We're Here for the Inspection
"We're out..." Rain muttered, looking utterly incredulous. I felt exactly the same way. We had actually managed to slip out of the room, completely evading Amy and Victor's watchful eyes. How is this even possible? My mouth hung open in sheer disbelief.
"Shine, how did you do that?" At Rain's question, Shine placed her hands on her hips with a smug, confident expression. She seemed to be in an exceptionally good mood.
"Yeah, Shine! How did you do it?" Now that we were out of the room, there was no need to keep our voices down. Hearing my question, Shine extended a finger in front of us.
"Jeff. Rain."
"Yeah?"
"Keep your eyes glued to this."
"Your finger?"
"Yes."
Rain and I nodded, focusing intently on Shine's finger. It began to move slowly, tracing a circle in the air. I felt a brief wave of confusion at the seemingly meaningless gesture, but that thought quickly dissolved.
"Don't think too hard about it."
"Okay..." Shine's voice echoed softly, lingering in my ears. Rain seemed to be under the same spell, nodding blankly.
"We made it out safely."
"Safely..."
"Yes. Very safely. Without Amy and Victor noticing a thing."
"Yeah. We made it out very safely."
"That's right, Jeff. What about you, Rain?"
"Yeah... Jeff is right..."
The slowly moving finger began to decelerate. Just as my eyes were spinning along with its motion, a sudden sound broke the trance.
Clap!
I blinked once, twice. As my vision cleared, I saw Shine standing in front of us, her hands still pressed together from the clap.
"Good job, everyone. Fortunately, we managed to slip out without getting caught."
"Ah! Right, we did!" I nodded at Shine's words, recalling what had just happened. We had crouched low, sneaking out of the room like ninjas to avoid Victor and Amy's gaze.
"I was so nervous, I thought Amy was going to catch us," Rain muttered, nodding in agreement.
"Is everyone okay? No problems?" Shine asked, looking back at us. Rain and I nodded. "Great. Let's go!" Shine shouted energetically, marching forward. Does she even know where she's going?
"Wait for me!" I quickly caught up to Shine. Rain, who had been standing there blankly, dashed up to my side, and we began to walk shoulder-to-shoulder. Walking through an unfamiliar place felt a bit strange. It was a completely different vibe from the hallways we were used to.
"Wow, they must really work hard on the cleaning here." The hallway floor was polished to such a brilliant shine that it could have doubled as a mirror.
"Rain, is this the right way?"
"Yeah. If we keep going straight this way, we'll find the elevator we took earlier." Rain pointed a hand straight ahead. Shine and I nodded, pressing onward.
We bustled our short legs as fast as we could and finally arrived in front of the elevator. The numbers displayed above were changing rapidly. "Eleven... twelve..." Even as I muttered the numbers blankly, they kept climbing. I reached out and pressed the call button. The cold button yielded smoothly under my fingertip.
"It's coming!" The numbers, which had been idling on the lower floors, began to shift rapidly the moment I pressed the button. Ding! The moment the spinning numbers ground to a halt, the chime announced the elevator's arrival. The three of us huddled in front of the doors, waiting for them to open.
The doors slid open slowly, revealing the interior. "Huh?" There were already people inside. Shine, who had been about to hop right in, stopped in her tracks and looked up at them with a flustered expression. "What's this?"
"Are they kids?"
Several people dressed in comfortable tracksuits were inside. Every single one of them looked exhausted, but a flicker of curiosity danced in their eyes as they looked down at us. Shine paused, looking contemplative for a moment, before turning back to me. I gave her a silent nod. Seeing my approval, Shine hopped lightly into the elevator.
"Hurry up." Having turned around inside, Shine called out to Rain and me. The two of us followed her in. Shortly after we boarded, the doors slid shut completely. Silence enveloped the small space. The one to break the quiet was a man standing behind us.
"Where are you kids heading?" the man asked gently, lowering his gaze to address us. At the stranger's question, I shut my mouth and took a small step back. Amy had told us: Never talk to strangers or weird people.
"The lounge!" Rain, standing right behind me, blurted out. Startled, I quickly clapped my hand over her mouth and pulled her into a tight hug. "Rain...!" At my hushed, urgent tone, Rain looked back at me with a thoroughly confused expression.
"Amy said we shouldn't talk to strangers when she's not around!" I whispered.
"She didn't say that to me," Rain mumbled against my hand.
"Well, that's true, but..."
"And besides, isn't that just because she's worried about you guys?" Overhearing our quiet whispering, the man smiled warmly, nodded, and pressed a button on the panel. The stationary elevator began to move smoothly.
