art by the amazing show-stopping gorgeous loml -Aoi-Akane- <3333

You can thank my boyfriend for this update, he's the only reason I'm mentally well & caught up with school enough to spend some time on this book <3

ok have fun pookies <3333

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

I plopped down the final box with a seething sigh. "Shit."

"Seconded," Poppy groaned. She leaned against the stack of boxes with her own exhausted simper. We had been reorganizing and cleaning the storage room all afternoon. For a few days now, we'd hardly had time to do anything but chores. Yukko assigned them to us relentlessly, first thing in the morning – sometimes even waking us up before dawn. Everything from sweeping to dusting, laundry, and my personal nemesis, cleaning the bathrooms, was completed to the best of our ability. Every day, we went to bed as soon as possible, too exhausted to even consider staying up and discussing plan.

Even worse, Reina and the others weren't allowed to help us. Yukko always managed to keep a watchful eye over our shoulder. The second they hung around she would kindly ask them not to distract us, else the chores take even longer to complete.

It was pretty obvious what was going on: We were being punished.

But for what?

"Do you think she knows what we know?" Poppy asked, leaned over the counter. Piles of silverware lay at our sides, one grimy and dull, the other gleaming like a thousand little mirrors.I ran a tongue across my lips, careful to speak in such low tones I could hardly hear myself. 

"I'm not sure. It's odd that she's punishing us alone – if it was based on who went to the gate, then Hayato would be here, too, but..."

"Did we do something else wrong? I don't remember breaking any rules recently..." She set down a spoon with an aggrieved sigh. "In fact, I've always been great at following the rules!" She jabbed an accusatory finger in my face. "Unlike you! Say, you didn't stay up past curfew reading again, huh? You used to get in trouble for that all of the time!"

She placed her head in her hands and groaned. "I'm not guilty by association, am I...?"

"Oh, shaddup!" I smacked her arm. "I haven't done anything like that!"

She leaned into me suspiciously, peering into my eyes. "Are you sure?"

"What, you think I'm stupid? Of course I...!"

"Children?" sounded Yukko's voice. She poked her head into the kitchen, her expression laced with a sickly-sweet concern. "You're getting awfully rowdy. Is everything okay?"

"Yes, mama! Sorry!"

With a brief nod, the mother ducked back out of the room. As soon as the door clicked shut, I leaned over the counter with a groan. "Fuckkk."

"One of these days she's gonna scare me so bad, I'm gonna choke on my own heart and die."

I nodded my assent as I delved into the dirty silverware pile, dabbing the cloth in more cleaning solution. I returned to scrubbing tiny little circles into the spoon until it reflected my upside-down face, pressed tight into a frown.

"Have you had any luck with that cipher?" Poppy asked, quietly. I slumped, tossing the spoon into the pile.

"No!" I groused. "It's killing me. The answer is right there, on the tip of my tongue!"

She flashed her teeth with a cheeky grin, but her blue-green eyes looked uncharacteristically fatigued. "I won't lie, it's nice to see you struggle with something for once."

"Go to hell."

"Oh!"

Startled by Poppy's exclamation, I slammed my head off the table.

"Ow!" Muttering angrily and rubbing my head, I grabbed the washcloth and clambered up off of the library floor. "What is it?" I grouched.

"Come to think of it..." Poppy paused in wiping down the ladder. "A few days ago..."

"What?" I prodded irately.

"Some time ago, I noticed Hannah outside." She glanced to me, apprehensively. "I thought it was cool because she hardly ever plays during free time..."

I leaned against one of the bookshelves, sucking in a sharp breath. "When exactly was this?"

"The day after we found the letter. The 19th?"

"That was the last day before all the chores. We were stashing supplies that day."

Poppy's eyes were nervous. "It's probably just a coincidence!" she said, trying to smile it off. "Just coincidence..."

She didn't look too convinced.

I felt my jaw grit with frustration. Why didn't you tell me this sooner? I nearly snapped – my nerves felt wrung as tightly as the cloth in my hands, and my exhaustion from the chores weren't making patience come easy. "Then let's talk hypothetically," I said, carefully. "If Hannah were outside on the 19th, is it possible she saw us go beyond the gate?"

"I don't..." Poppy wrung the cloth in her hands, sending soapy water dribbling over her fingers. They were bright red and rubbed raw from the effort of the more physical chores that it wasn't "safe" for me to do. She didn't seem to notice. "I think, maybe, it's possible..."

"Is there a reason she would've been so keen to report that to Yukko?"

"Mom might've asked her to keep an eye on you," Poppy offered. "We know she's been paying extra attention to you these last few weeks... She's always concerned about your health when winter comes around – we all are."

"That's true." Prior to my meeting with Norman, Yukko had hovered over my shoulder whenever possible. "But why would Hannah agree to that so easily? It's such an odd ask – I doubt Yukko would take that risk. Is there anything else you remember about Hannah?"

Poppy's gaze was trained to the ground. "I... Well, come to think of it..." Her weary eyes finally landed on me. "She was never the same after Val was adopted." She shook her head at the memory. "She didn't talk for so long... I thought she was just upset about not being able to see her best friend. But now, knowing the truth about the house... It's a bit worrying."

"You think she saw the shipment?" My heart raced in my chest – If Hannah was reporting our movements to Yukko, it meant our plans, smooth-gliding so far, were now tumbling off the rails. "Could she be an informant?"

