Leuko - Blind to the Sunlight

I opened the door of my room with little enthusiasm. 

Even the bed installed right in front of me wasn't able to bring up my morale.

I still walked toward it and fell into it face-first.

"Mmmh." I instinctively pushed a groan of pleasure as I lay on it, I had no other choice, as it was indeed extremely comfortable, probably even more than the one in the white room.

But the knowledge of what happened earlier made me forget about this temporary joy as I slammed my head against the bed. 

"Hrrrrrgggghhhh…what did I do wrong, Pandora? Why did he suddenly scream at me?"

"Mimikyu. (I don't know, he must be stupid.)"

"…mmmh…no, I think I was the stupid once this time."

"Mi? (What makes you think that?)"

"Because I sounded stupid."

"Kyu. (That's just how you normally sound.)"

"Then I am stupid!" I screamed before slamming my head on the bed once more.

Pandora continued to look at me, before looking around the room.

My chamber was made out of brown wood that stopped midway to let place to white clay. Once again, the room was illuminated by an orange rock, but Pandora already destroyed it, so it didn't burn my skin, and it was not like I needed light to see anyway.

Stairs were also installed, which led to the second floor of my bedroom which contained my bed and a desk that will probably be used to do my school work. There was also a small night table with a lamp installed on it. A wardrobe was placed right in front of my bed containing only a single piece of outfit right now. 

At least this time Pandora could help me climb them without problems.

The bathroom was also installed on the same floor, but I still didn't look into it as of now.

The strange thing was that the room below contained absolutely nothing except a floor.

The bed was covered in two white sheets without any particular design and two pillows resting on it. However, this didn't diminish the quality of the bed, as it was extremely comfortable to lament on.

There was a problem, however, a rather big one.

I thought while looking between the pillow with disgust where rested a single plushie, but sadly it represented the most ugliest pokemon that ever existed… A Pikachu.

"Kyu?! (What is this abomination?!)" Pandora screamed at it with disgust.

Usually, I don't like Pandora calling other people abominations, but I completely agree on this case, as not only was it ugly, but it also had a sun in its arm with the word 'Welcome to the Zenith' written on it!

It was absolutely vile, to the point I started to question Joy's theory that no one can be born sinful!

But I still looked at it with a frown as I had an idea.

An idea that might allow the crying boy to not be scared of me anymore.

I took hold of the plushie with one of my hands before tearing apart its head, revealing the cotton that was placed inside it.

Eh, it seems even something rotten from the exterior can contain exactly what we need to make someone happy!

I thought while reaching my hand in the air, and Pandora filling it with a needle and some tissue.

Ehehe, this is a genius idea!

I started to work on my project while recalling the event that lead to this situation.

***

"Luciel Solarium, Clair Blackroot, Allister Onion, Cynthia Ashtorn, and Mina Swead, you are assigned to the dorm 0778." Geeta said to the group, suddenly I heard a scream of joy and a cry of despair followed by the sound of someone falling.

The scream of joy evidently came from Cynthia who didn't hesitate to celebrate, to the confusion of the other.

But the scream of despair came from a different person, so I looked around just to see a small boy practically as pale as me lying on the ground. He had black hair and blue eyes with some serious eyebags under them. He was currently looking at the ceiling while…wait? Are these tears?

But before I had the chance to take a closer look, a girl with caramel skin and white hair suddenly stood before him and looked at me angrily. "Don't look at him, you vile fiend!"

…don't get angry Pandora…it's just the usual.

I turned my head toward Pandora, despite not seeing him, I knew he was already prepared to attack her.

"Hey! There's no reason as of why yo…" Cynthia intervened, but she was shut down by another voice, one with more impact than Cynthia could muster.

"Bea, what you just said was completely unacceptable." Geeta said coldly at the girl. It was also said in a very calm voice, yet it was easy to detect the anger behind it, an anger that made Bea start to hesitate about the situation.

She started to look at me in bewilderment and even pointed toward me, making everyone gaze at me. "But…but he just…

"He just looked at your friend after he started to sob, I don't see how it justifies you calling him such profanity."

