05 | Tattletale

True to her word, Pursena did indeed go to the market and come back holding a brown paper bag filled with chicken wings. True to yours, you stayed put in the courtyard until she returned.

Thankfully she doesn't tell you to feed her again, otherwise you might have lost it and snapped. She only sits beside you, eating piece after piece of that massive chicken in silence. You don't know what kind of mutant birds people had to butcher to get meat that looked more like a weapon than food, but you have to admit, it looks good. And it's Pursena's favorite, the kind of meat she's always snacking on in class.

You're not too hungry though. Even if you were, everything in your body screams not to ask for anything from either Doldia girl. They'll just end up using that as leverage against you if you fall so low as to need or want something from them. That's how their pride works — it's twisted and it's ugly and they just can't get enough of being the ones on top.

You won't feed their ego. No way.

As you sit there beside Pursena while she continues chowing down on her food, part of you wishes to leave. Just get up and walk away, maybe come up with something fabricated to get away with good reason.

However the other part of you can't help but feel off. Like something's missing. The longer you hang around Pursena, this feeling grows stronger. Then it hits you. You face the dog-girl, immediately attracting a salty sidelong glance as though she could smell your thoughts.

"Your sister," you say. "Where is she?"

Pursena curiously lifts an eyebrow, swallowing her food. "Why?"

"She's normally always with you. I mean, I don't really care, but it's unusual to see... y'know... the mighty princesses not together."

You let that last part slip. Pursena glares at the sound of your words.

"First of all, watch your mouth before I have to watch it for you." She pauses to bite a chunk of meat off. "Second, don't worry about her."

"So you know where she's at."

Pursena's eyes wander a moment. You get a gut feeling she's trying to avoid the topic at hand, which is weird considering it's about her sister.

"I said don't worry about her."

"Does it have something to do with me? If she's gone and you guys are planning to do something to me, just tell me."

Thinking you could get through to her, you continue to press on. Pursena does not look amused in the slightest. In fact, so turned off by your attempt at figuring her and her sister out, Pursena grabs a chicken wing and smacks you across the face with it.

Whack!

"Shut up," she says then smacks you again. "Shut up, shut up, shut up." Four smacks. She stops to watch you rub your aching cheek. It's not as bad as when Linia punched you but those chicken wings — actually, chicken clubs — do sting.

"God, you're annoying," she grumbles. "Always talking and asking dumb questions. I'm not your friend. Quit talking so much. Unless it's important, keep your mouth shut."

You hesitate to speak further. "But it's about your sister." She smacks you again with the same wing.

"I said, don't worry about that. Are you deaf?"

You suppose there's no point in pressuring her, as that stubbornness she radiates will likely never die off. Clearly the sisters are working on something. Linia could be doing anything right now to set up the perfect scheme in order to get back at you for talking down on them yesterday. And here Pursena is, instructed to hold you hostage until the time is right.

It seems your dreams are not far off. You could argue even your own brain is trying to warm you, showing you images of the Doldia girls silently stalking into your room at night. Planning, whispering, attacking.

You can't take it. You want to get up and run to the dorms and lock yourself in your room. You never want to come out again because you know all too well that these girls are about to do something so irredeemable and cruel that you'll be forced far past breaking point. As you sit and think, you stare down in your lap at your sweaty palms.

They are going to show you who's boss, you know it. You can taste it in your overflow of fear and wonder. Thoughts belonging to school and money and free time have been reduced to nightmarish anxieties and terror.

You're sweating badly.

"Oi!"

In the blink of an eye, you're broken out of your horrific trance by a voice. You look up, as does Pursena, the two of you focusing attention on Linia who is casually walking down the brick path toward you. She's got her lips turned up in a half-frown, arms behind her head. Though she may look nonchalant and relaxed, there is a fire behind her red eyes.

Pursena looks... disappointed to see her sister showing up so soon. You wonder why.

When she's close enough to you and Pursena, Linia stops, examining the both of you like this is such an unusual sight. Her eyes merely linger on her sister but bore harshly through you.

"So, you're a snitch, eh?" she says. You immediately shake your head, not understanding quite yet but knowing well enough to shut whatever she's getting at down.

"I don't know what you're talking about," you stutter. She's not having it. In a quick and powerful lunge, she grabs you by your neck, twirls around and throws you to the ground. You fall forward into your stomach and feel the solid press of her boot on the back of your neck.

