The door slowly opened, revealing a shy timid girl dressed in the similar skimpy clothing that the woman outside were wearing, all be it, a bit more modest and covered up more of her body. Her face was red and her eyes shyly avoiding making eye contact, displaying her timid nature and inexperience.

As she entered the room, her platinum colored hair flowed in the air behind her, something that she was unconscious about. She slowly walked over and sat down on the bed, tensing her body nervously. She avoided looking at Loganel and merely stared at her exposed thighs as she sat there quietly waiting for orders. She was inexperienced as to what to do since this was her first time and Loganel could sense it.

"Relax," he said calmly as he sat down beside the girl, "I'm not gonna do anything you don't want."

The girl nodded in response but didn't say anything else.

"Don't know if this will make you feel better but this is my first time using this type of services," Loganel continued as he tried to calm the girl. "What's your name?"

Slowly, the girl turned her head and looked over at Loganel. She was surprised by his young appearance since she had originally anticipated to be serving a middle aged man that reeked of alcohol. However, the boy before him appeared calm and civil, and was unlike any of the clients that she imagined that she would be serving. Thus, she relaxed a bit after realizing that her first client wouldn't possibly force himself onto her.

"Iry," she responded, slightly moving her lips and speaking quietly.

"I'm Loganel," Loganel responded. "So how do I order drinks?"

Iry pointed at the bell that was situated beside the closed door. Loganel went over to the bell and pressed it, and after about a minute, a woman appeared with a clipboard in her arms. She handed the clipboard to Loganel and he quickly looked over it and ordered some non-alcoholic drinks. Not long after he handed the clipboard back to the woman and she left with his order, she returned with the drinks that Loganel had requested.

With two glasses of light blue berry juice in hand, Loganel walked back over to the girl that sat on the bed and handed her a glass. Iry looked up at him somewhat confused at first but accepted the drink and expressed her gratitude.

Loganel then sat back down on the soft bed beside her. "I'm not gonna do anything," he repeated once again. "I just want to talk."

"Talk?" Iry asked in a soft voice.

"Yeah," Loganel said, taking a sip from his glass. "I feel like I need someone to talk to."

"Alright." Iry's posture was less defensive as Loganel revealed his intent.

"Have you ever felt like you've been replaced?" Loganel started. His voice was soft and calm as he sat there with an emotionless face. "That's what I'm going through right now. Like they don't need me or anything..."

"..." Iry listened in silence.

"Someone just randomly appeared and replaced me..." Loganel continued, "and I was just ignored. You know that feeling?"

"Somewhat," Iry said. Loganel raised an eyebrow in surprise as he wasn't anticipating the girl to be actually listening. "But not exactly though. I feel as if I'm not needed here, and I'm just a waste of Lori's money...Someone like me don't attract any customers, and I don't even know how to properly make customers happy. Everyone else just looks so beautiful, and I just feel as if I'm...hideous."

"I wouldn't say that," Loganel responded. "I would say your beauty is unmatched by the others. Definitely one of the most beautiful girl I've seen."

"I-is that so?" Iry appeared surprised by Loganel's comment but smiled happily after Loganel nodded his head and confirmed it. "That's...the first time someone's said that to me."

"Why did you start working here?" Loganel asked.

"Well...you probably wouldn't believe me if I told you," she replied.

"Tell me," Loganel insisted.

"Well..." Iry continued on. "I grew up in a castle in Slire, the kingdom neighboring Astra. I was kept in the castle for my whole childhood and I've never seen my father. But judging by where I lived, he was probably someone important in Slire. But then, one day a group of bandits raided the castle under the cover of night during a time where the majority of the castle guards were sent out to take care of monsters that were pestering nearby. I was taken by them and was to be sold. It was Lori that bought me."

"So you were probably a noble of Slire," Loganel concluded.

"Probably," Iry answered. "You probably won't believe me..."

"I believe you," Loganel responded, which surprised Iry.

"Why?" Iry asked? "Aren't woman of my profession viewed as dirty?"

"Well..." Loganel paused for a bit, "judging by how you're acting, you've probably never sold your body once. And you don't seem like you're someone who would lie. That's probably why."

As Iry was telling her tale, Loganel's eyes were fixed on the girl, looking for any hints of her body language that might indicate a false statement in her story. That was why he was so confident since he knows that subconsciously, one would always display some inconsistency in their body language if they were lying, and he'd seen none of the signs in Iry.

"Have you ever thought about heading home?" Loganel asked. "Back to that castle?"

"I've thought about it some nights when I couldn't sleep," Iry answered, "but then, would I want to return? Back then, I was always confined by the castle walls, and never able to see the outside world. But now, even though I am technically in the outside world now, I rarely leave my room. I just feel somewhat scared of leaving..."

"So you've stayed in this building for your whole time here?"

"Yes. The upper floors of this building is actually our dorms. I usually stay there when it is my free time."

"You've ever thought about heading out?"

"No," Iry shook her head. "I feel safer here. After seeing what people of the outside world could accomplish...I feel safer in a location where Lori and the other girls could select those that they deemed safe to enter this establishment."

Silence accompanied the two for the next few minutes as Loganel felt as if he had exhausted the conversation between the two. Thus, he took another sip from the drink he had at hand.

