Noelle finds an old game in the old storage of the Knights of Favonius.


AN: No beta we die like hilichurls.


"Good morning, Master Jean." Noelle came into the office. She went up to the middle right in front of Jean's desk. She bowed.

Jean smiled. "Good morning, Noelle," she set her stack of paperwork aside to greet the maid. "Come here for your tasks today?"

Noelle nodded. "Yes, please."

Jean drew out a paper from her desk drawer and neatly unfolded it. "Let's see here… you don't have that many today, just a handful."

"Aw."

Jean chuckled. "Only you, Noelle, would be dismayed with having little to do," she said. "Anyway, apart from the usual tasks such as cleaning, brushing, and all that, a part of the handful included in your tasks today are… cleaning the storage area." she raised an eyebrow to that as she read it.

"The storage? It has been a while since anyone has been there."

"Yes, and I imagine it would be really messy right now," she sighed. "I was going to do this myself. I don't know who put this in here. You can decline if you want-"

"Oh, please. I would love to," Noelle gave the acting grandmaster one of her signature smiles. "I can only imagine how busy you are, please let me take this off your hands."

Jean sighed. There was no use fighting Noelle about something she wanted to do. She had tried before, and it ended up just wasting her time.

Of course, she had won back then. But just when she thought she had convinced Noelle, she later found out that she had done so regardless of her words. From then on, she knew that the only thing that could stop Noelle from doing something she wanted was a direct and harsh order.

Thankfully, the things Noelle wanted to do were always mutually beneficial for everyone.

"Fine, if you really want to, then go ahead by all means."

"Thank you! I will do my best."

"I know you will. Besides, even if I told you not to clean it, you would do so anyway," Jean teased. "Am I correct?"

Noelle looked away with a shy smile, scratching her cheek.

Jean sighed once more, but she didn't bother to hide her smile. "Well, that's just one of your few tasks today. Are you ready to hear the others?"

Noelle nodded. If today was going to be a rather slow day in terms of what she could do, then perhaps she could take her time cleaning the storage more finely.

"Yes, please. I would love to hear the rest."


Dusty.

Very, dusty.

Noelle opened the door and turned on the lights in the storage room.

'Master Jean wanted to do this by herself?'

Shelves upon shelves, cabinets upon cabinets of miscellaneous junk. All covered in the same old dust that's been piling up for months.

How did they even have that much stuff to put in storage anyway?

Nevertheless, Noelle smiled. This would take longer than she thought, but it was no problem.

She didn't come alone in this endeavor.

◤I am detecting serious amounts of dust in this room.◢ Cookie chimed. ◤This room must've been left alone for quite some time. Cleaning it will be a high task.◢

Noelle chuckled. She then brought something from her skirt pocket.

A face mask.

◤Maestra Noelle?◢

Noelle had donned the face mask, yet Cookie could still see her smile from the way her eyes were shaped.

"Would you like one too?"

Cookie beeped orange. ◤What is that?◢

Noelle looked at the Roomba weirdly for a moment, until she remember who she was talking to. "Oh, right, my apologies," she cleared her throat. "This is a face mask. It is an object designed to keep airborne substances away from one's mouth and nose. Perfect for cleaning a dusty room like this, don't you think?"

◤I see, updating database…◢

While Cookie was doing that, Noelle brought inside all of her cleaning equipment.

"Well, we have a lot to do for this one room. But with the two of us, it should be done in a jiffy." She said.

◤Affirmative,◢ Cookie also brought her robotic limb. ◤Though I do have a question, Maestra Noelle.◢

"Go on." Noelle loved indulging Cookie's curiosity.

◤Why do people have storage rooms? Is it not better to simply throw away the unneeded things?"

Noelle put a hand on her chin. "Well, it's more of a temporary accommodation."

"Temporary?"

"Correct," she said. "People get storage rooms to put their old stuff into either help sort out their furniture or keep their home tidy. In our example, we use our storage room for… well, storing our old stuff. As for why we don't throw it, there is a saying that goes 'It is better to have it, and not need it, than need it and not have it."

Cookie glowed green. ◤Ah, I see.◢

Noelle nodded. "We've chatted for long enough, I think it's time we get to work, yes?"

◤Understood. Though, one more thing, Maestra Noelle?◢

"Yes?"

◤Can I also have a face mask?◢


"There we go. Nice and tidy!"

