IGSAGCSAWAYSH) Rose Part 1

“So, Shizu, can you tell me what this is?” Miyumi looked at the red-headed girl who was hanging on Shizuku’s waist, literally being dragged along.

“It’s a long story…” Shizuku really wondered what she did to make this girl want to follow her home. It was as if feeding her was some kind of flag event.

- - -

Earlier, after Rose woke up. The two left the library. It was there that Shizuku thought that they would part ways. She even said her goodbyes to Rose and began walking back towards the inn. But that feeling of being followed was once again welling up inside her. She turned, and sure enough, the red-headed girl was still following her like she did before.

“Rose, what are you doing?” Shizuku really did not know what to do.

“I…. I, um… was going this way too.” Rose replied while looking around all over the place. She was looking everywhere except at Shizuku.

“Then walk at my side. Why follow so far behind.” Shizuku hated the feeling of being followed. It made her feel like someone was going to attack her at any time.

The two walked side by side all the way to the inn, and that was when Rose suddenly took a leap and hugged Shizuku’s waist. “Please let me stay in your room! I haven’t had a good night's sleep for so long! I will even sleep on the floor!”

“Alright, just come. Don’t make a scene.” Shizuku wanted to pull the girl off, but she was locked on, not willing to move. She was making such a scene that passersby were looking at her strangely. With no other choice, she brought the red-headed girl upstairs to her room.

- - -

“And that is what happened.” Shizuku ended her narration. “Rose, you can let go now.”

“Oh…” Rose released Shizuku and stood up. She gracefully smoothed out her dress and looked at the others in the room. She smiled and gave a curtsy while introducing herself. “My name is Rose. It is a pleasure to meet you all.”

“Hmmm? Are you a princess?” Lishia asked almost instantly.

“Wha-What are you-you talking about? I am just a mere traveler…” Rose once more was looking all over the place. She was horrible at lying.

“I see…” Lishia wanted to say something, but when she saw Shizuku shaking her head, she held back.

“At any rate, Rose will be staying with us for the night.” Shizuku couldn’t, in good conscience, let Rose sleep out on the street. She knew the girl had no money, but this was also a good chance to figure out why she was roaming around when she did not seem to know much about anything.

“Master, what shall we do?” Number One asked. The seven girls seemed very out of place since they had nothing to do.

“Relax. Enjoy this downtime. Who knows what will happen in the future.” Shizuku replied. “I know you girls are normally always on missions, but this time, you are working for me, so this means you can live more freely. Enjoy yourselves a bit. Tomorrow, roam around the city and have fun. I will give you and the others some gold to spend. Buy your selves something nice. Just have fun.”

Number One looked at Shizuku’s smiling face and felt even more conflicted than ever.“Have fun… Alright, us sisters will go have fun tomorrow. But master…. How does one have fun?”

Shizuku chuckled and shook her head. “That is something you will need to find out on your own.”

Number One felt at a loss, but if this was a mission her Master was giving her, then she would do just that. She would figure out what having fun really meant! With large strides, she left the room and went to her own, where her sisters were staying. “Girls, listen up! We have a mission!”

All the shadow guards quickly gathered and stood at attention. “Master has ordered us to go out and figure out what having fun means!”

“Having fun?” All the girls tilted their heads to the side in confusion. Was this a mission? “Number One, what do you mean by having fun?”

“This I am not sure of myself but I am sure it is something important!”

- - -

While the seven sisters were busy trying to prepare for their mission of figuring out what having fun was, Shizuku was stuck staring at Rose, who sat on the floor of the room, staring at everything. “Rose… what are your plans from now on?”

“Plans? As in like what will I be doing? I… I was thinking of doing the adventuring thing you spoke of. But… I was wondering if you would not mind,,, putting up with me for a few nights until I can make some money.” Rose already felt bad. Everything aroudn was new to her so she was still trying to make heads or tails of what was what and how she should go about dealing with things.

“That’s fine, but I think you should at least tell us a bit more about you. Otherwise, we will need to stay on guard.”