Flower was in the middle of a dreamless, undisturbed sleep when she heard the loud banging of metal coming from the hallway. She nearly fell off the bed when it started, forcing her awake with a start. Letting out a small groan, she gradually pushed the covers off of her, greeted once again by the chilling, frosty air of her bedroom. She paused. The voice that accompanied the banging of metal sounded familiar.

"Get up, sweeties! It's time for a new day~!"

Avanna.

Flower would have laughed when she recognized who it was if the clanging metal didn't irritate her so much. She supposed Avanna's voice was too hushed on its own, so the other HRs made her use what sounded to be pots and pans as well.

Getting out of bed and swiftly slipping on a pair of clean clothes, she sighed. Time for another long day, she told herself with a bittersweet smile.

After stretching for a minute or two, getting herself ready for the lengthy day ahead, she walked outside into the hallway. When she did such, Flower was surprised to find she was one of the first people out and up. I should head to the courtyard about now, right? Flower paused before nodding, setting out on her way. As she strode down the hall, she heard the unlocking and opening of a door behind her. Turning around, she was delighted to see a familiar face, who flashed Flower an enthusiastic grin before catching up to her. Una smiled as she reached the taller girl, steadying her pace to match Flower's.

"Hey, Flower! How was your first day?" the girl asked eagerly, gazing up at her.

Flower looked down at Una, returning her smile. "It was alright. Definitely long." She paused. "Hey, can I ask you for a favor?"

When Una nodded, she continued. "I don't exactly know anyone who shares the same shift as me, and I have a feeling that I'll need some sort of friend if I'm going to get through those long hours. Do you know anyone who patrols Quadrant 3...?"

Una's eyes lit up for a second before she lowered her head, furrowing her eyebrows. "Well... no, not exactly... Ooh! Actually, Nana patrols that Quadrant!" the girl exclaimed, looking relatively hopeful. She paused. "Oh... but she doesn't fare well with newcomers... Uhh! How about... no, he's got a different time..."

The duo eventually emerged in the courtyard, where the sun was rising from behind The Sanctuary, causing the building to produce elongated shadows into the field. Una sighed. "I'm really not sure, to be honest..."

Flower looked around. There weren't that many people in the courtyard. Not that many people, except...

Flower turned to Una. "Uhh, how about her?" She pointed indiscreetly to the only other person in the field that patrolled her Quadrant.

Una blinked, surprised. "Oh, her? She patrols Quadrant 3? I thought I heard she was assigned to Quadrant 4..." Her voice had trailed off before she picked up again. "Well, I've never actually talked to her, but she seems pretty cool. She's got this friend, though... I don't know about him. He seems pretty off."

Flower looked down. So, essentially, what she had already concluded about the unusual girl with fox traits. She nodded. "Alright. Thank you!"

Una nodded. After a few seconds of silence, she blinked a couple of times before turning around and running over to her pink-haired friend, who had just walked through the front doors to the courtyard.

Flower looked after them longingly. If only she could find a friend like that. After watching them chat for a few minutes, she derived the rational conclusion that if she had a friend like that, she could see past the rigid rules of The Sanctuary and absolutely live here. After all, that appeared to be what Una had done. Why couldn't she do it too?

Flower gave an audible sigh. She glanced over at the odd girl. She didn't exactly want to talk to her right now, despite her mind yelling at her to do such. Alternatively, she made her way to the edge of the courtyard, just like she had the other day. Letting out a sigh, she sat on one of the benches.

Why don't you go and talk to her? she asked herself. Is it because she intimidates you? Flower carefully observed the girl. Her tail swished back and forth as she stood in the middle of the field. She looked as though she was waiting for someone. Probably, she answered herself.

Flower remained on the bench for the rest of the time until her shift, watching the courtyard begin to fill up with Subjects and then HRs. They all talked quietly amongst themselves, waiting just like her for the day to start. Flower placed her head in her hands. Hey, at least I got some good sleep last night, right?

Right.

Then, as if on cue, the Subjects began making their way towards their gathering places. Flower, noticing this, got up from the bench, making her way over to the shrub where Quadrant 3's patrol gathered. As she stood by the shrub waiting for Avanna to give them the word so that they could go, she glanced around at the members of her patrol. The fox girl was sitting on a bench alone; a girl with brown hair that faded to a delicate pink was fiddling with her long shirt; a young girl with long, poofy lime-green hair was eyeing her suspiciously. None of them appeared even relatively sociable.

Great, Flower thought. As much as she tried to hope that one of them might talk to her, these thoughts quickly failed. She kept her head in her hands for the entire remainder of the time until Avanna called for them to get moving.

—

Flower spent most of the first portion of her shift keeping to herself and trying to stay out of the sun. She knew she likely got a few sunburns yesterday, and she didn't need any more.

Flower was leaning against a tall stone pillar, basking in the shade of it. She was relieved that there was at least a little bit of shade at her post. On top of that, her break would be soon, too, so she could get yet even more. Her pale skin was unfit to be put in such scorching weather. Around this time of year, she'd typically find shelter in the coldest areas she could, and she'd stay indoors as much as possible. Now, however, she couldn't do that.

As Flower leaned against the pole, she closed her eyes. Keeping her sense of hearing acute, she relaxed. Maybe once she opened her eyes, it would be time for a break again. Flower focused on her breathing in an attempt to unburden her mind. It worked for the most part, too. She knew nothing but the whip of the wind and the soft crunching of dirt from behind her.

She paused. Wait, what?

Opening her eyes, Flower rose from where she was leaning against the pole and turned around. Her eyes widened at what she saw.

