Fourth day of Sat’xahr, 4044 AOT

In the garden outside the administration building, Blair is losing her calm waiting for Azalea’s return for more than thirty minutes. All she has been doing is pass the time by circling around the fountain area. Meanwhile, the Saintgregor siblings have been there for a while and they have been sweeping the leaves, gathering them in a trash bag. Blair wearing a bored expression sits down on the grass and then catches sight of a sabercat walking by. Looking at the little furry white creature, she is unable to resist the urge to touch it which has lead her to she chase after it. She is eager to pet that soft looking ball of fur. As she runs after the sabercat, it hid behind someone’s legs. She notices the familiar set of boots ahead.

“What in the world are you doing?” Azalea says looking down at Blair who is crouching.

“Ah--!! The kitty~!” Blair shouts leaping towards Azalea.

“Wait,” she gestures with her left hand. “What do you plan on doing to Q?”

“Huh? It’s your cat. I was so pissed because you took forever to show up.” She frowns, giving off a childish atmosphere around her. “Since you own the cat, I guess I’ll forgive you after all.”

“I don’t own Q.”

“But it went to you and you even gave it a na—WHOA-!!” She swiftly leaps backwards distancing herself. “You are giving me a nasty glare! What’s wrong with you?”

“H-huh?! Am I glaring?” Azalea asks while covering her eyes with her right hand. She then takes a deep breath. “Sorry, my bad.” She smiles kindly.

Blair tilts her head looking at her suspiciously. “Sometimes, I think that you are kind of weird.”

“I don’t wanna hear that from you.”

“Err… Excuse us.” The Saintgregor boy says approaching Blair and Azalea. “I think we’ve done our part so we’ll be going first.”

Azalea takes a look at them. The boy smiles kindly while the girl remains emotionless while she opens another box of pocky. She takes a stick out and then walks away without saying a single word of goodbye.

“O-okay.” Blair answers casually. “Those sticks are popular, aren’t they?”

“I guess,” Azalea replies peering at the older Saintgregor’s face. “Something’s off,” she mumbles squinting her eyes.

Duke looks at Azalea and then smiles kindly. “We’ve cleaned most of the garden so what’s left is to just put the garbage bags into the trash bin. Well then, bye.” Then he runs to catch up to his sister.

“Let’s go get this cleaning duty done with and return to the dorm before it gets darker.” Blair says while walking towards the piled up garbage bags.

“Actually, we haven’t done much.”

“Your little Q could come with us too.”

“Q stays outside.” Azalea follows her and then picks up a bag.

“Don’t be too cruel on him.” She says then Q went closer rubbing his body on Blair’s boots. “See, he suddenly got a liking to me since we’re friends.” She laughs.

“We’re not friends, we’re just roommates.”

She frowns for a while. Then she makes a huge smile like she suddenly thought of a bright idea. “Then, let’s be friends from now on.” She stretches her arm towards Azalea and then she opens her palm.

“From now on, huh?” She stares at Blair’s open palm waiting that is to be held. “Is she aware of her circumstances? Should I really take that hand?”

“What’s wrong? Do you not like me, perhaps?” Blair keeps her eyes on Azalea’s face while staring at her like a begging puppy. “People who can take good care of their cats can’t be bad people, right?”

“Who am I doubting? Is it her? Or myself?” She asks herself while staring straight at Blair’s sparkling red eyes. “I think your reasoning is very flawed. Also, you’re a pain the ass.” Then she moves her hand and then grabs that open palm. “But I at least don’t hate you. Since we’re stuck with each other, we should at least get along.”

Blair smiles while shaking her hand hard. “Great,” she chuckles, and then she grabs two bags. “I don’t know what has upset you, but don’t worry, I got your back.”

“Upset?” Azalea feels puzzled while following Blair who is walking ahead. “Was I?.. really… so openly?..”

∞×∞

Next day, both Azalea and Blair decide to attend their classes properly to not attract more attention for the time being. Blair sticks with Azalea from morning until lunch. They sit side by side in the cafeteria while eating their regular lunch. By Azalea’s right side, Blair enthusiastically feasts on her set B meal without a care in the world.

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“I didn’t think you’d have enough patience to actually line up to get a set meal.” Azalea says casually after taking a bite of her sandwich.

“Mhm…Yeah, I’m used to having a full meal with meat.” Blair answers while tossing the beans and carrots at the side of her plate. “I’d get hungry real fast if I don’t get the usual. I was about to get in line but some nice guys approached me. They gave me their meal after calling me ‘boss’ then they disappeared so fast. By the way, what are you eating?”

Azalea’s thoughts are suddenly falling in disarray, from what she just heard. Something very disturbing just happened and she cannot get her mind around it. After a short pause she manages to pull her thoughts together and smile. “Extra hot and spicy tuna sandwich. It keeps you awake.”

In the middle of the seemingly peaceful lunch break a boy suddenly sits across their table facing them. He is from the blue zone. The deep red color of his hair and eyes suddenly flares up within their line of sight. Standing behind him are two boys wearing the same uniform. One has an odd forest green hair, while the other has dark brown. They just are standing there, simply watching, without making any noise.

