The day after the funeral, I was already away on a field trip with little time to grieve. I'd already packed everything I needed, which was mainly a change of clothes. My class would be spending the night at the Roseate Manor, so I made sure I had all the essentials at least.

Roseate Manor was high up in the mountains, which were some of the only and tallest mountains on our little island. Granted, they weren't all that tall, but relative to everything else they were tall. They were on the eastern coast, while the city was on the western coast. It was rare for anything to be built on the east coast for that reason.

Originally, I intended to sit alone on the bus, but I didn't have a choice in the matter. Luckily, it was Carmen who ended up sitting next to me rather than a stranger. I made sure to squeeze as close to the window as possible to give her all the room she needed.

"Morning," she greeted as she planted herself beside me. "Still half asleep?"

While I couldn't see them myself, my eyes probably had some unsightly bags beneath them. "Kind of. I'm not the most talented sleeper."

From the seat behind us, two figures emerged. They were Ilya and Lily, Carmen's friends, as far as I was aware. I'd only remembered their names due to attendance, not to mention how talkative they were. Speaking of which…

"Ms. Steinfeld said we're allowed to use the pool while we're there! Isn't that super fancy for a field trip?" Lily said.

"It's not that fancy. I'm pretty sure the building is collapsing on itself," Ilya replied.

"It is pretty old," Carmen added.

Lily stammered from behind me. "Well, yeah, but come on. It's pretty neat as far as field trips go."

"Not especially," Ilya began, pushing her glasses up. "There's nothing interesting about the house anyway. Aside from the location it was built, nothing else about it stands out. I really don't understand what we could possibly learn about history when it's just like any old family home. You'd think a prestigious school like Crimson Academy would have a bigger budget for trips like this. I'm sure they could afford a trip to another country rather than this old run down-"

She didn't stop talking for a while after that. I wasn't even sure what she was saying at that point. Eventually, it became white noise. I stared out the window while the three of them continued to yammer on. That was until two pale, cold hands grasped my cheeks. My heart skipped a beat. I continued to stare out the window, ignoring it, but then they pinched me. They pinched my cheeks and wiggled them around like a toy. I hoped that by pretending I didn't notice it, whatever spirit was assaulting me would become bored and move on.

"I think you're bothering her," Carmen reached towards me and pried the hands away.

"She didn't seem to mind," Lily said, now resting her arms on the back of my seat. "'Twas only a prank."

Indeed, I'd been had. For a moment, I was unsure of how to speak with these people. I felt confused. Overwhelmed even. They were much better at holding a conversation. For someone who claimed to be "God of Vega", I wasn't all that eloquent.

I decided that I should try saying something, anything. "'Twas a good prank, young Lily."

"Thanks, old… I don't know your name," Lily said.

I would've clarified for her, but we were arriving at the Roseate Manor. The surrounding forest opened up into a clear area, where the building stood. It was four stories high, with an attic to top it all off. The building was taller than it was wide, Victorian in style.

We stepped off the bus one by one. The sky was gray with clouds that rolled in earlier that morning, and the air smelled as if it were going to rain soon. It made the house look dull and depressing, despite the area surrounding it being very serene, with green grass and a stream running nearby. It contrasted heavily with the city I came from.

With my plastic bag of luggage in hand, I followed the rest of the class through the tight front door. Everyone chattered, filling my ears with noise. It was the polar opposite of the funeral I went to, probably because there wasn't a dead body lying in the middle of the room. Although, in a place like this, a dead body in the middle of the room would probably make everyone even more noisy, so that logic didn't exactly hold up. Sometimes when a lot of people talked at once, their words would all muddle together and become incomprehensible, like an alien language. The living room wasn't huge either, so I was squeezed in-between other people until everyone started heading to their rooms.

Ms. Steinfeld had already assigned us our room numbers, and I already knew I'd be in the same room as Carmen. To my surprise, I'd also have to share a room with Ilya and Lily, which I wasn't entirely stoked about. Still, it was better that I'd at least try getting along with them, or else I'd never make any friends. Considering how little I talked, I was more similar to a puppy than a roommate. The only difference was that people would normally get excited about puppies and talk to them in a cute voice whilst petting them viciously, but none of that was happening to me, which was probably for the best.

I made it to the third floor unscathed. Carmen unlocked the door to our room since she had the key. We had the building to ourselves though, so I wasn't sure why we'd need to lock the doors. I picked the bed furthest from the door to put my one lightly packed bag on, as opposed to my three classmate's much heftier bags.

I sat myself down on the bed, but immediately stood back up as I heard my cell phone vibrating, which happened to be under my bottom. It was actually Dawn's old phone, but she gave it to me in case I was in danger of being killed. I expected it to be a call from her, but it was from a friend who I'd only met recently. She lived overseas in the island nation of Praceus, so we only ever talked over the phone. Her name was Chloe.

