Chapter 28: Lazy Wonder
So apparently baths are just beds filled with water, except the cushion was made out of ceramic.
Well at least that's what my skin felt, as Cynthia asked me to shut down my vision sense before drowning me in water and soap.
But at least she only drowned me temporarily before rubbing me with soap, even if I noticed she usually stopped each time she approached one of the areas where my scars were. She usually spent less time rubbing these parts too but for the rest, she made sure that any grain of dirt was washed. Well except for my waist for some reason, apparently it was Pandora who covered it, but I don't understand why he did this. But I think Cynthia did, she did complain to Pandora that she wasn't a pervert…
…now I just need to know what a pervert is supposed to be.
The longest part was probably my hair, as I heard her grumbling multiple times about how careless I was with them and that it was a wonder she was able to identify them as white.
The only thing she didn't dare to touch was my blindfold, most probably because Pandora prohibited her from even putting her hand near it.
But except that, everything had gone well, my skin just stung a lot after some soap pushed through it, but except that it was fine, I even smelled better now.
Afterward, she gave me a pair of clothes that were apparently my clothes before chasing me off her bathroom to take her own bath and something about needing to clean the whole tub because of how dirty it became.
I immediately wore my clothes before restoring my sight to look at myself and immediately noticed some difference in my appearance.
It seemed that Cynthia used the opportunity to not only clean my hair but also to comb them. So instead of being scattered in all senses in an uneven pattern, my hair was now all brought down to form a pixie cut. Of course I wasn't able to cut my hair since my birth, so it wasn't perfect, but it was a vast improvement compared to what I usually had.
Also, my hair now looked much more white than before, as if they really rejected any colour from stopping their domination.
But it wasn't only my hair that was cleaned, all of my body was now free of impurity and could now show its paleness to the world. But the biggest change was that I escaped from the scent of dry blood that was impregnated on my body.
After inspecting my hair and my body, I looked down to see the uniform, apparently, every student would be mandated from wearing them during class, and fault for doing that would lead to punishment.
Of course no one was forced to wear it right now, but according to Cynthia, my other outfit was not appropriate, she forced me to wear the uniform for the lack of other clothes.
The uniform was actually pretty basic, with two variations that we were allowed to wear.
One was a black shirt with a golden line crossing the whole outfit in two separate lines starting from the collar until the pants. The sleeves were the only other part that was golden, but instead of a modest line, the whole arm set was covered in the colour of gold. On the back of the shirt was the school logo splattered in a big format. The smaller version was also on the front right over where our heart should be.
We were also given the option to wear a blazer right over it that had a similar design with long sleeve instead of short one, except that those stayed black with once again the exception of a golden line passing through it. It was also for this reason that I decided to wear it despite the blazer only being recommended to be worn for the season of winter, as it was the only way for me to hide the scar on my arm.
The same logic applied when I decided to wear their long pant instead of their shorts, which were as unremarkable as the blazer but still had golden lines on the side that allowed a perfect continuation from those at the top.
My new look did make me feel uncomfortable, as I was more used to wearing white clothes, and also the feeling of long pants on my leg was a novel feeling that I wasn't sure that I liked.
I only wore some shorth under my kimono before, so this new format made my leg feel more detained than before. At least Joy was able to heal me, or else my wound would probably make me feel more pain.
After making sure I was fully dressed, I moved back to our living room. Currently, there was only Mina in there, and it seemed as if she was currently sleeping on the sofa, with saliva leaving out of her mouth.
The rest of the dorm was probably in their room getting prepared to leave, or maybe regaining some sleep they lost over Cynthia's antic.
Speaking of those, it seems someone put back all the chairs where they should have been, so I didn't have to put them back.
Well if I'm about to wait for them to be ready, I wonder what I could do then.
I briefly considered just putting my brain in quiet mode to make me not even realize that time has passed, but decided against it. Living is now more enjoyable, I don't want to miss a single second of it.
So instead, I looked at my wrist to inspect the pokemon who made his home here.
He probably noticed that I looked at him, as he slowly left the coating around my hand to appear in his normal appearance.
As when I met him, he was trembling on my arm to the point he wouldn't be surprised if he transformed back to his bracelet form.
