The Juggler (5)

"Get up Rika, I don't want to drag you to the dining room," Luke found me refusing to move.

"I told you that I'm not eating until you return the headgear to me," I turned my head away from him.

"Rika, you will go eat and then we have to catch on everything we have missed in school," Luke started to raise his voice.

"Oh please, what are you going to do about it if I refuse?" I smirked.

"This addiction is pretty serious," Belle whispered to Lucius.

"I'll step in if Luke can't make her go to the dining room," he sighed.

Luke looked at Lucius for help, almost giving up. Although they were painting me in a bad light, I couldn't give up here. Once I entered school, I was likely I would have no chances of ever touching the headgear again. It was likely they would take more precautions, more than getting rid of all forms of entertainment in their mansions.

"Rika, do you want to visit our parent's house for a few days? We can call for more tutors," Lucius began to pressure me.

"But there's no way you'll ever let me use the headgear again if it's not now!" I knew I would also become a goner if I suffered under their strict parents.

"You can make the choice now. If you don't, we'll be travelling to our parents," Lucius waited for me to decide.

"Fine, I'll go eat!" I rose from the chair.

It was better than to go through that horrible schedule that was worse than school. I never had the choice to do what I wanted. I would be dragged to wherever they wanted to take me. I slumped onto the chair, picking up a fork to jab a piece of lettuce.

"Rika, your posture," Lucius noticed me slouching a bit in the chair.

"Can't you let this go?" I poked the salad.

"I can call for the hover car," Lucius was about to open a screen from his marble.

"I'll fix it," I propped myself back up.

Luke enjoyed his meal while Lucius looked over me at the dining room table. I didn't know how those brothers were close to each other when they only met each other in fraction meetings. I couldn't even complain that posture wasn't important when everyone else in the room had perfect posture.

"I'm full," I pushed the rest of the plates away after finishing a small plate of salad.

"You're not going to survive the night if you eat this little," Luke wouldn't let me rise from my chair.

"One more plate," he passed me a plate with some salmon.

"Can't you give me some cake?" I began to feel a bit dizzy when looking at that plate.

"You need more balanced meals," he continued to push the plate towards me.

"Luke is right, you have to eat a bit more or we'll have to supplement it by making you go to the infirmary," Lucius was crueller than Luke.

"You know I'm not doing this on purpose!" I pointed out they already knew about my condition.

"Tonight is different. At least try the plate," Lucius waited for me to take a bite.

Like I expected, one bite of the salmon made me vomit all the food, including the salad. Luke sighed, predicting something like this would happen. He called the servants to clean the mess while I quickly escaped upstairs to take a bath. By the time I went downstairs, there were some plates of cake waiting for me to eat.

"You'll have to go to the infirmary afterwards," Lucius frowned as I ate the cake as my meal.

"I told you to stop when I finished the salad," I didn't want to be like this too.

It was a mix of everything. From the guilt that I was eating well while others were dead, my mana that only craved sugar and how I wasn't that hungry when I was forced to eat something.

"Rika, you don't eat unless you're extremely hungry," Luke let his brother know.

"You've been like this since you had exposure to the food in the third district," he pointed out it became worse ever since I graduated from elementary school.

"A tiny bag of chips and a package of jelly doesn't do anything!" I argued.

"I think this is already pretty bad. You shouldn't give her any food from the other districts anymore," Lucius turned to Luke.

"I know. I've just recently talked to her parents to make sure they don't give her any food anymore," Luke showed how he was trying.

"I also search through the dorms and her inventory more often these days," he asked his brother on what else he should do.

I was shocked. I never knew he was doing this. I also became glad that I moved most of my supply to that room already that he didn't know about. I refused to believe I would never be able to eat a tiny package of jelly again. Although, I was a bit surprised he didn't get rid of a cage of bugs that have been with me for weeks.

"I think it should be enough for now," Lucius couldn't think of any other ideas.

"Rika, you know we do this because we worry about you, right? Your body rejecting a bite of the salmon is extremely bad news," Lucius turned to me.

"What could it possibly mean?" I wondered.