A Heart's Thoughts

Day 31 - Part 1

A door slammed shut, making Cecilia look up from the kanji book in front of her. "Who's there?" she called.

"I'm back from work, look what the old couple gave me!"

She recognized the voice as Francis' and stood up from her chair with a smile before making her way downstairs, where Francis had just taken place on a couch in the living room. He grinned upon seeing Cecilia, and held up some cash, "they gave me extra money for fixing their lock so well."

Cecilia's eyes lit up, "really? How much did they give you?"

"Four thousand Yen," he said with a proud expression. He handed the money to Cecilia, who took it from him with a smile before calling Felicia down.

She entered the room with a grumpy expression, "what is it? I was busy."

"You were staring out of the window, Felicia," Cecilia said with a chuckle and a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, that's being busy. Thinking about stuff, my brain was working overtime, you know?"

Cecilia shook her head, "well in that case, I think this would cheer you up," she showed the money Francis had given her, "the old couple Francis helped out gave him four thousand Yen for a job well done."

Felicia's face lit up, "that sure is something," she said as a box appeared in her hands. She opened the box to let Cecilia put the money in it, along with all the other money they had acquired over the past week. She picked a piece of paper and a pen out of the box and crossed out a number before writing a new one down.

"Well, that brings us to twenty-three thousand and six hundred Yen. It's something, at least," she turned to Francis as she put the pen and paper back in the box before closing it and making it disappear, "you sure are a lifesaver, Francis. Without the money you bring in, we wouldn't have had this much after just one week."

Francis shook his head, "it's nothing. The others are doing all the hard work, cleaning houses and carrying heavy things, just because their powers aren't as easy to use. I can use my powers discreetly and do the more crafty work. It just so happens to be that the crafty work is apparently worth more."

Felicia nodded before turning to Cecilia, "if that's all, I'm going back before any more people return. If Elias sees me he's gonna hang around me again. I have to find something to busy myself with to avoid that from happening."

Cecilia chuckled, "admit it, you like his company."

Felicia huffed, "as if. He's constantly working his powers on me to make me smile. It makes my cheeks hurt."

After Felicia left, Francis cleared his throat, catching Cecilia's attention.

"Where's Anthony?"

Cecilia's smile faltered a little, "he's in the basement, drying Anna's leftover fruit."

Francis squinted his eyes at her expression, "why did your smile falter just now?"

Cecilia smiled again, but her eyes looked sad, "Anthony is still angry at me for forbidding him to use his heat powers."

Francis raised an eyebrow, "so it was you who forbade him to work?"

Cecilia shook her head, "no, I didn't forbid him to work, I just told him he's absolutely not allowed to use his powers. It would be hard to explain why the room becomes hotter or colder whenever Anthony enters the room to the normal people here."

Francis smiled, "okay, I get that. What's the real reason you won't let him use those powers specifically?"

Cecilia gave him a searching look before smiling wryly, "you sure know how to read people."