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... I... I-I didn't have the intention... th-that tile was absolutely needed by Hunley… I would never stand in my friend's way… I-I never imagine a possible motive to do so! Please, you have to believe me!
Mirii's hands were resting on a wooden, circular witness stand: her eyebrows were up, sweat was slowly sliding down from her forehead.
I was holding the tile… suddenly, a terrifying being appeared on it! I threw the tile out of pure terror! There was nothing I could do… before I know it, the tile was already destroyed!
Different Inklings with their faces covered in the dark were standing still, each group either on the left or the right side. All their arms were stretching down.
Interrogate my friends, Chie or even some of the previous people me and Hunley met: I have no motive! It was a pure accident! An accident I couldn't predict!
An Inkling man wearing a flattened-like hat had his face covered in darkness.
Mirii Kelpshell… after analyzing your thoughts, it's pretty clear you have no malicious intentions in the regards of our Masters and the rest of the Shrine. Despite this, the court cannot accept your apologizes: the Watching Tile was a rare tool, forged by the best artisans this Shrine could have.
Hun dashes, stopping and frowning a lot while gritting his teeth.
Accept her apologizes! That tool can't be compared to something even more important… for example, the life of an innocent Squid!
The man stands up, standing still with his arms down.
Master, the Watching Tile is used to save innocents… without it, our job becomes drastically harder. It must be restored as quickly as possible, so we will resume our job faster.
Then leave Mirii alone! She can't do anything about it, anyway!
The man's left hand rose a wooden hammer.
You are wrong, Master… a mortal, who ruins a sacred tool belonging to the Shrine, is forced to repair or reconstruct said tool… and this isn't just our opinion: such procedure is written in the Shrine's Book of Law, which it must be respected and followed without any complains. There is the Shrine people's Seal of Trust on its cover, after all… that's all it needs to be said.
The hammer rose.
Mirii Kelpshell, in quality of the Shrine Judge, I order you to restore the Watching Tile by the next month. If you attempt to escape or interfere more into the Shrine's matters, you will be called once again in front of me where I'll decide which type of punishment you will receive…
The hammer strikes on the counter.
…
…
…
"… getting out of that room… with a punishment on my back… … I'm regretting so, so much for being the inattentive Squid I was just recently…" Mirii's head was lowered down. "… I don't want to be punished… I have a brilliant reputation to keep it up… I have different things to do… this tile doesn't really regard me… this tile doesn't even deserve all this needless attention: Hunley declared to not be interested in that…"
Her fists clenched.
"It saves innocents…? Bah! It's not all that important… there are plenty of tools who can do that…" Her eyebrows lowered. "Me and Hunley don't even need that many tools to save a city… and with me forced to reconstruct a tool, this will do nothing but get in our way of justice! Those laws must be changed at all costs: they are worthless as ones, acting more like obstacles to innocent and honest Squids… they are even, completely obsolete! THEY ARE RUBBISH!"
Her fists slammed on her legs.
"… this is not fair… there is a dangerous project who menaces the lives of every living creature… and what I am doing? Building back a tool which only few people would ever use… no guarantee those said people are that honest to begin with."
Her head shakes.
"… sigh… enough complaining, otherwise I'll never kick away this rage passing through my veins. I'm a smart person, after all… now, it's time to stand up and solve this problem in front of me: I do not intend carrying a massive boulder of debt behind my back."
The girl stands up, as she starts walking towards the shoji.
"… if I can open this shoji, that would mean 20 minutes have passed." Her right hand slides the shoji to the side. "As I suspected…" She starts walking for a bit. "Now, the best way to start up my perfection seeker session is to gather as much information as possible, in order to reconstruct the tile as perfectly as possible."
"Mirii!" Hun dashes towards the girl, stopping in front of her and smiling. "I have some great news!" He nods, while closing his eyes. "I managed to postpone a bit the moment where you start building the tile back, so we can take that holiday together with our friends!"
"Nice!" Mirii smiles widely, as her eyes closed. "I knew your intelligence would have done something about this, considering the creative and logical potentials."
Hun blushes while chuckling.
"Thank you, Mirii." His eyes opened. "Although, I couldn't do anything about taking off that punishment: there is a deciding system where the Master's role is only advisory…" His eyebrows went up, his mouth downturned. "There are other powers me and my sister have, but none of them were of any use in that situation…"
He bends forward.
