Okay, I may have overexaggerated a tiny bit by trying to blind myself. In the end, Sister Clementine escorted Karen back to class after retrieving Ursula as backup. Alexis, Astrid and Ursula then spent the next quarter-hour trying to stop me from mutilating myself. I was eventually subdued by Ursula, who used her professional wrestling skills to put me into a double chicken wing hold. I couldn't move, and I was already tuckered out from flailing about, so I just gave up. After class, we all gathered in the courtyard at Maria Hall. 

"I can hardly believe it..." Sol mumbled after I told everyone what happened. Not about the part where I tried to maim myself with a pen; the part where I got pranked. I didn't tell them about my little meltdown. "I thought something must've happened when the guardienne escorted you late to class."

"Did nobody else hear about it?" I ask. I thought it was strange that the girls didn't treat me like goat shit when I entered.

"That's right. It happened just a little before class began, after all."

"No one sent texts?"

Sol looked at me strangely. "We don't do that during class," she told me, a little confused.

Now I'm confused. Is this what culture shock feels like? Are the girls here even human? In what world do students who DON'T go on their phones in the middle of class exist? I mustn't be hearing things properly. Seeing me aghast, Chloe explains further.

"Seraph, Vincennes is always very strict about those kinds of rules."

This is still not computing to me. How do hundreds of kids obey the same rule? 

"...Is it different at other schools?" Rosalia asked either Chloe or myself. Oh, Rosalia was sitting at the table with us, by the way. The Association were rivals, but the students of Vincennes were still all on friendly terms. Meeting and chatting like we are now feels like the most natural thing in the world to them. I am still yet to fully adapt to the concept of friendly enemies.

"It is," Chloe answered. "Before I came here, students would always gossip and use their phones during class. It was completely normal. That aside..." Chloe turned to face me. "Why are there guardienne behind you?" She was talking about Alexis and Ursula. They were keeping a watchful eye on me from close behind. Alexis was here because she was the most physically strong, and Ursula was here because she could wrestle me to the ground.

"We're just keeping an eye on him," Alexis answered. "Just in case he tries something rash..."

"I won't do it again," I say. "I promise." I've been put on something akin to suicide watch for the time being. So long as the girls don't know what I tried to do earlier, they should interpret my promise as 'I won't sexually harass the girls again,' or something like that. 

"But a prank..." Sol murmured. She really didn't seem to want to let this go. "It wasn't a terribly malicious act, but... I wonder who it could have been."

"...It couldn't be..." Rosalia muttered under her breath. It was clear she didn't mean for it to be heard, but Sol caught on to it anyway.

"Oh, do you have some idea?" Sol asked. 

"Oh, no. Not exactly..." It seemed Rosalia had a hunch it was Luna, but didn't want to snitch because she had no conclusive evidence.

As Sol interrogated Rosalia, Alexis whispered into my ear. "You hear that, Seraph? It was NOT anything bad. You do NOT have to beat yourself up over it."

"I know and I won't!" I angrily whisper back. Her words shamed me. I'm already embarrassed enough as it is when I think back on it, you don't have to keep reminding me. And then Sol asked the question I had been dreading.

"But what did they say to lure you there? That's the part I'm interested in."

Currently, there are only two people around who know the contents of the message: Me and Alexis. I stutter a bit and get even further embarrassed. I hear Alexis snort behind me. 

"It was... um... like..." I put my brain into overdrive to try to come up with an answer, but it's currently short circuiting. I'm on my own. "Something like, uh, 'there's a treasure hidden in room 2-B!' or something..."

"TREAS-" Alexis could barely contain her laughter. She must know I don't want to tell them because I'll keel over and die of humiliation if they found out. "I'm sorry - I can't. I'm done. I'm done!" Alexis hurried out of the courtyard laughing, and perhaps trusting that I wouldn't harm myself, Ursula followed her, confused by her reaction. Sol and Rosalia watched them both depart, dumfounded. Chloe didn't care about their reaction, and instead glared at me.

"A treasure, huh..." she repeats, skeptically. Then she let out a sigh and switched topics. "For heaven's sake, you could have gotten out of there right away, but you stuck around to look at us. It was really gross."

Ow.

Chloe was mean-

"Even if you couldn't help entering the classroom, there is no excuse for that."

-But Rosalia was fucking HEARTLESS!

"But this might have an effect on your standing..." Sol warned me. "Seraph, prepare yourself for a change in next week's poll."

"...Oh, the one the student council does." Chloe seemed to have to work a few cogs in her mind to come to that conclusion. "Do you have the results already?"

"Yes. Here." Sol took the paper out of her bag. This seemed to be the first Rosalia had seen of it, and she peered at it with Chloe. While they looked over the paper, I stole a glance at Sapphire. She always seemed vacant, but she seemed to be especially vacant today. She had zoned out, and had her eyes turned towards the sky.

"Sapphire," Sol called out to her, seeing that she was kind of out of it. "Have you seen them already?"

"Huh?" Hearing her name, Sapphire snapped back into reality, but was lost in the conversation. 

"Have you seen the results of the approval survey?" Sol clarified.

"Ah..." Sapphire uttered absentmindedly. "No, I have not." She gave her answer and stared back off into space. She must have something really heavy weighing on her mind. I hope she doesn't ask- "Seraph, might I ask you something?"

Goddammit.

