His View

  Shhh!

  The boy hissed at his noisy roommate as they leaned out behind a brick wall. His target moved again, so Oswald darted to a nearby bench and pretended to be engrossed in a bird's nest in front of him. He drove a tad further to the edge of the bench to get a better view, or so others might have thought. In reality, his goal was to establish a space close enough that he could hear the conversation a few feet away.

  “How presumptuous! She assumed you’d have no experience in the subject simply because you were kept in for so long?! Absurd! This is why they say politeness is the flower of humanity, some people just don’t know how to be courteous.”

  The girl huffed and readjusted what looked to be painstakingly stylized hair.

  In response, she was reassured by a few pats on the arm from the girl to her left.

  “It wasn’t that offensive-“

  A third girl interjected, “No need to brush it off Constance, I regret that I didn’t tell that girl off when we were in class. I’m telling you, she had a wicked feeling about her. I know I wasn’t that helpful during the… incident, but I will try my best to protect you from now on. Just wait, if anyone dares to follow you again, they’ll have to deal with me first!” She jabbed her thumb towards her chest with false confidence

  “Right…” Constance's eyes slid in the boys’ direction for a second before slinking to the girls again.

  Aslow D. yawned just in time for Oswald to slap a hand over his mouth. The roommate struggled under his hand, eventually pulling it off.

  “What’s the big idea, Oswald?! I’m kindly taking time out of my day to provide you companionship and here you are treating me this way.”

  He sighed, deciding to give the conversation the time of day.

  “To begin, I offered no invitation and had no intention to bring you along. More importantly, if you insist on keeping me company, do so quietly.”

  Aslow D. must’ve felt this unfair as he popped grapes into his mouth and spoke through bites.“Forgive me if I’m wrong but the wrong person here is the one who woke up today deciding to surveil his schoolmate? Might want to be careful, Constance already has two bodyguards.”

  He doesn’t have to make it appear so strange.

  Exasperated, he turned his attention completely away from the girls to defend himself.

  “I’m not surveying, I’m just looking out for her. Besides that, she’s likely already aware…”

  With that glance towards us earlier I can already tell she knows my objective. Then again, when have we ever been separated? There’s no way she wouldn’t be able to identify my presence.

  As he pondered Aslow D. waved a hand in his face, “So you’re telling me that weak little Constance has some sort of ability letting her know that you’re near? Even if she does, I can see why you’ve made no progress relationship-wise. It’s like my parents always said;” he stuck up a finger as if reciting an important lesson,

  “‘No one likes a clingy man, pushing towards something futile will only end up hurting you.’ Of course, I’ll never fully agree with that logic, who gets to decide whether or not what you're doing is worth it? In your case, I will say that your clingy behavior will only get you so far.”

  “I could say the same about you.” He had officially lost any inkling of care for this conversation after realizing Aslow D. thought this was an attempt towards romance.

  Since he doesn’t know any better why argue with him?

  He sidled his focus back to the bench where the three girls were… gone?!

  His gaze turned,

  towards the building. No. Did they move to another area outside? Not that I can see.

  He stood up to get a better look around and his roommate shook his head next to him. Then he kicked up his legs and spread out on the bench with his head in his hands.

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  Is it a lost cause? Maybe I should just check the dorm, but if I ran into the cousin, she’d be upset with me. Where could they have gone? It’s not like she’s in danger with those two anyway, is there even a point to this?

  In defeat, he exhaled and took a seat.

  Aslow D. yelped, retracting his legs from under Oswald, “Ow! I understand you must be disappointed and all, but why are you taking it out on me?”

  Noticing Oswald’s grimmer-than-normal expression Aslow D. began cheesing and put an arm around him, “I’m sure if you just talk to her about your worries, the two of you could have some sort of development. But for now, why don’t we go back to the dormitory where it’s warm and I can tell you all about the scandalous love affair of the prince's cousin.”

  Oswald raised his eyebrows and his roommate realized this suggestion was hardly of interest to him, “I’ll bestow you with all the speculation on how Constance met that stalking son of a count?”

  Oswald stood up and put his hands in his pockets, making his way toward the dorms.

  That night the boy lay awake, tossing from side to side. His resolve to be of help by watching his partner's back had fallen apart in less than a day. Usually, he had no trouble falling asleep which his partner had classified as a lack of protective ability.

  As he lay awake, he heard Aslow D. shifting in his bed as well. He had never noticed the roommate was such a fitful sleeper. Then, just as the boy was about to sit up, the bed on the opposite side of the room shifted. In the dark, the shadow of his roommate rose and tiptoed towards the shoe rack and coat hanger at the door.

  Aslow D. tended to coat himself in various layers, and had never ceased to wear his most colorful eastern style influenced clothes. The boy was surprised to see that his roommate picked a more dark coat with less embroidered patterns and a very simple appearance. As he slipped out the door, he used the fabric of his sleeve to cushion the sound of the door closing behind him.

  As soon as the door was closed, the now left-alone young man shot up. He hurried to his shoes and threw on his scarf, not even taking the time to add an exterior layer. He held his arms to shield himself from the shivery air outside. As he treads lightly behind his roommate, the wind blows softly, its gentle breeze providing a cover for some of the boy's quick steps.

  She did say to watch him, is this what she meant?

  Aslow D. made his way to the main hall and snuck in the door. In such a prestigious school with sweeping illustrious gates leaving the main hall open was only evidencing a fraction of the institution's self-assurance.

  The boy waited about a minute before entering the dim and shadowy hall. There was a low humming coming from an unidentified source that added an extra eerie detail to the otherwise quiet hall. The boy stuck close to the wall, and he doubted whether or not he could tag along blindly for long.

  He believed that a certain someone would have been a better fit to trail along in the dark but, he pushed on. He was in pursuit of the results that would follow should he find anything. Not only would he gain some sort of praise from her, but more importantly, a prominent enough finding would give him the conviction to believe he was of use to the girl and even the organization.

  On the contrary, he’d rather not come to discover the person he’d been living with had been hiding something unfathomable for quite a while now.

  Aslow D. didn’t seem uncomfortable in the pitch-dark hallway, rather his casual demeanor was reminiscent of how the boy would’ve walked through the pathway to the SHOP with his light orb.

  Even then, there’s at least something to brighten up the place. This solitary walk is less than appealing, so why go out of his way?

  Aslow turned the corner and passed by the dining hall where the humming was loudest. A half-lit dining hall seemed surreal, even more abandoned than usual. Its splendor was darkened by the lack of any sort of stimulation.

  The boy pushed his hands against the wall and shifted slowly until he was just behind the leaking of light from the dining hall. He peeked around the corner to see Aslow heading up the flight of stairs off to the side.

  Cri-ck, tip, creaak… as soon as his roommate reached just about out of sight, the boy dashed to the bottom of the stairs. Stepping up the stairs on his toes he stayed close to the baseboard feeling like a spider attached by a thin web.

  As he stepped up to the top step he relaxed his feet,

  Cri-kick.

  The boy flinched and he heard Aslow D.’s movements cease. Retracting the foot, he flattened himself as fast as possible.

  “Is… anyone there?” The roommate's voice sounded more curious than afraid.

  Ba-thump, Ba-dum, ba-dum!

  The boy felt a rush of adrenaline as Aslow D.'s steps got closer.

  I’ll say I was just worried. No, I just happened to be woken up. Maybe he’ll believe that I just wanted to get to know him better.

  Chirp! Chirp!

  The sound of the crickets outside broke the tense atmosphere and Aslow D. must’ve decided that there was no need to care for random noises in the night as he retreated the way he’d been going.

  He even began humming, maybe to ease some of the nervousness that most would feel sneaking around at night.

  The hidden boy sighed before carefully tip-toeing up the last step. As he snuck along behind his roommate he noticed Aslow had begun to speed up towards the next dimly lit room. The library was large and organized, putting the bookstore on Ainemerr Street to absolute shame.

  As if conditioned to do so after repeated visits Aslow D. moved swiftly between rows, grabbing a few books here and there. When Aslow D. went behind the counter in the front of the room the boy watched from the hallway as several notebooks were produced from down below. His roommate took these and then he pulled out a chair at one of the long tables…