"Because… she is special to me," Aland answered, looking at Elmar firmly.
Elmar snorted in disbelief. "How can that girl be special? Even though you have only met once, not twice now," said Elmar.
Aland ignored Elmar's protests. He left his best friend and ran toward Marlyn Monroe's departure.
"Elmar is wrong if I think I've only met that girl twice. I met her weeks ago when she first set foot in this school. Marilyn Monroe, aka Miller Fallon." Aland grinned. "Or maybe not? I need to confirm it one more time. Just once! I introduced myself as Edison, but she called me Aland when she panicked. Maybe she didn't realize that her small mistake could have disastrous consequences."
Elmar looked panicked. He squinted and stared at Aland's back as he walked away.
"Aland can't have Marlyn Monroe. I wonder why Marlyn appeared here. But I have to protect her because she is… my girl! Since we first met at the hospital."
Elmar also followed Aland. He even had to transform himself into a gray wolf to hunt down his best friend and prevent Aland from doing whatever he planned.
On the other hand, Marlyn was unable to stop Hunter. "Why are you walking so fast? Good grief! Hunter Abraham, don't go there!"
Marilyn had to take off her shoes, carry the hem of her dress, and run as fast as possible.
Jonea had reached the waiting room. There's no one there anymore. All participants have appeared. Even the last participant, before Jonea's turn, had just stepped onto the stage to auction off the items from their club.
"That's bad! This isn't good. Soon they will come here looking for me. I have to hide."
Jonea was running here and there, looking for a place to hide. However, the waiting room was too exposed, and there wasn't anything she could use to cover herself. On the side of the wall were several dressers with bright white lamps—several long couches on different sides. The rest is nothing but chaos.
In the middle of the room, Jonea saw a wooden chest containing an item a particular club would auction off. Jonea remembered the photo that was shown by Marlyn when Marlyn rented them.
"Oh, thank you, Marlyn. Now I have a way to escape them all and maintain my cover. But how about this dress? I can't be in a disgusting cola-stained dress like this."
On one of the dressers, there was a white dress belonging to one of the students left on the back of the chair. Jonea grabbed the dress and pressed it against the body.
"This dress is a little too small for me, but better than nothing."
Jonea took off her dress which was dirty with cola stains, and replaced it with the white dress she found. After changing her clothes, Jonea immediately opened the chest containing the items that would be auctioned that day.
"It's perfect," Jonea said as she looked through the crate.
Ed replaced the tea set Jonea broke with one of his own, a set of medieval armor. The samurai armor is complete with the sword.
Jonea swallowed hard. "The price must be above 10 million Coll and I have to sell it tonight. But, it would be a shame if I showed off this armor only through a glass case. It would be more convincing if I put it on and show them how it should be worn."
Jonea grinned.
"I can cover my face with this armor. That was the plan Marlyn offered from the start."
Jonea took a samurai kabuto (helmet) and casually put it on her head. "Wow, this is heavy. But it would be cool if I could wear it."
"What are you doing? You want to steal?"
Jonea panicked. Quickly she took off Kabuto and wanted to return it to the crate. But she couldn't do it.
"How about this?"
The girl slowly turned around while still holding Kabuto on her head.
"What are you doing? Please take off the kabuto right now and return it to the box. How much do you think this historical object costs? You won't be able to pay for it."
Jonea panicked. Not that she didn't want to let go, but she couldn't. Initially, Jonea just wanted to try. When Ed suddenly appeared angrily, Jonea panicked and quickly wanted to remove the helmet but got her head stuck instead.
“!(*^#(!&$+,” Jonea muttered.
"What did you say?" Ed only heard a faint grunt.
"Help me!" she shouted. Her voice echoed and sounded like a robot because it was wedged in the helmet.
"Miller? That's you?"
"Yes. Could you help me? Take this Kabuto from my head. It's stuck, and it hurts like hell."
Ed rolled his eyes. "Can't you just not cause trouble for once?!" he snapped. "After destroying the 10 million Coll tea set, now you also want to destroy the armor that cost even twice as much as the tea set?"
Jonea just looked down. She didn't know that her head would get stuck in the kabuto.
"How about this? Please help me let it go," Jonea pleaded.
"Well!" Ed shouted, clenching his fists.
Ed tried to pull the Kabuto from Jonea's head, but the Kabuto was complicated to remove. Jonea screamed in pain because her ear got stuck and felt like it was about to be pulled out.
"Fuck! This is not going to work," said Ed.
The master of ceremonies in the hall began to name the last items to be auctioned that night. Edison and Jonea looked at each other. Then they panicked together.
"How about this? How about this?"
"We have no other choice," Ed said. "You are forced to appear while wearing this armor."
Jonea froze. At first, she was happy. But, now, she regretted it. The armor was heavy and must have been excruciating.
Ed was forced to help Jonea put on the armor on her body.
"Are you capable? This shirt is made of iron and is very heavy. It may even weigh more than your body weight. You might fall over there and damage this shirt."
"WHAT? You are more worried about this armor than I am?" protested Jonea. The girl is already hot. Sweat flooded his body.
"I'm going to ask the emcee for a little extension. I will help you put on this armor. Hold on a minute. You don't need to move much while performing. You need to stand up and support the weight of this costume. You understand?" he snapped.
Jonea feels so weak. Her body was exhausted, and now she still had to add the burden of wearing armor that reached tens of kilos.
"How about you take off your dress?" Ed asked. "Let's change into normal clothes; then I'll layer them with armor."
Jonea's eyes opened wide behind the mist. "No. Don't!" Jonea shouted, holding out both hands forward to hold Ed.
"Are you crazy? There's no way you're wearing a dress and armored up. That will make it more difficult for you. After all, you're a man. Why do you like wearing dresses so much? You are disgusting, Miller."
Jonea couldn't see Edison's movements. Suddenly the young man moved and stood behind Jonea.
"Ed, what are you doing? Where are you?"
"Take off your gown, of course!" exclaimed Edison casually.
Sraakk….
Jonea paled and reflexively crossed her arms to her chest just as Edison unzipped her dress at the back.
"Aaarrrhh!" Jonea screamed uncontrollably. "Stop!"
Ed's hands hung on Jonea's back. He was shaking and didn't dare to move at all.
"Wh- what have I done?" Edison was utterly shocked. "You… not Miller?" Edison backed up until he hit one of the dressers.