"Good morning!" Javi smiled from the kitchen.
"Mornin'!" Kevin grinned as he drank his milk, seated on the dining table.
"G-Good morning." Mademoiselle sheepishly replied, "This is kind of weird, after all..."
"It don't make me no difference." Lemmy replied as he grabbed the toast from the table, "After all, we're still in MY house."
"And we are forever grateful for that." I nodded calmly.
"N-No, i-it's not that." She muttered, "I-It's just, y'know? I'm the only g-girl in the household..."
"Ah, I see." It finally dawned on me, "Right, obviously it'd be awkward for you. So that's why I heard noises coming from your room all night?"
"Huh? A-Ah, exactly! That's the reason!" Her face lightly flushed.
"Don't worry, you can trust us." Javi replied as he put her plate of breakfast in front of her, "I understand your worries in this situation, but I do hope you will come to understand this soon - None of us have any intentions in that sense."
Offhandedly coughing as they looked away, both Kevin and Lemmy subtly disagreed with Javi's words. Thank Ouroboras these two both hold the mademoiselle to such high esteem, otherwise her worries would be all too reasonable. I really didn't have a say in the matter, as these two both seem to have known her for longer than I have. Really, whatever I would say would only make me look like I'm butting in, so I'll just continue eating my food in peace.
"O-Okay..." She seemed to have finally gotten it, "That's all well and good but... Why the hell are THESE still framed!?"
"The holy relic? What kind of question is that, Kiria?" Kevin flashed a wholesome and naive smile, "The panties stay framed no matter the house. It's basically a household rule to have a shrine to pray to."
"T-Then don't use my panties as a shrine!" She blurted our, her face as red as a tomato.
"Hold on..." Lemmy glanced behind himself to look at the panties before staring directly into the mademoiselle's Eyes, "Those are yours?"
"Ugh, now I've done goofed!" She went to get up and take it down from the wall.
"Stop." Lemmy ordered her to sit back down, "Kevin, you and I haven't always been on the best of terms, but you're gonna need to be the one to tell me more about this religion of yours."
"Kevin, don't you dare!" Mademoiselle looked like she was about to cry.
"Lemmy, you're finally speaking facts!" Kevin gave him a hearty bro hug, "Follow me, my apostle, and I shall show you all the ins and outs of the holy relic!"
"You guys!" Mademoiselle followed to stop them from playing with her framed panties.
As these three left their half-eaten plates unattended to do their own thing, Javi and I were left to eat the rest of the food that was left so as to not let it go to waste. As he focused his all on the plates in front of him, I had figured it was about time to get down to business.
"So Javi, you are sure you know the way to the morgue?"
"Dude, I'm eating." He glared back, "Can we not talk about a place where dead bodies are kept right now?"
"I am sorry, but this is important." I still decided to press on, "Disregarding how Lee got ahold of the body he used to fake his death, he did not seem to tell us the exact location of where he hid the book."
"Well, it's not like he's ever been to the local morgue in his life." Javi raised a good point, "He probably didn't know where he'd hide it either, so I guess it's up to us to figure that out."
"Right, that means we should go as soon as possible." I then recalled, "Before that Aguilar and his group catch up to us."
Aguilar, the mysterious leader of the even more enigmatic group that also seems to have its Eyes on the book for whatever reason. We have no idea who they are or what business they have with our goal, and I hope we don't have to ever find out. Still, leaving them around could be a potential liability. They might be a danger to Nelly once she comes to Uni, so I might have to dispose of them after all.
"You guys go to the morgue." I suddenly felt a strong urge, "I have some business to attend to."
"Huh? That's odd, coming from the guy who most wants to solve this whole mystery." Kevin glanced back, "Might I ask where you're going?"
"I will be at the coffee shop." I said, getting up to put my shoes on, "Come there when you are all done with the morgue search."
Gasping with all her might, mademoiselle seemed quite saddened by this. The two stooges, Lemmy and Kevin, also seemed surprised, though they moreso started giving me smug glances without saying anything more. Javi gave me a pat on the shoulder and continued on with his day.
"Y-You've got some business... at Jelena's place?" Mademoiselle's voice quivered.
"Ooh~! Makes sense, she's quite cute, after all." Lemmy sat back with wide grins, "To think you of all people got struck by her beauty."
"Indubitably so, my short friend." Kevin agreed as he added onto Lemmy's comments, "She's a bit of a tomboy, but it's not like that has its charms as well. Good luck, Meil!"
"Don't worry about them." Javi gave me an understanding and comforting smile, "We'll do our best on our side, so just be yourself and I'm sure it'll work out."
