"So aside from the Alchemical Labs, Machine Workshops, Library, there was a ping pong table, video game lounge, a theater and a studio" Torren remarks as they left the South Residence.
"We didn't go through the entire place so there was probably more. The place was huge." Erai added while they walked past the central square.
"Well, you are the one that said we should get going."
"Yeah, I was already late on the first day and I've already got one of the professor's eyes on me...I don't want to find out what happens if I manage to get on Reiss's bad side."
"Uh-huh.”
“Speaking of strange things, dude your chest has been acting pretty weird ever since we left school, is everything okay?"
"Huh" Shynerai pulled his shirt to the side, looking at his chest. Finding a soft familiar glow peering through.
"Oh…" A look of relief appeared on his face.
"It's just a reminder, a gift. Something a friend left for me before I came to Aria."
"Oh...okay, but what's with the glow?" His face grew flushed at the thought of the question.
"Eh…never mind it, it's nothing serious" Trying to look away from him.
"Besides, I don't think 'tattoos' are part of the school uniform, Torren" Erai responds with a smirk.
Torren seemed a little confused at what Erai was implying until he noticed the mark peering underneath his sleeve. In a fit of panic, he quickly rolled down his sleeves, all the while pretending not to have heard his companion's question. Entering the residence building, the two of them made their way up the stairs, until they arrived on their floor.
"Hey Erai, you can find me in the cafeteria in the morning. I'll wait for you there before we head out."
"...Eh sure, that works. I'll see you later Torren."
"See ya around, dude."
After spending the entire afternoon at the South Residence, Shynerai returned to his room to rest.
Getting back, it became obvious just how late they had returned. As the dim light of the desktop clock beeped, displaying "19h20" every so often, he turned on the lights and shut the blinders. After getting changed out of his uniform and taking a shower, he stepped back into his room.
Having gone through so much in one day, Shynerai could not get himself to relax in the quiet room. So, to pass the time he decided to explore his Notebook to look for Luciana's contacts, bearing a mind racing with numerous questions, some he did not realize he had until everything had calmed down.
Pulling out his Notebook from its holster, he threw himself onto his bed and began flipping through its pages, finding the first page usually reserved for a foreword or dedication letter...turned out to be completely blank. The page that followed had a long list of descriptors.
Shynerai tried skimming through most of them, but by the time he read through the 25th one, he had to return to the title of the page to remind himself of what he was reading.
'Notebook Functions and Features, huh...Guess that explains the map-locator thing from before...but I didn't think they could fit so much into something so small—"
Shynerai suddenly felt his thoughts grow heavy as he tried understanding the inner workings of his tool, with the sensation growing more leaden and his mind more clouded before his vision was all but blurred as the room had begun to slowly shift....not spinning, but titling...until the darkness was all there was.
Deep silence soon followed...
'Beep-Beep, Beep-Beep, Beep-Beep'
'Beep-Beep, Beep-Beep, Beep-Beep'
'Beep-Beep, Beep-Beep, Beep-Beep'
The young Daumier found himself being pulled from the fringe of the unconscious by a sound that had become too familiar in the past few weeks. With his eyelids barely open, he brushed his hair out of his face as the dim light of the clock filling the room peeled away the haze from his eyes.
"Again...if this keeps up, I might have to see Dr. Arturion again, and I know he won't be happy about that."
Managing to drag himself out of bed, with eyes barely opened, he stumbled over to his Notebook that continued beeping, though muffled as it sat upturned on the floor.
After switching it off, the "zombie of a person" left it on his desk as we began to get ready.
An hour and a half later...
Grabbing his jacket and holstering his Notebook before leaving his room, as the door locked behind him, Shynerai made his way to the cafeteria.
"Sup dude, you made it" Erai was surprised by the appearance of Torren's cheerful tone from behind him.
"Geez...I'm guessing you're not a morning person. You don't react like you're at all conscious" He teased, tapping his shoulder and pointing to a buffet line.
"I guess you could say that...I can't be the only one that's still feeling the effects of that month we spent in Hell, seriously..." Shynerai commented as the two of them walked over to get breakfast.
"Well, everyone's condition was different when they got out. Kinda makes sense that not all of us are gonna be doing somersaults first thing out of the hospital.”
“Heck, I'm surprised that the school is still holding class for the first year this week. Those guys are psycho— " Torren stifled his words as he caught the gaze of the serving cafeteria staff.
Their conversation carried through breakfast but by the time they entered the school gates, as Shynerai suddenly grew quiet at the sight of Professor Colt who was present at the school gates once more, he tried shaking his cold stare before speeding off with a confused Torren for class.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The rest of the morning passed with unusual normality as Shynerai joined the rest of his classmates through their first lesson of the year.
'Ring-Ring, Ring-Ring'
The familiar tone chirped throughout the halls.
"Alright, you can enjoy your recess. Make sure you are not late for your next class." Professor Reiss reminds the class before taking his materials and leaving the class to their devices.
"Hey, Erai. Do you wanna grab something to eat? That class wore me out."
"Okay, that sounds fine. We could go to the cafeteria."
"Ehh, Erai I'm not exactly dripping uld here, the cafeteria is pretty overpriced. I was thinking of something that we could grab in the city."
Erai was surprised by Torren's flustered expression but did not seem bothered by his words.
" Yeah, some of the stuff is a bit expensive, but I'm sure we can find something good. C'mon, I can cover you for today if it's a problem."
