Teaching and September

Three crescent moons hung high in the sky, their silvery light veiling the open ground before the warehouse like gauze.

The night breeze swept across the amber-colored earth, mingling the sweet fragrance of melons with the moonlight.

"Given..."

"Therefore..."

Carl sat on the ground with her back against the warehouse doors, her swollen cheeks bruised purple in the moonlight.

After pouring out everything she had learned from Lianke, he finally gave a long yawn:

"Whew~~"

"Given that the precision of Ten depends on..." Chrollo's pencil scratched across his notebook. He intended to record every word Carl had said.

After all, this was guidance from a teacher who dared charge fifty million Jenny in tuition!

He absolutely could not allow a scrap of knowledge worth fifty million to go to waste! He had to record every last bit of it!

Most importantly...

"Snore~"

A tremendous snore sounded beside his ear.

At some point, Uvogin, who had been listening attentively just moments ago, had sprawled out on a field ridge. His snores shook the pencil in Chrollo's hand.

"Wake up!"

Nobunaga, who was struggling to keep his own eyes open, kicked Uvogin. His sword sheath struck a ticklish spot on Uvogin's waist with perfect precision, drawing a trapped beast's whimper from the sleeping boy.

Chrollo glanced around and helplessly rubbed the space between his brows.

If he didn't write it down, there was no way everyone could learn it all in one go!

"Would it look a little nicer if I patched it this way?"

"Mm-hm! Paku, you know so much!"

On the other side, Machi and Paku were huddled together, absorbed in their work. The slightly damaged black robe in their hands now bore several crooked stitches.

"That's enough for tonight." Carl met Chrollo's eyes and shook her head.

A meal had to be eaten one bite at a time, and things had to be done one step at a time.

There was no need to rush!

With that, Carl staggered toward the bedding at the side of the warehouse. The coarse cloth, soaked through with night dew, gave off a reassuring musty smell.

The sense of security throughout the estate made him even sleepier. If Carl hadn't still had teaching the Phantom Troupe on his mind, he probably would have lain down on the bedding and slept soundly as soon as he entered the estate!

"Good night, everyone."

With those final words, Carl slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Gazing at the bruises and swelling on the boy's face, the members of the Phantom Troupe exchanged looks.

Though Carl hadn't said anything, they all knew their companion had actually had a hard time out there...

Nobunaga took off his coat and tossed it gently toward Uvogin. The guy was so sturdily built that he wouldn't catch cold sleeping on a field ridge for one night anyway.

Chrollo calmly closed the book. He had finished recording everything he needed to, and tomorrow he could use this textbook to teach everyone properly.

The night grew darker.

Meteor City in September was like a smoldering kiln. The scorching sun melted the plastic on the garbage mountains into viscous amber.

Behind the church's faded stained glass, Sheila picked mold from the edges of the communion wafers with her fingernails, sending crumbs pattering onto the wooden floor.

Old Will was dozing in the confessional. As he grew older, the old pastor, who was always speaking of compassion, had long since lost the abundant energy of his youth.

The task of distributing communion wafers had been entrusted to Sheila half a year ago.

For that very reason, he would never notice that fewer and fewer children were coming to church for communion each Thursday.

"May our god bless you." Sheila pressed half an intact communion wafer into a boy's palm, casually wiping the grease left on her fingertips onto him as well.

She watched the residents lining up for food, humble hopes flickering in their sunken eyes. Following an order from the Council of Elders, the prices of both food and water throughout Meteor City had risen.

This forced the residents to go to the garbage mountains and spend more time rummaging for things of value.

But it was September.

The scorching weather and the stench of the garbage mountains meant that no one could stay there for long.

As a result, once the residents had exhausted the food in their homes, they could only come to the church for communion wafers...

As the seventh hunched figure took a greenish wafer, Sheila suddenly tightened her grip on the cloth bag.

Five fingers like dead twigs froze in midair. The old woman's clouded eyes reflected a glint of gold slipping from Sheila's sleeve-a gold-plated brooch Sheila had obtained last Thursday in exchange for communion wafers she had withheld.

"The communion wafers are all gone. Everyone... please go home." Sheila stood frozen in the shadow cast by the confessional, beads of sweat running down her spine and into the underskirt of her nun's habit.

There were actually a few wafers left, but she had also taken a fancy to a gold-plated hair clip.

So there were no communion wafers left.

"Sigh..."

The old woman slowly withdrew her hand, her clouded eyes full of numbness.

Two days ago, she had still been the foster mother of five children.

Without much argument, the people in line dispersed of their own accord. The reputation Old Will had spent a lifetime building kept them from questioning whether Sheila was telling the truth.

Even though the number of communion wafers kept dwindling, they would only think the church was running short of food.

At least the church was still handing out communion wafers, wasn't it?

Only after all the residents had left did Sheila drag her lame left leg down the corridor, the cloth bag containing the twenty communion wafers she had hidden away pressed tightly against her ribs.

She hadn't pocketed much, just one-fifth.

"A hair clip this week. What should I get next week..."

September's heat wave carried the stench of decay, scorching and warping the image of the Virgin Mary in the church's stained-glass window.

Sheila limped down the corridor on her left leg, each step feeling as though she were treading on a red-hot iron plate.

Although her left leg was impaired, the thought of the hair clip she would soon have filled Sheila with energy, and she picked up her pace considerably.

The church's communion wafers already fetched a good price on the black market, and food had been scarce in Meteor City lately. Sheila figured the twenty wafers she had hidden should fetch her a little more!

"I hope food gets even scarcer in Meteor City, so I can sell my communion wafers for more!"

She passed the confessional.

Through the narrow window, Sheila suddenly caught sight of the glasses Old Will had tucked against his chest. They were just a defective pair he had picked up from a garbage heap, and more than a decade of wear had left the frames on the verge of falling apart.

Thinking of how Old Will usually looked after her, Sheila suddenly felt a pang of guilt. All this time, she had only thought about buying things for herself. How could she have forgotten to give Grandpa Will a gift?

"Mm!"

Dragging her lame left leg, Sheila quietly made up her mind. She would use this week's twenty communion wafers to buy Old Will a new pair of glasses!

Her gold-plated hair clip could wait until next week!

"Clink!"

The gold-plated brooch slipped from her sleeve and struck the wooden floor with a clear sound.

The girl bent down to pick it up, her fingertips unconsciously rubbing the crow design clipped to the back of the brooch. It was a "discount voucher" the black-market merchant had given her.

With this voucher, she could exchange fewer communion wafers for more Jenny.