Yuriel awoke from the sound of her alarm, her eyes twitching in disbelief at what she just witnessed. The dream remained vivid, and she did not forget a single thing. However, the last memory was so unsettling that she could feel the terror deep in her bones.

Yuriel's father was faceless.

"It couldn't be!?" she couldn't help but say, pursing her lips. "I still remember dad, our time together, his name, his face...."

Just then, Yuriel realized something. Her expression grew dim, and for a while she remained silent. For all her recollection, she wasn't able to remember her father's face, not even a vague description of his appearance.

Did he have black hair? Or was it brown? Are his eyes dark just like hers? Yuriel have no idea. Their time together was still clear as day, the lessons he taught, the joy and fun they went through. And yet despite that, she had no answers to any of her questions.

Did she even know her father?

Pain gripped Yuriel's heart, and somehow fear began to sprout at the depths of her mind. It was shallow, but she knew this was her first lead to the truth. Even then, she refused to reach for it, allowing those thoughts to fade at the back of her mind.

Amidst her inner turmoil, she suddenly heard the clock ringing a second time. She was late for school, and with moments of hesitation, Yuriel rushed to prepare for school.

.....

The entire classroom was quiet, listening to the lectures of their english teacher. Meanwhile, Yuriel's face was grim as she couldn't focus on the class due to some lingering thoughts.

Pushing things at the back of her mind wasn't easy, and she couldn't help but think of her problems every second.

Heaving a short sigh, she tried distracting herself by observing the classroom.

The class was indeed silent, but not too behaved either. Even though it was inaudible from a distance, she could hear her classmates gossiping at their teacher's back. There were also others who played stupid pranks, or some that didn't care and ignored the lecture altogether.

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Witnessing this scene, Yuriel couldn't help but widened her eyes in bewilderment. Perhaps, she had been too focused that she hadn't noticed these behaviors before. For all their tomfoolery and shenanigans, she still believed in the maturity of her classmates. Now Yuriel realized, she was probably the odd one in the classroom.

Sighing in dejection, she shifted her gaze and found someone staring at her. It was a pale youth with an aloof and stern expression, one of Yuriel's classmates. Despite catching him in the act, the youth didn't seem bothered and continued staring for a while. It's only after she showed a reaction, did he finally turn away.

Frowning, Yuriel couldn't help but mutter in confusion: "What was that about?"

Soon, the lecture ended, and it was launch break. She only ate a soft meal, which consisted of sandwiches and boiled eggs. Then she exited the classroom, planning to find a fresh air to breath.

What Yuriel found was a swarm of students, leaving her petrified. Suddenly, a familiar face came and pulled Yuriel out of her reverie.

"Heya princess!" The person greeted with a friendly smile. "I hope you still remember me."

Staring at her for a moment, she responded: "Who are you again?"

The person face palmed, then laughed bitterly as she shook her head.

"Of course, you'll forget me. Well nevermind that, my name is Tachibana Claudine." she introduced herself with a proud smile. "Im your recruit for the Arcana club!"

"......"

"Umm...."

"Recruit.... when?" Yuriel replied, trying to recall the person.

"Seriously?" Tachibana muttered, her face becoming pale. "After all that nagging and convincing."

Yuriel scratched her head.

"......Sigh, fine, follow me then."

There was indeed something about recruitments, which the president of her club instructed to do. However, she didn't remember recruiting one. Really, Yuriel had little care for her club. That said, whether what she said is true or not, Yuriel had to do her job and guide Tachibana.

Following her, Yuriel and Tachibana traversed across oceans of students, leaving the hallway. Along the way, Tachibana indulged Yuriel with some small talks, specifically about the series of events happening in their school. It also included some rumors, which she had not been privy to.

It's interesting, to say the least. It made Yuriel understand how socially dysfunctional she was, with how much things are going on without her notice. For example, one of Yuriel's classmates actually got into fight with the neighboring campus. Or that a transfer students, is actually a royalty of some small country.

But the news that truly captured her attention, was a student named Kallen confessing his love for Ainsel. Although it was a matter completely unrelated to her, Ainsel was a close friend. Which made it really more surprising, enough that she was eager to learn more from Ainsel herself.

She also realized that Tachibana was pretty popular, wherever they went, many students would greet her. This made Yuriel conclude that her weird behavior stemmed from wanting to befriend everybody. In any case, they soon arrived at the location of the arcana club.

It was situated at the very corner of the campus, secluded and hidden from plain sight. Staring at the small building full of cracks and weathered wood, Tachibana gulped and hid behind Yuriel.

"Is this it?" She asked.

"Yes, it's the club." Yuriel answered and proceeded to knock the door.

No one replied, and she waited for a while. Yuriel knocked again, this time much louder than before. There was still no response, but she noticed the door wasn't locked.

"I thought there's a guard here?" Yuriel muttered, deciding to open it.

What greeted them was darkness, and she cautiously entered inside with Tachibana in toe. Admittedly, this place looked creepy but not so much for Yuriel. After what she experienced over the years, everything in the real world no longer felt scary. Even the faceless people, especially her father, was scarier than any abandoned building.

'That said, a ghost will definitely haunt my dreams after this.' Yuriel thought with a wry smile.