Continuation of
>>106419 -------
A thought sparks in your mind, and you instinctively grip Sakuya's wrist before she can turn to the table, as if you were afraid of losing your chance if you released her.
"Actually, Sakuya..."
The head maid blinks in surprise and gives you a bit of an odd look, followed by a mild smile as you promptly realize what you're doing and let go of her.
"...Yes? Was there something else, kid?"
You swallow a bit, mentally steeling yourself for the question, gathering up determination and balling up your fists before looking her straight in the eye.
"Could I ask you for a huge favor?"
"Depends on what it is." She chuckles quietly, crossing her arms.
"I was tempted to joke around with you a little about that question, but you look so serious. What's on your mind?"
You glance over at the plate on the table. It could probably use a re-heating, you reckon...
"I'd like to take the food to Flandre myself, if at all possible." You turn your head back to face her, noticing the sudden change in her facial expression; before she can reply, you cut in one more time.
"Please. If you could just watch the door until I'm done... That's all I ask." You really need to talk to Flandre; the little incident this morning has been chewing on your conscious all morning, and you really feel terrible about letting it fester and brew like this. Even though Patchouli said it'd be best to wait for her to come to you first, sometimes you just have to trust your gut feeling and act on your own. Even the wizard can be wrong sometimes... right? Because this just -feels- wrong to you. Waiting like this, not doing anything, even enjoying yourself and having fun with the other residents while Flandre is in her room, thinking who knows what, and... Ugh, you can't stand it.
Apparently, Sakuya can see your mental and emotional anguish and strong determination in your eyes; after looking right back at you intently with a serious expression for a short while, she sighs in defeat as if she had lost a staring contest.
"...Alright. Damn it... It's not fair, making such a face at me like that." Her frown takes on a decidedly less serious look for a moment, before she sends a glance over her shoulder at the door, as if paranoid about something.
"Look, you get five minutes down there. Whether she talks to you or not, I'm dragging you out of there exactly on the three-hundreth second. Deal?"
"Deal." This is... good enough for now. Even if you don't get to have the heart-to-heart talk with the girl that you came here for in the first place just yet, you'll at least be able to show her that you're here, and that you care.
"I'll just go re-heat this quickly, then..."
...
The basement door. Heavy, metal, though not as huge as the blast door in front of Flandre's actual room. It's been replaced, too; you remember the last one being knocked off its hinges and bent out of shape, the last time you were here. Did Flandre really do that? Well, sure, you saw her apparently break Mokou's wrist with just a swipe of the hand the other day, but you honestly can't picture a little girl doing -that- to a large metal door. Or can you? Your experiences and training have certainly opened your mind to a whole lot of new possibilities... Sakuya doesn't seem to struggle too much with the weight, though. It's a bit embarrassing to see a maid - human, too - that's physically stronger than you, isn't it? Then again, with how she seems to do all the work here, it's hardly a surprise.
"Say, I'm curious about one thing..." As you descend down the steps into the basement together, you decide to initiate conversation just to calm your nerves a little. Why are you getting so worked up over this? Some sort of subconscious fear of what an upset Flandre could be like? Are you afraid of what people have said of her, or are you afraid of her changing in your eyes forever if you see -that- side of hers?
"What is it, kid?" She seems an awful lot more serious than usual. Wonder what's on her mind...
"You re-heated the food rather quickly, didn't you?" You ask this, looking down at the plate of Flandre's odd-looking odd-smelling food in your hands, heat radiating into your hands to ward off the chill of the basement.
"Oh, of course. I just sped up time in a small area for a bit, to get the microwave to go faster." On the subject of the microwave, you wonder why the mansion doesn't get electric candles (or something) for light.
"But... Why didn't you do the same for washing dishes, then?"
"Are you kidding? That would be wasteful. A running tap wastes around ten litres of water a minute when time flows normally; imagine how much I'd waste if I sped it up?" Well, it's good to see you've managed to get her to smirk again, at least.
"Besides, I can't wash any faster myself, if I speed time up in relation to myself... If anything, it'd slow me down."
"That makes sense." As much as time manipulation can make, you guess. Eventually, you come to the end of a long, narrow stone hallway, a thick metal blast door with dents in it from the inside standing before you, cold and ominous. Sakuya raises her fist in the air as if she wanted to knock, yet she turns to face you and lowers her hand.
"I'll be watching the basement entrance. Five minutes. If anyone comes nearby, I'll snatch you out of here. Good luck, kid." As she turns around and heads towards the basement entrance, heels tapping against the stone floor, you hear her mutter quietly with a sigh:
"Honestly, I wish you'd stop causing these situations... My patience for this sort of thing only lasts about this long, you know."
You'll make sure to remember that. For the moment, you raise your fist and knock on the door. No reaction. Wait, this thing is like a foot thick, isn't it? Would she even -hear- a light tap like that? This time, you gather up your strength and pound on the door much harder, the metal actually causing your fist to ache lightly. The sound of your hand impacting the door echoes throughout the dungeon-like basement for what feels like an entire minute; quite a long period of time, to be sure, considering you were only allowed five.
"Flan? Can you hear me?" You resort to trying to talk to her through the door; realizing that she still might not be able to hear you, you increase your volume to dangerous levels, disregarding the dangers of someone hearing you from outside of the basement.
"Flan, it's me! Would you please open up? I, ah, I brought you some food, and-..."
Two or three minutes of this must pass, before you hear a noise, interrupting your yelling. The bottom half of the door has a smaller hatch built into it, which creaks open slowly. As seconds pass in silence with you staring down at it, waiting for something to happen or for Flandre to say something, you decide to take initiative and make use of what little time you have here.
"I, ah, I came here as soon as I could, and... Well, we all missed you during lunch. I brought yours, and-..." No vocal response, but a familiar, pale and slender hand reaches out from the hatch, open and expectant.
[] Grab her hand.
-{} "Hey, you wanted me to stop treating you like a kid, right? So stop acting like one, okay?"
-{} "Look, you were wrong to behave like that earlier today... But it's okay now, alright? Please, just come on out..."
-{} "I'm sorry about what happened earlier today. It's my fault, I didn't consider your feelings."
-{} (Write-in)
[] Hand her the food quietly, don't take initiative yourself. If she wants to talk or come out, she will. If she doesn't, she won't. At least she knows you're here and waiting for her, now.
