The infirmary.Empty, apparently unused, with only a few tools lined up against the wall. Enough. They are automatic, precise, designed to treat any minor injury. Mío's cheek, for example.
She sits on an examination bed. Roy cleans her face with a damp cloth, slow, focused. Gary assists him in silence, attentive to every movement.
"Does it hurt?"
"A little…" —she looks away, distracted— "By the way… where did Rudy go?"
"Do you know him?"
"No… I just heard the princessa mention him…" —her tone is innocent, without intent to provoke.
Roy chuckles softly.
"Rudy and Cinthia had some business to take care of outside Nigella… And the princessa—"
"The princessa is right here…" William interrupts as he enters, wearing a wide smile.
Roy lets out a tired sigh.
"Do you always have to be everywhere?"
"Can't I worry about this little cutie?… No one has the right to hurt such a sweet face."He approaches with his hands behind his back, exaggeratedly gallant."Which, by the way… feels familiar to me…" —his smile widens as he brushes her cheek with a finger—"Hey Roy, did you know there were women wars were fought over?"
Mío doesn't react. She doesn't understand.
"I'll take care of her. Don't bother her. Idiot."Roy pushes William's hand away.
"Do you feel guilty about this?"
Roy doesn't answer. He keeps cleaning with the same care, but the cloth trembles slightly when he hears those words.
"I've never seen Lía like that…"
"She's been that awful since we met her…" Gary adds, insolent.
"It's one thing after another…" Roy murmurs."As if everyone's losing control…"
"It's natural…" William says.
"How is that natural?"
"You've got a bunch of kids living on their own, however they can."
"But it wasn't like this a few months ago…" Roy keeps rubbing."It's like even I have strange impulses…" —he glances at William—"Like punching you."
"It's natural…"
"I don't understand you!"
William laughs briefly.
"Hey… you're forgetting something…" Mío suddenly interjects. The cloth has soaked her face too much.
Roy pulls it away quickly.
"S-sorry… does it hurt?"
"Don't worry."She hops off the bed onto the floor."Can I go?"
"Are you in a hurry?" William asks.
"A little… actually, yes. I need to see Rudy."
Roy fixes his gaze on her.
"You said you didn't know him…"
"And I don't. I just want to ask him if he has anything to do with Miguel…"
Gary's eyes snap toward her at that name.
Roy raises an eyebrow.
"Miguel? Who's that?"
"My natural enemy… the one who took my best friend away… the villain of this story!"
It sounded childish. And resolute.
Gary exhales hot air. Tense.
"Miguel's an awesome guy. Don't say that about him again…"
Mío's eyes light up.
"Wait… you know him?"
"W-well…"
"Hold on… what are you talking about?" Roy interrupts.
Gary begins to sketch a few memories.
"Listen carefully, shrimp. I'll tell you why Miguel is the coolest guy ever…"
Mío frowns.
"There used to be groups of idiots forcing other idiots to work in the great cemetery."
"Cemetery?" Roy leans in.
"You'd never understand… you'd have to see it with your own eyes."There's rejection in his gaze, then a glimmer."Everything was complicated in that dump… I lived alone with my father… though he was lost in his own problems too…"
His bitterness leaves no room to breathe. Then he sighs.
"When I was a baby… that old man used to play songs so I'd stop crying. But he died when I was five… I was alone for years. I missed the solos my father played. In fact, there's one in particular I want to remember… but the way things were on the other side, I'd lost all hope…"
He smiles.
"And then… exactly two years ago… when I was lying in the mud after a beating, a sound arrived… melodies like the ones my father used to play…"
He smiles wider.
"They sounded horrible, disgusting… but I heard them… I stood up and walked toward a group of kids."
"That's awesome!"
"Yeah!"
"Play it again!"
"Huh? You—what do you want?"
"That thing that's playing… what is it?"
He pulled the cassette out of the damaged player.
"There are several like it in here… There's a leader called Miguel who collects them and sells them for a few trinkets… His whole gang wears ponytails. They look awesome!"
Gary spoke with a certain fondness. He got lost in his story, eyes closed.
"After that… the other side stopped having so many idiot leaders… Miguel took over almost the whole place… He gave everyone hope. He gave me hope that someday I'd find that melody on a cassette…"
Roy notices something.
"Ponytails? Like Rudy's?…"
"Yeah… Rudy used to be in his gang! That's why he's my brother!"
William was smiling.
Mío, more than anything, looked incredulous.
"Yeah… and then Miguel… took Mica away from me…"
"Don't talk about things you don't understand, shrimp…"
"Huhhh?"
"Easy, kids… Members of the council should get along, don't you think?" William interrupts.
It takes them a second to process his words.
Roy jumps first.
"Huh?… You don't mean—"
"You got it!… Mío is the new member!" he announces cheerfully.
Roy and Gary:
"Ehhhhhh!?"
"It's fine," Mío says. Easy. Smiling.
Again, Gary and Rudy (somewhere else):
"Ehhhh!?"
While another argument begins in the infirmary, Rudy and Cinthia are talking about something outside Nigella.