My Lie, Your Ring, This Rose| Kamukoma

🥀 Chapter 15 🥀

Calmness or jealousy? Calmness. It's sitting cross legged on the white sand on a beach. The sand having been getting caught between your feet and making you feel itchy. The sun's rays, cascading through the palm tree's immaculate and slender leaves, lands on an object in the distance. A seashell, that was slowly sliding itself to the shore from the calming ocean. You get up from the sand, the sand scattering away from your feet. You walk over to the seashell, your flip flops imbedding foot marks in the sand. When you reach the pearlescent seashell- which was a conch- you pick it up gracefully. It is often said that when you put a conch to your ear, you could hear the ocean. Your fingers glide against the multiple lines that were messily scribbled on the sea shell. It was shaped like whipped ice cream, with an invisible cone. You twirl it around your fingers, judging just how hygienic this was before putting it to your ear. The outer bit of your ear scraped against the roughness of the shell, but you didn't care. Your left ear was blocked from the loudness of the outside world within minutes as the shell covered it completely. You furrowed your eyebrows and leaned your head further into the shell, hearing the faintest noise of the ocean. The serene splashes as the waves overlap each other and the little droplets of water that get carried with it. The colossal swishes of water, the miniature swishes of water. The towering waves that submerged with others, the small waves getting crushed by the minute. The cobalt and the chartreuse green swirling, the sea spray being the pure white it always is. You could hear everything. You could hear the ocean, the relaxing scenery that often makes someone calm. Jealousy. It's putting the conch to your ear, but hearing white noise. High pitched white noise, like nails on a chalkboard. Television static covers your eyes and all you can see is black and white. Those white and black dots and lines merging together and driving one crazy. Jealousy was something that could drive one crazy, mad and annoyed. In this competition, everyone was after one thing. Him. Jealousy was going to come sooner or later but I have to stay calm. I need to stay in the calm side, not the jealousy side. Plus, It's pathetic for me to be jealous of someone who isn't mine. The bristles of a broom softly sliding across the room woke me up from my daze. I shook my head and ruffled my hair. Mahiru was holding a broom and carefully brushing the deflated balloons in one pile and the confetti in another. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around. Queen Kaede was there, her eyeliner slightly smudged due to her rubbing it and being tired.
"Nagito, Izuru has made the portal, you two can go now. I just wanted to say that it was lovely to meet you. You'd make a great king," she giggled, her voice still coated in its energetic attire despite her being sleepy. I slightly blushed at the words but shook it off.
"It was lovely meeting you too and-" I started only to be cut off by another voice.
"Nagito?" Izuru called out and walked into the once again empty hall. I peered behind Kaede and smiled at Izuru. I gave him a gentle wave, noting that I was coming before looking back at    the queen. Gently, I bowed and glanced up.
"I hope that we can meet again," I assured and stood back up, my hair flopping back into place. Izuru walked over to us and sighed.
"Kaede, it was a pleasure to see you once again," he stated before bowing as well. Izuru was always so polite to people, I'm struggling to see if he's ever been rude. Perhaps, he could be snappy at some places. Time will tell. Kaede bowed her head down lazily and folded her arms.
"Thank you for coming Izuru. Now I will stay here and help Mahiru clean up. Oh! Also, Sonia gives her fairest wishes to both of you and she apologises for not being able to say a proper goodbye. She is currently busy," Kaede announced while taking off her shoes and pushing them to the side. She picked up a silver brush laying next to her and started cleaning up. Kaede was the type of girl, despite being royal, to clean up with her maids.
"We give Sonia our fairest wishes too," Izuru nodded and walked over to the hall's doors, pushing them open. My feet automatically followed him as I waved goodbye to Kaede and walked out. I glanced around the corridor, I wonder where Chihiro ran off to. I sighed a little, I guess that I would have to apologise to him for the nature of Junko later.
"You are sighing, is something the matter?" Izuru questioned as a huge ice swan on a serving cart was pushed in front of us. The swan's beak was slightly chipped along with the tail, it looks like someone fell on it.
"No, nothing at all," I insisted and walked over to the black circle on the corridor's wall. I walked through it, my feet stiffening at the feeling of being midair and then on the ground again. Izuru did the same thing, his hair floating in the air and flying out of the portal. The last stand of his ebony hair lingered in the portal. It was probably a millisecond difference between the strand falling out of the portal and the portal closing. My eyes widened.
"Has your hair ever gotten caught in that?" I questioned him, putting a finger to my chin.
"No, it has not. Although, I wonder what would happen if it did," he muttered in response, turning to the wall and then back at me. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he couldn't figure out how to word it. A sudden rush of footsteps stopped my thinking as Kirumi stood panting holding a box in the air. The once thin eye bags under her eyes were a midnight black and her hair had some strands floating up, as if a balloon was rubbed on it.
"Prince Izuru, I got the package from the portal you created a few hours ago. The VR headsets are perfect for the next competition," she explained all in one breath. Poor Kirumi, she looks deathly pale.

