chapter 11 dinner

(Charlotte POV)

"I'd like to inform you that the library will be closing its doors in 5 minutes," said Galadriel.

Hearing this snapped Charlotte, Hélène and Nicole out of the episode they'd been immersed in. They hadn't even reached the end of the battle with Zabuza.

"I forgot how slow the anime was. We spent all afternoon on it and didn't even finish the first real mission," said Hélène.

"Why do you say we haven't made much progress? Are we still far from the end?" asked Nicole, rising from her chair.

"Let's just say that out of the 72 volumes of Naruto, we're on volume 4," replied Hélène.

4 out of 72? At this rate, they'd need 18 days to finish.

_"And we're in luck because there are no off-series episodes. Naruto anime is made up of about half off-series episodes," _explained Hélène.

Okay, they were ruined, she'd never get to the end of them. But whose idea was it to make such long series?

"It's far too long, we'll never make it," said Nicole.

"And you haven't even watched One Piece or Detective Conan. That's really long," says Hélène.

Charlotte knew Detective Conan, the mystery manga #1, the only one she'd ever read, and she had to admit it was very long.

The three of them headed for the library exit, where Karine and Elisa were quietly waiting for them. Elisa looked completely exhausted. At the same time, after the day they'd just had, everyone had good reason to be tired.

"Shall we go and eat?" suggested Karine.

"Where's Anna?" asked Hélène, who noticed the absence of the group's favorite rabbit.

"She left the library after finishing reading all the tomes. She's probably waiting for us in the dining room," said Elisa.

"All the volumes? How fast does she read? She's a monster," said Nicole.

No one knew what to say to this remark; everyone had come to the same conclusion. So they headed for the dining room, where they found Anna doing push-ups while waiting for them.

"There you are at last," said Anna, rising to her feet and wiping the sweat from her brow.

"So in addition to being smart, you're also athletic. Life really is unfair," says Nicole.

"A healthy mind in a healthy body. It's important to exercise regularly to keep your mind working properly." replied Anna.

"Do you know what happened to the woman who was insulting everyone?" asked Nicole.

"You mean Marion? No, I haven't seen her," replied Anna.

_"She came out of the library at the same time as me and William. She must be visiting the village," _replied Iris, who had just appeared behind the group.

"If you were with William, where is he?" asked Helene.

_"Oh, we split up because he wanted to be alone to commit suicide. I'm still looking for his body. Would you like to help me look?" _said Iris tactlessly.

Charlotte didn't even have time to understand the sentence before Hélène rushed at Iris, screaming.

"No! Liar! What have you done to him? Where is he?" she screamed, tackling the young journalist to the floor.

Charlotte then rushed up behind Hélène and, with Karine's help, managed to catch and hold the young student, who was struggling and screaming like crazy. It's a good thing Karine was there, otherwise Charlotte doesn't think she'd have been able to contain Hélène on her own.

Elisa and Nicole took care of Iris, who was a little shaken up. Once again, it was Anna who decided to bring order to the whole affair.

"Iris, explain everything that happened in minute detail, and you, Hélène, calm down and wait. I think the situation is more complicated than you think," said Anna.

So Iris began to recount her entire afternoon in great detail. When she had finished. Anna sat down quietly in the chair and murmured.

"But how silly he can be from time to time."

"So do you understand what's going on?" asked Nicole.

"Yes, I think so, and in the end it's quite simple. I think it was William who jumped off the cliff like Iris saw," said Anna.

_"Liar! Mr Hamon would never kill himself," _said Hélène, who was in tears.

"I never said he committed suicide, only that he jumped off the cliff," said Anna.

_"I confess I'm not a doctor yet, but I was taught that free-falling off a cliff is not good for your health," _said Nicole.

"Yes, that's for sure, but you're forgetting where we are. This is a TV show and I doubt it can go on without a master. I think William's come to that conclusion too," says Anna.

"And so you think he killed himself so the show couldn't go on," says Karine.

"No, I think he jumped off the cliff to **** Nezoko to react. And since you didn't find a body, I think William is currently talking to her," says Anna.

"So he's not dead?" asked Hélène in a trembling voice.

"No, I don't think he's dead," said Anna.

"Okay, but where is he then?" asked Karine.

_"Hi to everyone." _said William as he appeared in front of everyone, Nezoko standing silently at his side.

"Mr Hamon!" shouted Hélène before rushing into William's arms.

"Hélène, what's the matter with you?" asked William, pushing the young woman back a little as she was unable to breathe so hard.

"William, I think you've got some explaining to do," said Elisa, who was no longer smiling.

William seemed lost for a moment, not understanding the question before finally answering.

_"I was with Nezoko to negotiate. She agreed to try to make the transformations more easily appreciable and acceptable at the end of the show." s_aid William.

"I think she was more interested in what you'd done to get Nezoko to agree to negotiate," said Karine.

William looked embarrassed and replied

"Does it really matter? I got this deal, that's something. Let's eat," said William, sitting down and starting to eat.

Before Charlotte knew it, the table had filled with sumptuous dishes and Nezoko had disappeared. Too bad Charlotte would have liked to ask him a few questions.

Everyone ate and began to talk about their afternoon and life outside the home. After an hour, the meal was over and William left, accompanied by Karine, for his suite. Charlotte couldn't help feeling that she was forgetting something, but what?

_

(Marion POV)

"Nezoko! William! Is anyone there? Please get me out of here," Marion continued to beg, still wandering in the forest.