Serah sits on the floor opposite to Nickie with a worry on her face as she holds Nickie's hands. Serah feels the slight rhythm of Nickie's pulse beging to slow down and she presses onto Nickie's hands harder out of stress.

Nickie's eyes were currently closed and she was beginning to enter a deep meditation. She was in middle of her first mana container expansion. She had recently gained mastery of enough mana control that she was able to attempt the ritual, and despite Serah's attempts to have her wait, she decided to go through with it.

Serah continues to watch Nickie’s face for any sign of change, but she was unable to sense anything, so she could only watch as worry pressed down on her.

In Nickie’s body, she takes hold of the mana that was contained within, she gave it form, and she applies pressure. The form begins to shift at a steady rhythm. Nickie takes a deep breath, then, she began to increase the tempo. Suddenly the mana was shifting and beating as if it was a secondary heart, pumping as mana resonates out before gathering again. The mana form continues, growing more erratic with each beat, until suddenly, it began to expand; further and further until it reached the limit of her mana container. Then, with a final push from Nickie, the mana form pushes outwards until the boundary of the mana container expanded, and she continues to push until the container wall began to grow thin.

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Nickie lets out a breath of relief and opens her eyes. She succeeded. Now all there was left to do was reinforce the container walls. She smiles as she looks back at Serah’s face. “I told you it would be fine.” She says with pride.

Serah lets out a breath she was holding. “Thank god. Then this calls for celebration.” Serah says with a smile as she stands up and lifts Nickie up.

…

…

Serah and Nickie spent the day trying to bake a cake, even though neither of them had ever made one before. They had to make the attempt twice to make a cake that was both edible and looked somewhat appealing, but they very much enjoyed the process. After it was done, they ate the cake and then made love, falling asleep in the early afternoon, in each other’s embrace.

…

…

Nickie and Serah continued to train, learning as much as they could. Nickie was walked through the process step by step, her learning unhindered. Serah continued to take missions for rewards. Much of what was at the college couldn’t be found in other places or traded for things like money, but at the college, earning these things was achievable, so Serah tried her best to get as much as she could.

Serah would occasionally run into Carter from time to time, and they occasionally did missions together, because the situation of them both being Mister Thorak’s student made things convenient, and although Serah didn’t want to admit it, Carter was quite resourceful. But Serah continued to brush him off, and when he found out that Serah and Nickie were together, he took a step back like a gentleman, while offering to remain friends.

Serah was quite pleased with how that situation turned out and as Serah got to know Carter, she realized he wasn’t that bad of a guy. Although he was quite young, and a little immature in certain aspects, he seemed to be raised right. Reluctantly, Serah admitted that for a man, he was acceptable.

In this way, a year passes, and both Serah and Nickie had walked far, growing up as much as possible, until eventually, it came time for the year-end exams…