Chapter Text
‘What I wouldn’t give for some meat skewers right now,’ Maomao thought. She gazed out the bus window, watching the buildings go by. It was 7 in the morning, and she was on her way to her new school. Only 2 months before, Maomao was happily being homeschooled by her father, and now, she had unwillingly moved to a boarding school.
Well, she hadn’t moved yet. At her feet, there was a medium-sized suitcase. Inside it, there were mostly clothes, just necessities. She had already sent her other things ahead, and she couldn’t wait to open the gift from her sisters waiting for her. Her sisters weren’t related to her, but she treated them as family nonetheless. Pairin, Meimei, and Joka were minor celebrities even though they were still in high school. People from all across the city went out of their way to visit the Verdigris house, an elite nightclub only some could afford.
Don’t get any ideas. The Verdigris house is sophisticated, no funny business goes on around there.
Maomao heard a ding.
‘I guess that's my cue,’ she mused, then got out of her seat, and off the bus. She looked up. There, in front of her, was her new school and living space, Rear Palace boarding school. She thought it was a strange name. Supposedly, it was founded by a long-dead emperor hundreds of years ago. No one really believed that, but rumors are rumors.
Maomao walked through the doors. A handful of students were in the area, but most only spared her a single glance, or ignored her altogether.
She fished a card out of her pocket. On it was her information, her picture, and her name in bold letters: KAN MAOMAO.
More importantly, there was her dorm’s location.
JADE PAVILLION 444-4
Now, where was that? Maomao didn’t know. She supposed that if she walked around a bit there would be a map somewhere, but after five minutes, she had gotten nowhere. She didn’t want to ask someone she didn’t know. There was only one person in the school she was friends with, a girl named Xiaolan.
As if on cue, someone approached Maomao from behind.
“Hi, Maomao! Are you lost? Why didn’t you answer my calls?“
Maomao recognized the voice, it was Xiaolan, who had coincidentally appeared right when she was being thought of.
“Hey, Xiaolan. I guess I am lost. And about the calls…“ she trailed off. “I dropped my phone in mud last week and it broke. I just got a new one yesterday.“
“Oh! That's alright then! Just add my contact info so we can call again!“ Xiaolan smiled. She was always so cheery, something Maomao liked about her. The two had met a month before, when Maomao had been interviewed to come to Rear Palace school.
Incidentally, that same day was the day after the school year started. The process of getting Maomao a dorm and other things took a while, hence her late start.
At the interview, Xiaolan just happened to bump into Maomao, and that was where their friendship started.
“So, where's your dorm?“ Xiaolan asked.
“Jade pavilion, 444-4.“ Maomao answered.
“I’m in the Jade pavilion too! But my number is different, it's 456-3.“
“Not too far from mine.“ Maomao noted.
Xiaolan and Maomao made their way to Maomao’s dorm, but it was more of Xiaolan running ahead and pausing until Maomao got there than walking. The Jade pavilion was the farthest of the four dorms used for girls, so they passed by the other three as well.
The closest was the Garnet pavilion, which was sophisticated and regal, mostly decorated in purple. The people there seemed happy, and Maomao could tell they really loved it there.
The second closest was the Diamond pavilion, colored in pastels like pink and blue. As Maomao and Xiaolan passed by, a few girls snickered and whispered, but not enough for Xiaolan to notice. Maybe she did, Maomao thought, but won’t say anything for my sake. They moved on to the next pavilion.
The Crystal pavilion: it seemed pretty crowded. Far too crowded, Maomao realized. That was when she saw it: a huge crowd of people, way too big to simply be a group of friends. And they were all completely silent, except for the two in the middle.
“How could you delete all the work from my computer?“ A girl yelled.
“I didn’t! The same thing happened to me!“ Said the other.
Both of them were very beautiful, but the first one’s features were twisted in rage, and the other was evidently distressed.
“You liar! You’re jealous that I do better in academics than you do! You’re sabotaging me!“ Said the first. She had long, blue hair in a side part, and she wore blue as well. None of them were in uniform, since it was a weekend.
“I promise, I would never do such a thing!“ Said the second. She had red hair, but it was so light that it was pink. She wore it in an updo, and her clothes were crimson. She didn’t look like she was from Li. A foreigner? Maybe from Shaoh, since she had jade eyes.
Pink hair was on the ground, and she was clutching her cheek. She had been slapped.
Maomao looked between the two, blue hair to pink hair, then pink hair to blue hair.
“Um.. Maomao? Should we leave?“ Xiaolan whispered.
“Yes, we should. Let’s go.“ Maomao agreed. She and Xiaolan were walking out when Maomao froze mid-step. She had overheard a conversation between a student and a teacher.
“What’s going on here? Why is Gyokuyou not in the Jade pavilion?“ the teacher asked. His eyebrow was furrowed, and he wore glasses.
The student answered him.
“It seems Lihua is blaming Gyokuyou for deleting the things she worked so hard on, but Gyokuyou is denying it. Lihua believes that Gyokuyou downloaded a virus on her laptop.“
“But the same thing happened with Gyokuyou, no?“
“You’re correct. But Lihua is suffering more, since nothing of her files was left, while Gyokuyou only lost some things.“
‘A virus? I get it now. It seems like both of them fell for the famous lead powder scam.’ Maomao thought.
The lead powder scam wasn’t real powder. It was a computer virus that downloaded through a study app called Whitepowder, but most school computers had it blocked. Did no one notice? The nickname ‘lead powder scam’ was a reference to the past, when face powders killed people due to their lead content.
Maomao felt bad for Lihua, the one with blue hair, and Gyokuyou, the foreign-looking one with pink hair.
‘Should I tell them? No, it would only attract attention.’ she thought.
“Maomao? Are you okay?“ Xiaolan asked. “You’ve been staring at the wall for 2 whole minutes.“
“I’m fine. I was just thinking, that's all.“ Maomao said, but as she started to follow Xiaolan, she spoke, quietly.
“If only I had something to write with…“
Maomao didn’t notice the person who had heard her, the person whose eyes followed her all the way out of the Crystal pavilion.