"But…I…" The girl seemed to hesitate and exchange a look between me and Geeta, before looking at the boy who wasn't crying anymore and only looked at her with concern. She tightened her fist before sighing. "I'm sorry for my outburst." She apologized and even bowed toward me.

"Kyu! (Well she isn't so bad.)"

Do you really think so?

"Mimi. (Geeta, not this idiot.)"

Oh, makes more sense.

Well it true Miss Geeta is kind, I wonder if she would want to be my…why is she looking at me?

She looked at me as if she was awaiting an answer from me…did she ask a question? Did I not listen to it? Will she punish me for that?

*sigh* 

"I see." For some reason she sighed…did I do something bad?

But I didn't have the time to think about that as she started to look at the boy lying on the ground, which instantly made him tremble more than he was. "As for you Allister, I can imagine your reason for your previous scream, but please consider the feeling of the one it was directed."

Hmm? I was directed to someone this scream? I thought he only did it because he liked to scream. But I do agree if I was the reason why he screamed I would indeed be annoyed.

"I'm…I'm sorry…please don't punish Bettrave…she only wanted to protect me…blame me instead," Allister said while slowly standing up in fear, not even daring to look in Geeta's eye..

Geeta looked at him in concern before sighing. "…don't worry, it's the first day…and the one she insulted doesn't even seem to care."

Oh, that person must be extremely merciful then.

Mmh? Why is Cynthia sighing beside me?

"Now if you truly want to apologize, go to your dorm, I'm sure it will be less scary for you once you get to know him." Geeta recommended him before looking at the rest of the group.

"…I don't think so." Allister murmured before getting hugged by Bea who try to reassure him.

Seeing this scene, Cynthia leaned toward my ear. "Are you okay?"

"Eh, of course I am…wait, did my halo go away while she was talking?"

"No…in fact it did nothing…"

"Great, everything is fine."

"Luciel…you should not be happy…you should be angry."

I should? Angry at what?

"Why should I get angry? I just learned I will live with my friend! Do I need to get angry at that?"

Is this some kind of rule? But it sounds stupid, so I won't follow it if it exists!

I looked at Cynthia's face only to see she looked completely shocked.

Did…did I really break an important rule? Should…should I get angry?

But my concern dissipated when I saw her smile. "You're really cute, you know that?"

"Miss Cynthia, please don't talk when I'm speaking." Geeta suddenly said, making Cynthia give her the stink eye, but she indeed said nothing while leading me out of the group.

I wonder, I know the crying boy is Allister, and I know who Cynthia is, but who are my other doormats?

I looked around but saw no one focused on me again, or maybe they just wanted to avoid my gaze…well, I will learn who they are once I arrive at the dorm.

***

"Where are the other?" Cynthia exclaimed in confusion in front of our dorm door. 

I could understand her confusion, because right now, only Allister showed up, the two others didn't even seem to have shown up yet.

Speaking of Allister, he was currently standing right behind Cynthia as if he was seeking protection.

But it was weird, as Pandora didn't detect any threat near us, so maybe he just liked to hide and scream.

"Maybe…maybe they just didn't hear when they were called?" Allister proposed hesitantly.

"Or maybe they were scared of my awesomeness!" 

"Uh?" Allister reacted as if he didn't understand what she said, something Cynthia noticed.

"Oh sorry, spoke Sinhoian by accident, you understand better now?" 

…weird, she's speaking the same way…but he understands her now.

"So, as I was saying, they must have been scared of my awesomeness!"

"…or maybe they were scared of him." Allister said while pointing at me.

…oh…so they still feared me despite me not being born cursed…I suppose I do look like an abomination.

But weirdly, Cynthia seemed more offended than me about this comment as she coldly called him. "Allister."

"Ah…y…es?"

"Don't call Luciel like he is an object. You're not forced to like his cute face, but at least don't reduce him to something he has no desire to be."

Allister lowered his gaze from Cynthia before hesitantly looking at me. "I…I'm sorry."

What is he sorry about?

"Luciel, do you accept his apologies?" Cynthia asked me.

He was apologizing to me? 

"For what?" I asked in confusion.

