Chapter 19: Ess: Music in her Ears by warelander

F1 - Canteen

It was a quiet afternoon in Primp High. Most students had already left the educational institution, with only a scant few still within it. Most of them were in detention, but Ess Tetra was different, she sat in the canteen, lending company to her robotic parental figure, who happened to work there.

''Your teachers have approached me, Ess, they were very happy with the engagement you have been showing in class.'' Zed complimented the girl, while dealing with a particularly persistent spot on the table he was cleaning.

''Heeheehee~ Anything to make you proud, papa!'' Ess responded with a kind of sunny disposition reserved for only a select few.

The robot turned to give his full attention to her. Though he had no properly visible smile, he never failed to give Ess a sense of warmth with how he looked or talked with her.

''I am always proud of you. This is all your accomplishment for your own efforts.'' Spoken like a true parent he gave her an affectionate pat on the back, before resuming his work.

''Yeah of course.'' Ess wasn't about to disagree there.

''Why don't you go out with your friends, dear? It will still take a while for me to get done here.''

''All the cheerleaders already got plans, papa.'' Ess said, thinly trying to hide that she didn't particularly want to leave Zed.

Of course, Zed could piece that together with ease, he was programmed to catch onto Ess' feelings and well-being after all.

''Well. Then how about you get home and we do something together when I'm done?'' He offered.

''I'd like that a lot. Thanks, papa!'' Ess agreed to it, giving Zed a quick hug before leaving the room.

Truthfully, Ess wasn't really that happy about leaving, but she wasn't about to pester him about it. After all, at least he would be back at home. Ess knew better than anyone else how much that was actually worth.

Silently, the girl made her way through the empty space of the hallway. With nothing other than the sound of her own footsteps to keep her company. Sound was about right, contrary to the rest of the day, everything was almost eerily quiet by comparison.

''Yep. Just me alone…'' She mumbled to herself. Though all of the sudden, she found herself pausing.

It felt like there was a sound coming from somewhere.

''Ah. The auditorium.'' That made sense, not like this was the first time students would stay after school to practice something there.

Still, this seemed a little curious. There weren't any school plays scheduled yet, then again it could have been that purple-haired devil girl and her band, who Ess had seen around school before.

Ess had forgotten about the singing contest coming up. She didn't particularly care.

Curiosity and a total lack of any real plans were a powerful combination, certainly enough to make the young Tetra decide to check out what was going on.

Entering the small hall leading to the auditorium, Ess stood still for a bit. She could make the music out far clearer now. A really beautiful sounding piece. Absolutely mesmerized, she kept still and just listened, letting the instrumentals lead her into the voices singing the lyrics.

Can you stay forever more
Or are you gonna leave from me?
No matter what it takes for me, I'll find you
Just to be with you one more time

The gorgeous composition, combined with singing that to Ess' ears, bordered on angelic, swiftly brought Ess into her own little world.

She could practically see herself in a grassy field, shooting stars filling up the night sky and right in front of herself she could see him. Sig.

The boy she was crushing on all the time was approaching her. He gave her that gentle, but sincere smile that always made her swoon.

Her feet couldn't bring themselves to move, she was so utterly enchanted. Sig instead came over to her. Embraced her, like she was the most precious thing in the world to him, all while the music was triumphantly playing in the background. It was like a dream come true and well, it certainly was a dream.

Once the song came to close, Ess was snapped back to reality in an instant. Her first instinct was to pout that it was all a fantasy, but there was no time for that. Now more than ever Ess just NEEDED to know who would be responsible for something so utterly magical.

Meanwhile, inside the auditorium, there were three freshman girls. The one with green hair closed the laptop that was playing their instrumental.

''Enough for today. We're getting there!''

Merigu
Responsable Green Recovered Ghosty

''Heh! I told you I can handle a longer solo part!'' The girl with the red hair proclaimed with a very bashful and confident tone of voice.

Shosu
Outgoing Red Recovered Ghosty

''...I hope I can keep it together when we have an audience though.'' The blonde girl responded, her tone of voice and demeanor being almost an opposite of Shosu, replacing that confidence with a very shy exterior.

Emii
Shelltered Blonde Recovered Ghosty

Merigu, Shosu, and Emii
Ghostly-clad Sisterly Singers

To the surprise of all three girls, they could suddenly make out a clapping sound. Said sound coming from none other than Ess, who leaned towards the open door she entered the room from.

''I already was your audience. Not bad at all!''

The three girls looked at each other, this girl seemed familiar to them and not just from seeing her around in school either.

''Oh. I remember!'' Shosu blurted out. ''She is the daughter of that guy who is big in robotics.''

''Yes, yes. Ess Tetra. Daughter of Ex Tetra!'' The green-haired girl confirmed, in a totally-not-bragging kind of manner. Making her way over to the girls.

Emii looked over to Merigu, not really sure how to react, though the leader of the trio gave her a comforting look and stepped into Ess' direction.

''Glad to hear you liked it. We still need practice though.'' She admitted, though the older girl, Ess, didn't really seem to think so.

''You say that when I have a girl in my class that has sung for her whole life and-'' She could barely even finish that sentence, with the memory of a certain pink-haired airhead's attempts singing making her cringe.

Still, she collected herself rather quickly, to get to the important stuff.

''Either way. Do you like it here?'' She asked.

''It's okay.'' Shosu shrugged, with Emii nodding in kind.

''We haven't talked much with anyone yet and the bullies are scary though,'' Merigu added, not even knowing that Ess secretly hoped for an answer like this,

Odd as it may sound, this was an opportunity she had been waiting for this whole time. Much to the surprise of the other girls, she reached one of her hands out to them.

''Why don't you spend some time with me? We can be friends, I can help make you feel more at home here~''

All three were caught off-guard by that offer, but it didn't take long for them to visibly embrace the offer. Merigu looked over to Shosu who grinned at the idea and even Emii seemed to grow more comfortable.

With a silent nod and shared exchanged smiles, the two green-haired girls shook hands, leading Ess into a joy-filled giggle fit that her new companions returned in kind.

After so long.

After a whole year without luck.

Ess finally had her own group~

Authors' Notes:

WARE: And with that, a certain trio of ghosties have finally made their debut. Can you guess what song they were singing? It fits all too well into a theme my co-writer has established in his fics.