“Good morning.” I greeted a very tired Issei.

“Mn? Ah, yeah…” He rubbed his eyes, “Morning, M-kun. What’s got you so wide awake today?”

“Anniversary.” I replied, “It’s been a year since I was imprisoned here. Feels a lot shorter though.”

“Wait, there aren’t any calendars in the places inmates have access to. Did you ask the guards about the date or something?”

“No, I kept count in my head.”

“Eh? You’re kidding, right?” He did a double-take, “Keeping a mental count for that long… No, I wouldn’t put it passed you, the prison’s Artistic Genius.”

“Would you stop calling me that? Art and I don’t go well at all, so the nickname makes zero sense.”

“But you draw so well though?”

“That’s because I’ve a good photographic memory.” I explained, “Besides, I don’t know how to draw my own way. I’m just really good at copying what little I’ve learned from my father.”

“And? Isn’t that just what art is? Seriously, this is such an odd hill to die on.” He chuckled, “Even still, if it’s been a year since your incarceration, then I guess the same goes for Othelia and I.”

“How long have you two been in here before me?”

“Myself personally, I’ve only got here a couple days prior to you. But Othelia’s way longer, I’d say around a month before either one of us.”

“Geez, she must’ve gone through hell all alone before we got to her, but at least we know she’s safe and sound now.”

“Right…” Issei donned a lonely look, “Listen, how about we let her out? Even just a bit is fine, like freeing her of her chains so she doesn’t have to suffer through those chafes.”

Geez, he’s still hung up about that. I’d really like to agree with him, but I’m afraid it’s simply not possible. It’s a miracle that she survived all this time, even more so if she got off with just a couple of bruises and verbal assaults. That being said, the other guards still think her to be dead, but if by chance someone comes over to visit her and sees she’s freed, who knows what would happen. This way, at least she could lie and say that one of the guards is secretly keeping her nourished. Thus she’d have an excuse for staying alive, no one would suspect us, and the distrust between guards would rise.

“…But if we do that, then none of the benefits I mentioned would occur. We’d just be putting her in danger all over again.” I explained, “Don’t worry, we just have to take things slow, and we can’t possibly screw this up.”

“Right, I’m sorry for being too hasty.” He apologized, “But man, Silvia’s really messed everything up, hasn’t she?”

“Yeah, if she wasn’t here, we already would’ve been long gone from this place, but I guess that’s just our luck.”

Silvia’s basically turned this entire place into her playing field. All of the guards listen to her every command, no matter how terrible or inhumane it is. True, she removed the whipping grounds, but her punishments are way worse in comparison. I’ve already spoken about putting people in a room and starving them for a day, but that’s just the tip of this iceberg. Actually, we’re in a desert, so maybe “Tip of the sand dune” would be a more appropriate phrase?

Her lessons are absolute. Being tardy or God forbid skipping would lead to a punishment wherein she has you thrown in a pit full of scorpions, and you have to survive in there for the entire rest of the day. Actually, sometimes there’s still work to be done, so she makes you assemble the shoddy tools that were broken during work that day. If you had somehow survived through the day, but failed to fix the tools, you’d have to stay in the pit for an extra 12 hours, and it’d be like that until all the tools are made.

Another punishment I’ve only ever experienced once is one where, if you’re being particularly rude to a guard, they’d strip you naked, tie you to a pole, and spit on you whilst shouting insults. Actually, back when that happened to me, I was super terrified that she was going to finally find me, given the position I’d be put in, but thankfully she was resting that day. Instead, I had like 3 grown men spit on my body and shout slurs. Now I’m not someone who’s hurt by the words of others, but what really got to me was the stench I had so much trouble washing off the next day. Eugh…

“Still, you think she’s warmed up to the place?” Issei recalled the constant teasing he’s been putting her through, “She was at least three times as strict back when she first got here, but now I feel like she doesn’t really punish us out of pure spite.”

“I hate to admit it, but I kind of feel like you’re right.” I said with a regretful tone, “I mean, she’s after my head, and she can be a real pain at times, but even I’ve noticed just how much she’s trying to correct the poorer folks in here. Who knows, maybe if we were put in here for a justified reason, like if we were actual felons, I think she’d be a good counselor.”

As I was talking though, Issei’s expression suddenly tightened as he panicked to step in between me and the person standing on the other side of the bars. It was only after I had turned around that I had realized it was already too late to duck for cover.

“Oh, you flatter me, boys.” Silvia smiled, “But I’m afraid flattery won’t get you out of this one.”

***

Currently, we’re in a pretty tense situation. Standing buck naked in the familiar cell we’ve spent this past year on, we looked on with terrified expressions at the girl with long blonde hair on the other side. She was silent, waiting for us to break the ice first before she could retort, but her content gaze and sarcastic smile gave away her true thoughts all too easily. Indeed, she was mocking us, smiling at the sight of the man who she deems wronged her in the past looking as pathetic as he does.

