Just as he did when he was back at home on Tera, when the spiritual sun rose over the horizon, and became visible through the wooden and glass-less window, Meishu got up, and looked around - only to find everyone else asleep. Not wanting to deal with their chaos, and wildness so early in the morning, he decided to lay back down. In his same little laying spot, which was right next to Lucette on the ground, from where he began to talk to himself in boredom without response - until, when he asked a question.
“Why isn’t anyone else awake?” he mumbled to which he got a response. With terror, Meishu sported up to see who had given him such a reply. At first, he didn’t see anyone else up, but then across the room, near Castille, laid Cassette. Now, she was sitting herself up, perhaps making herself more visible. “Good morning.” she told him, without speaking anything else.
Just prior, she had managed to say “But I am.”, as a contradictor to his question - but now, she seemed to not want to talk much. Further signalised by her turning to face the wall. When she faced the wall, and the Meishu faced her back, the quietness of the environment seemed to fall more.
In its break - Cassette asked “Meishu, do you hate me?”. At that second, when his brain took in the information, Meishu could’ve responded with a thousand rude answers, but he didn’t. Instead, he told Cassette - “No, Cassette. I don’t hate, I love you.”. Hence, the little girl turned her head with a smile, one that faded fastly. “I want to help you find Kaminari.” she then stated, as she stood up, and now, over all the sleeping bodies, walked to Meishu. Meishu, seeing her movement, now stood up with her, and stood by her side. “Don’t worry, we’ll find her.” he informed little Cassette whilst beginning to walk off out of the attic room. Cassette grinned again now as she quickly caught up with him and his pace. “Where are you going?” she then asked him with her smile still rising up past her rosy cheeks. “Nowhere.” Meishu said - “I just wanna’ see around the house.” he then stated, trying to make more reason, and not confuse the kid. Now though, now that he thought about it - it appeared as if Cassette had a wider vocabulary now. “Cassette,” he asked, “Have you been any more social recently?”. Cassette continued to smile, whilst jumping. “Yes!” she shouted, before Meishu snapped to put his finger on her lips. This motion symbolised silence, and it was what he was telling her to be. “Quiet,” he said, “I don’t want to wake any of the fools.”. After saying this, he started to walk down the stairs, and to the living room, with Cassette now following him. Whispering, she asked the boy - “Meishu, am I a bother?” she questioned, of course praying that he’d reply with a simple ‘no’ or any other negative. Like a respectful gentleman, he did. “You may be weird - but I think you’re not annoying.” he said as he sat down on the couch.
Cassette stretched, and then bounced back on the soft couch, making it create a creak sound. “Guh!” she said when it did, while Meishu held up the silence sound again. Hence, Cassette zipped her mouth, but the couch continued creaking. So, Cassette stood up. Yet, it still made noise. So, Meishu did too - but the creaking sound still emitted. “Needs oil.” whispered Cassette to Meishu. Meishu nodded “Yeah, like the amount of slime in Flawrin’s hair, oil.” he replied in joke. After the joke, Cassette snickered a little bit, but ultimately turned to face a door that led to a cellar. “There!” she said to Meishu, calling his attention to her current view. Meishu looked at the view. It was the lady from yesterday, leaving from the cellar. “I suppose that was the creaking sound.” said Meishu, with his eyes still glued. Cassette huffed air - “Mm.” she said to Meishu, before the lady looked back at them.
“You kids are awake already?” she asked them, walking over at the same time. Meishu crossed his arms, “Yes ma’am.” he answered, now getting his eyes off of the cellar door. In turn, they now faced the kitchen, where the woman was going to. “I’ve got a lot more cooking to do.” said the woman to Meishu and Cassette. Cassette followed the woman into the kitchen - “Oh, trust me, I know - I can help!” she said, eyeing something on the wall. Meishu blinked, thinking she meant a lot of cooking for the several kids, before he stared at the thing Cassette eyed. It was a calendar, and today was marked as “Feast of Gratefulness - Thanksgiving.”.
Meishu turned to Cassette. “Feast of Gratefulness, what’s that?” he asked, entering the cooking space. But, he then backed up as the lady and Cassette interrogated his face up close. “You don’t know about thanksgiving!?” they both asked, like they were used to it. Meishu, obviously, wasn’t. “No, I haven’t.” he told them, “What’s it for?”.