I don't think these guys quite understood my intentions. Well, that was the intention in the first place, to lie about going to Jelena's while I secretly investigate Aguilar's group. Right, they're students as well, surely, as they all had access to the Library of a Thousand Passages. I remembered all of their faces pretty well, so as long as I wander the campus long enough, I should be able to find and tail at least one of them. Once I figure out their base of operations, I could take them out and make University a safe place for Nelly.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
***
Walking around the campus grounds for about an hour, I didn't seem to have spotted any members of Aguilar's group. Checking through each University to no avail, asking the professors for their names and addressed by describing what they looked like, and even going back to the Library to see if they had returned to the scene of the crime for whatever reason, yet none of these bore fruit. I was just about ready to call it quits when I had noticed a lone maiden walking around the streets with a bunch of grocery bags. She short black hair was stunning and fragrant as she walked right past me without even having the strength to stop and say hello. Alleviating her of most of the heavy bags, I seemed to have finally caught her attention.
"Ahem." I waited for her to turn around, "It appears you need some help carrying that luggage, Jelena."
"Huh, scholar boy?" She turned to me, "Sorry for not noticing you. I'm just super busy with all the work for today, so could you just hand me those back?"
"No way. I'll help you carry them to the shop." I yanked the bags away from her, "From the looks of it, I do not think you will make it to the shop on your own."
"Whatever you say, gentleman." She rolled her Eyes with a tinge of playful gratitude in her voice, "Come on then, if you're gonna help, then we better hurry. I got a huge surprise reservation, and it'd be super rude for these guys to have to wait."
"No thank you?" I joked, "Just kidding, but really, this is quite the coincidence."
"How so?" She glanced back, "Oh, and thanks, by the way. All jokes aside, you really came in clutch."
Well, I say it's a coincidence, but it's not like I can just tell her I lied to the others about going to the restaurant. It's too obscure and out of context for her to understand and appreciate my comment, plus she'll just want to ask questions on why exactly I lied and everything. I'll just come up with a believable lie.
"Oh nothing, I was just thinking about you while walking through the streets, and lo and behold, you showed up." I smiled.
"Were you now?" She shone a devious grin, "You're not gonna get any discounts for being flirty, so best give up."
"That wasn't my...!"
"Yeah, yeah. Pick up the pace, will ya'?" She didn't even wait to hear me out.
Finally making it to the coffee shop, albeit just barely in time, she hadn't even given me time to catch my breath before immediately running behind the counter to go and prepare the ingredients accordingly. Rummaging behind the counter as her boss awkwardly waited beside me to see what she was doing, she had pulled out a male waiter uniform and tossed it over to me.
"You still got time to help, right?" She pointed to the clothes, "Change into that and help serve the customers."
"No, I do not think..." I winced.
"Come on, just for today?" She looked up at me, "Meni za ljubav?"
"I really have something to do, you know." I started bailing out.
"De ba, you'll be paid accordingly!"
"I'm in."
Going in the back to change into the waiter uniform, I had noticed the fit was extremely snazzy. The black shoes and tight pants made for an elegant look, and the top was a white shirt over which went a dapper light brown vest. The boss had to teach me how to make the brews and hold a tray properly, but that didn't seem so hard, so I figured it out pretty quickly. Before long, the "huge reservation" she spoke of came by and sat down at their table. Once she had taken their orders, she came into the back and with a snicker instructed me to come out and serve them their orders. Confused, I had finished making the brews with her and then came out to see...
"Huh, well that's one way to do it." Lemmy chuckled.
"Is this what you were so embarrassed to tell us about?" Kevin laughed, "You really are full of surprises, y'know that, Meil?"
"W-Waiter uniform..." Mademoiselle's Eyes had stars in them as she slightly began to drool.
"We did as you asked." Javi stifled his laughter before sliding the real brown book over the table, "We found the book in the morgue and went to meet back up with you at the coffee shop. I don't see why you're standing there so surprised."
"Y-You guys..." I stood petrified, "Sigh, I can explain everything, just-!"
"Yo, waitress!" A loud, annoying, albeit familiar voice shouted as a group of men slammed the doors wide open, "Give us the usual, and by the way, next time you spit in our drinks, you'll be in BIG trouble!"
"Hehe, yeah, you said it, boss!" One of the men following swiftly behind the first one hyped him up, "We got the money, so treat us with respe...!"
"You...!" I pointed to them, "Aguilar!?"
"You!?" They pointed back, "Black guy!?"
"Wow, that was uncalled for." Kevin propped his head up from behind the seat, "Imma report you for racism, y'know?"
"Watch out!" Lemmy jumped to push me out of the way as Aguilar shot a bullet at me.
"Shit, now look what you did, asshole!" Aguilar pointed the gun down at Lemmy and I, "You could've pretended like you don't know us, but now we gotta kill everyone in here."
He's crazy...! Right, it's obvious why he needs to kill everyone, it's to leave no witnesses behind! This proves it, these guys are genuine mobsters, and pretty dangerous ones at that! I was right to be wary of them, but it's a shame they were the ones that found me, and not the other way around. Nelly, I can't let her get here until these guys are disposed of!