Her eyes met vivid blue ones, and for a moment, Flower struggled to comprehend what she was seeing through the blinding sunlight. Then, it hit her.

It was that girl. She was staring at Flower, ears pricked straight up and eyes unblinking. The two stared at each other for a few seconds before the fox girl straightened up, cleared her throat and spoke.

"Hello."

Flower blinked. "Hi...?"

There had been a brief awkward silence before the ocean-eyed girl continued.

"Are you the new Subject at The Sanctuary?"

Nervously, Flower nodded. "Yes, I am. My name is Flower."

The girl blinked, smiling a little. "My name is Daina. It's nice to finally meet you."

Flower returned the smile. "It's nice to meet you as well. Especially considering I haven't talked to many fellow Subjects since I've arrived here..." Flower admitted sheepishly, massaging the back of her neck.

Daina blinked. "Oh." Pausing, she looked around, walking up to Flower. "Can I tell you something, then?" When Flower nodded, she very quietly continued. "You shouldn't trust the High Ranks, especially Miku. They do some..." her voice trailed off, and she looked down, as though trying to find the proper words to say. "... questionable things."

Flower was taken aback. How come I'm hearing this again? I thought that the High Ranks already proved to me that they're trustworthy... However, her thoughts were cut off by her curiosity as she met Daina's gaze.

"Care to elaborate?" Flow quietly asked, genuinely curious as to what "questionable acts" The Sanctuary could have been up to.

"Well," the girl started, "for one, Miku doesn't trust any of her subjects. No one. She hides spies in every single corner of this place, and they report everything they see to her. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Did someone look at Miku funny? She'll know."

Daina cautiously looked around again. "The only spy that I know of is that green haired girl, Nana. I've seen her reporting to Miku on several occasions. You shouldn't trust her."

Flower narrowed her eyes. This all sounded outlandish. Why would Miku be skeptical of her subjects? Flower wondered. It didn't make sense. She fessed her skepticism to the taller girl, gazing up at her. "And how do I know you're not lying to me?"

Daina shrugged. "Well, for starters, you could start paying closer attention to the High Ranks' mannerisms. You'll see how they're all drone-like; they don't act human. It's all because they've been conditioned by Miku to serve her. I've seen it, and I know how she does it."

When Flower raised an eyebrow, the ginger-haired girl elaborated. "She starts by imposing these rules. More specifically, I'm referring to the ones that give her nobility and power. She uses these to brainwash her Subjects— to make her seem like some kind of god..." Her voice trailed off. "Brainwashing her Subjects to make her their god. Yeah, that's exactly it." She shuddered. "I've seen it firsthand."

Flower's eyes widened. What does she mean by that? she wondered, eying Daina. Noting her distraught expression, Flower decided not to query into it.

She shook, her head. No. She was lying to her. She had to be. These people's generosity was far too genuine for them to be brainwashed. Besides, how could she possibly believe someone who she just met? Had she not gotten bad vibes from this girl before? But how could someone make this up?

"I still don't know if I can trust you," Flower admitted, looking down.

"I never asked you to trust me," Daina said. "You don't even need to take my warning. If you want to go into this Sanctuary blind of their true intentions, then suit yourself."

And with that, the mysterious girl began to walk away, her tail flicking behind her. As Flower watched her go, the only thing that she could think about was that last thought.

How could someone make this up?

Flower opened her mouth, but then paused, hesitating. Should she really believe this girl? As she pondered the thought, she eventually came to a conclusion. And the answer was clear.

"Wait!" Flower quietly called. One of Daina's ears twitched in her direction, and the girl turned around. Flower took a deep breath.

"I believe you. I do. No one could make up that kind of thing. It's just a hard pill for me to swallow, you know." She hesitated a little bit. "I want to know more."

Daina turned around, slowly walking towards her. "Well... I don't have much more to tell you that I have concrete evidence for. The High Ranks cover up their acts well. Remember how I said the High Ranks don't trust us Subjects? If they see anything as little as a suspicious movement from a Subject, they'll try and force something out of said Subject, whether they were guilty of rule-breaking or not."

Flower nodded. It made... some sense, at least. It fit in with all of the stringent rules and bizarre regulations. But, despite all of the evidence, Flower still wanted to believe otherwise. She asked one final question to the girl.

Very, very quietly, Flower whispered, "If everything you're telling me is true... then why hasn't anyone started a rebellion yet?"

Daina's eyes widened, and Flower saw her bite her lower lip. She glanced around rapidly before leaning down to be at eye level with the snow-haired girl.

"You had better not be getting any ideas, Flower, because they'd be immediately crushed. Remember rule 4? Absolutely no plotting against High Ranks. It's punishable by death. I doubt you want to die today, or do you?"

When she didn't answer, the taller girl continued. "The last rebellion that was started up was destroyed. Brutally. Their leader had a good following going for them, but Miku eventually found out about the uprising." Daina paused, lowering her voice. "From what I understand, Miku forced the leader of the rebellion to murder every one of their followers before she took care of the leader herself. Ever since then, there have been very few rule-breakers, much less thought of rebellion. Everyone knows what Miku is capable of, and no one wants to challenge that."

"That is horrible," Flower whispered.

"Exactly," Daina replied. She looked around, then looked up at the sky, squinting her eyes at the sun. "We should probably get back to our shifts now," she muttered, gazing at Flower.

Flower nodded. "Right, of course," she replied, but the fox girl was already walking away. As she stepped over a fallen column, she glanced back Flower, nodded, then hurried away.