Chapter Text
Hyo was standing in the parking lot and the warm wind was brushing through her hair. It wasn’t too hot but she still wished she had worn something lighter. She was waiting for a car from the cleaners’ team to come and drive her to their headquarters, she had been invited by an unusual guy back at the Doll Festival, he had asked Hyo if he could make her his model.
Naturally she would be well paid — no one works for free. Considering she desperately needed a steady job, she had accepted the man’s request.
Modeling wasn’t exactly what Hyo had trained for but it could work for her: she was slim, of average height and had light fair skin. That man had claimed what impressed him the most about this girl was her elegant bone structure, the perfect posture and her majestic bearing.
And that was how she got a job request and immediately hired — almost, at least. She only needed to go through some security checks at the headquarters and then meet the other cleaners, but it was nothing she couldn’t handle.
The car was supposed to pick Hyo up at 3 p.m. but she showed up at the meeting point 20 minutes earlier just in case, and now she was waiting there, in front of a clothes shop in the same village the Doll Festival had taken place a few weeks before.
It was silent, the only sound she could hear was the wind rustling through the leaves.
Until someone showed up.
Thanks to her amazing reflexes, she turned around before whoever was behind her could start speaking, probably thinking they would have caught her by surprise.
Hyo’s gaze immediately met with a girl slightly shorter than her, with purple hair, brown eyes and freckles all over her face.
“Hi!… Uhm, do you remember me? You are Hyo, right?” the girl said with an almost embarrassed tone.
Hyo didn’t really want to ruin her plans, but she had no idea of who that purple haired girl was.
Noticing the confused expression on her face, the mysterious woman kept talking
“I’m sorry I didn’t mean scare you! I’m Mei from the Hell Guards training school, I understand if you don’t remember me it’s been a while… I just wanted to say hi” she smiled.
“Oh yeah, now I recall. Sorry, I was just lost in my thoughts” Hyo said.
In reality, nothing resurfaced in her mind, but she didn’t want to sound rude.
“Don’t worry about that, what are you doing here anyway? Waiting for someone?”.
Hyo didn’t really want to tell her the truth, she didn’t like nosy people.
“Yes, someone is coming to pick me up. I applied for a job and they apparently hired me”
“Oh?? I thought you made it as a Hell Guard… You were so talented it’s such a waste”
Hyo made a face.
“Sorry!! I didn’t mean to sound rude! I just hope you won’t be joining the cleaners… Have you heard what they say about them?”
“I’m really not one to believe rumors, I’d rather check myself before believing any possible fallacy” she replied.
Mei was impressed.
“Yeah sure, I understand… Do you perhaps remember a certain Zanka Nijiku?”
Hyo was even more confused. How the hell did that girl remember the names of every single person she meets?
“You know, the guy that you once defeated and never came back…” Mei tried to refresh her mind.
Hyo had defeated way too many people back in that place, it took her a while to recall. She guessed Mei was talking about that one guy who wanted to sit on the golden throne at all costs. What a miserable dream.
“Yeah sure, I know who you’re talking about. Why did he leave the school anyway?” Hyo could guess but she decided to act interested. Deep down she hoped the conversation would end as soon as possible.
“That’s really not what I was planning to say but uhm…” she seemed hesitant.
Why was she acting this strange all of a sudden? Was there something Hyo was not aware of?
“Well… I only heard rumors, but they say after we all chose our weapons Zanka disappeared for around three days. It turned out he had hit the rock bottom and had crawled into an empty well. He apparently wanted to die there…”
Mei’s tone lowered at the last sentence, she was almost whispering, as if neither her nor Hyo were supposed to know that.
She didn’t know what to say, it sure was a tragic story but she wanted to dig deeper into the matter. Why was Mei was unsure about telling her?
“This is really unhappy to hear, I hope he’s doing better. I can’t help but wonder if it had to do with his own weapon choice. I think I remember him picking a wooden stick, the whole class looked at him like he was insane and he seemed to feel humiliated.”
“I really hope this won’t upset you but… people say the main reason was you.”.
Hyo’s eyes widened for a second. What had she done? They had barely ever interacted.
“Me? You mean as our fight?”
Mei nodded.
“Rumors says he felt so miserable that he couldn’t handle it anymore and wanted to end it all. Some reported seeing two possible cleaners talking to him from that well and Zanka crawled out there right after.”
It was really unexpected to hear. Was that why Zanka had banged his head on the wall and bitten his lips until they split opened that day?
Hyo had already guessed so, but she didn’t think getting defeated could have been that big of a deal for him. It was kinda pathetic to her how he had immediately given up.
“Funny, ain’t it?” Mei kept on talking “The best of the class, part of the powerful Nijiku family, who’s known for raising the best of all the Hell Guards, becoming one of those ‘dependents’. I really would love to know why they’re all so obsessed with their objects. No wonder most of the Guards have always looked so down upon them!”
Hyo had no interest in keeping up with the conversation anymore and she was running out of time.
But wait.
Did she say Zanka joined the cleaners?
Shit.
“He is definitely going to relapse.” the words accidentally slipped from Hyo’s mouth, she didn’t mean to say it out loud.
Oops.
“What? Why are you sayin’ this?” Mei asked, she looked really puzzled.
Hyo wanted to avoid the question so she looked away instead, checking if any car was finally approaching the place to free her from that disgrace.
“Wait, don’t tell me…”
Damn it.
Mei had connected the puzzle pieces. Now she knew where she was going. Amazing.
“…are you actually joining the cleaners too?!”
Hyo didn’t say anything for a moment, she just stared at the other girl.
“As a model.”
Silence fell. Mei looking at her in disbelief.
“Shit. He’s gonna relapse indeed. Good luck with that.”
And once again, the only sound Hyo could hear was the wind.
“Uhm so… I forgot I have an important meeting in a few minutes, I gotta go I’m sorry. See you soon!” Mei broke the silence, then waved goodbye while slowly walking away.
No wonders she sounded ashamed, she had just insulted her old classmate’s almost-job.
The girl was already a bunch of feet away from Hyo, so she didn’t even bother to wave back at her. Instead, she turned back around, staring at the road and waiting for the Cleaners to come.
She couldn’t help but think about what Mei had just told her. How will Zanka react once he sees her? Hyo hoped he had matured enough to handle her presence there. If the cleaners had to choose, they would naturally pick one of their members’ mental health over a newcomer model. This means she could be jobless once again.
Fantastic.
A steering noise coming from behind her interrupted the flow of her thoughts.
Hyo quickly turned around and saw a sporty off-road vehicle with large pneumatics pulling up next to her.
A robust blonde man rolled down a window, finally allowing Hyo to see his face clearly, she could guess he was in his thirties. He had a kind face with a scar on the left side, a little beard on his chin and was wearing a uniform that certainly belonged to the Cleaners, she knew she could trust him. When Hyo checked her clock she noticed he was perfectly on time too.
“You must be Hyo, right? I’m Gris, nice to meet you. C’mon let’s get you this job!” the man exclaimed with a genuine smile.
She nodded, then walked to the door and slid into the car.