Beneath The Surface

Act 9 - What are you, Grandfather?

Normal text
Thinking
Onomatopoeia

Astaroth's POV
"Was I stabbed here?" Astaroth whispered as she waved her right hand.

*Ummm... I... don't think so. It should be the left one. Your right cheek's the one that's cut.*

"Weird... I could have sworn it's my right palm," Astaroth mumbled as she dutifully wrapped her hand in more bandages.

Today's the second day of mundane school life and Astaroth's already stuck at the part where she should supposedly turn up looking like a mummy. Damn her and her carelessness! She should have written down the places she was stabbed! Or better yet, not get stabbed in the first place! What a rookie mistake! It seemed like she had been slipping up ever since she entered this academy. Mistakes that wouldn't have normally been made were everywhere. It must be the fault of that traitor! She's throwing her off her game!

After more or less wrapping the places that needed to be wrapped, Astaroth fixed her expression before walking out of the bathroom.

An amused feminine voice sounded from the other side of the room, "There you are~ You took forever, dear. Why? Something troubling you?"

Astaroth looked at Evelynn, unimpressed, "That's none of your concern, my dear senior."

And why is she still here??? Doesn't her lessons start in the morning???

Astaroth was clearly annoyed that even though both of them were here for non-academic reasons, she's the only one who had to put in actual effort to play house with a bunch of children while this woman got to laze around in bed.

She snapped, "Besides, why are you still here??? Don't you have classes in the morning??? It's afternoon now."

The woman put down the novel in her hand and stretched lazily, "Hmmm... Do I now? Anyway, I've already missed half of the day. Might as well not turn up for today."

This only grated the girl's nerves even more as she hissed, "If I'm not wrong, you need to hit a minimum number of hours if you want to remain in this academy. At the rate you're skipping classes, you might not even be able to stay here for next semester."

Evelynn feigned a shocked expression, "Oh dear. Then I guess I have to turn up for this week. Can't get kicked out now. Not when I have such a delicious... 'roommate'~"

As she said this, she playfully winked at Astaroth, clearly trying to hint that they could be something more than mere tenants of the same room.

However, the girl didn't seem to catch her meaning as she smirked triumphantly, "Good. I can't be the only one suffering."

With that, she left the room and headed for class. Now that they were alone, her grandfather started chattering again. This time, he's a lot more energetic and mischievous.

*Oh, I bet she likes you.*

Who wouldn't? I'm a free buffet for her.

*No, stupid! I mean as a girlfriend. You know, the romantic kind. Otherwise, why would she keep flirting with you all night long?*

Astaroth's mind went back to last night. After a few hours of playing with her new low-maintenance pet (who somehow has a very similar dewy scent as her sister), she returned back to her room. But she couldn't have a good night's sleep. Not with this noisy succubus talking non-stop. As if her chatty grandfather wasn't enough already, she also decided to torture Astaroth's soul. Even after plugging both ears with pillows and turning her back towards her, Evelynn refused to follow social cues. Just kept asking for random info. Like what's her hobby, favourite food and all that rubbish. She's, strangely, also especially interested in Astaroth's sex life, or the lack of it. Often asking the reason behind her abstinence. Perfunctory answers wouldn't cut it since the woman's the kind who would get to the bottom of everything for the nitty gritty details. The worst part of it all was when she's spilling all the shameless details of her nightly activities that nobody cared about. She seemed hell-bent on selling the idea that making out wasn't a complete waste of time. Astaroth only managed to doze off when she finally got used to her soothing yet irritating voice.