"I really tried to cancel the punishment… you don't deserve it, Mirii! It was all an accident, as you said! Despite my tries, no one could listen to me…" His head lowered. "… right now I'm looking for Chie: she will definitively help me to get my hands on that book!"
"You mean, the Book of Law…?" Mirii's head rose.
"Yes! I want to get that book… and modify it with my sister!" He frowns a bit, nodding. "Its rules are catastrophic for the so called mortals, especially that one where you are forced to stay for 20 minutes inside the Room of Remorse!"
Mirii nodded.
"Indeed… the only remorse I had was the fact I threw the tile just like that." Mirii's nose wiggled. "For the rest, I wanted to actually complain on that nonsensical decision of punishing me for a mistake I didn't commit voluntarily."
She snorted faintly.
"… it would be great to see that book being modified… that would teach a lesson to those fools who dared to follow those pathetic rules in such close-minded fashion." She frowns a bit. "No one can punish perfection and getting away with it: I'll show them what a true, smart Squid can do without the too many uses of easy power…"
"Mirii?" Hun's mouth opened a bit. "Are you alright?"
"… Hunley…" Mirii's eyes closed. "… because of the punishment I'm forced to take, our progress to defeat Project Neo will stop momentarily…" Her eyes opened. "Once you are modifying that book, try to also refund the time I'll waste to build back that tile."
"Refund?" Hun's head tilted to his right.
"Yes." She nodded. "Such time would have been used for far better and more important matters." Her eyebrows lowered. "You know we are the closest Squids to stop Project Neo… you'll be left all alone if I'm sent elsewhere instead. Besides, I do want to directly damage the project…"
Her head rose.
"It's composed by a thinking way, completely incompatible with mine." She nodded, keeping her head up. "And they are trying to impose such thinking into ours…"
"Yes, I agree!" Hun frowned, while nodding. "Let's get out of the Shrine and"
"Hunley, before we do that…" Mirii's left arm rested on her body, as her right arm opened over the boy. "I need to understand the procedures and working processes for building that tool back." Her right hand was waving a bit. "I want to deliver an impeccable performance who surpasses all the standard expectations." She smiles a bit. "That will prove how this punishment didn't even reached my reputation."
"Actually, you can't ask any of that right now…" A sweat drop appears on Hun's right side of his head, as his eyes closed.
"WHAT?!" Mirii bended forward, as her jaw dropped.
Hun jumped, as ink was jumping out from his head.
"Well… according to what that man said to me, you are supposed to… ehm…" His irises turned left and right. "… d-don't say this to anyone, ok? It was supposed to be a secret…"
"I never revealed any secrets!" Mirii nodded. "Some of them are intended to be as such, anyway…"
"True… anyway, Mirii…" He sighs silently. "… you are forced to take a special course where you'll learn how to make the tile." His mouth downturned. "Once you learned… you are the only one which will work on"
Mirii's right hand covered her eyes.
"… who invented such stupid, idiotic, moronic RULE?!" Her hand slides down, as smoke came out from her ears. "I can't stand such stupidity: Hunley, bring me in front of this man where I'll most certainly"
"No, Mirii." Hun shakes his head. "I tried to do that, since I thought it was indeed stupid… but he refused to apply exceptions, menacing to condemn you if you tried to oppose in front of him."
"Nnnnnggghhh!" Mirii's right foot stomped the floor. "Curses! CURSES!" Her hands grabbed both her tentacles, pulling them down. "I do not belong inside ignorance… I was born to learn perfection! I was born to prepare strategies and tactics for all the incoming situations! Following a special course… not only that will make me waste even more of my time and energy, but that will not grant me any conceivable experience to construct a tile who's supposed to be build by the best of the artisans!"
"Exactly!" Hun nodded, while frowning. "That's why I complained…" His eyebrows went up, as his eyes closed. "Until then, you are not allowed to know"
"WHY?!" Mirii's teeth gritted as her arms threw down. "There is no problem into having the advantage! That will let me learn even more faster and precisely!"
"Because… you are not supposed to know that…" Sweat covered Hun's forehead.
Mirii's mouth opened a bit.
