Chapter 07
"Diamante didn't know crap," explained Blanche. "She had a history with this sort of issue before surrendering to Soliel and Robyn Noirdatter as most of you wouldn't know. She tried to keep her activity on the black market high so nobody would see much of a difference which is why she is better known for illegal weapon trafficking than kidnapping and disposing of targeted humans."
"I still can't believe that little Arisu is gone!" squealed Kokoro. "I was designing a custom outfit for her too! It was so cute and she would look adorable in it!"
Everybody in the room looked at Kokoro who looked like someone who stab a man and cry for an hour afterwards. She noticed the glares directed at her outburst and quickly regained her usual calm. Kindallis looked out the window, watching the snow fall in dizzying patterns. The white landscape beyond Kokoro's studio office was barren and blank, the opposite of the room's cluttered and unorganized mess of fabrics and fashion sketches. Why the meeting about Arisu's disappearance was held in such an environment, Kindallis had no idea.
"Lady Arisu will be fine." muttered Mamoru, hugging Kokoro in order to comfort her.
"I know darling." she whispered to Mamoru.
"The young mistress has been kidnapped and is most likely undergoing some form of torture and all you can think about is fashion?" Blanche angrily exclaimed as she stared at the couple in disgust.
"Blanche," said Kindallis quietly.
"What?! You of all people should be out searching and eliminating any threat to the Noirdatter family! Our precious mistress is gone and it's-" Blanche paused, searching for something to say, the words unable to leap from her lips into the emotion filled air.
"I know it's my fault for being such a failure." Kindallis apologized, staring at Blanche with a solemn glare. "Usagi had contacted me about my lady's absence from school. It turns out that she had never withdrawn from the roll and had been marked absent everyday for four years. When I asked the young mistress about her attending once more she seemed okay with it." Kindallis's eyes flared with regret. "I should have known that Dee and Dum would attack that school. Usagi's past was all to clear that she would make that school a trap the day she was employed there."
"Don't be sad Kindally!" comforted Kokoro. "We will do all we can to find Arisu."
Kindallis's face flashed a grim expression, her garnet eyes filled with sorrow. She turned and left the room, Blanche following lazily behind her.
☙☙☙
"You know perfectly well what this curse means." shouted Kindallis, pointing at the bangs that covered her right eye. "You never got the clockwork eye for failing someone. I swore to Soliel and Robilyn that I would protect them and the young mistress and I failed them on that cursed night. This is the sign that I couldn't do my duty the first time!"
"Well it ain't my fault you have the most anime backstory ever," grumbled Blanche. "I never promised Soliel and Robilyn anything so I'm not bound to their memory like you. I'm only here because it's safer than being anywhere else. You do know what the city state government would do to me right? It's almost as bad as what the old witch did."
Kindallis paused and turned around. She held out her hand and black smoke arose from under her white glove. It snaked around her as she stepped forward and melted away into the night. Blanche sighed and continued walking, not caring about anything.
☙☙☙
Kokoro looked up from her desk and saw a black mist fill the room until it quickly gathered together into a humanlike figure. Kindallis stepped forward as the remainder of the mist evaporated upon contact with her appearance. Kokoro stood up from her red swivel chair and folded her arms.
"I didn't know that you were coming back here so soon," greeted Kokoro.
"Have you gotten any orders with measurements similar to-"
"Surprisingly, I have." Kokoro responded, pulling a slip of paper out from a stack of similar stationary ripped from a nearby notebook. "I found it a bit odd though that everything else was so similar to Arisu's size except that everything was slightly smaller. The fabric and hue suggestions are also similar to what she would normally be wearing."
Kindallis leaped forward, slamming her hands on the desk to prevent herself from knocking over Kokoro's desk.
"Who ordered the outfit?!" shouted Kindallis.
Kokoro sat down and sighed, "Sadly, I do not. They sounded like they could have been somebody from the aristocratic end of the city state by the way their accent sounded."
"Where they female or male?" asked Kindallis, her voice nearly cracking.
"Female." Kokoro murmured. "Do you think it could be you know who? The bloody witch?"
"I thought that I had killed her on that cursed night." growled Kindallis, her fists clenched as wisps of darkness started to flow from her hands. She disappeared into a shadowy explosion, leaving Kokoro alone in her unclean studio office.
YOU ARE READING
Clockwork of the Alice
Horror(15+) In an alternate future, a girl named Arisu is the heiress to the Noirdatter family. Ever since her parents's death, the city state has been at peace which has made the Noirdatter Agency halt its activity. But one day, an event comes to pass th...