The lady flicked her cheek and sighed. Cassette looked at her, and did the same. “It’s from the Land of America back on Tera - but must have become a trend here thanks to natives after death.” Cassette said, now playing with the coin on her collar. Meishu blinked. “I’ve never heard you talk so much.” he said, before looking at the calendar again. “Well, it makes sense that I don’t know it - considering the academy was in Europe.” he said. Cassette shook her head though. “But more happens today too, that you should know.” she informed Meishu. Meishu gazed at her. “Really, what else?” he asked, oblivious. While the lady cooked, Cassette’s jaw dropped, and so did Kraüter’s, who was on the stairs. Kraüter then ran over to Meishu. “Have you gone insane?” she asked. Meishu shrugged, “Maybe.” he said, “Then again - I don’t participate in school gossip.” he said. “Nor do I.” said Kraüter - “But I would know my own partner's birthday!”. Meishu scratched his head. “I don’t have a partner, Kraüter.” he told the girl, who waved her hand. “Frankie?” she asked.
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Meishu stomped. “Why do you guys call every single girl my partner!?” he screamed - “Frankie’s stupid!” he then declared.
Cassette turned, and coughed up air - “Stupid?” she asked. “Yeah, stupid.” Meishu said. “If I can recall right, she’s the one who told us that blue rain, or water fell when you were in the ocean, and milk poured when you were in the Arctic!” Meishu replied. Cassette began to laugh, while Kraüter disagreed. “That doesn’t make her dumb though!” she argued, trying to make Frankie sound better than she was. But, Meishu still had his opinion “She called rain blue for Saint’s sake!” he screamed. Now, Kraüter began to laugh a bit herself. “Ok, I do remember when she thought that sponge cake was made from ( sea ) sponges!” she giggled. Meishu laughed back as Charlotte came down the staircase. “Yeah, I think Frankie wrote a whole novellic compilation of her worked out ideas.” she said, while Ciel followed her “Still is. There’s something about an orange dragon that goes by so fast that it blows the leaves off the trees, and drops its orange scales in replacement on the ground causing autumn.” she added, as she began to laugh herself.
Lavinia followed them all, alongside the rest of the kids except for Frankie, who was still asleep. “I guess we can all agree that she’s pretty brainless.” she said. “Nah,” said Castille, “She’s just making her own Christianity.”. Stelline looked at her. “Ok, no, that’s actually messed up.” she said, whilst entering the kitchen. Lune stood next to her - “We can make a pretty good pie.” she told the lady. The lady looked back at them - “Go ahead, make what you want. Especially for your friend.” she said. Flawrin smiled while putting her hands together. “I’m going to poison her food!” she happily declared.
Lune fronwed. “Never - never ever, will I ever share any important celebrations with any of you guys.” she told them, while working with Stelline to prepare food.
Eventually, the rest of the kids began working on the food as well - and upstairs in the attic, Frankie began to wake up to the smell of good food.
“I’m in heaven!” she cried as a figure of speech, before she realised that she actually was. “Oh, I am.” she then said, now plopping up, and crawling through the attic. “Screw it, the sun’s already set.” she then said, now exiting the attic, and making her way down the stairwell and to the main living room and dining space. There, all the other kids stood with each other. “Frankie?” asked Stelline, “You’re awake - late.” she said.
Frankie nodded. “Yup, I am.” she replied as she sat down. Thus, inside of the kitchen, all the other kids started whispering to one another - “Does she know?” some asked, “Probably,” some others stated, before Frankie entered the kitchen. “Hey guys - can we eat!?” she asked, with an angry face. All the kids blinked, “Oh, yeah!” they all said, as they rushed to bring the Thanksgiving food to the table. “Sure Frankie, we can all eat!” said Lune, as she sat Frankie at the top seat of the table, and served her food first before the others.
Eventually, everyone had their food - and began to dig in.
“Finally, good sweet potatoes!” said Charlotte. Ciel looked at her, “I prefer the potatoes.”. Charlotte blinked - “That’s what I just said. “ she told Ciel, who was now frowning. “No, I mean the mashed potatoes!” she then shouted, to which the table laughed together.
After the main meals, and plenty of seconds, thirds, fourths, and even fifths - Lune brought out the Apple Pie, and everyone enjoyed that as well. So, afterwards, she then brought out a special sponge cake. “Sponge cake!” shouted Frankie, making everyone smile. At once, they all shouted, some annoyed, but all rehearsed - “And it’s made from sponges!”.
Furthermore, after terribly reciting some horribly written verses of Frankie’s novellic epic, Lune then cut the cake between everyone - but told them not to eat yet. As, now, on Frankie’s slice, Lune adorned it with candles, and lit them after blowing out the lanterns that lit the cottage house.
As everyone turned to face Frankie, they all grinned - and on the count of ‘trois, deux, un!’ they all sang Happy Birthday to Frankie in French. When done, Castille hugged her. At the same time, Brittanica clapped her hands. “Joyeux anniversaire Frankie le Francophone!” she exclaimed.
Frankie blushed and leaned back in her seat,
“Thank you guys - thank you everyone!”