"One more thing I learned from the special course you have to take… ehm… I didn't really understand this, but they claimed you will not even remember to have taken a special course at all." His irises looked up. "Don't ask me more about it: they explicitly said it like that, ordering to not ask them for details."
Around Mirii, darkness covered everything.
… what kind of games is the Shrine playing? I have to take a course which I'll not remember a thing about it…? This whole procedure… no, it doesn't make any sense whatsoever. Aside from the fact I absolutely hate to not remember skill information… why bothering to make me follow a course which I'll not remember anyway? It would have been much easier and faster to have let a true specialist work on said tile.
Mirii frowned.
To think the Shrine always showed itself to be as transparent as possible… it looks like it has some dark secrets hidden in its depth.
Her eyes squeezed.
This is not the end… I'll investigate more on this matter, making sure to lift the secret who's trying to really destroy my reputation!
The darkness faded away, slowly.
"… Hunley." Mirii's head rose. "I want to inspect the Book of Law: something is not right about this…"
"Uhm… that book can't be touched or seen by mortals." Hun sighed. "I'm afraid you cannot do anything at all right now…"
Mirii's right foot stomped the floor.
"… then, I'm out of this Shrine." She nodded. "Its presence is really poisoning my veins."
"Ok!" Hun nodded, as he starts walking past Mirii. "While you were inside the room, the two ninjas returned."
"Hmm!" Mirii walked, reaching Hun's right side. "What are the results?"
"Everything went fine." He smiled. "They returned inside our rooms and used the paper to return here as well."
"Excellent." Mirii's head rose. "After being tormented by the bad news, it's a relief hearing the mission went fine: we can throw one problem out of the way, without worries."
"Right!" Hun's eyes closed. "Earlier, I meet my little sister… she said to stay here in the Shrine, while we are taking our holiday, so she can bring Skippy with her and present him to everyone."
"Aside from not being too lonely, I assume…" Mirii's head turned to her left.
"That too." Hun turned to his left while walking. "That's nice, since it was indeed worrying me a bit…"
"Although, there is one problem: some Agent might get too suspicious, if one of them claims that Fara never got out of her room." Mirii's irises were looking forward.
Grina and Kelly were looking at each other, while talking. Bars was looking around, stretching a bit.
"That's true…" Hun's head lowered to his left. "… what if we bring her with us for a moment?"
"Hmm… there is also Kelly…" Mirii's eyes squeezed a bit. "Maybe she can help us out as well."
"Hello there!" Grina's right hand was waving towards the two Inklings, while smiling. "That man judging you tripped during his walk!" She chuckles. "He made a weird sound like AURGH!" She grimaces.
The Inklings laughed loudly… except Mirii.
"Hmpf, I never found too funny those kind of errors…" Mirii's head rose. "Errors exist to teach you, not to laugh at them." She bends forward. "Besides, that man could have been injured from such fall."
"Well, that's surprising…" Grina's eyelids lowered to the middle, as her arms opened and her shoulders shrugged. "You must be the first Squid I met that doesn't laugh with the most classic of the humors."
"That's a childish humor, for your simple needs!" Mirii lowered her head while frowning for a moment. "… anyway, where is Fara?"
Kelly turns her head to her right, with her eyebrows up.
"Grina… why do you keep her as your friend?" Her mouth rose and downturned. "I wouldn't: she is so mean to everyone…"
Mirii's irises look up, as she sighed.
"I don't even know where to begin in front of such contradictory statement… but I prefer ignore her questions, since my patience is already running thin once I went out of the room."
"Well, she's a bit… particular." Grina looks at Mirii while smiling, as her hands lied on her hips. "True, sometimes she really exaggerates with the insults, since those ones are uncalled… but she can also be kind, especially with Hunry." Her eyes closed.
Mirii blushes, as she took two steps back.
"N-nnnnggh!" Mirii's eyebrows rose a bit. "Wh-what kind of description is that?! Yo-you described me as if I w-was an animal!"
"Naaaah, don't think about that…" Grina's eyes opened. "By the way, Fara should return to us as well."
"Why do you need the second Master, Mirii?" Kelly turns over the girl, as her face went neutral.
