Chapter 19: NORMAL
Clear. No clouds. No rain. Just the blissful sun above shining brightly giving warmth.
A young lady walked down the street. Her long blonde curls tied in a bun. Sweating. She kept herself cool by fanning that little notebook. Her thick coat is making it hotter.
"So hot," Ayesha sighed. "So this is Gaia. I wonder how she is doing with that frail body of hers."
"It is hot today," Ichiro sighed. He and Ryun walked down the lane towards the martial building.
"Looks like they started the renovation of the admin building," Ryun turned to his right and sees men working hard.
"Uh yes," Ichiro nodded. "But they look more like constructing a new building rather than merely renovating it."
"If you had stopped that robot from destroying the building then it would not be like this," Ryun reminded him.
"Uh yeah," Ichiro nodded. He was partly to blame too.
"Anyway," Ryun sees Seri walking closely with Antoine. "She looks fine."
Ichiro lifted his eyes and sees Seri with Antoine coming their way. Those cousins are quiet and look sober. Seri looked like she had not received criticism and punishment from the Alliance.
"Good morning!" Antoine greeted them first.
"Good morning!" Seri smiled that usual smile.
"Good morning!" Ryun replied.
"Good morning!" Ichiro fixated his gaze on Seri.
"Why are you two standing by?" Antoine frowned.
Ichiro pointed at the admin building in reply.
"Ah," Antoine understood what Ichiro means. "Anyway, you should get going or you'll be late."
Antoine walked on followed by Seri behind him.
"She really looked like she doesn't care," Ichiro disgustedly said.
Ryun kept quiet and ignored it. He followed the pair while Ichiro behind him.
"I am glad to see your cousin is fine Antoine," Ryun said from behind.
"Yeah," Antoine replied softly.
Seri said nothing. Those blue eyes looked away avoiding Ryun and Ichiro. Quietly she walked close to Antoine as they head to class.
Everyone is chattering. The topic is what happened to the admin building? Who the heck destroyed it?
Quietly, she slid herself to her seat and took out a book to read. Antoine said nothing too and sat on his seat. While Ryun and Ichiro had been dragged by their classmates to be questioned.
"I don't know what happened," Ichiro denied as much as Ryun.
The case about the destruction of the building remained a secret. Although students tried to uncover it they could not find anything. Those who knew about it had their lips zipped that they utter no word. Moreover, the visiting instructor disappeared which made the students curious. The teacher had disappeared the same time the building got destroyed which gave birth to rumors.
"They sure have so much to say," Ichiro sighed going back to his seat.
Ryun turned to Seri who remained quiet. Still on her desk reading a book. It is about their lessons.
She is reviewing reminding them they have an exam on that day.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Goes the arms of the clock. Every passing minute, Seri kept glancing at it as if waiting for the bell to ring impatiently.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. The clock continues. Ryun glanced to her direction and found her stood up ready to submit her paper. It surprised everyone as much as the teacher.
"Your presence is requested by the counselor," the teacher told her. "Please go while you still have time."
"Yes," Seri knows already she would be called.
Everyone lifted their heads and frowned as they watched Seri leave. The teacher's voice is loud and clear. Their ears twitched and their lips opened to chatter and caught the teacher's attention.
"Are you done?" the teacher asked.
"No ma'am," they replied.
"Then eyes on your paper!" the teacher said angrily. "No cheating!"
Sober. Seri walked quietly. The class is going on and some are having an exam.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Come in," the counselor replied.
"Good morning Mrs. Chi," Seri bowed to greet. "You called for me?"
"Oh yes," came the reply. "Please have a seat."
Seri's heart heavy. Looking at the lady's expression this does not look good. Her guess is this will take too long. She's going to listen to another long litany of criticism. She prepared her ears and her heart. This will hurt a bit.
Back at class. Antoine has been scrutinized by everyone. Yet he is lucky, Ichiro and Ryun dragged him somewhere no one can hear.
"Speak," Ryun told him.
"What do you want to hear?" Antoine frowned.
"Why is Seri being called to the counselor's office?" Ichiro asked.
"For counseling," Antoine replied. "The management knows her mission is to prevent the robot from causing havoc here. Yet it turns out differently."
"She's going to be punished," Ichiro gasped and turned to Ryun for help.
"Her punishment already started early this morning," Antoine sadly told them.
"What?" Ichiro and Ryun chorused.
"The Alliance had suspended her from the line of duty," Antoine said saddened. "For a month. And the other punishment, the school will give her the other punishment."
"I wonder what it is," Ichiro frowned.
"She's going to help in the construction of the building," Antoine said with a sigh.
"What?" Ichiro exclaimed.
"A girl doing construction work?" Ryun is displeased.
"No," Antoine shook his head. "She is going to assist them only. Serving the men meals and the like."
