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"Just set your bag in the corner there so it doesn't get lost. And don't forget to pick it up at the end of the day or else I'll be forced to eat them," Doctor Finitevus quipped. His humor, however, seemed to be lost on Shadow as he was currently staring bullets at him from over at the door.
"No, you'll keep them safe until Honest arrives tomorrow."
"He's just teasing, Ultimate Stick-in-the-mud," Honest called over her shoulder. After lifting the lid, Honest jumped up the side of the cooler as if she were going to climb inside it, only to gently drop her bag in the front left-hand corner of the refrigerated container.
"I'll be back for it at 3:15 in the afternoon. We have work at the cafe after school today, so we'll store it there then," Honest told the Doctor as she made her way across the room back to where Shadow stood by the door. "By the way, you should totally come visit the cafe sometime! Perhaps I can trade some of my tips for a discount on your order."
Shadow wondered if she was really serious about that.
Finitevus nodded, as though he were considering it.
"Oh, and Shadow," he said as they left. With one hand on the door, said black pineapple turned around.
"Remind Scourge to come in later, perhaps at lunch, to retake Friday's quiz, which he miraculously failed in spite of us practically reviewing all the answers minutes before he took it."
"Alright, it will be done," Shadow assured, closing the heavy wooden door with a thud.
"Certainly, thine will be done," Honest mocked him as soon as the door shut behind them. She used her universal masculine voice impression to say it, which was just low-pitched. Shadow glared at her out of the corner of his eye as they walked.
"But keep in mind that we won't be obeying any of his commands. He actually listens to us, er, me," Honest reminded him.
"How exactly did you manage that?" Shadow inquired, concern carefully tucked away beneath a scowl of confusion.
Honest tapped her chin with her finger. "Hmmm... It was complicated. But if I can persuade the Ultimate Mercenary to put on a dress and assist us in cleaning Snow's massive house, there should be no limit to what I can accomplish." Honest then brightened up. "Ooh! You should ask Doc Fin why he decided to become a teacher later when you have his class. That's a story and a half." In the corridor, they passed a clock that read "7:25."
"Well, Hm... We've still got some time before the first bell. You want to go see if there's anything interesting worth eating in the cafeteria?" Shadow questioned, hoping to find something better to do than wandering aimlessly around the school.
"You can," Honest said as she pulled out her phone and searched for a particular app. "I have some story-related matters to attend to."
"All right..." Shadow was slow to respond. "Like brainstorming? Is it not possible to brainstorm while eating?"
"Shadow, brainstorming isn't everything I do. I have a lot of work to do besides that," the blond cat answered with a retort. She quickly typed something into the on-screen keyboard of her smartphone and hit "send".
"Alright, then. I guess I'll be seeing you later?"
"Yes, definitely! Bye, Shadow!" Honest embraced the hedgehog tightly before bounding down a set of stairs behind them with a huge grin on her face. Shadow staggered for a second, almost losing his binder.
"Oh, I don't wanna do this," Honest stated aloud as she made her way to the library on the first floor, her smile fading away completely. "I hate admitting my mistakes, but I hate losing allies even worse."
In terms of anything an average student might be looking for, this library was really lacking. Yeah, it was like an eighth the size of the proper library in the main building and thus really couldn't be compared to it, but also, in terms of book variety, it didn't have much to offer.
Its nonfiction section, for one, was practically nonexistent. Once Honest had to find a book on the history of the railroad, and there was only one book in the entire library on that subject. Then, if you wanted a fiction book, you couldn't read a series. All of the fiction books were standalone titles for some reason. Honest hadn't yet been able to locate any of the most popular fiction series. Once the librarian was taking suggestions on what books to order for the library, so Honest asked for a particular series about warring clans of cats. However, the librarian only ordered one book out of the 30+ book series, and that was a book Honest had only read, maybe, seventeen times?
The only notable aspect of this library was its large graphic novel collection. The teachers, from time-to-time, would talk about it like it was a giant golden statue that represented all that they were, however all Honest ever saw was confused freshman students walking in there and coming back out scratching their heads. Honest supposed it was because, like every other genre, there wasn't much to choose from. This library did have a complete series of encyclopedias on the back wall, though.
