"Sumire... " said Irisu as she looked out of the window "Why do you isolate Jacob so much?"
Irisu wasn't expecting any particular answer but felt this was a good question to annoy Sumire.
"It's his choice. I never stopped him." replied Sumire.
"But you aren't encouraging him!" Irisu picked up her sketchbook and started flipping through it.
"I did give him a roommate..." said Sumire with an innocent smile.
"Oh please!" Irisu clicked her tongue "Not like you had a choice! And that old man's crazy!"
It was quite funny how inspite of the fire having spread in the library and many of the ground floor rooms, only Jacob's room had been completely destroyed.
In the end he had been shifted to another wing but now he was sharing a room with Kafka.
"Not like I wanted them to share the room either..." Sumire sighed deeply.
For once she agreed with Irisu on something. It had been Mondo's idea to put the two together and he had seemed strangely adamant about the decision.
"Just admit you don't know how to talk to him either!" Irisu threw her pencil at Sumire, who caught it deftly.
"I would like to see you try then!" said Sumire before flicking the pencil back.
"I will! Nice chatting with you!" Irisu picked up her sketchbook and ran out of the room and into the garden.
"Hello!" she shouted and sat next to Jacob who gave her a wary look.
"How's your new room?" she asked.
"Ok"
"Good.... I'll get straight to the point. I've been curious about something. Your power is shape-shifting???"
Jacob seemed slightly surprised by this question but he nodded.
"Hmm... and here I thought it was just immortality.... " said Irisu without even looking at him.
"How do you know that?" finally Jacob sat up straight and Irisu was satisfied that she had got his interest.
"Well... After that little stunt you pulled I was naturally curious. And like I said.... Sumire is my sister and I know how to get things out of her."
"She told me not to mention it." Jacob said quietly.
"Yeah, she's like that. Don't feel too betrayed. Now, can you change into anything you want?"
"...... no"
"Then?"
Irisu ignored the look Jacob was giving her. She knew this 'you are a pain in the neck' look very well, but it was also quite intriguing how he was a lot more chatty than before and she wanted to push it as far as she could.
"Only animals." Jacob paused "And no... I don't know what exact animals. I've only done that one."
"Oh? Do you not want to try more??"
"I shouldn't... "
"Why?"
"It's not good for me."
"If Sumire was the one who said it then you don't need to take it too seriously. She said the same thing to me when I was ten. Luckily I didn't listen and I turned out great."
"Not Mama.... " Jacob said, with what looked like a faint smile tugging at his lips "I know I shouldn't."
"Hmm.... ok" Irisu dropped the question and was wondering what else to ask when Jacob spoke.
"The little girl... who is she?"
"Huh?" Irisu looked at him sharply "You mean Lucia?"
"Yes. Who is she?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"Nothing.... just something familiar."
"About Lucia??" Irisu tried to contain her surprise.
Irisu herself had no idea who Lucia really was, but it was odd that out of all the people here Jacob was the one who was asking about her.
"I don't know.... Maybe not her... " Jacob trailed off and then he got up slowly.
"Hey! Explain!"
"I don't know." he said with a shake of his head "Bye"
Jacob turned around and left and after a moment Irisu got up and stormed towards Jolly's lab.
"Hey! We need to talk!!" Irisu snapped loudly to catch Jolly's attention but she was pleasantly surprised as he turned around immediately.
"I wanted to talk about something too." he said.
"Good. You first."
"It's about Lucia."
"Coincidence. That's what I wanted to talk about too."
Jolly hesitated hearing her rather sharp tone.
"What did you want to say?" he asked immediately.
"Who is she Jolly? Where did she come from?"
"I thought you said you didn't want to know."
"I'll decide that." Irisu slammed her sketchbook on the table "Did you abduct her or something?!"
"What?!! No!!" Jolly inched away from her quickly. He had no idea why Irisu was interested in this all of a sudden but he knew if he didn't give her answers he would be in trouble.
"Irisu... I don't actually know."
"What do you mean? That orphanage is under your control right??"
"Um... yes... but the kids are abandoned there... or found by the caretaker."
"Aren't there any records?"
"No"
"Was Lucia found??"
"I don't know" said Jolly truthfully "What happened?"
"Nothing. Your turn."
Irisu propped herself on the table and motioned for Jolly to continue.
"You can't leave me hanging like that!!" Jolly was quite annoyed but Irisu shook her head and refused to explain.
"If I think you need to know I will say. Tell me what you wanted to say."
Jolly was silent for a second before he opened up a book and pointed at a page.
"I brought Lucia here because I thought she was the host of the High Priestess. But I'm not so sure now... "
"Why not?" Irisu looked at the markings on the page closely.
"I thought her stigmata will develop but so far nothing. I also did some research. The arcana is rather powerful. It is supposed to have an oracle-like skill according to these books and because of the vast nature of the power there's a good chance the High Priestess would not form a contract with someone so young."
"Wait! Isn't it supposed to be the other way around?!" Irisu was surprised to see Jolly shaking his head.
"Those who are born with an arcana are different. You and I, we made a forceful contract with an arcana. But take Felicita, for example, in her case the arcana is responsible for the contract."
"That's kinda creepy.... "
"It is. But the point is, most probably Lucia is not an arcana host."
"You mean... "
"Yes. She is a normal little girl."
"But Jolly... " Irisu shook her head "You said she did have a marking! And there must have been-"
"That's what I'm trying to say. I think I messed up."
Irisu's eyebrow shot up hearing this. Normally she would have been delighted to hear Jolly admitting he was wrong and would have teased him for days with it. But right now he looked genuinely disturbed.
"Why do you say that?" she said and gently patted his hand.
"I didn't really feel anything from her." he said quietly "The caretaker mentioned she had that mark on her ankle from when she was taken in. Maybe my eyes deceived me... maybe I wanted to see it. I don't know. It resembled the mark of the High Priestess. And the man said he felt strange vibes from her."
"But if it's not Lucia... "
"Then they are still out there." Jolly sighed "I mean it looks like it doesn't matter much. With almost everyone else here, things are rather balanced. But the important thing is Lucia should not be here."
"Wait-what?!" Irisu suddenly got a bad feeling and Jolly's next sentence confirmed it.
"Irisu... it's too dangerous. What happened the other day... that was just a random idiot from the club. I don't have to tell you that there are worse people here."
"But you can't!" Irisu cut in desperately "You can't send her back! We dealt with him! We can deal with-"
"I know." Jolly's voice was firm as he got up and held Irisu's shoulders "But she can't. We are putting her in danger here."
"But -" Irisu knew there was no logical argument to this.
In many ways she had felt it too.
She had wanted to believe Lucia had an arcana but while Irisu had felt the aura from all of the others when it came to Lucia she couldn't feel anything.
Irisu was worried about her too but held on to the hope that she could still be the host as Jolly had specifically picked her from that orphanage.
"Irisu... I understand why you feel this way about her." said Jolly quietly "But I don't want her to get involved in all this because of one small mistake of mine. Lucia can't stay here because she doesn't belong. It is safer if she went back to the home."
Irisu was about to speak when the door swung upon and a loud shriek pierced through the air.
"No!!! Please no!!"
For a second the two adults were dazed by the sight of Lucia standing at the door, tears streaming down her cheeks and her hands trembling.
"Lucia..." Irisu was the first to recover as she ran to the little girl "It's not-"
"Go away!!" Lucia backed off crying and though she was choking on her tears she continued to scream.
"Lucia, please clam down." Irisu couldn't hide the panic in her voice as she knelt on the ground and tried to beckon the girl over.
"NO! ! NO!! NO!!" Lucia wailed loudly "I knew it!! I knew you would get rid of me!! I knew you would do it!!"
"What- No!! It's not-"
Irisu's voice was drowned out by Lucia's screech.
"I hate you Jolly!! I knew you would do this!!! I knew when I came... you will do this.... " Lucia's words started to become incoherent because of her sobbing and finally Jolly snapped to reality on when he heard his name being called out.
"Lucia... Jolly wasn't trying to-"
"He was!!! He was!!! He was!! I should have know when I saw it!!!! It was exactly as I saw it!!!" Lucia stopped talking as mucous started dripping from her nose and she burst into coughs.
Irisu used this opportunity to run to Lucia and pull her into a tight hug.
"I'm not letting you go!!" said Irisu as she took the kicks from the struggling girl "Nobody's sending you anywhere!"
"He will!!" Lucia punched Irisu as she tried to break free but all her crying had made her tired "I saw it.... he said it just like what I saw.... "
"Saw what?" asked Jolly suddenly as he finally made out the words between her screaming and tears.
"Shut up Jolly" said Irisu quietly as she patted Lucia's back.
Lucia's throat hurt from all the shouting and having grown exhausted from it, she was wondering how she could continue sobbing silently when Jolly asked her the question.
She looked up at him and felt her eyes get blurry with tears again.
It was true she hadn't liked him that much.
But she was still nice to him in the hopes that maybe then he would let her stay.
But he truly was a heartless man.
"Lucia what do you mean you saw it??" asked Jolly again.
Lucia burst into tears again and Irisu picked her up and glared at Jolly.
"Could you just-"
"Shut up Irisu! Lucia! Tell me what you meant!"
Lucia suddenly felt a burning anger at this old man who was even refusing to let her cry in peace.
"You shut up Jolly!!" she yelled over Irisu's shoulder "I saw it in a dream!!! You saying I don't belong and you want to send me back!!! I thought you were an evil man then!! And I was right!! You are evil!!! Big bad bully evil!!!"