"So… what's your name?" I asked him out of curiosity.
Noticing my question, the pokemon stopped trembling and started speaking in a weird tone. "MyMY-_-_--_M_-_-YMy N@±M£ !S w@S @r£ Meltan." Each word he said sounded like they came from different distorted voices with the only one sounding normal being the last one, which I correctly interpreted as being his name. Not like I had a hard time understanding the rest of his speech, it sounds pretty normal compared to the one Pandora used when I first met him.
But if I remember well, that was the name that Geeta used about their species, not his actual name. Pandora also introduced himself as a Mimikyu, but it was the name he was bestowed, not the one he identified himself as. "I was asking what was your personal name, do you have one?"
The meltan seemed to freeze at my question, before having a seizure on my hand. "Mymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymymmy n@±m¤££¢?!"
Oh, that must mean he doesn't have a name…poor him, everyone should deserve a name. Even my progenitor believed I deserved a name, and he also believed I was cursed.
So the Meltan must be even more cursed to not even have one.
Maybe I should give one?
…no, he doesn't deserve to be named by me, he didn't do anything wrong after all.
Then what else should I…
"Are you fine?" A feminine voice filled with concern called to me, making Pandora look up to see Mina still lying on the sofa, but with her eyes open this time. She was still clearly tired, but she still made the effort to stand straighter on the couch.
"Hmmm? Yes I am, I was just trying to talk with…" I wanted to point toward my Meltan, but it seemed he decided to retreat back into his bracelet from the moment he left my vision.
Oh no, now she probably thinks I'm crazy.
I thought as I slowly raised my head toward her, but she still seemed concerned to me.
"Wait, I was just trying to talk with Meltan, I'm not mad, nor do I have voices inside my head that I talk to." I tried to justify myself, but it appeared to be useless.
"Well I wouldn't blame you for becoming crazy if I was in your situation, I can't really tolerate pain you see, and yet you just got your chest obliterated. So I couldn't really believe the dragon maniac when she told me you were already back…but sincerely I would have hoped she was wrong."
I lowered my head in sadness. "So…you preferred to not see me?"
Why am I even asking, of course that this is what happening, what other reason could it be?
"What? No, in fact, you really look like a good portrait, I will use you later on if you don't mind. I already found the name, leukophilia." She said this with a calmer smile, but she frowned when she saw what I was wearing. "Hmm, well what you're wearing does clash with the title, but I can we can do with it…or how comfortable are you with nude modelling, I feel like it would really make it more alive."
Eh? Portrait?
…she wants to paint me?
She wants to make my body into art?
…is she crazy?
"…stupid Mina…that not how you're supposed to start a conversation…" She hit herself in the head before her tired eyebrow shined with excitation. "Oh I know, how much do you like malasada?"
…Malasada? What is that?
Before I could even question her more about it, she reached for her back where her bag was situated. "Here! A malasada as a gift! I hope it will make your miserable first day better, and I also hope it means we can be friends." She said while handing me a brown galette, but I didn't focus on that.
…friend?!! Did she just say she wanted to be friends!? "You want to be friends with me?"
"Eh? Well yes, you look like a sympathetic guy…and according to the color I can see from your emotion…this is probably the best thing I could give you right now."
I was truly happy to hear that, but I calmed myself before agreeing to fast to her proposition. "…what do you want in exchange?" She talked earlier about painting me, but I don't think this is enough to establish a friendship.
"…well I don't really want anything out of that…I don't know from where you're from…but in Alola we don't need anything in exchange to form a friendship."
Does she want to play the long game? Well then I will just try to extract some information from her, but I guess I could give her my information too."…I'm from Danu."
"Oh cool." Was what she responded with a thumb up, before looking at me awkwardly. "Actually I don't know…where is Danu?"
"…We're on Danu."
"…oh that's cool." She nodded for some seconds without even seeming concerned about what she just learned.
Troublesome, she doesn't seem interested in inform…
I was interrupted by my thoughts as Mina leaned the malasada closer to my mouth.
"So…do you want it…if you don't want it I can eat it too…"
I completely forgot about that! Wait, is this what she wants from me?
…I gazed at her eye and it looked like she really wanted me to eat the malasada…maybe it just tasted really bad.
