Flowery Iris part 1

Chapter 3
Flowery Iris

Footsteps bounced off the white tile floor, illuminated through the window walls. The red and blue flowers outside brushed against the glass.

Felix stopped in front of the metal hatch, knocking twice.

He folded his arms. Dressed in a blue, tight fit shirt with long sleeves and a white trim.

For her to still be asleep at this hour...

Impatiently, he tapped his foot, but the response he received was a drowsy yawn,“Hngg… Go away.”

While waiting, he recalled an old memory, one where Luna went to his room and pulled up the sheets from his body.

Nodding to himself, he announced, “I’m opening the door.”

The metal hatch automatically opened as he entered, “Come on, Marie…”

“Hehe… who?” She responded, still in bed and wrapped in blankets.

“Me.”

“Hi me… ehe… ehehe…” She giggled.

“Marie…”

Maria buried herself in her sheets, murmuring, “Let me sleep forever.”

“You can sleep when you’re dead.” Felix entered the room with a scowl, perusing the messy, cluttered room with a disappointed expression. Yet his eyes squinted as the first thing that caught his attention was the light from the scattered shards of a broken mirror on top of her make-up filled desk.

“What happened to your mirror?” He mumbled under his breath.

He looked at his own hand, and a memory resurfaced. A warm smile from a white-haired woman.

With a focused gaze, he reached out his hand from where he stood, calling upon his power, “Come on, work.”

One of the mirror’s shards shimmered with a faint blue.

His hand trembled while his face twisted. Eyes twitching as a bead of sweat slid from his temple. But as soon as the sweat dropped down his chin, the blue glow dispersed into little sparks.

With a sigh, he walked towards it and picked up one of the shards, and took a long look at his reflection. There was nothing but disappointment hiding behind his mismatched eyes.

“Mhhmm~! Good morning.” The dark-haired young woman stretched out her arms.

He placed the shard back on the table, and turned to face her, shifting his expression from disappointment to his usual stoic scowl.

“About time you woke up, it’s ten A.M.”

“I was having some of that good sleep. Wait… what are you doing in my room?” She mumbled as the bedsheet covering her fell off her chest.

As she slowly glanced down, her eyes widened and her face turned beet-red.

Felix’s eyebrows raised slightly. Her slender frame covered only by purple underwear. The dark-haired woman pounced out of her bed and quickly wrapped herself in bedsheets.

“Wh-what’s wrong with you?!”

Felix let out a smirk and replied, “Heh, a great, many—”

Before he could finish, the pillow launched at him like a cannon, tearing off the edges of his raven-black hair as it cracked the window panes outside her room.

Disturbed, he shifted his gaze back to her, both eyes radiating a faint blue glow. In front of him, Maria’s face, flustered and flushed in red with eyes tightly closed.

“Get out!” she cried as she began to throw whatever she could get her hands on toward him.

He caught everything she threw at him and gently put them down in an attempt to calm her down.

“I can’t get out if you keep throwing— Eh, what’s this…?” He distractedly said as he inspected a black, oily substance that slithered out of the bottle he caught.

“N-No fair! You’re using Blue Mode!” She bumbled to speak, snapping Felix out of his threatened state.

“I just…what is this— Wait, Blue Mode? Does that mean that…” He looked at her while the black fluid clung to his hand.

Maria whimpered, still clinging to one of her pillows, “Get out of my room!”

“Fine, fine.” He replied as he walked away.

With an infuriated smile, she clenched her fist in response.

Did my powers trigger from her—

Clueless and curious, Felix left the room with his hand on his chin. Only for a chill to run down his spine the moment he stepped out, a sixth sense suddenly screamed for self-preservation.

— Bloodlust?

A second pillow was launched at him, blurred.

He bent out of it’s way, ducking backwards as it blurred above him, followed by a sharp voice pierced the corridor.

“KYAH!” A girl from yelped, ambushed by the pillow.

“Marie, careful!” He scolded, glancing back at the dark-haired woman.

“Your fault!” Maria cried out as the door automatically shut.

Felix turned towards the collateral damage. The girl’s body was sprawled on the hallway. Her silvery-white hair scattered across the floor’s surface, with Maria’s pillow covering her face.

Standing beside her was a blond young man, with hands tucked in the pockets of his dark-red coat. His face obscured by the shadow against the morning light, not even bothering to glance over to her.

“Sorry about that…” Felix knelt down and lifted the pillow off her face.

Instead of getting up, the young lady raised her hands and placed them against his cheeks.

Felix pulled back, slightly startled by her soft touch.

“Your eyes…” She said, “They’re like flowers.”

Her thumb brushed the mole under his right eye, as if trying to wipe away a blemish on a clean canvas.

