"No, thanks. I have some matters to deal with," Taurus declined politely to his friends, Aries and Leo, who just asked him to play some games in Aries' room. Apparently, as the captain, he got a bigger room than the others. Taurus wondered if Aquarius got a bigger room too, since he was the vice-captain.
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Scorpio was inside, too. He wasn't trying to get Taurus play with them because well... the two had a complicated friendship. Truthfully, Scorpio would probably prefer if Taurus didn't join at all--he'd probably be cheering and dancing his horrible signature victory dance.
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Leo laughed. "You're missing out, man! Plus, you talk like those old and overly-polite people," he commented. No one ever thought he was rude, because Leo was Leo and he liked to say what was in his mind without thinking.
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"What's wrong with being polite?" Aries asked, genuinely curious. He pulled Leo inside and closed the door. From outside, Taurus could hear Leo explaining how polite people were overrated.
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Smiling softly at his two friends, Taurus started to make way to Ms. Lenate's office, holding the important papers close to him. Hopefully, her guest had gone home.
"Excuse me, miss, I-"
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"Have the others finished training yet?" the teacher interrupted. She was currently eating, so Taurus understood why she was acting quite rude--Taurus, too, would get cranky if his alone time with food was interrupted.
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With a nod, Taurus answered a small 'yes' before continuing his earlier statement, "I'm wondering if I can bring my Star aboard. I have the document stating he's not ill and stuff."
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Earlier, Taurus had found the list of the requirements to get Antares permission to get into the Royal J254. The list was shown on the guidebook that he bet no one else read. He'd been working on it for the last three days and the last thing he needed was a teacher's signature.
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Getting everything on that list was hardwork, especially since Antares wasn't bought--he was a rescue, so Taurus had to bring him to the hospital to get documents and such.
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With a lazy sigh, Ms. Lenate motioned to her desk. "Of course. Put it here. I'll have to check it first so I'll get back to you during the next five days," she answered before practically shoo'ing Taurus away with her eyes.
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Frowning, Taurus closed the door after muttering a small 'thank you'. He hoped he hadn't skipped anything on the list. He'd be devastated if his precious Star couldn't join him on his journey. He never even spent longer than five days without Antares who was currently sleeping in Taurus' dorm room.
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Taurus walked slowly to his dorm room. He didn't know what to do for the rest of the day. Zodiacs was surely a unique school--they didn't even make schedules for the students, just provided them with an insane amount of facilities and expect them to be ready for a fight just by training for seven days.
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"Hey, Taurus! That's your name, right?"
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As quick as lightning--not really--Taurus turned around to face the purple-haired girl who was somehow holding Antares in her arms.
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"This guy here suddenly clawed on my room door whilst I was eating," she said whilst flashing a fond smile to the Star she was holding. Antares licked her on the cheek which caused her to giggle. The girl walked up to him and gave him his Star.
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Taurus gladly took him from her and raised an eyebrow. "Why- How'd you know my name?" he asked, slightly mortified. Oh, that scary time when I've gotten a stalker...
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The stranger cackled. "Wow, that hurts. I thought you'd at least remember your vice-captain," she answered, but something else was hidden beneath her cheerful smile. Some... disappointment?
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Taurus furrowed his eyebrows, thinking. This purple-haired person did seem pretty familiar, perhaps he'd seen her photo somewhere...
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"Oh! You're Gemini!" he exclaimed in realization before quickly closing his mouth in surprise. Then, he started apologizing about how rude he was. "I'm really sorry! It's just, I have this problem with remembering people's faces and-"
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However, Gemini just laughed. "It's alright. It's probably my fault that I prefer sitting in corners and not talking that much," the vice-captain said casually. Taurus didn't reply for he didn't know what to say.
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"Anyways, would you like to accompany me on a walk?" she offered when realizing that the guy wasn't going to reply. Taurus just realized that the vice-captain's attire quite fit for a walk--she was wearing a t-shirt and shorts with her hair tied up in a ponytail.
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She looked comfortable, but Taurus didn't understand why she would want to move her body again after that training. He knew she was last to finish, accompanied by Pisces, because she was very focused on her training and wasn't just playing around.
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"I'm guessing this means you don't want to," were the words that snapped him out of his trance. Gemini looked at him with such sad eyes that were extremely enchating--Taurus felt dizzy.
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Panicked, he shook his head no. "No, no, of course not! I'd love to accompany you on your walk."
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Gemini flashed a shiny smile, contrary to the sad eyes she was mustering up just a few seconds ago. Honestly, she would put toothpaste advertisements to shame with that award-winning smile of hers.
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"Sweet!" the girl cheered, but her next words made Taurus wonder, What am I getting myself into and why do I feel like I'm being offered a drug deal?
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"Now I'm not alone and if we get caught, we can go to jail together!"
"Why am I here again?" Taurus asked himself after reaching the last step of the stair. He was very tired, but kept going and followed Gemini who was still energetic after she walked through around one-hundred-and-fifty stairs.
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Gemini chuckled, pulling him outside and he was surprised that they were at the rooftop. They had a very good view of the whole city. "You're here because you were accompanying your lonely vice-captain for a walk," she answered even though the question wasn't directed at her.
