Hello all! I took a day off, but here's a new update! I've finally reached the 10th chapter, counting the prologue chapter! A great accomplishment! A long chapter for you all! Now, onwards to the 9th chapter! Enjoy!
Chapter 9 – The second hindrance of Lumina
-That night-
Claire's P.O.V
As my father said, or to be more precise, demanded, I'm confined to my room. This is going to be very boring! The maid came in and served me dinner, she waited for me to finish, then took out the eaten dished, leaving me alone in my room. After an hour or so passed, I heard a light knock at my balcony door. I turned around to see Cliff standing there. Delighted, I quickly went and opened the door for him, but made sure to keep as quiet as possible, else my father or servants might find out.
"Hey there, am I late?" he asked.
"No, I so glad you came. Though, I was the one who told you to come. Do you remember what I said today?"
"About Lumina?"
"Yes, as I feared, the bad feeling I had was true, and now I can't go to school anymore."
"What? Why?!"
"Shh! I can't explain all the details, here (I handed him a letter). This letter contains all the information you and the others will ask for. And, it seems we won't be seeing each other much now, the others too, huh." I said, looking downcast.
"… Hey, don't make that face. I can always visit you every night."
"Oh no, it'd be too troublesome for you!"
"Then once every two weeks?"
"Cliff-!"
"It's alright! I'm up for it anyway. Besides, you might want to hear from the others as well."
"Sigh, if you insist.", I smiled. He's being so considerate as usual.
"Thank you. Anyway, I'll take my leave, for now. I'll hand this letter to the others. See you in two weeks!" he said, then he disappeared down the balcony.
I sure hope everything will go well with the others at least.
Normal P.O.V
-The next day, Secret Base-
"So, what did you want to talk to us about?" Vaughn asked Cliff.
"Is this about Claire?" Chelsea enquired.
"Yes, last night, I visited her, and she told me to give this to you." Cliff answered.
"A letter? More importantly, you went there again? Cliff, you're becoming so bold!" Chelsea teased.
"It's not like that! S-she told me to come, that's all!" Cliff retorted, slightly blushing.
"Yeah, yeah. Well then, let's see what this letter says. Hmm…", Chelsea began to read out the letter.
"To my dear friends of the Secret Base. I am writing this to tell you some bad news. It seems we were being spied on by Lumina through a spy camera and the events of the game we held yesterday were taken on camera. Lumina showed a picture of me and Cliff playing that game and she had shown it to my father. He became so furious that he banned me from going to school. I am very sorry that I won't be able to assist you on your search for a while. Do forgive me. And may I ask for a selfish request? I really want you all to continue the search, even if I'm not there. Though I won't be surprised if you all stop the search, I'm such a bad and useless friend after all. From, Claire."
"Spied on?!" Jack exclaimed.
"Hey! I fount it! The spy cam! It was hidden right under our noses all this time!" Skye exclaimed, taking out the camera from a pile of carbon boxes in the upper shelf.
"Fufufu, it seems you've finally found the camera I've hidden in your room."
"That voice-!" Jill said.
The door opened, "Yes, you are right. It is I, Lumina! But you discovered that a step too late! Claire's already under the protection of her father anyway!" Lumina stated.
"You! Why would you do such a thing!?" Chelsea shouted.
"Haven't I said this before? I'm only helping Uncle Regison keep his daughter at bay." Lumina answered.
"But helping him like this and doing this to Claire is-!" Jill was cut off.
" 'Unforgivable'?, 'Cruel'?, 'not right'?. Call it what you may. You don't understand how rich people raise their children anyway. For a commoner like you, this might seem wrong. But for us, this is something of an everyday occurrence. The rich were never meant to mingle with the common folks anyway."
"Lumina, I think you've said enough." Skye said.
"Oh! My dear Skye, you just don't understand, do you? No matter, I'll have to force you to understand someday. That the rich can do so much more, than the commoners!" Lumina exclaimed, then left the room, but a question was bugging her head, 'how did they get that letter from Claire? I have to find out!'
"Hah! Whatever! She may have taken the first step! But we won't stop with our search! Am I right?" Chelsea asked.
"You bet we aren't! We wont be stopped in our tracks by her! Not one bit!" Jill agreed, having a natural hatred for the girl, Lumina.
The others too agreed Chelsea's declaration, and resolved to find the Saibaras no matter what.