I took the sweet from her hand, which drew an expression of joy on her face, but it returned to anticipation when she waited for me to take the first bite.
Well for a new friend, this does seem rather cheap, it can't be worse than the taste of the revival herb…I think…I don't remember how it tasted, just that it tasted really bad.
I opened my mouth meekly and took a single bite out of it.
MMMMH! IT'S GOOD!!!
HMMM!? There is cream in the middle! SWEET CREAM!
Nom nom nom nom!
Why does everyone here want to give me sweets in exchange for my friendship?! Is this the common sense of this world?! Maybe this world isn't that bad then.
I've rapidly bitten until half of the dessert, before giving the other half to Pandora who simply took it before putting it under his hood.
"Yes, you really look better in yellow…even if a little too much white surrounding it."
I looked up and remembered that Mina was right beside me with a smile on her face, but it soon turned into a disappointed brow.
Oh no, did I do something wrong?!
…AH! I don't have anything to compensate her for the sweet! Did she expect something?!
"I'm…I'm sorry…I…I will find something sweet…" I looked around for anything that could substitute, before remembering I still had a bag full of berries from before Volo took me.
So I looked toward Pandora who already understood what I wanted as he handed me a white bag. I thanked him before opening the bag to reveal…
…oh no…
…The berries have spoiled.
"What is this?" I was startled by Mina's voice as she leaned over to look at the unrecognizable berries that were now covered by white foam.
I wanted to hide it so she wouldn't get offended that I dared to think I wanted to offer her this as a gift, but it was already too late, and trying to hide it would probably be more insulting to her.
But as I looked into her eyes, I only saw wonder. "Wow, this just gave me so much inspiration! A death fruit given held by a being even whiten that it wrecked skin, there so much emotion I can put behind it!"
…I suppose I do look like this old berry, death, rotten, filthy, trash…these are all words that can also be used to describe me.
Realising what she just said, Mina's eyes widened before apologizing. "Oh…now your color is blue…that bad…why are you…oh…right…I kinda insulted you…my bad."
…if she apologizes it means she actually didn't believe it…I think that's how it works…but she was still right…but there is one thing that does bother me.
"What do you mean I'm becoming blue?"
"Eh…oh yeah, that's just my esper power…fairy type if I recall well…I think I was a rank 2…or maybe it was something else…was it 3?" Mina massaged her chin as if it was truly a hard concept to remember. "No…it was fairy type…wait, that wasn't what I wanted to remember."
"Oh…and it allows you to see colour?"
Well that's a boring power, I'm also able to do the same thing, and I'm pretty sure it's the same for everyone…or is it?
But my theory was soon destroyed by Mina. "No…not that, it's just that contrary to other people, I can see how other people feel depending on the colour that surrounds them." She pointed at me as an example. "Like for you, you're covered by white, with just a little tiny hue of others colours over your skin, like for now it a really pale yellow…which I believe is curiosity…but I have absolutely no idea what the white mean…or do I? Maybe I just forgot about it…is orange even curiosity? I think it can also be greed…or was envy?" Mina slowly deviated from the original meaning of the conversation without even realizing it, but I still listened to her, after all hearing someone talking without hating me was a new experience for me, and a pleasant one. Especially when my ears were no longer ringing in pain.
"Let's see, blue is sadness…red is anger, yellow is sadness…no, I already said sadness…and why would sadness be yellow? Actually, why would it even be that, who decided that each colour represents what emotion…"
"I believe it is your brain who does this type of association by itself, as different colours activate different parts of the brain, which all lead to different emotions."
Mina looked at me in shock. "Oh…wait, you were actually listening to what I said."
"Yes…isn't that why people talk, so someone can listen to it?"
"I…I suppose… it's just that usually people stop listening to me in the middle because they find what I'm saying to be useless or too off-topic." She said awkwardly before looking at me with a smile. "So…thanks for listening to me." She said shyly while playing with her hair.
…I see, so everyone surrounding her were actually very bad listeners, and what she wants is someone to actually listen to her! I just have to offer my ear then. "I will listen to you as much as you desire!"
"… that's cool…thanks little man."
