“Hey, come!” A girl wearing a white sunflower dress waved at another person, who was wearing very casual clothes made for hot summer days like these. A soft breeze passed the both of them.

“Alright, alright!”

The girl’s face was entirely obscured by the shine of the blazing sun behind her. The man who was walking towards her, every step leaving a footstep in the sand beneath them, was smiling a lot.

They both looked out towards the deep blue ocean, the girl turned towards the  man standing next to her, softly and slowly grabbing his hand.

“I wish we could always be like this…”

The man’s cheeks became a very rosy red. His smile trembled with excitement.

“Yeah! I’ll always protect you.”

“Hehe.. I’m strong myself, ya know..”

They both laughed. The man almost fell into the water. His glasses however, did fall. The girl immediately kneeled down to grab them, her dress getting all wet because of that.

“You’re a klutz sometimes, you know.. but that’s what I like about you.”

The girl picked up the glasses and put them on the man, who had closed his eyes instinctively.

The girl’s voice echoed through his mind.

“Ymeno.”

Opening his eyes, he lied in his large, comfortable bed. Staring at the ceiling for a couple of seconds before grabbing his glasses.

“It was just a dream.”

Yet, his heart was still beating faster than usual. It took Ymeno a minute to calm himself down. He looked at the alarm clock. 06:00.

He decided to get out of bed early.

The sun wasn’t out yet to greet him the usual way, but Ymeno couldn’t just sit still on his couch. This was something that happened to him from time to time. Memories of the past tend to sneak up on him.

He stood up and walked towards the door, putting on his black coat as it was still a bit chilly outside. With a glance towards the sword and the mask, the door behind him closed.

The city was fast asleep still. Ymeno heard the sound of  a person biking on the other road, and that was the only sign of life that the streets had to offer.

Jogging down the street, he went into a back alley, a shortcut he was very familiar with. It lead towards a small park, where the grass was glittering with dew. In this park, there are two paths you can take. One leads towards a forest, the other towards the other part of the city. Sitting down on one of the park benches, he finally collected all his thoughts.

After 15 minutes, Ymeno stood up again, jogging back towards his appartment. After arriving home, he immediately hit the on button on his coffee machine and sat down on his couch.

It was a friday today, last work day of the week. The contract said that he didn’t have to work in the weekend.

Ymeno didn’t have plans this weekend. He usually never does, just cleaning at home is usually enough.

Although the thought of visiting someone crossed hus mind. That person would like surprise visits like that.

Turning on the tv, it was that same policewoman still giving interviews. She looked tired. It was hard to decide if it was because of the constant interviews or because of the case itself.

Today’s job was to finish the 4th garden, Kane was surprised yesterday with how quick he was with the first 3 gardens.

‘I could check out the upper floor of that mansion afterwards’

Always interested in knowing the full layout of a building, Ymeno quickly hatched up a battle plan to finish the 4th garden as fast as possible.

While hatching this plan in his head, time passed way quicker, and he had to leave towards work. After visiting the local bakery and greeting the baker lady there, the gigantic mansion greeted him once more.

Walking down the path that lead to the blue shed, he saw a bunch of kids playing, alongside Magnolia, standing surpisingly tall amongst them.

Ymeno couldn’t remember her being that tall, though. Then again, he focused more on those crimson red eyes of hers, and that sudden sound of heavy metal falling.

Kane was sitting on one of the benches, humming another theme before noticing Ymeno.

“Ah, hello there, Ymeno.” He said, with a joyful tone to his voice.

Kane’s eyes looked a bit tired, perhaps he had a night shift of sorts, what job does he even do?

“On your way to get the tools? I’ll walk with you.”

Ymeno didn’t get to say anything about it, Kane already tagged along. Although he didn’t mind, as he thought of Kane as an interesting figure.

“It’s friday, you know what that means.”

“I don’t, actually.”

“You’re kidding, right.”

Silence.

“Oh shit, you’re serious. Friday night means drinking, man!”

“I don’t usually go out, though.”

This made Kane stand still.

“Really, hmm.”

He put his hand against his chin. Deep in thought for a few seconds.

“Well, whenever I hire someone new, I always make it a point to go out and drink with them on friday night! So whether you like it or not, we’re going to a bar.”

Ymeno has not done that in years. He was a bit surprised at the sudden invitation, but after thinking it through, he nodded.

“Alright, let’s do that, then.”

Kane smiled and looked at his watch.

“Oops, gotta go. See ya in the evening, wait here, alright.”

Just like that, plans were made to go out into the night. Ymeno felt surprised but also happy. But first, a garden had to be maintained.

Grabbing the toolbox, Ymeno didn’t even need to look at the map, as he had already become familiar with the structure of the mansion’s gigantic flower pathway.