"May I call you Loganel?" Iry asked, and smiled as Loganel responded with a nod. "Loganel, you're a student at the Academy right?" Iry paused and waited for another of Loganel's nods. "Can you tell me what it's like? To be around people your age?"

"Ugh...that's the reason why I'm here," Loganel replied with a bitter smile. "I'm not the best at interacting with people. So..."

"I'm sorry," Iry immediately apologized.

"It's fine," Loganel answered. "I find it quite fascinating," he continued, "how I can just talk to you so easily."

"Me too," Iry blushed.

The two of them then talked for the rest of the time that Loganel had ordered. They went more in depth about each other, and actually came to know each other pretty well by the end of their conversation.

"Would it be fine if I were to come here again and request for you?" Loganel asked Iry as their time slowly came towards an end.

"Of course," Iry responded with a shy smile.

That night, Loganel went home. As he walked, his mind was lost in thought. He was drowning in a sea of thoughts just about her, Iry. For some reason, Loganel couldn't shake himself of her. Whenever he recalled her smile, he would smile as well. He wanted to protect that smile, and ensure that the smile would always be there for him when he sees her. That day, he made a quiet oath to himself, and oath that he would one day take her out of her own cage and show her the world.

***

The next morning, it was more of the same as the previous day. Loganel avoided the others in class. Despite the attempts of the others to reconnect with him, he always distanced himself from them almost as if driven by guilt. He had come to the acceptance that he was the one that is ruining their time together, so he purposely tried to avoid them in seek of his own solitude, which was Iry at Sister Lori's. Whenever he would feel sad about anything, he would think back at the time he had had at that location, sitting on the bed just talking with Iry. He didn't seek any physical intimacy, but rather a spiritual one.

When school had ended, Loganel participated in the private mentoring sessions of Avelin. They would meet up at the empty training ground in a secluded part of campus where most people didn't know had existed. There, Avelin would run Loganel's body to the ground by having him participate in numerous exercises that would tire him out such as running a difficult obstacle course while being weighted down by sand bags. In addition, he was also subjected to one on one combat training with her, which he would never win and would basically be rendered into a punching bag for his teacher.

"You learn better if you experience it yourself," Avelin said as she re-hydrated herself with some water.

She looked down at Loganel, who just laid flat on the ground and panted for air. Loganel could feel his body bruising in different places and aching all over.

"Man up," Avelin would say. "It's just a few bruises. This is nothing compared to the time I had under your mother in the Knights Corp."

"You know my mother?" Loganel forced out in between breaths.

"Of course, the Crimson Maria," Avelin continued, "just thinking back on it makes me shiver."

"So are you thinking of revenge by abusing her son?" Loganel asked.

"No," Avelin answered. "It was all thanks to your mother that I was able to accomplish what I had." Avelin looked longingly at the sky. "Those were good days...when I was an apprentice to her." Avelin then stretched her back. "That's it for today," she said. "You can go home now."

After leaving those words with Loganel, Avelin went off on her own, leaving her pupil laying there on the ground. Loganel didn't attempt to get up as he rested. As his breathing steadied and his heart rate stabilized, he laid there and enjoyed the cold autumn wind as it blew on his body, cooling him down. He ignored his dry throat until it was intolerable. That was when he finally got up.

He first headed home for the usual shower after his training session. Then, he would dress himself in some of his nicer clothes as he headed towards the door.

"Where're you going?" Juliana would ask, and he would ignore her completely as he closed the door behind him.

Loganel would then walk out onto the streets and look up at the sky that was now transitioning into night. He would then smile as he went off on his way towards his only comfort in Astalan. With every step being light from joy, he would weave past the crowd of people and bring himself to the red light district.

When he approached Sister Lori's, he saw the girl standing in front of the door that was still on the upper levels of the small stairway that led up to the establishment, looking around for him. He smiled as he realized that the girl was now anticipating his arrival each day, and the feeling of being needed warmed his heart.

"Hey," he smiled as he approached the awaiting girl, who welcomed him back with a smile on her face.

After coming daily for all days of the week, he had gotten quite familiar with Iry and the others at Sister Lori's. In fact, Lori even continued to offer him a discount for requesting to be with Iry only, which cut the price of his visit by as much as fifty percent each time. When he had asked Lori about it in the past, she would smile and say that seeing Iry happy was worth the money already.

"Loganel," Iry smiled as she saw the boy and walked over to him shyly. She wasn't extremely intimate with the boy, since their relationship was more spiritual than physical, or you could say that it was because they've never crossed the boundary. However, what could be determined was that she was happy to see him, and Loganel was happy to see her.

"Let's go in," Loganel suggested as the two of them began walking towards the store.

However, a voice stopped them.

"So this is where you've been going," Juliana's voice said.

As Loganel heard that, he immediately looked over his shoulder and discovered that her, Azura, Sherriel, and Tetsuya were standing there. Juliana had on a face of disappointment, Azura a voice of indifference, Sherriel a face of awkwardness, and Tetsuya merely looked to the side with a calm look on his face.

"Care to explain?" Juliana questioned.

Author's Note: Happy new years everyone. Just FYI, a major part of the story is gonna be coming soon. Can any of you guess what it is???? Comment and let me see what you guys think it will be.

Also, vote if you've enjoyed the story since it fuels me when I write. Thank you!!!