"...What is it?" I reluctantly inquire. 

"How does it feel for a man to see a woman naked?"

I let out a tired sigh, put a hand over my eyes, face downwards and slowly shake my head. I'm too debilitated to deal with this shit.

"W-W-We weren't naked!" Chloe quickly corrected her, clearly agitated. "We were still in our underwear..."

"Ah, well, it was a figure of speech," Sapphire said. "I cannot begin to imagine it. When we change together, I do not feel anything in particular. But I am certain that a boy in the same situation would feel differently. So I was wondering, how might that be?"

All eyes are now on me. It feels like my face is on fire. I take a deep breath, rest my elbows on the table and fold my hands together as if I were praying in front of my face. "Feelings are difficult to describe."

They all begrudgingly accept my refusal to answer. All of them except Sapphire. "That is true, I suppose," she said. "I find it difficult to describe the feeling I get when I bake a successful loaf of bread. That's right." Sapphire seemed to have come up with an idea. "We should have tea together tomorrow."

"Yes." Sol agreed with the idea wholeheartedly. "As long as we're doing it, we should invite Luna to join us. I wonder why she didn't come today..." 

"She didn't come to the Red Rose society room, either..." Rosalia added. How suspicious. This just proves I'm right. I'm always right, and it feels good when I am.

We passed the next few minutes chatting before we had two guests guest show up by the entrance of the courtyard: Nina and Adelaide. Nina stayed over by the entrance and edged Adelaide over after she saw me. She walked up to us dejectedly, looking down at the ground.

"Salutations..." Adelaide greeted us, clearly remorseful.

"Salutations, Adelaide," Sol greeted her with an air of worry. "Is something wrong?"

"No... I just wanted to apologize... Chloe, Sapphire, I'm sorry you had to go through that earlier." By 'that' I'm assuming she was talking about me seeing them changing. "I know that it is wrong for a man to see a woman in the middle of changing, but I heard Chloe was in danger and acted thoughtlessly. Seraph was looking really worried and I just wanted to give him peace of mind. I didn't realize what I did until it was too late. It wasn't Seraph's fault. It was mine. I don't want you to hate him because of my reckless actions."

. . .

Silence fell over the table. Everyone was taken aback by what Adelaide just said.

"...Why did you think I was in trouble?" Chloe asked, turning red.

"I read the message Seraph got. It said that you were in big trouble and I acted out of impulse." Adelaide kept looking down as she answered, too ashamed to face us.

"...Oh..." Chloe uttered. Now she was looking down.

"Seraph," Then Adelaide turned to me. "I'm sorry my stupidity got you in trouble. I know it isn't much and I don't expect your forgiveness, but I apologized and explained to everyone in class 2-B that what happened was my fault."

"I'm sorry," I squeak up. "Everyone?"

"Yes," she confirmed. "I explained to them that you had no ill intentions when looking around the room. You just wanted to make sure that Chloe was safe, and that the fact the girls were changing was the last thing on your mind. I explained everything to them, and it seemed like they understand. Again, I'm terribly sorry for my mindless actions, and I hope that we can let bygones be bygones. Excuse me..." And with that Adelaide left with Nina supervising her, leaving everyone at the table speechless.

I just get up and leave without speaking a word. I want to cry, so I'm going to bed.

---

Meanwhile, in the student council room...

"Marie, this should lower Seraph's approval rating." Luna told the ever-smiling Marie. "Whatever the reason, he entered a classroom while the girls were changing."

Marie smiled a little weakly at her. "Luna. You do know the most important thing in life, don't you?" Marie's sudden question caught Luna off guard. She didn't know how to respond, and Marie knew. "The most important thing in life is to do the righteous thing. Isn't that right? Using 'traps' such as these to lower the public opinion of Seraph and drive him out... I wonder what could be the point of such a thing? If he is a good person - if he is a righteous man, then I believe that there is nothing wrong with him remaining at Vincennes. Have you forgotten what I said, Luna? My desire is to maintain peace at Vinceness. If his presence here is not disturbing that peace, then I take no issue with him. In addition, the matter of gender integration is one that the students should decide for themselves. Is that not the case?" 

Marie's words hurt Luna deeply. This always happened whenever she tried to do something good of her own volition. She never got anything right, and now the guilt and self loathing ate herself up inside. 

"...I'm sorry... I don't know why I do anything..." 

"I do understand how you feel," Marie said, smiling brightly at her. "You were trying to make me happy, weren't you?" Luna nodded weakly. She tried to, but she couldn't even do that properly. "But do remember, what I wish to see is his true character. If, beneath the surface, he is pure... then that will be a wonderful thing."

Luna nodded again. She understood. In her heart, she decided to turn herself in and expose herself as the culprit behind this incident. She'd face whatever punishment was given without complaint. That is what she decided she'd do herself. But...

"The teachers do not know the truth behind this incident, do they?" Marie asked. "If so, let's keep this between us."

"But..."

"Jesus cast censure upon the Pharisees who upheld 'righteous' laws, did he not? I am the same. I do not wish to enforce the rules if it means hurting you."

Luna wanted to rebuke her. She wanted to say that she was wrong and set things right. But she has had enough experience to know that nothing good ever happens when she acts on her own volition. It was much safer to just listen and obey others like a good little girl, the way her dad told her to do.

"...Thank you..." she muttered weakly.