"I will miss you, but… I...cannot fully trust you. I need you to promise me…that you will not repeat the things you did before." She pressed. "No lying. No hiding details. No isolating. I will try to help make sure this task or whatever succeeds. But I need you to not break my trust in you again. I need you to understand that." Manon's strong resilient eyes did not waver even a little. It was a trait Colette admired.
"I promise. Truly. Everything I do will be to make sure you get home safe." Colette was earnest, grasping Manon's small hands in her own freckled ones, tightly….desperately.
….
Colette and Manon ate their food as Colette explained the game. She explained that they were currently in the tutorial, and that the main objective was to protect her character. Through their conversation, it became clear that Manon, for some reason, as Player 2, had to select a prewritten dialogue choice rather than answering freely when speaking to the NPCs. If she attempted to answer as she pleased, her mouth simply would not move at all which frightened her. Manon was awfully jealous when Colette said she did not experience this, but they supposed it was one of the autonomy restrictions on Player 2 that the system mentioned.
They both had a promise to each other to not keep any secrets so they could both survive the game, but Manon still seemed standoffish and weary. She was also unfamiliar with dating sim games and every aspect confused her further.
"Originally, Manon couldn't get cleaned up, so how she gets picked is usually through Madame Delores' favor rather than the manager's choice." Colette began as they were washing their dishes in the kitchen. "But…since Madame and you had an altercation in the morning…I'm worried about how she feels about you….she's over there. Quick- try checking her Affection points." Manon squinted through the doorway, seeing Madame reprimanding Remy for the 10th time today.
"Um…I think it says 5." Colette cursed.
"That's really bad…We have to change our strategy…." She began, drying her hands on her skirts. "If you don't get to go to the main orphanage house for the special adoption as a candidate, the game cannot proceed, and you may suffer without me." Manon looked at Colette a bit fondly.
"Thanks for looking out for me…even though you kinda have to." She chuckled shortly, drying her own hands. Colette smiled, fishing something out of her pocket.
"Ah! But you should put your eyepatch back on. Madame hates your blue eye." Suddenly Manon grew colder, refusing the patch.
"I've spent a lot of time learning to love myself for who I am. You know that."
"I do. But if your AP with Madame falls below 1, you will very likely be killed. I have no idea what will happen to you then or if you can come back, but neither of us will be able to succeed easily." Colette urged. "Please- after the tutorial we can see what we can do, but this game is not all sunshine and rainbows." Manon looked reluctant, but took the eyepatch without much more pushback.
"Fine, but I won't wear it after the tutorial. Seriously." she said, eyes firm. Colette nodded along, thinking they could cross that bridge later when it was less detrimental. Manon put the patch back on and Colette brought her along to start their chores since they were behind schedule. As the youngest they had the least chores. But this just meant they needed to avoid the older kids as much as possible or they'd be given extra work to do. They snuck out to finish their only chore which was cleaning the floors. They'd start in the bedroom and end in the dining area in order to make sure they didn't run into any other kids.
"As I was saying before," Colette started again, waiting for Manon to finish sweeping the room so she could mop, "We need a new plan or approach. Since we don't have time to get you to at least 15 AP with Madame Delores, we need to make sure you impress the manager instead or you won't be chosen…" She paused. "So we should do your hair I think. You're pretty enough for the manager to like your face! Even with the patch, especially because you're the youngest."
Manon nodded as she finished sweeping, leaning the broom against a wall.
"Thank goodness. I was seriously debating cutting this hair off. It's nearly completely matted up. I'm not sure how long it'll take to fix it to be honest." Manon sighed, twirling a raggedy lock around her index finger. Colette was a bit worried about that too. They could probably sneak into the river out back to wash, but they had nothing but an old comb to do her hair. Madame hadn't dared to touch it because it was so badly tangled.
…"Shop." Colette said, and suddenly the familiar green window popped up.
"Whoa!" Manon exclaimed, looking at the window, trying to touch the new sparkly green color she hadn't seen before.
"You can see it?" Colette was shocked but not displeased. "Take a good look. This is one of the perks the system gave me. Let's see what's available today." She began scrolling through the items, noticing her balance was now at 6 XP. Manon didn't say much, just watched Colette in her element, an unreadable expression on her sunken face.
By a stroke of luck or maybe the system overheard them again, there was an item called "Silver Brush of Calypso." This time, maybe because she had gained a lot of XP recently, it had a description.
