《Never After》Chapter 2 : Distraction
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Warm sunlight shined through the window of the corridor, the curtain neatly tied to the edges of the windows, preventing it from being blown by the wind. The dining room door creaked open along with the office door. Eric peered over the corridor with Eris right next to him as the Agent walked out of Fremund's office. Their eyes meet, the black-haired man in the suit, slightly bowed.
"Ah damn, he's already leaving, this is too early," Eric quickly thought. "I need to buy some time for Older Sister." In a hurry, he waved his hand at the Agent, "Long time no see, Hiro."
"Ah, Sir Eric and Miss Eris, it's rare seeing you two," said the Agent.
The Agent known as Hiro was an ordinary-looking man. Slightly above height and build, with no apparent unique features, except for his hair and eyes, his eyes, which were so pale that they were almost colorless. His black hair neatly cut to look clean while still looking sharp and a bit messy with one streak of hair in between his eyes.
Eric tucked his hand onto his pocket, "No need to be so formal to us, Hiro," Eric sighed. "We've known each other for a long while now."
Eris snuck in front of her older brother, "What did Mister and Father talk about?" she asked.
"Sorry, but that's classified," said Hiro.
"Okay then, I'll just ask Father." Eric walked to the opened door with Eris grabbing his sleeves behind him as he spoke.
"You can't just do that…"
"I can," He entered the room, "Hey Father."
"Hmm? what's the matter you two, it's rare for you two to go into my office." Said the man with a tall figure and broad shoulders, his face stern with a short cut to his white hair. His eyes seemingly the same as Harmonia. A man named Fremund Fleur. He was sitting on the office table, in front of it were three sofas that surround a table.
"What were you talking about with Hiro?" Eric asked.
Hiro burst into the room, holding the doors open with both of his hands, "That's classified, Sir," He shouted.
"A small part of it, Agent. Not all of it," Said Fremund.
"Yes, I know, Sir. But they don't need to know about it," The Agent begged.
Fremund lifted his left hand and looked into his watch. He smiled and fixed his tie, "Well, Agent, I do have time left until I need to go to a meeting, so I think I have enough time for storytime with my children." Fremund kindly smiled.
Hiro's shoulders lower as he sighed, "Alright, Sir." he reluctantly sat on the left sofa out of the three sofas around the table. Making sure no classified information goes through Fremund's mouth.
"Where is Harmonia?" Fremund asked.
"Ah, about that fa-"Eris tried to speak, but her mouth was covered by Eric again like before.
"She's back in her room, probably sleeping or something," said Eric. He guided his little sister to calm down and sit on the right sofa.
"That girl, she always says she wants to change her life, yet she never does anything to change." Fremund turned his head down, "What shall I ever do with her."
Fremund laid back on his chair and crossed his arm on the table, "You two should know the prison that we own where most of the criminals serve their time in."
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"Eh, our family owns a prison?" Eric asked.
"Yes, older brother. You should pay attention to your surroundings more," Eris said, looking at her brother with a smug-looking grin.
Eric patted Eris's head and whispered, "Stop that thing you're doing, Eris, or I will stop giving you head pats," The grin on Eris face dissipated as she frowned. She looked down and mumbles, "That's too cruel, Older Brother."
"Captured criminals are sent there and are assessed to a ranking system we have in place."
"A ranking System?" Eris asked.
"Yes, my daughter, its because of how large the facility and the height of bare minimum capabilities we set for the personnel working there. We set different priorities for different prisoners with the ranking system," Fremund nodded his head seemingly towards Hiro. "Agent Hiro is one of the best personnel working there. He oversees the assessment of ranking and new personnel training." Fremund took a deep breath and continued to speak, "The ranking is divided into fiv-." he noticed Hiro looking more deeply into him. Apparent from the stern look of Hiro's eyes, "Ah, I mean four ranks."
"The D ranks are filled with people that have done common crimes. The C ranks are for people who have done common crimes using magic or sent their familiars to their dirty job." Fremund glanced at Hiro, "Can you explain the rest of the ranks for me, Agent, I think you will be able to explain to them more clearly."
"Gladly Sir," The Agent answered, "Now for the B rank, these are cretins that have committed Heinous acts such as Homicide and other things of the same degree with or without magic."
The Agent sat straight on the sofa, showing a slight distaste on his face. "The A rank is for the absolute of buffoons who thought that black magic, tinkering with other people magic signature, rituals and other decrepit things are fine to do. Those individuals are kept at high security and usually locked away for all their life." Said the Agent as his posture calmed down.
"I think that's all, Sir. Now I'll get back to work," The Agent stood up but before he was able to stand.
"Wait," Eric said, interrupting the Agent, "I need to stall for more time," he thought.
"What else do you need?" The Agent asked, sounding annoyed.
Eric clenched his mouth, and his eyes were uncertain, "I'm sorry Eris, but I need to this," Eric opened his mouth and questioned, "How about the history of the prison itself? like how it was built to be able to host criminals and the problems that come along with it?"
On the other hand, their father's eyes shined brightly, and his fist was clenched. "I knew that my fascination for history landed somewhere in my children," He looked at his watch, "That meeting can wait. What is important now is telling my children how that marvelous prison was built." Fremund said passionately.
Hiro sat back down and put his hand on his forehead, face-palming as he sighed to the current situation he got himself in. He glanced toward Eric and shook his head. He closed his eyes, preparing to snooze himself off from what is to come from Fremund's mouth.