…what does she mean I'm little? I'm not little…why would I be little, I'm bigger than Pandora after all!
…of course he is also smaller than most people…but…uh…but…euuuuh…it doesn't matter!!!
"Are you ready Luciel?" I sudden voice appeared in my ear, so I turned back to look at Cynthia whose shining smile could only be compared to her glowing blond hair and her pristine skin. I didn't even notice her coming here… that's weird, usually Pandora is looking out for that…so how…
…oh…he was distracted by the malasada taste wasn't he.
"Kyu! (No I'm not!)" Pandora tries to defend himself with still piece of the sweet still in his formless mouth.
Cynthia threw a confused glance at Pandora, before hunching her shoulder and looking over to Mina with unease. "…did you forget to wash herself? You still have paint on your face." Cynthia said while gesturing to the giant line of pink pain that covered her face.
Mina's eyes slowly widened as she touched her face before chuckling. "Hahaha…no, that's actually a scar an alpha Grafaifai put onto me when I was a child. I thought it would be a nice pokemon to have, because you see, I was one of the rare people in my village who liked pokemon, and I also liked to paint. This is why I thought that a Shroodle would make a good friend…but apparently it was guarded by its leader. At least I was lucky that it was the colour pink, just imagine if it was green, I would have to change my whole wardrobe…but I guess it did hurt a lot…but it did make a nice painting, I called it Painful Beauty. Sadly I wasn't able to bring it here, because no one actually thought I would be able to make it…should I feel offended by that? I think I should…what do you think?" Mina rambled a lot, but I still understood everything she meant…I'm not sure I can say the same about Cynthia who looked completely lost.
"Grafaifai…you mean the weird pokemon from Paldea whose saliva resembles a lot like paint, but could be more considered like acid?" Cynthia said pensively, not even addressing the rest of Mina's speech. "Eh, I guess that explains it, but I didn't know even the colour stayed after your skin melted under the poison."
If I had eyes, I would have widened them to show how shocked I was. "Are you hurt?!"
She looked confused, but she still responded to me. "Well it did hurt a lot when I received the wound…but now I just have to put cream over it and it calms down."
"Oh…it must be really painful…I'm sorry you have to go through that."
For some reason, Cynthia looked at me with a weird expression when I said that, constantly exchanging looks between me and Mina before resigning in only sighing.
Mina noticed Cynthia's expression, but she didn't understand why she made it. "Is…is there something I missed."
Cynthia threw a gaze at me before approaching Mina and leaning toward her ear.
Whatever she said, I couldn't hear it, but it did result in Mina's face constantly changing constantly to confusion, sadness, anger, and compassion until she settled down onto with concern.
I wonder what Cynthia told her to make Mina react like that.
But I didn't have the opportunity to wonder more about it, as I saw Allister leave his room wearing the school uniform, he also added the school blazer like me, but it seemed he settled down for the shorts instead.
Immediately after, it was Clair who left her room, but she was wearing the same suit as usual, except this time it looked like her hair was glowing even more.
Cynthia also noticed the change in her hair and threw a knowing smirk at her. "I see you decided to take a shower in the end. Did you finally notice the wisdom behind my words?"
Clair scoffed in derision before walking toward us. "I only took one because I needed something to wake me up to stay up for the rest of the day." Clair tried to justify herself, but the smug on Cynthia's face proved that she didn't believe a single word that left the draconian mouth.
Spotting that, Clair scorned toward Cynthia as if to tell her to dare to mock her about it.
Of course it was useless toward Cynthia, but her hunger for food was greater than her love to pester Clair, so she gave up on pestering her more.
Instead, she looked toward Allister who approached us more quietly and nodded. "I suppose Bea will wait for us at the cafeteria?"
Allister looked up, surprised for being called, but he still had enough bravery to answer. "It…it will be more us waiting for us…she hasn't answered my call yet…she's probably still sleeping…"
Cynthia frowned at his answer, which made Allister more nervous, but she ended up hunching her shoulder. "Alright, we will hope she answers, at worst she can join us later." Cynthia looked toward Clair to see if she had any problem with this agreement, but Clair wasn't even looking at their reaction, which told her more than enough.
