"This will serve as a picture of us, full of memories."
A day passed. Everyone rested, forcing themselves to move on from everything that happened.
"Come on, Second. Let's cook." Fourth's invitation to her. She seemed better compared to yesterday. She accompanied her to cook, which was also a good way to bring her mood back.
They went straight to the kitchen. Fourth, Sixth, Tenth, Sixzen, and Twentieth were their primary cooks. Each day, they had a schedule of tasks to delegate work fairly.
On the other hand, Fourth insisted on cooking every day because this had been her hobby there.
Sixzen had a dark blue hair bun. She was also kind and sometimes funny. Sixth, with a high ponytail seemed okay, but she knew she was still grieving the death of her friend, Twelf.
Twentieth with voluminous short black hair was a bit quiet and modest, like Fourth.
The boys were mostly in charge of cleaning the place. In the few days they stayed there, she also got closer to her friends. She got to know them even better.
"Tada!" Sixzen smiled at everyone and laid the dish on the table.
"That looks delicious, ah!" Ninezen's appetite never ceased to amaze her. He was one of the foody there aside from Firstwen.
"Let's eat!" Firstwen declared excitedly and were about to grab some food.
"Hep, hep, hep!" Sixzen glared at the two starving boys, meaning they must pray first.
Before they ate, Firstwen led the prayer. Attached to this prayer was everyone's heartfelt devotion of thanksgiving and a prayer of peace for their four departed friends.
Second kept writing in her journal. She gained some information about her identity. She still wondered if First was really the one who dragged her into the school garden that time, or if it was just someone who resembled him. She also didn't get anything when she interrogated him because he didn't know either. She drew even closer to him, and they often discussed personal matters.
Why did 02 become her number and temporary name? Was it alphabetically arranged?
She was still not sure because she didn't even know her real name yet. They had been in the castle for ten days. It had been quite a long time.
She was currently in the art room. She was in the mood to sketch right then. She went there to pass some time.
"Hurry up," Ninezen complained.
"Hmm, Fifth, straighten your back and a more serious face, please," she instructed Fifth.
"Like this?" he clarified.
"That's it! Don't move, okay?"
And since they couldn't see any good scenery around because the castle was completely enclosed, Fifth and Ninezen were the models who volunteered for her to sketch them. The two of them sat down. Fifth was writing with his head slightly down, and Ninezen was in a humbled position. The scene she had them do was a scene within the class. She felt like she wanted to draw something related to school. Maybe she missed going to school; now they were just confined there. There was also a feeling within her that she missed her friends, being a student, and the activities that were done at school.
"Pfft! You look like crap, bwahaha!" Aeith couldn't stop making fun of Ninezen. These two usually had the highest form of energy among them. Actually, there were three if they added Seventh, but he wasn't there.
"Brother, fix yourself," Fourth reprimanded her twin brother to take the thing seriously.
Truth to be told, the two of them didn't volunteer. They were teased by Aeith and Fourth to do so. They had nothing much to do, so she was glad that they accepted it. She also didn't expect Fifth and Ninezen to be some of her close friends. She got to interact with Fifth because he was the twin brother of Fourth. Their facial feature similarities were uncanny, yet their physical traits differed.
Fourth was short, petite, with a cute face, while Fifth had an average height for his gender and age. His face was also cute, but with a hint of masculinity that was paired with his slightly buff shoulders.
Ninezen was an extroverted guy with a great sense of humor, along with his pal, Seventh. He loved to be surrounded by a lot of people, from whom he got his energy, just like Aeith. He was tall, with slightly tanned skin, always forgot to do his messy red hair, and loved to crack a joke. He might be irritating sometimes because of his loudness, yet he set a light mood for everyone. He could get along with almost everyone there because of his bubbly attitude.
"Yo, guys!" They heard Seventh greet them. "The heck is that?" he scoffed at her two models.
She was also able to be close to Seventh. He was almost of the same height as Ninezen, a blonde who was quiet at first but suddenly became noisy and funny, greatly influenced by Ninezen.
"Oh well, I'm a model figure," Ninezen muttered proudly.
"Really?" Seventh glanced at her. "Second, you should've told me instead. I have better looks than this squirt." This was always the case when you talked to Ninezen and Seventh. They really had the same feathers. She sighed at their jokes.
After a few moments of fun, she had finished it. They approached her and looked at the sketch.
"Wow!" Fourth blurted with sparkling eyes.
"You two look like idiots!" Aeith ridiculed Seventh and Ninezen.
"Am I really that cute?" Seventh praised himself.
"Oh! Not bad," Ninezen nodded while holding the sketch pad.
"You must have been an artist, Second," Fifth commented.
Second was pleased with their reactions, but what Fifth said struck her the most. He might be right. This skill must be part of her when she is in the real world. She was glad that she had been able to sketch, which had given her a way to know more about her friends. They were building a good relationship gradually as they stayed there. She closed her sketch pad and hid it in one of the cabinets.
She brought back the tools that she borrowed to their respective shelves. She already had Fourth, Fifth, Seventh, Aeith, and Ninezen as models to sketch for that day. She planned to sketch them all, nineteen of them if possible. She just felt shy to approach everyone.