"Oh," Ichiro is relieved. He turned to Ryun and saw relief.
"So she'll be their maid," Ryun guessed.
"Yes," Antoine nodded. "Until the building is finished."
"That will take a month or more," Ichiro surprisingly said.
"That is how it is," Antoine said.
Heaving a sigh, she returned to her class. The counselor did took enough time with the litany making her miss the second subject. It relieved her from being questioned by Ryun.
Lunch will be in an hour. Serenity has to make a sprint to the workers barracks and prepare their meal. As promised, she will have to keep these men up tight. They're going to need more energy to keep them working on their shift.
Without saying a word, Seri tied her hair in a messy bun. Puts on her apron and immediately pulls out all the cooking equipment from the boxes set on the other side. Laid those all on the clean counter. She made haste and found the ingredients on the other end of the counter wrapped in reusable bags. Chicken, tuna, vegetables and others.
She took a deep breath and took each from every kind for mis en place. Ten minutes had gone by. Her hands nimbly moved chopping everything to the desired size and shapes. Then, she puts the wok onto the stove with the bony parts of the chicken seasoned with salt and pepper to prepare chicken stock. She hurried back to the counter and continued.
Some of the workers come by to get a drink. They find Serenity alone and working double time. Their eyes got mesmerized to see her move so quickly like in a fast forward. They gaped as they watched her do her thing.
"Will she be able to prepare food for all of us?" one man asked.
"She's not alone," another replied pointing at the silent helper behind Seri.
Mira quietly does her thing helping Seri finish within less than an hour. Seri knows she was there but kept quiet and focused on cooking.
Mira prepares the hors d'oeuvres as fast as she can. She had counted the men and there are around forty of them. Not to mention they have big appetite.
Seri turned off the stove and set aside the broth. She continued on with the tuna. Placing each of every delicate cut on the griller on low heat she seasoned them nicely. Leaving it for a bit to prepare the sauces. Another person arrives to lend a hand. Haze.
"What are you doing here Haze?" Seri frowned. "You're going to put me in trouble."
She talked with him while working. The workers were stunned by her skills as a cook. She can talk without jeopardizing her work.
"Someone has to help the young miss," Haze prepared the vegetable dish on the other side of the stove next to Seri. "I am the one who has a free time today so I come out to help. None of us can bear to see our lady boss being punished while we are back there sitting."
"Yeah," Seri nodded while her hands kept on beating the thick white sauce with the ladle to keep it from sticking on the pan. "That's the thing. Only I and Mira were there which means you and the others are out which also means you must not involve yourselves."
"Sai cannot come here," Haze had placed all veggies on the wok to simmer. "Someone has to take his place. So miss, today I'll take his place. Tomorrow and the next will be someone else. We have agreed on it."
"Ah," Seri glanced at him. "Very well."
"I am making the desserts now," Mira told Seri.
"I'll serve the hors d'ouevres now," Haze volunteered. He has seen the men all seated on the tables in front of them and there are more coming. "Looks like it is lunch time."
"The entrée will be done soon," Seri told Mira and Haze.
The men gaped at Haze who quietly served each of them their share. Moving from one table to the next his hands nimbly placed all five plates with the hors d'ouevres in a blink of an eye. The lad returned to the counter and took a pitcher of water. Going back to the diners he filled each of their water goblets with drinking water. He goes back to the counter again to fill the pitcher and back again to serve the diners. He does it for several cycles and at the last one found the diners finishing their plates.
Seri gives him one look which he quickly understood. The entrée is ready to serve. He immediately removed the plates of the diners who are done eating and returned to the counter. Back to the diners he carried each plate of entrée with the vegetables on his hands. He served the first table and moved on to the next removing their empty plates of hors d'ouevres and served them the entrée. Then she busied herself at the sink cleaning the plates quickly. She knows that with Mira and Haze around everything is fine. There is no room for worry with this two around.
"Wow," they heard the diners are satisfied with the service.
"I wonder if dinner will also be as good as this," another one joked.
"It will be sir," the diners heard Seri smiled. "We are happy to serve you."
"Thank you for your hard work too," they heard the engineer said smiling. "You kids have kept me and my men full. And we'll be looking forward for dinner too."
"Yes," the three of them bowed and watched the men leave one by one. They still have a few minutes left before they go back to work. They used the remaining time relaxing their muscles and regaining their energy.
"So what's for dinner?" Haze and Mira asked her.
Seri gives them the menu for an entire week. The pair just nodded as they familiarize themselves with it.
"Here," Mira had set aside a part of the entrée for her. "I am sure you have rushed here with an empty stomach so go ahead and eat it."
"Thanks," Seri smiled and devoured the food quickly. She has less than fifteen minutes for her first class in the afternoon.
