Charlotte closed the door to her house after she bid farewell to Kamile. She sighed as she looked at her recently acquired place as her eyes moved through the floor and moved slowly through it. She walked to her bedroom and tumbled on the bed as her eyes wandered on the ceiling.

After an unknown amount of time she got up and walked to the bathroom. She took a short shower and put on herself a buttoned shirt with squared patterns of dark red and black, brown pants and a pair of black shoes. Finally, she went to the kitchen and started to prepare herself a proper meal.

I used too much energy yesterday, I need to replenish it again…

Charlotte spent the next hour preparing food and ate five servings without much difference between them. After she tidied up everything, she sat on the new sofa and continued to stare at the ceiling for some time.

As the sun started its way down to the horizon, Charlotte slapped her face with both hands and went out of her house. She bought a white cap in a store and moved along the road. She arrived to Eve’s school and crossed its open front door. She climbed the stairs to the last floor, the fifth one, arriving to an empty hall with only three doors. One at the end of the corridor, one just to her right and a big one between the two, she walked into the big one.

“Good afternoon. Are you looking for something?” A clerk behind a desk a few meters from her asked with clear surprise in her face.

Charlotte studied the clerk for a second. She was a girl with blob red hair. Squared glasses hanged up at her nose, partially covering a mole to the left of her left eye. She was thin and wore a white shirt with a black tie and a silver hairpin.

“Hello,” Charlotte greeted back, “I’m looking for some books.”

“Of course!” The girl brought her hands together with a smile. “If you need anything you can ask me! Can I see your student’s ID first?”

“Ah, there’s an ID? I didn’t know…”

“You didn’t know? Aren’t you a student?”

“Ehm, no. I was told I could find for some books in here. I was never told I needed to be a student, though.” Charlotte scratched the back of her ear as her eyes turned back to the door.

“Oh, I see. Well, you can check them, no problem.” The girl kept her smile up as her hands went down and opened a drawer in the desk.

“Huh? Really?” She turned back her head to the girl. “Why the student’s ID, then?”

“It’s for tracking the student’s work, it adds points in their exams, you know?” The girl brought out a paper and put it on the desk.

“I see. And that is?”

“You need to sign it in case something is stolen or if any book is damaged we know who the culprit is.” The girl placed a pen next to the form-like paper.

Charlotte nodded and walked to the desk. On the top-most part of the yellowish paper were boxes on which were written what information was required: her name, her citizen’s ID and the date. Below it were numerous empty boxes.

She wrote down her current name, Hiro, and the date of the day, Thursday, June 12th. Her hands stopped on the ID’s box and let the pen fall on the table. She searched through her pockets without success.

“Uhm, sorry, I don’t remember my ID number. I didn’t think it’d be necessary so I left it at home.”

The girl sighed before she shook her head. “Why are all youngsters these days so careless…”

“Sorry, ehh, can we leave it in blank for now?”

“That…”

“I’ll come back for the next few days, so I can write it tomorrow.”

“… Are you sure?”

“Yep! Please!” Charlotte nodded and pleaded to the girl, leaning in the desk.

“Alright, don’t forget it or else I’d be in trouble. Okay?”

“Thanks!”

After she finished the procedure she turned to the bookshelves. There were five in total with four rows on each at each side. Some of the rows were empty and of those which stood there looked as old as they could get, they appeared ready to break down if someone just touched them. Apart from the bookshelves in the library, there were four desks with three seats each. Surprisingly, there was a computer at the corner of the room, an old, big one monster.

She walked through the bookshelves searching for her material of study. After she found the subjects she wanted to read, she took it out and brought it to one of the tables. She read the book through all afternoon until she felt her shoulder being tapped. She jumped on her seat and turned her head back.

“Mr. Hiro, we’re closing now.” Said the clerk girl after she giggled to herself.

“Oh, sorry. Thanks.” She turned back to the book on the desk and closed it after looking at the page’s number.

“Human’s Anatomy? Now, that’s rare.”

Charlotte gave back the book to the girl and tilted her head. “Is it that weird?”

“Weird? No, not at all. Rare.” The girl turned back and walked to the reception desk and left the book on it. She turned around and faced Charlotte. “Even if the two words can be used in some particular context to describe the same thing, it doesn’t mean they share the exact meaning, you know?”

