.
“Na- Lady Nagisa said that I can use this u-um… student ID?”
“Yeah! Do you know how to use it?”
She shook her head.
“Then I, Uzawa Reisa, will gladly help you!” The superstar hopped on the spot like an excited puppy before pulling Viola with her, and away from the hands of Hasumi and Suzumi.
“R-Reisa?!” Viola exclaimed before she was dragged away
“Resia, be sure to bring her back before the last bell! We still need to take her measurements and photos!” Suzumi spoke loudly with Hasumi standing beside her.
“And do keep her safe.” Hasumi added with a warm smile, gently waving goodbye to her junior.
“Yes, Big Sis Suzumi! Miss Hasumi!”
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
Curtains Close
Scene Ends
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
THE THING THE LIAR STOLE,
RETURNED IN FULL.
If Reisa’s clothes were radical in the eyes of Viola, then so far every single clothes certainly made her feel like she was truly in another world. Everything seemed to be readily made for everyone. All they have to do is look for the design that catches their eyes and then find the right size to fit them. Any modifications were an afterthought.
“What do you think of this?” Reisa held a pink blouse with frills on the shoulder end to the nervous girl. “I think it’ll fit you just right.”
Viola touched the fabric of the blouse and couldn’t help but be impressed by the feeling of said fabric. She doesn't know if she should even get this blouse at all.
“I-I guess?”
Reisa took the indecisiveness as approval and shoved it to Viola’s arms before moving to the next clothes.
Viola followed Reisa's lead in finding what else to give her. So far during the shopping spree, Viola discovered a wonderful invention called cotton bra. The comfort it offered was far beyond the underwear Viola wore before, especially how firm it was despite the soft texture.
Now all of them are safely packed inside a bag that Reisa was happily carrying around.
Speaking of Reisa, the ‘hero’ now held a t-shirt and a purple outfit similar to Reisa's own. “Ooh! Maybe you can try t-shirt and hoodie style? What do you think?”
Purple. It's not her favorite colour anymore despite being named after something similar. It now encompasses her but it will not bring her joy.
“N-no. I think I don't want to try it… yet.”
Would Reisa be unhappy about her rejection? So far Viola had accepted any clothes Reisa had given her, including the blouse, a skirt that went over her knees and a long sleeved top. What if the sudden rejection did something to them… perhaps friendship?
Reisa quickly shrugged with a smile and put the clothes back. “Oh well, I guess you're more into the classic kind of style.” And off Reisa went again with a hum, nothing bothered her at all.
A part of Viola was relieved that Reisa was unbothered by it. But at the same time, there was a burning question she must ask Reisa.
“W-why aren’t you.. Offended when I say I don’t want to try it?”
Reisa paused and turned to the girl with the most confused expression she ever made. “What do you mean by that? You prefer wearing long skirts right? Why would I get offended?” The superstar asked curiously as she slowly made her way to the confused… and guilty Viola. “Don’t worry about it and just get whatever you want. Okay?” She grabbed her shoulders and leaned in with a toothy smile.
Viola nodded and the pair continued their shopping spree. Occasionally some clothes would catch Viola’s attention like sports bras and hot pants that offered too much exposure of her skin.
Her papa would definitely scold her for even wanting to try it.
There was one particular dress that truly caught her attention. A white dress with Violet flowers pattern all over with green frills on the bottom end of the dress. Something fascinated her about this dress and its design.
Perhaps, it was a reminder that it can be perfectly worn before THE LIAR took it all away.
“You want this dress, Viola?”
“... Yes. I think I want this.”
Reisa hopped, celebrating that Viola had finally chosen something for herself.
It took a while for them to finally pay for the clothes, Reisa casually fishing out her box thing and did something to pay for it. She explained she paid it by doing a ‘QR scan’.
Maybe it was another technology thing that Viola was still clueless about.
They left the clothes shop, Reisa looking proud with bags of their spoils.
“Whew, all that shopping did work a bit of appetite. Do you want to get something to eat?”
“Yes.” Viola did feel a bit famished after all the walking and trying new clothes. She didn’t even eat much during breakfast either.
“Alright, what are you up for? Trinity has plenty of cafes and restaurants to try.”
She thought for a moment before her taste bud felt nostalgic.
For a moment, she was home again. A boiling pot of venison marinated with other herbs she obtained from the market was nearly done. It was a simple venison stew but it was good enough for the humble home.
“V-venison. Do you have that?”
Reisa paused then quickly tapped on her box for a moment. “Well.. that would be a bit harder to find but I’m sure we can find it.”
“I-if it is too much then we can do with simple fo-”
“Got it!” Reisa grinned and turned the box to Viola to show a picture of a fancy architecture. Viola thought it must be the restaurant that Reisa found.
“This restaurant is known for making good venison and other steaks as well. Oh, they’re also known for some good desserts.”
A restaurant that made both venison and desserts. Trinity truly was a paradise on earth if Viola got to have both. The only issue was…
“Would it be out of our… uhm… budget? I don’t want us to pay too much.”
Reisa waved her hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it. I can figure something out if we get into trouble. Your ‘hero’, Uzawa Reisa, will make sure you have a great time in the restaurant!”
Reisa took Viola’s hand and led both of them to said restaurant, followed by other patrons, some wearing various accessories, and another holding a pen and notebook with something written on the cover.
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
Curtains Close
Scene Ends
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
YOU ARE STILL HUMAN. REMEMBER THAT.
Kazusa leaned in her seat as she popped a macaron into her mouth—chewing the sweet and delicious desert she could confidently said, her favorite. It was savory, delicious, and most of all fits her palette. Nothing can ruin this day… except for that girl with violet and pink hair.
“Ah! It’s Kyoyama Kazusa and her friends!”
Instantly, her expression soured until she noticed that the girl was not alone. Who is that? She was… almost sickly. Thin but not to the point of deficiency, skittish to the point of hiding behind Reisa like a terrified puppy—and… that.
She narrowed her eyes as they got closer. In her past as Cath Palug the images of bandaged and wounded delinquents after a fight was not something uncommon, expected even to those around her friends or not. Yet when she studied the girl, this was something else entirely.
Bandages around her neck, near her wrists, and even more underneath the azure and white uniform—and… the eyepatch. Something about it, unnerved the former delinquent. Even if she disliked Reisa… or rather, annoyed by her usual shenanigans, she never could bring herself to truly hate her. She was a girl of pure heart, and this shows that aspect she respected of the little vigilante.
“Hello Reisa.” Airi waved her hand politely before tilting her head to the girl right behind her. “Who is that behind you?”
“This is Viola Williams-chan! A new student enrolling in Trinity!” The vigilante puffed her chest proudly before she softened. “It’s a long story… but I’m taking her around the school.”
“Huh… in the 2nd semester?” Yoshimi rubbed her chin, in which Reisa answered by a nod.
“It’s a little late, but Lady Nagisa said it’s alright.” Reisa continued with a small shrug.
“Is that so?” The girl with a jet-black hair and shining emerald eyes clapped her hands. “Well then, nice to meet you, Williams-chan!” Airi was welcomed with a wide smile.
“I’m Kurimura Airi. But just call me Airi.” She introduced herself before gesturing to the girl right next to her, a… somewhat composed cat-girl to scoot over—in which she did silently.
“...I.. U-Um…”
Reisa grinned and gestured. “They’re good people Viola-chan. Even Kyouyama Kazusa here as well.” She looked away, and rubbed the gap between her nose and upper lip with a finger.
“Yuh. This is the beginning of a brand new chapter in our book of youth.” She took a small sip of her carton of milk as she pointed a determined finger to Viola. “I’m Yutori Natsu. Just call me Natsu.”
“Natsu, you’re scaring her.” Kazusa sighed before she met the witch’s… one remaining eye.”Viola Williams is it? I’m Kyoyama Kazusa. But, you can just call me Kazusa.”
“Then it’s my turn.” Lastly, the short, blonde girl puffed her chest and smirked. “I’m Ibaragi Yoshimi, I’m somewhat the head of this group—the After School Sweets club. Basically, we’re just hanging around and eating desserts.”
That sounds… almost like a dream.
“So, don’t worry Williams-chan. Just take a seat.” Yoshimi gestured to the vacant space next to Airi. “Reisa, take a seat as well. Natsu, scoot over.” Yoshimi gestured.
“Just order anything you like. The tab’s on the club’s budget. Take it as a… small welcoming party to Trinity. “ Yoshimi offered a menu to the little witch as she opened the pages.
Jesus Christ.
“Um…” The little witch darted her eyes to the menu, everything all of it was too overwhelming. What the heck is a… Crème brûlée and Tiramisu?
At least she can… see the words of, something, something, then cake.Should she just bail and pick what she wanted in the first place?
“Having a hard time picking? Don’t worry, everything here is delicious.” Kazusa said and pointed to the menu . “If it’s a little too hard, go for the strawberry shortcake, or the cream puff. Or… maybe go for the macarons.”
Natsu folded her arms. “If we wanted to get Missy here to fall in love with the world of deserts, what’s more filling than milk pudding or some sweet apple pie with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream?” The pink-haired girl pointed to the two items on the menu
“Tch, what are you talkin’ bout?” Yoshimi smirked. “Nothing said to be more beginner friendly than a nice chocolate cake.”
“Foolishness, Yoshimi. Foolishness.” Natsu said with a small frown. “You should drink and eat something that has more calcium while we’re still in our youth. Alas, none would heed my words, and you’ll forever remain in that h-”
“Oi!” Yoshimi retaliated. “Finish that sentence and I’ll knock you out!”
“A-Ahaha… everyone, please calm down.” Airi raised her hand. “Viola-chan, if I could recommend, go for the choco mint!”
Again Viola’s mind seemed to spin like a wooden spinning top. Everything seemed so grand and confusing, it was almost a miracle she hadn’t lost her mind yet.
“Viola-chan,” Reisa poked her friend on the cheek. “Are you okay? You don’t have to if you don’t want to, you know?”
Viola shook her head. “...I w-would like to… b-but can’t pick anything… i-is it really okay?”
“Yuh. Don’t worry, dearest newcomer.” Natsu said with a small twinkle in her eyes. “This is the first step towards our blossoming new companionship, you and I, and all of us. This… is totally romantical.”
“...R-Romantical?!” Viola’s cheeks reddened at her words, before a resounding slap followed by an ‘OW’ was heard.
“Sorry about her.” Kazusa said apologetically before shooting a stern stare at the one she had just slapped right on the head. “Like uh… what Reisa said, you don’t have to. We’re the ones that had invited you to sit by us in the first place.” Kazusa
“Um… then… I-I’ll save the deserts for later…” Viola said, as Natsu aww’d with mock disappointment.
“Alas… thus ends the girl’s journey to the world of sugar…”
“Well, we’re here first for some venison.” Reisa gestured to the menu Viola held as she flipped to the page about meat.
“Venison? That’s more of an adult’s meal… alas, young Viola. Your youth already- OW!” Natsu’s words were once more cut by a small smack, this time, from Yoshimi.
“Shut it.” The blonde chastised.
“Moving on…” Kazusa sighed. “Don’t worry about that weirdo, Williams. Sorry if we’re pushing the deserts.” She apologized.
“N-No… it’s okay. You guys are… just being kind.” Viola tugged a miniature smile on her lips. “If Reisa said… y-you guys are good, then I trust her.”
Reisa could almost tear up at that. “V-Viola-chan…!”
“Don’t let that girl fool you, Williams-san.” Kazusa whispered. “She has a knack for getting into all kinds of trouble… and annoying at best. Trust me-”
“Hey! I heard that, Kyoyama Kazusa!” Reisa stood up with a mighty, burning blush upon her cheeks. “Stop with your venomous lies! Is the villainous Cath Palug finally re-emerged!?” She stood up from her seat and pointed a convincing finger to Kazusa who retaliated immediately in return.
“SHADDAP! SHE NO LONGER EXISTS! THERE IS NO RE-EMERGENCE!”
“Hehe, you can’t deceive me, CATH PALUG!” Reisa tossed a bright violet calling card onto Kazusa’s face.
Cath Palug challenge!
Then, before they knew it… all hell broke loose. As in, Kazusa pouncing on Reisa and vice versa. Tugging cheeks and pulling hairs.
Eventually, the thought of lunch was gone. Replaced by genuine laughter from the young witch. Until, of course, the owner had enough and told them to pipe down.
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
Curtains Close
Scene Ends
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
THE WITCH, NESTLED SNUGLY
WHILE VISIONS OF SUGAR-PLUMS
DANCED IN HER MIND.
Eventually, they had to part ways with the Sweets Club. waving goodbye to the people Reisa called friends, they went their separate ways—since girls said that they wanted to go for some more cafe hopping after enjoying themselves some more in the restaurant. Though Kazusa was… a little shy about it. Even if she said that Reisa was annoying, Viola could tell that she appreciated the little superstar.
One day, Viola hoped that she could call them one too.
Without wasting another second, Viola let the ever so cheerful Reisa to lead her away to see the other shops, burning away their budget without an ounce of regret. Out of Trinity and onto Shiratori, with the superstar holding strange paper-like bags for the clothes and groceries they bought together.
She stared, gawking at the structures of glass and steel as tall as the sky. The light shooting from the Sanctum Tower as her Vigilante friend called it, the large flying object with a screen similar to the laptop they watched Peroroformers on.
"You're really new to cities, Viola-chan?" Reisa asked.
"Mhm, we never went out of town." Viola answered. “We would… stay in our village often… and maybe going out just to hunt and going to the-”
DARK FOREST. EDGE OF MIRRORS,
“F-Forest.” Viola garnered every ounce of bravery she had left.
Reisa said nothing. Merely nodding as they kept strolling in the district. Silence filled their ears. Somehow…this felt awkward. Did she say something wrong? But Reisa didn’t say anything.
So… maybe it was nothing. Just her.
Viola shook her head and distracted herself.
Unlike her first minutes in this strange world, Viola did not hear echoing gunshots from anywhere. A thought she had and very much took solace in. She kept observing more of Kivotos, of the horseless carriages in the roads, of the... clothed animal people walking upright, and the… strange people with round heads.
