Raven

Chapter 21

Raven's POV

"In essence, hormones serve as messengers, controlling and coordinating activities throughout the body..."

Today's Wednesday and it's my 3rd week here in SEIA. Pretty fast right? My routine always hovered between school and dorm, dorm and school. It may be boring but I'm living my life.

We're having our 2nd afternoon period and the teacher was just discussing in the front. Some were listening, while some were minding their own business.

A cool breeze traveled inside the room, relaxing my tensed muscle. I heaved a sigh of relief. Ever since my 16th birthday, random dreams became frequent again that the dark circles on my eyes returned. The last time I dreamt like this was when my parents died. Maybe I just need someone familiar to calm me down.

Like Lilibeth.

It's not that I haven't seen her anymore, in fact, she calls me every night whenever I'm in school. Or she checks up on me whenever I went home for the weekends.

I just really missed the times when I could sleep peacefully, hearing her sing beside me.

Anyways, that last dream I had with that siblings was really weird. I don't even know them, but why did I even dream of them? The girl looked familiar though. Like I've seen her somewhere on a billboard.

What I couldn't forget were her eyes. It was still gleaming despite the absence of lighting inside that facility we're in.

Speaking of familiar, remember Mika's ex-girlfriend, Shirley? I finally remembered where I saw her. She was once on a television program for art enthusiasts after her masterpiece was recognized and was displayed at Vermillion City Art Gallery. It was an oil painting depicting the war of the three realms.

Mika told me about Shirley's confession. The reason why she went into a relationship with him was to stop Mika from sending his artwork to the Annual International Art Exhibition. Mika was slowly getting famous for his realistic and exquisite art style that could compete with those dead painters in history, and with that, Shirley was threatened.

Mika couldn't file a lawsuit against her, instead filed a restraining order to keep her away from him.

Another thing, the new ability I had does not work the way how I thought it would be. It's also one of the reasons why my dreams were getting more frequent.

Yes, at first I only saw colors when I held people's hand the first I acquired these abilities, but that was only because I was still adjusting to it. As days go by, it became very awful and disturbing. I really hate it when I unintentionally invade people's privacy. Whether it's just a minor or major secret, I don't want to meddle. I mean I am nosy but I don't want that kind of nosiness.

I always felt uncomfortable whenever I discover secrets during my sleep, how much more now I could discover their secrets by just a slight touch of the hand.

The breeze was very comfortable it made me sleepy. I was about to doze off when the PA System rang.

"Calling the attention of Miss Raven Black. Miss Raven Black you are needed at The Oeuvre's Office now. Thank you."

I looked at Adelaide confusedly. She was smiling but only gave me a shrug as an answer.

The teacher allowed me to go and so I grabbed my bag and went out of the classroom. I rode the shuttle headed to the building where the headquarters of The Oeuvre was located. Classes were still ongoing so there were only a few students roaming around the campus.

When I arrived at The Oeuvre's lounge area, I was directed by their front desk officer to the Investigatory Team's office. When I opened the door, I was greeted by a confetti.

Again with the confetti!

"Congratulations, Raven. Welcome to the Investigatory Team." Blyneia said while smiling at me. "I talked to Miss Sinclaír about you joining the club last Monday and she approved."

All members of the Investigatory Team, as well as the core officers of The Oeuvre, were present.

I smiled sheepishly at them. This was my first time joining a group of people I'm unfamiliar with.

"Don't be shy, we won't bite you." A girl wearing a choker approached me. "I'm Lemon Hirahara, nice to meet ya."

She then clung to my arm and started talking about things related to their department.

"Hi, I'm Night Edilbert. Please excuse Lemon, she's a certified chatterbox." A girl with gold-framed glasses apologized. "If you're uncomfortable you can just tell her to stay away." She gave Lemon a provocative look, making the latter stomp her feet.

"I am not, a chatterbox. I'm just friendly. And it's called socializing, sweetie." Lemon hissed.

"Whatever." Night said before going back to her cubicle.

Their workspaces were cubicle type. Although it's a bit cramped, I find it neat. Each cubicle was filled with stacks of documents and pictures, except for two.

A tall guy also walked up to us and offered his hand. "Reginald Porter, at your service."

I tried to remember where did I saw him when I remembered his voice. "Ah! You're the guy from the café. The one greeting the customers, right?"

He smiled and nodded. "If you ever need help, never hesitate to call out to me." He said as he pointed to his cubicle. It was located at the far end, near the windows.

"Thanks."

Three girls approached us. The one wearing a varsity jacket introduced her name to me with her cute voice. "Hi, I'm Milcah Jones. A pleasure to meet you."

The girl with pigtails waved at me enthusiastically. "Hello, I'm Frankie De Lune." She gestured at the other girl, who somehow looks like her. "This is my twin sister Lolirei De Lune. We're fraternal twins."

"Hi, I'm Raven, nice to meet you." I bowed slightly and smiled at them.

Lolirei was kinda shy, and she looked cute while holding Frankie's uniform.

After the twins said their hi, Lemon pulled me to another group. "So that's Kang Woshi, Ash Monroe, Tetsuro Akishie, and Sucrose Evans."

"Hello~" Woshi wave at me. He looked cute with his hoodie that has cat ears.

"Good day, Miss Black." Ash greeted, dimples showing.

"Sup~" Sucrose saluted at me before going back to his sleep.

"Glad you're getting along with Lemon." I turned around when I heard Blyneia behind me. She was still smiling at me, looking different from the serious one I remembered back at their booth.

And also Miss V.

She didn't look as pissed as she was before. "I hope you'll enjoy being a part of The Oeuvre, Raven, especially in the Investigatory Team." She said mysteriously.

"Here's your area," Blyneia said as she pointed at one of the two empty cubicles.

When I went to my cubicle, I noticed that the other empty one isn't completely empty at all. There was still some stuff left and my gaze got stuck on a jar full of small paper cranes.

"Who sits here?" I pointed at the empty space.

"Oh, it's our photographer, Hagure. He's on a competition at J Country. Probably gonna be back next week." Lemon answered blandly. I smell something between them.

Blyneia laughed as she nudged Lemon. "Why do you hate him so much?"

"He's such a bully. I hope he gets arrested for illegal possession of firearm or homicide." Lemon said while rolling her eyes at Blyneia.

Blyneia was about to jab Lemon when her phone suddenly rang. She took it out and read something on it.

"What's wrong?" Lemon and I chorused. We noticed that Blyneia's expression wasn't right.

She shook her head and tapped me on the shoulder. "You can go now. You'll start reporting tomorrow. Remember, every Friday is club day, so you'll join us on our weekly story hunts."