“Hello.” He greets with a sardonic smirk. “Are you enjoying your lunch break?”

Blair looks at him straightforwardly, almost like a glare. “Hmm… Hi?”

“They are glaring at each other.” The crowd murmurs. “Will there be a fight?”

“Well... shit.” Azalea mumbles unmoved while letting out a heavy sigh. She stares down at her half-eaten sandwich mumbling. “God… what kind of joke is this?”

“That guy is the heir of the House of Rouge…” The crowd continues to murmur. “Why so suddenly, when the nobles don’t usually go down here?”

“Is that the girl rumored to be imitating them?”

“Hey,” without a moment’s notice he grabs Blair’s collar and pulls her towards him. “Why is your hair and eyes red?”

They glare back at each other. The students who are watching from a safe distance around them fall in silence. Some are feeling stunned by the sudden tension in the cafeteria making it difficult to breath. While others students seem to be taking a stance ready to run.

Blair who has no idea why her collar is suddenly being grabbed by some person she had never seen before shows no amiable response. She instinctively answers with the most natural reason she has in mind. “Because I was born with it, you dumb shit.”

“Are they going to start beating up each other now?”

Azalea keeps her composure while finishing her meal. Blair and the noble boy fixes their burning eyes at each other without a trace of backing down.

“I see.” The boy cracks the silence between them with his deep hoarse voice then he turns his eyes towards Blair’s left side. “Won’t your blonde friend help you?”

Azalea rolls her eyes towards the red head boy and fixes her sight on him. “It’s okay… She doesn’t seem to be in trouble.”

“See… She knows me too well.” Blair mockingly sneers at him before she quickly pulls a head-butt on him.

The blue zone boy is pushed back by the force. He growls in pain. That head sure is a hard one. He rubs his reddish forehead while keeping a threatening look. Meanwhile, Blair simply stands in front of him holding the same mischievous smile on her face as she teasingly looks down on him.

Azalea snickers. “You seem to be in trouble now, should I help you?”

“You--!!” He angrily slams his hands on the table.

The crowd of students in the cafeteria who has been under a lot of tension since the red head noble arrived is alarmed off their seats. Everyone anxiously peers at the turmoil on that table. With an outburst like that, chaos is sure about to erupt at any moment.

“Ah, it seems that the desert is ready.” Azalea breaks the tension with her business smile and then pulls Blair away from the cafeteria.

The red haired boy from the blue simply watches while the two girls walk away. When he takes a seat on his chair, one of its legs suddenly breaks resulting in his hefty fall on the floor.

“What the--!!” He groans.

The other boys quickly help him stand up while all the onlookers are left wondering what just happened. It is evident with the look in their faces that they are trying so hard not let out even the quietest sound of laughter.

The redhead boy clicks his tongue. “That idiot is nonchalantly making friends with some low-class mage. This is fuckin’ stupid!” He growls furiously.

“Someone cut the chair’s leg with magic…” The green haired guy says while investigating the one of the chair’s legs that was cleanly cut.

“Sir?..” The other guy takes out his phone, asking permission to call someone. “Should we--”

“Shut up! That red monkey is the real deal. I’ll go personally and inform grandpa.” He grins. “Tell Elza to continue the watch. And don’t get caught!”

The circle of students, though feeling confused, silently goes back to their seats not daring to make any acts that could get in the noble’s nerve. Eventually, they are able to again breathe well when the group of nobles peacefully left the cafeteria. On his way, a group of five student officers –the Balaam Knights –arrives to see what the commotion is about however they are already too late and no one wants to dare talk about it. Even though they are authorized to punish other students’ misconduct, they feel powerless in front of the person from the blue zone. They would have been able to do something if only some witnesses have the guts to tell them the situation but their circumstances pushed them to take the safer route in keeping their school life peaceful. A higher officer in the blue zone would have been able to do something but none of them are on duty at the moment. In the end they are leaving with nothing to report.

During that time Azalea and Blair has already left the scene wearing a mischievous smile on their faces. It is just the fourth day since classes started and they already find themselves in different forms of trouble. They cannot help but laugh about it as they bump fists.

Azalea chuckles, a sound molded with irony. “I sure did not expect to get in trouble with them this early. Really… a reckless bunch.”

“You knew that guy?” Blair asks innocently.

“Don’t ask me, his business was with you.” She plays dumb.

Blair closes her eyes trying to recall if she has ever meet the guy before. “I don’t remember offending that person before. Well, it can’t be helped, this stuff happens from time to time.” She laughs it off.

“We have attracted too much attention this time,” Azalea tells herself. “I want to stay low profile as long as I can. It’ll be very inconvenient once they start digging up my background. Well, when it comes to that… I guess, it can’t be helped.”

“Didn’t you say we’re going to get deserts?” Blair asks with an all knowing smug look.

“Didn’t say we’re going to get them now,” she replies.

“You liar.”

“Yeah…”

“Where’s our next class?”

“It’s our first meeting in the bio lab, third floor.”

Their seemingly steady calm academy life continues to conceive more unexpected trials which may soon bring out the kind of secrets that they do not want to ever learn about.