This library, on the other hand, had everything Honest was looking for, as in it had everything you could want in a meeting place. There were plenty of tables to sit at, more than enough bright lighting, and board games to play when time was needed to be wasted.
Honest running into Rosy in chapter one of w/Rosy was just one example of how this library had fulfilled Honest's expectations for it.
Honest admitted to everyone a problem she had with this library five chapters later. It was with the librarian at the time, Sonic Boom's fastidious beaver, who didn't like her. From across the library, Honest could sense the beaver's disapproving looks. As a result, Honest would have to flee if the beaver appeared. Due to the Sonic Boom exclusive characters being essentially eliminated as of the beginning of this story though, this was no longer a problem. I don’t include Sticks, of course. In my mind, she is a "forever character."
Honest, Scourge, and Fiona met Shadow here in chapter six of this story. He'd been in the library that day, reading a novel. He probably preferred this library because it was more private. If he could afford it, he preferred not to be around other people. Honest's illustration for that scene provided one of the few glimpses of this library ever gotten.
Also in that scene was where Honest told the story (well, at least partially) of how the larger library, the one featured in chapter seven of this story, came to be. Then there was 16, which took place in the hallway outside the new library, 20, 23, and 25, which took place inside the new library, 26, which started in the new library but ended in the art room (the new art room, that’s a whole other story), and chapter 2 of this story, which ended in the new library.
The old library had a "natural" color scheme. Mostly brown and green in varying shades. The tables were rectangular and crowded with far too many seats. The chairs were also rectangular, with red cushions that weren't the softest in the world but were a much better alternative to sitting on rough, flat wood.
The bookshelves were made of the same light-colored wood the tables were. The fiction section was to the left of the entrance, the nonfiction section was on the left back wall, and the reference section, which also included board games, was on the opposite wall.
Even more fiction books were stored on shelves parallel to the entrance. For whatever reason, fiction seemed to be more popular than nonfiction at this school. Oh, yeah. It was probably due to the fact the people it was designed for were childish teens. Speaking of which…
I don't mean to offend him. For every moment he displayed a childish desire to cause trouble, there were at least two examples of imperturbable maturity. In that way, I guess it could be said the emerald green hedgy sitting at a table in the middle of the room was a "dynamic" character. Yeah, that's a more appropriate word. He lifted up his head as he saw her enter the library.
Honest realised she was still frowning a little too late. It wasn't like the state of being unhappy was forbidden or something, but the usual Scourge associated nervousness made everything feel forbidden. She pulled out the chair across from him and was about to sit down before a red fox girl stepped out from behind a freestanding bookcase and scared her half to death, causing the blond cat to jump.
Fiona laughed as if her reaction of fear had pleased her and pulled out the chair beside the king. "Sorry. It's not like I don't trust you to be alone with the future ruler of Moebius, but if this is royal business, then I thought I might want-"
"Can you stop it with the royal junk? I know you haven't been able to get that off your mind lately, but constantly bringing it up is getting old," Scourge told her, shutting his eyes tightly as if, when he reopened them, Fiona might disappear.
The scarlet vulpine looked a little taken aback for a second, but she quickly brushed it off. "Fine, fine. If you need me to turn my back and plug my ears-"
"No need," Honest said quickly as she took a seat. She rolled her eyes and looked slightly angry. "This is going to be embarrassing enough as it is. Um, Scourge?"
Said hedgehog turned from Fiona to Honest so quickly that his sunglasses were nearly slung across the room in the process. He looked curiously and cautiously at Honest as her gaze darted around the library.
"Chapter sixteen of w/Rosy… I, uh, I said some mean things and was kind of rude, and I want to apologise."
Scourge immediately responded as if he thought she shouldn't have to apologise for that. "You didn't say anything that wasn't correct, though. I have a problem that I should resolve."
"Well, that's it though." The viridian hedgy was eerily quiet then. "I was wrong. Er, I may have been right, but I no longer want to force you to do anything about it. That was wrong. Everything I sought to do in the last book was completely unnecessary and cruel." Honest laughed nervously and stared at the carpet. "It makes me seem like the bad guy kinda."
