Number Seventeen(A Nanbaka Fanfiction)

Chapter Four: The Ides of Change

The next three weeks passed without incident. Elizabeth finished her cleaning duties and got her stitches taken out by Okina. It would leave a scar, but she didn't care. She spent a majority of the time reading and catching up on things. She even finished a webcomic called Homestuck, which she didn't get the chance to finish because she was arrested right before Act Seven came out. The other inmates were getting used to a girl inmate and the flirting slowly stopped. However, when one guy said he liked long-haired girls, Elizabeth promptly decided to cut it off, so now she had a short bobbed hairstyle.

In Building Three, Trois' cheek had been healing very nicely. It was fully healed by now. He couldn't stop thinking about how kind Elizabeth had seemed once he had made it clear that he didn't intend to flirt with her anymore. He hadn't seen her since. He hoped that Honey would be able to control himself now.

"Free time!" a guard called and the cell doors began to open.

Elizabeth stood and stretched. It felt good to do that again. Her dark red jumpsuit was open slightly at the top, revealing a black shirt. She decided to go to the game room today.

When she got there, many of the inmates were there. She grabbed a pool cue and got to a set-up table that nobody was using. She began playing, growing unaware of those around her. She got most of the balls in at the first shot per, having sunk four of them on the initial shot. When she finally looked up from her game, having sunk around ten of the fifteen balls, she saw someone unexpected.

"Trois!" Elizabeth exclaimed, a little startled. "I didn't know buildings shared free time."

"They typically don't, no," Trois replied. "But this was a reward that Uno requested when Cell Thirteen won the New Years Tournament and he requested that it be available to all the inmates."

Elizabeth nodded, sinking the twelve ball. "Interesting. Anyways, what are you doing here?"

"I like the game room," Trois said. "Pool and Darts are both quite fun."

Elizabeth thought for a moment. "Where's Honey?"

"Playing Darts with Uno," Trois said gesturing to where Uno and Honey were arguing over the correct way to play Darts.

"Why does his hair turn into arrows?" Elizabeth asked, staring at the two in amazement.

"No clue, to be honest."

"Uno and Honey are a lot alike, aren't they?"

Trois chuckled. "Yes, I suppose they are. Honey wanted to talk to you as soon as we got in here, but I kept him away. You didn't seem to be in the mood to be bothered by his perverted comments and questions."

"Your questions and comments to me were perverted too," Elizabeth reminded Trois with a grumble.

"I know, and I apologize for that," Trois told Elizabeth. He gently pushed his glasses up his nose. "What's important now is that Honey stops pestering you as well. He hates it when women dislike him."

"Well I don't feel very positively towards him right now," Elizabeth muttered.

"He can be annoying, I understand that. He's a good guy at heart."

"I'll believe that when I see it."

"You might eventually. You never quite know."

Elizabeth shrugged. "Wanna join in the next game? You can break if you want to."

"I'd love that," Trois replied with a kind smile.

The two played pool for the remaining hour of free time, each winning a game. Trois wasn't a bad player. In fact, he was really quite good. Honey and Uno continued to argue and fight like silly children over the darts. Did they really not see how similar that they were? Unfortunately, free time ended all too soon and they had to go back to their cells.