Hello again! Had a fun day today? Anyway, here's a new chapter for you all! I hope you all like this story so far! Spoiler alert: There's going to be ups and downs for everyone from here on. Anyway, onwards to the 8th chapter!
Chapter 8 – The first hindrance of Lumina
-The next day, Secret Base-
Claire's P.O.V
We gathered at the Secret Base as always. The others reported their progress in yesterday's search.
"Yesterday's search at Sunny Street is not producing any leads yet. Besides, we've only just reached like one-fifth of the whole population." Chelsea reported.
"You're kidding, that's so slow!" Jack jeered.
"Because Chelsea here suggested that she do all the interrogations, stating that I wouldn't make any progress." Vaughn said, with a somewhat angry tone.
"Hey, you all know of Vaughn's communication skills!" Chelsea retorted.
"Then again, it is true that Vaughn's level of socializing is really low." Skye commented.
"See Vaughn? Everyone agrees my cause!"
"Hmp!", Vaughn turned away.
"Then how about the others, how did your search go?" Chelsea asked.
"Ours' no good either. We're still in he middle of teaching Mary to talk more casually with strangers, so we only covered as much as Chelsea's team." Jill said.
"I'm very sorry about that." Mary apologized.
"That's okay, no need to hurry!" I said. Mary seemed so apologetic that she wasn't much help for Jill, so I needed to cheer her up.
"Yeah, like Claire said, no need to rush it." Cliff agreed.
"Then how about your team, Cliff?" I asked.
"Haha, our team covered two-fifth of the whole street in one day! How's that! Hah!" Jack said, putting up an air of haughtiness.
"That's because there's three of you!" Chelsea exclaimed, then she went quiet for a while. I wonder what's she thinking, then she suddenly exclaimed, "That's it! Today the Twin Street team will search with only two members!"
"What! No fair!" Jack exclaimed in discontent.
"What? Your team's the only one that reached two-fifth the population in the three streets we're covering. So it's only natural that one of the members help the other two now!" Chelsea said.
"And we were so close to finishing first and laugh at the losers!" Jack exclaimed.
"You think this is a game?" Jill asked, sweat-dropping at Jack's statement.
"Then I'll help the Forget-Me-Not team today." Skye suggested.
We all looked at Skye in confusion. "What? Can't I be the one to help them?"
"No, it's just that, I never knew you were one to lend a helping hand unless forced to." I said, I could never see Skye willingly give a helping to anyone before.
"Just because I never did it before, doesn't mean I never have to." Skye retorted.
"Then today, the Forget-Me-Not team will have help from Skye. Tomorrow, you will help the Sunny team!" Chelsea declared.
"Don't want to." Skye answered.
"What! You good-for-nothing womanizer!"
Wait a minute, Skye personally gave himself to help the Forget-Me-Not team, but said he didn't want to help the Sunny team. Is it that he doesn't like Vaughn or… Is it that he has a vrush on one of the two girls. Oh my, this is interesting!
Two days later, the three teams finished covering a lot more than the first day, but they still have many houses to cover before they start their search at Mineral Street. In order to lighten the stress of searching the Saibaras, Chelsea came up with a game we could play during the lunch break at school. Wonder what it is.
"Alright, we're so stressed with finding the Saibaras that we need to lighten up!" Chelsea declared.
"We're not really stressed." Vaughn commented, earning a huff from the chestnut coloured girl.
"Whatever, let's play a game! To be more precise, a punishment game!" Chelsea continued.
"A punishment game?" Jill asked.
"You got that right! A punishment game! Loser has to do what the winners bid. It's kinda like a 'truth or dare', only, without the truth part." Chelsea explained.
"That's sounds exciting! Let's do it!" Jack cheered.
"But, how are we going to decide on the losers?" I asked.
"Well, we'll have a rock-paper-scissors mini tournament, then we'll decide the winners and losers… Since there's eight of us, boys and girls will play separately, and we'll decide the two losers from there." Chelsea said.
"Wait, there's going to be two losers?" Cliff asked.
"That makes it more interesting, besides I already have a 'punishment' in mind, so everyone be prepared. I won't show pity no matter who the losers are, even myself."
"Enough chit-chat! Let's start the tournament already!" Jack exclaimed.