Praceus was just north of Oculus, west of the mainland. Much like Oculus, it was also an island. Although, much more rich and exciting than my boring island.

When I first met Chloe, she called me under the assumption that she was calling Dawn, only to find out it was little ol' me on the other side. After that, she called me nonstop, and this was another one of her little sessions. More importantly, she was the first friend I'd made after waking up.

I stepped outside into the hallway before answering, not wanting to talk to her in front of my much cooler classmates. "I'm at a super loud party right now, so make it quick," I said, lying about the reality of the situation.

Chloe responded in a surprised tone. "You mean to tell me you made friends? That's fantastic news!"

"That's right, so I'm going to hang up now and go mingle," I said pompously.

"Wait, you're not leaving me behind, are you?" she said.

I responded with a quick "yep" and hung up, retreating from the hallway back into my room. I'd probably get an upset call from her later, but talking on the phone in public places was not something I was going to risk. Especially not in a building packed with total strangers who could be plotting against me.

Once I entered back into the room, I noticed a worrying lack of clothes among my roommates. My worry quickly evaporated, as I realized they simply changed into swimsuits, and they weren't planning on corrupting my innocent mind.

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"Iris!" Carmen suddenly addressed me. "We were going to swim if you wanted to come with us."

I was caught off guard. These people were inviting me to join them in a fun activity of all things. How rude was I for assuming they were going to poison me in my sleep?

"Oh, I didn't pack a swimsuit, don't worry," I said, although I wasn't sure why I told them not to worry. "I never learned to swim anyway."

"Oh, alright," she replied, rubbing her arm.

They left the room quickly enough so that we wouldn't have to carry on that dead end conversation. I threw myself onto the bed, turning into jelly. Could I have really exhausted myself so quickly? I didn't consider the possibility that I was socially inept. I'd have to really rethink my life choices while I laid in bed.

Existentialism tired me out even more though, so I gave up very quickly. Instead, I sat back up and went to peer out the window. Through the curtains, I could see seven half naked humans. They were splishing and splashing in a large but somewhat gross looking pool. I wasn't sure how that was at all relevant to a school field trip, but it meant less work for me.

I spent a while spying on my classmates from above, until I spotted a barbeque of all things. That was enough to convince me to leave my room. If all high school field trips were this laid back and completely pointless to your education, then I'd have to get myself held back at least a couple of years to make the most of it.

As soon as I opened the back door to head outside, I was met with Carmen who was apparently done swimming. I was lucky to not physically run into her with my face.

"Hey, Iris! I was just about to come and get you. They're making chicken skewers," she said.

"You were?" I blinked a few times. "Ah, right! Luckily my nose is ultra sensitive, so you don't need to worry about that."

She laughed, apparently finding what I said funny. I took that as flattery and let it go to my head after that. Food was easily able to lure me, so I quickly went to grab something to eat before nothing was left. At the same time, Carmen was already mingling with a few other people. It made me feel slightly sad, even though I already knew she was pretty popular. I just didn't like the idea that I wasn't as big of a part of her life as I thought I was.

After I'd finished eating, I went back to my room, where Ilya had also returned. However, she was joined by someone in the doorway who didn't belong… a boy! In our room! I didn't say anything of course, and he ended up leaving anyway, but they even kissed in front of me like I wasn't there. It was traumatic. I went and sat in my bed, hiding half my face under the sheets. Ilya was busy texting someone in the opposite bed. My opinion of her had dropped drastically in only a few minutes.

Carmen and Lily both returned ten minutes later, without any boys joining them, which gained my full respect. Of course, now the real trouble began. It was time to sleep so we could wake up bright and early the next day, and I was not ready to sleep with someone else, especially after realizing someone in the room was a succubus.

I could consider myself lucky since I didn't sleep in the same bed as her, and instead with Carmen. I breathed a sigh of relief. Carmen shifted a lot throughout the night, and in no time at all I wasn't even covered in any blankets. I didn't want to be rude and tug the blanket away from her, so I just stared at the ceiling for a while with nothing covering me.

When I eventually decided to close my eyes, I heard rustling beside me. Carmen had woken up, unless she was awake that whole time and purposefully hogged the blanket. She was rubbing her eyes as she sat up, so I assumed otherwise.

She immediately noticed what she'd done as she turned to face me. Before apologizing, she laughed. "Sorry, I'm a restless sleeper."

I jolted up with a great amount of energy. "It's fine, I'm not the greatest sleeper either. That being said, if it happens again… I'll have to take that blanket back using force." I tried to put on my most threatening face.

