Irony

THE SAME DAY, 4:00 PM

Aura could smell the food. which indicated that the canteen, or whatever they call it, was near.

She looked at the perfect architecture and was amused how this building was left undestroyed in the heavy bombing, and she realised that Kazuo had mentioned this to her. She wondered whether Jo knew about it, but she didn't want to talk to her right now.

They reached the far end of the corridor and turned left, she tried to memorise direction, but there were so many to remember.

She looked at the deserted grey area with matching tables, she wondered where everyone had gone

"It's not the usual time to have food, "Jo told her as if she had read her mind, and it scared her.

They walked towards the corner of the room and Jo asked her to take a seat and she left the area. She looked around and noticed a monochromatic pattern of walls and chairs everywhere, except for the brown desk.

She looked at the partitions near the wall enclosing this area and wondered what they were. and that's when she noticed Jo having two platters of food in her hands.

"Hey, I brought you the full meals" she placed it in front of Aura and she noticed there were scrambled eggs, with some garlic bread and so many other things topping up with apple juice.

Within no time she gobbled up her entire food since she was famished.

"It's so good" she spoke with a mouthful of food.

"Yeah, I know, you should eat when food is actually offered, it tastes better than this" she answered, decently wiping her mouth with a tissue.

"Tastes better? this tastes way better" he answered with another mouthful of food and Jo giggled at the immaturity she was noticing in her.

"How old are you?" Aura asked her when she noticed she was regaining her strength and as the growling in her stomach slowly started to fade away, her irritation seemed to soothe down.

"I'm 18," she told

"You don't look as if you're eighteen, honestly," Aura told and Jo smiled.

"Heyyy Jo!" it was a new voice coming from the hallway and both of them looked back, Jo waved at him and he was coming towards them

Aura pretended not to notice the new guy joining them as she continued to eat, as if there was no one around her

He sat beside Jo with his food platter and smiled at Aura as he gobbled his food

"You are late," Jo asked him and he just nodded as she kept on asking more questions

"Lemme eat," he hushed her and continued to eat in the same way as Aura did

"Can I have another Apple juice?" it was Aurora who broke the silence.

"Umm, sure," Jo stood up and walked in a huff.

"You're new?" The new guy asked her, and Aura looked at him properly this time, and when she delayed answering, he raised both his eyebrows and have her questioning look.

"Yeah" She answered looking down and picking up a morsel of egg

"I hate this place too." he smiled noticing how uncomfortable she was with the new place. he saw new people getting excited about good food, unlike her, who shared the same emotions as him.

"Then why wouldn't you try to go out?" she asked him since he had got her attention from his earlier response

"It's not like I've not tried you know," he showed her the bruises in his upper left arm and his wrists, she looked horrified observing them.

"Leave about that, what do they call you?" he asked her, spooning another mouthful of food

"Aurora Blue," she smiled

"I'm Vid Riddle, call me Vii," he told her and she realised he had finished his food and since she shared the same feeling as Vii did, she wanted to talk more to him about this place.

"When will I next see you?" she blurted out in desperation.

"You can see me whenever you want," he laughed at her sudden outburst.

"so you two minimised the job of introducing each other for me, thanks ya!!" it was Jo who placed the apple juice near Aura and jerked her.

Aura felt more and more uncomfortable in the presence of Jo as if she was some spy to check on others. They grabbed their plates and tossed them into the dustbin and continued to walk in the direction from they came from. But this time Aura noticed more students who were happy like Jo, and she seemed to be the only person who was complaining about this situation she was placed in.

Vii seemed to be lost in thoughts, but for no reason, she was comfortable near him, with the similarities they had.

"I have work in the library, Vi would you escort her to my room and stay with her for a while until I return?" Jo asked him, and Aura tried so hard to not to show her happiness about Jo going out for a while, and Vii nodded.

Jo parted her ways towards the right corridor and they walked in silence. Aura had never been so quiet in her entire life, she had always been named as the chatterbox, and this seemed very weird.

They reached her room, after ten minutes of mysterious silence and he sat down on the chair while Aura sat on the bed, and wondered how to start a conversation with this guy and know the whereabouts of this location and get out of here, with her if he wants.

"How did you end up here?" she asked since it was the only question she could think of at that moment.

"Parents gone, house crushed, abandoned" he looked out through the window

"Then why would you hate this place?" she asked him with general curiosity

"You know, my sister, Camille, was abandoned in that misery place, they should've taken her here too, they did see her, but they just left her there, to go starving, lay dying" he didn't seem to be having tears, but only vengeance in his voice.

The name Camille seemed oddly struck to her, Lily had only one daughter, and she remembered another Camille whom she had encountered the other day

"I wish she was alive, healthy somewhere, I wish someone had saved her" he looked desperately into Aura's eyes

"Does your sister, by chance have Long blonde hair and brown eyes?" she saw his face enlighten with a strange energy

"how do YOU know?" he asked her

"You're not kidding right?" she asked him

"No, tell me how did you know, is she here?" he asked her.

"Idk whether she's your sister, but I saw her from where I come from," she noticed that his face was so similar to hers and she was happy for him.

"Is she safe? is she alive?" he asked with tears of joy in his eyes as he stood up and came towards her.

"She's well, as far as I know, she has been provided food, shelter and everything, she's in the company of nice people" she answered reassuring him.

"It feels like a heavyweight is lifted off my chest" he held her shoulders and hugged her. she found it weird, but she also knew it was a pure act of happiness

"she's gonna be okay, trust me" she cried, wishing she was near Kaz, and she seemed to feel strange hugging a person whom she had just met and all she wanted was to cry.