“Do I need to wear this? And do you need to be the one changing me?”

  Rumia was in one of the washrooms of the castle. Her usual checkered uniform folded neatly to the side as Yuzu finished buttoning up the suit jacket. She was here for her job, working under Rebecca as her secretary. The dark blue suit itself only loosely fit, though the pencil skirt managed to stay on well.

  “You know, with anyone else I would say this dress blends too much into the night, but with your glow… it doesn’t look half bad,” Yuzu said, ignoring Rumia’s questions.

  “I don’t see why I need a uniform,” Rumia said. “It would be convenient if I didn’t have to change constantly.”

  “Rebecca has an aesthetic she likes, why else do you think that Grimace always wears that suit?” Yuzu said. “I don’t necessarily have to follow that, though. I guess I’m not as special.”

  “Yeah, whatever,” Rumia rolled her eyes. She wasn’t going to be a fan of changing into this uniform every time she had to work, but she couldn’t necessarily say no to the governor’s orders now.

  “Shall you start?” Yuzu asked. The executioner began to pull Rumia out of the restroom and into the waiting room. Rumia felt awkward wearing this fancy, slightly oversized attire, but Yuzu dragged her along to the main office. There, she saw Rebecca sitting at her desk, covered in paperwork.

  “Ah, welcome back, Rumia. I see you’re looking quite fancy now,” Rebecca said, with a smile. Rumia scoffed at the lady, but she remembered that her attitude should remain professional.

  “So, what should I do now?” Rumia asked the governor.

  “Well, I already have quite the stacks of paper here. If you could help me sort them, that would take a weight off my shoulders.” She pointed to a towering stack of paperwork. Each of them seemed to be titled something different. “Just sort them based on their title into the baskets over there.”

  Rebecca then pointed to a set of baskets on a drawer nearby. It was labeled with various words, ones for stores, ones for businesses, ones for trading. There was a lot of governmental jargon that she didn’t necessarily understand.

  “Are you sure I can do this?” Rumia asked. “These papers seem pretty dense.”

  “Just do it based on the titles. You’re a smart girl, you’ll be fine,” Rebecca said. She began to dive into another paper, leaving Rumia alone to tackle this heap that faced her.

  Rumia’s brain was melting out of her eyes. She felt like she was in class again, but unlike in class, she had no idea about anything. Everything that happened in this office was just a vague blur.

  The glowing girl had worked up a sweat walking back and forth between the desk and the drawers, scanning through the title of the paper and putting it into what she assumed was the proper drawer. Rebecca was constantly immersed in her paperwork, and it felt like she had an infinite amount that she cycled through.

  Honestly, this wouldn’t be so bad if it weren’t for the fact that Yuzu was astutely watching every single move. She could barely find any moment to look around when if she even made so much as a wrong step, Yuzu would immediately call her out.

  This led to a really tedious day of walking back and forth, reading paperwork that she did not care about. This barely felt any different compared to just lying in her bed, thinking about things. She began to wonder if even taking this job was a waste of time, but she shook her head. There had to be something.

  “Well,” Rebecca eventually looked up from her stack of papers, marking down another signature. “I think you’ve done enough work for now. Let’s have a break.”

  Rumia looked up at her, finally free from the numbing paperwork. She would take it, even if she didn’t necessarily achieve anything from this procedure. She was just happy to escape.

  “Let’s go to eat at the restaurant in the castle,” Rebecca suggested. “They always have good stuff. I’ll cover you both.”

  “Yeah… yeah…” Rumia groaned. Rebecca got up from her chair, with Yuzu following alongside her. Rumia dragged her feet across the ground to follow the two, but it seemed like Yuzu got sick of her slow walking, so the glowing girl received a tug on her arm to be dragged out of the office.

  The restaurant was a gaudy tourist place integrated near the castle, but it also served another crucial function of being a go-to location for a lot of the government workers to have their lunch. This extended to the governor, as well, who was eating a salad.

  “Fine day, isn’t it?” Rebecca said. “I appreciate having you around.”

  “Ugh,” Rumia’s displeasure was very clearly visible on her face. The food she was eating was good, but she couldn’t enjoy herself. Yuzu staring at her did not help, but she also just felt like she achieved nothing today.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  “Cheer up. I have more interesting days,” Rebecca said. “Plus, you are getting paid aren’t you?”

  Rumia supposed that was correct. She ate her glowing soup, giving her a slight boost in energy at the very least.

  “What are your more interesting days?” Rumia asked, out of curiosity.

  “I’m an engineer at heart, I have some projects, they’re just not something I’m focusing on today. The bureaucratic nonsense does get in the way of that, but I make time for it,” Rebecca said.

  “Does that include PASCAL?” Rumia said, rather bluntly. She then got flicked in the forehead by Yuzu, which caused her to yelp.