"For…for judging you." Allister responded.

"What's wrong with that?" I looked at Cynthia for an explanation.

"It's rude Luciel! They all think you're evil, they've all said that during the party last night!"

I was even more confused.

"She…she's talking about the comment people make on you…everyone thinks…you're scary…because of your entrance…"

My entrance? What entrance?

"Pff, the only reason they are scared of that is because they were weak, if they were strong like me they would appreciate how cool it was!"

WHAT ENTRANCE!!? The only thing I can think of was when I arrived during the exam, but how could anyone be scared by that, especially when everyone was sleeping?

"Ah, this doesn't matter!" Cynthia said angrily. 

"We still haven't entered our dorm! And I want to see my new den!" Cynthia said before turning back toward the door and trying to open it, but it didn't even bulge.

She looked at it silently at the handle before pulling it again. But once again, nothing happened.

She looked behind her and nervously chuckled. 

"Eh, boy…I think it broken." She said before turning back at the door and try to force it open even more.

Allister was looking at the situation with contempt, and I had to agree.

I wordlessly looked at her before moving past her and passing my metal-coated arm to the black panel right beside the door. The switch suddenly turned green and Cynthia who was using all of her force to open the door was suddenly thrown away with the door opening.

But before she could crash, she did a flip mid-air and landed on her feet with her hand raised.

"Perfect! It open now!" Cynthia entered the door without giving any comment on what happened, while I and Allister stood there dumbfounded.

She's so cool.

I followed behind her and looked at the interior of my new room, and to put it simply, it was immense. The central era was shaped like an octagon and probably measuring around 150m2, the middle was occupied by three sofas put in a rectangle position facing an even bigger black rectangle installed on a wood block that allowed everyone sitting to look at it.

Must be a weird custom from the other region.

The floor was made from normal brown wood, but just standing over it made my body calmer. The walls were mostly white but they had some green motifs that looked like vines painted on them.

The light was once again an orange orb that would burn my skin if I lowered my umbrella. But Cynthia and Allister seemed to appreciate it.

"Wow! It's so big!" Cynthia exclaimed in joy while looking around before immediately jumping on the sofa and searching for something.

Allister was more reserved in his admiration but was still looking around in curiosity. 

"Euh…do…do anyone know where our chamber is?"

Cynthia looked up from the sofa and looked around. "I guess it's on the end of one of the hallways."

Indeed, the room didn't end with only this room, as there were five hallways inside the room, two on the left, two on the right, and one in front. 

"Shotgun the room in front!" Cynthia said while leaving the sofa and entering the hallway in front of us, but before she completely disappeared, she looked behind her. "We met up soon alright!? I want to know more about your knowledge Luciel…and I guess you too Allister.

I nodded and she took it as a signal to leave…leaving me alone with Allister.

Alright, Luciel, this is your third possible friend, you must not mess this up!

I slowly turned to Allister who was still so busy admiring the room that he didn't notice me approaching behind him. "Hi, I'm Lu…

"AAAAAAAH!" Allister turned back in fright and screamed out of terror and fell on his back. "Sniff…sniff." Tears suddenly formed around his eyes as he looked at me in fright. "Please…I'm sorry for screaming at you…please don't eat me…

…did I do something wrong…I did what the rule asked and approached him without scaring him, yet he is still afraid…

No, I need to find a way to not make him cry first! Let's see, what did Nurse Joy do when I cried…right? She complimented me!

So I need to compliment him…mmh, I don't know a lot about him yet. He seemed to like the idiot woman who protected him from my gaze, should I compliment her?

No, stupid Luciel! I know even less about her…so what else…his outfit?

I looked at what he was wearing, and it was a simple white shirt and short with some gray lines and a weird golden man in the middle…in other words it was extremely ugly. 

Can't compliment that or he will know it is a lie…so let's see what else I know about him…oh! I have just the thing.

"Hey." I called up to him as he fearfully looked at me.

"Your scream of terror was very good."

…it didn't work.

***

"Natural Harmonia Tropius, Anthea Hormonia, Concordia Harmonia, and Yellow Amarillo, you are assigned the dorm 0151." 