“Huh…” She hummed with a distant look.
…Really… all of this was just so alien. The feeling of unbelonging returned, angels, metal people, animal people.
And here she is. Once just an ordinary girl with ordinary dreams. Wanting nothing more but to pick flowers, do housework, read stories about princesses and knights, try her hand in cooking and knitting… and at the same time, a pathetic cursed being, who had her body stolen by someone she thought of as a fr- She coughed and shook away her thoughts—unaware of the eyes watching her closely. The melancholic look, longing for… something out of reach.
“Viola-chan…” Reisa suddenly called her name.
“Hm?” She turned her head to her fr-... companion.
“...Do you miss home?” Reisa asked out of the blue.
Viola paused. Her footsteps died along with the joy she had. Remorse filling her heart, threatening to spill over. She hadn’t thought of it.
She hadn’t thought of… that in the previous weeks except for a few fleeting thoughts about her father and life back then in the comfy house.
Faintly moving, but never dwelled on.
She clenched her fist and shut her singular eye. Home.
She knows she probably looked like a mess. Her skin pale from the question and storm within her shattered mind, but… but…
The more she thought of it…
Of home…
Of her cozy cabin with her father… her neighbors…
It hurts.
It hurts knowing that… that her father had shot her. It hurts knowing that her sole f-... t-that thing. THAT LIAR had used her, betrayed her, and left her to die.
It hurts so bad.
Home.
She missed it. She missed the stew her father would make. The cookies the grandma would make and offer to the kids around the village. The sweet sugar plums the candy shop nearby would sell… and offer some to kids for free.
She missed it all. She… wanted to go back home. But deep within, deep inside her heart burning with raging, wrathful fire of the dragon encompassing her faded gold…
Viola knows that she can no longer go back. There was not even A home to return to. THE LIAR had taken it all. Her favorite snacks, her food, her bed, her books, her dreams,
Her identity.
Her father.
Yet under it, she remembered something. Something so old, it was almost like a faint dream. A smile and a hand so gentle mirroring what the angels had. She blinked away her tears from the sudden memory coming back.
Mother.
A small smile cracked on Viola’s slips. After what felt like an eternity… she finally answered Reisa.
“...Home is not a place. Home is a feeling.”
The superstar’s eyes widened and her heart skipped a beat—but before she could say something, Viola wasn’t done just yet. She shook her head and continued.
“You and I, along with your father.
That’s home, little Viola.”
“That’s… what my mother said to me.” A fond expression tugged her facial muscles, before it curled sourly from the thoughts of… HER.
Does she even… want to go home at this point? Or rather, COULD she go home? Three weeks she spent at the care of Trinity’s hospital and around a week or so spent unconscious, yet in that time, and even this… already enough for her to…consider staying here permanently.
“...So… I think I'll stay here.”
Maybe that’s enough to answer Reisa’s question. She didn’t realize that… the young superstar had a look of dedication and awe. Her eyes shimmering like stars, twinkling with excitement and newfound joy but it dimmed for a fraction of a second.
“A-Are you sure?”
A smile and a nod, followed by a single sentence.
“There’s… no place I’d rather be.” That was enough. Reisa held herself not to leap into her friend, for an usual crushing hug—opting instead to clear her throat, even with the sparkle in her eyes.
“A-Ahem. Then, I, Uzawa Reisa, everyone’s hero in need promises that you’ll be happy here.” The girl puffed her chest and put a fist above her heart—solidifying Viola’s choice and her dearest mother’s words.
“O-Oh, right.” Reisa reached into her pockets, and pulled something she had hidden all this time. Another violet box, with a matching bow decorated with stars and cats.
“I was planning to save it for later but… I think this is a perfect time.” Viola scratched her cheek, a rosy tint burning through as she averted her eyes away.
“R-Reisa… but… you already had done so much…” Viola said, raising her hand in gesture. “I-I don’t…”
“Hey, hey, it’s okay.” Reisa said, gesturing to the finely tied box. “Take it, Viola-chan. I insist.”
Reisa pushed, and… eventually Viola cracked. Begrudgingly, the outsider took the box—gracefully undid the violet wraps in a single pull, and opened the lid. Her eyes went as wide as saucers as she stared at the content it held. A black screen, and purple covers. A device she introduced to her along with… “MomoTalk.” It was… a “smartphone.”
No… no! What does she do to deserve such a…!
“R-Reisa! I-I can’t take this! I-It’s…!” She stammered, her tongue seeming to tie in knots as she panicked, pushing the box away back to the starry eyed angel but… it was pushed back to her.
“Viola-chan. It’s fine. Take it.” Reisa said calmly, reassuringly, yet Viola’s panic seemingly deafened her to the superstar’s reassurance.
“I…I can’t! I-It’s…!” Again she tried to reason. It was expensive, was it not? It was precious for her, right?!
“Reisa! T-take it back..! I-I…!”
“Viola-chan!” Reisa said and grasped the stammering girl’s shoulder firmly. Forcing her to return to the earth away from panic and whatever abyss she stuck her head in with a thunderous powerful voice.
“Viola-chan. Look, it’s really okay! And trust me, you’ll need one!” Again she shook the witch before she finally calmed down.
“But…”
“Plus, it’s sturdy.” She released her grip and scratched a nonexistent itch on her cheek with an index finger. “And, It’s better for you to use it rather than leave it in my drawer. It’s an older model but it still works like a charm.”
Viola again stared at the device. She couldn’t… she doesn’t want to owe Reisa anymore… yet… she was…
“And don’t you know it’s rude to decline a gift from a friend?” Reisa teased with a beaming smile, snapping Viola’s focus to her, and to her only.
Friend… she…
The little witch swallowed a lump in her throat, before finally… she gave a slow, singular nod.
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
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WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR?
Turns out, the device is… easy to use. Just with a press of a button, the black glass lit up to an array of colors. Icons and images whether they’re mobile or immobile filled her eyes. Reisa explained everything to her carefully and patiently even if Viola screws up every now and then.
In just under twenty-five minutes, Viola understood the basics of it. Her thumb slowly pressed on the glass, tapping letters one by one as it manifested on the empty pink box.
Letter by letter until it became a full, comprehensible sentence.
“Hi, Reisa. It’s Viola.”
Message sent!
Reisa checked her phone with a bright smile, and showed that the message, this instant-faster than anything in the whole wide world, was sent in an instant. Infinite range transcending through time and space, defying what logic she had in her village…
They’re truly… truly beyond her feeble mortal mind.
Reisa flicked through many things as well. The search bar of… “ArchiveSearch”. Like an infinite library where information could be gathered, fight a flick of a finger. Though, she wished that the screen was bigger.
“Camera” Where they could take an image of the present time as if they were frozen in time. Their first picture was her smiling shyly along with Reisa with a wide grin and a wink right next to her.
Both doing the… “peace” symbol. Done by raising their index and middle fingers together, while folding the rest. Reisa recommended turning it into her wallpaper, which she did with her guidance.
“KivotosTube” where a trove of those moving images could be found, or… videos as Reisa would explain.
And lastly, The MomoTalk space that Viola faintly remembered. An instant letter sending “application.” there was also a… personal diary of some sorts, where people could say their opinions and write about something. “Social media” as it was defined.
As if Kivotos couldn’t get even more amazing…
“Hehe, fun, right? But I must say do try not to be a little too attached to the screen, Viola-chan! There is a whole wide world around us rather than that.” Reisa warned playfully, in which the little witch agreed.
As amazing as it was… the world around her was already a million times more amazing.
“Right, what’s next on our agenda?” Reisa hummed. “Ah… right. You don’t have a firearm, right?
Viola almost paused in her steps, her heart thumping against her chest again before she calmed herself with a hand pressing on her flesh.
Brave...
She promised Nagisa.
She promised herself.
In… and out.
In… and out.
Be brave.
“Viola-chan?” Reisa asked anxiously. “Are you okay?” Her worry etched clearly on her face, expression worn on her sleeve.
Viola shook her head. “...I-I’m… a little afraid.”
Instinctively, Reisa’s hand grasped her friend’s trembling. Washing the painful memories away.
“Don’t worry, I promise it won’t be that bad.”
Viola nodded in faint agreement—lips clasped into a thin line. She was thinking of something else to say, another topic perhaps, but something interrupted her in the distance.
Something veiled and painted darkly approaching them from the other side of the road. Viola squinted her singular eye to see better and it was… something made of steel and shaped like a skeleton, its face made of glass with a small green dot as an eye—completed with a frightening gun.
"You, citizens. Identifications." A distorted artificial voice loudly demanded as the man of steel came closer. Heavy footsteps stamping on the pavement.
Viola instinctually backed away, and Reisa stepped in to shield her. "W-what is that?" Viola asked with a terrified trembling voice.
"Oh, that guy? He's an automaton, Viola-chan." Reisa whispered, looking back on the trembling mess before looking back at the "automaton" as she called it.
"A… w-what?"
"Uhm... he's like a Peroroformer, Viola-chan. He's a machine person." Reisa explained in a way Viola understood better.
"Did I stutter brats?" The machine person said with an annoyed, authoritative tone at the two purple themed girls as he stopped right in front of them. "Identifications, now. I don't have all day."
"Right. Here, Sir." Reisa said, pulling her card from her pockets and presenting it to the machine man.
"Uhm..." Viola could do nothing but hum to herself, watching in utter confusion at the events before her. "Reisa, what is happening?"
"New rules and stuff here in Shiratori, it wasn't that much of a hassle before Rin-san was overthrown." Reisa explained, still with her hushed whisper directly to the witch’s ears.
Huh?
Over…turned?
Viola did not know much, but she at least knew what that meant. Why would Reisa talk about such a thing as if it were the most mundane event?
"Let's see... Uzawa Reisa. Due to regulation... that's a mouthful, I can arrest you for speaking about that." The machine man said, with Reisa visibly distraught at his words. "It’s a good thing I’m going to pretend I didn't hear that, there’s too much work already." He added before continuing to verify Reisa's ID with an annoyed huff.
"Phew, that was close." Reisa sighed in relief.
"Uhm..." Viola thought she should ask more about... everything, but she was unsure of where to even begin. "Who is R-Rinsan?"
"Rin-san? Oh! Rin. Nanagami Rin. She was the GSC's Acting President just three days before-" Reisa paused, covering her mouth as she noticed the machine man turning to look at her. "I should tell you about the GSC first." That topic seems to be acceptable to the automaton as he nodded followed by a shrug.
"The General Student Council, or GSC for short, is who everyone in Kivotos listens to. Even the Academies. Whatever the GSC says, we have to follow it." Reisa explained as simply as she could.
"So... just like the Crown?" Viola asked, with the closest symbol of authority she had in mind.
"Well... kind of. The President still needs other GSC members to agree with her." Reisa further explained, raising a brow at the mention of monarchy.
"Oh, I see. It is like the Colonies. The GSC chooses their leaders, right?" Viola asked for confirmation with a smile, eager to have finally fully understood one part of Kivotos.
"Colonies? What are you, a Redcoat?" The automaton asked with an amused chuckle. In a manner of speaking, Viola was indeed a Redcoat. "Anyway, your identification, kid.”
“A-Ah. Of course.” Viola fished to her pockets before… every color in her body drained, and face paled. “R-Reisa. I-I… I don’t have it.”
“H-huh?!” Reisa turned back to the panicking stranger. Harshly going into her pockets for the fair white card that had just been given barely around three hours ago. She emptied her pockets, and only dust and stray string from her clothes.
“What’s the holdup brat?” The automaton folded his arms impatiently. “Give me your identification.”
"W-Wait..!." Reisa waved her hand with a nervous smile, her eyes turning away as if the problem would disappear if she ignored it. “U-Um… m-my friend i-is looking for it!”
If the machine man had eyebrows, it would’ve gone to orbit by now.
The two little girls mumbled to themselves as Viola again fished into her pockets and every inch of her clothes, Reisa patting her body to feel the card and yet… there was nothing. She couldn’t feel Viola’s ID as well.
An awkward silence came as the machine man waited—patience running thin as they kept on tapping and searching for something that wasn't there… yet quiet enough that a distant hum and roar was audible.
"I’m done waiting." The machine man asked once more, his tone angered.
The loud hum, roar, and now growls came closer and closer.
"I'm s-sure we can talk about that, Sir." Reisa nervously tried to negotiate, and Viola hid herself more behind Reisa, fear gripping her heart as…
The terrible growling, and roar growing closer.
What manner of beast could roar so loudly, she fearfully wondered.
The automaton didn’t waste a single moment. His hold over his gun shifted as he tapped his weapon. "Hands in the air, and don't move or I will shoot.” He said with a low… threatening growl.
A shiver in the witch’s spine as she saw the barrel inching upwards, pointing towards herself, and her cheerful angel fr-... companion.
"High Command, possible insurgent detected." The automaton said to a... a small box attached to his shoulder. “Detaining for questioning.”
"H-hey! Can't you let us off just once?!" Reisa shouted defensively, expressing her anger as fear melted away. Viola could only watch in awe at her bravery.
A knight… a brave knight in shining armor.
GRR… RRRRR!!!
Reisa’s show of bravery was cut short by the terrible howl of a beast.
This time, it was close enough that she felt her feet, her world shaking from how loud it was.
Closer and closer, as if it would devour her whole.
"What the hell is…” The automaton went to stare towards the direction of the noise before shaking it away. “Out of the way, brat. I don’t care who she is to you. It’s just protocol… unless you want to get thrown in the slammer as well.”
"No! It doesn't matter! Why couldn’t you just let her go?!" Reisa boldly declared, pulling her own double barreled gun out on the automaton.
"Tch. All of you brats are all the same. Fine then, we do this the hard way." The machine man declared his firearm clicked and the glass upon his face glows bright and furious.
The star-haloed angel was even willing to face death for Viola, and the smaller girl in question was in utter awe... but the fear of losing Reisa overcame the awe.
She needed to act, she needed to do something. E-Even as brave a knight was, they can’t go alone. No, it was the friends they had.
Friends…
Her empty socket ached and burned, her fingertips swirl with strange potential she never known to have-
GRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! GRRRR!!!
Viola’s strength ebbed away as her hands went to grasp her ears and plug the mighty roar as hard as she could as it grew louder than ever. Ferocious, like a wrathful, growling dragon about to breathe fire—shaking every muscle in her body like she was standing in the middle of a powerful earthquake.
A showdown in the making as Reisa raised her rifle, and the robot his. Both firearms clicked and primed and Viola closed her eyes shut
"High Command. Commencing protocol-”
Then suddenly… silence.
Followed by the same roar.
In a blink of an eye, the machine man was suddenly gone as time slowed down into a crawl.Her ears deafened, no noise could get in anymore. Little by little, she opened her eyes.
Something colored silver and blue carriage with a sleek winged shape on the carriage’s rear passed through her eyes. Inside it, a group of three armed angels wearing was it rabbit ears? Peeked out of the car windows, their white and blue clothing blended well with the contraption as they fired out to their pursuers, speeding like an arrow through the machine man as a resounding BANG entered her ears.
Followed by the machine’s scream.
“ARGHHHHHHH!!!”
The carriage screamed as it went without a single glimmer of care, bashing through the automaton as he was sent flying upwards, and crashing down with a sickening crack down into the black asphalt. Limbs twisted and turned, contorting into positions that were deemed unnatural. Body and glass cracked as wires and jet-black blood pooling underneath him.
"Gh… argh… ah… d-dammit… High Command…! A suspect has rammed me, suspect is in a-"
Then several bigger carriages speeding, following the silver and blue one and running over the automaton down into fine mist. Crushed and turned to scrap.
Viola’s heart drummed against her chest. Did… did it die?! Yet the thoughts were cut short by the invasion of her senses, or at least what remained of it. Her eardrums shook harshly inside of her skull as an awful ringing, scraping noise pierced onto her brain—her single functional eye churned with light, mixing together into a harsh kaleidoscope of red, blue, and eventually purple.
More of those horseless carriages screeched along the road, their awful noises overlapped upon one another, and in a split of a second, she could read something written on the sides of a carriage,
Valkyrie Police Academy
She didn’t had enough time to think about it, barely a minute later, a loud hum and whirr assaulted her ears. She felt the hair moving faster, her hair and clothes fluttering about as a dark shadow enveloped her from above. Braving herself, she opened her shut eye to see… that.
A large flying metal contraption, with spinning… blades roaring through the air. Even with the way her ears ached, she couldn’t… stop staring at the majestic thing. Entranced and bewitched with the sleek metal before… it unleashed something from its sides.
Whooshh…
A streak, a blur, a powerful thing that pushed smoke and fire out from its back as it soared through and-
BOOM! BOOM!!
“!!” Viola slapped her ears shut for the nth time, just under five minutes. The chaos, those awful screeches and loud explosions. The carriage, the flying metal contraption…!
Just like a kid who is afraid of thunder.
What in God's name was happening?!
"-chan! Viola-chan, are you okay?!" Her senses came back as Reisa worriedly shook her out from horror. "You weren't hurt, were you?!"
"I'm... I'm fine… It’s just… What was that?" Viola blinked and opened her ears. The screeches and whirrs are long gone. Faded into the far… far horizon.
"Oh that? It’s Nothing to be worried about!" Reisa reassured with a smile, but an outsider like Viola would naturally think otherwise. "I think… that’s Sensei and Valkyrie." She continued fondly, almost casually—but from the outside looking in, it was a little absurd at how calm Reisa was.
“I guess they’re going to finally take down Kaya and bring back Acting President Rin.”
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
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YOUR SMILE IS MUCH MORE BEAUTIFUL
THAN BEFORE.
Nagisa stared out into the fading sunlight, yet her thoughts are not on the auburn skies nor the light washing over Trinity like a spill of oil paint—it was on… somewhere else. The curious girl who had never held a gun before in her life.
The girl who had never been to a school before, and the girl who was a ghost in the system. She was absolutely skittish, jumpy, and most of all, terrified at every single thing hidden by a brave and innocent character. Even if she never went into an academy there must be some… trace somewhere. So, the most logical thing to think is… that she was a remnant of Arius.
But the joint operation they had with GSC and SCHALE had wiped the underground district clean. Nowadays, ex-Arius students are seen roaming around as normal students, with many more enrolling to Valkyrie, and even… working part-time jobs.
At least that’s where the girl who… manipulated Mika had gone too.
She had gone in circles at this rate. Her head ached from the many potentials of origin, and this again… is the fourth time she rechecked, and the fourth time she crossed out Arius from Viola’s potential.
What else is there? What more is there? She had been stubborn and gone through almost all general schools and even more of those ruined ones across Kivotos. Sure, there could probably be some she had missed, but as far as it goes?
This was just a waste of her time. There was nothing to be found, and nothing to hide. If she should go back… “England” was said to be her home. Boosting the only half-concrete evidence for her conclusion that she was an outsider. Just like Sensei.
An undetected one… or someone that had just arrived. “How” and “Why” was the question. Or maybe… even a “What”.
“What are you scheming right now, Nagisa?” Seia’s voice cut through the silent contemplation—startling Nagisa in consequence as she almost choked on her tea.
“N-Nothing…” She awkwardly cleared her throat—daring not to meet the other’s raised eyebrow and her distinct ‘You-can’t-bullshit-me’ expression.
But eventually, she cracked like many times before. “It’s about our new enrollee.”
“Nagisa…”
“Sorry, but I just can’t help it.” Nagisa took a small sip of her tea, enjoying the taste in her tongue before she set the cup back on the saucer. “She’s even more mysterious than our sensei.” She shook her head calmly as she stared into the brownish liquid.
“Call it… a small hunch that she’s more than meets the eye. Something about her felt off. Awkward. Like there is something else behind her…”
“It’s probably nothing, Nagisa…” Seia said with a small sigh. “Is it really so hard to think that she's just like that? No ulterior motives? Just like Hifumi-”
Nagisa choked on her tea before spitting some of it out. “D-Don’t remind me. Low blow Seia…”
The fox simply shrugged and sipped calmly on her favorite blend of tea.
“I know… I know, Yet, I still can't deny this awful feeling. That’s why-” Nagisa’s words were cut short by a knock on the door.
“Oh, it seems she’s here.” Nagisa turned to the source of the noise. “Come in.”
Then a girl wearing the pure white uniform of the Tea Party entered, with notes and papers held in a white clipboard along with a notebook with "The Angel Who Loved Me” written on the cover.
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Curtains Close
Play Ends
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THE FOURTH PLAY ENDS HERE.
Notes:
Profum A/N:
Well here it is. Hope you liked it! We got 3 writers now. TOP KEK.Dalubhasa A/N:
If you're reading this, then rest assured that we will never forget you and we await your glorious return, Shockwave//Draxis. Just a message to one of our beta's who's currently missing in action.Hellifrit A/N:
Hey people, if you don't know who I am then it's okay. Just think of me as the new neighbor around town. I hope you guys have a good time reading the chapter.
Chapter Text
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WEIGHTLESS
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The clock dinged loudly.
6:45 AM.
The backpack on her back was filled to the brim with books and other stationeries. She could feel the weight of her baggage straining her lithe shoulders. Viola looked up the monolith of stairs, all the way up to the main building where classes would be held. She could barely handle that she would get to learn in a school, let alone a prestigious one.
But she must prove her worth here. Lady Nagisa gave her a chance and promised no special treatment; she would be brave and prove it. But she must walk up the hill of stairs, one step at a time. So why are her feet not moving at all? Why must they tremble so much at the sight of students willingly walking into their academic institution? Was there something wrong with her now?
Has fear consumed you again?
Do you still think yourself unfit?
“Viola!” Reisa’s cheerful voice broke her out of her trance, skipping towards her like an excited puppy. “Gooood morning! How are you doing?”
She didn’t say anything, merely nodding before glancing up to the stairs. Despite no words being given, Reisa held Viola’s hand and gave a reassuring rub.
“First-day jitters, right? Don’t worry; it’s the same for me.”
Even Reisa felt that way? Viola wouldn't know since her companion was a force of positive energy. Perhaps it was a more hidden side of hers.
“Now, are you ready to go up there and take Trinity by storm with me, the Superstar?”
“Y-yes?” Or no. She wasn't too sure what ‘taking Trinity by storm’ really meant.
“Still jittery eh… What about this?” Reisa took Viola's other hand and squeezed them. “Try the breathing exercise while I hold your hands.”
Viola nodded and recalled the breathing exercise.
Close her eyes. Focus. In. Out. In. Out.
She opened her eyes to meet the same smiling Reisa. Her heartbeat calmed, the turmoil within herself ebbing away. “I… Feel better.”
She looked upon the intimidating stairs again; She no longer flinched upon the sight. With Reisa by her side, she felt that… she could be brave. Not only for herself, but for her friend.
“Great!” Reisa released one hand and stood beside her. “Now are you ready?”
“Yes.” Her voice was soft, but the determination behind it made Reisa grin.
The pair began to walk up the stairs side by side. As the building approached, Viola's feet did not stop for a moment.
She wouldn't retreat to her safe haven right now. Her friend was with her all the way.
Once they entered the building, Reisa stopped her in front of a large metallic box, insides divided into small cubes, some containing shoes.
“Right. First thing first, when you get into the class building. Put the shoes in the shoe locker.” The superstar demonstrated the simple act to Viola, who quickly did the same. Their shoe lockers were next to each other.
“Nice. Now let's get to your- I mean, our classroom. We're in the same class, so just follow me!”
They walked through the marble halls filled with other angels and guns, each with the purpose of going to their individual classes. Friends chatted up with each other while some looked at their phones. The more studious ones walked with their books open while deftly dodging other students.
The pair passed by numerous doors before finally stopping at one of the doors.
“Hey, Viola.”
Viola made a curious hum and tilted her head. What would Reisa tell her now they are in front of what she presumably thought was the classroom?
“Want to see me do a dynamic entry?”
“Wha-” Reisa slammed the door with a powerful kick and hopped into the room, leaving the poor girl baffled by such an act.
“UZAWA REISA IS HERE WITH AN ANNOUNCEMENT!!” Reisa yelled at the top of her lungs, her voice echoing through the entire hallway despite the crowd’s noises.
“Damnit, Reisa, not again!” Someone in the classroom yelled back. It was not as loud as Viola’s companion, but certainly quite clear.
“We got a new friend today! Come on in.” Reisa gestured to Viola with a wave. The other girl entered like a shy animal, wary of the new environment. A room of wooden tables and chairs with metal legs, five by five, formed a tidy square. Many were seated in their seats, while some stood with their friends.
But the most notable thing was there was a large television, something that Reisa introduced her to while they were shopping, in front of the entire class.
“H-hello.” The foreigner said to the locals.
“This is Viola Williams. She's from somewhere far, far away, and has just recently transferred here.”
“I-it's nice to meet you all.”
Many of her classmates had welcoming smiles, but Viola couldn't help but notice those who looked skeptical.
“A transfer? In the middle of the semester?”
“Is that an eyepatch?”
“Her halo… Oh my god.”
Already, she felt wrong to be in the same room as these people. Every part of her does not fit with these angels with guns. All the traits she now sported were a reminder of her horrible appearance.
‘I don't belong here.’
“Oh, so we're in the same class.”
A familiar voice, one associated with romance and sweets. Pink hair that was colored so sweet, like peaches.
Natsu took a sip of her sweet milk before approaching Viola with a friendly smile.
“It must be a romantic fate that we meet again. Like ingredients of a cake that has to be mixed.”
Viola tried to remember the girl who she met a day ago. “U-uh, Nutsu?”
Natsu giggled, and Viola’s face turned hot red from the fumble. “Don’t worry about it. I’m Natsu. Remember that.”
She nodded, swearing to herself that she would remember the name of the odd poet. The girl made her way to the third row, second from the left.
“Oh right, your seat.” Reisa pulled Viola towards the second row and sat on the seat in the middle of the row. “You can sit beside me. From now on, this will be your seat.”
She sat on the left beside Reisa, in front of Natsu, and gingerly placed her bag under the table. She could still feel the gaze of others lay on her, their silent thoughts radiating through their all-seeing eyes.
“Viola.” Natsu’s whispering voice called out from behind. “Don’t care about what they’re thinking right now. Just do your own thing.”
Viola may be nodding, but it was singing a different tune in her heart. Perhaps in time, she wouldn’t mind the stares she was given.
“Oh right? Who’s on Blu-Ray duty today?” Someone in the class called out to the entire class. “We’re supposed to have math class today.”
“Sorry, it’s my turn!” another replied before they ran toward the television with a case in hand. Afterward, she opened the case and inserted a disk into an opening attached to the television.
The television screen lit up and showed a title she could read but not understand.
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
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IT'S NEVER EASY BLENDING IN.
The student returned to her seat, and her classmates, including Reisa, took out a notebook and a textbook in a synchronized manner. Viola did not move, completely dumbfounded by what was happening.Was there no teacher coming in to teach them? She thought classes should have at least an instructor around to teach students.
‘Are we seriously going to learn by watching television?’ She was immobilized by the cultural whiplash she was experiencing. It was completely different from what she was told back in the village.
“Viola? Are you not going to write down notes?” Reisa whispered before quickly focusing on the ‘class’. At the reminder of such, she quickly pulled out her notebook before scribbling down whatever was told from the video.
But somewhere down the line, she started to feel lost. What is an ‘integer’, why are there letters in mathematics, and why does she need to move a certain number to the other side to solve ‘x’.
Shouldn’t mathematics be mathematics?!
Forty minutes have passed since the class began. Thirty minutes were spent trying to keep up with whatever gibberish was being said, and the final 10 were spent trying not to collapse from information overload. By now, everyone was grouping up to discuss the lesson.
Was this how classes were from now on? Must she suffer from being incapable of catching up to everyone?
“Hey Williams.” One of her classmates, one she does not recognize, approached her. “Do you understand any of the stuff? I managed to catch a few parts.”