Cleaning the storage actually took a shorter time than they thought. The contents inside the boxes were untouched, and it was only the surface of their containers that they had to tidy up.

Though, Noelle couldn't resist sorting the old bookshelf in order. Sorted by genre, and alphabetically.

Not to mention there was Cookie…

◤HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Die, dust, die!◢

She was… enthusiastically eradicating the dirt and dust all around her. And having a good time too from the looks of it.

◤Yes, perish. Perish like the dust you are!◢

Noelle chose not to say anything and instead focused on placing the boxes and cabinets where they should be.

"Just a few more and we'll be done. And here I thought we would be here for a while." Noelle remarked.

◤Against us, the puny dust never stood a chance, Maestra Noelle,◢ Cookie brushed the walls rather enthusiastically. ◤All dirt shall perish!◢

Noelle sweatdropped. "Well… I'm happy you're very spirited."

◤I am grateful that Maestra Noelle invited me to this task. There is not much to do today.◢

Noelle raised an eyebrow. "Oh, is that so."

◤Affirmative. Even the other Maestro and Maestra have little to do.◢

And by other Maestro and Maestra, Cookie meant the other knights. "Is that so?" Noelle nodded along.

◤Before coming here, I heard them talk about what they could do to pass the time,◢ Cookie told her. ◤Safe to say, I do not think they have come up with an answer yet.◢

Noelle chuckled. "That seems to like them."

Perhaps later they could have some fun together? She had little to do as well.

Spending time with them was fun. It was always fun. Even if they hadn't been doing anything noteworthy, Noelle still felt that any time spent with them had her smiling from start to finish. She couldn't exactly explain it.

Noelle shook her head. She would have plenty of time to think on that later. For now, she still had a job to finish.

Yes, the room was clean. The smell of a stuck room was gone, the cobwebs were cleaned, and there was not a speck of dust to be seen in the area, but that was not enough for Noelle or Cookie.

They would not stop until they could see their own reflection on the tiles of the floor!

Deter she carried each box to their shelves, a stray case fell onto the ground. Brown in color, it looked similar to a briefcase, albeit small and slightly translucent.

"What is this?"

◤Maestra Noelle?◢

Noelle ignored Cookie's call in favor of the object she had dropped. She went over to grab it. "It's nothing, I just dropped something. Please don't mind me."

◤If Maestra Noelle says so,◢

As she held it in her hands, she observed its contents through the see-through case. A small assortment of white, rectangular tiles with small singular embedded circles ranging from one to six, with each tile being split in the middle with a line.

Intrigued, she looked at the box from all angles. And at the back, she saw a label.

'Domino?'


"Dominoes! Yes!"

Hertha held Noelle's hands in hers and jumped around excitedly.

"You are aware of this?" Noelle asked.

"Aware of it? Hell, I bought it!" Hertha all but dragged Noelle into the common room, with Cookie speeding right behind them. "Hey, guys!"

"Ahh!" Joyce, who had been idly bobbing his head while he sat down on the couch was surprised at Hertha's sudden appearance.

"What's up?" Bruce stood up from his chair and approached them.

Hertha put on a smug smile and put her hands on her waist. "Look what Noelle found!"

Bruce and Joyce's eyes narrowed, then their eyes widened as they saw what the maid held in her hands.

Salvation.

Their savior from their boredom.

The spark of joy they needed in this thing called life.

"Entertainment!" Joyce and Bruce exclaimed at the same time.

"Where did you get this?" Bruce asked.

Noelle pointed a finger to where she came from. "The storage room. It fell out of a box and I thought I'd bring it to you," she said. "Though, I never would've guessed that it was Miss Hertha's."

Joyce's eyes widened. "No way? That old box of dominos? This one looks like brand new though."

Noelle smiled. "I replaced the case and cleaned each tile. Thank you for noticing."

The three of them shared an awkward chuckle. Leave it to Noelle to even do something like that.

"Where's Huffman? Belinda?" Hertha looked around the common room.

Bruce shook his head. "They got called."

"For what?"

"How should I know?"

Hertha groaned. "Right, my bad. Shouldn't have asked you."

"That fruit's so low hanging I'm not even going to reach for it," Bruce chuckled. It seemed like that infuriated Hertha more, just as planned. "Anyway, are we going to play or what?"

"Oh, you're on!" Hertha all but stomped towards the coffee table as Joyce brought a couple of chairs closer.

As they sat down, Noelle simply looked at them with a smile, yet she made no move to join them or to leave.