Eris moved and sat closer to her brother close enough for her to lean on him. She whispered, "You owe me one, Older Brother." the siblings knew very well of their father's obsession with architecture, especially big ones. So much so that it became an unwritten rule in the mansion not to talk about them near Fremund.
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As their father started to ramble about and go on a long tangent that could last for hours, Eric thought, "I hope it's worth it, Sis." he looked around the room to find something to look at to pass the time. He noticed Hiro sneakily talking on the phone in the middle of the tangent.
"Smart," He mumbled as he tries to fight off the tangent right before him.
"Are you prepared, Mistress?"
Suddenly the blonde girl woke up from the trance she had, "Ah.. yes, I'm ready," Harmonia answered as she fixed her red-colored High school Uniform, "You sure? You don't look that well," said the man in the suit.
"I'm alright." Harmonia shook her head. The man in the suit seemed concerned but later brushed it off. She walked through the long nicely lighted corridor with floodlights on the ceiling, she thought about the miracle of events that has allowed her to enter the prison.
Harmonia arrived at the prison, the cab that she ordered had just left from the entrance of the prison. The prison was large, and Harmonia knew, from the moment that the silhouette of the mostly dark-colored exterior prison appears during the ride there. She glanced at the two white concrete pillars holding up the rooftop of the road in front of the main entrance, she breathed deeply and exhaled before she walked to inside the prison.
She entered the lobby and directly in front of her, an information table in the middle of the room. A lady with black hair sat behind the information table, not noticing Harmonia.
Harmonia walked up and raised her hand to greet her, but before she was able to, the lady raised her head. "Ah." the lady looked surprised. She smiled and then spoke, "I didn't think for a second that Fremund would send someone in, more surprisingly, his daughter."
Harmonia let out a light laugh, "Y-yeah..."
The lady stood up still smiling at her, "Follow me to the Superintendent."
Harmonia gulped down her throat, she had not prepared for the superintendent. Knowing that she would look suspicious if she suddenly declined, she followed the lady.
They both walk through the corridor leading up to the prison. Moving through the left pathway and then the right, "This way please," Said the lady with her left hand suggesting to the right. After traversing a few more corridors, they reached what seemed like the office sections, one with offices rooms right next to each other.
One caught Harmonia's attention, a gray double door with a touchscreen under the handle. The lady reached into the pocket on her suit, taking out what seemed like an ID card. She walked up to the panel. The touchscreen emitted a beeping sound, and the double door let out a gust of air and opened.
The lady entered the opened room revealing a monochrome office room and an office table with a woman wearing a suit tinkering with the touchscreen on the table at the end. In front of the table were a couple of sofas. The woman's white cream hair was the only spot of color in the entire room.
"Ah, Harmonia," said the woman, her voice was stern yet calm at the same time, the woman looked like in her mid-twenties. Her face was similar to Harmonia, although a bit sharper and more defined.
"Auntie?" Said Harmonia.
"Did you come to visit me?" She got up from her chair and approach Harmonia. She opened her arms to hug her niece.
Before she was able to wrap her arms around Harmonia, the lady next to Harmonia let out a fake cough, "Sorry to Interfere Superintendent Nell. But she is the individual Sir Fremund send for that request."
"Brother sent you?" She put her hand on her chin, "That was rather… unsuspected, I didn't think that he would send someone nonetheless his daughter."
"Oh, this is bad," Harmonia thought as she clenched her fist.
"Hmm, let me check with your father again," Nell walked back to her chair and nudge on the touchscreen on it.
"Ah, Father is quite busy right now auntie, you don't need to, considering he already gave me a pass." There was a note of panic in Harmonia's voice.
"I'm just checking, he would answer my call without question, you should know that Harmonia," said Nell.
A faint ringing sound suddenly emerged from the pocket inside in her suit. She stopped touching the touchscreen and reached to her pocket, pulling out her phone.
"Superintendent Nell here," she began, "Ah, What? It's urgent?" Her face turned wary as she opened the drawer on her office table, pulling out a yellow sticky note and pen, "Yes, I have a place to write it down," said Nell. She bent down the table and started scribbling down. She glanced at the two people in front of her, "Ah, sorry you two, it seemed like this is urgent."
She fickled around the touchscreen on her desk and let out a sigh of relief as she stood up, grabbing the sticky notes, "Return to your station, I assigned Agent Fynn to the task."
The lady nodded and shortly after left the room. "Sorry Harmonia, I have some urgent task to attend to, I can't tell you the details currently so please understand."
"Its okay, auntie," Harmonia replied.
A faint knock coming from the door catches the attention of the two, "May I come in?" a soft young voice called out.
"Yes, you may, Agent Fynn."
The door opened, and a teen wearing a suit with a slight difference from Nell enters the room. The teen was slightly taller than Harmonia. His black hair is cut similarly to Agent Hiro, with the only difference being the direction of the streak of hair in between his eyes. He slightly bowed and asked, "Why did you call me for Superintendent?"
"You will be attending this person to the Prisoner that asked for a student. Do keep watch of her at all times from the surveillance after escorting her. You should be plenty familiar with this Prisoner, don't you?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Good, now I'll be on my way," said Nell as she made her way to outside the office section.
Two individuals were left silent behind, "Uhh, Miss Fleur, right?" Said Fynn trying to break the Ice. Fynn nodded, awkwardly, he knew who she was, some parts at least. Even though being the children of the Prime minister, public information about them was minimal, close to nill even.
"You can just call me Harmonia," She replied.
"Ah, that's not good, I'll address you as Mistress," said Fynn with a stutter.
"T-that isn't any better… ah, you know what, forget it."
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