Viola could feel words stuck in her throat, choking on her. Could she say she couldn’t understand anything at all? Aside from a few observations, she never understood how society in this new world works.
Reisa came to her rescue by dragging her chair and table, bless Viola’s poor ears, and connect them together. “She’s kinda not used to classes like this from where she came from, so she might need help too.”
“What? Is she a country bumpkin?”
The rude comment made Viola think. If Trinity was the city, then she was the ‘country bumpkin’ to the angels.
“Now that is… unromantic.” Natsu glared at the girl before standing beside Viola. “You and her can learn together since both of you need it.”
Thus, the new arrangement was for Viola to sit beside Reisa in front of Natsu. Everyone opened their books together before questions and solutions were given to each other.
Viola asked the most questions, even down to the concept of fractions.
The more questions Viola asked, the more shame she felt. She could feel more eyes staring at her as she tried to keep up.
“Hey, Williams?” Her classmate asked.
Viola, writing down one of the solutions she managed to understand, looked up from her exercise book.
“Where are you from, exactly?”
Students stopped everything they were doing and turned to her like a group of cats; curiosity captured all of them.
She paused and thought about it. She couldn't give the excuse of somewhere far away like Reisa did. She asked specifically where.
But how can she answer a place that never existed, to begin with?
Unless…
“I am from… Very far away place called England.”
The student thought about it before replying with another question. “Is that like an obscure countryside?”
“H-hey, I think Viola is not comfortable answering some stuff.” Reisa tried to stop the girl, but another one of their classmates imposed another question.
“What happened to your eye? Why did you have an eyepatch?”
“I mean, isn't it obvious? Look at her halo.”
Pressure sets in; She wanted to shrink. So many questions, but no answer would be given.
“Did she get involved with the wrong crowd?”
Getting involved with the witch definitely is.
Natsu's chair scraping the floor silenced the room. “I think Viola has an appointment to go.”
Viola nodded dumbly before packing up with her and Reisa. The silent room can only hear their bag rustle before they leave the room. They walked through the hall for a while before they stopped around the corner.
“They are not very sweet at all. Not a good mixture to the dessert of your life.”
“Huh?” Both Reisa and Viola were confused by the sudden words. Nothing she said made sense to them.
“But regardless, I hope you will find your footing soon. I'm sure you will be the sugar of many people's lives.”
“I think you mean the salt of someone's life.” Viola corrected, but Natsu merely shrugged.
“Sugar, salt. What’s the difference?” Natsu huffed thoughtfully. “Different flavors, yet the same side of the coin. They stood the same in my context.”
Natsu pat Viola's shoulder lightly with a small smile. “But I hope today won't deter you from wanting to stay in Trinity.”
The first day was quite bad, especially because of her lack of knowledge and all the questions.
However…
“No, I want to stay. After what everyone did for me, it's the least I can do.”
“Then I am happy as milk.” As soon as the bell rang, she began to leave the school.
“So… Are you up for going to get a gun?”
Viola froze for a bit. Gun, the instrument of her demise. She needed to have one. Will she be alright?
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
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YOU'LL ADAPT AS BEFORE.
The walk towards the shop Reisa had spoken about wasn’t as grueling as it had been, nor did it terrorize her as much as she thought it would. Maybe it was because of Reisa talking and introducing her to the other architecture and shops that calmed the whirlpool that was her mind, or maybe… she had found the bravery she so desperately sought.
However, she found the last part to be stretching a little.
“We’re here!” Reisa’s sudden interruption came like a blessing as Viola left the confines of her thoughts and out to the real world before her.
Reisa gently pushed open the door. The ding of a bell followed soon after, alerting the owner about their presence.
Standing behind the counter was a bird person Viola could describe as a gruff and tall Bald Eagle wearing a red soldier’s uniform and faded crimson helmet so low it almost hid his eyes.
He said nothing as he folded his wings. He blew a puff of a high-quality roll-up cigarette before he puffed his chest… and let his throat explode.
Like a rolling thunder, a powerful shockwave that could bring Heaven and Earth itself into submission.
A scream, a shout… an old veteran’s war cry.
“ATTTTTEEEEEENNNNNTION!”
“S-SIR!”
Reisa snapped into position. Her hand that had been holding Viola’s pale sickly fingers left its warmth as it came to the superstar’s sides.
Legs closing together, and her posture straightened.
“C-CADET REISA REPORTING IN!”
“REISA? REISA WHO? I DON’T REMEMBER MEETING A REISA IN MY LIFE! ARE YOU A STINKIN’ CUPCAKE LOVIN’ HIPPIE TRYING TO TRICK ME, MAGGOT?!”
“Um… er… AH! SIR NO SIR! I-I MEAN CADET SHOOTING STAR! REPORTING IN!”
“CADET SHOOTING STAR YOU SAY?! AND HOW CAN I MAKE SURE YOU’RE HER, HIPPIE?!”
The Eagle spat the cigar away, and leapt from the counter. Soaring high and coming down with a loud crash as she stood right in front of Reisa. Glaring down at her and squawking mere inches from her face.
“WHAT’S THE SECRET PASSWORD FOR MY BELOVED ESTABLISHMENT, MAGGOT?!”
Reisa started to sweat profusely, her hands and legs trembling as her eyes darted left, right and meeting Viola’s terrified golden eyes.
Lost in all of this, terrified by the screaming adult right in front of her friend.
“WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, CUPCAKE?! I’M ASKING YOU A QUESTION AND WHEN CORPORAL JANE DOE ASKED YOU A QUESTION, YOU BETTER ANSWER IT!”
The superstar’s foot trembled so much, it was like she was a newborn deer. Her eyes spun and sweat dripped down like summer rain.
Her heart drummed against her ribs until her throat, her neurons flared… then her throat burned.
“STARS AND STRIPES BEATS HAMMER AND SICKLES!”
A pause, and a pregnant silence passed through.
Until it was broken with a bellowing laugh, and one last thundering shout.
“COORRRRECT!!! LOOK IT UP!”
the Eagle came and hugged the young superstar, spinning her around as she giggled all the way. “THEN WELCOME BACK TO RELIABLE EQUIPMENT DISTRIBUTION, SHOOTING STAR!” The Eagle said with a wide grin as he let go of the young superstar. Lighting up another rolled up cigarette, puffing it away to a spot where the smoke wouldn’t get to the noses of the students.
“What can I do for you?”
Viola was taken aback at the sudden development—her thumping, beating heart, did not calm down, her trembling legs did not stop shaking, her singular bulging eye did not return to its socket, and the burn… the protective burn in her bleeding, empty one did not cease its instinct to turn engulf everything in its gluttonous strength.
“We’re here to buy a firearm fitting for my friend here.” Reisa jumped to the witch’s side, gently nudging her by the arm, startling the girl by the notion.
“A-Ah… um…” Viola stammered, trying to find her words but the previous encounter left her a little frazzled. “I-I… y-yes…”
The Eagle raised a skeptical eyebrow. “Hmm… what’s her caliber, cadet? Hit count?” He turned to Reisa.
“She uhm… s-she…”
Viola answered. “I… never had a… g-gun before…”
The Eagle opened his beak as it went as wide as a sinkhole. The cigar fell off from it and clattering down to the floor.
“WHAT?!”
He screamed, shouting loud enough to shake his wares, probably catching curious walkers outside of the shop. Viola shut her eyes and slammed her ears down with her hands—as the burning, the scorching malice returned.
“YOU MEAN THIS GREENHORN MAGGOT NEVER TOUCHED A GUN BEFORE?!”
He took a few steps backward, picking up his fallen cig and popping it into his mouth. With a sigh, he folded his wings and stared at Viola.
“Hmph… you won’t do maggot. I thought you girls had learned to shoot when you’re in the loving womb of your mothers!”
Reisa again, nudged Viola and stroked the girl’s back. She knew Viola was absolutely nervous, on the edge of breaking down to tears, and thinking about it again, was it a mistake to come here in the first place?
“Viola-chan is… um… have a… special case, Corporal Doe…”
“Hm…” The Eagle hummed and walked to Viola.
“Girl, open your eyes.”
Viola nervously did so. “You wanna shoot a gun?” He asked with the same skeptical eyebrow.
“...Um…”
“Viola-chan… if you don’t want to…”
“Cadet, stop coddling greenhorn here. Let her make the choice.”
The pain she had in her aching heart and the holes breaking through flesh and bone coming in like a miniature drilling fireball pierced her forehead, and exited out of her skull.
Burning thoughts, and shattering minds.
The pain in her eye socket and the throbbing in head did not cease. Her legs felt like jelly, she wanted to sprint and beg Reisa to get her away from this place, even if she had agreed to come here before.
She…
Be brave.
“Well?”
“...I-I want to… I… I’m going to be brave.”
With a satisfied smirk, The Eagle nodded. “Good! Welcome to my beloved establishment, cadet. From now on, you’re Cadet Houdini! Why? Because I say so!”
He puts his hands behind his back, straightening his back and leg in an authoritative, mighty posture fitting for a grizzled veteran as himself.
“You’ll address me as sir, shoot where I want to shoot, reload when I want you to reload, and rest when I want you to rest!” He said in the mighty voice as a colonel, a general in a firefight, and Viola even in all of her fears scrambled into attention.
“Do you understand, cadet?”
“S-Sir!” Viola said,
“SIR!” and Reisa followed soon after with a proud grin.
“Good!”
The shopkeeper walked closer to the duo and nodded. “You have a mighty ally on your side, cadet Houdini. Let’s start with simple 9mm bullets, then we can move to something else. Is that acceptable?”
“Sir, yes sir!”
“GRREAT ANSWER! NOW, FOLLOW ME!”
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
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REMEMBER THAT MANTRA. HOLD IT TIGHT, NEVER FORGET IT.
Viola nervously held the sleek, blocky pistol she received. She felt a rising chill, the hairs on her skin standing as she nervously walked towards the firing range.
“Trigger discipline, finger above the trigger guard!” Viola winced as she heard the Eagle’s shouts. Though, she complied in the end—she moved her finger away from the trigger as he ordered.
“This is your first time handling a gun, so listen well!”
“Sir! Yes sir!” Viola shouted back.
“The slide release, a button on the side.” He pointed. “Press and hold it, then pull the slide all the way back.” Viola quickly found it, yet was confused as to what this slide was.
“Cadet! It's the entire upper half!”
“S-sir, yes sir!” Viola nervously answered as she then pulled the gun's upper half back, locking it in place as she let go with a click.
“Good, you learn fast. Now, insert the magazine, click the slide release, turn the safety off, and shoot!”
Viola breathed heavily as she gazed at the bullet holders, magazines as they were called. She forced her free hand to move, grabbing the magazine and shoving it under the gun's handle.
She then pressed the slide release, the pistol's top half slamming back into place.
Viola's heart and pulse ran as her hands trembled and slowly pointed the gun forward, aligning what she could see of the gun with the paper target from afar.
“Viola-chan! The switch where your thumb is, slide it up. That's the safety.” Her bright angel friend explained.
“Thank you, Reisa.”
She inhaled.
Held her breath, and fired.
BANG!
It screamed of thunder as the shot rang out, and her hands fidgeted backwards. Viola's ear ached, her hands were numb and trembling.
A spent casing was ejected from the pistol's side, and fell to the floor with a ding. Her breaths became heavy, everything she heard was muffled.
She pulled again. Once. Twice. Thrice.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Viola pulled the trigger twice in quick succession, an orange flash sparking above the ceiling in the second shot. Her hands shaking and legs trembling, the last moments she had with her father flashing before her mind.
BANG!
“Viola! Get back!”
BANG!
“GET AWAY FROM HER YOU MONSTER!”
BANG!
“Fa-”
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
Click.
Click.
Click.
Viola reflexively pulled the trigger twice once again, only to hear clicking instead of the loud resounding bangs.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she lowered the pistol as she gazed at the target paper. The mechanism which carried it whirring as it approached.
Surely enough, Viola's shots landed on the target paper. Nevermind that the results were… less than stellar, all but one landing on the human outline. She smiled, a singular eye glimmering as she turned to Reisa and the Eagle.
“Well… for your first time, it's not that bad, Viola-chan.” The smaller, purple haired girl beamed at the Superstar’s praise. Viola then turned to the Eagle instructor.
"That was… hmph.” The veteran folded his arms and narrowed his eyes.
“Cringe, as the youth these days would say.” No screaming, no overreactions. Just pure disappointment was all the Eagle could express. Viola felt as if she had offended the Eagle, his reserved tone obviously hiding something.
“Just… how in God's name did you hit the ceiling cadet?”
“Uhm…” Viola simply, gently set the gun down as she the disappointed swirled and rose within her. There was nothing she could say or do to alleviate the embarrassment, nothing but accept it.
Viola felt that she would much rather have the instructor screaming as he did instead of this reservedness. Simply because she could feel the disappointment radiating from the veteran.
Maybe… she was not cut for it.
She was just…
A DISAPPOINTMENT.
“But, that doesn’t mean you can’t improve!”
The eagle’s voice cut through her moment, leaving courage in his tone.
“I had trained pukes more garbage than you and raised them to be HEROES before and I’ll do it again!” The eagle raised his wing, as if it was a hand. Feathers folding into a raised index finger with a confident grin.
Viola stared at him, her singular eye sparkled for a moment. Was he lying to make her feel better?
“...And I had worse cadets than you. Somehow, she would hit the hostages if she aimed at the thugs, and hit the thugs when she aimed at the hostages.” He mumbled before sighing, and walking away to reach for a different weapon.
“Maybe that gun doesn’t fit you yet, Cadet Houdini, try this.” He extended another firearm. “This one here's a 22lr. It should be lighter.”
“D-don't worry, Viola-chan! I believe you’ll get better!” With her reassuring words, and that determined grin etched on her lips, how could she stay like this? the witch felt her lips curving slightly as she met her eyes.
“Thank you, Reisa.” How many times has Viola said those three words? And how many times will she say it in the future? This will certainly be far from the last.
“I-I’m ready, Corporal!” With that, she took the smaller firearm from the veteran’s hand.