The white-haired woman found herself captivated by his azure eyes. An ethereal light bloomed from his iris, flowing out like tides and weaving intricate details that resembled petals. Not reflecting the world’s light, but rather creating its own.

Though the same could be said of hers — blooming with a cosmic crimson.

“My eyes…?” Felix blinked, lost in thought.

My face felt hot as her palms touched my cheeks. Her hands were soft and cold and smelled of citrus. Her face was small and cute, no, beautiful, even. With bright red eyes held a piercing gaze, yet I found that my focus was drawn mostly to her long silvery hair. It reminded me so much of—

“Like a flower… A flowery iris, like ours.” Her voice was soft and sweet.

He slowly asked, “You’re also… who…?”

“Come on, Isa. A hit like that shouldn’t have taken you out.” The blond man said as he knelt down next to them.

With his back turned from the window, the shadows obscured his face. And yet his eyes could be seen clearly, radiating with the same crimson light as the girl on the floor.

Felix watched as he extended his hand. But to his surprise, instead of helping her up, he reached for the pillow.

The silver-haired girl pressed her arms behind her head, and sprang back to her feet, performing a kip-up, “Sorry, it just caught me off guard! Hehe.” She playfully grinned.

As the two of them got up, so did Felix.

The blue-eyed young man got a clear look at the two in front of him. The girl with silver-hair and crimson eyes was dressed in a white blouse with fitted black pants, while the blond man beside her stood half a foot taller than him, with golden hair and keen facial features. His eyes were sharp, painfully sharp, and had an air of danger surrounding him.

“That girl just now had a mean swing… I’d like to compare.” The red-eyed man spoke, pulling back his arm with his hand clenched on the pillow.

“What do you—?”

With a wry smile and a tinge of red glow, the pillow instantly escaped Felix’s line of sight. Followed by a loud bang that echoed through the corridors.

“What?!” Maria yelled out from her room as she was in the middle of changing.

Felix turned his head to Maria’s door. A cold sweat dripped down his face as he tried to process what had happened, “That was…”

After a small pause, he looked back at the two strange guests, but they were already far across the hall.

The blond visitor looked back and said, “So you’re the Blue Phantom? Frankly, I’m not impressed.”

“You’re so petty.” The silver-haired girl remarked.

“Hey! Who are you two?” Felix asked loudly.

The blond young man looked over his shoulder and waved, “I have a feeling you’ll find out very soon.”

But the white-haired woman turned around, “Actually, the two of us are—” Only for the blond man to cover her mouth.

“Don’t answer him!”

The two then turned the corridor.

“Gobshite.” Felix whispered under his breath as he watched them.

As soon they were out of sight, the door opened wide with Maria sloppily dressed, “What was that loud n—NANI THE FUCK?!” She shouted as she saw the consequences of her actions.

The entrance to her room had been marked with a crater, decorated with traces of cloth and cotton.

“That was probably payback.” Felix shrugged. The blue in his right iris slowly faded, and returned into a pitch-black color.

“This is an metal door! They dented it! WITH A PILLOW! MY PILLOW!” Maria put her hands on the sides of her head. The shock of seeing the remains of her pillow embedded into her silvery door is apparent from her expression.

“You know, I’m still processing how you broke an iron-wall with a firework…”

“That’s different! That’s an explosive! Not a fluffy— floof—sleep thing! This is just weird, strange!”

“Yeah, those two are strange…” His voice shrunk to a whisper, “… Still not as strange as a certain someone.”

“Could they be fun, I wonder?” Maria whispered under her breath with a grin on her face.

Rolling his eyes, he sighed, “What’s wrong with—”

“No. No! You do not! Get to say that! Right now!” She yelled, sulking and sour, before slamming the door against his face.

Stunned by the metallic bang, Felix’s eye twitched, “Marie, it’s ten in the—”

Raising his hand to knock, only to stop as he looked at the dent.

“Maybe those two are still…” His footsteps echoed as he chased after them, but as he turned the hall, “Gone…”

With a sigh, he placed his hands against his chin.

Inside her room, Maria leaned against her dented door, her back sliding down the cold metal.

She picked up the small bottle that had spilled across the floor, the liquid staining her fingers black. With a quiet breath, she ran her fingers through her hair.

Her cheeks flushed as she sighed under her breath, “Idiot…”

Strengthening her resolve, she got up and opened the bent door. She turned towards the hallway, weakly murmuring, “Felix…”

However, a familiar face greeted her from behind. An older man with gray hair and a mustache, “Miss Readman.”

“Hm? Oh, Murphy?” She cleared her throat, “What’s up?”

“The chief has requested an audience.”

“Oh, alright.” She nodded, before looking the other direction, “Can I have breakfast first?”