“Oh that, yeah, I get it.” Charlotte nodded and walked to the door. “Why’s it rare, then?”

“Taking out the fact that this school’s library is empty for the most part of the year and you’re not even a student. Normally the only ones who come study in preparation for exams, they only read through books like math or more technical things, like how to do this or that. Some even get interested in history of the city or some rare ones, in philosophy. That’s because the studies on medicine are closed to most of them, there’s a niche for those and that’s for the wealthy lot.”

She walked past the door of the library followed by Charlotte and locked its door. She then turned to Charlotte and smiled at her before she started to walk to the stairs.

“I see, then I’m weird, no?” Charlotte followed the clerk girl a few steps behind.

“Hehe, yes, you are indeed. But the fact that you read a book on the human body is rare and not weird.”

“Oh, a wordplay, huh.”

“Exactly! I just love messing around with words and seeing people’s reaction.”

“Amuse me, then.” A grin surfaced on Charlotte’s face as the girl continued her descend.

“Umu, it can’t be done if asked like that, you know. It’s got to be more subtle and without the other person knowing when it’s coming.”

“That’s hard. If I know you’re like that, I’ll always be on guard, no?”

“Yep. But then you’ll get distracted at some point and that’s when I’ll strike.”

“A moment of carelessness.”

“Yep. Hey, why’re you reading that book on the human body?”

“I need to pass a test.”

“A test? When?”

“Next week.”

“Next week? And this is the time to start studying?”

“Weeell, I’m just reviewing what I know.”

Charlotte brought her hand over her head and hugged it as they continued to walk and chat. They walked out of the empty building and into the street as they continued their conversation.

“I believe that’d be enough, Mr. Hiro. Thank you for escorting me, have a great night.”

“Huh?” Charlotte turned her face to her and then looked around. An entrance to the subway waited for the clerk to go in. “Oh, yeah. No problem.”

“What? You thought I’ll be with you all night?” She giggled.

“No, no. I just had all these things on my head and talking with you helped me sort them out. I got so immersed in it I forgot where we were. Thanks for this sweet talk, miss… Huh?”

“Ah! I never told you my name! I’m Betty, a pleasure.” Betty extended her hand which Charlotte answered in kind, shaking hers.

“Have a nice trip, then. See you tomorrow.”

“Bye~”

The red-haired girl turned around and entered the subway as Charlotte kept her eyes fixed on her, and then on the building. She turned around after a couple of minutes and walked to her house.

During the next few days, Charlotte only went to the school during the day to read books on medicine. Books on the internal system of the human body, what the name of muscles, nerves and blood vessels were. How everything worked around the body and how it all functioned as a whole.

On Saturday’s afternoon, Betty approached Charlotte as she did the previous days.

“We close earlier today. Come on, let’s go out.”

“W-wait a bit, let me finish this chapter at the very least.” Charlotte answered without turning back, missing the sigh that came out of Betty’s lips.

“You know, I don’t get paid enough to stay this late.” Betty said as they walked out of the building.

“It was only fifteen minutes!”

“On which I could already be in my house.”

“Sorry.”

“Are you? Really? Then,” Betty brought a finger to her lips as theycurved upwards, “you have to compensate me.”

*Sigh* “Alright, but not now. I want to pass this test really bad.”

“Oh, right, you had a test. What’s it for, anyway?”

“I need it for a job.”

“A job? They do tests? Woa, never heard of it.”

“Is it that weird?”

“Yes! A test is only done when you don’t have a way to prove your worth, so they’re mostly done when you want to get in a private institution. Ah, there’s something I heard the other day that in certain places they ask for a test, but, yeah, no way.”

“No way? What do you mean?”

“I mean, they make test for really dangerous places for you to work in. It’s better for you to quit your job if it’s dangerous.”

“It’s not dangerous. I’m applying for an assistant medic, or something like that.”

“Assistant medic…? It’s not dangerous, alright, good luck! When is your test?”

“Uhm, I’m planning on taking it next Tuesday.”

“Alright! Then, next weekend you gotta pay for today’s mishap!”

“You’re still on that?”

“Of course! You have to pay whatever you’re given, and I gave you some of my precious time!”

“Okay, next weekend then.”

“It’s a date then! See you here next weekend! Bye!” Betty turned around and ran in the subway’s direction, they’re still some streets away.