“GRREAT ANSWER!” His booming, confident voice returned as huffed and knelt down, pointing to the gun with his feathers. “This, cadet, is a Ruger MkII 22lr.”
“Suppressed.” He continued with a tap of the barrel, and a grin on his beak. Viola inspected the cylinder shaped gun.
It was lighter and more sleek than the 9mm pistol, and she felt… comfortable almost holding it. “You wince too much with the bangs, so on top of having the weakest caliber, I also gave you a suppressor.”
“T-thank you, Sir!”
Viola did with the smaller, cylinder shaped gun as she did the previous; Pulling the charging handle which was at the back, inserting the magazine, pressing the slide release and finally loading the chamber.
As she held her hands out, she felt her thumb pressing a button on the handle. A thin, bright red light appeared, pointing from the gun to the target.
“W-What?”
She shook her head, and gripped the lighter gun tightly, refusing to underestimate the recoil as she once did. Viola breathed, preparing to shoot again as she relaxed herself.
In.
Out.
Aim.
Steady… steady…
Pew!
Viola's hand barely shook or recoiled as a smaller casing flew out from her gun. The one-eyed girl's confidence shot upwards as she felt control over the gun. There was no deafening thunder, no roar of fire and thick stench of pungent gunpowder. Instead it was a faint burst of fire, and a stench that easily flew with the wind around.
Pew!
She fired one more time, taking in the gun as her lips curled higher. As terrifying as it was… she felt excitement. She could do this.
Pew!
Pew!
She fired and fired, making sure to align the thin red light with the target paper's human silhouette.
Pew!
Pew!
She saw the paper target struck by iron, and crumpling as she fired again and again till—
Click!
It was empty.
Viola felt something she thought she would never feel towards the thing that had ended her life. It was excitement and pride brewing in her heart. She shouldn’t feel like this, yet she does.
With a click, the contraption moved and brought the target paper closer to the newbie shooter and her two observers.
Viola stared wide-eyed as it got closer and closer before displaying her aim. Two shots hit the center mass, one in the head, and the last two scattered on the torso. She turned to Reisa, eagerly presenting the results.
“You did great, Viola-chan! I knew you could do it!” The superstar praised with a bright, energetic smile. Nothing like the dry demeanor of Viola's first attempt at shooting a gun.
“I…I did…I did it.” Viola whispered as she stroked the smooth paper. She had made her first baby steps. If she could…
“U-Um Corporal! I… I choose this gun!” Viola turned to the eagle with the same pride in her chest. She wanted to take this as her first one, and maybe her last.
It did not roar thunder, it did not make her tremble, it was… simple. Manageable. “I-It’s… elegant. ” She muttered, caressing the pistol and feeling its smooth curves.
“Yup! It really feels like it!” Reisa said. “Corporal, Sir! Can we take it?”
“HAH! It suits you, greenhorn! It’s a little weak, but if that's what your guts are saying then sure.” The Eagle puffed his chest and barked a laugh. “Take it as my personal gift to my new cadet-in-training!”
Viola was a little over the moon. She had done it. She had been brave now—
“BUT!” The veteran’s booming voice instantly sent her pummeling to the Earth. Startling both her and Reisa along with it. “We are not done yet!”
“S-Sir?” Viola asked, wondering why the old avian was so worked up.
“Cadet Houdini! You said this is your first time holding a gun!” Viola quickly nodded her head up and down. “Then you will not leave without trying all types out!”
“Corporal Doe! Cadet Houdini has-”
“Cadet Superstar! She picked her gun without trying the rest!” Reisa felt chills as the veteran cut her off, sweat pouring down her face as she realized that she spoke back. “Now, don't you think the other babies will feel lonely?” Reisa gasped, understanding the old avian’s wisdom.
Viola wondered… who in the world would call a tool of death and conflict a baby?! Infants are harmless, the very epitome of innocence.
Guns were…
“Now, Cadet Houdini!” Viola stiffened as the Eagle shouted her alias. “Welcome to Kivotos proper.”
“H-Huh?” Viola blinked. “Kivotos… proper?”
“Yeah! Kivotos wouldn't be Kivotos without guns!” Reisa’s cheer answered Viola's question.
And so it began. The old Eagle and the Superstar rushed off and came back carrying boxes of bullets, and guns. Big, scary looking, guns.
Shoving them to her as she would remain there for hours on end.
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
IT'LL SERVE YOU WELL.
Viola traced her fingers along her new gun, feeling the cold iron against her fingertips and the smoothness of the yellow, brown, and black coating of the firearm. The iron felt heavy in her hand—foreign and awful even after all the practice Corporal Jane Doe had drilled into her. Yet, despite her personal feelings standing in the way, she knew it was a necessity to survive and fit into the world of angels.
And… she wanted to prove herself again.
The fact that she had to try every single weapon that was ever made still sent shivers down her spine.
Something that was old like what Miss Hasumi had… a musket, going through on what Reisa would use, something they called an SMG, heavy weapons that they call an Assault Rifle, then moving on to even something that breathed fire, and another that shot something like an extremely dangerous firework.
Before lastly, she had held the scariest thing she ever held. They called it, “Ma Deuce” Viola doesn’t understand why, how, or anything but she only knew the horrors it would’ve made if it was fired into mortal men like her and her father.
When she fired it, the roar sent her mind into a frenzy. She was shaking again not only from the strength and recoil but from the fog churning her mind.
When the smoke cleared, there was nothing left of the practice target.
Merely fluttering, ruined pieces of paper trailing down like snow.
Eventually though after she had calmed herself and received her new firearm, the inseparable duo eventually had to part ways. Reisa had to continue her daily patrol around the district, while Viola was led away by Hasumi for a follow-up tour across the large district.
The dormitory, to be precise.
It was just like every other building in the district—grand and majestic—though there were hints of… a lack of elegance. But she couldn’t complain about it, now could she?
“Well, here we are.” Hasumi’s hand landed on the newcomer’s shoulder. “Usually, we would pair you with another student… but considering your, um, sudden acceptance to school… you’ll have to make do with being alone.” The black winged angel explained nervously, wondering if the newcomer would accept that.
“But take it like… you’ll have a bigger space on your own!”
On that explanation, Viola seemed to brighten up for a moment. In all fairness, she would indeed rather be alone than just… being shoved in with a stranger by her lonesome.
She couldn’t…
“Thank you… I don’t mind.” Viola nodded and Hasumi returned it with a squeeze on her shoulder.
“Okay. So… let’s see the interior alright?” The girl turned over the key with a miniature smile and the door clicked open revealing the place where she would call home for the duration of her school curriculum.
It was utterly spacious with two beds, two lockers, a few cabinets filled with snacks and an assorted tea set. The electronics other than spare phone chargers was an electronic boiler, and a small fridge. Hasumi brushed the fridge as she led her around again. “Your clothes and groceries had been transferred here earlier rather than staying in the hospital.”
And there it was, inside the small fridge was the groceries and snacks she and Reisa had bought the day before as well as a lone piece of cake. “Take it as a complimentary welcome to Trinity. Trust me, I’ve… um, confirmed the cake’s quality.”
She cleared her throat before continuing with her miniature tour. “Curfew is at nine past thirty, and remember to scan your ID to the scanner on the front door. Try not to miss it… or there will be a fine or a small punishment.” Hasumi hummed, taking Viola’s nod as confirmation.
“I guess that’s all. I’ll leave you to rest on your own.” With one last look and a slight tilt of her head just in case—the black-winged angel made her way out the door, leaving Viola alone with her thoughts as the afternoon sun drifted across her windowpane.
Viola sat on one of the beds and reflected on her day. The terror gripping her heart, the whispers and stares, the milk-loving girl, and the meeting with the loud soldier.
It was… mixed between pleasant and terrifying.
Pleasant since she had spent the day with her friend, and Natsu.
Her fingers instinctively caressed the firearm at her side again, the weight of the cold iron still unfamiliar in her adolescent mind. She had been brave, hitting cardboard target after target—but could she… aim it at a person?
Are you really that pathetic?
Having had enough of her solitude, Viola rose from her seat and left her room for a walk, thinking that it would do her well out of impulse and the fear of letting her mind wander across the still churning vortex—even with the support of people she could call friend.
Perhaps… to familiarize herself with the place of education better.
She was still, in the end, a stranger in a strange world. Everywhere she walked… no matter how hidden she would want to, or quiet she wandered… she could feel the curious glances and snide whispers from the very angels she tried to look up to.
She raised a hand to her throbbing eye socket, hovering just above her eyepatch as the strange, burning sensation returned—along with the forlorn whispers of a hateful thing ringing in her ears.
Why on earth would you need that crude thing of iron that ended your life?
You can’t even look at it for longer than ten minutes.
She wanted the voice to go away.
You already have something much, much more.
Silence their whispers.
The taste of the everlasting resting dragon, waiting to be unleashed just like that moment with the machine man blocking their way. The urge, the ravenous desire to protect herself and those around her by rousing the sleeping dragon.
Smoldering in the fire of the wicked, purifying the world under the tide of might and a swirling torrent of an unholy, twisted arcane of the betrayer.
“Miss Williams?”
A gentle voice called out to the witch, breaking her out from the trance she had found herself in, as she turned towards the source.
Squinting with her singular eye to see the orange, cat-eared woman of God. Standing behind her with an expression etched with worry and shock.
“...Miss- I-I mean… Mari?”
Viola stared back at the angel, wondering why she had that look until she felt the sudden sting on her missing eye, and the vicious essence dripping to her pale palm.
Blood.
“Oh my goodness! M-Miss Williams! Y-You’re bleeding!” Mari came upon her as fast as her legs could go, her gentle clasped on her cheeks with a fiery conviction. “You’re… lucky I was just going to meet you for our appointment. I-I’ll patch you up. Follow me, Miss Williams.”
“A-Appointment?”
Right, it had crossed her mind. The therapy sessions with the sisterhood.
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Curtains Close
Scene Ends
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
WILL YOU OPEN YOUR HEART?
Mari watched as the newcomer winced as she carefully wiped the blood from her empty socket. By any means, she wasn’t a full fledged medic but at least she was adequate. Maybe Captain Mine and the Remedial Knights would do a better job, but she doesn’t want to bother them at the moment, not when she could do the job on her own.
…But no matter what, even if she had known about this wound marred her flesh, Mari definitely thought that… could never, ever get used to it. She doesn’t want to admit it, she doesn’t want to… but that empty socket and her cracking halo…
It made her stomach churn.
She wanted to look away and swallow the rising horror in her heart, yet she couldn’t. She wanted to keep going and even she was ashamed to feel that in the first place. She was a nun, she wanted… to understand.
“Oops, does it…?” Mari asked as finished her treatment, tying a brand new pale medical eyepatch over her wound. “...hurt?”
“It's…” Viola sharply took a breath and held for a second before exhaling. “It's okay. I should be able to handle it.”
Mari was uncertain, especially as her eyes had seen how Viola’s reaction betrayed her words. But she couldn’t point it out since the girl doesn’t seem like she wanted to talk about it. In fact… she doubted she would even say about what had happened to her in the first place in the session.
Either way, it was her job.
And she must have faith.
“Okay, um, before we start… I’ll prepare us some tea.” Mari rose from her seat and reached for the still warm kettle. “It’s my own blend, well, it was influenced by Miss Sakurako’s own.”
The gentle pour of lukewarm tea filled the silence between her comments, the air wafting with its fragrant and rich scent.
“I hope you like it.”
First of all, make the recipient comfortable. Mari thought she had done that part by treating her, and offering tea. This blend of hers were to be called, something that soothed the heart and calmed the mind.
She watched how Viola took a sip, and her lips instantly curled into a smile. She took a deep breath, and exhaled gently. Looks like her skills didn’t dull after all.
“It’s… delicious.” Viola said gently as she took another sip.
“Fufu. Thank you.”
Second… start simple. Reel her in, and let the conversation flow from there. Start with school life.
“How do you like it in Trinity so far? I heard you’ve made friends with the girls from the Sweets Club?”
“Trinity is…” Mari took note of the way her eyes drifted to the tea, and down to the floor. Her lips trembled along with her finger before she answered. “It was… something I never thought I would experience.”
“How so?”
“It was all… um, s-so… high class.” She took a moment of recollection. “The sweets, the beautiful clothing, the culture, u-um… It was still something I still need to adapt to.”
“It must have been a shock to you.” Mari nodded and took another sip of the tea. Looks like what Reisa said was true. Viola did come from a rural background.
“Can you tell me more about your life back then? Before you come to Kivotos that is.”
Somehow, her singular eye sparkled with delight. “O-Oh!” It seemed she was excited to talk about it.
“W-Well…” Viola started to describe her home village. Mari took note of how bright she was, she was so full of life and warmth like she was playing and chatting with Reisa.
She talked about her family. “Father would always take me around, and if he was done hunting…” the girl indeed grew up in a loving family. A full one before her mother died of an unknown illness. There was a moment of recollection from Viola, but it seems she had moved past that grief.
She then talked about the villagers. The kind caretaker of the orphanage, Grandma Elizabeth, who would always give out cookies and sweet sugar plums to children every other day, the handy Old man Duncan who was the village’s leader who seemed to know about all kinds of things.
A church run by a kind old nun who would lead the sermons…
A small library she frequented, run by a young couple, with the husband being a writer in the big city before he came here to settle down.
“The story about the mad scholar who was stopped by his own daughter was one of my favorites to read! B-But u-um sometimes dad would say it was too scary… but i-it’s not!”
She continued on for a good length of their session, but Mari wouldn’t let her stop. Instead she keeps on adding on the fuel of her brilliant flame. She would giggle, grin, and joke around. Really, she was… she was someone that was once this bright.
She had so much love. For her village, for reading, and… her father. The singular pillar that held her when she tripped, and the one holding her high to see the world as it was.
So that just kept on adding to Mari’s heartache. How did a girl like this, fall into a shaken… trembling mess?
“Mostly though… I would just read under the old tree, or at the library when father was away for a while. Other kids though… well… um, they would often tease me.”
That part made Mari’s feline ears perk.
