Chapter Seven
As a result of what happened earlier, Siren has become uneasy and distracted that her errors piled up so much that their classmates had to pull her out to collect herself. She sits in the corner still feeling guilty.
'No, why do I have to feel this way? It's her fault for suddenly showing up like that after her rudeness to me. I didn't expect she would do that.'
Peach's surprised face flashed into her memory and she lets out a slight grunt.
'I could have at least helped her! Why did I leave her alone like that?'
"Peach!"
She flinches at the sudden mention of that name. She looks up and sees her talking to their classmate, looking all calm and collected which made her heave a sigh of relief.
'It was really wrong of me to do that. I got surprised, but I shouldn't have pushed her away. I guess I should go and apologize.'
Siren once again stares at Peach who is now behind the makeshift counter pouring drinks.
"But how should I do that?"
-
Their classmate's voice echoes the place telling them to take a break for 10 minutes. Lea and Hana approaches Siren to ask her to eat.
"I'll sleep in the infirmary for a while." Siren answered and walked away before they could even answer.
"Is she okay? She looks so distracted earlier." - Hana
Lea shrugs her shoulder. "I think so. Maybe she's just lethargic. Just let her be."
"Do you think it's because of Peach?"
"She has to be part of the reason. Let's grab some snacks, I'm hungry."
"Okay."
-
Siren was walking quietly towards the abandoned building lightheaded.
'How do you apologize to someone anyway?'
She stops on her tracks when a giant bear mascot intercepts her way. She tried to ignore it, but the mascot seemed persistent on blocking her from going.
"What do you want?"
The mascot started dancing, which confused her.
"You look crazy.I'm not in the mood for this, go away."
She walks away, but to her surprise, the mascot hugged her from behind. She tried to let go from its grasp, but the mascot just hugged her tighter.
"Hey, what's wrong with you?! Let me go! Seriously? Is this some kind of prank? This is sexual harassment!"
The mascot lets her go and stands in front of her. Siren stared at her frowning.
"You're really annoying, you know? You remind me of someone that is equally annoying."
The mascot lowers its head as if trying to tell her something. "What? You want a pat on the head? " The mascot nods. She sighs as she pats its big head. "There... Satisfied?"
It seemed delighted as it jumped wildly while clapping its big hands. It hugs her one more time before running away.
Siren stares at it bewildered before she walk again, shaking her head.
Meanwhile, at a classroom, students can be seen panicking at something that seems to get lost.
"Where's the mascot? Don't tell me you've lost it?!"
"I... I just put it there. How could it get lost?"
Who's turn is it for the mascot now?"
" M-me..."
"Go find it now!"
"Yes!"
On the other side, the mascot can be seen hopping happily while walking.
-
The day has finally ended and Siren didn't come back to finish her shift.
"Siren didn't come back?" Her classmate sighed. "As expected."
"Just let her do it the whole day tomorrow, it's the last day of the booths anyway." One of them suggested.
"It's fine. But she'll just run away again."
One of them approaches Lea and Hana. "Hey, where's Siren?"
"She said she'll eat." Lea answered.
"How long does she need to eat?"
"She's a slow eater." - Hana
She sighs in annoyance. "Stop covering up for her!"
"We're not." - Lea
"Whatever. Tell her she'll work the whole day tomorrow, okay?"
"Fine."
Their class had to clean up and check their progress before they could go home. Peach leads them.
"Peach, this is our progress this day." Her classmate said as she hand her a paper.
"It seems good, right? If this keeps up we might win 1st place."
"Really?"
-
"Let's go and wake Siren. How can she sleep for that long? " - Lea
"We can just ask Yujin to wake her up since they live near each other."
Lea nods. "We can do that too. But will Yujin still be there?"
"We can check. What class is she in? Class 7, right?"
"We're Class 7, Hana."
"Ah, right."
-
"Uh... Peach?"
Peach flinches and looks at her classmate. "What is it?"
"Are you okay? You must be so tired. We can take care of everything from here, you should take a rest."
"Should I?" Her classmate nods as an answer. "Then, I'll be going." She smiles at her as she walks away.
-
Infirmary
Siren wakes up to darkness. She jolts up and almost curses when she found out that she slept for too long.
"Why didn't they wake me up?"
She yawns as she stares at nothing for a while.
"I should go home. I'm hungry."
A footstep can be heard that froze Siren. She stayed quiet for a while, trying to trace the origin of the footsteps.
"Lea? Hana? Is that you?"
The footsteps are becoming louder seemingly going towards where she is.
"Hey, speak up!"
She gathers her courage and stands up, removes the curtain to see someone standing in front of her. She stares at that person for a minute trying to look at that face at the place is dark.
"Why are you here?"