I jolted when I heard my name leave out of Geeta's mouth. I nervously looked behind me just to see the expressionlessness face of the King of Unova.

He only nodded toward Geeta before leaving the group with his two maids following behind him.

"A problem miss Yellow?" Geeta asked me in her usual coldness.

"No, everything fine…just…I'm going." I didn't even try to create an excuse and hurried out of the encirclement toward my dorm. 

I waved once at Klara and Piers before entering the esper domain, this is what Miss Geeta called it.

She will separate Esper from none esper to avoid any conflict between us, which sadly means I won't be able to see Klara and Piers as much as I want…well nothing is really stopping me from traversing to the other side to see them. But I should use this opportunity to make more friends instead! Like my new roommate…

Alright maybe it's not the best example, I'm not even sure if the prince is able to feel any emotion, and even if he could, I doubt he would be interested in becoming friends with a lowly fisher like me.

Well at least it could be worse, I could be in the same room as the King of Danu. At least the king won't torture me during my stay.

Alright, maybe I am exaggerating, it not right for me to judge him without really talking to him. No one can truly be evil after all…

But it just I have an extremely bad feeling about him and I have no idea why. And it is not even just his aura of fear as they call it, it is a different feeling, one that there's something extremely wrong with him that goes against nature itself. And I was able to confirm this hypothesis yesterday. 

I looked down at my only left hand and generated a small yellow pulse, which was also what earned my name. My dad thought himself very funny when he named me this…well according to my uncle at least.

But it stays that this power made me an esper of rank 5 of the normal type. And it allowed me to heal and communicate with every living being, of course with some limitations, like I cannot heal myself and that the effects by themselves are rather weak.

Just this is apparently league better than most of the esper in the world, which would have easily allowed me to work for some rich and prestigious family if I was in any other region than Kanto.

But that wasn't the point, instead, it is that while I heal someone I'm able to feel their essence. For a normal human, it is usually the same, and I cannot tell for other espers because I never met any, my parent birthed me a normal human, and none of my family members or friends were esper after all, and I could just ask another esper to let me test it on them after they were hiding away from society like me.

But if I had to guess, it would be similar to when I heal a pokemon, where I feel some sort of elemental essence, but one thing that was similar from all of them was that I felt innocence from all of them.

The feeling weren't different from any pokemon I healed here, not even the Drattak, who despite attacking me was still filled with innocence. Even the Spiritomb I could feel his essence was filled with innocence…

But when I try to heal the king of Danu…I felt…selfishness. 

Usually, humans are composed of multiple emotions that make their own essence, selfishness is indeed among these emotions I can feel, and it can vary depending on the person.

But for him…it was the only thing I sensed, there was no kindness, no anger, no sadness, no love, no fear, no affection, no happiness…it was…scarry…more scary than his aura even could be.

I…I don't even think he is human…but I don't think he is a pokemon either…the only thing I could address him as is an abomina…

"Pie!" I suddenly came back to my mind with the help of Kitty just to stop myself before I entered into a pillar.

Oops, I think I was too concentrated on my thoughts, thanks, Kitty.

I petted her before walking away from the pillar and looked to the side just to see the King of Unova in one of the hallways opening the door with his wrist. 

I stepped jumped to the side and ran behind him before he could close the door.

But I hurried for nothing, as his maid left the door open just for me.

"Ah, thanks…" I thanked them before looking at the immensity of my new room.

It was beautiful, it certainly couldn't compare to the shack I lived in previously.

*Slam* 

I looked behind me to see the maid close the door before walking around in the room like they were looking for something.

"Glup." I audibly gulped at the situation. It really couldn't get more awkward than this. The king acted like I didn't exist at all…in fact, he didn't even act like he cared about the size of our room.

"Hello…beautiful room…am I right?" I awkwardly said, but he didn't even gaze at me when I said it.

Well he do his a king, I'm sure all the luxury we say previously is nothing compared to what he was raised in.

"There's no color." I heard him murmur which took me by surprise.

Is…is it against his taste…even this room is nothing compared to what he…hiii!

I startled myself when I noticed he was finally looking at me.

