“Friends, I have something I need to get off my chest.” Lee carefully told us across the table we were seated at, “I was wrong. That bitch can rot in hell.”

“Oh?” Issei replied without waiting to swallow the food in his mouth, “Why the sudden change of heart? Weren’t you on the “She’s hot so she can’t be bad” side?”

“I was, dammit! But her presence is disrupting the natural flow of this place!” Lee hit the table enthusiastically, “In other words, the guards stopped giving Bryce their rum ever since she arrived here!”

“Oh, so your dealer stopped getting his product because of her?” I chuckled, “But she’s hot, right? How can you say such things about a pretty lady?”

“To hell with her! She can go choke on a lemon for all I care!”

“Silvia sucking on a lemon… I don’t know why, but imagining the sight is making me really horny…” Issei drooled as he relished the thought.

Geez, these guys are hopeless. They’re missing the point entirely! That, or they're talking in code, because the issue with Silvia here, is that the security has been packed air tight. With her new rules in place, we’re not allowed to be separated from each other anymore, meaning the entire prison basically has to be in the same spot at the same time, always and without fault.

This is bad for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, no more guard assassinations. We can’t even approach a guard without ten others showing up next to them, and visiting Othelia got a lot harder. Actually, we had to think up a pretty clever strategy in which one of us would go at a time and take turns visiting her daily. The other would keep watch and make sure the dummy we made was properly tucked into the other person’s bed, so that it doesn’t look too conspicuous.

“So what do we do from now on, Meil?” Lee turned to me, “We’re slowly running out of ideas to keep the flames of revolution going. Unless you have an ace up your sleeve, I don’t think we’ll be able to get out with her in the picture.”

“Why are you asking me? You already know that I have to hide from her with all my might 24/7.” I replied, “Right now, that’s my primary focus. I know it’s a bit selfish of me, but I think I’ll be focusing on not getting caught instead of actually doing anything in terms of getting out of here.”

“Nah, it’s alright, M-kun.” Issei sighed, “We understand where you’re coming from, so we’ll help you as much as we can in the meantime.”

“Thank so much, guys. Oh, looks like it’s time for today’s lesson.”

“Ugh, this feels like school all over again…” Issei rolled his eyes.

Actually, this is a new system that Silvia implemented the very moment she arrived in this prison. Basically, all of us have to attend a lesson of sorts daily. It’s part of her “rehabilitation plan” she had thought up that aims to turn this place from a rowdy roughhousing slum into a somewhat controlled environment. Though, you can tell that she took heavy inspiration from the Mobius Awards, seeing as most of these lessons are either art classes or periods where we solve puzzles. I guess it’s meant to raise the cognitive abilities of the prisoners here, but I genuinely think she’s underestimating us. I mean seriously, I solve all of the puzzles in five minutes max, and then spend the rest of the period hiding from Silvia’s gaze.

Actually, I much prefer these classes than the art ones, because not only can I not draw quickly, but I also have to simultaneously draw while focusing on not getting seen by Silvia. By the way, even though it’s been a couple of weeks since she arrived here, she still hasn’t seen me even once. A normal person would’ve thought I had somehow escaped or left by now and would’ve gone themselves, but she’s not even one bit normal. In fact, I had Issei walk up to her and ask her about where she thinks I am currently, given that she keeps talking about tracking me down on each morning assembly, and what she had to say was:

“Yuck, get away from me, you filth.”

“Ooh, are you an S, ojou-san?” Issei seemed interested in her harsh tongue, “I find that pretty appealing, but if we’re talking about anyone else, you’re gonna remain single if you don’t give us a smile every now and then.”

“And why should I owe you a smile?” She clicked her tongue, “As I’ve said countless times, I’m here for Deram and Deram only.”

“Ugh, again with that Deram guy…” Issei acted like he didn’t know me, “Geez, you really should stop and smell the roses around you, instead of focusing on just one flower. Whoever that guy is isn’t here, don’t you get it?”

“Aha, that’s exactly what he wants you to think, but I’m smart! I placed second in the latest Mobius Awards Preliminary Match!”

“Second?” He tilted his head, “Who was first?”

“U…” She bit her tongue, “U-Unimportant! What is important, however, is that you notify me as soon as you hear anything regarding Meil Deram’s whereabouts!”

This whole conversation was filled with laughter on my end, since it had moments like these, like when she forgot for a moment that I beat her in the preliminary match, so her boasting was cut short. Oh, and how could I forget what happened next?

“No can do, missy.” Issei denied her order outright, “I don’t do freebies.”

“Ugh, you dogs only function on rewards…” She groaned, “Fine, name your price.”

“One night with you.”

“Eh?!” She yelped, “N-No, but! That’s…!”

“Whoa, to get such a reaction.” Issei jeered, “Ojou-san, are you a virgi-?”

“Insolent! I’ll have your head on a stick if I even so much as see you spouting such insolence again!”

