RITPN ✮ Ray x Reader

231245 ✩ Comedic Relief

art by the amazing show-stopping gorgeous loml -Aoi-Akane- <3333

You can thank my boyfriend for this update, he's the only reason I'm mentally well & caught up with school enough to spend some time on this book <3

ok have fun pookies <3333

˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

I plopped down the final box with a seething sigh. "Shit."

"Seconded," Poppy groaned. She leaned against the stack of boxes with her own exhausted simper. We had been reorganizing and cleaning the storage room all afternoon. For a few days now, we'd hardly had time to do anything but chores. Yukko assigned them to us relentlessly, first thing in the morning – sometimes even waking us up before dawn. Everything from sweeping to dusting, laundry, and my personal nemesis, cleaning the bathrooms, was completed to the best of our ability. Every day, we went to bed as soon as possible, too exhausted to even consider staying up and discussing plan.

Even worse, Reina and the others weren't allowed to help us. Yukko always managed to keep a watchful eye over our shoulder. The second they hung around she would kindly ask them not to distract us, else the chores take even longer to complete.

It was pretty obvious what was going on: We were being punished.

But for what?

"Do you think she knows what we know?" Poppy asked, leaned over the counter. Piles of silverware lay at our sides, one grimy and dull, the other gleaming like a thousand little mirrors.I ran a tongue across my lips, careful to speak in such low tones I could hardly hear myself. 

"I'm not sure. It's odd that she's punishing us alone – if it was based on who went to the gate, then Hayato would be here, too, but..."

"Did we do something else wrong? I don't remember breaking any rules recently..." She set down a spoon with an aggrieved sigh. "In fact, I've always been great at following the rules!" She jabbed an accusatory finger in my face. "Unlike you! Say, you didn't stay up past curfew reading again, huh? You used to get in trouble for that all of the time!"

She placed her head in her hands and groaned. "I'm not guilty by association, am I...?"

"Oh, shaddup!" I smacked her arm. "I haven't done anything like that!"

She leaned into me suspiciously, peering into my eyes. "Are you sure?"

"What, you think I'm stupid? Of course I...!"

"Children?" sounded Yukko's voice. She poked her head into the kitchen, her expression laced with a sickly-sweet concern. "You're getting awfully rowdy. Is everything okay?"

"Yes, mama! Sorry!"

With a brief nod, the mother ducked back out of the room. As soon as the door clicked shut, I leaned over the counter with a groan. "Fuckkk."

"One of these days she's gonna scare me so bad, I'm gonna choke on my own heart and die."

I nodded my assent as I delved into the dirty silverware pile, dabbing the cloth in more cleaning solution. I returned to scrubbing tiny little circles into the spoon until it reflected my upside-down face, pressed tight into a frown.

"Have you had any luck with that cipher?" Poppy asked, quietly. I slumped, tossing the spoon into the pile.

"No!" I groused. "It's killing me. The answer is right there, on the tip of my tongue!"

She flashed her teeth with a cheeky grin, but her blue-green eyes looked uncharacteristically fatigued. "I won't lie, it's nice to see you struggle with something for once."