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

Weiss only smiled, refusing Lady's offer.

"I'm good. Thanks. Besides, these are your spoils. You have to enjoy them."

Lady shrugs and finishes off another fry before passing the rest to Belle. Fallon gets some and gives one to Hartigan who is still sulking.

"That sure was a lot of drama over some fries…" Weiss commented. 

"Couldn't they have just shared it earlier?"

"That's a good point…" Lady conceded. 

"But it's kind of more fun this way. Speaking of, what did happen earlier?"

"Hartigan lunged for the fries. Belle almost got squished…" Fallon explained, looking a little more grouchy than usual.

"Then, the rest is history."

For a moment, he regarded Weiss in silence, which soon earned him a questioning look. Unbothered that he caught him staring, he pulled Lady aside and went on to inquire, "You're new here, huh? Where are you from?"

"Nowhere in particular…" Weiss answered. 

"My father's nomadic, you can say."

"Are you a family of monks…?" Hartigan chimed in.

"I've never seen anyone with such white hair."

"Monks…?" Lady repeated, bemused.

"You mean like that one from that cartoon? The Avatar show, I'm guessing. He's a nomad, and he's a monk, isn't he?"

He nodded at that.

Weiss has no idea what cartoon show they're talking about. He does know what a monk is, though. So, he shook his head and answered Hartigan's question. 

"No, I'm not a monk. As for the hair, it's special in my family."

"Oh! So, like Draco from Harry Potter? You're like a pureblood!"

"Harry Potter? What's that?"

"What?! You've never heard of Harry Potter?!"

Weiss blinked rapidly in bafflement. It seemed that these Avatar and Harry Potter shows were quite a deal. Hartigan was even gaping in shock and disbelief. 

"Anyway, I was wondering. What's your full name, Weiss?" Belle cut in.

She noticed his hesitation. But eventually, as if trying to make her think that she's only mistaken, he calmly responded, "Weiss Saoirse." 

Belle gives Fallon a look. Weiss saw it.

But it's so brief he's not sure if he imagined it or not. Besides, these two couldn't have been talking about him behind his back – not with the events from his arrival until then. Even so, he absolutely can't let the possibility slide. With that in mind, he masks a scrutinizing expression under a disarming grin.

The bell rings.

"Shoot! We're late!"

Belle and Hartigan rush past him, running back inside. Weiss turned around to call for Lady – but she's nowhere in sight. Fallon isn't there either. 

Maybe he hadn't imagined that look.

---

After receiving Belle's signal, Fallon pulled Lady behind an oak tree a few meters away.

"What's your deal?" he whispered.

"What do you mean? And why're we whispering?" she whispered back.

"You just don't bring anyone here. You came late to lunch. You're actively looking for him. Something's definitely up. So, confess. What's your reason?"

"Oh, come on. You're taking this way too seriously. I just wanted to-"

She cut herself off when he shot her a glare. That made her sweat beads.

Of course, Fallon would notice something. Lady should've seen it coming.

"I think I've met him before, Fallon. It's almost as if I'm instantly drawn to him. I found myself trying to get to know him all day…" she confessed.

"I know that you don't like it when I approach just anybody, but I really want to figure out if I did meet him in the past." 

"Somebody you knew, huh? Alright…" he accepted – not without giving her a stern look. 

"I understand that. But there's one thing I don't get."

"What?" 

"Why did you bring him here? You could have arranged weekend hang-outs or led him to us during dismissal. You could have done anything else but bring him here – to our very secret spot. He's still supposed to be as good as a stranger. So, why did you?"

Lady pursed her lips. Then, she recalled what Weiss wrote to her earlier.

'Not as pretty as you.'

Before she could utter another word, they suddenly heard what sounded like a rustle from behind them. But then, when they turned and looked at where it came from, they found no one there.

For some unknown reason, Lady felt a sense of foreboding at that moment.

---

Despite the bad weather that afternoon, Ms. Mirabella is as exuberant as always – serving as the source of life in a dull, bleak four-walled prison. 