How gracious…how marvelous that he accord such attention to a lowly being such as myself! I need to kneel toward his benevolence! I…

"The room is devoid of any camera or other recording equipment my lord." 

I immediately wake up from my delusion after the sound.

Eh, what happened? That was…weird. Why did I suddenly think so highly of him?

"Really, then they must really trust us." The king responded to his maid who only bowed to him, yet he still didn't change the target of his gaze.

I gulped toward its intensity but still remained to keep calm.

It's alright Yellow, even if he is a king, he remains a kid like you, which means you can still communicate with him…at least enough to not make things awkward.

I stood as straight as I could before talking to him. "Salutation your highness, my name is Yellow Amarillo, and I hope I won't bother you too much during the next years." I said as politely as I could.

"Please don't call me that Yellow, you can just call my Natural." I looked up in surprise as the king responded in a gentle voice.

I really didn't expect him to be so polite toward me, I expected him to at best ignore my existence. 

Maybe…maybe he is simply very socially awkward?

"I'm honored you majesty Natural…"

"Oh, where are my manners, I forgot to present you to my close friend." Natural said while waving his hand to gather his maids.

"This is Anthea Harmonia." He said while pointing at a short girl with soft lavender hair flowing gracefully over her shoulders, she was wearing a long skirt of pale pink and a matching apron tied neatly around her waist. Draped over her shoulders was a green shawl, its vibrant hue contrasting with the gentle tones of her outfit. 

"And this is Concordia Harmonia." He said while pointing at a slightly taller girl, she had hair the color of spun gold tied back into a thick braid that reached her waist. A pair of pointed, ribbon-like strands sat atop her head, giving her a lively and cheerful air. She wore a blouse of sky blue with puffed sleeves, tucked into a yellow skirt that flared out as though ready to catch a playful breeze. 

Both of them still looked familiar, so I could suppose both were sisters…or at least cousins. But despite responding to his majesty order, neither of them spoke to me, contending themselves to simply bow.

"They were assigned to me as simple maids, but over time I started to consider them as my own sisters, but sadly my royal standing doesn't allow this decision." He added with a slight regret at the end of it.

"Ah…then I really hope I won't cause you any problem…" I responded hesitantly, clearly realizing that there was already a strong connection between everyone except me.

Natural also looked confused before slightly smiling. "I understand, you think that you're an intruder here, but you got the wrong idea."

"Really…oh I mean…how your majesty."

"As I said earlier, there is no need to call me that, currently we're both students, nothing more." 

Even if he said that, I still couldn't help but be hesitant to address him casually, he's still a king after all. My uncle couldn't survive if he ever decided to move his anger toward him. 

"To be honest, I specifically demanded that you reside in the same dorm as me."

"Eh?! Why?"

"Because I saw you during the test, and your performance inspired me."

My performance…but it was a complete failure, I'm lucky I was still accepted after this catastrophe.

"I don't think there was anything admirable in my performance…I put others in danger because of my naivety." I said regretfully.

"…is that all." Concordia suddenly asked in surprise.

"Well…no…that's all that happens."

"I must admit Natural, you were right when you said she would make a good candidate, I'm sorry for doubting you." Anthea said while looking at me with wonder.

"You were doubting me?" Natural asked in shock at Anthea who suddenly acted like the wall was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

"I'm sorry…but what did you want to say…I still don't understand how I could have impressed someone of your rank." I said trying to save Anthea from more questioning.

"Your kindness and your modesty."

"My…my what?"

"You didn't hesitate to sacrifice your chance to join the academy just to rescue some poor pokemon, despite that if you failed you wouldn't have the money to go back home."

"Ah…well this was more of stupidity…"

"Yet you still did it, didn't you?"

"…yes."

"And the best part is that you don't see those you saved, you only concern yourself on those you failed. In fact, you're not even concerned about your own safety."

"Eh, what do you mean?"

"Usually people would at least bring up they lost an arm when talking about their recent deed." Anthea said.

"Oh…"

"Allow me to ask you a question Yellow," Natural asked while moving toward the sofa in the room.

"Ah, yes, anything." I responded while running toward the other sofa so we could continue our discussion.

