We Meet Once More -- Sucrose x Albedo

Chapter 28

A few minutes ago...

Xingqiu had requested Klee to grab him an unread book or two from the library. She obliged. And since she knew that Xingqiu is an avid reader, she decided to find one of the thickest books in the library, which, unfortunately, she could not hold another after that thick book. 

Upon exiting the library with the book glued on her chest, she proudly hummed to herself as she looked at the hundreds of pages glued to the hard-bound book.

Xingqiu will like this one!

However, that was when her thoughts were disturbed when she checked around the supposed empty hallway to find Eris crouched down and her hair loose. Klee raised an eyebrow and walked closer. Thanks to the long carpet that muted Klee's little footsteps, Eris wasn't able to detect any sound. 

Klee grew closer and closer until she found a suitable spot to hide behind. With her head peeking under, she watched as Eris pick locked into Sucrose's room. She stayed quiet as possible upon observing Eris.

What is she doing?

The young girl didn't know of the action Eris was doing, she could only ask and guess. And once Eris unlocked the room, she checked to see if the door was open by pressing the door gently. The door opened a small crack for Eris. She smiled and grabbed the pins from the door, not putting them in her hair ever again. She grabbed the camera from the floor and opened the door to let herself in. She cringed at the slight creaks the door made. Klee looked around the area to check if anyone was there and there was none. 

Klee placed the book down on the floor and quietly sneaked to the threshold of the door, peeking her head out.

She saw everything: Eris preparing her camera, her taking the photo, looking at the photo then back at Sucrose and Albedo, and finally — giggling to herself. Klee was still confused but she had a bit of context to what was going on. 

Suddenly, Klee saw Eris retreating back to the hallway. She gasped to herself before slapping her mouth shut, running back to her previous spot, and hiding under the table with the book covering her balled-up body.

"His Majesty would be pleased with the photos I will show him soon as evidence!"
She cackled, walking down the hallway to stay in her room, with her witch-like cackles echoing in the hallway.

Klee removed the book from her curled-up body and watched as the muted clacks of Eris' heels walks away.

"Evidence?"

She crawled out of the small table and watched as Eris grew distant as she walked the hallway. The little girl in red walked behind her, following her with her distance against Eris far. But then, she stopped — looking at the book in her hand. She kept looking back at the book in her hand and then at Eris' figure, fading away in the distance. Unexpectedly, Eris turned around the corner, to go to her room. Klee groaned, stomping her foot as she hurriedly placed the book on top of the small table and ran toward Eris to find out what she was hiding. Fortunately for Klee, she treated this as a stealth mission to seek out the truth of what Eris could possibly be hiding — so she was careful and she made a promise to herself to not get caught. 

As Klee stayed her distance from Eris to avoid getting caught, she hid behind every object nearby and even rolled on the ground to quickly get behind something. After a few minutes of following her, Klee then stopped behind something as she watched Eris walk up the spiral stairs. (That didn't lead to the observatory.)

Klee bit her nails, deciding if she should follow Eris up the stairs. However, judging by the loud clacks of her heels on the stone brick spiral stairs, Klee's footsteps would be heard even if she was quiet. But there was one option that she never chose, and that was to back away. After she saw Eris' suspicious behavior, she never chose the option to mind her own business. She had to investigate. So, she hid further as she waited for Eris to come down the stairs.