Honor of Euroka

Chapter 9 - Two Detentioneers

Honor didn't even want to count the number of times he'd been given detention for "not paying attention." He'd somehow managed to slip in another detention during lunch time, of all things. Was that even possible? Apparently, because that's what happened.

After an estimation (which was likely very inaccurate due to his absence of knowledge in math), Honor ended up counting at least seven hours of due detention time.

Sighing, Honor packed up the little possessions he had and managed to get lost on the way to detention. Typical. He wandered through the halls, most likely sporting a very confused expression.

He felt a tap on his shoulder. It was so unexpected that he almost jumped out of his shoes. And the items he was carrying decided to jump out of his arms. He sighed. First impressions clearly weren't his strong suit.

"You're lookin' a little lost there, detention boy! Need some help? I'm going there anyway." The girl said. She had a very unique style. She was shorter than the average girl. Actually, she was shorter than the average short girl. At most, she came up to five feet. She also had one eye covered by her black bangs, while the other eye was a deep gray color. Her long hair reached really far down. To her knees. He wondered how she sat down.

"Uh... um..." He stammered. She was kind of intimidating, which was embarrassing, considering her size. But the way she looked at him, like she was staring into his soul and picking out the interesting bits of information, to be closely examined.

"Great! Follow me." She didn't even give him a chance to follow her, gripping his wrist a little too tight and dragging him. He wasn't really sure how to react to this scenario. He'd never been to a school, never really socialized, and didn't have any experience on how to deal with someone who had a death grip on his wrist.

"Here we are~" said the girl a little too cheerfully. Honor looked up and saw what looked like the rest of the classrooms. It did appear to be more gloomy, almost like it was always shrouded in a thick, heavy mist. And it was colder than the other classrooms. The girl seemed to fit in perfectly.

"So, first time? You'll get used to it. After all this time, I finally got a detention buddy~" She yawned. She then disrespectfully kicked her legs onto the table and leaned back, putting her hands behind her head.

Honor hesitantly sat down at a desk on the opposite side of the room. She raised an eyebrow at this but didn't comment on it. Seems she was used to being alone. She seemed to enjoy it, despite her claim of waiting for a 'detention buddy'.

"Well, I'm going to sleep. Let me know if you need anything. We detention buddies like to stick together, after all." She gestured to all the other nonexistant detention buddies. She was a bundle of mysteries that made unwrapping itself a mystery. She winked at him. Honor wasn't sure what that was meant to imply, so he decided to ignore it for now.

She really did close her and started softly snoring. Honor frowned and started doodling on the desk. No doubt that would earn him another hour of detention, but for whatever reason, there wasn't a teacher making sure they behaved. It was strange, but Honor was too tired to comment on it.

Honor supported his head by his hands and groaned miserably to himself. Of all the ways to spend his afternoon, it had to be in detention with a suspicious girl.

There was no doubt in his mind that there was something off about her–and it wasn't her height. Glancing over at her, she had somehow acquired a pillow and was using the desk behind her to rest her head. In all honesty, it didn't look very comfortable.

Honor yawned, mostly due to boredom. At least if he slept, he'd have a way to pass the mundane hours. He stretched his legs so they wouldn't cramp, but he ended up accidentally hitting something across the room. It skirted towards the mysterious girl, and he flinched, expecting her to wake up. To his surprise, she didn't so much as stir.

Honor quietly walked over to her and reached out his hand to the object. The girl groaned in her sleep, and Honor froze, his heart pounding. This girl scared him, and he didn't want to be caught in the act of explicitly ignoring her single rule. She settled down again, and he quickly snatched the object before creeping back to his desk.

He quickly put it in his pocket before bothering to look at it, in case she woke up. He then sighed with relief, his heart not having calmed down just yet. He took a deep breath and placed his head in his arms, and relaxed. It took him barely a minute to fall asleep.

***

Honor was woken up by a rough tug on his ears. He flinched when someone shouted in his ear: "Hey, detention buddy! Wake up already! Unless you like staying in this gloomy place!"

Honor sighed groggily, then turned his face over. The girl promptly smacked his face. He shot up in his chair, rubbing his cheek and wincing. She had successfully woken him up, and she smiled smugly in his face.

"Good. Hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow, detention buddy~ I'm quite enjoying our chats." She said. Honor didn't understand that. Didn't they spend the whole time sleeping?

Honor grabbed his belongings and stood up. He was about to walk out when the girl suddenly rushed to block the door.

"Woah, woah, woah! You are not leaving yet!" She demanded. Honor was about to start swearing. Had she noticed he'd taken something? What would she do to him? She looked like the type to not hold back... he didn't really want to be beaten up...

"You still haven't told me your name." She said. Honor sighed with relief. Mentally, of course. He didn't want to make her suspicious of him by sighing out loud. He laughed nervously.

"Didn't I? I feel like I don't really need to, though. I have a feeling you already know my name." He said. She smiled, ignoring his comment.

"But you don't know mine."

"Who said I wanted to?"

She frowned. It was clear she was not going to let him leave until he showed some proper manners. He sighed.

"My name is Honor. What's yours?" He asked, holding his hand out. She seemed pleased with the introduction and gripped his hand. Too tightly.

"You can call me Quinn," She said. Honor noticed she didn't say her actual name, just what he could call her. She tightened her grip, and Honor flinched. He had a feeling she would have no issue breaking it. Fortunately, she let go of his hand.

"Nice to meet you. Can I leave now?" He asked. He was slightly worried she'd not take that well, but she seemed to like his directness and stepped out of the way for him.

Honor walked to Sekena's house. He had to eat a late dinner and ended up studying notes that Yennefer took in class for him. She had to write in very simple words since Honor was just barely literate.

Honor finally took a break and laid down in bed when he suddenly felt a sharp pinch. He winced and pulled out an object. It was the one he had taken from the detention room. He took a close look at it. It was clearly broken, almost like it had been shattered, and this was only a piece of the puzzle.

But of all the objects it could've been, he certainly didn't expect it to be a piece of a theater mask.