As the loudness of the steps towards on of the few doors in the building increased, Rosa panicked, looking at the three of them, pretty much out of commision. Their master was finally coming back, after over a month. The door opened, a foot stomping into the room before a woman, covered in a black cloak entered the room, quickly beginning to look through the room. ‘’Ah, master! How n-nice to see you, master!’’ Rosa greeted her, bowing on her knees in an instant.

‘’Oh…?’’ the woman grinned under her hood as she took a few heavy steps over Yohito, who was lying unconscious on the floor, Bernie and Clous taking a few steps backwards, trying to stay away from her. ‘’Rosa, dear, why do we have a seemingly underage child in the middle of the room?’’ she asked as she let down the hood, revealing a tender face, slick long hair on top of her head and a little scar on her cheek.

‘’Ah, you see master, it’s the treasure The Tree dropped yesterday!’’ she raised her head, her eyebrows shaking as she gave an honest answer. ‘’I see… Then why the fuck is it alive, human and topless, Rosa?’’ she stomped with her iron, slightly worn out boots, causing Rosa to squeal in fear.

‘’See, we sent Clous to steal it, planning for weeks, but--’’ ‘’Quiet. Next up, Bernie; explain!’’ she interrupted Rosa, turning around and looking at the terrified Bernie, relieving Rosa. ‘’Under three sentences, please. I’m tired enough, to be honest.’’ she added, crossing her arms. ‘’Master Hiona, believe when I say I know the least!’’ Bernie took the coward’s route, pointing at Clous.

‘’Fine; one sentence, Clous. I’m sure you can count up to at least 1752, so make it snappy.’’ she rolled her eyes in an annoyed manner. Clous moved his eyes radically, looking at both Bernie and Rosa desperately, finding them looking away. ‘’Blame The Tree…’’ Clous lowered his head, staring at his feet, leaving Hiona to smile.

‘’See? That’s what I asked for.’’ she grinned, patting Clous’ head, causing him to blish slightly. ‘’On a different note, gather in my control room after the...boy(?) wakes up, okay?’’ she demanded as she poked Yahiro with her boot, moving his head to the other side. ‘’Yes, master Hiona!!’’ they said together, watching her walk over to one of the doors in a few heavy stomps, opening it and entering with a quick wink, closing the door in a loud slam.

‘’You felt it, right?’’ Clous shivered, his eyes full of stress. ‘’Yeah, one misstep there and you were literally dead. I’m almost glad she treats you worst…’’ Rosa said, leaning back and pressing herself with her arms, sitting up. ‘’We have to wake him up for now, right?’’ Bernie asked, his hand shaking without him realising it. It was almost ironic to them how their master, Hiona, looked so nonchalant, yet she intimidated them beyond words.

‘’Uh, um, can you help me? Clous, Mr, Bernie?’’ Yohiro asked, startling them. ‘’Yohiro, are you alright?! Does it hurt anywhere?’’ Clous, alarmed, shook the boy’s body, noticing his empty eyes. ‘’How do I explain this…? I can’t really see.’’ he mumbled, raising his left arm and wagging his fingers, as if he was touching something solid. ‘’There’s this big, tall tree. Where is this?’’ he began questioning them, the three of them astonished.

‘’You reckon he’s talking about The Tree he came from?’’ Bernie asked them. ‘’What other big, tall tree would he be seeing in this context, dumbass?!’’ said Rosa, mocking him for pointing out the obvious. ‘’Anything else you see there? At all?’’ Clous asked seriously. ‘’No; it’s all white, and the tree is in the middle! It’s a little scary…’’ Yohiro smiled. ‘’Also,’’ he began, ‘’there’s a little door here, but it won’t open.’’ he reported to them.

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‘’Okay, enough with this shit.’’ Rosa said in a moment of annoyance, taking Yohiro’s hand by the fingers and roughly placing it on the gem. ‘’What’re you doing, retard?!’’ Clous moved the hand away from his chest, not noticing the life begin to gather into his eyes. ‘’Are you okay, Yohiro?’’ Bernie asked him, smiling openly, watching Yohiro’s tired-looking expression and his eyes begin to close, as if they were falling rocks, controlled by the law of gravity. As Clous and Rosa continued pointing fingers at each other, Yohiro pushed himself up with the help of Bernie, staring at his own nose, finally getting Clous and Rosa’s attention.