"To throw away all the suspicious she might get, if she still stays inside Hunley's room." Mirii nodded, as her right forefinger was resting on her right cheek. "I also need your support for making this plan possible."
A question mark appeared above Kelly's head.
"Huh…?" Her head tilted to her right. "Wait, I… I don't get it."
"If Agents believe that Fara never left Hunley's room even later in the day, they are going to suspect something going on inside the room…" Mirii's eyes closed. "They might break out the door and enter with brute force… certainly finding the paper connecting to this Shrine."
"But… so what if Fara stays inside her room?" Kelly's eyebrows rose. "Where is exactly the problem…?"
"How can she eat if she stays inside the room for the whole time?" Mirii's left forefinger pointed at Kelly. "She usually eats at the canteen… since there is no other way to eat inside the Headquarters."
"Ah… then, if she gets hungry, she can return in her room." Kelly shrugged. "The papers I left always work you know."
Mirii's mouth opened, as her irises shrunk: she gasped loudly.
"WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!" Her hands were resting on her cheeks. "I was fooled by the fact that Fara was remaining here without coming back with the teleportation papers!"
She groaned as her eyes went slightly watery.
"Nnnngghh! No… no, I can't be defeated in such ridiculous way! I-I would even lose my face! I… I-I need to find a good reason for Kelly to help, before I'm forced to declare defeat! … … … … papers… if those papers are ruined, Fara can't move around… especially the one remaining inside the Shrine."
She smiles.
"Kelly can't go everywhere she pleases… so indeed it would be a problem if said paper becomes useless… Mirii, you once again proved to be worthy of the perfection title." Mirii's head rose. "Indeed it would be the case as you said, Kelly… however, there is something else you need to do."
"What?" Kelly's eyes grew a bit.
"You should create an item which protects both papers: their fragility might let anyone accidentally destroy one of them, preventing Fara from teleporting whenever she wants." Mirii nodded, while folding her arms.
"Oh…! Sure, I can help!" Kelly smiled with her mouth opened and her eyes closed, as she jumped a bit in place. "In such occasion, I can test out a new drawing skill I learned: the Bubble!" She spins, stopping in front of Mirii while holding a brush and a pile of papers. "I love trying out new drawings, since it's fascinating seeing them assuming reality!"
"I would too!" Grina grins while nodding and closing her eyes. "I already have a lot of creativity… I could think at least 100 ways of using the same magical drawing in a fun way!"
"There are different kinds of Bubble I can draw… for this one, the blue one seems the best choice!" Kelly looks on the top paper, starting to draw rapidly. "You can only pass through it as a Squid… which is translated to pass it only when you want to go somewhere!"
Her pile of papers lowered, as she starts dancing and jumping in place.
"Done, done! Iiiii solved the prooobblleeeemm!" She laughs a bit.
"Of course you would… with the use of my precaution thinking." Mirii nodded, while smiling.
"You sure did!" Kelly bended forward, while thrusting her arms forward. "Thanks to you, I can sneak up some extra points for my next promotion!" Her arms retreated back. "That would mean more honor for my whole family and more fun powers to use!" She starts jumping in place. "Hooray! Hooray!"
Hun smiles.
"It seems everyone likes the idea of having those honors…" His eyes closed. "Those must be very important, after all…"
"Not all of them care about it, Master…" Kelly stopped, as her mouth formed a small 3. "Emi is one of them: usually she wants to see everything going fine… aaaawww, she really makes me envious sometimes!" She shakes left and right, as her hands still grasping her tools were near her throat. "It's so hard not to think about all those honors and promotions… her sisters are the total opposite of"
"KELLY!"
Kelly lifted her posture, as her eyes went white and her opening mouth increased the 3 shape's size. Chie was behind her, while frowning and snorting.
"… oh… … oooh, I totally forgot about this commission…!" She starts walking a bit jerkily. "Bye… bye…"
She starts sprinting, leaving behind a ricochet sound. Chie's right hand rested on her forehead, as she looks down.
"… she hangs out way too much with my twin sisters." Her hand went down, as her head shakes. "She already believes in almost all the rumors running around here… add the fact that my sisters love spreading voices and rumors, using the fact they can read minds… siiigh, never mind that!" Her eyes closed for a moment. "Better to not think too much into that, otherwise my headache returns…"
"How convenient that every single rumor they say is indeed a fake…" Grina grins as her eyes squeezed a bit.