She then looked at me, before quickly diverting them as my answer would be obvious. But before she could tell us that it was time to go, Cynthia remembered that there was now one more member in our group. "What about you…Mina, do you have any problem with this arrangement?" Cynthia spoke in another language so Mina could understand her, which strangely sounded more cheerful than the other.
Mina's head snapped up toward Cynthia as if she was caught up daydreaming, before absently nodding. "Yeah sure, I have no problem with…that…thing?" Cynthia furrowed her brow, which made Mina's eye dart to the side to try and remember what was the earlier conversation. "So…just in case…not that I forgot about it or anything…"
But of course her excuse didn't work on Cynthia, but if she minded, she didn't show it. "Sure, we were talking about going shopping for more clothes for Luciel and Allister, but Allister wants to wait for his friend, so I was wondering if it would bother you to wait together." Cynthia said but still made a quick inspection of the clothes Mina was currently wearing, and easily noticed how her shirt was completely covered in paint, but it was so impregnated on her clothes that either this was just the design of the shirt, or she never washed it since she got it. "Well I guess at least you wouldn't mind having new clothes either."
Mina blinked rapidly, probably hoping that she would be able to digest better the information she just got. "Ah…well my answer doesn't change then…not that it had any reason to change…because I already understood the first time…"
"Great, then it means we can go now." Cynthia said cheerfully while walking toward the door of our dorm.
With the exception of Clair, the rest of us walked behind Cynthia.
"Why is she the one leading the march?" Clair crumbled, before accelerating her step to make sure she stood in front of Cynthia.
Cynthia noticed her antique and didn't let it go as easily as she proceeded to run toward the door.
…what a silly game they are playing…they will both arrive at the same place.
I thought as I watched Clair also running toward the door toward Cynthia's provocation, which resulted in each other colliding with each other.
"Watch where you're going!" Cynthia screamed as she prepared her pokeball.
"Oh I did want to look in front of me, but sadly my eyes were blinded by the ugliest creature they ever had the misfortune to gaze upon." Clair replied sharply, but contrary to Cynthia, she didn't dare start a fight.
Not like it mattered anyway, as I simply walked in front of them and opened the door myself before walking away.
Mina followed my lead without bothering to look behind her, but Allister did. "We…we will wait for you at the cafeteria….you two can fight each other in the meantime." He quickly said in embarrassment before running behind me.
Cynthia and Clair both looked dumbfounded at the situation and gazed at each other before coughing in their hand in embarrassment. However, of course they didn't assume their fault and just decided to ignore each other and act as if nothing happened.
With everyone else walking behind me, we soon arrived at the common hall where we could see Morty standing in the middle of the room right below the only light.
It seems they didn't consider 6 am to be morning here, as the rest of the light was still giving away moonlight.
As I inspected Morty, I noticed that both of his eyes were completely white, as if his iris disappeared from his eye. It was to the point where I already assumed he was dead. But I was proved wrong the moment we stood near him, as his eye transformed back to normal. "Hi kids, what are you all doing so soon in the morning? Don't you have dreams to do?"
What's a dream?
"What the point of dreaming, I prefer to make them real!" Cynthia said with confidence.
"Oh I remember you, apparently you caused a big mess yesterday…please don't do it again, it already is a big bother." Morty winced while caressing his eyebags.
"Sure weird man, by the way, also, do you happen to know if we're too early for the cafeteria."
Morty made the motion to think by taking hold of his chin, before suddenly glowing a purple hue and his iris disappeared from his eye. But as soon as it started, it finished as quickly. "Yup, it seems Saguaro was so excited that he prepared some sandwich too early, so you will have something to eat today. But just so you know, usually the kitchen staff are only ready to serve at 7 am, so don't come too early next time and appreciate the sleep your young age allows you." He said his last sentence dreamily.
"How old are you?" Clair asked after starting to get irritated by the constantly called young by someone who seemingly looked as old as them.
"How rude, what didn't they tell you anything about respecting your elders?"
"Sure, they taught me how to not respect them." Cynthia intervened with a smirk.
"…they really teach anything to these kids these days." Morty said in disappointment before waving us off and returning to his earlier state.
Taking this as a victory, Clair bombed her chest, and together we moved toward the cafeteria.