Keeping my mouth firmly shut, I grabbed Rain and Shine, pulling them slightly away from the other passengers. Watching my defensive stance, the man let out a soft chuckle and asked, "Where did you kids come from?" I didn't answer. Rain looked like she was about to speak again, so I quickly reached out and clamped her tiny mouth shut. "Mmph, mmph!" Rain squirmed, flailing slightly.
"Did you see these kids come in this morning?"
"No, I didn't." Since we weren't answering, the adults began talking amongst themselves. They started speculating about where we had come from, but without any clues, it was practically impossible for them to figure out our identity.
"I've never seen that emblem before, either," the man noted, casting a glance at the emblems pinned to our chests. "Mmph! Mmph!" Rain began to thrash about, trying to shake off my hand. This was bad; Rain was still trying to talk to the strangers. I cast an imploring look at Shine, silently begging for help.
Understanding the meaning in my eyes, Shine nodded and cupped Rain's cheeks. "Mmph!"
"Rain."
"Mmph, mmph!"
"Be still. You are not allowed to speak."
"Mmph, mmph!" For a split second, the moment Shine spoke to her, Rain froze. But it was only for a moment. She immediately resumed her struggles.
"It's fine now. You can let go, she won't be able to speak anyway," Shine said.
"Really?"
"Mmph, mmph!" Rain wriggled violently and finally broke free from my embrace. The hand I had used to cover her mouth felt a bit damp. Keeping an eye on the others, I sniffed my hand. *Sniff, sniff.* It smelled faintly sweet. "Mmph, mmph!" Everyone's eyes were locked onto Rain. I wiped my damp hand on my clothes and observed her.
Though she was free to move as she pleased, she indeed seemed unable to speak, even though my hand was no longer covering her mouth. "Mmph, mmph!" Frustrated, Rain flailed her arms wildly in every direction. "Mmmph!" *Flap, flap.* She kept flapping her arms like a little chick.
After repeatedly trying and failing to open her mouth, Rain's eyes began to well up with tears. Big, fat teardrops trembled on the brims of her eyes. I reached out and pulled her into a comforting hug. "Mmph, mmph..."
"Shine, I think Rain is really frustrated."
Since Shine was the one who had done this, she should be able to undo it. However, Shine shook her head, indicating she had no intention of releasing the spell just yet. Her eyes flicked toward the strangers. "Rain, she says she'll let you speak once they get off," I explained, translating the meaning behind Shine's gaze. Rain could only nod, her face a picture of misery.
Ding!
As I held Rain close, the elevator ground to a halt. "Here we are, kids," the friendly stranger said, looking at the opening doors. This appeared to be the floor with the lounge Rain had mentioned. I led Rain and Shine out of the elevator.
The people who were already inside didn't move, seemingly heading to a lower floor. A few of them caught my eye and waved goodbye. I promptly whipped my head away, ignoring them. As the wide-open doors began to slide shut, Shine stepped up to Rain and cupped her cheeks once more.
"Mmph, mmph!" Rain frowned, clearly annoyed. "Rain. You may speak now." Once again, the same phenomenon repeated. After a brief moment of daze, Rain blinked her large eyes and nodded blankly.
"Jeff. Rain. Neither of you must question anything I do." A brief ringing echoed in my ears. At the sound of her voice, I found myself nodding automatically. I wanted to ask why, but before I could even formulate the question, a crisp sound rang out. Clap! "Ahhh!" The moment Shine clapped her hands, Rain gasped aloud.
"I can talk!" Rain seemed absolutely thrilled to have her voice back. She threw her arms wide and hopped up and down in place. "Yahoo!" Her voice echoed loudly through the corridor. It was incredibly loud.
"Rain, keep it down."
"Okay." I pulled Rain into a hug, warily scanning our surroundings. Perhaps because she had shouted so loudly, gazes were darting toward us from all directions. "Let's move a bit." I grabbed Shine and Rain's hands, pulling them toward a secluded corner. Even so, the lingering stares showed no signs of fading.
"Rain, this is the place, right?"
"Yeah."
"And there's tons of delicious food here?"
"Yeah."
"And lots of those fun games?"
"Yeah." Shine kept nodding along to my questions. I stomped my feet in pure excitement.
"Where? Which way do we go to eat?"
"Over there." In response to my question, Rain pointed a finger toward a massive set of doors. They were absolutely colossal. Since they were closed, we couldn't see what was inside, but people walking by would occasionally slip through them. "In there...?"
"Yeah."
Gulping, I pulled my map out of my bag. I flipped open a large sketchbook, revealing a map drawn entirely from my imagination. "Jeff, what are you doing?"
"Updating the map."
I plopped right down onto the floor. The ground was cold against my butt, but there wasn't exactly a desk around to rest my sketchbook on. I pulled out my crayons and began updating the map. The crudely drawn lines gradually transformed into a masterpiece of navigation. With this, we would never get lost. I looked at the completed map, swelling with pride.