The fourth garden, the biggest of them all, proudly showing off its multitude of beautifully colored flowers. Ymeno’s eyes glistered for a second.

And then, it was time for maintenance. Quickly and efficiently, Ymeno went to work.

Snip snip. He was like a whirlwind, entirely in his element. Somehow, through all this hard work, his suit did not get dirty. Not even a little smidge.

Magnolia was once again watching him from the sidelines. She was, quite frankly, impressed.

Time passed, when Magnolia realised that Ymeno was done, she made a quick escape, skittering away.

As the focus he had on the garden faded away, sweat was rolling down his forehead. Normally, he would look at the weather report every morning, but due to the somewhat rocky morning, that was forgotten. And now he was suffering because of it. It was very hot.

The classic summer heatwave. Ymeno was very glad that he finished this garden in the morning and not during the afternoon, because he would've probably not been able to stand it, especially while wearing his black suit.

Due to his speed and diligence on the gardens, Ymeno was already finished for the day, and thus, the week. It was 11 am and the sound of children yelling and playing could be heard as he was walking back to the big mansion to cool down. This warm weather, while annoying, was also a bit nostalgic. Still thinking of things to do for the weekend, the idea of going to the beach sounded nice for him. A few of the children ran past him, all holding some sort of item. "Run! The great thief is coming!"

And then, another kid breezed past him. Seems like they were playing some variation of tag. One of them almost tripped over the other.

A few minutes later, Ymeno finally entered the mansion, which welcomed him with a fresh breeze. The air conditioner was working overtime in keeping it all very cool inside, especially for all the maids who were still working very hard.

On the first floor, a door flew open. It was Magnolia, holding two plates which had bottles of water. Carefully avoiding a statue, all she had to do was go down the stairs. But being a bit  clumsy, she shook all around as she walked downstairs.
The head maid ran towards her and grabbed her right before she fell.
“Thank you.” The little girl said, handing the head maid a bottle of water.

She then skittled all around the place, giving every maid a bottle of water. Skittling past Ymeno, she gave him a bottle too.

“Remember to stay hydrated, mister!”

And then, she dashed off to the main hall, and presumably the rest of the mansion. The head maid sighed.

“That girl is a whirlwind.”

“Is she?” Ymeno responded.

“Ah, you’re the new gardener, Ymeno, was it?” She walked towards him.

Taking off her white glove and extending her hand, she introduced herself.
“My name is Clara. Head maid of the mansion. I’ve been working for Mister Qur and Miss Fuego ever since they bought this mansion 2 years ago.”

“You already know my name, but to be formal, my name is Ymeno. What’s your function as head maid?”

“I command the other maids to keep this mansion always clean, due to all the kids running around it gets messy quickly. Magnolia feels bad because of that, so she sometimes helps out.”

“Is that why you gave her a tiny maid uniform?”

A smile appeared on her face.

“It’s so cute, right?” She clapped her hands together.

Ymeno didn’t know how to respond, so he just nodded.

“She’s such a sweet girl, always looking out for everyone here. We all collectively see her as our little sister. I think she’s interested in you, because she couldn’t stop talking about ‘the gardener wearing a suit’.”

She laughed.

Ymeno once again didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t used to childlike innocence, even though Magnolia also explained yesterday that she got quickly interested in stuff.

“Ah, sorry, sorry, I have to move.”

Not having time to respond, Clara dashed off. Ymeno felt like he was a wall while she was talking to him, not a pleasant feeling. After drinking his bottle of water entirely, he walked upstairs. Each step up making him more curious as to what lies upstairs.

Once upstairs, there were 3 doors, one on the far right, leading to Kane’s office. The door in the middle had “Library” on the door, and the door on the left was locked. Ymeno turned around and looked at the main entrance from the balcony, this made him realize that the mansion really was huge. He could overlook everything from down below here.

Standing in front of the door to the library, he tried opening it quietly. But the creak it made while opening was really loud. Thankfully, no one was in the library, or so he thought.

The library itself was large. Filled to the brim with books as far as the eye can see. Bookcases full of different genres. Ymeno was in awe as he headed deeper into the library. There were chairs where you could rest and read a book on, neatly decorated with different items.

There were also multiple places where you could get coffee or tea. All for free. Ymeno wondered how long it took for Kane to get all this.

Making his way towards the middle, there were 2 large couches and a few chairs. This seemed like the main area where you could read books.

As he stepped towards one of the chairs to sit down, he suddenly got met with an unknown voice.

“Who are you?”

It was a young voice, that of a child no older than 14. Ymeno looked around, and on one of the couches, there was a boy sitting there with a large book, it’s cover was plain, with the words “The archiver’s stories.” Written on it.

”My name is Ymeno, what’s yours?”

