Chapter 14: How to Be a Vigilant

Beep! Beep! Beep! Rin jumps awake, then falls out of bed and onto soft, plush carpet. Springing to her feet, she looks frantically around the room for an alarm clock to turn off, but can find none.

"What time is it?" Haruhi asks with a groan, sitting up in bed.

"Like I would know" Rin growls. Being awakened so abruptly immediately sent her into a bad mood.

"Do you think this is Melissa-senpai's doing?" Haruhi yawns as the noise continues.

"Probably is. Who else would it be?"

After a few more minutes, the beeping stops. With a sigh of relief, Haruhi gets out of bed and drags herself into the bathroom.

"Girls?" Rin groans; the muffled voice coming from the other side of the door belonged to Melissa.

"What?" Rin snarls.

"Are you both up?"

"What do you think?!"

"Oh, good!" Melissa sounds cheerful. "In your respective dresser, you'll find some clothes. Thanks to Chiyo's perfect eye for measurements and fashion, I was able to secure stuff for everyone. Please change into the vigilance uniform, which will be located in the top left drawer, then come down to breakfast. It will start at 6:00 sharp, so don't be late!"

"What time is it now?" Rin calls through the door.

"5:15. You have forty-five minutes to get ready. See you soon!" Rin can hear Melissa's footsteps walk down the hall as she knocks on other doors and relays the same message to everyone.

"What was that all about?" Haruhi asks, coming out of the bathroom.

"Melissa, letting us know we have uniforms to wear."

"Oh?" The two girls head over to a different dresser; one has a card that read "Rin" on the top, while the other said "Haruhi".

"Top left drawer" Rin says, opening it.

"A girl's uniform" Haruhi comments, lifting out a short, burgundy skirt with a crocheted, floral design. "Doesn't really matter to me one way or the other. Just wonder how everyone else is doing."

"These are so cute!" Suzume exclaims, lifting out the girls uniform in her drawer.

"Melissa does have good taste in fashion" Chiyo remarks, holding up a sleeveless white button-up top with a large, handkerchief ruffle at the neck.

"And the buttons are pretty" Kazumi says softly, gently fingering the burgundy blazer-type jacket in the drawer.

"Look! Black, knee-high stockings!" Suzume gushes, eyes shining with excitement.

Chiyo pulls a face. "It's a good thing Melissa has common sense. If she hadn't supplied us with black shorts to go underneath the skirts, I can't imagine what fighting for us would be like."

"I kind of look like Melissa, don't I?" Suzume stands in front of the mirror, turning from side to side. "I mean, I have the stockings, and the skirt." She flashes a peace sign at her reflection.

"See? I can even act like her!"

"But, what about shoes?" Kazumi suddenly asks.

"Maybe they're by the door?" Chiyo suggests. The girls make their way to the bedroom door and sure enough, there's a small, rectangular, black-painted chest. Chiyo opens the lid to reveal three pairs of black, lace-up, high-heeled boots. Suzume puts a pair on and pulls the zipper on the side of the boot.

"A perfect fit!" She exclaims. The boot stopped about three inches above her ankle.

"Well," Chiyo says, fixating the uniform's burgundy bow in her hair, "shall we go?"

"Well, they certainly are interesting" Kazuki comments and he and Masato look inside their respective drawers.

"Ridiculous" Masato scoffs.

"Whatever." Kazuki puts on the pair of slender, black jeans, then buttons up the white dress shirt. Masato follows his example, but stops short at the sight of the 'coat'.

"I'm not wearing this" he says bluntly, holding it up with ill-disguised distain.

"You can't not wear it" Kazuki responds, slipping his on.

"I'm not wearing this" Masato repeats, a little more forcibly.

"You probably should."

"I won't."

"Melissa will have to punish you if you don't."

Pause. "Fine."

"Kyoya, is this right?" Tamaki asks, fidgeting with the silver cuff-links.

"Yes, Tamaki. It's correct" Kyoya says with a sigh, smoothing out the lapels of his own, burgundy jacket. "Although, I do wonder if it's possible that Melissa's more profligate than you."

It was less of a suit coat and more of a blazer-like jacket. The lapels had white trim, and and the buttons had a pearl-like shine. There were breast pockets, and cuff buttons as well.

"I personally think these uniforms are quite splendid" Tamaki responds, putting on the burgundy tie, then loosening it as Melissa had instructed.

Kyoya smirks. "Well you, of all people, would think so."

"I look ridiculous" Ryuu grumbles, looking at himself in the mirror.

"Pfft" Satoru laughs. "At least we won't be the only guys wearing this stuff."