Classroom, Lady corrected herself. Glancing to the side, she was then met by an empty seat. She sighed as it gazed back at her. It's already been one week since Weiss stopped showing up in class.

She hadn't seen him since that day. 

Lady came late to their sixth class period and noted that he wasn't there. Weiss hadn't been at their last class as well. 

She'd sprinted out of the classroom as soon as the dismissal bell rung. She'd been sure she'd find him once class was over, and she'd posted herself at the school gate just to make sure she wouldn't miss his car.

Lady waited for over an hour. Still, there's no car. No Weiss.

She'd been frustrated.

On the start of the next week, when she learned that he'd been absent again, her bottled-up frustration had turned into worry. Then, the days rolled on, and her disquietude worsened.

She'd asked Ms. Mirabella if he'd notified the school of his whereabouts. She'd worried that she'd tell her that Weiss had been hospitalized or something, but she'd only laughed off her concern. 

"I wouldn't be so worried about that boy if I were you, little lady~" 

Ms. Mirabella had patted her on the head before sauntering away. It's almost as if she's treating Lady like a small ignorant child.

She'd pouted. She'd kept pouting for a few more days after that.

Now, her homeroom teacher is dancing away at the front, discussing dangling modifiers enthusiastically. She can relate – not with her class adviser. While she knows she's a vivacious girl, she's not feeling so upbeat at the moment. Rather, she can relate with the lesson on a metaphorical level.

Lady feels like a dangling modifier herself. It's like meeting Weiss has been a sentence, and she'd been placed at the wrong end – desperately lost and utterly meaningless.

Lady sighs into her elbow. Fallon had given her a bit of talking-to as well. He'd been telling her to just straight-up ask Weiss if they'd met before.

Apparently, he believes that his absence has something to do with that. 

"Otherwise, it must be because of something else that I think you shouldn't poke your nose into. Just let him mind his own business. To be honest, I think you're being nosy. You kept asking everyone you could ask. Surely, there's a reason why he didn't tell you anything," was what he had told her back then. 

Belle commented something about Fallon being overprotective again, which Lady really didn't get. 

Regardless, she still has no seatmate, and she still feels like dangling on the edge of a cliff she didn't even know she'd fallen over. She let out a breath, waiting for the day to end. 

The day ending means going home. Going home means she can distract herself over the weekend. 

'Maybe he will come back next week. Why does he have to be gone to begin with?'

Lady is getting tired.

She doesn't like the way her thoughts keep circling around. She amuses herself with trying to balance as many pencils as she can on her pinky finger until the bell finally rings. She then recalls that she actually has an appointment today.

"Oh, right! I'll be seeing Granny and Granpa tonight again!" Lady blurted out before packing up in a hurry and rushing out of the classroom. 

---

She looks like a flower.

Not that he would say that to anyone. It was weird enough that he noticed and made that comparison – and anyone listening would most definitely take it to mean something it didn't mean, so he's going to keep it to himself.

Even so, that doesn't change the fact that when she comes into the shop every last day of the week, only an hour before he gets off his shift, he sees that shock of blonde hair sticking out all over the pace and immediately, almost unintentionally, looks at the collection of marigolds that'd been arranged neatly at the back of the shop and wonders if she herself realizes she looks exactly them.

From time to time, she'd smile at him.

It's embarrassing whenever it happens. That's because she does it only when she looks over and catches him staring, which he's just doing because he has nothing better to do, and because she's the only one in the store besides him, and because comparing her to marigolds in his head is just so much more interesting than his piles of homework.

He blushes and looks down at his notebook hurriedly, pretending he hasn't been practically gawking at her like an idiot and that he doesn't hear the way she giggles to herself when he runs out the door as soon as his mother comes downstairs to take over.

"That's my son…" he heard her say to her. 

"He's not that smart."

Weiss swears – if there's anyone there who'll end up busting him out to Lady, it'll be this mother of his.