The boy sat still for a few moments.

“Zeki. People don’t usually enter this library, why are you here?”

Immediately getting to the questions, Zeki wanted to know everything about this stranger dressed in a black suit.

“I was curious as to what this mansion had to offer. I work here as the gardener.”

“Ah, the old ones left. Is it just curiousness that drives you, or is there more to it?”

“At first, it was just curiousness, but upon finding out that this is a library, it has me intrigued even more. I used to read a lot when I was young, probably just as old as you are.”

A small smile appeared on Zeki’s face, seemed like he wasn’t as stone cold as Ymeno initially suspected.

“Come sit down with me, it’s more fun to talk about stories when you have someone with you.”

And just like that, Ymeno sat down on the couch adjacent to Zeki. The boy placed the book he was reading next to him, Ymeno’s eyes following the book.

“Interested? This book is the only one of its kind. I’m still reading it, though, sorry.”

“What’s it about?”

“No spoilers.”

Ymeno chuckled at that.

They started talking about the stories that they had read. Even though they had just met, a small friendship was forming between two bookworms. Ymeno found out that Zeki was an orphan too, from the same orphanage as Magnolia.

“Ah, you’ve met Nolia?” Zeki said.

“That’s my little sister. Although I’m mostly always here, she sometimes comes in to say hi, even if she’s not that interested in reading. She just came here to give me water.” He smiled while talking about her.

“How come you’re not playing outside with the others?”

“I don’t have a lot of energy. So I’d rather sit here.”

Ymeno thought that it must be lonely, but he didn’t say it out loud.

Time was passing quickly. But because Ymeno was already finished for the day, he didn’t mind it. Suddenly, Magnolia opened the door.

“Zeki! The water gun battle is starting. Please come and watch.” She kept tugging at his arm.

It was 4 P.M. A lot of kids have gathered just outside the entrance to the mansion. Kane was there too, all the children were circling around him.

“Where’s miss fuego?” some of the kids asked.

“She’s very busy. So I’ll the be the one overseeing this week.”

He clapped his hands as all the kids stood in a line.
“Does everyone have a weapon?”

They all raised their guns in the air. They were of different colors and sizes. Some purple, some green, some were really large, some were significantly smaller. A few kids were dual wielding guns.

Zeki walked towards Kane. “Nolia had to grab something, she’ll join as soon as possible.”

“No worries, we’ll start already.”

Kane turned towards all the kids.

“You know the rules, the kid who’s the least wet at the end wins! Good luck everyone!”

And just like that, they all let out a war cry and ran towards the gigantic grassy field in front of the mansion. Kane, Ymeno and Zeki sat next to the sideline.

“This happens weekly?” Ymeno asked.

“Yeah, It’s so warm this summer, so the kids always do this every Friday. You still can’t join, Zeki?”

Zeki shook his head.

“I’d fall down after a few minutes, I’d rather watch it from here. ” He was sweating up a storm, not used to the heat.

Soon after, Magnolia ran towards the battlefield. What Ymeno saw right there nearly made his jaw drop.  The bazooka he almost tripped over yesterday belonged to her. She began pointing and shooting it at everyone unfortunate enough to get in her sights.

Kane couldn’t stop laughing.

“Surprised? She made it herself. That girl has a nogging on her.” He tapped his head a few times.

“A-and how old is she again?”

“12” Zeki and Kane said simultaneously.

This battle went on for quite a while. The distinct sound of Magnolia’s bazooka was heard multiple times, her laughter overpowering everyone afterwards. The eventual winner wasn’t her, though. All the kids eventually began to focus their efforts on the bazooka wielding girl, not wanting to lose to the youngest one there.

Magnolia was dripping wet everywhere, and had a very sad face on her. “My weapon wasn’t enough.”

She walked towards the back of the mansion to change, her shoes squeaking at every step.

All the other kids followed after her, all of them different degrees of wet. One kid was really good at dodging, and he was the one that won. Kane stood up.

“That was enjoyable. I’m going to ready myself for tonight, I’ll meet you here at 9, Ymeno.”

“Alright, see you then.”

Zeki was smiling the whole time. But there was a bit of sadness glimmering in his eyes.

“I wish I could join them. Seems so fun.”

He stood up and looked at Ymeno.

“It was fun today, I hope I can see you more in the library. Thanks for the book recommendations.”

And with those words, Zeki went inside.

Ymeno stood up last and walked towards his house. Coming home and brewing more coffee. It was a very eventful day, and he was actually looking forward to the night. It had been quite a while since he had gone drinking. But first, it was time to rest. As he sat down, all the fatigue that built up released. With a sigh, he turned on the tv, and with the aroma of coffee floating around, he waited until the evening.

- To be continued -