•🥀•

Jealousy or calmness? Jealousy. It leads to impure, distasteful acts that have no flavour at all. It is the anger and annoyance that drives one to steer off of the rails. Of course, Kirumi and I knew the ups and downs when doing this competition. One would be the jealousy of others getting closer to victory and the other would be the actions one takes when jealous. It would be a pain if something drastic happens. Calmness. It is what I hope that everyone is, although I know that, this is not true. Forms of jealousy are already rising. I know that much.
"Alright, thank you Kirumi. I advise that you get some sleep now," I insisted. Kirumi looked at the side, doubtfully. She sighed a little and bit her lips before nodding. She walked away, the box clattering and her hair strands flying up and down.
"Nagito," I started, eyeing him in the eye. "I have a question to ask, please do not take any offence to what I am about to say."
I walked away from the wall, where the portal once was, and we found ourselves yet in another hallway. This time Hell's. My wings twitched a little as red sparks started to fly out of it. I frowned, of course that would happen. Nagito gulped a little, showing obvious curiosity, yet fearfulness. Before I could say anything, Nagito sneezed. I furrowed my eyebrows, of course he would get it too.
"Nagito, before I ask my question, how do you feel?" I questioned him. Red sparks mixed with gold ones started to fly out of his wings.
"I think I have a cold," he muttered and scratched his nose. "Why?"
I let out an airy sigh and glanced at the dorm rooms. Each room door shut firmly as it was night, except for one. Celeste's. Her door was an inch open just so she should hear our conversation. She was jealous. I blinked as a gold spark flew in my vision and disappeared.
"When a demon is in Heaven for too long, their wings get irritated and they develop the common cold and sore throat symptoms. In worse cases, they could develop a fever and not be able to sleep. Not sleeping means that the demon is tired and will not be able to do their normal activities. However, if the demon is in the other realm for a day or two, their symptoms go after a few hours," I briefly explained and walked past Celeste's door, giving her the benefit of the doubt that she was unnoticed.
Nagito looked down at the floor, frowning with a scared look in his eyes. I sighed,
he has not been in Heaven for too long, he should not feel the need to worry.
"Is this the same for an angel in Hell?" he asked as we approached his dorm room. I nodded and let his door examine my face. Once my face was recognised, the door opened with a soft click. I glanced at the worried Nagito.
"That is one of the reasons we do not let angels go into Hell and demons into Heaven. However, this information is only known by Queen Kaede and me," I confirmed holding the door out for him.
"Is there any way to cure it?" he asked me. I studied his face, he is so worried. This does not seem right, actually it feels suspicious.
"I want to know out of curiosity," he shrugged and brushed off his worried look as if it were nothing. He shuffled his feet and hid his shaking hands behind his back. He then straightened his posture to somehow give himself reassurance that everything was fine.
"Yes. A flower, it grants the access for an angel to live in Hell and a demon to live in Heaven," I commented. "In fact, tomorrow morning you will be going into virtual reality, into a magical forest. The flower lays in the depths of that forest," I nodded. Nagito hummed.
"Alright then, thank you for today Izuru. Actually, what was that question you wanted to ask me?" he raised an eyebrow and walked into his room. I tucked my hair behind my ear. I should not ask him now, perhaps tomorrow if he has time, the question was simple yet time consuming. It is late already and he has a competition tomorrow. I shook my head.
"Do not worry, just get some sleep Nagito."

•🥀•

I gulped and folded my bedsheets. They were slightly crooked, but I couldn't care less. I sneezed once again and rubbed my nose. I was getting even more sick, all thanks to my lie. What if it gets to the point where I can't get out of my bed? Izuru will clearly know that I'm an angel. I can't have that. As I was making my bed, I noticed a few white hairs sticking to the pillow due to last night's tossing and turning. I frowned and smacked my pillow against the bedsheets, attempting to get it off. I sighed when they weren't coming off and picked them off myself. How annoying. I finished making me bed and trudged towards my door. I opened it and there standing was Celeste. What does she want? I frowned and shook my head. No, I can't act like that in front of other people. She hasn't done anything wrong and I shouldn't take my annoyance out at her. I cleared my now slightly sore throat and smiled at the grinning girl in front of me.
"Hello Celeste. May I ask why you are here?"