-One week later-
Claire's P.O.V
Just another week, then Cliff will come again, I can't wait! Father kept true to his word, I never once left my room. Even for breakfast, lunch, dinner and sometimes supper, never. I also study by myself, when I have nothing to do. Being in this room all alone is not half-bad. But I do miss my friends at school.
It's already night time, and I am preparing to go to bed. Suddenly, there came a light knock on my balcony door. That's strange, I thought as I looked over.
"! Cliff!?", I ran over to the door, letting him in.
"Hey there, princess!"
"I told you not to call me that, geez! But, what brings you here? You're not supposed to come until next week!"
"Yeah, well. The others wanted me to inform you about something."
"About what?"
"We finished searching the three streets and-"
"And?"
"We didn't find the Saibaras at all…"
"I see.."
"But, to take a load off our backs for a while, Chelsea and the others proposed a trip. A hiking trip, to be more precise. Tomorrow's a holiday after all"
"That sounds fun. Wish I could go as well."
"We,, that's what I came here for. The others, including me, wants you to come as well."
"Huh? But Cliff, I'm not able to get out from my room, remember? And even if I do try to sneak out of the room, I'll be seen by the servants. It'd be ever worse if my father saw me!"
"Hey, we have a secret door in and out of your compound, right?"
"You mean-"
"Yep, you can sneak out through there."
"But climbing out my balcony sounds a little too dangerous."
"Don't worry, have you forgotten? You and I used to do so many crazy stunts when we were kids. WE even got one of your servants chasing after us!"
"Yeah, I do remember… Okay, I'll come. Wait for me tomorrow."
"Great! Then, see you tomorrow! Bye!"
We waved our goodbyes and he left the room. I went to bed right after, I can't wait for tomorrow… Wait, I didn't ask where we're going to go for this hiking trip!
-The next day
"Princess, I shall take my leave now."
"Yes, oh. One question, is my father going to work as well today?"
"Yes, princess. He left early in the morning."
"I understand. You may go. Thank you."
The maid left, now I'm finally alone. Cliff must be arriving soon, so I need to get ready. I took out some clothes from my wardrobe. A blue t-shirt, knee length trousers, high top converse and tied my hair up in a ponytail. I looked at myself in the mirror, good, I'm ready! And just in time too! Cliff was at my balcony. I ran out and he signaled for me to follow him. He jumped down the balcony, grabbing the nearby tree branches to swing himself to safety. I looked down, it was a long way down. I gulped, how can I do this? Then, Cliff signaled me and assured me that he would catch me. I felt a little relieved. So, putting my faith on Cliff, I jumped. A closed my eyes as I felt the force of gravity work on my body, but I was safely caught in the arms of Cliff. We looked at each other for a while, then, realized the situation we were in and quickly got apart, our cheeks burning a deep red.
"A-alright, now that you're here, let's go." Cliff said, still blushing.
"Y-yeah!"
We both went out through the secret entrance, then went to Aja's winery.
"Huh? This is-"
"Yes, your aunt Manna's shop. The others are waiting inside."
We entered the shop and before I could react to the others, Chelsea hugged me tightly and exclaimed, "Claire! I missed you! We all missed you so!"
"Yeah, I miss you guys too."
"My my, Claire, it's good to see you again." Manna said.
"Hello, aunt Manna! It's been a while!"
"It sure has. And it seems you've really made friends now, they care for you so much. They came here before when you were forcefully brought home by your father's guards, and we got acquainted then. And today too, they all waited for you here. We had a few conversations before you arrived, and they all said they really cared for you." Manna chattered.
"Hehe, yeah, well, you're our friend after all." Chelsea said.
"Hey Cliff, nothing happened when you retrieved Claire, right?" Jack asked.
"N-nothing happened at all!" we both exclaimed, our cheeks both pink in embarrassment.
"Huh, well that's okay then, if the guards didn't spot you. You both didn't need to retort so quickly… Or is it that something DID happen between you two~?" Jack teased.
"No!" we both shouted.
"Jack, I think that's enough teasing." Mary said.
"If you're going all going to chatter all day here, I'm leaving first." Vaughn said.
"Wait, wait! We're coming!" Chelsea exclaimed, running after him.
It seems we're going hiking on Mother's Hill. One of the mountains surrounding Flower Valley Kingdom. They say that there are vast flower fields near the top. So the others decided to go and see the flowers while they're blooming. We talked as we hiked up, the scenic view is magnificent, this is the first time I went on a scenic hike like this. Soon, we reached our destination, the flower field. The open plains were adorned with flowers of different sizes and colours. It was beautiful!
