Spiritless Life

Double Life

Karam waved at the dark haired male in front of her, "Hey, could you help me with something?"

He turned away from the older man he was speaking with and turned to see a small boy coming his way. "Sure, what can i help you with?" Unlike the other boys, he spoke respectively and smiled at Karam.

Karam smiled back, "Could you tell me where the cafeteria is?"

"Oh, well I was just about to go there, how about we go together? The four of us?" He glanced at Dolph as if to check with him if it was alright.

"That would be great," Karam answered with a smile, ignoring the fact that he was treating Dolph like her parent. "I'm new here, I'm called Caneesheeno." Karam put out her hand.

"Uh, yes, I'm Brencis Ceresko, five star. Nice to meet you, Caishina."

"You can call me Ishii, if it's easier."

"Yes, thank you." Brencis turned to leave through one of the many doorways as they spoke, "Your name is quite a mouth full."

His guard, the older man behind him, bowed as an introduction and followed after them. Unlike Dolph, who walked side by side, he walked a few paces behind the group.

"Yes, my father and his friend have strange tastes." Karam smiled as she teased Dolph.

"How rude, I was thinking of you when I made it." Dolph gently hit Karam on the head.

"Yes, dear." Karam raised an eyebrow at him as she removed the hand, "I wouldn't have thought it was due to... say, trying to prove something to him." Karam stifled a laugh.

"Hey, thanks to me you can get people to call you 'one', can't you? You should be grateful!" Dolph laughed as he pulled his hand away to hit her on the head again.

"Stop hitting me! Also, Ishii isn't one, Ichi is!" Karam furrowed her brow and pushed his hand from her head.

Dolph smiled down at her, "You know that's not what I meant." He'd meant to allow her to go by the name she had in the past if that was something she desired.

Karam smiled back up at him before turning back to Brencis, "Sorry about that. Little inside joke. How long have you been studying here, Brencis?"

He paused and blinked at her, "Do you always speak like that to your guard?"

Karam looked behind them at Brancis' guard, "I take it it's not a normal thing?"

"No. After all, our guards have titles. Those with different titles don't usually get along."

Karam glanced at Dolph who nodded, "Oh, I wasn't aware."

Dolph felt his chest sink. In the end was she going to give into the pressure of those around her like he had? After seeing her interact with those two boys he thought she might not follow the same path as he had. Dolph's face fell as he thought about it.

"But you see, Rudolph isn't just my guard."

Dolph snapped his eyes to Karam in surprise.

"He's also my friend, so it would be weird to treat him like some worker. Also," Karam put a finger to her chin, "I've been pretty secluded from society so I have trouble treating anyone as anything other than another person. Of course, if they are older they have my respect," Karam laughed, "But I'm not one to care about ratings." Karam looked at Dolph, "I suppose if I say that than it's as if I have spoken against your beliefs? I've only just thought of that. Have you been hating me all this time?"

Dolph's surprise morphed into a gentle look, "I would never have accepted you as a friend if I hated you. Though..." He hid a smile and put on his thinking face, "A creep on the other hand..." He glanced down at Karam to let her know exactly what he was talking about.

"Shut up, jerk." karam punched him in the upper thigh as he laughed.

Bencis looked down at karam coldly, "Our world relies on 'ratings' you better not think to low of them, you double!" He spat out the last word as an insult before turning in the opposite direction and stomping away.

Karam and Dolph watched him go. "What's a double?"

"It's a derogatory term for someone who has only mastered the first two stars of knowledge and are unable to go further. Sometimes, it's worse than calling a Former a Spiritualist wanna be because it shows that they are unable to live as what they are in the world."

"Oh..." Karam glanced back behind her and smiled coldly, "Dolph, if I make it to six stars before him, what expression do you think he would make?"

Dolph glanced down at the princess. "Do you intent to make trouble?"

"Not trouble..." Karam's face returned to it's innocent expression and she looked up at Dolph with large eyes, "But we didn't get to hear where the classes are?"

The two looked back at the direction where Brencis and his guard had disappeared to.

"I'll just knock on a door."

"Good idea."