Lady Misfortune: Daddy, I'll Be A Righteous Villainess!

"What do you mean we have to eat by ourselves?"

As soon as lunchtime came, Lady was surprised to end up alone with Hartigan.

She didn't even notice when exactly Belle and Fallon slipped out of the classroom. Not to mention, Weiss didn't show up for class. That left Lady with no one but Hartigan.

"Where did the others run off to, Hearty?" she inquired, baffled.

"I'm not quite sure myself, but they said we can just go ahead," he replied without looking at her.

"Come to think of it, why does everyone seem frantic today? Is something of importance going on?"

"You're so clueless, Lady."

She tilts her head at that, a brow shot up. He appears kind of tense. Thinking she's making him feel uncomfortable, she decides she'll just relent. 

"Well, alright. Let's just eat on our own."

His face brightens up at that. She smiles.

Perhaps, he's thinking that she didn't want to have lunch with only him around. They may have a history of rivalry, but they're good friends now. In fact, he's one of the people she goes to whenever she feels discouraged. He's a reliable guy who's just awkwardly kind, and he knows how to cheer her up.

"You don't have to worry about the others, Lady…" he reassured her as both of them began to tread the path towards their usual hang-out spot. 

"They just went to take care of something. They would join us as soon as they could."

In reality, Hartigan wants to tell Lady the whole truth.

But he knows it's not his place to do so, especially since he can only explain so little. He's aware of what their friends are doing at the moment. As much as he wants to help them in exacting their revenge against the student council, he's been told that the best thing he can do is to watch over her.

"It's not just the SES we should be looking out for, you know. Lady has more enemies than we think. It'll be better if you stay with her, Hearty," was what Fallon told Hartigan before he left to look for Weiss. 

The fact that there are people who outwardly despise Lady is actually less surprising than what the Student Elite Society has done to her. There was one instance when Hartigan witnessed it firsthand. She was being badmouthed by a group of students who turned out to be Sarah's fans and admirers. 

He got furious, of course. They were clearly taking advantage of her friends' absence to throw all sorts of nasty words at her. She was emotionless that whole time, however. He could have easily misunderstood that she was fine. 

Hartigan knew that Lady was not. 

'Belle told me that she went to cry to her at the time. She also said that she refused to bring up the subject to Fallon and Weiss.'

It was then that he became certain. 

She doesn't really want to treat Sarah the way she does. Otherwise, she'd try to defend herself and justify her actions. Yet, she never said a thing to those people. She just keeps quiet all the time and lets them insult her. 

'I can't find it in myself to get angry at Sarah Gracelyn just because it's her supporters who always pester her. Whatever she and Lady have against each other, it's more like a personal matter rather than a public dispute that others can freely poke their noses in.' 

And that's exactly what the Student Elite Society did.

Hartigan was outraged upon learning the atrocity that had been done on Lady. It's only reasonable that Weiss, Fallon, and Belle want to make them pay. 

"Hey, since it's just the two of us, wanna try eating inside for today?" she suggested out of nowhere, surprising him a bit.

"I'm fine with that. But are you sure? I thought you dislike noisy places," he replied, a little skeptic.

"Summer's just around the corner, so it's too hot outside."

"I see. Then, let's go look for a spot." 

Despite everything, Hartigan is quite ecstatic to spend time alone with Lady.

It's been a while since they'd been by themselves. Lady is always hanging out with either Weiss or Fallon, after all, which gives Belle more reasons to tease Hartigan. He admits that he's jealous. But even though he feels that way, seeing her smile and have fun also makes him happy.

"Say, I've been thinking…" he began again, wanting to take this opportunity to tell her that one thing that was bugging him since that morning.

"What would you feel if someone were to… p-paint a portrait of you?"

"Huh…?" she blurted out, blinking up at him in puzzlement. 

"Well, let's see. I'd feel sorry."

"What?! Why?!"

"I'm pretty sure they're only forced to do it. Painting me just sounds too boring."

"Of course not! How could you say that? Neither you or painting is boring!"

Lady giggles at Hartigan's outburst.

He stares at her for a moment, wondering what's so funny. She should be taking this seriously. It's not easy to ask her that, especially for him.

"I'm just kidding, and I believe you…" she beamed at him, causing his heart to skip a beat.

"You're into painting, right? Perhaps, someday, you'd want to paint me?"

He already did, actually, and he's more than willing to do it again.

Hartigan feels like soaring when he hears that she doesn't mind at all. Lady even looks thrilled as she says he might want to create a painting of her.

There's a shine in her eyes that makes his light up. Her smile is as sweet as candies, her face as pretty as an art piece. The way she looks at him makes him feel warm all over.

And at once, a great deal of inspiration strikes Hartigan. Yet, before he can take up the request, Lady suddenly turns around. 

"Is something the matter?" he questioned, giving her a confused look. 

"I think I heard people talking," she answered before walking towards the direction where she believed those people were.

He immediately follows after her, getting a bad feeling about this. There isn't a lot of things that draw her attention like this. If she's concerned enough to actually take a look, it might be something pretty serious.

True enough, what they both find there is a group of students picking on a certain someone.

"This is all your fault!"

"If you haven't been going around flirting with them all the time, none of this would've happened to the student council."

"You're not worth it at all!"

"Since you were present during the incident, shouldn't you get interrogated too? Why does the student council have to go all through this trouble just to defend you?" 

It's Sarah. 

She's cornered up against a wall while her classmates surround her – their leader being the same girl who's interested in Orion. With a cold, steely look on her face, she holds her ground. She won't falter even against the difference in their number.

'I thought for sure she'd just up and left…' she grimaced, recalling what happened before things went down to this.

'She didn't say a word to me earlier, but apparently, she came back because of that ongoing live broadcast with the SES. How petty. She even brought her friends this time, and she kept talking about all thiw nonsense.'

She was on her way to eat her lunch in peace and quiet. But then, that interview with the Student Elite Society started playing. The next thing she knew she was being apprehended like she's some fugitive. Once again, she finds herself in trouble because of them.

"Well? What are you waiting for…?" her classmate snarled, shoving her so aggressively that her back hit the wall.

"Go there and put a stop to this. Tell them that you're the one to blame."

"Hold it right there, punks…" someone cut in all of the sudden, throwing all of them off guard.

"Who the hell are you to tell her what to do?"

Sarah can recognize who it is at any day. Whipping her head to the side, she then finds what she's expecting to find. Lady is standing there along with Hartigan. 

She can tell that she's fuming with how hard she's glaring at her offenders. That brings up the same question she's been thinking about since the incident at the café yesterday. She can't place the reason why she cares about her when things like this happen.

"Excuse me. I think you're not supposed to do that to anyone…" Hartigan chimed in, taking a few steps forward to stand in front of Lady.

"The issue may have something to do with her, but that's no excuse for you to force her."

Always the gentleman, it seems. 

For a while now, Sarah is curious about him. This one isn't part of her expectations of him that have been brought forth by that curiosity, though. She didn't expect him to appear together with Lady in this kind of scenario.

"Wait, what issue…?" asked Lady, dumbfounded.

"You know what they're talking about, Hearty?"

In all actuality, she seems to be the only one in the entire school right now who doesn't know.