After breakfast, Jin'en did not leave the dining room right away.
The reason was simple: he could not find his way.
The corridor Inanna had led him through last night looked completely different in the morning light.
Most of the wall lamps were out, and the paintings on the walls looked unremarkable in daylight. The eyes in their frames no longer followed him, but the corridor was still abnormally long-he distinctly remembered the dining room being on the east side, yet after leaving and walking left for about two minutes, the wall in front of him told him: dead end.
"Lost?"
Jin'en turned around.
Broken Rainbow had followed him at some point, both hands tucked into the pockets of cargo pants that were clearly two sizes too big. Breadcrumbs from the breakfast table still clung to her white hair.
She tilted her head at him, her green eyes bright, an "I knew it" expression on her face.
"No," Jin'en said.
"You went left three times, then right twice, and then stood here without moving." Broken Rainbow counted on her fingers. "And you call that not being lost?"
Jin'en said, "...How do I get from the dining room to my room?"
Broken Rainbow said, "Beg me."
Jin'en fell silent.
Broken Rainbow waited two seconds. When she realized he really did not intend to say anything, she pouted. "You're no fun. Follow me."
She turned and walked away.
Jin'en followed her, keeping two steps behind. It was not deliberate; it was a habit.
The corridor had dark wooden flooring that made almost no sound underfoot.
Jin'en noticed how Broken Rainbow walked-the balls of her feet touched down first, her center of gravity low, as though she were ready to accelerate or dodge at any moment.
He had seen that habit at the orphanage. It was a way of walking that only children who were often shoved from behind developed.
"What are you looking at me for?"
"I wasn't."
"You were." Broken Rainbow did not turn around. "You stared at my feet for three seconds just now."
Jin'en said nothing.
"My big sister says I walk like a thief." He could not tell whether Broken Rainbow sounded proud or resentful. "I told her thieves couldn't walk as fast as me."
"Where is your sister?"
"The training room." Broken Rainbow stopped at a corner and tapped the floor with her toe. "Straight to the end from here, turn right, third room. Don't thank me."
With that, she ran off, then looked back after a few steps.
"Oh, right."
Jin'en stopped.
"That switch of yours." Broken Rainbow's gaze settled on his right cuff for a moment. "It wasn't glowing today."
"Mm."
"That's good, then." She nodded, her white hair bobbing. "If it glows, remember to find my sister. She won't let me touch you. Says I can't keep my hands to myself."
"...When did she say that?"
"While you were sleeping." Broken Rainbow said it as though it were perfectly natural, then turned and ran out of sight.
Jin'en stood there, taking that information in.
Daffodil had come to see him while he was asleep.
The first thing Jin'en did after returning to his room was lock the door.
The lock was old, and the brass handle creaked when he turned it, but at least it locked.
He leaned against the door and let out a breath, then went to the window and drew the curtains halfway open.
The mountainside was a completely different place by day than it was at night.
Below was a neatly trimmed garden, and farther away he could see the skyline of Hethereau City. Tall and short buildings crowded together like a handful of blocks someone had casually scattered. Sunlight streamed in and fell on the back of his hand, warm and pleasant.
Jin'en looked down at his right wrist.
The crack lay quietly beneath his skin. Its silver markings were much fainter than last night, almost indistinguishable from normal veins.
He tried moving his fingers. There was no stabbing pain, nor any strange sensation of something moving beneath his skin.
"Under control?" he murmured.
No one answered.
But he knew it was only temporary.
The way Inanna had pinched his fingertip last night was like plugging a leaking bottle-the water had stopped flowing for now, but the bottle itself was still cracked.
He lowered his sleeve and began searching the wardrobe.
There was not much inside: three white high-neck base layers, two dark long-sleeved tops, a pair of black trousers, and a gray coat that was clearly far too big for him.
Everything was new, with the tags still attached, but no prices.
Jin'en shook out the coat and held it up against himself. The sleeves extended well past his hands, and the hem could cover his knees.
He put it on in the end.
The reason was simple: his old clothes were in terrible tatters.
Besides, the coat was big enough that its wide cuffs could completely cover his wrists. Nothing showed from the outside.
"It'll do," he told his reflection.
The boy in the mirror was as thin as a bamboo pole, with messy black hair falling over his forehead and dark shadows beneath his deep gray eyes.
Inanna had said breakfast was at seven this morning, and he had arrived at six forty, but he had barely slept last night.
Every time he closed his eyes, he dreamed of that corridor, of the people in the paintings staring at him with open eyes, of cracks spreading from beneath his feet all the way to the end of the corridor.
Inanna stood at the end.
She was smiling every time.
When Jin'en opened his door, he nearly collided with someone.
It was a girl half a head shorter than him, her hair in twin ponytails, standing on tiptoe to peer through the gap in his door.
Startled by the door suddenly opening, she sprang a step backward.
