"He's going to be part of the observation period too," Remington said clearly.
"Not that. I thought we agreed on beating him to death after coming out from the dungeon." Aslan said, causing Melodie's jaw to drop.
His fear returned, his shoulders trembling.
'Beat me to death!? That's too inhumane! Ah!' Melodie raged internally.
"Oh, that." Remington recalled his past agreement with a bitter tone, then he looked at Melodie.
The little freak was already shaking like a wet leaf. But the symbol he had on his stomach…
Remington gritted his teeth and made an exhausted sound before he returned to his bed.
"We have to push that plan back a little. He's one of us now," he said indifferently, plopping down on the bed.
Melodie, whose pores had already been leaking sweat, relaxed a bit after hearing those words. He was so relieved that he smiled unconsciously.
"You fool. Don't, for one second, think that I won't wring your neck the moment I find out that your existence isn't significant." Aslan threatened Melodie, his reddish-amber eyes flashed sinisterly.
Melodie gulped down on his saliva. This particular deity of his was too fierce!
"One more thing," Remington spoke up, breaking the frightening atmosphere. He looked at Melodie and said, "Talk to your father about the symbol one more time. No normal person would see it and choose to pass it off as a 'simple birthmark'. Your father probably knows something about the symbol."
Melodie shook his head firmly. "If he did, he would tell me. My dad doesn't lie to me."
Melodie only had his father. His mother had never been in the picture, and his father cherished him dearly. His father had never refused him anything, no matter how outrageous his demands were.
And he had asked his father many times when he was younger about the symbol, only getting the same response each time which was why he believed that it was an ordinary symbol.
Because his father had never lied to him.
"Hmmf, so you're a daddy's boy? It shows," Aslan scorned Melodie with a condescending tone.
"What's wrong with being a daddy's boy?" Melodie questioned with no sense of shame.
Aslan was silent, clueless on how to respond to the fool standing in front of him. He followed the path of keeping quiet and ignoring Melodie, only wearing his condemnation on his face.
"I don't care about your relationship with your father. Just get him to tell you all he knows about that symbol." Remington demanded straightforwardly, his blue eyes sharpened with impatience.
"Okay," was all Melodie could say, giving in without a fight as he knew that his personal opinion didn't really matter in this room.
"With that said, both of you can kindly leave my room now." Remington said, swinging his legs up to the bed.
"Don't even wanna stay in this sick place anymore," Aslan was quick to say, already turning around to leave.
"Wait!" Melodie called out, his voice hinted at panic.
Remington turned his way. Aslan rotated his neck. Melodie's gut twisted. Strands of hair stuck to his sweaty forehead as he scrambled over his next set of words.
"I- um… you, hah. I–"
"Speak up." Aslan snapped impatiently, causing Melodie to flinch.
"My camera!" Melodie blurted in the spur of the moment.
"What?" Remington questioned.
Melodie wanted to crawl into the earth and hide himself. But he had to speak up now, lest he part from his five months' worth allowance forever.
"The c-camera you took from me. I w-was wondering if I could get it back." Melodie's voice came out barely a whisper.
"What did you just say?" Agitation gnawed at Aslan's tone.
Melodie was really stomped on what to do, so he raised the pitch of his voice only by a hairstring.
"The camera you guys took from me…"
"I smashed it to pieces." Remington said in an instant after processing Melodie's words.
"WHAT!?!?" Melodie exploded, his eyes bulging out from their sockets in complete shock. "What about the book??"
"Burned it to ashes." Aslan said without emotion.
Melodie suddenly collapsed on the floor. He clutched the sides of his head, tugging at his hair.
His camera… Melodie had spent 5000 gold coins on that camera. Then an extra 1500 coins in purchasing a memory card.
And they smashed it to pieces. Just like that.
"Wahhhhhhh!" Melodie broke into a devastating sob. "My precious camera… Haaaaaa!"
He didn't even care about Helena's book. She could always come up with new ideas for her stories. But his camera. Where was he going to start from with getting a new one??
Just thinking about it made Melodie cry even harder. The two Espers watched him with an averse expression on their faces.
"Hey, you. Go and cry outside of my room." Remington said in annoyance.
He had wanted to rest, now Melodie was busy making a fuss and disturbing him.
Melodie didn't hear what Remington said to him. He was too deep in his tears and the fact that he had lost one of his most expensive purchases in the blink of an eye.
Melodie crouched on the floor and cried like a little baby. Aslan was so ticked off by the scene that he walked over to Melodie and yanked him up to his feet.
"Stop with your annoying crying," Aslan said.
"Wuwu…" Melodie shivered as he cried.
"Get him out of my room, please." Remington emphasized on the last word to show his frustration.
Aslan nodded. It seemed like because of Melodie, the two of them had been agreeing more on things these days. Aslan pulled Melodie out of the room without any regard for the latter's well-being.
His grip on Melodie's upper arm was tight and merciless. Melodie was still crying as Aslan led him out of the school's clinic, covering his mouth in order not to draw attention to the two of them.
When they were far enough behind a deserted building, Aslan practically tossed Melodie and wiped the slobber on his hand against the nearest wall. Melodie had almost hit a wall after being flung away, but he was still crying, forgetting that he was now alone with someone like Aslan.
"Though Rem had said not to beat you up yet, I still feel like smashing your face in." Aslan said viciously.
Melodie immediately stopped crying after hearing these words. His tear-stained cheeks and weak countenance were a sight to behold at this point.
"Why would you…"
"Just one punch." Aslan clenched his right hand into a fist before it was engulfed in flames.
Melodie's pupil dilated. He took a step backwards to run away but ended up tripping on air and dropping on the ground.
"Stay like that. Perfect."