"Ehh, thanks man, but I'll be—"
"It's alright. Now come on if we take too long then all the spots will be queued up." Torren tried to refuse but Erai's insistence was unwavering, still, he was not sure if it was because he was being kind or simply lacking self-awareness.
"You're a strange guy, Erai. You shouldn't be so quick to throw money around."
"Huh" Confused look fell over him.
"I mean it doesn't make sense to be eating in front of someone who's starving."
"Oh.” Torren put his arm over Erai's shoulder as they were walking.
“Now I get it, you may look all scary, but you have got a soft spot for your friends, don't you?" He teased him with a bit of a laugh
'Friends huh' A gentle smile appears as Erai mumbles those words under his breath.
The pair made it to the cafeteria and took a moment to scan the massive hall before finding a fast food stall with only a handful of students standing in line.
"I'm going to grab a cheeseburger, what about you?"
"I'll just get the same." Erai responded as they joined the queue.
A few minutes pass before Torren and Erai have only a few students waiting in front of them. The two continued their discussion from earlier in the day, before they were joined by the sudden appearance of one of their classmates.
"Hey there, you two." The comely and distinguished voice appeared from behind them.
The two turned to meet the voice but were slightly thrown off.
"Oh, what's up? It's Tersia right?" Torren was the first one to greet the young girl with jet black that seemed to flow like a waterfall passed her sterling sharp eyes and down her slender shoulders.
"Hi…" Erai spoke after but remained stunned for a bit when his eyes met hers, something about them had garnered his attention.
"Yep, glad you remembered it. You're Torren right and you're...Shy-n-neeray, neriii, narai?" She eventually gave up as she let out a sigh.
"Sorry about that". An awkward smile appeared across his face.
"J-Just call me Erai, it's much easier."
"Erai…Yeah, that's way easier. Now I'm sure I won't forget it. By the way, my name is Tersia Lamiastell, but Tersia works." She answered with a smile.
"Pssst…Torren, don't you think that there's something up with Tersia...not wrong just different?" Erai whispered to him.
"Not exactly sure what you mean dude..."
"Oh, you noticed. It was the eyes, wasn't it? it's always the eyes."
The two turned back to Tersia after noticing that she had leaned over to overhear them.
'I promise it's nothing strange, just something my eyes do sometimes. I probably got it from my dad. Pantherian genes and all, you know?" Her attempt to play off their attentive gaze.
"So…that would make you—a Therianthrope. Now that makes sense. I knew something about you that felt different from how human you look."
"Yeah, I know, sorry about th—"
"Why are you apologizing?” Asked the confused Torren.
"What, no I was just..." The cheerful expression she was trying to hold was being weighed down by her sudden adoption of a permissive nature.
The two of them assured her that they were simply curious about her, her unique quality is not something she should have to apologize for. Erai enforced their statement by brushing aside his bangs, revealing to her his short-elven ears.
Tersia was a little surprised by Erai's display but she appreciated the gesture. Feeling far more relieved, her jovial nature shone once more, accompanied with an equally kind smile. Joining them, the group waited in line with the last of the students having been served.
PLEASE STEP ASIDE. DO NOT DAWDLE IN OTHERS WAY" A sharp voice shocked passer-by as two figures made their way past the crowds in the cafeteria.
"I mean honestly, it seems like the freshmen are always chaotic in their endeavors, not even recess is safe from their impotence" One of the figures remarked with a disappointed expression.
"Vice President, we'll return as soon as we can get you some food. You've been working quite intently and need the energy".
"Yes, yes Malleus. No need to fret, let us head over there, I'm starved for a burger right now."
The figures made their way to the fast-food stall, with the passing students moving hastily out of their path, all the while mild murmurs and looks of contempt could be felt bleeding off from some of the unlucky few that took a step too close to them and were subsequently knocked away.
Erai's group was still invested in their exchange as a new voice was now added to the conversation.
So distracted were the three that they managed to miss the figures that were approaching the very same stall. With the last of the students that were ahead of them now served, the group moved to place, but…
"Pardon me!. The three of you are in the way, please step aside." The firm voice shattered the exchange as the group stopped in their tracks to meet the force behind the command.
"Oh, another group of first years, move along, or at the very least step aside so we may take our order"
"One of the figures remained quiet, only being bothered to cast his gaze down on them."
"Apologies, but the stall only serves one customer at a time, if you want to be served, you'll have to wait—" Erai was cut off by Torren, pulling the hopeless Daumier by his braid only to start berating him:
"Dude, do you have a death wish? Or do you just like pissing off people with the power to level an entire town. You don't argue with the Student Generals, you just let them do their job."
Brushing his classmates panic off, Erai spoke with a frustrated expression:
"W-What are you talking about, these aren't Student Generals, at least they don't sound like the one I met"
"Well bud, sounds like you woke up to an angel. Unfortunately, the rest of us were met with…more terrifying beasts. Which is why you should just let it go, we'll grab something to eat elsewhere—"
Just as Torren finished his plea, Erai moved towards the figures and maintained that they would have to wait just like everyone else, all the while Tersia and Torren had a front-row seat to the growing storm in front of them, silently cursing their "idiot friend's" decision to doom them all.
"Even after you were told of our prestige, you still choose to stand in our way, my hunger is yet to be satiated, so if you choose to stand between me and my meal."
A girded scowl grew in ferocity across the once silent Student General.
"Then so be it!"