Ooh, just remembering it is making me crack up even now as I’m drawing today’s sketch! Issei really knows how to be a clown at the best of times, it’s honestly a gift. To think he could make the high and mighty villainess Silvia basically admit to never being with a man, all the while getting the info I had requested of him, he’s a top tier spy! By the way, I’m not dissing the virgins out there, since I myself am one as well, but I imagine a girl getting outed as an untainted flower is a lot more embarrassing than it is for a guy. Seriously, what’s so fun about chasing skirts all day long? I should probably ask Issei or Lee that question later when we’re in the cafeteria…

***

“Alright everyone, grab your pencils and begin sketching!” Silvia commanded, “Today’s sketch will be…!”

“Silvia’s naked body!” Issei mimicked her voice to the best of his ability, “Preferably with a daring pose to go along with it!”

As the entire room burst into laughter, she stormed over to his canvas with a bright red face, trying her hardest not to break down in tears from the embarrassment as she gave him an earful. Issei keeps saying this entire program is reminding him of his school days, but if he was like this back then, then I feel sorry for his teachers. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about Silvia. My laugh is the most audible one in the room, after all. Oop, she heard me, got to switch seats before she notices.

“In any case!” She composed herself, “That will not be today’s sketch!”

Sure enough, the entire room devolved into depressed sighs and dejected moans. I’m seated in the furthest corner from Silvia, so I couldn’t make out her face all that well, but I believe the emotion she’s showing right now is a mix of anger upon being made a fool of, and pride that her body is so sought after. The mind of a lonely virgin maiden is complex and indecipherable…

“Instead, today’s sketch will be a Scirp!” She announced, “Scirps are dangerous black scorpion like beasts that roam the deserts of this very continent. I’m sure not everyone here has had the misfortune to see them with their own eyes, as they mostly spend their days buried under a thick coat of sand, but you’ve all at least seen a scorpion once or twice.”

“Once or twice?” Bryce piped up, “Lady, this entire place is infested with ‘em. Look, there’s even one right next to your foot.”

“Eep! Where?! Get away!” She yelped, making the entire room burst out laughing once again, “Grr…! All of you are getting detention in the naughty room! Everyone who laughed!”

Indeed, it seems Bryce was just playing a practical joke himself, much to her chagrin. Even still, it served as a good way to ease the mood further. Now I’m not so nervous about hiding about in the same room as her.

“Detention with Miss Silvia of all people?” Issei gazed directly at her, “By all means, please correct this naughty student, O-jou-san~!”

“Humu, you think you’re funny, but the detention you’re thinking of isn’t the one you’ll be doing. Detention, by definition, means punishment, so in this room you’ll all be in, there will be no food for twenty four hours!”

Almost immediately as the words left her lips, the entire room began an uproar, spouting insults and profanities that even I felt a bit uncomfortable with hearing, despite them not even being aimed at me. Silvia still thinks she’s top dog here, given that she has the protection of the guards here, but sooner or later, I’m afraid one of the inmates might lose it with her constant bickering and nagging. Well, it’d be a funny sight, plus it’d only serve to help me, so I say go for it.

“Ugh, would you look at the time! It’s almost the end of class, but none of you have even picked up your pencils!” She reprimanded the entire class of grown men, “Geez, everyone should’ve at least finished up their rough sketches by now, and look at the position you’ve put yourselves in!”

“Sorry, lady, but we ain’t exactly the most adventurous types.” Lee seemed to have gotten a bright idea, “You see, none of us even know what a Scirp looks like. Me personally, I’ve never seen one. But maybe if we had a nature class outside the prison gates, we could spot one and get a better reference?”

At this suggestion, a lot of the other inmates agreed wholeheartedly, dropping any signs of joking about. Silvia’s pretty gullible, so maybe if we got far out enough that the snipers wouldn’t get us, we might even be able to make a break for it. Genius thinking, Lee!

“Denied.” She made an X with her arms, “Do you really take me for a fool? I’m smarter than all of you combined, so of course I know your ulterior motives with that plan of yours.”

“Right, you’re as sly as it gets, aren’t you?” I let slip a rather ugly comment.

“Huh? That voice…!” She immediately recognized it, “Meil, I heard you! No use in hiding!”

Crap, why’d I go ahead and say that?! Oh, would you look at the time? I’ve got to get out of here while she still hasn’t spotted me!

Thankfully, it seems the other inmates were quick to read the room, so they immediately started making a ruckus to distract her from seeking me out. These guys are really helping me stay as hidden as I am. Since the very moment she announced that she’s looking for me, they all told me that they’d cover as much as they could, which is rather kind of them. Heh, and to think Issei didn’t trust the humanity of these people.

After that, I hid in the passage behind the sink where Othelia was, and we spent the entire day there. Tomorrow morning Issei had told me with a rather starved look that they all had to endure a harsh detention session wherein Silvia made them look at her eating as happily as a clam. There’s torture, and then there’s the thing Silvia made them endure. Even still, she did let them off easy after finding out one of the inmates drew a rather realistic depiction of a Scirp. He then patted me on the back with a teary look in his eyes before handing me a bit of his food as thanks. Now I kind of see why dad was so into drawing.