“Do they bother you that much?”
She shook her head. “I usually ignore them, and continue on reading. They’re just kids after all.”
Viola… was lonely. There had been a few children her age, with some often too busy to spend their time with her.
“B-But! I did-”
Suddenly her joy instantly fell down.
Her words died in her throat—every color drained from her skin as if a dark cloud had darkened her light, and poisoned her fond memories of a world long gone.
She was heaving.
Her heart drummed in her ears.
A storm rising in her furnace heart.
The forest of knives, the lonely house of lies.
The whispers of a serpent disguised as a friend.
The fear had long faded away into a scorching rage with each passing day. Crimson essence leaked from her wound as the dragon stirred.
Do you understand now?
All those memories of kindness would bring you nothing but pain.
You can’t go back to it, isn’t it better to erase it?
Burn it all.
Burn it all.
Burn.
It.
All.
A stroke of a flame, rising high into a maelstrom of fear and wrath, encompassing, swirling and engulfing it all in its inferno.
At the center of it all.
Was a singular beep of a phone in the desert.
“Phew… ugh, my back.” An adult laid on the ground. His arms spread, and long hair strewn around the sand beneath him. His entire body was sore and damp with sweat, yet he still found the strength to rise from his rest, and reach for the beeping old phone laid forgotten beside him.
“Hello?”
“Miss Sakurako? How can I help?”
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
Curtains Close
Play Ends
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
FIFTH PLAY ENDS HERE.
Notes:
Dalub A/N: I've read Dune 1-4. Ehem. LISAN AL-GAIB LISAN AL-GAIB LISAN AL-GAIB! GOLDEN PATH! GREEN PARADISE! BLESS THE MAKER AND HIS WATER! HERE I AM HERE I REMAIN. DESERT POWER! RAAAAAAAH.
“An all male army has strong tendencies toward homosexual activities.”— God Emperor Leto 2nd to Moneo
Helli A/N: We apologize for taking so long, but yes, we are back bois. Expect the next episode to be filled with therapeutic sesbian lex (jk jk).
Profum A/N: Well, there it is. Also ignore Dalub, we are going to ban him soon.
Chapter Text
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
KETTLE
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
The dark faded to light, as the sun rose from the east. Basking Trinity in its warm presence and unbridled radiance it had done for uncountable years before, casting shadows from the smallest of pebbles to the main academic building. Smooth, symmetrical, and imposing yet so utterly familiar. From above, perched on the buildings and uncountable bird baths, birds flew and waited. White colored feathers brushing against one another, beaks opening, head tilting slightly to watch the awakening world, and finally—they began to sing their song.
Gentle chirps filled the air. Love, yearning, or perhaps just meaningless verses and tones mixing together into a harmony only they could understand. Song after song, a gentle noise that filled the cool morning air as the academy came to life followed by the beeps and rings of alarms.
Viola stirred awake when the sun’s rays attacked her vision, followed by a strange warm feeling right above her head. She felt the blanket that covered her heavily weighed her body, devouring her strength as she tried to move and leave the embrace to no avail. As if a ghost had chained her body down to the silver and gold colored bed.
It was especially hard when she still remembered the sessions with Mari as if it was yesterday. A sinking, horrible ache of guilt in her heart for the poor sister. The echo of her session with Sister Mari still haunted her—a dark cloud hanging above her even a week later. She had exploded that day, burning the nun with the heat of her anger. She’d had another session since then, still with Mari. The nun remained as patient as ever—and this time, their talk drifted toward friends and her place here.
"Trinity..."
“Reisa…”
“The sweets…”
Mari didn’t ask about her past anymore—only the present. The nun knew, or rather, understood that she wasn’t the one to unearth those old wounds. She didn’t want Viola to break down violently again and scorch the world around her. Even though it was never spoken, Viola already knew it as she gently brushed the edge of her eyelids.
Her hands trembled at the vision.
Pellets of steel viciously ripped through her body. She couldn’t scream, she couldn’t cry, or even let out a whimper. Her voice was lost and throat ripped apart. Lost between the haze of memory and deceit.
The truth was gone forever, falling upon deaf ears.
A single raindrop falling slowly into an ocean.
A falling leaf, blown away by a typhoon.
‘I have to get up… Reisa might be waiting for me…’ Her mind said, and her body finally found the will to move. She pushed the ten million-ton blanket off herself before her bare feet touched the cold wooden ground.
Her body shivered, as small pricks and jitters tickled her spine. Perhaps from the still cool morning air, and perhaps from… something else entirely. Viola took a small intake of air, shaking away the tickling sensation before making her way to prepare for the day. With a small hope… maybe things will go well again.
“I still have time…” Her voice slightly echoed in the empty dorm. Viola’s eyes looked away from the clock and scanned the living room for… something.
A thing gnawed at her, disturbing the peace of mind, a strange feeling of she was undoubtedly missing something. She knew not what it was; like a stray tugging her sleeves for attention. She eventually landed on a small black box with colourful buttons on the tea table. Her hand gingerly reached out, touching the smooth material on it. It had many buttons with numbers on them, but what caught her eyes the most was the single red button with a symbol alien to her.
Like a circle, stabbed by a line from above. What does it mean? Her thumb brushed the sticky red button as she tilted her head. She couldn’t help herself but to… see what it does as curiosity got the better of her. She felt the bump of the strange logo again, before her thumb pressed it.
“...And today we will have a full sunny day…”
She screamed and dropped the box. Legs stumbled which tipped her body to the right side while arms wildly flailed to catch anything. Thankfully, she stabilised and stood still. Breaths quickened through her mouth, trying to give her air in her state. Her sole eye darted around the room as the voice continued. Heart drummed against her chest, heat simmering under her.
“... But tomorrow, it is highly likely to be cloudy. Though I still suggest everyone get ready for an umbrella. No one likes to be a soaked kitty.”
When she saw the television was turned on her shoulder slacked, a sigh of relief escaped her lips. Her legs gave up to hold her and she slumped on the couch.
“So it's just the television.”
A sardonic chuckle escaped Viola while she shook her head. Once more, she was a coward. Once more, the steps she took to rise above the hill of fear were futile.
How vain are you?
“Now that the weather forecast is done, we can now move to the most important program: An interview with Sensei of SCHALE. Take it away, Aya!”
Sensei. That word caught her attention. It was the same word Sister Mari said prior to being sent back to the empty dorm.
“I will… Contact Sensei who might help you better. He's a kind of therapist from where he came. I'm sorry I can't do better for you.” The nun’s words echoed in her mind.
She watched, leaning forward after the screen changed to a new environment. A white space with large windows and messy tables. But her eyes glued to the two people on the screen. The first was a young black haired girl tied with a large purple ribbon, sitting on the left side. She wore a uniform similar to Trinity’s uniform with purple sleeves.
On the right was a man as old, if not older, as her father. She felt the wisdom behind his blue eyes and captivating posture.
“Thank you for the forecast report, Marie. Now allow me to introduce ourselves to you, the audience, before we start the interview.” The girl pointed at herself with a smile and continued. “I'm Drevis Aya, the host… ” Then pointed at the older man. “... and this is Sensei of SCHALE.”
Sensei waved with a smile before he opened his mouth. “Hello, dear audience.”
Viola’s body stiffened, eyes wide upon hearing his voice. There was a certain warmth that could be felt behind his voice despite the separation between the screens. A past memory threatened to surface, but she quickly stamped it down.
“Thank you for allowing us to do an interview with you, Sensei.”
Sensei chuckled. “No, it is my pleasure to give the interview. It is not everyday I get to give answers to a wider audience outside of MomoTalks.
“Ahaha! Don’t worry about it, you are a busy man, Sensei.”
Viola’s heart sank a little. A busy man meant the chances of Sister Mari getting in contact with him was slim. Plus, why should he trouble himself for a cowardly girl like herself?
“But we are on limited time so let's start the interview.” Aya took out a piece of paper, her eyes scanned the content before facing the Sensei again.
“There are plenty of questions the students would like to ask, but the one at the top of the list is… Are you single?”
Viola spluttered, a heavy blush on her face by the shameless question.
“W-who would ask that?!” She shouted to the screen, the room, and to the birds outside. The pair on the screen immediately laughed, Sensei longer than Aya before they calmed down enough to continue.
“I'm afraid I cannot answer that. It would give the students dangerous ideas.”
“I would worry more if you said you'd date a student despite the law saying otherwise.”
“Does the law allow it?!” Viola felt faint for a moment, her logic challenged by the interview.
“But on a serious note.” Aya’s cheerful face changed, shifting to one with a more serious one. “The majority of students were asking how did you manage to get the help of SRT’s RABBIT Squad to help Acting President Nanagami Rin retake GSC from ex-president Kaya?”
Sensei nodded before leaning back a bit on his chair. “I suggest you make yourselves comfortable. This will be a bit of a long story. Viola relaxed and crossed her legs, her attention solely on the television as the Sensei spun the story of great heroics and shenanigans.
“Why are we here?” A Kaiser mercenary asked his comrade.
“Dunno. Maybe Lord Deca has something up and cooking for us here.” His patrol partner answered deep in thought.
“What? No, I mean what the hell are WE doing here?!” The first one raised his voice, gesturing towards everything: the garrison they were assigned to and the surrounding desert. “The GSC's already on our asses so why are the higher-ups still messing around here?!”
His partner shrugged. “Dunno, but we're getting paid, so…”
“Getting paid but our processors are getting fried! They won't pay for medical stuff!”
As the two discussed, a certain adult with three rabbit-themed students in white and blue snuck towards them.
“Man, screw this!” One of the Kaiser guards said, throwing his arms up. “I'm out of here when—” Before he could finish, a decent amount of voltage was suddenly injected into him from behind. His voice rattled as he convulsed in place.
“What the— where'd he—” The other one raised his gun in alert, but was stopped midway. Restrained by two pairs of arms, he was slammed down and rendered unconscious. When the electrocuted automaton fell, Sensei thumbed the switch of his shock baton. “Forgive me, men, I was in a rush and couldn't talk it out.” He said, sheathing his baton.
“So what now?” Saki asked, cautiously aiming her SMG in all directions. Scanning, her eyes sharp and senses sharper.
“Moe’s helicopter is at low fuel capacity.” Miyako said with a hand over her earpiece. “That and there is decent air defense around the base.”
“Then let's shut them down!” Saki said.
“After successfully evading everything on the way out? That's not something an operator would do.” Miyako replied dryly with a single raised eyebrow.
“W-well…I think...” Miyu meekly said, pointing a finger. “I think I saw a civilian car r-right there.” she pointed at the mess of military vehicles. A tint of blue among the armor and dull green.
“...I don’t see anything except APCs.” Saki narrowed her eyes. “You sure you see something, Miyu?”
“I-I um…”
“Trust your instincts. They often know the truth before your mind does." Sensei interjected before she could doubt herself, calloused fingers patted her shoulder, a gesture of pride that made Miyu freeze with a burning face.
“Let’s see it first, there’s no harm in checking it out.” He gestured lightly towards where Miyu had pointed. Among the wreck, hidden behind a large tank… was a single civilian car.
“Like I said, Miyu,” sensei smiled warmly. “Trust your instincts.” A slight pause as he turned and inspected the car closely. His old eyes observed the silvery race car with blue trailing accents further. “It should be able to run and start well, but, perhaps this is too much.”
“Wow… I thought this model was out of production.”
“They are… and only a handful of this model was ever made.” Miyako answered Saki’s question as her fingers brushed the blue hood.“That settles it. It'll be our getaway vehicle!” Miyako made her choice.
“Hehe… I shouldn't be anywhere near such a fancy thing.” Miyu muttered.
“I understand your fascination with the vehicle.” Sensei stroked his chin, fingers brushing his facial hair. “But wouldn't these armored ones be more suitable?” Sensei asked, gesturing towards the other vehicles.
“Yeah, but it's slow.” Saki said with a grin, pulling on the door handle only to not budge. “Ah, to heck with it!” She punched through the window as the alarms bellowed.
“Yes! More than that, the armored vehicles have Kaiser markings!” Miyako said, rushing inside the car and working on hot wiring it. “Moe would just blow us up.”
“But…” Sensei trailed off, quickly walking around the car and towards the driver's seat. “Such a luxury, I would…”
“Hostiles!” Miyu screamed upon catching sight of Kaiser soldiers rushing out the base entrance.
“Get in already!” Miyako ordered, shuffling out the driver's seat upon hearing the engine's rev. “Sensei, you drive! We'll hold them off!”
A firefight between the SRT students and the Kaiser soldiers ensued, bullets whizzing past them and occasionally flashing on the race car's surface. With no time for discussion, Sensei rushed into the seat, pulled the door close—calling for RABBIT Platoon to come in, and stomped his feet on the acceleration pedal.
The g-force pushed him deep into his seat, frantically moving the wheel as the car swerved—he tried desperately to balance its path into the road. The three students in the passenger seats swung left and right before he found balance and sped off.
“Ah, MY HELMET!” Saki screamed with her upper half out the window, crying out as she reached for the white helmet before it could fly away into neverland.
“GOT IT! Oh thank God…!”
“Nice catch.” Miyako sighed with relief, watching as Saki hugged her helmet, and donned it with pride. “With these records… there should be enough evidence against Chief Kaya.”
“U-Um! T-They’re—they’re chasing us!” Miyu pointed out, calling the rest of her friends to snap back into focus. Sensei adjusted the rear view mirror, and there it was.
Dozens of armored vehicles, some of which had auto cannons and turrets, and one truck with oversized sawblades and multiple exhausts breathing flames were rolling from the base.
“It's getting really mad here!” Hearing that, Sensei clumsily stomped harder—to the absolute max on the acceleration.
“Uweehh!” Miyu whimpered, covering her head as the car swished left and right, throwing her around.
“That's my car! That's my car!” A faint shout echoed but was generally unheard due to the wind's drag and howl. “I worked my rear off for that! Give it back! Give my baby Jimmy Gibs back you thieves!!”
“Worked it off? Haha! More like embezzled cash for it!” Saki shouted back to the distressed automaton with a mocking grin towards the truck's passenger.