We started this mini 'rock-paper-scissor' tournament, and I lost against the three in a short while. I'm really bad at this aren't I. We looked over to the boys side, it was a heated match between Skye and Cliff. They were always in a tie and finally-!
Cliff's P.O.V
It's a showdown between me and Skye now, Vaughn was the first to win, then Jack. The girl's side seems to have finished. We couldn't afford to lose this, with what Chelsea said, she already had a punishment in mind. Skye and I kept tie-ing, showing the same hand-signs for a while. Then, the seemingly last match started!
*rock, paper, scissors!*
…I… I lost, paper to scissors…
"Skye won! Too bad Cliff, you did hang in there though!" Jack commented.
"Oh well." I said, standing up, "What's the dare, Chelsea?"
"I'm so glad you lost! Because Claire here lost as well!" Chelsea exclaimed, shoving Claire towards me.
This can't be good…
"Now, my punishment for the losers is… I did say punishment, but its more like a dare. Ahem, my 'punishment' for you two is to play the pocky game!" Chelsea declared.
I froze the moment she said that, I looked over to Claire, and she doesn't have a clue as to what that game is.
"Um, what kind of game is that?" Claire asked.
"You mean you haven't heard of it? Well then, see this chocolate, biscuit-like cylinder stick?" Chelsea asked, showing a pocky stick.
"Yes?.."
"You take one end of this biscuit in your mouth, and Cliff here, will take the other end of the biscuit in his mouth. You two will then proceed to bite the biscuit off without letting it go, until…"
"*gulp* until?"
"Until your lips meet!" Chelsea declared.
Claire took a moment to process the whole explanation, then her face flushed a deep red. She must've just understood the whole game.
"C-C-Chelsea, can't we do another game?" Claire asked, in terror.
"No can do my dear Claire. Like I said, I won't show any mercy whoever the first losers are, even me. You'll have to do it."
Chelsea handed the pocky stick over to Claire. Claire reluctantly grabbed the pocky stick. Then turned to me, cheeks still red. This is bad, she's making me blush too. So cute!
"Come on! Kiss, kiss, kiss!" Jack encored.
I looked at Claire, and she had a dark look in her face.
"Say Skye? Do we have and ropes and cloth here?" Claire asked.
"Well, this was originally a storeroom, so I suppose there are. Let me see, here they are. What do you need them for?" Skye asked, as he handed the ropes and cloth.
"To silence a certain someone." Claire answered. She took the ropes and cloth and started to walk towards Jack.
"W-wait Claire, can't we talk this over?" Jack asked, fear in his face. Truth be told, this is the first time I've seen Claire act like this. Now I know that she can be scary at times.
"No can do." Claire answered, then she grabbed Jack.
"Hey! Let go! I'm sorry! I- mppph!"
"There, we can… start now." Claire said, turning towards me again, the blush resurfacing in her cheeks again.
Jack was tied up by the ropes and his mouth was also covered in the cloth. She silenced him alright.
Claire took the pocky stick in her mouth and leaned towards me, I took the other end with my mouth, as per the rules of the game. Then we slowly started to bite off the choco stick. We were soon face to face, our lips almost touching, one bite more from one of us and we'd really be touching lips. But Claire was too embarrassed, so she broke off the stick, not that I felt sad or anything. It'd be too embarrassing for me too, if we did touch lips.
"Aw, Claire, why'd you break the line!" Claire exclaimed.
"Come on Chelsea, she did her best." Jill said, then Chelsea accepted our dare.
Claire's P.O.V
That was so embarrassing! We, we almost kissed! I almost kissed my first and only crush! We were so close! But, I had to bite off the stick, I was too embarrassed to look into his eyes any longer! If I did stay on longer, I'd probably lose it. And by that, I meant as having a mental breakdown.
Soon, the bell rang and we returned back to class. Then Lumina stood up a bit crouching, and said,
"Sir, may I please go home? I have a bad stomach ache."
"Well, yes you can. But can you return home by yourself? Is your house far? Do you need anyone to accompany you home?" the teacher asked.
"YE-… I mean, may Sk-"
"Teacher, I know Lumina and her house is near here. So I think she can go home by herself, right Lumina?" Jill said, standing up.
"Is that so?" the teacher asked Lumina.
"… Yes, I can go home by myself." Lumina answered, then proceeded to go out of he classroom holding her stomach all the way.
