"Ehm... did we lose her?" Millis held her hand horizontally over her brows and turned her head left to right, sweeping her surroundings in search of a black-haired beauty.
While she was doing that, Lillian was behind her, clutching her head, 'Is she actually horrible with directions!?' (3)
Both Lillian and Millis arrived at the bustling entrance of the academy. Students of older years stood at stands while waving around flags, each depicting four mythical beasts.
One is a bird, one is an eastern dragon, one is a tortoise with a snake as a tail, and lastly, one is a white tiger.
But currently, they both weren't as focused on them as they should be, probably because Marionette, who they had thought had already arrived, seemed to not be here.
Of course, they did ask around first and still came out with no good results.
Millis then shrugged, "Meh... she'll figure out the way here soon. How about me and you head inside and check out the inside? I betcha, it'll look pretty sweet!" She tugged at Lillian's arm before being shrugged off.
"I'm going to go look for her, how about you... go in first?"
"Hm? Don't cha' know what time it is?" Millis pulled out her cheap flip phone and showed her the time.
[8:00]
"The academy entrance exam is going to start! If ya go now, you might not be able to attend the exam!" Millis tapped at the screen, emphasising how late Lillian would be when she came back.
Lillian rolled her eyes and took off before giving a little wave back, "Yeah, yeah... it'll be alright!" She knew she wouldn't be back by the time the exam started. No way would she be able to. But she knew that it wouldn't take her long to pinpoint where Marionette was...
Because...
The system's indicator was still in effect. Now, the reason why she didn't realise it was going off course in the direction of the academy earlier was...
Because Millis was distracting her with her tom-foolery...
'Ah! In there!'
The blinking blue triangle that showed where Marionette was led into a dark alleyway. Why in the world would she ever go in here? It didn't make any possible sense unless...
'The game never told us she was actually bad with directions!'
Lillian felt like in this life, she was going to be blaming the creators of this world a whole lot for not including enough details about their characters.
She hoped that it was just Marionette due to her special role, but she felt that being a bit too naive would be foolish.
She looked through the alleyway before coming to an intersection. She then hid behind a wall when she spotted a few men surrounding a girl at a dead end.
'Wait? Can thugs even enter the academy's grounds? I thought you needed to fill out a certain contract with the academy to be able to enter here! No way they would let just some randoms in!'
"Look! We can show you the way to the academy as long as you just come with us~" A funny-looking man with the physique of a stick said, followed by his small bald friend beside him, "Yeah, yeah! What he said!"
There were about three in total.
The last of the three is far more muscular than the two and actually looks quite average in looks, unlike the ugly rat-like faces of his friends.
Lillian squinted her eyes at who they were talking to and widened her eyes when a familiar face appeared. Marionette remained cool-headed, just keeping her gaze focused on the ground or the wall behind her.
'How do you even get in this situation!?' Lillian screamed inwardly before listening in on what Marionette was saying.
"My guide will be arriving soon to show me the way. Now, could you three kindly get out of my way? I'm late enough as it is..."
"Hm? But if you're so late, why don't you just settle for us? That guide of yours is quite incompetent to leave a beauty like you by yourse—"
"Perhaps, but at least they're slightly more pleasant to look at. Even the ground you stand on is more bearable to the eyes than your faces."
The three then realised the reason for the stoic beauty's gaze always remained fixated on either the floor or the wall behind her. They had initially thought she was so afraid that she couldn't look at them in the eyes.
"Tsk...! We were originally going to be quite gentle with you and take you for ransom! But I'm sure it'll be fine if we rough you up a bit!"
"..."
Lillian watched this happen and couldn't help but cringe at the fact that the thug just gave away his entire plan. 'Who does that...?' And she is right to cringe at that. Who actually does that? Just giving away their entire plan could change their entire future carelessly.
Marionette watched as the stick man raised his hand towards her with a foul expression. She couldn't help but sigh deeply, "You shouldn't have drank so much coffee last night..."
"Huh? What are you on abo—"
BAM! CRACK!
The man's body folded in on itself as Marionette kicked him in the stomach, causing him to rise off the ground a couple of metres and drop back down with a thud.
Marionette quickly lowered her leg and then began to walk past the two men who stared at her with their mouths wide open. However, it seemed like they weren't going to let her pass, so they foolishly got in front of her, blocking her path.
'You fools! Just let her pass! Her kick knocked your friend unconscious!'
The man who was dealt a kick to his stomach or perhaps his ribs wriggled around before going limp. Lillian guessed the pain from something break must've caused him to black out.
"Hey! You're not going anywhere after what you did to our friend!"
"..." The muscular man stayed quiet, but just a look in his eyes was enough to know he wasn't happy about what had happened to his friend.
Marionette sighed once more before pulling out her phone and dialling a number.
Ring... Ring... Ring...
{"What is it, Daughter?"}
A gruff, deep, and authoritative voice appeared on the other side of the phone. It lacked a sense of warmness when answering a call from someone he called a "Daughter".
"May I allow a couple of Roses to Bloom?"
Lillian, who was able to hear Marionette say a very cryptic line, couldn't help but sweat. A family of assassins, known to be quite stealthy in their art, decided on a certain line for killing someone.
The Rose is the target. And the Blooming part... well... you could tie it to the scene of a watermelon exploding, except the water is a deep red and comes from a human.
{"... No... you may not. That's only allowed in the exam. If that is it, I will be hanging up now."}
BEEP!
"..."
Marionette sighed again before looking up, causing the short, bald man to grin.
"You finally look us in the eye!"
"... And maybe you should look at the guards behind you."
"Huh?" At her words, the two men looked behind them to see two fully armoured individuals standing behind them, staring down at them intently before throwing them to the ground and cuffing their wrists behind their backs.
"You three are arrested for suspicious activities!"
"W-what!? Hey! Arrested!? Shouldn't it be detained instead!?"
"You have the right to remain silent!"
From behind the guards stood a smiling Lillian. Marionette noticed her and walked up to her, tilting her head to the side, "I'm surprised you actually found me."
"How can I be your guide if I can't track you down when you go missing? ... How did you even get lost in the first place!?"
"You're quite accepting of this role... and to answer your question... this place is tricky."
Lillian's eyes twitched at her vague answer. She was kind of right to be irritated by Marionette's answer. All she had to do was walk in one direction, after all.
Marionette glanced back at the guards, "I suspect this is your doing?"
After giving a sigh, Lillian nodded with a smile, "Of course! When I saw you in trouble, I totally went to find help immediately!" She grinned brightly, lying straight through her teeth. She had only gone to get help when she thought Marionette was going to kill those men.
You could even say that the guards were the ones protecting the men from Marionette.
"After I told them the lady of the Roselle family was in trouble, they rushed over here like super-duper fast!" (10)
Marionette listened keenly, watching as Lillian made a few silly gestures to emphasise the guard's speed before briefly nodding and thanking Lillian, "I would've been fine dealing with them by myself. But... thank you, Ms. Arius, for your consideration."
Lillian shot her hands towards Marionette's, grasping them tightly before pulling her in the correct direction to the academy. "Come on! It's already late as it is!"
They ran, and they ran.
While running, Lillian was ignorant of the stare she was getting from Marionette, who was staring at her hand being held by Lillian's with a complex expression on her face.
Lillian seemed to have forgotten that...