"And… well… yeah, I think that's abouuut it—"
Sitting on his somewhat pleasant bed, Nox held two poker cards in his hand. Sadly, he had no enthusiasm for the game today, the thought of falling back and letting sleep take hold of him all too alluring.
He was in no position to do so, however. Of course, he wasn't.
He had ridden himself into the shit thoroughly.
To add on, sleeping in front of the pretty companion of his, staring holes into him with varying intensity, wasn't quite proper.
At the moment, her mouth was hidden behind two cards of her own, not giving Nox many ways to read her thoughts.
Her arms folded, as she usually did when annoyed, the purple-lipped companion of his looked him up and down repeatedly, a skeptical expression on her face at least judging from the eyes, the awkwardness palpable in the air, growing with every silent second.
´Look, she seems to be fine. Dont worry too much and simply confide in others! I told you it would work.´
I told you so? Was this really the time to throw an "I told you so" in my face?!
Trying his best to suppress a scoff at the naive-sounding voice randomly whispering into his ear, Noctis couldn't suppress the thought. This guy is awful. He's like the annoying guy at work you try to stay away from, but still goes to you repeatedly, not taking a hint. No, this is worse, considering I have no idea how to get rid of him. Is he able to listen to my thoughts? He should be sitting somewhere in my soul after all.
Nah… Soul and mind are connected, but the mind is on the outer layer surrounding the soul. It's unlikely that the guy can read my thoughts. Then what is he doing up there!?
Hearing the uneven, ever-changing tapping sound of Trisha's finger hitting her arm, fall silent, Nox's eyes that were wandering everywhere, sometimes landing on the cards placed directly before his mouth, hiding his expression from Trisha, sometimes to other parts of the room.
Everywhere, really, with the sole exception of Trisha's eyes, avoiding her gaze, pugnacious like the plague.
This is the most awkward and longest silence I have ever had to endure.
Looking at the cards in his hand, wanting to take his mind off the matter.
It did not work.
How is it possible to have such an awful hand repeatedly!?
He had nine of spades and three of clubs, a truly atrocious hand.
Normally, silence was welcomed during a game by Nox, since Trisha usualy tried to play her tricks with every word she spoke, but this was just awful. Every normally tranquil second of silence felt like a silent mockery. Release meeee!
"Soo….."
Hearing her "So", Noctis's frantic search for a distraction of sorts stopped, his eyes stopping on the puppet lying there defenselessly on his desk, the desk hidden behind a wooden table on which five cards were lying, three of them already revealed.
The desk, the slim figure of a beautiful young woman was leaning against, casually going through his stuff.
Following his gaze to the figure just next to her, she continued in a flat tone, picking up the wooden doll as she did so, a bit of amusement flickering in her unusually solemn gaze.
Maybe at the motion that he was playing around with such toys, in his free time. Making such a judgment, not knowing that the playing around was VERY serious training, not in the least, goofing off. How dare she!
Continuing in an even tone.
She flipped one of the cards that had yet to be revealed from a deck, laying bare a cross nine.
Not showing the slightest fluctuation in his expression, he was, however, internally pleased.
The other cards are a heart nine, a jack of hearts, and a seven of hearts.
His hand had just turned from atrocious to acceptable. The first acceptable hand he had gotten the entire day, he'd be damed to fold again!
"So, just to put it all together.
First of all, yesterday, when you were acting all dum—… strange, it was because you activated your ability, or to be precise, the negative effect of activating it, right?"
Nodd, Nodd.
Her voice started to sound a bit brittle, even strained, raising a bit.
"Through that ability, you saw that Raef is chomping on other students and somehow manipulating them, maybe the teacher as well.
And of course, you'd rather not reveal your ability. "
Nodd, Nodd.
Then she got even louder, at the cusp of yelling at him, while Nox simply said, his face straight, "Rais."
Adding half a drop to the other half, risking a total of an entire drop.
"To top it all off, a black lumpy monster is somewhere in this school wandering the halls. IS That Correct?"
Her voice dripped a bit with resignation as she spoke the latter words.
"Hm… Yeah, when you say it like that, it seems a bit made up. But I'm certain it's true, even that last part. I'm not entirely sure about how the black squid came into the school, but I'm almost certain Raef brought it in. That disgusting fiend!"
Drifting off in a bit of a distant tone, during the later part of his sentence, very similar to Trisha, he thought of something to add on, to banish the awkward tension.
"If you don't believe, you can simply wait for the next class. Elisa should no longer show up. Well, Aderson will probably say that he is moving on to work for the government, where he'll then promptly disappear, honorably on duty."
Letting the words sink in for a few moments, Trisha responded in a more relaxed tone than he had expected.
The calm elegance baffled, completely out of tune with the entire situation and her earlier reactions.
"I just had to make sure that I understood correctly, oh, and."
Glancing at her cards.
"I raise."
As she slid her Curir forward, her eyes locked on him. "If, and I mean if that's true, what would you want to do now, and did you leave any evidence behind that would lead back to you?"