"This brush is a magical item. Knots and tangles? Gone. Matted furs? Fixed. Worn or torn clothing? Mended. Just brush your problem area and the brush will take care of it. Uses: Unlimited. May only be used by one Player. Transferable only one time. Price: 2XP." Colette read out the paragraph.
"So you can just buy whatever?" Manon was in awe at the glimmering screen. "That brush sounds perfect, though. Exactly what we need."
That was all Colette needed to hear. She purchased the item.
[…You have purchased the Silver Brush of Calypso. 2 XP have been deducted.]
The brush fell into the palm of Colette's hand, the cool metal with intricate carvings stinging slightly.
[….The system detects another player. Would you like to transfer ownership to Player 2?]
"Yes." Colette answered immediately, no hesitation. Manon flinched slightly, mouth parting as she stared at Colette..
"What? Are you sure?" She was hesitant, a bit weary as well.
[….Confirmed. Please give Player 2 the item.]
Colette opened Manon's hand and put the brush in her palm, wrapping her fingers around the handle.
"This is a token of our new friendship, and trust. You need this way more than I do. Please, take it." Colette urged, a smile on her lips. Manon grinned for the first time since she entered the game, a small one… in thanks.
"Should I try it now?" She asked, but she already brought the brush to her head, making Colette laugh.
As promised, the brush glowed as it went through Manon's hair. She was curious at first, then confused, then shocked as her length seemed to grow and grow.
"Um…is it meant to grow hair??" She yelped, staring at the brush after the first pass, which brought her now silky wavy hair down to her upper thighs. Colette was also shocked but knew what it was.
"I think your hair was just so matted up that it shrunk up." She said, a short laugh leaving her mouth. Manon laughed as well, continuing her brushing. By the time she was done, silky black hair falling in waterlike waves were covering her small frame.
"I mean, it's beautiful…but I think this body is so small that I'm drowning in hair." She said with another laugh. Colette agreed, unable to contain her grin.
"How about braids? Low pigtails? You love those." She suggested, and Manon gave her another fond look.
"You remember," Manon spoke gently, as if afraid to show too much vulnerability, afraid to expect too much of Colette.
"Of course I do." Colette sighed, and went up to her, parting her hair for the braids. "I remember everything. Sorry that I made it seem like I didn't." She hummed as she braided, working quickly with practiced movements. In no time at all, Manon's long hair was braided into two thick low ponytail braids. Colette finished the hairstyle by plucking out two face framing pieces in front. The 7 year old Manon looked adorable even in her tattered rag dress.
"Should I fix our dresses too?" Manon asked after she was done. Colette shook her head, pursing her lips.
"No, the other kids will definitely notice. They'll already faint when they see your hair. We can't have them getting jealous over clothing or we may not have any in an hour." She explained, to which Manon nodded, suddenly deciding to take a leap of faith to show her gratitude.
"Then turn around. Let's do something to those pretty red locks too." Manon spoke gently, turning to do Colette's hair. She tried to decline, but Manon wouldn't take no for an answer and began brushing. The brush worked its magic on her hair as well, making it smooth in very loose waves falling to her waist. Manon did a half up hairstyle with braids on either side of her head merging into one, and pieces of hair twisting around the braids. It was beautiful.
"Thank you.." Colette smiled, looking at her feet. She never thought this day would come, where they'd be anything near friends again. She thought there was no hope. Even though it was not forever, she was glad she had this time with her best friend at the very least. They'd finish this tutorial, get adopted, go to school again, grow up together…all before the brunette was sent back to her real life and left her here.
Suddenly, Colette remembered something. It was just a small memory, but enough to make her blood run cold. Manon seemed to sense this immediately and her brows furrowed in concern as Colette pulled away to finish mopping.
"Are you alright?" she asked, tucking the brush into her pillow before Colette needed to mop the area. Colette nodded with a smile.
"Yeah…just a bit nervous. This is really a deviation from the original. So I really hope it works." She explained. Manon wasn't sure if that was all, but she also had never played dating sim games and supposed she was not truly aware of the stakes here. She just nodded slowly. Even if she did not fully trust Colette, she did not have much of a choice if she wanted to leave this game.
"It'll all work out. I'll do my best not to anger anyone else." She replied, and Colette grinned, going back to her chores.
They'd have to work it out. But for now, they needed to worry about what Madame would say about Manon's hair, seeing as she had lost too much of her favor already.