“Quite the roles we’ve put ourselves in, Meil.” She refused to break eye contact, “Me, a counselor at this dog shelter filled with pups who require correcting, and you, the pup in question. Come on, you’re smart, what is the term for this situation?”

“Ugh, Issei…” I turned for help, but even he could only shrug.

“Asking your friends is cheating, you know?” She still acted all coy, “Oh, I’m afraid the time is up. The correct answer to my question was in fact Justice.”

“Justice?” Issei questioned, “But M-kun did nothing wrong! You’re just pinning the blame on someone because you can’t deal with the truth!”

“The truth?” She seemed hopeful and heard him out.

“M-kun told me the entire story. It’s obvious from it that your father couldn’t have just vanished into thin air. No, something much more realistic happened, that being…!”

“That being…?” She grabbed hold of the bars desperately.

“He left your sorry ass!” He proudly revealed, “In other words, he left to get the milk, if you know what I mean!”

“…” We both raised an eyebrow at his rather out there theory, ‘What?”

“Now now, I know it may come as a shock to you, but just know that it’s not too rare of a scenario. There are countless fathers who simply can’t deal with their stuck up daugh-err, their bundles of joy anymore, so they retreat back into good old single life. That’s just how it is, no reason to feel bad about it or to try and make up fake truths.”

“You’re…” She sighed, “Completely off. My father adored me very much. In fact, he told me specifically that there’d come a day when someone would finally end his life, so I should be more than prepared to expect it.”

“Ah, I see you’re the type to get hung up on old wisdom.” He reasoned, “Tell you what, my mother used to dress me as a girl when I was still an infant and would regularly joke about it even after I grew up, saying stuff like “It’s to ward off evil spirits”.”

“I’m not following?”

“Basically I’m saying that, even though it’s something she told me, I still don’t ever wanna dress up like a girl ever again.”

“Right, so instead you’re naked in a cell.” She pointed to his crotch.

“Why, you interested?” He swung it around in a circle.

“Ew! How shameful! Ugh, men…” She turned away in disgust before grabbing the keys to the cell, “No matter, now that I have possession of Meil, I won’t have to ever step foot in this disgusting pigsty ever again. Just have to put the key in the keyhole and…”

Right as she was about to unlock the door, Issei slammed into the bars, scaring her in the process as he grabbed onto her dress and lifting her up against them. This action surprised both me and her, as I had actually planned on knocking her out and taking the keys from her the moment she stepped even a foot inside the cell. Needless to say, I wasn’t prepared for his next choice of action.

“Whoa there, ojou-san.” He looked her dead in the eye, “I know I asked if you’re interested, but are you really sure it’s safe for a lone girl to enter an enclosed space with two naked men inside?”

“Ugh, put me down this instant!” She tried fighting him off to no avail, “Let me go so I can enter! I’m more than capable of taking you two on in a fight!”

“A fight?” He donned a sleazy grin as he glanced down at his crotch again, “Who said anything about taking us on in a fight?”

Finally realizing what he was insinuating, she backed off immediately with a flushed expression. Practically prying herself off the steel bars in desperation, she finally managed to fall to the ground before running off, all the while cussing us out.

“You wouldn’t… But no, just to be sure, I’ll go fetch a guard! I-I’m not scared, I’m just being cautious!”

“Ah, making it a fourway, are we?” He waved her off, “You’re quite ecchi yourself, ojou-san! Looking forward to it~!”

And so, we were once again left alone in the cell. It seems Issei had also planned on getting her to back down from dragging me out of here with her, but I still don’t understand why he didn’t let her enter. Actually, I’ m going to ask him right now, seeing as he bought us some time until she comes back.

“Hm? Why I didn’t let her enter?” He turned to me, “Three reasons – First is what I told her just now. The mood set itself at that point, so I was genuinely looking out for her.”

“My, what a gentleman you are…” I rolled my eyes, “Come on, of course neither of us would’ve done such a thing to her.”

“Speak for yourself.” He averted my gaze, “In any case, the second reason is a bit more serious. In short, she had a concealed knife that was peeking through her barely see through dress.”

“She did?” I stood surprised, “I… hadn’t noticed. Good call not letting her in, in that case.”

“Right. And the third…” He pointed to the keyhole, “Is this bad boy right here!”

“The…!” I stuttered, “The key! So she let go of it when you grabbed her and forgot to pull it out of the keyhole back then!”

“Yep~!” He said with a chipper tune, waving the keys in front of my face, “Now, M-kun, wanna go out for a walk to celebrate your one year anniversary since coming here?”