Elegantly, flipping the next and last card, a satisfied expression appeared on her face as she continued, laying her cards face down. Letting Nox lament her words for a few moments, she pushed her vile-filled with three drops rolling forward in response, landing in the middle of the shabby table. She was going all in.
Thinking for a moment, a picture of a black, fleshy tumor shortly came to mind, crawling out of his mouth and then speedily making its retreat, leaving a black line of mucus behind. The image was quickly suppressed in the deepest depths of his consciousness, the memory unwelcome, the black string above pulsating whenever he thought too deeply.
It—That thing shouldn't get caught, right? After all, its senses were fine enough to notice my killing intent. And in the end, it has nothing to do with me. It's Raef's pet. Exactly everything is Raef's fault!
"Maybe, I'm unsure if my ability leaves anything behind….
As for how to proceed… can't I just work on leaving this god-forsaken place and have Raef never notice me again?"
"And… leave him to his own devices?"
"I would never!"
Swithing of with his gaze, Nox quickly looked for an excuse.
"The teachers aren't a reliable help, so when I work off the time at the government, I'd just tell someone there. Nice and simple. While I'm officially required to serve some time for them, it's the perfect chance to find someone higher up and pass on what I've seen. It's a lot safer than trying to talk to anyone here, since they're less likely to be under Raef's thumb or manipulated like the teachers. Plus, once I'm with the government, I'm out of Raef's immediate reach. That way, I can warn them without putting myself directly in the line of fire."
Ignoring the thought of the people who would suffer in the meantime, this would work at least somewhat.
Looking him up and down with an evaluating gaze, clearly noting his desire to distance himself from the afair, Trisha let out a resigned sigh.
Looks like she agrees with how to proceed.
Well, she had no suicidal desire either, so she couldn't complain, right?
Holding the wooden doll by the cross, she was slowly making it move, with a thoughtful expression on her face, clearly waiting for him to respond to her going all in.
"You're saying that we should let him rage across the academy until you can go to someone safe?"
"…—yeeesss. I'm all in."
Hearing the unconvincing, dragged-out yes coming from Nox, her expression relaxed completely.
At the same time, he pushed forward his Curir as well.
"It should work. Getting out of here is actually quite easy, as long as nothing unforeseen happens in the near future…."
Launching into a lengthy explanation with a lot of enthusiasm.
Did she enjoy teaching?
Listening attentively, Nox grew a bit confused as she continued, interjecting carefully, still digesting that Trisha simply swallowed all of the info, not questioning the sanity of Nox at all.
Was she so certain of her evaluation of Nox?
"If it's so easy, why haven't you graduated yet?"
Throwing out his cards, he had a four of a kind, a confidante smile on his lips, which were now fully revealed. His hand was ready to take both Curirs.
Thrisha stopped her explanation, throwing him a look that showed little of her emotions, but it did give off a certain message, maybe about the game or their discussion, making Nox stop in his tracks. ´Are you dumb, can't you imagine?` Continuing in a bit of a belittling tone.
"What would be the point?
I get to learn in peace, I get a weekly allowance, and I get a place to stay.
Who would want to leave this place, just to become a meat shield of the government?"
For a moment, Nox was at a loss for words.
She sounds like a slacker!
She wasn't wrong, but still! After all, Noctis himself had entertained such thoughts, but he didn't go through with it!
She is worse, even, trying to take all the benefits while giving nothing!
Ignoring the thought of her purposefully lazing around in her room, doing nothing, and getting paid for it, he heard her speak again, her lazy, laid-back tone returning.
"Well, now that such problems are arising, it seems more enjoyable to leave the place.
We should probably wait a day or two. It would be suspicious as hell if we left right after Elisa disappeared, right?"
A bit overwhelmed by Trisha planning out the future, fully on board with him.
"If I remember right, the old guy will have to leave soon. We should slip between the cracks, going with him.
hm… Why are you so silent?"
Noticing Nox's confused silence, she asked about it directly, just as she usually did.
"Why are you so sure about this? Why are you simply going along with it? This is completely abnormal!"
Looking at him again with a far too relaxed smile, Trisha answered.
"One should sometimes just go with the flow."
Then she slammed down her hand, two cards revealing themselves. A wide, diabolical grin on her lips.
A straight flush.
How unlucky!
Crouching down near a puddle of a black, inky-like substance, a sizzling sound was emitted from it.
Anderson, a scholarly-looking man with gold-rimmed glasses and fitting gray gloves, crouched near a puddle of black, inky-like substance. He was rubbing something between his thumb and index finger, and the black sticky substance caught between them. At the same time, he traced a long trail of ink with his amethyst green eyes, another spark of green flashing atop the already green aesthetic from time to time.
A green light seemed to flash throughout his eyrises for a moment before being suppressed, clarity returning to them.
Standing up, Anderson muttered out loud, seemingly to himself. His tone was grave.
"How did a void creature get in here? Did someone succumb to the call? In such a short succession?"