"Get off!" you shout, making her press her foot in deeper.

"See, I don't like snitches." Linia lifts her foot from your neck and instead delivers a hard kick to your ribs. You yell as the agonizing pain of her boot connecting with sensitive bone shoots through your body.

"I don't know how you pulled it off but thanks to you, the teachers are on my ass. I had to spend all morning getting lectured and yelled at because your sorry ass went and cried."

She kicks you again and you scream. It feels as if one more kick will have your ribs caging in, going beyond aches to become splintered. The pain is unbearable; you can barely move.

Linia stares down at you, a glare of judgment. You're curled up, hugging your ribs but not too tight otherwise you think they'll crack under pressure.

"Dipshit," she mutters. "So weak that you couldn't take a punch and went sobbing to the teachers the first chance you got. I should keep kicking your ass."

"Linia," Pursena starts to say but is swiftly off by her sister's terrifying glare.

"And you! You just sat here with Y/N and ate? You just ate, knowing damn well Y/N tattled. You could've been beating the snot out of 'em, but no — you choose to fill your mouth instead and have a nice little picnic."

Pursena looks to the side, embarrassed. "Well..."

"Well nothin'! I don't wanna hear it. You know what you did."

You clench your chest, huffing as Linia picks you back up. She holds you steady, looking like she's going to throw another punch. Haunted by the last, you find yourself instinctively flinching.

This seems to please her because she puts down her tight fist and groans.

"Snitch again and I'll actually beat you to a pulp, got it?"

You slowly nod, unable to do anything else while the girl holds you by the collar of your shirt. "Got it."

Why am I agreeing to this? I didn't tell anyone she punched me. I never had the chance. So why am I going along with this?

Oh...

I know why. I'm just scared.

Linia starts to grin, her eyes glued to yours. "Hey, I should make you start calling me Master. Or Miss."

"Linia," Pursena mumbles. Linia laughs in response and sets you back down on the bench beside her.

"I'm kidding, nya!" she chuckles. "Kinda. Anyway! Hand over your wallet, Y/N. I'm hungry."

You're absentmindedly rubbing your horribly pained ribs when Linia says that. In a weakened voice and whilst avoiding any eye contact — because you just want to get away from these girls — you respond to her bizarre command.

"I'm not giving you my wallet."

Linia's eyes narrow. "Come again?"

"I can't, I mean. I'm out of money." A lie. In truth you've still got those scraps left over from buying Pursena's basket of jerky. You can't let her know that though, otherwise she'll pick every last coin out and leave you struggling to feed yourself.

"Y/N spent the rest on me," Pursena butts into the conversation. Though you're not sure why. She understood the assignment that you needed to lie to get off the hook, yes, but why in the world would she help you sound further convincing?

Then again, can that actually be called help at all?

Since it's coming from both you and her sister, Linia reluctantly believes it. She doesn't pressure you further, instead crossing her arms and turning away,

You noticed though — before the feline-girl turned, her eyes landed on her sister, narrowed and sharp. Like she was evaluating Pursena then and there. It seemed odd at first but you did not dwell on the gesture.

"In that case, since you're a good-for-nothing punching bag with no more money, I'll just buy myself lunch, nya."

As you should, you bitterly think.

Linia's eyes wander to her sister once more. "Come with me. Let's leave Y/N alone for now. I wanna... talk."

"Talk?" Pursena doesn't budge from her seat beside you.

"I'll buy you lunch, too. Only if you come."

Pursena promptly hops up and goes to her sister's side after hearing such an irresistible offer. There she is. "Where to?"

The girls walk away, tails swishing about in the wind. Yet again they have come and gone to bother you, demand things of you, and attack you... and then vanish elsewhere. You're left alone on the bench but you don't stay very long. Soon enough you're up and limping on your way to the dorms to rest your throbbing chest.

Hmm...

Maybe you'll do as you imagined you would earlier and lock yourself in your room for a while. It's time for you to recuperate after all they've put you through.

Whatever the girls went to talk about over lunch must be the real scheme against you. At least that's what your anxiety tells you. By the time you're ready to leave your dorm, you can expect there to be hell to pay.

But for now...

You're exhausted. Both mentally and physically.

And your breaking point has never felt closer...