"How do you feel about the Drattak who caused you this wound?"

"…pity, he was attacked out of his natural habitat because of the attack of a cruel pokemon, and he was even killed by it…it didn't deserve this fate."

"Really, despite the fact he removed your arm?"

"Oh, this was my fault. I should have respected her limit instead of trying to implicit myself…it was wrong of me…it just I couldn't bring myself to give up on her after seeing her wound."

I responded sadly while looking at my wound, but the moment I looked back at Natural, I was met with a surprising scene.

"Ah, why are you crying your majes…Natural?"

Indeed, in front of me, the king of Unova was crying.

"It just…magnificent that people like you still exist." He took a tissue out of his poket and moped his tear aways. "It decided, Yellow, what do you think of becoming one of my new maids? And together, I promise we will repent our kindness to the world together."

"Eh?"

"Ah, sorry, I was too hasty." He said while rising from the sofa and approaching me. "Let me apologize." He said with a smile while reaching for his shoulder.

"Ah, please don't apolo…" I tried to stop him from apologizing, but I noticed that both Anthea and Concordia looked away in shame.

What? Why are they doing th…

*splash*

…what?

I could only look in confusion at Natural.

"To apologize, let me fix your arm."

"…why…why did you rip off your arm?" I said in fear as I looked at the severed arm of Natural in his own grip.

I tried to run to him to at least heal the wound to at least control the bleeding, but suddenly, his missing arm began to regenerate before I could do anything. A bone emerged from his shoulder, swiftly followed by layers of muscle, veins coursing with blood, and intricate nerves weaving together. Finally, his skin sealed it all, and his arm was whole once more.

"What…how?"

"A right, Concordia, could you please remove her bandage please?" Natural asked gently as if he didn't just rip off his own arm. Concordia absently nodded as she moved beside my to remove my bandage "Mmh, you look nervous, are you alright?"

"…are you alright?"

"You're asking me? Why wouldn't I be alright?"

"…does it hurt?"

"What hurt?"

Oh…I see, he doesn't feel the pain…then it might be gruesome but at least it doesn't pain him…

"Yes, it hurt him." Anthea interrupted my train of thought as she approached Natural with a sad gaze. "He just doesn't notice it anymore."

Oh…then why?

"Notice what? Oh! You mean that." He looked at his arm with a smile. "Do not worry, it will do you more good than it will do bad for me."

Concordia finished removing my bandana to reveal a bloody hole with blood gushing out.

I winched at the pain of my wound getting exposed to air, when Natural suddenly connected his own arm to my injury.

Out of reflex, I closed my eyes, preparing for an absurd pain. But instead of pain, I only felt bliss.

Confused, I opened them again just to see the arm slowly starting to morph. Its skin attached itself to my shoulder while the arm started to lose some volume until it started to look exactly like my previous one.

I expected to feel some pain during the procedure, especially when I felt my nerves connect themselves to the arm again, but I except a weak jolt, I felt nothing.

"Here you go, your act of kindness has now left you unharmed." Natural said with joy.

I looked back at the arm and tried to raise it, and to my surprise, it did. I then tried to close my fist, and it did again, it acted exactly as it always did.

"How?" I questioned in surprise, but most importantly in joy to have my arm back.

"The king is the nature archon, the master of grass esper. And healing others is its principal capacity." Concordia answered.

"Tha… thank you very much!" I bowed in front of him with real devotion this time.

"Please do not worry about such a little act..."

"I'm ready to do everything in exchange, please just ask…you wanted me to be your maid, I can do it, I will make sure to act as the best maid you ever had to thank you for what you did." I frantically said.

"Cough." Anthea suddenly coughed, making me realize my mistake.

"Sorry…third best maid you ever had."

"I was not addressing it to you."

Eh? What does she mean? 

"Your majesty, I thought you wanted to keep her sane."

"Eh?" I looked in surprise at Natural who looked as shocked as me.

"Oh misery, I forgot about it."

What is he talking about, why would his majesty ever cause any harm to me?

Cold sweat immediately dropped on my face after I realize something.

…why did I call him his majesty?