  “Don’t think you’re better than a civilian,” Yuzu said. “You only get access to non-classified information.”

  “Lighten up, Yuzu. PASCAL is my greatest creation, after all,” Rebecca said. “Can’t blame anyone for being interested.”

  Rumia grumbled under her breath. She continued to quietly eat her food alongside her new company. Things always had to be difficult for her. Soon, she’ll be able to get out of this suit at the very least.

  “Rebecca!” A familiar smarmy male voice approached them. With a completely ironed suit and an untainted smile, Rumia saw a certain Jaelin Martyn approach the group.

  “Jaelin?” Rebecca turned to him. “How are you doing? Have the contracts been going well?”

  “Yes, yes, going wonderfully. So many businesses have been willing to cooperate with the government, it truly makes our job easier…”

  The two of them began to discuss government-related stuff. Rumia’s brain slowly began to tune it out as it just devolved into bureaucratic babble. If she thought the city was suffocating, then this job was a whole new trap. Just, hearing them talk on and on about something that she couldn’t care about.

  “On another note,” Jaelin said. “How goes Evaine?”

  “Her funeral? We’ve set that up, I don’t think I need the body anymore to complete the investigation. We’ll deal with the family later, it’s just the case itself hasn’t been easy,” Rebecca said.

  “Really now?” Jaelin asked. “I’m surprised at your eagerness to take on this case yourself. You are far less of a detective than Grimace was.”

  “Yes, but… I simply don’t think he’s fit for the case. It’s better to have him focus on other things.”

  The two continued to talk, to which Rumia finally bit the bullet and nudged Yuzu in the arm. Getting over the harsh look that she received as a response, she mustered up a question.

  “What are they talking about? Why are they bringing up Grimace?”

  “Grimace works on solving these cases usually. He just hasn’t been able to,” Yuzu responded.

  “Well, maybe he should do that instead of bugging me all the time.”

  “No. You’re more important than any one murder.”

  That was an answer that disturbed her. The way Yuzu said that, and stared at her calmly while doing so, was unsettling in a way Rumia could not explain. She didn’t want to finish her food anymore.

  At that point, Rebecca had waved Jaelin off. The two of them agreed to talk at some other time. Rebecca then looked at Rumia.

  “I still have some personal work to do,” Rebecca said. “But you can go home now. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Rumia’s eyes lit up at the words, it was like she had just broken free from the strongest chains known to man. It didn’t take more than a second, before she stood up and immediately bolted out of the restaurant, leaving behind everything to just leave this castle.

  She then tripped over, and fell on her face. She couldn’t wait to get out of this uniform as well.

  Rumia and Yuzu approached the Lunar Academy. She never thought she would be happy to see this place again, but she was. The glowing girl hurried up the stairs, heading straight to her dorm room.

  With a quick shove, she pushed back into the now-comforting room, and she heard the whirring sound of one of Anise’s projects being worked on in the background.

  “Oh, you’re back! How was your first day?” Anise cheerfully greeted her.

  “It’s whatever. I want to nap, sleep, whatever. Just, to stop moving for a while,” Rumia said. She ran to the bathroom and threw off that uniform, changing back into her normal clothes before running straight to her bed.

  “Interning is tough, I’ve never been able to make the time,” Anise said, still working on the machine. “Probably good for you though, considering your position.”

  “Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Rumia said. She then ducked under the covers and clutched her pillow tight. She just wanted to sleep. Her body was slowly drifting off to the bed, before she heard the sound of the door opening.

  That confused her. Anise was already in the room, loudly working on something. Who opened the door? Rumia peeked out of the covers, and saw a certain executioner casually waltz into the room.

  “Hm? Can I help you, Miss…?” Anise turned around to ask.

  “Yuzu. I’m your new Grimace, essentially,” Yuzu explained. “Don’t mind me.”

  “Oh, I see. Uh, is there any reason you’re in our room? Grimace normally doesn’t do that,” Anise said.

  Yuzu’s eyes shifted to Rumia, before turning back to Anise.

  “Our job is to guard Rumia, I consider this a necessary addition. Please, continue to work while I am here. You should feel safe with me around.”

  Rumia’s tiredness quickly vanished. What replaced it was nervousness. Nervousness about a lot of questions that were flooding her mind. Why was Yuzu still following her? In her own room? Not even PASCAL looked in these rooms, so why her? Did Yuzu suspect something?

  “Oookay,” Anise said. She turned around to keep on working, and as soon as Yuzu took her eyes off of Anise, Rumia felt them pierce towards her. A new, awful feeling of being watched that even she wasn’t used to. She couldn’t sleep anymore, because this girl would be watching her during it.

  Is this what Yuzu was going to be like, all the time? She could only hope not, but a bad feeling stirred in her gut. She could only hope that maybe it would get better. Even if she wasn’t entirely sure.