"Come on, Noelle. Play with us," Hertha beckoned her. "You too, Cookie." Ever since they discovered that Cookie had a robotic limb, the activities they could do with her had increased.

Of course, there was that one time they played chess against Cookie. At first, Cookie had been so bad at it, until she got better after every game she lost.

Safe to say once Cookie won, she never lost again.

"You don't have anything urgent to do, right?" Hertha asked

Noelle shook her head. "No, I don't."

"Then come on! Just a couple of games. I promise it will be fun."

Noelle pursed her lips. "I… I don't know how to play."

"Pshh, is that all?" Hertha patted the chair next to her. "I'll teach you how to play. Both of you."

"I… I guess a couple of games wouldn't hurt." SHe didn't have urgent tasks to do, at least, until after lunch anyway. The most time-consuming thing in her schedule was cleaning the storage room.

Upon her agreement, the three cheered. Even Cookie made a party popper sound effect.

"Eyyy!"

"Alright! Game on."

"Thanks, Noelle! Come on, sit next to me, I'll teach you how to play."

Noelle did as she was told and sat down on the chair next to the coordinator.

A couple of games wouldn't hurt. Right?


She was wrong.

She was so, so very wrong.

This was just supposed to be an innocent, simple, and fun game with friends.

So why did everyone else, Cookie included, looked like they were an inch away from using the dominoes as slingshot bullets?!

Okay, okay. Let's go back a bit. Specifically when Noelle was learning how a game of Domino worked.

In a game of dominoes, each player is given a certain amount of tiles to work with as they start. In this case, they start with five tiles each. A tile is placed in the center of the middle to start the board, while the other pieces are off to a pile.

As a domino has two ends, one can simply match a number on either side of a domino to play. Only if said domino has both sides open. Nevertheless, the play never changes.

And if by some chance you do not have a numbered tile to match those on the board's ends? You draw from the pile and hope you can play it. If you don't, you skip the turn.

The rotation of the players is up to their preference. The first to run out of tiles wins.

Simple, right? Very very simple.

Now, where was Noelle again?

Oh right, the chaos that was unfurling in front of her.

Joyce and Bruce were glaring daggers at each other, Hertha was smiling devilishly at her tiles, while Cookie… well, she didn't make any expressions but judging from the red light coming from her, as well as the 7 tiles she still had left, she was not doing good at all.

"You put down that six on purpose, didn't you? You knew I didn't have any sixes."

"Look who's talking. Don't think I didn't notice you sneaking glances at my tiles, Bruce."

"Go on, fight, fight more and let this be my victory."

Noelle sweatdropped. She had no idea how it became like this all of a sudden. Though that didn't stop them from playing.

They had begun playing like normal just a few minutes ago. It was all fun and games. Suddenly, Bruce and Joyce had started a blood feud of their own.

Noelle sighed. Things could never be simpler with these people, not even simple games.

Or so she says, but the smile never left her face.

As she put down one of her tiles, she suddenly noticed something.

"Uh… yes? Do you need something?"

They were all staring at her blankly. Had she done something wrong? No, she hadn't. She had just been playing as usual.

She raised an eyebrow and followed their gaze down onto her tiles in waiting-

'Wait…'

Confused, she looked under the table, down her chair, and even behind her altogether.

Noelle let out a chuckle. There was only one explanation for this. She was out of tiles to play, therefore…

"Oh, I won."


After the game, Noelle had just barely managed to escape the clutches of the salty players and went back to doing her duties for that day.

She hadn't had lunch yet, but she would have it right after cleaning this one room, or so she says.

Nevertheless, the domino game was fun, even with the rather abrupt change in atmosphere in the latter half of the game.

Things got intense, to say the least.

Noelle passed by the storage area, feeling proud that it wasn't as dirty as it was a few hours ago anymore. But as she did, she couldn't help but wonder.

What other things could be inside the room? What other wonders could be found?

The storage room was where most of the junk or yearly decorations they had would be put. But it was also where most of their junk was in too when they didn't bother throwing them or thought they would need them sometime in the future.

It was a room filled with mostly junk no one needed, but who knows?

Maybe someone's trash would be another person's treasure.


AN: Bit of a shorter chapter this time around, my apologies. Been busy this week, not to mention I got another fic I'm working on for a particular character's birthday. So please bear with me for a bit.

PS. This was inspired by something that happened to me about three days ago, assuming I would post this on time.