Fiona's gaze and voice softened. "Yeah, but in the end I'm sure Scourge appreciates you showing even some concern. It's not like he gets enough of that already."
Scourge sighed and readjusted his glasses. "Why are you pitying me? I mean, what for?"
Fiona and Honest looked at each other and stifled their laughs. Meanwhile, Scourge looked utterly confused. "Did I say something funny?"
Honest smiled. "Hey, everyone needs a support system! Just know that we've got your back, no matter what happens."
"Okay… That makes it sound like something's gonna happen," Scourge said angrily.
Honest used every ounce of energy she possessed to keep from tilting her head in curiosity. He was kidding, right? He couldn't possibly be onto them at this point. She tried playing it off to be safe. "Well, you can never tell what the future might bring," Honest laughed.
However, once Honest saw Fiona, her smile instantly fell away. She had her hands over her mouth and her expression looked pained. Was she really having that much trouble keeping quiet?
“So you just wanted to apologise to me?” Scourge asked as if it were totally uncool to do so.
“Y-Yes, it was very important. I really felt I owed you especially once, after I had been so outwardly rude to you, you immediately did something nice for me.” Honest said it gravely, as if Scourge doing anything out of the goodness of his own heart were a heinous crime.
The king of nothingness and empty space sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. "Yes, and Sonic had to go out of his way to let you know."
"You knew?"
"Of course. That blue sludge ball wouldn't stop bugging me about it. He held it over my head like he was threatening to tell everyone, not just you." A dark cloud formed over Scourge's head.
"All because you got the teacher to excuse my absence? That's a good thing, if that sort of thing got out, it would just-"
"Knock my reputation down even farther than it is at this point. The people of my reality, er, my reality of origin, applaud me for my little ideas as if I'm just a monkey with a crown." Fiona and Honest looked at each other for a second. "I guess they still see me as the little boy who took the kingdom overnight. That's cemented as a place in their minds for now, but if they caught wind of my good doings here… Well, I guess they might lose hope."
Honest had to admit she was having trouble keeping up. He was reaching deep down into a chasm with no bottom. How could he manage that? And Fiona was biting holes in her lip trying to keep her mouth shut. "And… Why exactly did you feel the need to do that, again?" Honest asked, changing the subject quickly back to what it was before.
Scourge swiftly shifted his focus, possibly because he caught onto what she was doing and agreed that was what he should do. "I guess it was because I foolishly still thought I was the problem. I thought that I needed to support you in your cause to help Rosy because I was the reason she needed help."
Honest yawned and stretched her arms across the table. "And all the times you ran for your life in IWGSR-- I still have plans for that story, you know. More chase scenes. Even though that stuff's all in the past now, I need the writing practice. Action and fighting scenes are beautiful works of art, you know?" Scourge gave her a weird look as if she had transformed into a disgusting beetle bug.
"The bell for first period's gonna ring in ten minutes," Fiona said after a long time. It was painfully obvious how she had trouble keeping up with their rambling. It kind of reminded Honest of what Mephiles had said about Shadow during the Session a couple chapters ago.
Honest gripped the straps on her white polka-dotted yellow backpack tightly as she stood up from the table. "To Management!"
Scourge stood up as well. "You take business classes?"
"Of course!" she exclaimed cheerfully. "What do you have first?"
"Algebra III," he told her in a way that made it seem like he didn't like that class too much.
"Do you not like it or are you just struggling? Math's my favorite subject."
"Oh, I have a B in it, it's just not my favorite," he replied, the both of them walking out of the library without even consulting Fiona first. I mean, it wasn't like Fiona was Scourge's bodyguard officially. The whole "allegiance to the king" thing was just an exaggeration. Plus, Honest was still unsure how far her allegiance, er, loyalty went. What Honest had said earlier, though at the time just nervous jabber, was actually more accurate. They were his support system.
Fiona lowered her phone from in front of her face and pocketed it, following behind them at a distance.
They were trying to walk fast in order to get to their classes on time, but Honest knew her class was the closest. Therefore, she knew she would have to split off from them at any moment. When they reached the first set of awnings, Honest waved good-bye to the aspiring royals and entered the building off to their left.178Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTkjWfW2jOb
