Vol 2 Chapter 11 (1/2)

Chapter 11: The Voice

“W-wait! Don’t do it!”

“WHOA!”

Larry was the most surprised of them all With a yell, he leapt and turned in the direction of the voice

Meg flinched as well Natalia protectively stepped before her Seron and Nick pointed their flashlights at the source of the voice Jenny did the same, a second later

“Argh… my eyes…”

A man had leapt out of the red door

He was slender in build and wore dark green clothes that rese sneakers

He was dressed like a hoht find in the alleys of the Capital District, but he was not particularly unkempt and he did not smell

Because he was covering his eyes, it was i A beard spread over his face and he was slightly balding His long hair was black, halfway to grey, and went down all the way to his shoulders The man was probably in his fifties or sixties

“My eyes… please…” The ynous and sounded very soft-spoken

“I don’t think we’ll need the lights, everyone” Seron said, turning off his flashlight Nick and Jenny did the same

“Oh… thank you…” Thehis hands

Thetrenches in his forehead and at the corners of his eyes,him look very old indeed He could almost pass for 80

“It’s on you now, Seron” Larry said, cal down He stepped aside

“Yeah Seron can speak for us That all right with everyone?” Asked Natalia

No one objected

Seron stepped forward, co to a stop about 5 meters from the man

“Good afternoon My name is Seron Maxwell I’m a third-year student at this secondary school”

He began with a greeting and an introduction The man’s broitched

“Thank you for coize on everyone’s behalf My friend and I were not serious ere raising our voices earlier We were bluffing, as we believed it would be i you out otherwise I’m terribly sorry”

Larry and Meg, who finally understood what Seron and Nick had been doing earlier, nodded in understanding

Several seconds of silence followed

Would the man say no more, the students wondered, when he finally opened his mouth

“I’ve been listening to your voices all this tiht you’d make it all the way in here I’m impressed”

The students had not expected words of praise They exchanged aard glances Seron continued

“There are other rooh those doors, yes?”

“That’s right There are eways here”

“Do you live here?”

“I do”

“Is there anyone else here?”

“No It’s just me”

The nation

“How long have you been here?”

“About two years, I suppose” The man said aardly

Seron could hear the others gasp behind him He continued mechanically

“That’s a very long time, sir Wasn’t it uncomfortable down here?”

“No”

The man shook his head

“Thiscold during the winter How did you survive?”

“There are hot water pipes here I help myself to some when I need it”

“I see This place must receive hot water from the boiler room, just like the communal bath in the dormitories So you can stay warm and even take baths in here Is there a bathroom behind one of those doors?”

The man nodded

“What do you do about food?”

“I… can’t answer that”

“I see …Let et to the point The barred s in the base to be sealed off soon”

“I know So very loudly about it As if they were talking to me”

“…We came all this way to tell you: wouldn’t it be best to leave this place?”

“Where would you have o?”

Seron was silent

“I have nowhere else to go I came out here to tell you: won’t you let me live in peace here?”

“…I can’t presu is part of a school campus Wouldn’t it be better to receive the protection of the law and its benefits in a publicly-operated facility? They wouldn’t turn you away”

“I can’t”

“Why not?”

“I can’t say”

“I see…”

Seron put the conversation on hold there Then he turned to Larry without warning

“All this searching’s ht the sandwiches, Larry?”

“Huh? Oh, right! Le them up”

Larry pulled off his backpack and took out the wisteria lunchbox

Seron received the lunchbox, took off his gloves, and removed the lid

“Excuse me I’m the only one who skipped lunch today” He said, and sat himself on the floor

Seron placed the lunchbox on the floor in front of hi bite

The h wrinkled eyes

“Here, help yourself Our dormitory cafeteria serves the best food around” Seron said, holding out the lunchbox towards the man

From behind Larry, Nick whispered to Natalia, “Now I’m even more convinced that Seron should join the drama club”

For a time, the man stared at the sandwich in Seron’s hand

“Two’s a little too much for me” Seron added with a smile

“Thank you …I’ll help myself”

The man finally sat on the floor in front of Seron and took the sandith a wrinkled hand He slowly brought it to his mouth with both hands, stared, and bit down

“…”

His eyes slowly greet

As did Meg’s, as she watched him eat

For some time, the only sound in the base on their sandwiches

And—

“You know, I’ht about now”

“Tell ht? You traded places with another Natalia after lunch, right?”

As Natalia and Larry joked around, Meg burst into laughter

After the aze and finally spoke

“Why would you go so far for me?”

“We have est reason is that so around

Theat him

A shadow flitted past his expression He shook his head

“I can’t I can’t leave this place”

“B-but why is that the case? I do not want to see a person dying in this sort of place!” Meg pleaded

“Ah…”

The man’s eyes flew open He froze

Without a word, he stared at Meg Seron, Meg, and the others could not read his expression

“Miss… are you from Sou Be-Il?”