"Is it alright for you to say that, Jill?" I heard Chelsea say that to Jill, whispering.
"Who cares about her? She deserves it anyway." Jill answered, huffing.
Lumina went home, did she suddenly had a stomach ache? But her reaction when the teacher asked if she wanted someone to accompany her was strange… I have a bad feeling about this.
-After School-
"Cliff, I'm heading off early. I have a bad feeling since the afternoon classes started." I said.
"You mean Lumina?" he asked.
"Yes, I can't get her out of my mind. Knowing her, she might be up to something again. But I hope I'm wrong. But I have a request, come to my place in the night.
"Sure, just in case you're right, right?"
"Yes, well, I'll see you tonight then. Bye!", then I ran off.
Normal P.O.V
"Having a date in the night?" Skye asked.
Cliff blushed and quickly replied, "N-no! That's not what it is! Besides, you were eavesdropping?!"
"Hey, couldn't help it, besides, I have a bad feeling about Lumina too." Skye answered and went out.
-Regison Mansion-
Claire reached home and was greeted by one of the servants of the house,
"Welcome back, Princess. The King wish to see you."
"I knew it. Tell him, I'll come."
"As you wish.", then the servant went to the King's room.
Claire followed, then entered her father's work room. She saw Lumina sitting in one of the sofas in the room, the servant then declared Claire's arrival, then went out.
"Did you ask for me, father?"
"Yes, actually, I want to make you clear on one thing."
"And that is…?"
"Lumina came here and showed me something. I feared I would see someday."
Lumina went over to Claire and showed her a photo, on looking at it, she realized that it was a photo of her and Cliff playing that pocky game earlier that day. It seems it as taken in a somewhat high angle and a bit tilted to the side, so it looked like the two were kissing.
"T-this is-"
"No excuses, Claire Regison! I never thought you would do this kind of thing. I though I raised you up well! Maybe it is the influence of your so-called friends. I wouldn't have known if Lumina didn't show me this like a good daughter of a high-class should. From now on, I forbid you from going to school. Since enrollments to a new school is not possible this time of year, you'll have to study at home. But, if you still want to go to this school, then you'll have to stick with Lumina all the time, I can't leave you in the hands of those kids anymore, uncivilized people is what they are! So, what is your decision?" Claire's father roared.
Claire stayed silent and clenched her fists, then she said,
"I will not go to school, if I need to stay with HER. I'd rather stay here and study by myself than stay with her at school!"
"How dare you speak to Lumina like that! You certainly changed since staying with those commoners!" Claire's father shouted.
"Don't call them commoners! To me they're my precious friends! We would also be 'commoners' if our ancestors were not the kings and queens anyway!" Claire shouted back.
"That's it! I wanted to show you some pity, but I guess it can't be helped. You've been tainted too much by bad manners, you'll be locked up in your room, and your food will be delivered to you. You will never step out of your room again unless you mend your ways! Now go!" her father ordered.
Claire left, tears filling her face, but tried to keep them at bay. Lumina snickered at Claire then turned to Claire's father.
"Perhaps I was too harsh on her." He said, regretting his actions.
"You were not being harsh, Uncle Regison. You were merely lecturing her towards the right path."
"Yes, you're right. If only my daughter was as well mannered as you. Life would have been easier. You have my thanks."
"No Uncle Regison. I should be thanking you. We wouldn't be in this position if you hadn't helped my father then. So this is as a show of gratitude."
"Thank you, and may I ask, please continue to watch over my daughter."
"As you wish, Uncle Regison. Now, I shall take my leave,"
On her way out of the mansion, she saw Skye.
"Skye!~ You came!"
"Lumina, what are you doing here? I thought you were-"
"Aw, were you worried about me? Actually, I lied about my stomach ache." She said, cling to him.
"Let go of me you crazy woman!" Skye exclaimed, trying to shake her off.
"Aw, no need to be shy, but I'm in a hurry, so I'll let you go, for now. Oh, and just between you and me, Claire won't be coming to school from now on~"
"What? What happened?"
"That's classified information, but I might be willing to tell you, if you're a good boy. Anyway, ta-ta!"
"Tch!"
Now wasn't that interesting? What's going to happen to Claire from now on? Will Lumina continue to cause more sufferings for the others? Will Claire ever see her friends again? Find out on the next chapter! Looking forward to see you all next time!