"… huh?" Chie looks at Grina with her eyes completely white.
"Especially that one where you are rather envious for your little sisters." Grina shrugged, as her arms opened.
"WHAT?!" Chie opened her mouth wide, as her eyes expanded. "THAT'S A FAKE!"
"Duuuh?" Grina chuckled. "Didn't you just said that?" She nodded.
Chie lowered her head, as her fists were shaking.
"Yes, I did… now, if you excuse me…" She snorted faintly. "I have to go: I was called by the owner…"
Chie starts walking past Grina, keeping her head lowered.
"… I wouldn't underestimate the rumors, if I was in you." Grina rose her head slightly, while smiling and lowering her eyebrows. "You don't want to get caught into terrible misunderstandings… right?"
Chie kept walking, turning to her right. Mirii was staring down at the woman… then she returned behind, watching Grina.
"You really have a nose for troubles…" Mirii frowned a bit. "I thought you hated making new enemies."
"You don't know me, Miss Perfection…" Grina turns, as her smile lowered. "You should: my actions would now get more sense."
"What do you mean?" Mirii's eyes squeezed.
"… being envious of your own siblings, especially those younger ones… I truly hope that rumor was indeed a fake." Her head shakes. "You got to be so heartless for hating a little kid… I-I couldn't if you ask me… I couldn't."
Mirii's eyebrows went up, her mouth downturned.
"… actually, that rumor sounds indeed terrifying: a child isn't ready to face down those kind of problems…" Her eyes closed. "My older brother never felt envious in my regards… he always cuddled me, bought the Orange Candies I still find the best even to this day… I can't imagine the opposite: such thought would already make me nervous."
"Ah well…" Grina shrugged. "Looks like today is the day of departure!" Grina grins a bit, while her hands were resting on her hips. "After eating up some lunch, we will get the good ol' hummer and start zooming towards the fun!"
"Using such overrated vehicle in the middle of Autumn?!" Mirii frowned. "Do you want us to catch a cold, so everyone will pass this evening inside this unknown house?!"
"Don't say that!" Grina's hands were moving back and forth. "It's for… safety measures!" She turns to her right. "Right, Barsy?!"
"Eh eh, like… the more giant is the vehicle, the more crush we can inflict instead!" Bars puts his hands inside his pocket. "Like, that's so common sense…"
"Yet, the cold will still have plenty of ways for crushing us…" Mirii's head shakes while closing her eyes. "Why not using the other car?"
"Ah, that…" Sweat jumps out from Grina's head. "Bars wanted to check a bit on its technical side, just to make sure it works for today… he found a wire out of place, so he pulled it a bit too much…" She felt a bit smaller.
Mirii's eyes expanded a lot, as her frown increased.
"No…" Her face pointed at Bars. "You… YOU DESTROYED THE CAR?!" Multiple veins popped out from her forehead.
Bars slowly walks backwards, as sweat covered his forehead and his mouth was grinning widely, while his eyes closed.
"Liiiike… it's not that destroyed… just the car kinda sleeps in another workshop for a little while…" He chuckles a bit.
Smoke was coming out from Mirii's ears: her right cheek and fingers were twitching, as her hands were moving a bit towards Bars.
"Yooouuuuuuu… YYOOOUUUUUUUU!" She sprinted towards him.
"Yikes!" Bars turns behind, sprinting as well. "Girl, please calm down!"
"YOU IDIOT! YOU MORON! YOU IMBECIIIILLEEEEEE!" Her arms opened wide!
The two Inklings zoomed past Fara, Emi and Eri: Emi was standing on Fara's right side and Eri was standing on Fara's left side. The three turned behind, watching Mirii chasing after Bars while growling and talking loudly. A sweat drop appeared on each young girl's head.
"Master… what kind of friends do you have?" Emi's eyes blinked two times.
Attention to all readers!
At this point, the story will resume right after Inkinators: Halloween 2015. You can find the story in my Profile page. The next chapter will be uploaded around the same time as usual, so don't worry about the new chapter upload!
I strongly advice reading that story first before the next chapter, since it will surely contain references to the later events found in Inkinators: Halloween 2015.