golden fields

Blue scanned the horizon to know where to go. ahead of the art faculty was a group of seemingly dilapidated buildings, probably not the best place to be. the residential area seemed like an interesting place, so he headed in that direction

he knew he reached the residential area because there was a sign he could somehow read confirming it. the buildings were not unlike what his original world had, clean and with a mundane atmosphere from people going about their day, a relieving and familiar sight after getting past the fact that most people had huge animal ears or tails

there seemed to be no graffiti or litter whatsoever, a sight so beautiful, Blue took it as proof that this world must indeed be heaven

after traversing the main street, he saw a field shining golden with the rays of the midday sun, him already elated with how pleasant his morning had been, simply had to walk in there and bask in the gold

Blue: (hmm, i dont recognize these plants, is it wheat?, the fact they have crops is very interesting, for a university on an island)

a rustle in the plants nearby yanked him out of his thoughts, he raised his hands preemptively to declare his peaceful motives in there, but there was no need, for the person he found there was Flowers, the girl he first met. for some reason she had taken her boots off, walking around barefoot

she seemed to be looking for something, Blue moved some plants to make noise in order to draw her attention, cautious of possibly startling her if he addressed her directly. The method worked, she noticed

Flowers: oh, its you

Blue: good morning, or afternoon. are you looking for suspicious people?

Flowers: huh?, no, please dont distract me, im on a very important mission

Blue: aahh alright, sorry. Is there something i can help with?

Flowers: civilians dont need to worry with official affairs

Blue: alright then, i’ll just be over there

he went on his way, exploring the fields, taking his leisurely time to know every inch

Blue: (it feels great to just be able to explore without worrying about anything, only in my dreams could i do this)

until he saw something glistening on the ground

he picked up a locket, the paint was chipping away despite it not looking like an ancient relic. Inside rested a selfie of a young couple

Blue: (hmm, this seems to be important, good thing thing that girl Flowers is around)

he followed the direction of the crops rustling until he found Flowers again

Blue: hey, sorry to interrupt, i found this, and it looks important, so i thought an officer would be the right person to handle it

Flowers: oh! where did you find that?, i’ve been looking for it for so long, gotta give it to its owner!

she bolted out of there, leaving her pair of boots behind, running barefoot across the street unbothered by the terrain

She arrived at the residential area and entered one of the department buildings, called for someone in the reception, and delivered the locket. After all the trouble, seeing the girl’s grateful and happy expression made it all worth it.

Flowers realized she was dirtying the floor with her muddy feet, so she grabbed a mop and cleaned the mess and her feet, then she walked out out of the building, troubled

Flowers: where did I leave my boots?...

Blue: looking for these?

Flowers: oh!, how did you…?

Blue: i assumed you were gonna look for them so i followed you here, i hope im not troubling you

Flowers: nono, t-thank you. knowing myself, i would have spent another 3 days looking for them, thats how much i spent looking for the locket, oh!, and thank you for finding that too, i forgot to thank you before, didn’t i?

Blue: don't worry, im glad i could help

Flowers: its funny isn’t it?, im supposed to be helping people but instead I'm the one being helped because I'm…

she was probably about to insult herself, but hesitated

Blue: don't worry about it, sometimes we have bad streaks, there’s nothing wrong with being helped

Flowers: its not just a bad streak, im always forgetting where i put things, im bad at finding lost belongings, im not even good at communicating and i come across as rude. and i wanted to help people like this?, what a joke. at least it doesn't matter anymore… i’ll be sent back home soon

those words came through directly from the cracks of her heart, it was impossible for Blue to ignore

Blue: how are you so sure that you’ll be sent back home? have other students been expelled for having similar flaws?

Flowers: oh, no, not because of that, the entire security faculty is closing down. its the biggest news in the island these past weeks, you have to live under a rock not to know. oh, but you just arrived recently, that's understandable

Blue: indeed it is news to me, what a wild decision tho, to decide to close the faculty and just send everyone home, a little unfair in my opinion

Flowers: it is what it is, the others are protesting at the park, but thats not doing much. if they knew the history of the faculty, perhaps they wouldn’t be there

Blue noticed Flowers moving her feet away from the concrete heated by the midday sun, so he did bodily clues for her to follow him to the shade under a nearby tree

Blue: the history of the faculty?

Flowers: yeah, from what i read, the security faculty was used to attack students back in the day, before the student revolution, this whole island was ruled by the directives, and they wanted everyone to stay put, anyone who criticized would get beat up by the security students

Blue: i can totally picture directives doing that, quite the typical move

Flowers: yeah, sadly, police forces have always been used by powerful people to beat up others. I joined the security faculty because I wanted to help others, turns out i was training to be a bully all this time.

Blue: sadly that does tend to be the case, but its not all the time

Flowers: I think I would quit the moment I was ordered to bully someone, im not cut to be an officer, im not cut to be anything…

Blue: perhaps you’re being too hard on yourself, have you tried doing everything there is in this world to know you are absolutely not cut to be anything?

Flowers: no, but whats the point in trying everything if i cant be what i wanted?

Blue: to be someone who helps others?

Flowers: yeah, to help others, to be someone people feel happy and safe to see… its childish isn’t it?

Blue: not at all, nobody is being judgemental here but you, and i think you can start trying things that get you closer to being the kind of person you want to be, you don't have to be an officer to be that kind of person, there’s many routes up the mountain. Does this make sense to you?, or maybe im just saying a lotta nonsense, im just an outsider after all

Flowers: “many routes up the mountain”? corny. all i know is i’ll keep helping others, thats what i’ve been doing, and i gotta get back to it. Don't get in trouble, and thanks

she put on her boots and marched away with her head high

Blue: (giving free therapy again, will i ever learn?)