"Whoa-"
Jin'en recognized her.
Flora, the girl who had asked him a string of questions at breakfast.
"W-why did you open the door so suddenly?" Flora patted her chest, her ponytails bouncing.
"This is my room."
"I know!" Flora sounded entirely justified. "I just came to see which room you were in. It's not like I was going to go inside."
Jin'en looked at her, feeling that the logic of that statement did not quite hold up.
Flora paid no attention to his silence. She stepped closer and tipped her head back to study him, looking at him as though he were an animal she had never seen before.
"Are you really a boy?"
"...Yes."
"Are you the only boy in Red Letter?"
"Yes."
"Then how do you take baths?"
Jin'en froze for a moment.
"Flora."
A calm voice came from the other end of the corridor.
Jin'en turned and saw a girl of thirteen or fourteen approaching. Her ponytail was tied tight, and her steps were steady, as though she had measured the distance of each one.
She was the one who had called Flora away at breakfast.
"Big Sister Unica." Flora shrank back a little.
Unica walked up beside Flora and rested a hand on her shoulder. There was little force behind it, but Flora immediately behaved herself.
"Sorry," Unica said to Jin'en, her voice even. "She's rather curious."
"It's fine."
Unica looked him over.
Her gaze was direct, unlike Daffodil's scrutiny or Broken Rainbow's amusement. She was simply looking at a fact, confirming it, then looking away.
"For the dining room, go right to the end, down a flight of stairs, then turn left," she said. "You went around the corridor three times just now."
"...Thank you."
Unica nodded and dragged Flora away.
As she was dragged along, Flora kept looking back and waving at him, her mouth opening and closing. Jin'en spent a while trying to make it out. She was probably saying, "Talk to you later."
The corridor fell quiet again.
Standing in the doorway, Jin'en suddenly realized something.
They all knew he had gotten lost.
Broken Rainbow knew, Unica knew, and perhaps Daffodil knew too.
The people in this mansion seemed to know every corner and everyone's movements inside out.
And he was the only one who could not even find his way.
"What is this?" he muttered. "The whole school's watching me on my first day?"
He followed Unica's directions and made no wrong turns this time. The corridor bent at the end, followed by a very narrow staircase, and a left turn brought him to the dining room.
There was hardly anyone left inside. Only two very young girls were clearing the dishes, and neither looked up when he entered.
Jin'en found a corner and sat down. There was still some bread and jam on the table.
He took a slice of bread and slowly spread jam on it, beginning to organize the information in his head.
Inanna had adopted many girls.
A dozen or more, perhaps even more than that.
Their ages ranged from seven or eight to fifteen or sixteen, and each had a different air about her.
Daffodil was young but the most composed. Broken Rainbow looked the youngest but was the last person to mess with. Unica seemed to fill some sort of "class monitor" role, while Flora was the type who talked the most wherever she went.
And he was the only boy.
Inanna had said, "I've been waiting for a boy"-what exactly did that mean?
With the jam spread, Jin'en took a bite. It was strawberry jam, a little cloyingly sweet.
He remembered the piece of chocolate Broken Rainbow had given him. He did not know which pocket she had stuffed it into.
"What are you thinking about?"
Jin'en nearly dropped his bread on the floor.
At some point, Broken Rainbow had sat down opposite him, her chin resting on the tabletop, her green eyes fixed unblinkingly on him.
"Do you never make a sound when you walk?"
"I do," Broken Rainbow said. "You just didn't hear it."
She was not glued to Daffodil today, which was unusual in itself.
Jin'en glanced around.
"Stop looking. My sister's in the training room." Broken Rainbow seemed to see through his thoughts. "She trains for two hours every morning, without fail. I sneaked out to slack off."
"You don't train?"
"Training is so boring." Broken Rainbow turned her face aside, looking out the window. "My sister practices with a blade. What would I practice? I don't use a blade."
"Then what do you use?"
Broken Rainbow turned back to look at him, something flashing in her green eyes.
"Guess."
Jin'en did not guess.
He kept eating his bread, deciding not to pursue that line of conversation. Broken Rainbow waited a while without getting a response and gave a dissatisfied huff.
"You really are hard to talk to."
"Mm."
"That wasn't a compliment."
"I know."
Broken Rainbow stared at him for a good while, then suddenly smiled, revealing two pointed canine teeth. "Forget it. At least you're better than the ones who run as soon as they see me."
"People run when they see you?"
"Sure." Broken Rainbow counted on her fingers. "That one on the third floor called Mila hugs the wall every time she meets me in the corridor.
"And Lina on the second floor-I said 'good morning' to her, and she burst into tears. So weird."
Jin'en paused mid-bite.
A seven-year-old girl could make other children hide at the sight of her and cry at the sound of her voice.
He did not ask why, but Broken Rainbow clearly read something in his silence.
She tilted her head, her tone turning airy. "Do you think I'm strange too?"