Murasakino

Exploring the Labs

   "Oh, hey girls!" Dr Kerrett said, turning to see them. She was still almost crying with laughter, a tear rolling down her right cheek and another forming in her left eye.
   "What are you laughing at?" Honōiro asked, looking around the tiny room.
   "Did Murasakino fall over?" asked Midori.
   Aka spotted one of the fox heads poking out of a box and shouted, "Eeew! What's that?!"
   "I'm just laughing because I scared her so badly," Dr Kerrett answered, still chuckling.
   "Why was it funny?" I almost shouted, my voice rising by about two octaves. I felt my face heating up, and I was starting to get angry with her. She began to laugh again, and I lost my temper, scrambled to my feet and thundered out of the spooky room.
   How could Dr Kerrett have been so mean? We were already great friends after only a few days, and she had just found it hysterical to make me more scared than ever! I went over to a door at the side of the room, and the smells I had smelled earlier became more pungent, but I guess in a good way.
  
   Again, the door pushed open, and I was greeted by a really confusing sight; a kitchen and a dining room merged together, with green walls and orange cupboards, and that in itself looked unusual. However, the reason I was properly confused was that there were cakes, doughnuts and all kinds of desserts everywhere. I remembered how Dr Kerrett had hesitated when buying cupcakes earlier, and what I was seeing now definitely didn't make sense if you put them together.
   I walked over to the table, which was also orange with green chairs. The floor was a shiny sky-blue that reflected everything in the room, and I saw my reflection as I sat down. My eyes were still red, and the skin around them was dark. I picked up one of the doughnuts from the plate on the table. It had pink icing on it, and I wasn't sure what flavour it was, but it looked tasty anyway.
   "Murasakino, are you alright?" Tākoizu asked, walking into the room by herself. She stopped to stare at the odd colours in the room, a curious expression on her face, then sat down beside me.
   "I'm fine, yeah."
   "You sure? You seemed pretty mad with Dr Kerrett there."
   "Well, why wouldn't I be?" I asked, trying not to get angry again. I didn't want the other girls to think I was aggressive, but I also didn't want them to think that I got upset as easily as I did earlier.
   "She was only playing a joke on you," Tākoizu replied. "She never meant for you to get upset."
  
   A joke. Of course! How could I not have realised? I felt a bit stupid for getting so upset over it, and Tākoizu must have understood that, as she put a hand on mine.
   "You're right," I said. "I'm going to apologise to her." I was about to get up and out of the chair, when Dr Kerrett came into the kitchen with the other girls following her. I blushed and sat back down again, and she stood by my chair, looking quite guilty.
   "I really didn't mean to upset you, Murasakino," she said. "I was hoping you'd see the funny side and start laughing, but I guess since it was the first time you thought I was just being insensitive."
   "I get it now," I said. "You don't need to apologise, but I should. I'm so sorry that I got mad at you."
   "It's alright," she said, smiling now. "Just remember that for next time."
   "Next time?" I asked, worried.
   "I'm joking!" she giggled.

   After Dr Kerrett offered us all a doughnut (and I picked the pink one, which was just as nice as I'd expected), I left the lab to see what else I could find in the building. In the hall outside, it was busy as usual; scientists were walking around everywhere, some sat at the desks in the centre. It was the first time I had realised just how far down the centre of the room was, and standing at the edge of the room was like looking off the roof of a three-storey house at the road below. I headed down the stairs to see who was down there, and saw hundreds of people designing, building and testing their inventions. Drones, computer chips and vehicles were only a fraction of them, and one man had made a car that could drive on the seabed.
   "Excuse me?" a man behind me asked, and I turned to see him. He looked almost seven feet tall, and had his jet-black hair slicked back so that it was almost pulling his eyebrows up his forehead. "Why aren't you wearing any protective clothing?"
   "Oh, I don't work here," I answered. "I'm one of the robots Dr Takeda built."
   His eyes widened. "Wow! Dr Takeda must be a great designer!"

   I walked past the entrance to the building, and outside was a black limousine. It had just parked there, and Indigo Gardner was closing the door and walking toward the door with the driver. I wasn't sure whether to go back to the lab or somewhere else, and just ended up stood in the way of the door. The limousine driver was about to shout at me to move, but Indigo told him not to.
   "Hello!" she said through the glass. "Which one are you again?"
   "Murasakino," I answered.
   "Ah, yes. I'll have to learn your names. Aren't they your eye colours in Japanese?"
   "Yes. Dr Takeda said they were easy for him to remember."
   "Where are the other four girls?"
   "Five," I said, correcting her. "They're still with Dr Kerrett, I think."
   "And why aren't you at work today?"
   I explained everything that had happened (apart from the spooky room and me going into the city alone) as we walked, and when we reached the door Indigo was looking for she dismissed me.
   "You don't need to follow me in," she said. "Carry on looking around if you like."
   "I will," I said, but as soon as she went inside the room I ran back to our lab to see Dr Takeda. Whatever the 'agreement' they had mentioned was, I knew he would want to know that she was here.