Carmen looked genuinely taken aback at first, before smiling. "I'd like that." She giggled.

For some reason, I felt slightly weirded out, flinching backwards. "Err… Are you a masochist, or am I getting the wrong idea?"

Carmen's face turned red. "Definitely the wrong idea!" She shouted, before putting a hand over her mouth.

Across the room, Lily and Ilya were still sound asleep, thank goodness. Lily's snoring was actually soundproofing our conversation, ironically. It was also what kept me awake for so long.

"You said you'd like it if I forcefully took the blankets off you, so I sort of jumped to conclusions," I said.

Carmen sighed. "That's not really what I meant." She stood up, walking to the window at the end of the room, opening the curtains. Moonlight poured through the framed glass.

"That's pretty photogenic…" I thought aloud, sitting at the edge of the bed.

Carmen glanced back at me. "Why don't we take a picture then?"

I started to fan myself as I started to sweat. "P-Picture? Haha! I don't really know about that."

"That was a joke." Her smile faded, but still remained the tiniest amount. "I'm not much of a picture person either."

I raised my eyebrows. "Are you sad?" I asked, without thinking.

Carmen stared at me for a few seconds, before putting on a more genuine smile again. "Not really."

Although unsure why, something told me this was an attempt at hiding her true feelings. As if she could so easily deceive the one and only Iris! I hopped off the bed and strutted towards her.

As she looked down at me expectantly, I prepared to use my secret move. The Happiness Punch. It was a powerful yet harmless attack that caused the target to be filled with unimaginable happiness.

"Happiness Punch!" I shouted, following up with jabbing her in the sternum. Not too hard though. "Mess with me again, and I'll have to resort to using the Happiness Beam!" I threatened.

Carmen blinked repeatedly for a few seconds, giving a blank stare. She then covered her mouth with both hands, suddenly looking constipated as she hunched over. She began to snicker to herself, being muffled by her palms. Tears welled up in her eyes. It was a good minute before she finally composed herself enough to speak.

"You're too funny," she decided to whisper, even after I shouted the name of my special attack. "I know we didn't talk much today, so do you want to hang out more tomorrow?"

"You want to hang out with me?" I blinked rapidly. "I mean- of course! We became friends, after all. That means… We need a special handshake."

Carmen placed a hand on her chin. "I never thought of that… you must be pretty good at this kind of thing."

"Right! How about this, let's stand parallel to each other…" I began, and she hesitantly followed my orders. "And now…" With little warning, I thrusted my hip against hers. Not too hard though. "A hip-handshake. I bet no one's ever thought of that one. Pretty innovative, right?"

Carmen wasn't pushed back even slightly by me. "Should I also bump at the same time as you?" She asked.

"Yeah! Let's try it one more time, so we don't mess up later." I repositioned myself. "Ready… set… pow!"

Simultaneously, the two of us slammed against each other. Normally, a special handshake would only end with both people involved thinking they're cooler than they actually are, but the third law of motion had different plans for me. I was no match for the force of her pelvis power, and so I was launched to the floor in an instant. Despite the loud crash, Ilya and Lily managed to sleep like rocks.

"Holy moly!" Carmen rushed to help me up. "You okay? I guess I don't know my own strength."

I gratefully took her hand, slightly discombobulated, but otherwise fine. "I'm good! Maybe it's about time we sleep though, or else the sun will rise before we know it."

Carmen quickly turned to face the window, making sure she hadn't actually wasted the whole night. "Yeah! That's a good idea. I really shouldn't stay up so long."

I stood up, wobbling back and forth. The two of us then quickly scurried into bed. This time, I had way more blanket to myself. I made sure of it.

Before I was able to drift off, Carmen decided to speak again, back to back with me. "You know, talking to you is a lot of fun."

"Is this an excuse to stay up longer? I won't be fooled," I said.

"I'll probably fall asleep any second now anyway. I just wanted to say, it's nice to know someone that only sees me as me, and not who I'm meant to be."

Since she wasn't able to see me, I was able to smile without feeling embarrassed. "What can I say? they don't call me the Sailor of Friendships for nothing." I had a smug grin at that point, but Carmen didn't laugh that time. "Get it? It's like a funny pun- ah… you really did fall asleep that quickly."

In no time at all, I joined her in the realm of sleep, feeling much more restful than before. In my dream, I saw a familiar scene. The living room of the Roseate Manor, but different. There was furniture that wasn't there before, such as a box shaped television. Most mysteriously, there was a little girl with bright pink eyes and short black hair sitting on top of that television.

As she stared at me, I couldn't look away, unable to move in my dream. Then, she raised a finger. Just one. She mouthed words which I couldn't visually identify, but I could somehow understand in my head what she was saying to me. "Don't blow it."