"I look like a monster" Ryuu says, running his hand through the black, red-dipped spikes on his head. "Who mixes punk with elegance, huh?"

"Apparently, Melissa does." Satoru chuckles again. "At least we know the girls will probably look good!"

Ryuu grins. "Like Suzume?"

Satoru's cheeks turn pink. "Get off" he teases, shoving Ryuu in the shoulder. Ryuu chuckles as the two guy pull on their new boots and head downstairs.

"Hikaru! Don't leave me!" Kaoru whines as Hikaru quickly laces up his pair of combat boots.

"Hurry up!" Hikaru says from his kneeling position on the floor. "We don't want to be late."

"I am hurrying!"

"C'mon guys!" Says a voice from the other side of the door. "Everyone's waiting for you!"

"D**n it" Hikaru hisses under his breath. He quickly finishes tying his boots as Kaoru joins him by the door.

"There you are!" Melissa says with a smile; she was wearing the same uniform as the other girls, but her hair was what caught the twins' attention. It was no longer down past her shoulders. Now, it was cut to a bob that stopped just underneath her chin. The burgundy hair bow was pinned on the left side of her hair.

"Stop your staring and get a move on!" She laughs, getting behind them and pushing them into the hall and towards the stairs. The twins look at each other and shrug; they might as well go along with what she said.

After breakfast (and after everyone had gotten over the initial shock of her new haircut), Melissa leads the group up to the second floor and into a large room. It almost looked like a ballroom, except for the folding chairs and large, roll-away whiteboard in the middle of the floor.

"Take a seat" she instructs, moving over to the board. Once everyone was comfortable, she continues, "today, you will learn how to be a vigilant."

Melissa stops and surveys the group. "I can guess that many of you are skeptical about the uniforms; they're not permanent. At least, not looking like that. They were what I had on hand, because they're what many of our intellectual trainees choose to wear. If you notice, the girls' uniforms are fashioned after my own. The males are fashioned after Conrad's, but he isn't here right now."

"Anyway," she says, taking a deep breath, "the first step to becoming one of my vigilants is to embrace who you are. That means, since I'll be sending you out on a high-level mission, you'll be ranked higher than our other trainees, and therefore, have an even higher responsibility to grasp your true personality than our regulars. Kyla, Raina, if you will." Everyone turns to see the dark-skinned strategist and light brunnette battle gear designer walk in.

Kyla still wore the white, burgundy, and black color scheme, but her uniform was nothing like Melissa's. Instead, she simply wore the white top without the coat, a pair of long, burgundy jeans, and black high-tops. Raina, on the other hand, wore the white top, tucked into a pair of high-waisted, black shorts, black thigh-high stockings, and a pair of black, high-tops with the burgundy jacket.

"As you can see" Melissa says, "their outfits reflect their personalities and styles. I give all trainees the same uniform and instruct them to re-design it into however they choose. But, as I stated earlier, yours must be especially dedicated to you. Chiyo," the fashion designer sits a little straighter, "will you please come up to the front of the room?" Chiyo nods, then walks up to stand on the other side of the whiteboard.

"Notice" Melissa says, "how the outfit almost looks childish on her. Now," she hands a black dry-erase marker to Chiyo. "Re-design the uniform to fit your tastes."

Facing the whiteboard, Chiyo looks contemplatively up at the empty space before popping the lid off the marker and drawing furiously. Pretty soon, a full-body fashion sketch appears on the board.

"See? This is much more suited to Chiyo" Melissa says, then to her friend, "you may be seated."

"You got that down, right?" Melissa then asks, turning to Kyla.

"You bet."

"Alright then." Melissa claps her hands together. "Please see Kyla and Raina once you have an idea on how you would like to re-design your uniform, and they will sketch it until it is to your satisfaction. Once that is done, they will take your uniforms and sew them. During that time, you may change into casual clothes and explore the Estate."

"Okay!" Everyone says. Melissa watches with a smile as everyone gravitates towards her two friends. While it was true that she had her trainees re-design their uniforms, she didn't usually push the importance of individuality; not unless she could tell a specific new recruit was a little less than sure of themselves.

Daichi had entrusted his daughter in Melissa's care to help bring her out. This was only just another step in Melissa's plan to pull the girl out of her comfort zone, and yet another chance for her to discover who she really was.

"Don't worry, Daichi" Melissa says under her breath. "I won't fail you."

I will most likely be drawing pictures of my OCs wearing both the original and their re-created uniforms, and then posting them on PaigeeWorld. Be sure to check those out.

Review! What do you think of Melissa's way of handling her vigilance so far?

~ Melissa-Disney99