“Saki, that's not how that works.”
“Who cares? He got it with corruption and that's all that matters!”
Finally, the Kaiser vehicles—pushing their engines to beyond its limits—somewhat caught up to the roaring race car.
“Trap him! Make him stop!” The garrison commander ordered through radio, guiding the truck driver's path for a better view. “And don't shoot my car!” Of course, that was most important. Sensei looked left and right at the armored vehicles slowly reaching to encase them. He looked at the mirror hoping he could decelerate and maneuver around them, but there was one behind the car.
“Nitro! Use the nitro, Sensei!” Miyako shouted as she fired through the window before reloading.
“I can't be looking away from the road, dear student of mine!” Sensei shot back. “You do it!” Out of his sight, Miyako nodded, and put down her rifle. The sounds of fiddling filled his ears.
“Three… two…ONE!” Miyako counted down, barely enough for anyone to prepare themselves before the already high g-forces rose and pushed to the mega, burying him deeper into his seat as the race car went faster than a speeding bullet, blurring the surroundings towards the city blurred into a kaleidoscope of colors and lines.
Viola was at the edge of her seat listening—making the story's images in her mind as Reisa walked into the room.
“Hey, hey Viola-chan!”
“Good morning, Reisa.”
“Ah, it's Sensei!” She said, catching sight of the TV. “Scoot over! I want to watch the interview too!”
In the city outskirts, people—animal people, automatons, and students alike chatted and walked as they normally did. Going on with their daily lives as they still had to pretend everything was the same. Except for the Kaiser PMC automatons, the mandatory ID checks every so often before they stopped.
“Did you hear that?”
"...Hear what?"
"That loud—"
The echoing beast-like rumble froze them for a moment upon feeling the shaking within themselves. A moment later, a silvery blue blur screamed through the air. Its shadow casted on the road, the onlookers watched with wide eyes and slacked jaws.
Finally, the car landed as Sensei and three-out-of-four of RABBIT Platoon bounced on their seats. It swerved again as Sensei struggled to control the wheel, the Kaiser pursuers slowly came close when the nitro was depleted, and he quickly adjusted to wear the seatbelt.
“What are they doing now?!” Saki pointed to their pursuers—the Kaiser soldiers standing atop their vehicles roofs. It seemed they were ready to jump.
“Ah… prepare to repel boarders!” Miyako ordered with some hesitation at the strange sight.
“Y-yes, Miyako!” Miyu said as she stuck her head out the window, aiming her shaking rifle at the coming Kaiser vehicles.
Saki and Miyako did the same, and all three fired—bullets bouncing off of the armored vehicles' hides with flashes.
“Sensei! Can't you drive any more steadily?!”
“I've never driven much before, especially this kind of a vehicle, Miyako!” Upon catching sight of the coming Kaiser borders, he turned the car away from it.
Upon making a sharp turn, one of the prepared jumpers made a leap of faith as the many wheels from many vehicles whined while drifting. For a fraction of a second, the Kaiser mercenary rethinks his decision, and his faith in the Machine Deity.
But faith had brought him this far.
THUD!
“Huh? What was—” Before Saki could finish her question, she felt a pair of cold metallic hands grab her from the window, tugging her close out to the road beyond.
“GYAHHH?!” Saki screamed, her legs flailing as the cold hands grasped her in an iron grip.
“WH- MIYU! M-MIYU! Shoot him off!” She shouted in horror, tossing her firearm aside as her focus changed from firing outside and held onto Saki's legs.
“I-I’M ON IT!” Miyu retracted her upper half from outside the window post-haste, no time to hesitate, no time to double think as she timed up and fired upwards into the roof. A loud bang that almost deafened Sensei as he flinched slightly from the noise.
Her bullet spun, piercing through the car’s roof. In a moment of silence, the automation’s thoughts zeroed in on the spinning bullet. Too close, too late as it pierced its heart, and went out of his back. Throwing him off the car roof as the light faded away, down to a roll, colliding with one of the other vehicles, ending in a grotesque mess of parts as whatever remained of his body skidded on the sidewalk.
“...Oof. Thanks guys.” Saki muttered as she was pulled back to the safety of the car.
“No problem.” Miyako nodded before gesturing. “Looks like we got to make sure no boarders will make it up.” she clicked her tongue. “Saki, are you still good?”
The helmeted RABBIT nodded. “Yeah, and I got a lot of beef waiting.” she clicked her firearm.
“Miyu?”
“I-I still got a lot of bullets.”
“Sensei?”
The adult nodded with a pained smile. “I’ll try not to crash. Good luck, young students of mine.”
“Rabbits, get them off us!” Miyako reloaded her firearm and peeked her head out of the car window and the rest followed shortly after. White hair fluttered in the wind, her hand gripping tight, eyes glaring ahead at the mercenaries—ready to jump, ready to shoot.
“Ah, to the scrapyard with this!” the garrison commander shouted in defeat. “Dammit, just ram the damn thing!” he barked reluctantly. “As long as the insides are fine, I can fix it!”
One of the pursuers swerved toward the race car, but Sensei narrowly avoided it by stomping on the brakes. The armored vehicle flipped over the pavement, flew through a nearby shop, and shattered the windows. Without missing a beat, Sensei slammed on the accelerator once more.
He felt a sudden jolt—the students jumped slightly from the force of a ram from behind.
“Sensei, to the right!” Miyako screamed, an empty magazine falling from her hands and crushed beneath the wheels of their pursuers.
“Mm!” Sensei followed, twisting the wheel aggressively just as the Kaiser-marked rammer sped toward the car’s side. The automaton driver and Sensei locked eyes—and optics—for a split second before a sudden explosion toppled the pursuing vehicle.
“Ahh, I should’ve packed more drones!” Miyako groaned, watching as the last of her drones sacrificed itself in a burst of steel and fire.
“Hehe! Then this is my time to shine!” Saki smirked, reaching into her pack and pulling out a whole mother load of grenades. “Here, take some!” She tossed the grenades to Miyako and Miyu.
“Thank you, Saki! On three!” Miyako called out, grasping a pin. The RABBITs followed her lead.
“ONE. TWO…”
“THREE!”
They each pulled the pins and flung their grenades toward the pursuers. Up they flew—then burst into explosions of fire and shrapnel, sending some of the vehicles skidding and others scrambling to regain control of their wheels.
“Hahaha! See that, Moe? Your rockets aren’t all that fancy!” Saki shouted to the air, puffing out her chest with pride before tossing more grenades to her friends. “Let’s wipe them out!”
The RABBITs didn’t waste the opening. Synchronized in their actions, they hurled grenade after grenade, striking more and more of the Kaiser pursuers. The vehicles turned to scrap, and the wreckage forced the surviving few to swerve and slow down.
But the truck—it simply smashed through the burning remains like they weren’t even there.
“YOU’LL PAY FOR THAT!”
“Guhh!” Miyu winced, curling up and raising her arms to shield her head.
“I knew he was corrupt, but ramming his own?!” Saki shouted in outrage. Sensei and Miyako merely grunted in response, too focused to speak.
Sensei’s hands clenched the steering wheel in a death grip, his knuckles turning white. His eyes stayed locked on the road ahead, forcing himself not to look away—not even for a second.
Then, finally—salvation.
The familiar blue-and-white helicopter of the RABBIT Platoon soared overhead, its pilot giggling with an intoxicated grin as she fired a salvo of rockets down on the remaining pursuers. A deafening cacophony followed.
Ignitions, blasts, and waves of flame and smoke roared behind them as the rockets engulfed the Kaiser's remaining vehicles. Their screams were swallowed by the flame, disappearing into the void.
“What’d you say about my babies, Saki?!” The pilot called through the comms smugly, even without her here the RABBITs could see her smiling.
“Oh, shaddap! Just keep ’em off us!” Saki snapped, puffing up but clearly relieved.
Sensei muttered a quiet thank-you to whatever higher power he still believed in before taking a deep breath. He repeated his mantra under his breath as he closed his eyes. His death grip on the wheel loosened, and he let instinct take over.
Guided by a pull only he understood, Sensei suddenly swerved to the right—just as the truck, or at least what was left of it, burst through the smoke and wreck. The jagged remnants of its oversized saw screeched against the race car’s side, flaring sparks into the air.
The RABBITs yelped as Sensei snapped his eyes open. A quick glance in the rearview mirror confirmed it—the garrison commander had taken the wheel of the mangled truck himself, and he was furious. Anticipating his next, rage-fueled move, Sensei eased off the accelerator. The car slowed, just in time for the truck to veer toward them.
With precision and calm, Sensei ducked low as the car slipped beneath the raised belly of the truck. The RABBITs held their breath watching as the truck skid, barely held by whatever infernal engine of rage fueling its path. Sensei and the RABBITs found themselves face-to-face with the relentless garrison commander. But before he could ram them again, a flashing armored vehicle slammed into the truck from the side—blue-and-red lights spinning, bearing the unmistakable Valkyrie insignia.
Seizing the opportunity, Sensei floored the gas pedal, and the race car surged ahead. Behind them, more Valkyrie-marked vehicles closed in, ramming the Kaiser truck from all angles until it was completely immobilized. Within moments, the garrison commander was yanked from the wreckage and arrested, clothes burned, metallic body cracked and leaking oil, and the chaos behind them finally beginning to settle.
“My car! Give me back my car! GIVE ME BACK MY BEAUTIFUL BABY!” he screamed as the Valkyrie students cuffed him and read him his rights.
Sensei allowed himself to finally… breathe as he drove toward the GSC building—with three out of four RABBIT Platoon members sitting in the car, Moe trailing above in her helicopter, and several Valkyrie patrol cars following closely behind, sirens blaring.
“Sensei, up front!” Miyako warned.
Sensei was too distracted to notice the mechanoid traffic enforcer until it was too late—he rammed into it.
“Oh… oh my.” Sensei blinked, and he made a quick mental note for prayer and meditation later for that. He’d apologize for the collateral damage later. Right now, he had to stop the Chief of Defense’s coup d’état.
Slamming on the brakes, the car skidded into a hard drift before screeching to a halt. RABBIT Platoon yanked open the door and rushed toward the building, while Moe unnecessarily unloaded the last of her rockets onto the road for dramatic effect.
Finally, the Valkyrie cars pulled up and the student officers poured out, charging after RABBIT into the GSC building to apprehend the belligerent Chief of Defense.
And the rest… was history.
“Afterward, Kaya was escorted out in handcuffs. For now, she's awaiting trial behind Valkyrie bars,” Sensei concluded his trip down memory lane with a nod.
But the press wasn’t satisfied—they hungered for more. As loud, overlapping questions flooded the air and camera flashes burst like fireworks, Sensei quickly muttered some customary excuses and waved his hand before making his exit.
“Hehe, something awesome always happens when Sensei's around,” Reisa giggled, while Viola blinked several times, struggling to make sense of such an absurd retelling.
“Um… he had to have overstated at least some of it, right?” Viola asked hesitantly.
Reisa shook her head. “Nope! Knowing him… he actually, probably had left some things out,” she hummed with a shrug. “Like that time when the sky turned red and monsters started coming.”
Her voice grew more excited. Viola froze at the description—one eerily similar to the Rapture.
“I was there, you know?” Reisa puffed out her chest with a proud, smug smirk. “I was part of the fire team that took on the really, really big robo-dragon.”
Once again, Viola blinked in disbelief as the colorfully-haired knight spoke with complete seriousness. She would’ve dismissed it as a tall tale, a made up story to make her seem cool—if this place wasn’t already brimming with absurdities.
And Reisa wasn't the kind of person to lie like that.
“W-well… that must've been… um, difficult,” Viola said with a smile, deciding to play along. “You're amazing!”
“Ehehe… um, well…” Reisa's smug expression shifted to a shy one as she looked away, scratching her cheek. “I was mostly just a distraction so the others could bring it down. They had the firepower—I was just the only one sturdy enough to withstand the laser breath.”
“But still, facing a dragon's fire…” Viola’s heart warmed with amazement as she tried to imagine it—her cheery knight shielding archers from a mechanical dragon. “To protect your fellows… you're the best and strongest knight there is! Like a knight of the Round Table!”
Gallant and pure—qualities that Uzawa Reisa certainly lived up to.
“Hehe… t-that’s… um… y-you really think so?” Reisa stammered, her shy smile deepening into a bright flush. Even the tips of her ears were glowing red.
“Yeah!” Viola said without hesitation.
Reisa couldn’t say anything more—she simply let herself melt into the bed, a goofy smile etched across her lips.
Then, a sudden buzz from her pocket snapped her out of it. She pulled out her phone and checked the screen.
“Ah, it’s time, Viola-chan.”
“F-for what?”
“For you to meet Sensei.”
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
Curtains Close
Scene Ends
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
THE MASTER FROM BEYOND THE STARS.
A DESTINY TO BE FULFILED.
The morning air bit into her skin as she shuddered lightly. Viola took her steps towards the looming building in front of her. Everything, all of it just seems so… intimidating. She had never seen a building this tall except in the books her father used to read to her at night.
Ba-dump.
There it is again, the ache in her heart as she goes to grasp the fabric of her dress Reisa picked for her, to stop the aching feeling… yet it did nothing to dim the rising flame and the worry of meeting such an incredible man.
Her hands tightened in Reisa’s grasp, and the superstar glanced at her. Looking at her worry, her fear, and her nervousness. Reisa squeezed her hand back. Giving the little witch a smile and a nod of confidence. Viola swallowed a lump as she met Reisa’s eyes.
She took a deep breath, and returned her slow nod. Letting herself to be supported by her as the duo walked in.
This person. This Sensei. Reisa, Miss Sakurako, Sister Mari, Big Sis Suzumi, and others she had met said the same thing. He was a good person. The one person to lean on if anything goes so south you don’t know what is up or down anymore. So there she is accompanied by one person she was truly hoping she would call her best friend. Her furnace heart sparked to life for a fraction of a second, lighting up the waiting dragon within her and sparking a chain reaction of her untapped potential. A reaction for the dread rising in her throat.