"Oh my! This is beautiful! Chelsea, Chelsea, let's go and take a closer look at all those flowers!" I said, I was so excited to see all those flowers up close.
"Alright, let me unpack first. You guys, could you find a spot to sit and relax?"
"Sure, leave it to us!" Jill said, then me and Chelsea went towards the flowers.
Normal P.O.V
"Claire seems to be enjoying this." Mary said.
"Yes, because this is the first time she even went out to another place other than her schools, and the first time she ever went out with friends." Cliff answered.
"You're kidding, you mean she hasn't even once stepped foot outside by herself?" Jill asked, shocked.
"Yes, when we were kids, she and I used to ask for permission to go to fields like this, but her father always refused. Instead, he let us play in the backyard. So this is the first time she's experienced a hike like this." Cliff said.
"Man, that's boring!" Jack said.
"Hmp, it was always like that when I started to work in their estate anyway." Skye commented.
"Speaking of that, Skye, you don't work in their house regularly?" Jack asked.
"Yeah, well, only some days. I take a one day off then work the next day, then take another day off, like that. So I'm not a regular worked like the others."
"What made you work there anyway?" Jill asked.
"Well… Let's just say I'm doing this for Claire's sake, and mine."
"Claire's?" Jill asked.
"You ask too many questions." Skye said, flicking her forehead.
After spending three hours in the field, playing around, looking at the flowers, relaxing and having conversations, the group decided to go back. On approaching the school from Sunny Street, they took the roundabout way home, they passed by Haila's café. Chelsea looked inside the café as she passed, then spotted a familiar figure.
"Claire! Lumina alert! Hurry up and hide!" she whispered-shouted.
"Let's go!" Cliff said, as he took Claire's hand and ran ahead.
Meanwhile, inside the café, Lumina was drinking tea and relaxing, when she turned her head to look at people passing by, she saw a glimpse of what seemed to be Claire. Shocked, she ran out the shop and saw the others.
"Oh, you there! Was, by any chance, Claire with you?" she asked.
Jill turned around to answer, "No. Why would Claire be with us? Have you forgotten that she's locked up in her room thanks to you?"
"I know. Was just making sure, you can go now. Shoo, shoo."
Lumina then made her way back to the café, but she remembered something as she talked to the others, thinking back on the members present, Cliff was not there! Which means-
"Claire was there!"
Lumina rushed to the Regison mansion.
Claire's P.O.V
Cliff and I ran all the way back to my house, we entered though the secret entrance and helped me up the balcony.
"Thank you so much for escorting me, Cliff."
"You're welcome."
"I sure hope Lumina didn't spot me…"
"I don't think so, Chelsea gave us the signal right away anyway. And we ran as fast as we could from then."
"Yeah. Anyway, I had fun today. I'm really happy that you took me there."
"Hey, it wasn't just me, the others wanted you there as well."
"Yeah, but you were always by my side one way or another. Even when I'm locked in my room, you came just to see me. So, thank you."
I walked closer to him, he looked really flustered.
"C-Claire?"
This is now or never! I leaned closer to him and kissed his cheeks. I took a step back, thanked him again and ran inside the room. That was so embarrassing!
Normal P.O.V
Cliff was taken off guard by Claire's actions. His cheeks burned a deep crimson as he played back the event that happened, then he too proceeded to head back out.
Unbeknown to them, a pair of eyes were watching their every move.
"Fufufu, I have you now, Cliff!" Lumina said, as she watched him disappear amongst the bushes. "Now I just have to wait for you here and catch you red-handed."
-A week later-
Claire was in her balcony, she was waiting for a certain brunette. Though she was still embarrassed about what she did to him.
"A kiss! Though it's in the cheeks and all, but that's still so embarrassing!" she mentally shouted.
Soon, she saw the person she was waiting for, Cliff. She beamed as she saw him make his way up the balcony.
"What are you doing out here? Isn't it cold?" he asked.
"No, I was just wai-… L-looking at the stars, right!"
"Oh."
"Anyway, any leads so far?"
"No, not yet, we're still doing our best though."
"I understand… A-about what happened last time, I-"
"It's okay. It caught me off guard, but… I… I kinda l-liked it…" he said, blushing.
Suddenly, Claire's main room door opened. They turned around in alarm and saw Claire's father and Lumina.
"See, uncle Regison? He's trying to steal your daughter!"
"Father!"
Haha! Cliffhanger! Now, what will Claire's father do to them both? Find out on the next chapter. Until then, see you!