Chapter 58 - Catching Fur (1/2)
Lydis made her way back to the dorms as she had already registered and acquired her class schedule since it was in the pocket of her overcoat.
The slum kids behind her were quieted by new instructors since their dancing had grown too wild. Standing over them, Crill laughed as he saw the adults become disorganized. From the corner of his eyes Crill noticed that Bennox had started to slowly follow Lydis. Although it wasn't obvious at eye level, from where Crill was standing it was as clear as day. Wanting to keep good relations with Lydis, Crill let out a playful order.
”Scatter!”
Like magic, each kid stopped dancing and they all ran in different directions. The instructors tried to calm them but, they were from the slums. If anyone wanted to order them around it could only be by someone they respected. Seeing how hopeless the scene was a few instructors stopped trying and just watched as the kids disappeared.
Amidst that chaos Bennox was swept away and soon he was swallowed by the stampeded of kids. Smirking, Crill exited the auditorium without anyone noticing.
Lydis reached the front of the dorm building when she saw a familiar face… er form?
From the window of the dorm head's room was a small ball of fluffy red fur. Having to double back and look twice Lydis squinted at the ball. At that exact moment the ball moved and revealed two perky ears along with a pair of pleading eyes.
”MAAS~TERR!”
Lydis quickly made a 'hush' motion by placing her finger on her mouth. If Hal was inside and heard Valfafer speaking it would be hard to pass him off as a normal dog. Valfafer whimpered and scratched at the glass repeatedly. His master had left him and the dumb robot all alone with a weird human! He wasn't even asked if he wanted to go!
Something behind Valfafer shinned and he quickly stopped his attempts to get Lydis's attention. In the room, a large metallic body hung from the ceiling. Tucked into the corner, arms bent in weird directions to hold it in place.
Valfafer turned around slowly, his tail shaking, although not from excitement but fear.
Suddenly the head of the human monster turned all the way around, it's mouth opened but no words came out. Instead, a long thin claw shot out and grabbed the curtains, pulling them closed gently. Seeing as how the light was covered and the room was now painted a warm orange, the robot retracted the claw and returned to it's former position.
Valfafer wanted to run away badly but he still hadn't found the smaller stupid robot. Not wanting to wake the humanoid robot, Valfafer leaped down from the window and started his search once again. Around the corners of the chair, under the pile of stinky clothes and near the doorway. Still, the little robot was nowhere to be found.
Valfafer whined and fell into a sad pile of disorganized papers he had knocked down earlier by accident. As Valefor waited for Lydis to finally come get them the actual human in the room began to stir.
*Mnnn* ”… F*cking bastard…”
Valfafer flinched and raised his head just enough to see the human turn over in the chair and go back to his nap.
A little beep sounded and suddenly Ui popped out from the humanoid robot's sleeve. In its dragon form, Ui quickly scrambled off the robot's arm and landed gently next to Valefor.
Unable to contain his joy and relief, although Valfafer himself would never admit it, Valfafer jumped at Ui and began to smother it. His soppy tongue layering salvia onto Ui's back.
”S-stop! You're disrupting, my, sensors!” Ui used one claw and jabbed at Valfafer's nose. Yelping back in surprise, Valefor rubbed his nose with his paw.
In a hushed tone, Valfafer tried to muffle his voice as much as possible.
”How do we leave?”
Ui was in the process of wiping Valfafer's spit on Hal's clothes nearby when a shadow passed by under the large door. After a pause the shadow came back and stopped in front of the dor.
With a slight knock they heard a familiar voice from the other side.
”Dorm head Hal? It's student Lydis.” After receiving no answer Lydis said in a voice slightly louder.
”Ui, can you get the window open?”
Beeping once Ui responded.
”Yes Master Lydis. I should be able to penetrate the window. Please wait on standby on the other side.”
”Wait wait! I didn't say break it. Can you open it? If not then what about the lock on this door?”
Ui paused. Looking up at the door handle Ui saw that it was a simple lock. Just turn the little metal piece in the middle and the door would become unlocked.
”Master Lydis, I will attempt to open the lock.”
Still a bit doubtful of Ui's methods, Lydis held her thoughts since kids were starting to reach the dorms. After about thirty seconds Lydis heard a small click.
”Master Lydis, the door has been unlocked. If possible, could you turn the handle since we lack the strength and opposable thumbs to do so.”
Lydis turned the handle and swiftly, Ui and Valfafer slipped outside through the slight opening. Closing the door silently behind them, Lydis released a sigh.
”MASSTERRR!” Valefor pounced on Lydis and began to rub his head against her leg.
”Not now Valefor and, what did I say about talking out loud? What if someone heard you?”
Valfafer whined but stopped. At least they were out of the strange room for now.
Lydis walked with Valfafer lagging behind while Ui sat comfortably in her pocket.
As they walked back to Lydis's room a group of four girls blocked the hall, each standing shoulder to shoulder. They had their heads turned to the side while fans covered most of their faces.
”Well, well, well. Look at who still has the nerve to attend the academy…” Slowly all of their fans came down but when they saw Lydis dressed in a black uniform they quickly changed tones.
”W-we're sorry! We thought you were someone else!”
As quickly as they could, all the girls turned around and ran as fast as they could. In between the sounds of their small heels hitting the floor Lydis could hear snippets of their conversation.
”… Who said she was 'easy' to bully?!...”
”Why… Lydis dressed in black?”
”… Just run!”
”… Lied to us…”
Uninterested, Lydis continued to her room.
Arriving at room two-thirty-nine Lydis pressed her hand against the scanner.
”Welcome, Lydis Fawn.”