Crimson and golden sparks of flame leaked from her missing eye socket—basking her bandage, and staining it with her essence. She gripped the soggy bandage as the blood kept on dripping down from it and ran across her cheek.
Reisa squeezed her hand tighter before turning to wipe some of the leaking ichor with a handkerchief. “Viola-chan… if you’re not feeling up to it… we could… ask Sensei to reschedule?” Reisa’s voice was gentle, her concern clear.
Viola paused, her heart drumming hard in her chest. Then she shook her head. “N-No. I’ll… be brave.”
There was a flicker of doubt in Reisa’s eyes as she watched her friend. Yet… she respected her choice. “Okay. Just a little bit more.”
Reisa gave her a calming smile and gently squeezed her hand as they walked into the building. Everything blurred together after that—even stepping into the metal box that made Viola’s ears ring.Up and up they went, riding the elevator through countless floors until it finally dinged.
“We’re here, Viola-chan.” Reisa grinned lightly as she gestured to the double doors. With a knock and a push… the duo entered.
“Sensei, we’re here!” Reisa called out to the figure standing a few meters away, who was busy humming a small gentle tune as she led Viola into the room.
The man paused mid-motion, watering one of the many potted plants arranged neatly in every nook and cranny of the office. The air smelled of nature, fresh rain, and fragrant incense. There he was—the fabled teacher of SCHALE—standing in his full glory, turning to face them with a gentle, fatherly smile.
He had light skin, blue eyes that seemed to hold thousands of worlds behind them, and long, tidy brown hair that matched his neatly kept beard.
“Oh, you’re here, young Reisa, and Miss Williams, was it?” he said warmly.
Unlike the other adults Viola had encountered in Kivotos, Sensei was utterly different. Instead of a formal suit and tie, he wore a tan undertunic layered beneath a brown overtunic, paired with loose-fitting trousers that gave him a humble, almost monastic air.
It reminded her of the monks back at the church. Pilgrims.
“Young Reisa, would you wait for us for a moment?” Sensei asked, walking over to the knight and offering her his watering can. “And can you…?”
“O-of course!” Reisa nodded excitedly. “...Uhm, Viola-chan, I’ll be right here.” She turned to her friend, cradling the watering can in both hands as if it was something fragile and precious before she scampered off to water the rest of his plants.
“Follow me Miss Williams. It’ll be just a moment,” Sensei said with a gentle gesture, tucking his hands into the wide sleeves of his tunic.
He walked ahead of her patiently as he led Viola into the quiet sanctum of his meditation and council room—a place where students could speak their hearts without fear of judgment or prying ears. But Viola’s eyes kept drifting just slightly back to Reisa, who remained in the main office, patiently tending to the plants as she hummed a tune. He meticulously kept it so. Tending for them with care and love, every leaf and bloom saying his care and quiet discipline he had.
“Sit with me,” he said, settling onto a floor cushion. He gestured calmly to the one across from him. Between them sat a low table. On it, a teapot still steamed, releasing a delicate, fragrant aroma.
“I prepared this beforehand,” he said, pouring tea into the cups. “It’s one of my favorite blends from around here. A shame, really—I’ll probably never taste Sapir tea again in this lifetime... but this comes close to what I used to drink back in my homeland.”
His tone remained gentle, unhurried. Making small talk, allowing her space to breathe—before the real conversation would begin.
The green tea flowed smoothly, elegantly, as he poured her cup—then his own. The room felt almost like being outdoors. Dozens of potted flowers and leafy plants surrounded them, the air rich with the scent of petals and petrichor. It was as if the smell of rain followed him wherever he went.
“Have a taste,” Sensei offered, taking a sip from his cup.
Viola stared into hers, her gaze fixed on the calm, green surface. Her reflection wavered there—distorted, unfamiliar. Everything she once was… stolen. And deep within, the burning dragon stirred. Coiled in her chest, its breath grew hotter with every passing second, with every reminder of what she had lost—
“Miss Williams.”
His voice broke through the haze. Her remaining eye slowly lifted to meet his—those calm, azure eyes watching her carefully. Though serene, his face carried a quiet worry.
“You’re here with me,” he said softly. “In this place, this part of the world and the universe.” He straightened his pose. “Breathe in. Don’t think about anything just yet… Close your eyes.”
He closed his eyes, she hesitated—but followed.
“Count to five. Together.”
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
“Open your eyes.”
She did.
“Now,” he said gently, the smallest smile forming on his lips, “please—take a sip. It will help calm your thoughts.” He gestured again to the tea before them.
“I didn’t make it this far in life without tea… and tea wouldn’t have made it this far without me,” Sensei said, the corner of his mouth curling into a faint, self-aware smile. There was a quiet pride in it—not arrogance, just a light joke to ease the tension she had.
Viola let the moment sit in silence, she didn’t answer his jest, but her lips quirked up lightly before finally raising the cup, seemingly holding her smile. Her small hands trembled as they held it—still unsteady, but trying to keep it stable.
She brought it to her lips and took a small, cautious sip. Letting it linger in her tongue for a moment longer.
Not too bitter. Not too sweet. She thought for a moment of adding sugar—but somehow, it felt wrong. This tea was already enough. Natural. Gentle. Uncomplicated.
“…It’s… good,” she whispered.
“I’m glad you liked it,” Sensei said with a soft nod, taking one more sip from his own cup before gently setting it down.
“Can you tell me about yourself?” Sensei took the first step into the heart of the conversation.
“Um… myself?”
Sensei nodded. “Yes, just tell me anything you can think of. It doesn’t matter how trivial it is.” He gestured lightly. “Let’s start simple—about your childhood.”
Viola swallowed hard. Where should she start? There was so much to talk about—everything and nothing. Perhaps… she should start with her home.
Viola opened her lips, and without pause, the words came pouring out.
It was like she’d opened a dam. Like with Reisa—only deeper this time, fuller. She spoke and didn’t stop, she couldn’t.
Every story. Every memory. Every detail of her childhood in the village. The laughter of the other kids as they ran between the trees, the books she loved to read, the quiet wisdom of the old grandma who always spared time to bake for her and the other village kids.
And… her father.
His voice when he sang lullabies. The strength in his arms when he lifted her up into his shoulders. The way his smile made everything else melt away. The warmth of his bear hugs—wrapping her in so much love she was drowning in it.
She smiled through it—at first, lost in the flood of memory as it came back to her mind.
Then she stopped suddenly.
The silence that followed was thick and crushing, her smile faltered, twisted into something brittle and pained. Her shoulders shook. Her hands gripped her sleeves tightly, trying to anchor herself.
Her eye glistened, she tried to hold it back, but… it didn’t work.
The first tear spilled.
And another.
They slipped quietly down her cheeks—no sobbing, no outburst. Just the quiet pain and betrayal eating her heart. The crying of someone… that had been truly hurt. She would stammer at this. Just thinking about it.
Thinking, saying… her face. Her. Face.
Her shoulders shook again as the anguish turned to hate—then hate… into anger. The dragon stirred, boiling her blood as her lips curled into a scowl. Her grip on the cup tightened—tight enough to crack the ceramic.
Sensing this, Sensei spoke. “This thing… would you like to talk about it?”
Viola’s breath caught. She lowered the cup and stared down at her reflection again. She said nothing. But the boiling anger was still there, just beneath the surface. Sensei didn’t push. He watched her expression silently as she hesitated. Her knuckles whitened around the rim of the cup—before she finally set it down with care.
“…I…” Her voice cracked. “I was tricked… b-by someone I thought was my friend.”
Sensei nodded, his eyes locked to her, inviting her to go on.
“She…” The word caught in her throat, burning it with every syllable leaving it.
“She lied to me. She used me."
"She stole my body—she… she…!”
Her voice broke. Rage. Frustration. Despair. Hatred. All of it boiled up from deep inside her, uncoiling like a long-buried scream.
And the dragon awakened with an earth shattering roar.
“SHE STOLE MY LIFE AND EVERYTHING AWAY FROM ME!”
Her voice raised into a higher decibel than what a girl her age could’ve done. The room shook under the weight of her anger and frustration, yet sensei remained calm and seated. Steady against the storm of uncontrolled hatred.
“I THOUGHT SHE WAS MY FRIEND."
"I TRUSTED HER. I PITIED HER."
"I… I…”
Her eye socket burned bright as she grasped the soaking bandage covering it. Hot tears pricked from her remaining eye, and even hotter blood leaked through the bandage.
“...What did I do to deserve that? What did I do…”
She trembled, her fury not yet extinguished.
“…I want her to feel it. I want her to feel the same pain I felt.”
Silence. Sensei didn’t respond at first. He simply watched her with eyes like still water.
Then, calmly, he asked: “Do you truly wish for her to suffer? Do you want to burn her forever in retribution?”
Viola flinched at the words. But the fire inside her only flickered, no longer burning mighty… just… a whisper of what she unleashed.
“…Yes.”
“Do you want her to feel the pain you carry?”
“…Yes.”
“Do you hate her?”
The hatred surged again. Boiling her blood.
“…What is the point of this?”
Viola snapped, her remaining eye narrowed—glinting. But Sensei did not flinch.
“Do you hate her?” He repeated once more.
Viola’s gaze dropped to the tea. Her reflection wavered on the surface—distorted by tears and rage.
“…Isn’t it obvious?” she whispered. “I hate her. I really… really hate her.”
“Would seeing her suffer make you happy?”
Sensei’s voice remained soft—and that softness caught Viola off guard. Her breath hitched. Her one remaining eye widened as memories surged through her.
Ellen.
The quiet afternoons in the library. The peaceful hours spent tending the garden together. Just the two of them—talking, dreaming.
She remembered the day Ellen confided in her. The sickness. The fear in her eyes. The quiet desperation in her voice. And Viola—poor gullible, and good friend Viola—she ached for her. She wanted nothing more than for her friend to be happy.
…And then…
Viola’s fists clenched. Her trembling started again, as her body recoiled from the warmth of those memories—poisoned now by betrayal.
“Miss Williams… what you’re seeking will not bring back what you’ve lost.” Sensei spoke again, his words calm but piercing. Steady. “Seeing the one who betrayed you suffer… watching her fall to ruin at your feet… it will not calm the fire that burns in your heart.”
Viola said nothing. But her breath grew heavier as her body shook. Not from rage this time—but from something deeper. Something far harder to name.
He stood up from his seat, quiet steps guided him to the trembling girl. His hand grasping her shoulder in a firm, yet gentle touch.
“You will not find joy, Viola. Only hollowness will remain.” Then, with practiced care, he reached for the soaked bandage. Once white—now stained crimson, letting it fall to the floor.
His eyes both stared at her empty socket, raw and red with blood and tears, and the other—her remaining eye, dull gold, brimming with grief and pain.
“The only thing you can do is to let go.”
Her glare flared again as her socket burned. The fire in her heart, the furnace-dragon roared back to life. She wanted to shout, to scream, to burn. Yet Sensei didn’t waste a moment, he didn’t let her speak before she could scorch everything in her hate.
“I’m not asking you to forgive her. That’s your choice, and yours alone.” He squeezed her shoulder gently. “I’m simply asking you… to let go of your hate.”
Viola froze.
The fire within her heart didn’t go out—but it stopped spreading. The burning in her eyes calmed slightly for him to continue.
“I don’t know the full story,” he said, “but I do know… that this hate, this rage it’s eating you alive. It’s burning you from the inside out.”
“You can’t live like this, Viola.”
Laser focused, as he squeezed her again.
“Because if you do, if you let your anger… your hate controls you, forever would you walk in the dark.” a slight pause, letting her see the worry in his eyes. “And within that darkness…. you’ll never find happiness there but the ashes of your fire.”
His hand raised to wipe the blood on her cheek.
“So let go. Even if it takes weeks, months, years. Little by little let go of those emotions. You feel them because you’re human. It’s okay to hate. To scream. To rage.”
His voice didn’t waver as he gave her another smile.
“But never let them control you.”
Her furnace is slowly dimming, the dragon slowly came back down into the furnace.
“Within all that anger… that hate, that frustration, that despair…you are still bright. Still filled with so much love and life.”
A pause as he squeezed her shoulder for the last time.
“And life is far too beautiful to be ruled by the dark, don’t you think?”
He stood slowly, brushing the dust from his robes. Then turned and walked to a nearby flower pot, plucking a single beautiful flower he nurtured. Its petals a radiant mix of gold and violet, mixed together into a beautiful bloom.
He turned back to her, and offered it. She reached for the flower, her fingers brushing its soft petals. Her thoughts swirled, chaotic and tangled into a storm she couldn’t navigate. She didn’t even know which way was up and down anymore. Left, right, under, upper. All of it a swirl. A mess.
What did she want?
Her furnace heart ached to burn, the dragon waited restlessly, growling within to be unleashed—but her golden heart… what remained of “Viola Williams” wished for peace.
“...I don’t know if I can.” Her voice cracked as tears threatened to spill again.
Sensei’s expression didn’t falter. “Then I will teach you,” he said gently, kneeling down to her eye level, his smile calm and unwavering. “Bit by bit. Little by little. Even if it takes years.”
She blinked, a tear escaping down her cheek.
“...Why?”
A soft chuckle escaped him, warm and amused. He reached out and gently stroked her hair, like what her father had done a lifetime ago.
“What a silly question, young student of mine.”
He looked her in the eye. Genuine, and full of warmth.
“Because I'm your teacher.”
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
Curtains Close
Play Ends
⋅───⊱༺< ♰ >༻⊰───⋅
THE SIXTH PLAY ENDS HERE.
Some snazzy fanart by our reader,
@Pen the Ink Teller
And their Pixiv
Check them out!
Notes:
Dalubhasa A/N:
We're back, and yeah, that's about it. Not much to say this time aroundHellifrit A/N:
"Kept you guys waiting? Then keep waiting because cybertron is on hiatus now."Profum A/N:
Yeaahh nothing much to say too. Except to enjoy the fic! And... try to take a guess who sensei is. We've been leaving enough hints to who he is *wink*. See you on the next play!Send us your thoughts in the comments, or... join the discord.
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