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After that, they were enveloped in silence. For Taurus, it was quite awkward. He was watching every move the girl beside him made, unsure of what to do whilst Gemini was enjoying herself, looking outside.
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"Is this even legal?" he asked like a statement, trying to make Gemini realize that her common sense had flew away. Taurus' common sense had probably ran away, too, since here he was, standing here with the insane girl herself.
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As a response, Gemini shrugged. She acted as if she couldn't care less anymore. "You should stop staring at me and look at the scenery in front of you. Maybe you'll be a bit calmer," she said instead.
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Blushing in embarrassment, he did what she told him to do and took a few deep breaths. The sky was beautiful--a mix of orange and pink, accompanied with white beautiful clouds.
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After a while, Taurus got bored. He looked around the rooftop of their 'school'. There was a tiny house, it was the thing that linked the building with the rooftop--like, it hided the staircase? Yeah, that.
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That house thingy was placed between lots of crates and boxes that totally blocked the way behind them. Two large trash cans were placed in front of Gemini and Taurus--a pair of bigger-than-normal trash cans.
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He announced, "It's getting late, shouldn't we get in?"
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The girl being asked looked at him, causing Taurus to blush again, before putting on her thinking face. "You can go in if you want to, but I'm staying. I'm waiting for something." Then, her attention was, again, fully centered to the sky in front of them.
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Taurus contemplated whether or not he should get in. It was quite chilly outside, even though his vice-captain looked unaffected of it. For some unknown reason, he felt a pull telling him to stay, so he did.
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Sometimes, Taurus wanted to kill that absolutely curious brain of his. Curiosity killed the cat, he reminded himself every time, but apparently... curiousity killed and broke many but seemed to be immortal.
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Therefore, there the two Zodiacs stayed, up on the rooftop, probably doing an illegal deed.
"What in the world is that?" were the words that came out of Taurus' mouth the moment he saw weird-looking creatures flying around. He didn't know what they were, but it didn't look like they were real.
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"You can see them, too?" Gemini asked, then Taurus noticed no one else seemed to be paying any attention to the phenomenon happening right in front of them. "I don't know, but I'm the only one able to see it yesterday."
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Actually, those flying creatures were earth animals, but obviously the Zodiacs didn't know that. There were dolpins, lions, bats--all kinds of animals--in the air of Sky.
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"Is this what you were waiting for?" Taurus asked in curiousity. He looked at his Royal J254's vice-captain who nodded in response. Then, he continued watching three squirrels climbing up a real tree as if it was their home.
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Gemini giggled--a dolphin had approached her and poked her nose with his face. "Dolphin," she mumbled unconsciously--not understanding the word, but she just wanted to say it.
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"What?" Taurus looked at her again. He wondered if the other people who couldn't see this would think Gemini was a crazy person for giggling to herself.
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However, the purple-haired girl shook her head as if she just had a major headache. Taurus noticed that her eye colour... changed? It was back to normal, but it was a bit darker shade of black just a moment before--whilst she was saying that odd word.
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Just as he was about to ask if she was okay, footsteps echo'd from downstairs. He was frozen in place until someone--Gemini--pulled him behind the pair of gigantic trash cans.
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They watched as a man, a big and hulk-y man, opened the door and then closed it. He didn't seem to notice them, so he continued walking to the massive pile of boxes.
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Both of them didn't have even a single idea of what he was doing. Surely, he wasn't gonna take a box out of that pile--the other boxes were gonna fall down and...
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The man clicked some kind of button which made the boxes... split up? Are those boxes just some kind of decoration to hide a secret? What secret?
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"Do you wanna go inside now?" Gemini asked calmly. Her usually warm and kind eyes now showed coldness, it was so different. Maybe Gemini had always have two sides... Two-faced but in a good way, I guess.
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Taurus shook his head. "I don't know who that man was, but I get the feeling he's up to no good," he stated. "I want to know what's happening behind closed... boxes."
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Gemini gave out a little smile. "Taurus, we have to take some people with us. Someone from J254 maybe, but we can't do this alone. That man is huge and I know for sure he's not a good person."
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The boy sighed but nodded. Gemini was the vice-captain, after all... And since Aries wasn't here, she was considered the captain...
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"Maybe we should take one person each, it'll be better that way. Four is my lucky number. Who do you want to take?" Gemini asked. "I'm taking Pisces."
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Taurus shook his head, "Don't know yet."
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Gemini nodded. "Alright. Let's sneak to the door and then run down," she said, taking a peek from the trash can. The door was just a few metres from them.
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"Is that a good idea? Our footsteps might be heard from here," Taurus stated worriedly.
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Gemini sighed. "Yes, but if we walk slowly, we'd be heard anyways. Didn't you hear that Hulk going up? He was going as slow as he could, but his footsteps could be heard clearly. I think running is the best idea, unless you wanna get caught."
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Suddenly, the girl said, "Ciao!" before running to the door, opening it and running down.
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"WHO'S THERE?!"
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Taurus' eyes widened before he quickly ran to the opened door and slammed it close before running down with Gemini.
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Don't worry, you damned vice-captain. I'll make sure to kill you later, when we escape this place.
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