“Are we always that pushy…? No way.” Charlotte whispered before she shook her head and headed to her house.

After she arrived to her place, Charlotte made herself some light meal and ate three servings. She sat on the sofa and after spacing out for a while, she entered the colorless space on which she immediately saw herself on a sitting position.

“Alright, let’s review today’s information.”

A long string of words appeared in front of her. She started to read it as fast as she could and point on things with her body as a reference. Charlotte finished the process after a couple of hours.

“Faster than before, huh.” Charlotte said after she saw the clock hanging on the wall which told her it was almost seven.

She got up and made herself a light dinner and went to her room to take a bath. After she came out, she let herself fall on the bed with only a big loose shirt and shorts on her body. She entered the colorless space and started to play with White Prism.

What she could move. How should she move it. What she could ignite with the things she moved.

It was close to midnight when she stopped playing with Prism and went to sleep.

*Ring~

Charlotte opened her eyes slowly and closed them again after a moment, turning to the side of the bed and covering her head with the blankets on her.

*Ring~

“Ugh… What’sit?” She brought her head out of its protection and stared at the ceiling for a moment, not sure of what she wanted to do.

*Ring~

“Right…”

She got up from the bed and walked to the living room with blankets surrounding her body.

“Yes? Who’s it?” She asked with crisp on her voice.

“Hiro! It’s me!”

Charlotte frowned at the familiar voice. She couldn’t put a name to it, however. “You… Who?”

“What?! Outrageous! Eve! It’s me! Eve!”

“Oh.” She nodded. “Right, you… Wait a sec.”

Charlotte closed her eyes as her mind started to work once again. Her chest became as plain as it could get and her butt lost part of its curviness. Four hours for a full dish of food… Life’s so hard.

She walked to the door and opened it. She suddenly found herself lying on the floor, her body being smashed to it by another one and her face being rubbed against Eve’s.

“Ahhh! I missed you so, so much! Where were you? What were you doing? How are you doing? Are you okay? Tell me, do you need help with anything?”

“Y-yeah, I need your help with-“

“Really?! Tell me what! I’ll do it immediately!” Eve stopped moving her head against hers and sat up, on Charlotte.

“Can you get off? You’re killing me?” Charlotte lowered her voice as she realized Eve’s weight didn’t bother her as much as she thought it’d be.

“Oh! Yes, of course!” Eve jumped to the side and got on her feet.

“Much better.” Charlotte nodded and sat on the floor as she caressed her stomach.

“Hey! I’m not that heavy!”

“Oh, no, you aren’t. I was just surprised.”

“Really?”

Charlotte nodded and got up. She then closed the door after looking around the corridor and picked up the blanked from the floor.

“So? What’re you doing here?”

“What? I can’t come?”

“You know it’s not that.”

“Then what?”

*Sigh

Charlotte looked at the wall. An eyelid jumped.

“It’s not even 7. Why are you here so early?”

“Oh! I thought you’ll leave if I came too late, so I came early!” Eve nodded in triumph.

“You… Whatever, let me put something on.”

“Are you going out?”

“No.” Charlotte walked to her room with Eve behind her.

“Then?”

“I’m not wearing anything, like, at all.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, wait a bit.”

She threw the blanket to her bed and walked to her bag where all her clean clothes were. Getting out her underwear and the clothes for the day, she turned around to find Eve lying upside down on her bed with her hands under her head, looking at her.

“You need a wardrobe.”

Charlotte turned to look at her bag and then at the dirty clothes left around it on the floor. “Yeah.” She nodded and walked to the bathroom.

“I’ll make you something to eat!”

“So? Why did you come?” Charlotte asked as she bit on a toast.

“I wanted to see you.” Eve bit on a toast, too.

“Why so early, though?”

“That’s because you weren’t here yesterday, I came after noon and you weren’t here. A neighbor told me you went out early in the morning so I came earlier today.”

“I see. Well, I’m not going out today, the library is closed.”

“Library? You’re going to the library?”

“Yeah, the one at your school. I’m taking a test for a job.”

“A job?! You found one!” Eve’s hands stopped moving mid-sentence.

“Yep.”

“Why didn’t you tell me! Mom’s still looking for one for you!”

“Oh… I forgot about it. Sorry.”

Eve left her body rest over the table and pouted.

“I’ll tell her. What’s the job?”

“Hmm. I believe it’s in a morgue or something like that.”

“Woa, aren’t you scared?”

“Should I?”

“Well, yes, you’re going to be surrounded with dead people, doesn’t that scare you?”

“Hmm…” Charlotte lifted her face to look at ceiling as her mouth munched on a toast. “Not really, for all I know, a dead man can’t do any harm. Only the living can hurt you… Or their memories after their death, not the other way around.”

“… Are you okay?”

Charlotte lowered her eyes to Eve and tilted her head. “Yes? I’m fine. Why?”

“Well, you had that expression I’ve never seen on you. You looked, sad…”

“A-ah, no, don’t worry about it. I just remembered something that happened sometime in the past. I’m fine.”

“I see…” Eve looked to the table and remained silent while Charlotte finished the toasts she made. When Charlotte finished the last Eve stood from the chair and brought all the empty dishes to the kitchen.

It’s only been two weeks since he was killed, so much has happened… He wanted me to live for him as well, right? But, I don’t know how he lived…

“It’s ready!” Eve came back after she was done with the kitchen. “What’re we gonna do?”

“Like I told you, I’ve this test this week, so I’m going to continue studying.”

“But the library is closed, no?”

“Oh, yeah.”

“How’re you studying then?”

“Well, I’ll try to remember as much as I can without a book and see how well I do.”

“Does it work?”

“At least for me, yes.”

“But that’s so boring! I want to do something fun with you!”

Charlotte looked at Eve with half closed eyes and shook her head. “What am I to do with you… Oh, I know.”

She stood from her seat and motioned for Eve to follow her. They arrived to her room and Charlotte started to look through her things.

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone about this.” She said as she produced a black device with a long cable.

“I promise!”

“Not to your friends, not even your parents or sister.”

“Uh, eh…”

“If you don’t promise me, I won’t play with you anymore.”

“I promise! I want to be with you forever!”

“Are you sure you’re… Wait, how old were you again?”

“Hey! I already told you! How can’t you remember!”

“Sorry, sorry. A lot’s happened recently and my head is a mess.”

“Muu, I’m fifteen! So what!”

“Heheh, nothing, I thought for a second you were younger than that. Anyway, come here.” Charlotte walked to the wall where a plug she hadn’t used even once was.

She crouched and connected the cable of the device.

“This is a gaming device, I’m not sure if it’ll work but at least some of its functions should work.”

“A gaming device? What’s it?”

“This. Let me check what this can do.” Charlotte turned it on and started to look through the applications which didn’t require an internet connection. “Alright, this will do.”

Eve stood behind her and looked at her with sparkling eyes. Charlotte let Eve have the device and taught her how to use it as well as how to play a generic game, solitaire. She then left Eve immersed in the device and went to the bed. She entered the colorless space and started to play with White Prism.

Eve nudged her after a while, complaining that it was too boring to do the same thing alone and urged Charlotte to do something else with her. It had already been more than two hours so Charlotte accepted her demands and spent the rest of the morning talking and playing with her.

Eve left after lunch, making Charlotte promise her that they’ll be doing similar things from then on.

The rest of the day, Charlotte kept herself in the colorless space until night and then fell asleep early.

Charlotte went to the library the next day and read books on medicine all day long. At the end of the day, she told Betty she wouldn’t be going to the library anymore, but they would still go out that Saturday, Charlotte promised.

The next day, she went to the direction the backside of the card Olimpia gave her wrote. She arrived to a building in the prosperous part of the city which the Alliance ruled over, it consisted of ten floors with little to no windows. Its gray-dark color didn’t tell her of anything. She walked past its front door to a hall with only a reception lady on it.

“Hello. I’m here to see, uhm.” She looked at the card and searched through it. “Dr. Murakuma?”

“Hello. Are you here on an appointment?” The lady looked at her and then at the monitor at her side.

“Eh, no. But I believe he’s expecting me.”

“Expecting you… Oh, you must be his new assistant, yes, I was told about it. Do you know where he is?”

“No.”

“Get the elevator to the sixth floor and search for room 13. He should be there.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes? Is there anything else you need?”

“Uhm, no?”

“Oh, the elevator is on the wall at the end of the hall, please keep in mind not to cause any problems.”

“Got it, thanks.”

“A pleasure, good bye.”

“Bye.” Charlotte turned around and walked to the elevator.

