Tasia stood a few steps away, observing the conversation between Helen and the woman.
The two talked about playing tennis together yesterday. It sounded like they had matched up and had a lot of fun. However, Helen had to leave early because she had to prepare for a banquet at night, so the decisive battle was still today.
Helen repeatedly rejected the woman's invitation. First, she said that it was not four o'clock yet, and then she said that she had more important things to do. The woman thought this was a refusal, and grabbed Helen's hand and refused to let go. Helen had to say: "I am now Something really happened, well, I brought someone with me today."
Tasia tensed subtly as the woman looked towards her.
"Your friend?" the woman asked.
"That's right." Helen replied, "I'll take her over there to make an appointment."
Only then did the woman notice that there was a thin woman standing next to Gustav. She laughed a few times and quickly stepped forward to say hello to Tasia. Tasia nodded cautiously, and just as she was about to say something, she was grabbed by the shoulder.
The woman pinched the bones of Tasia's arm. Tasia was stunned on the spot. It took a while before she remembered and moved to the side to break away from the woman's hand.
"The people above won't let you eat either!?" the woman asked in surprise.
"No, I... just have a small appetite." Tasia looked away and replied in a low voice.
"You will come with me later. I'll find someone to take you." The woman waved her racket, "Can you play? Do you usually exercise?"
"Yes," Tasia forced a smile, "Sports, of course...my belly and thighs are all full of flesh-"
"You're going to lose weight! Where's the meat?"
Tasia didn't know how to answer, but Helen was already pushing her forward. The woman behind her reminded Helen not to break the appointment for a while, and Helen wholeheartedly agreed.
"You're going to love it there, little girl!"
Tasia heard a woman not far away shouting.
She turned around and saw only the woman's back - the woman holding the racket was already jogging towards the gymnasium again.
Helen put her arm around Tasia's shoulders and walked quickly, Tasia barely keeping up.
"...Where are you taking me?" Tasia suppressed her uneasiness and asked in a low voice.
"You are already a guardian, so you should know how to deal with dangerous situations, right?"
"Dangerous situation..." Tasia repeated these words as if she understood, "Do you mean first aid training or -"
"In the past, the Mercury Needles used a piece of equipment during training," Helen looked sideways at her. "It provides an immersive experience that can simulate various extreme environments..."
Helen opened a door.
"In short, it can teach you a lot of things... things that are difficult to learn elsewhere."
Just as Tasia was about to follow him, she suddenly found Gustav stopping outside the door with a low eyebrow. Although his hands were empty, his body was still a little stooped, as if he was holding a heavy luggage bag in his arms, which made him unwilling to raise his head.
"Aren't you going in?" Tasia asked in a low voice.
Gustav raised his eyes suddenly, as if he was surprised by Tasia's question.
"...I can't come in here," Gustave replied.
"Why?"
"It's already inappropriate for me to be on this floor," Gustav's expression was always a little nervous. "Please go in quickly, don't be delayed because I'm here."
Tasia was a little confused, but quickly followed Helen through the door.
The hall behind the door is quiet.
This place is like the kind of street companies that can be seen everywhere in the third district. There are several white desks behind a large clear glass window, with some silver computers and black or blue file racks on them.
Off-white carpet covers the entire room, and there is almost no sound when walking here.
After passing through several empty glass conference rooms, they came to an examination room. Through the window, Tasia saw many machines and equipment with pure white casings.
"Your ship card," Helen handed the ship card back to Tasia again, "Take it and go in to find the crew member on duty and tell her you are here to make an appointment."
Tasia took the card and said, "...Do you just need to make an appointment?"
"You will need to do a more detailed physical examination later, just follow the process." Helen looked at the time and said, "It won't be too long, fifteen minutes is enough."
"...Okay." Tasia responded doubtfully.
She followed Helen's direction into the examination room, and the room became quiet.
…
Gustav stood at the door of the room without saying a word. People passed by him from time to time. He didn't dare to raise his head and just looked down at everyone's shoes.
Most of the people here were wearing sneakers and shorts, walking in groups of three or two, talking and laughing as they headed to different venues, and few people noticed him.
Suddenly, he heard some heated conversations coming from the door behind him. One of them seemed to be Tasia, but he wasn't sure.
He looked around and saw that there was no one in the aisle at the moment, so he boldly put his ear to the door panel.
There was a sound of very light footsteps of high heels approaching quickly from behind the door, as if someone was about to open the door and rush out. Gustave was startled and quickly stepped back and stepped aside, but then he heard a dull impact.
It became quiet again behind the door.
Gustav once again leaned against the door and listened - Helen was whispering. Her voice was originally hoarse, and now that she was separated by a door, it was even harder to hear what she was saying, but one thing was obvious: Tasia was here cry.
Gustave suddenly felt a strong sense of fear. He immediately removed his ears, scratched his head and itchy cheeks, and continued to stand at the door with his head lowered, just as he had done at first.
…
About twenty minutes later, Helen and Tasia came out one after another.
Tasia had a dozen more papers in her hand. She held them in both hands and remained silent. Gustav immediately lowered his head and followed the two men forward.
"Help her," Helen ordered, "she accidentally sprained her ankle just now."
Gustave hurriedly stepped forward, but Tasia just brushed his hand away.
"unnecessary."
Helen stretched her arms and said, "I'm going to go play ball with my friends. You can go back alone...I'll send you the brooch later."
Tasia cast a resentful glance in Helen's direction.
At this moment, Gustave saw her red and swollen left cheek, and there was still a light blue at the eyebrow bone - it would probably turn into a striking purple-red in a few hours.
"Starting from tomorrow, you can come and enjoy the services here at any time," Helen said with a smile, "You can even stay overnight, are you looking forward to it?"
Tasia lowered her head again and said one word at a time: "...I will never come here again."
"Why?"
"Don't speculate on me with your dirty thoughts," Tasia whispered, "I'm not like you... I have a sense of shame."
(End of chapter)
