"Evvls, whatcha lookin at?"
"There's a new girl here, Ranni already caught 'em."
"Really? Who is it?"
The boy with blue eyes pointed at Akari, saying,
"The girl with purple hair. I think she got here a week ago or something."
"Didn't even notice her. Wonder what she did."
"Why don't we find out then?"
The boy with blue eyes began walking towards the two girls.
"Huh? Really?"
The other boy quickly caught up to him, a bit flustered by the sudden decision.
"Yeah, why not?"
"You… sigh, you're always like this."
The blue eyed boy smiled as he called out,
"Hey, Ranni, who's the new girl?"
Ranni turned around as she said,
"Oh, hey Evvls! Meet Akari! She's new here."
Evvls waved as he said,
"Nice to meet you, as she said, I'm Evvls and this is Shinto."
As he introduced himself, Ranni leaned over and whispered into Akari's ear.
"Evvls is a bit strange, but he's a good guy for the most part. Shinto's a cool guy."
Akari smiled, holding back a little laugh as she said,
"It's nice to meet you too, I'm Akari… Akari Ignius."
Evvls eyes widened at this name, saying,
"Ignius? Are you from the Algoan Dukedom?"
"Mhm."
Evvls looked a bit distraught.
'Just what could she have done to land herself here?!'
Evvls's face quickly became a bit more calm, asking,
"How'd you get in here then?"
"Uhh, I guess I was just at the wrong place at the wrong time."
An eyebrow raised as Shinto asked,
"What do you mean? What happened?"
Ranni chimed in,
"Is this an interrogation now?"
"Cmon, I just got her to leave that Library, you'll scare her back in there!"
"Oh, my bad."
Shinto said as he chuckled.
Akari took this chance to take in their appearances.
Evvls was short, not that short though, he'd definitely grow with age. He had tan skin and dark freeforms. He was slim and had smooth blue eyes.
Shinto on the other hand was a bit taller with black dreads, sleepy hazel yellow eyes.
"It's fine, I don't really mind too much."
Ranni looked at Akari, a bit concerned.
"You've been squeezing my wrist this whole time, you sure?"
"Huh? I have?"
Akari looked down to see that she was. She'd been nervous around men in her past life. She hadn't known that that came with her to this world
She let go as she said
"Oh, sorry."
Ranni smiled as she said,
"It's fine, your grip strength is crazy though. You work out?"
Evvls chimed in,
"Well, it's about time we go, right Shinto?"
"Huh? oh, yea, sure."
Ranni smiled smugly, saying,
"That guy always knew when to leave."
Akari giggled at this, saying,
"Yeah, I used to work out before coming here"
'Only for a month though'
Ranni's face brightened as she said,
"Perfect, maybe you could become my workout buddy then!"
"Sure, I don't mind."
Akari said as she smiled
"Great! …Oh, it's travis."
Akari looked to where Ranni was looking.
A slow-moving cloud of thick, ink-like mist clung to the far end of the courtyard. It pulsed gently, like a living thing. Even with the other children, she could see that Travis had to be in that darkness, or maybe he was the darkness.
Even without seeing his face, something about that pressure felt… familiar. She could also tell that he was staring at her.
"What the…"
Ranni shrugged as she said,
"My guess is no better than yours. He said he was cursed by a God… but why would a God curse him?"
"I thought Syzael disappeared."
Ranni smiled as she said,
"There's more than one God, didn't you learn that in school?"
'I wonder why none of the books mentioned this…'
"Huh? Oh, no, I never went to school."
"Really? Is that why you locked yourself in the Library all week?"
Akari smiled,
"You caught me."
"I see, I see! Well, there's no need to do that anymore then! If you have any questions, just ask me!"
Ranni said enthusiastically. Her enthusiasm practically made her glow in Akari's eyes, causing her to squint.
"You're like… the complete opposite of Travis."
Ranni burst out laughing
"Ahaha, Travis may look like that, but he's a chill guy!"
Akari smiled, saying,
"So what's with the darkness? All the kids are staying away from him, even Evvls is talking to him from a distance."
Ranni stayed quiet for a moment, her smile faltering as she replied,
"I don't know… but one time, someone came out, bloody and on the verge of death."
Akari blinked as she rubbed Ranni's back.
She could tell that Ranni didn't like remembering such a scene.
"I'm sorry for asking."
"It's fine, I just don't like seeing blood."
'Someone came out of the darkness though? I only feel one person in it… but there's something else, I can't put my finger on it…'
Akari, wanting to change the subject, said,
"So how'd you get locked up?"
Ranni smirked as she said,
"That's a secret."
Akari, not too amused, stared at her.
"Fine~, I'll tell you later, too many eyes here."
"You sound like a Mafia Boss now."
Akari said sarcastically.
"What's a Mafia Boss?"
'Shoot, different world!'
"Don't worry about it."
Doors behind them open, one kid with a straight jacket coming out.
The courtyard quiets down for a moment before kids begin to murmur.
"Isn't that Akatsuke?"
"He's out already?"
"Duh, let's get away..!"
Akari looked at the kids talking but they already began walking away, going to the otherside of the courtyard.
She then looked at Ranni, who had a neutral expression.
'To get solitary confinement as a child… just what did he do?'