‘’May I have a glass of water, please?’’ he asked as he placed his fingers on his eyes after closing them, starting to rub them violently. Clous stood up, starting to walk towards the fridge in the corner of the room. ‘’So, everything you told us, that’s all you saw?’’ Rosa placed her hand under his chin, rotating his head towards her. ‘’Ah, yes, that’s all.’’ Yohiro gave a faint smile, with Rosa moving her hand and leaving his head to fall, hitting the floor.

‘’Be more careful, or rather...be careful!’’ Bernie said sharply. ‘’He’s practically priceless, after all,’’ he added, leaving her rolling her eyes as Bernie lifted Yohiro, sitting down, crossing his legs and letting him rest on his legs. ‘’Here, kid.’’ Clous walked over, a glass of water in hand, Bernie taking it off of him and placing it next to Yohiro’s lips, with him refusing to open his mouth. ‘’No, no, Mr. Bernie! Like this.’’ Yohiro raised his voice, taking the glass out of his hands and spilling it all over his tired face, letting out a long ‘’Ahh!’’ afterwards.

‘’For some reason, that isn’t even close to surprising…’’ Clous thought as he took the glass out of his hands, placing it on the table carefully. ‘’You sure you’ll be okay? You look worse than usual and it lasted less than two minutes.’’ Bernie asked with worry in his voice, watching as Yohiro stepped down with one foot, standing straight in an instant. ‘’I’m a little shaky, but i’m sure i’ll be okay!’’ he yelled, back to his usual, loud self.

‘’You done? ‘Cause master will kick our asses to high heaven if we spend a whole day standing around.’’ Rosa added to the conversation, getting them to realise the situation they’re in. ‘’Yeah, but she always comes back as if she’d be gone for a few hours, when it’s been a month! I don’t really appreciate that, to be honest!’’ Clous said sharply, getting them to look down, filled with the shameful feeling of agreement with him.

‘’Didn’t that lady calls for us? Let’s go already!’’ Yohiro yelled, already having made his way in front of Hiona’s door while they were discussing their complaints. ‘’W-wait, don’t go in--’’ they tried to warn him, before he opened the door, hearing unrecognizable moans from inside the room, confusing him. ‘’Yohiro!!!’’ Clous shouted, running over to him and pushing him away from the doorway, and into Bernie’s chest. That was the other reason they feared their master: she was a nymphomaniac. Clous shut the door closed as fast as he could, watching Rosa and Bernie’s petrified expressions.

‘’You think she noticed? She tends to get so absorbed with herself, she ignores shit happening around her, after all!’’ Clous asked them as he silently walked over to them, hiding behind Bernie. ‘’What was the Ms. Hiona doing? Why did you push me like that?!’’ Yohiro kept yelling, getting forcibly shut by Bernie. ‘’Yohiro, I beg of you, we will explain later.’’ he whispered to him, calming him down.

‘’Okay, your turn, lady Rosa, good luck.’’ Clous bowed to her in a respective manner, shocking her. ‘’W-what about the majority r-rule…?’’ she asked, scared, as she saw Clous raise his hand, along with Bernie. ‘’The kid still hasn’t decid--’’ she tried to say as Bernie raised Yohiro’s hand as well, leaving her speechless. ‘’Fine...assholes.’’ she whimpered to herself as she took a few large steps, getting in front of the door, struggling too much to knock on it due to the continuous moans, confirming Hiona hadn’t even heard Yohiro and Clous.

‘’Too late to back ou-- Oh, you can both die!!’’ she tried to bargain as she saw them looking away, whistling innocently, with Yohiro waging his head curiously. Rosa quickly knocked twice on the door, with no answer. Clous started making repeated mouth movements, spelling ‘’Louder!!’’ out to Rosa. ‘’Actually, who am I to be scared of her…? She treats us like human garbage!’’ she thought, gaining confidence, and opening the door.

‘’Master Hiona, we’re ready as per--’’ ‘’That door already opened once, but you didn’t...enter, so whoever opened it gets a punishment…!’’ Hiona shouted, destroying Rosa’s confidence immediately. ‘’Now, all of you, enter the room already…!’’ she ordered as he moans quieted down, before stopping complete, followed by her exhausted panting under her bedsheets. That was this thief group’s master, Hiona.