He said suddenly

“Huh?”

“Hm?”

“What?”

“…”

Natalia, Nick, Larry, and Seron did not understand what he said

“Yes! I ao, but I was born and raised in Sou Be-Il! I was born in Shelestaras, and I grew up in Parselturay after I turned three!” Meg cried ecstatically But four of the others still did not understand a word Meg and the e of Sou Be-Il

Jenny spoke up in Roxchean

“They’re both speaking Bezelese”

“What?” Larry said, turning to Jenny “You know Bezelese?”

Jenny was indignant at his disbelief

“We have Bezelese classes at school, you know I took it last term”

“Give e in just half a year” Larry said, still reeling from shock

“Jenny has quite the intellect, you know She’s never fallen out of the top ten in our year I believe she was 8th at the lowest”

“How’d you know that, princess?”

“It’s coh I don’t believe you’d read about it in any school newspaper” Nick joked, winking with a smile

“Hrumpily

Larry’s eyes ide

“That’s really iest hawk hides his talons, but this is on another level altogether This is practically inspirational, Jenny!”

“I owe you a punch later, blondie”

“C’ to say you’re not all bad It was a compliment”

“Make that two punches”

“Guys” Natalia interrupted “Save the spat for later I won’t get in your way then”

“What? You’re supposed to stop people who’re arguing, Lia”

“Doesn’t matter Anyhat did they just say in Bezelese, Jenny?”

“The tails where she was from, and she told him where” Jenny replied

Meg turned to the man and switched to Roxchean so everyone could understand, cal down

“Sir, are you a person from Sou Be-Il? Yes? You must be a person frodo Is there no place for you to be in Roxche, so you are living in this kind of place? Then that is very, very sad!”

Thehis head

He did not look up for some time, but eventually he squeezed out a feeble voice

“I can’t go back anymore… not to Sou Be-Il, and not to Roxche… I’m happy here…”

“You cannot be happy to close your life here where no one knows!” Meg pleaded in anguish Her voice echoed through the rooainst their eardrums

Several seconds passed in silence

“That’s the chorus club for you…” Natalia finally whispered

“If I tell my father about your situations, he will borrow us his power! My father said that he knows a man at the embassy of our homeland! He will certainly be able to help you!”

Seron waited for Meg to finish before picking up where she left off

“What do you say? We ht be able to help you, if you’ll tell us why you refuse to leave”

“Please wait, Seron!” Meg cried, running to him She squatted behind Seron (as still seated) and reached out with her left hand And she tightly grabbed his right shoulder

“…”

Seron turned

He cah for his breath to reach

Seron desperately held back his racing heart and asked,

“What is it?” He ed to say

“May we ask the reasons from him later? This person must be helped! The embassy! We must telephone the embassy and ask for its help!”

Meg’s eyes were bri with tears Seron quietly replied,

“We can’t just do that”

“Why can we not?”

Seron did not answer—instead, he raised his left hand He gently took Meg’s pale hand from his shoulder and slowly, very slowly, took it off his shoulder

Meg pulled her hand back and placed it over her sto away Then she raised her head and looked Seron in the eye

“Why?”

Seron cast her a warm look

“If thisin here because he co the police, not the embassy When I said ‘publicly-funded facility’ earlier, I was also including the possibility of prison It doesn’t matter where he’s from, if he’s broken the law”

“But that’s…”

Meg trailed off She could not finish her sentence

“Man… learn so his head in his hands

“He’s being a goody-two-shoes, but he’s right” Said Natalia “We can’t exactly help someone out if he’s a criminal”

Thehis head Seron continued

“I understand that you wish to remain down here But we can’t let you do that any here, we can’t just leave you”

“…I… I just wanted to stay here forever” The man said

“I’m afraid that’s not possible” Seron replied immediately The man looked up at him with tears in his eyes

“Then… then what am I supposed to do?! What would you have me do?”

“It’s simple! Just kill those children!”

The answer came from behind the students

“Kill them! They are your enemies! Now silence them! Then you can return to your peaceful life, and you won’t have to harain! Erase them!”

It was a man’s voice

The voice cah It sounded strangely deep andin front of his mouth

“Hm?”

Nick turned, but there was no one in his line of sight

Larry did an about-face and headed for the passage—

“AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!”

The ht back, startled

“Ugh!”

The first thing he saas the ed towards Meg

Meg flinched at the sudden turn of events, and was rooted to the floor The man reached forward—

“Hah!”

“Urgh!”

Seron stood with a cry, tackling the man The man fleard and landed on his shoulder

Seron was also knocked aside by the impact—

“Whoa!”

“Eek!”

He landed on the floor, holding Meg in his arms

He was on the verge of crushi+ng her against the floor

“Ah!”

He flipped around, still holding Meg His back hit the cold, hard floor

And a second later, Meg’s forehead caainst the floor There were two clear impacts

“Ow!”

“Ah!”

“Megmica!”