Poppy shook her head feverishly. "No way! She was there when we went to the gate – she would've told on Yukko, and we would've been punished way back when, or worse, shipped out... Since that didn't happen, I don't think Hannah's not on our side. Hypothetically speaking!" She reaffirmed. "Assuming this isn't all a coincidence..."

I waved my hands defensively. "I got it! I know nothing is certain, but we should look into it, just to be safe. If we can get Hannah on our side without alerting Yukko, we have a chance of figuring out what her plan is."

As fate would have it, I never got that far.

The next day started the same as the others, with Yukko waking us up early for out duties – except there was a chill in the house that set me on edge. The sun was watery and grey, concealed between drifting dark clouds that threatened snow. It was late that morning, with the weak sun slotting through the grated window high above, that I felt my knees give out from exhaustion.

"I'm fine," I hissed, batting Poppy's helping hands away. The shout she'd just made had certainly alerted someone, and Yukko would be here any second. I pushed myself to my knees, loathing how much my arms shook from the effort.

"No, you're not!" Poppy pressed a hand to my forehead and cringed. "Your face is all flushed! You're burning up!"

I grasped a hand onto the counter, willing my legs to move. "Just... help me up."

Eyes shining with worry and fear, Poppy helped me to my feet. The movement made my head swim and my neck prickle with cold sweat. I was shivering – either from the exhaustion or the fever, I couldn't tell. Both? Probably.

Fuck.

"We should really tell Mama. You need to lie down...!"

"You can't!" I snapped. "This whole time–"

"Tell me what?" Yukko stood over us, her brow knitted with concern. Sickly-sweet concern. My skin ran with goosebumps, and I knew at this moment it was from fear, not the fever. "Goodness, Y/N! You look awful!"

I slipped away from Poppy's supporting arm and forced a smile upon my face. I prayed it was more convincing than it felt. "I'm okay. It's just a dizzy spell."

Poppy's big blue eyes looked fearfully at me. Slowly, she bowed her head. "That's not... You've got a fever."

"A fever?" Yukko exclaimed, eyes wide with horror. "Let me see!" She pressed her hand to my forehead. Her intense gaze shot toward me. "Were you going to continue on like this? We need to get you to the infirmary!"

Poppy stepped to my side, barring Yukko from approaching any closer. "It's your fault, anyway!" She snapped, voice tight with anger and worry. "You kept assigning all these chores when you know how bad Y/N's constitution is!"

Poppy's breath caught for a moment, Fearful realisation filled her eyes as they met mine. No sane mother would make such a stupid mistake – unless it wasn't a mistake.

"I knew you two had been sneaking around lately, so I was just waiting until you'd come to me and tell me what's going on and apologise..." Yukko shook her head, eyes glistening with tears. "I didn't think it would go on this long. Oh dear, I'm very sorry. Let's get you in bed."

I saw a look of uncertainty pass over Poppy's face, but Yukko's black robes soon blocked my view. She led me gently to the infirmary, with a warm and guiding touch, and I grasped unwillingly onto her dress. I was too weak to argue or push her away – she was the only thing keeping me on my feet. I hated to admit how badly and urgently I needed to lay down.

Out of supposed guilt, Yukko allowed Poppy to visit me that afternoon. She sat by my side, laying damp, warm towels across my forehead. Her braids were undone, though they were still remembered in the waves that clung so tightly to her long ginger locks. "Do you remember..." she murmured, "When you first got a reward for getting perfect scores for a whole month straight?"

"No," I said, sluggishly.

"You asked for cookies, but Yukko said you could only have one a day."

I scowled. "Skank..."

"Watch your language," she scolded, but still smiled, folding her arms on the bed. "You were hardly four at the time, so it's no surprise you don't remember. It was your first month taking the tests, and you were the first person to get all perfect scores... Everyone was jealous. Anyways, you started sneaking into the cookie jar at night and taking extra in secret."

I nodded my head in silent approval of the previous me.

"One day, you started getting a lot more chores, with no explanation. Until you finally gave up and admitted to stealing the cookies. Immediately, mum stopped the chores."

I looked up at the ceiling before looking back to her. "You think..."

"No, I just... hope." She smiled wearily. "It'd be good for us if she had no idea. But also... I guess, some part of me wants to believe she's still our mother. I don't want to think it was an act..." She fidgeted, twisting a lock of her hair between her finger and thumb. "I noticed, recently... I've only ever heard you call mum 'mom' when she or the little kids are listening. For as long as I can remember, she's been 'Yukko' to you. It made me wonder if maybe, some part of you always knew something was off. And maybe, if I was as smart as you, I could've figured something out before..."

Bowing her head, Poppy's warm hands squeezed mine. Her throat tightened, and she spoke the next words with great difficulty. "What can I even do? With you here, Reina's taking all the leadership work... All of the others are picking up my slack. All I'm good at is goofing around – Why can't I study? Why can't I work hard? Why am I so useless?"

I squeezed her hand as best I could, hardly conscious through the fever and delirium. "The comedic relief is a fan favourite for a reason," I murmured, not quite in my right mind. "Sometimes goofing around is what makes reading worth it. No one likes a story that's sad all of the time."

She snickered. "This isn't a story, dummy. It's real life."

I shrugged weakly, and when I blinked, my eyes were tugged down with fatigue. "You never know..."

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚

I love abusing the fourth wall

2104 words