As Lucia spit out each word she stammered over them and in the end she just buried her face in Irisu's shoulder with a muffled sob.
There was a long silence and finally Lucia felt a hand on her head.
"Lucia, did you actually say you saw this in a dream?"
Lucia looked up at Jolly and shouted in irritation "Are you deaf?! That's what I said."
Suddenly Irisu chuckled and before Lucia could say anything she was put back on the ground.
"Lucia.... what exactly did you see in the dream?" Irisu gave such a beautiful smile that Lucia decided not to hold her accountable for the whole mess and she proceeded to describe the dream in vivid detail.
"Have you seen any other dream?" asked Jolly as he knelt next to her too.
He causally glanced at her ankle. The mark was barely visible but somehow after hearing Lucia's words Jolly did not feel too bothered by it now.
"Other dream.... " Lucia but her lip for a second "I'm not sure I can talk about it.... "
"Why not?" Irisu squeezed her hand "Nobody is stopping you."
"Um.... there's this voice.... and it says if it doesn't like what I do it would kill me." Lucia paused and looked at them nervously.
"I see." Jolly nodded his head "But it's not stopping you from talking about the dreams right?"
"I guess..... "
"Lucia, if you talk you can stay." added Jolly quickly.
"What really?!! But you think I'm crazy right!?"
"No more than us." said Irisu.
Lucia waited to see if the voice had any comments to make, but there was nothing.
"They said I was crazy at the home." she said "I once said something would go missing and when it did I got punished because they said I stole it. When I said I saw it in my dream, they said only crazy people see stuff like that and nobody wants crazy people."
"What dreams have you seen here? Besides the one with me of course.... " Jolly's knees were starting to hurt from crouching on the floor for so long but Lucia had plopped herself down and he didn't want to move lest he lost her attention.
Lucia began to narrate her dreams - the one with Irisu covered with blood and holding a sword, the one with the ship in a storm and finally the strange vision about the same. Besides that there were a few random stuff like people talking but she couldn't make out the words, Morgan peeling an orange, Jolly sleeping on a chair and somebody falling into a fountain.
"Did you see that fire from the other day?" asked Irisu.
"No! That's why I was curious!" Lucia looked at Jolly "If I see all the bad stuff why didn't I see that??"
"I don't think it's about good or bad.... " said Jolly thoughtfully "The power of the High Priestess is basically foresight. But judging from what you said, you have no control over what you see. Can you talk back to the voice?"
"I'm scared... but I do sometimes. She only talks when she wants to. She's been awfully quiet for the last few days though...."
"I see.... it seems I was not wrong to be so confused."
"What do you mean, Jolly?" asked Irisu.
"Even now I can barely feel anything like an arcana's power from Lucia. And the High Priestess's power requires immense mental strength as it shows more than just the future. It shows endless possibilities of futures. This would explain Lucia's second vision of the storm."
"So the future is not a fixed state? Is that what you mean?"
"Perhaps. But Irisu, don't forget what Lucia said in the end. Elina was not a part of her dream. But she was on the ship."
"That changed it?! Wait! Dante did mention that she was the one who insisted they stay back!"
"Precisely. Lucia first saw one version of the future where Elina does not go along, but then she was shown another version."
"Wait... why did we have to wait in the rain then??" Irisu looked at Lucia who just shrugged.
"I don't know!" said Lucia "That voice said if they are not back when it's sunny again they are dead. I thought if we don't see them when it's sunny I can ask you to send help!"
"I don't think that's how things work Lucia.... " Jolly sighed "But then again we don't know."
"This arcana.... you think it's suppressing it's power?" asked Irisu suddenly.
"Yes. But I also wonder why it does show these random visions to Lucia if it actually wants to remain hidden. It's strange but also interesting. I suppose the only way to find out is to ask the arcana itself."
"Wait... what does all that mean?" asked Lucia looking around confused.
"It means you stay." said Jolly.
"Really?!!" Lucia jumped up and looked at them in shock "You mean I can stay even after you know I'm crazy!"
"You can stay because of that." said Irisu with a laugh "Also Lucia, I know you don't understand the concept of an arcana too well now but I'll explain it later ok."
"Ok!" Lucia gave Irisu a hug.
"I'm sorry for kicking you!"
"It's ok!" Irisu patted her head lightly.
Lucia then ran to Jolly and gave him an impulsive hug "I'm sorry for calling you evil."
"No. I am quite evil." he said as he awkwardly pushed her away but he was smiling "Next time tell us about things like these."
"Ok! Hihi! I can't wait to tell Elmo about my dreams!"
"Just a second." Jolly grabbed her hand before she rushed off again.
"We are not done?" asked Irisu.
"Nope" Jolly took off his glasses and grinned "Since we are all here, why don't we have a little chat with the High Priestess?"