She arrived to the sixth floor and searched for the 13th room. She found it at the end of the corridor.

*KnockKnock

The door opened after a minute. “Yes?” An aged voice greeted her.

The owner of the voice, Dr. Murakuma, had wrinkles all over his face and long, white eyebrows surrounding his eyes. His head shared the same color with abundance. He wore a white suit with brown shoes.

“I don’t know you? Care to explain what you’re doing here?”

“I’m Hiro, I came to take a test to see if I could work with you.”

“Hiro? Test? Oh, yes, yes, of course, yes. I remember. Come on inside, I was told you’re coming, I even got rid of that last useless assistant of mine. He was no good, no good at all, I tell you. He just kept on going about how bored he was and how he didn’t like it in here. Well, now I don’t have to deal with him, right? Now you’ll help me with these little ones. I’ve been expecting you for some time now, what took you so long to come? Well, it doesn’t matter, come on inside.”

Dr. Murakuma turned around and walked through the room after he finished his monologue. Charlotte followed a few steps behind. The first thing she saw in the room was a large quantity of pictures all around her, the pictures were on the walls as well as on the floor. Taking a closer look at a random one, she saw a dead man. Turning around she realized all the pictures had someone dead. She slowed her pace as her heart started beating faster. Dr. Murakuma walked through the only path without pictures in the room, arriving to a sole white door. He went past it without any sound.

She followed him carefully, White Prism was already on in case something unexpected happened. Behind the white door was a smaller room. A shelf full with books, folders and glasses with liquid inside was the first thing she saw in it. A glass window kept it secure from any restless hands. Turning her head, she saw a clean desk with an open folder, a screen and some papers beside it. Dr. Murakuma walked to a wardrobe as big as the wall it was on and opened it. She only saw white sheets and clothes inside it.

“You can use whichever you like.” He said as he took out a white lab coat. “I believe I don’t have one of your size, so until we get one for you, use whichever one you want.”

Dr. Murakuma walked to a corner behind the desk where a rack waited for him to hang his white coat. He then turned around and opened the white door beside the shelf. Charlotte went to the wardrobe after he walked through the door. She searched through the clothes for one small enough for her. She turned it around and wore it. The white lab coat went past her knees, almost to her ankles, and felt as she wore a gown.

She walked through the door to find he had put the lab coat on already, which only went to half his thighs.

“Oh, you found a small one. Still, it’s too big for you. Yes, I’ll make arrangements for a new one for you, or two, maybe three. I see you still have your shirt on, next time leave it on that rack outside. Now, let me tell you what your job is. You have to help me get all the tools I ask you and do what I ask you of. Understand?”

Charlotte nodded as she studied the room, there was a window glass separating the place she was in and a clinic room where a body covered by a white blanket laid on a surgery table waited for them. At the side of the door leading to the isolated area was a handwasher Dr. Murakuma was currently using. At the corner of that isolated room was a transparent shelf full of surgery implements inside it.

“Yes.”

“Alright. Wash your hands and wear this.” He pointed to a little compartment below the handwasher from where he took out a pair of plastic gloves, a mask and a surgery cap. “We need to be as clean as possible, you see.”

He entered the surgery room and started to arrange tools on a small mobile table. Charlotte did as instructed and washed her hands, put on the safety equipment and walked in.

“You’re lucky, huh. You don’t have to watch a dead human on your first try. This guy arrived this morning, he’s loved by the daughter of one of the leaders. He’s found dead this morning, apparently some heavy equipment fell on him and it was all an accident but the man said he wanted to make sure of it or if they were attacked or something like that. It doesn’t matter that much what they do after we’re done with it, but we need to make sure we do it right, right?”

Dr. Murakuma lifted up the blanked and frowned at the motionless body. Charlotte swallowed when she took a glimpse of the body. It was a dog, or at least its head said so. Its torso was flattened to an almost impossible degree with bones and chunks of meat coming out of it. Its legs still remained some consistency. Overall, its body was drenched in blood and emitted a strong stench of iron and acid. There wasn’t much blood dripping out of the body, though, the blanked remained mostly white after covering the spectacle.

“How awful…” She muttered.

“… I correct what I said before, this one looks bad. Hold your guts and help me out. There’s nothing much I can scan in here so everything’ll have to be manual. Sorry for the gruesome sight. Let us start.”