Seeing she had swallowed the last bite quickly, Haze gives her a glass of lemonade and a glass of water. He knows that after Seri emptied the lemonade she will look for water to clean her taste buds from the sweet and sour taste of lemonade.
"You can go back to class now," Haze pushed her out after drinking the water. "Leave the counter to us."
"We'll be preparing the men light snacks," Mira smiled. "Don't worry about it."
Seri heaves a sigh and run back to class. On the way she prepared herself from everyone's scrutiny. But she is lucky, when she had arrived the bell rang quickly and the teacher arrived in a minute. Everyone gives her a frown seeing they did not have the chance to talk to her about the visit to the counselor.
Pok! A paper plane crash landed on her cheek and down it goes to her desk falling.
Turning her head to her side, she sees Ichiro and Ryun looking soberly at her. They are pointing at the paper plane. He heart nervously pounded.
She took the paper and was about to open it when the teacher called her attention. She glanced at Antoine for help knowing she had not heard what the teacher had said. Antoine leaned to his left hiding from the teacher's sight and whispered something to Seri. He repeated the teacher's question for Seri to be able to answer.
Taking a deep breath Seri opened her mouth and gave the right answer that surprised everyone. They thought Seri won't be able to answer that. Yet she did.
Three hours before the class ends. Seri peered from the window to check on Haze and Mira. She finds the two of them busily preparing sandwiches for the working men. Haze has gave her a thumbs up while Mira waved at her smiling. Her heart beat quiet inside. Her worries gone.
Five thirty. Seri rushed to the door avoiding everyone who is trying to get a hold of her. She immediately disappeared from their sight and goes to the barracks to help Mira and Haze. By the time she had arrived, the nicely prepared ingredients surprised her. From hors d'ouevres to entrée everything is in mis en place. She sees Haze and Mira busied themselves preparing for the ingredients of the vegetables and the dessert.
"We started early," Haze smiled.
"We heard dinner will start at six," Mira added.
"So please," Haze pointe at her apron. "Put it on. We only have twenty five minutes left."
"Okay," Seri felt a sudden rush of adrenalin in her body. She immediately puts on her apron and goes to her post.
A group of students passed by the admin building. Most are from the lower years who took a peek. They were curious about the improvement of the workers. Will it be finished at the months end or not?
The workers would just ignore them and continued with their work. Some of them had just arrived to take on the night shift. The day shift are now exiting the area saying good byes to the young cooks at the barracks. The supervisor assigned for the day is also leaving and is taken over by the night shift supervisor.
The three young cooks heard good byes and good evenings from both groups. They would take a pause and exchange greetings then continued with their work. They still have three hours before they leave. The night shift workers will be having a midnight snack thus she will have to leave Haze to serve these men their snacks later. She and Mira will have to leave and rest for the night.
Not to mention, Seri has a class early tomorrow. Lucky for the three of them, that day they only have to worry about lunch and afternoon snacks. The next day they will have to prepare for the three shifts of workers. There are twenty workers per shift who are working hard to get the building done in time. Thus, on the second day, Seri is going to need an extra hand.
Back at the Alliance, Haze and the others have already prepared for it. Thus, starting on the next day of the construction, they are sending two people to help Seri. These two will have to come in early to prepare breakfast for the exiting night shift workers and the coming in morning shifts. Without Seri's knowledge of the set up the boys had prepared these two extra help comes in early and executes their job nicely.
Seri's every day at school has become all too normal. Like a student having a part time job as a cook preparing meals for the hungry construction workers. She had limited her contact with Ryun and Ichiro relieving her from that guilty feeling. But she can't ignore it knowing once everything is over, she will be back to her usual routine with Ryun, Ichiro and Antoine. Right now she is just occupied with the punishment making her work as a part time cook. Not to mention, her comrades is being dragged into it. Well, they have a saying in the army, 'all for one and one for all'. No one gets left behind thus everyone shares their comrade's pain, suffering and happiness.
Rogue and Myre were the extra help who comes in early in the morning to prepare breakfast. Seri had caught sight of them one morning while going to class with Antoine. But she had not gotten a hold of them which leaves Mira to answer her questions about the pair. The boys who are free on that day comes in to help Seri prepare lunch and dinner even the snacks in between. Each of them has their role until the punishment comes to its end.
Then one day, one girl arrives to shake Seri's ground. She holds Seri's Elite badge. She also got the say if Seri will return to the Alliance to report or not.
"Hi," Ayesha smiled. "I see everyone is helping Seri out."
"Miss Ayesha!" they gasped. Their hearts pounded hard nervous inside their chests.
"No worries," Ayesha assured them. "I am just checking how our baby is doing."
Everyone knows Ayesha. She is the recruitment officer of the Alliance. And to think she has visited Seri in such a time, that means something is really up. They could not ignore this lovely strong lady's presence.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone