Haru ran up to me as we were about to leave our Beast mana lesson. We have each been spending time with our familiars in different rooms, feeding them items rich in mana that would help them evolve.

It had been my first day in the Nature section with Clin, it was actually lovely. Made to look like a rolling meadow surrounded by trees, I actually wanted to spend more time there but unfortunately the group had already planned to have lunch together.

Aspen had beaten him there, which surprised me since they had both been in the Poison habitat. I didn't know if we were waiting for both Hoshi and Kat or just Hoshi, so I asked Aspen.

"Nah, she normally goes back to our dorm on Wednesdays. Something about "she's done people'ing" for the day. I think her morning lesson takes it out of her, plus the Lightning habitat is a lot." Aspen explained.

I turned back to Haru, who was bouncing like a puppy, clearly bursting to tell us something.

"Is it a, "Don't tell Hoshi" or just a "OMG" story?" I asked him waving my hands stupidly at the second option.

"Little column a, little column b. So get this right, Mason got his hands on a fun little ink that explodes when used on certain types of paper! We were thinking we "accidentally" bump into Cage and then we let nature takes its course." Haru chortled with glee.

"NO! I finally got neutral with him, I hardly need to make him hate me again. Mason would get away with it but we're not "important" enough to…..Though Rio on the other hand.." I responded, thinking of the laughs we'd get.

Unfortunately for the evil sides of Mason and Haru, only them because I'm a stand up kinda guy *cough* Hoshi came around the corner to hear Haru's explanation, and my subsequent counter proposal.

"I should smack both your heads together! How could you come up with such a stupid idea? I swear half my time and brain power is to make sure you guys don't do anything stupid!" She admonished us.

Aspen started laughing as we made our way out the building and towards our usual Cafe. Hoshi continued to tell Haru off, while I got away with a simple slap over the head.

I was tuning in and out of their conversation as Aspen and I spoke about how our familiars were growing.

"Cmon, what have we got in trouble doing recently? We haven't been caught doing anything.." Haru stopped talking before he kept burying us all.

"The mystery cookies in the common room?" Hoshi accused.

"Could have been anyone, I thought they tasted pretty good actually." Haru answered.

"THEY WERE FULL OF AN ENHANCED CHILLI! I COULDN’T TASTE ANYTHING FOR DAYS!" Hoshi yelled back as Haru ran ahead.

I hadn't actually known that one was Haru, the funny part is they used a Fire Affinity flower for the chilli flavour so it had actually been a treat for some of us. Even if they had the unfortunate side effect on taste buds.

"They're never boring are they?" I asked Aspen.

"Haru is certainly always full of energy," Aspen answered.

We both laughed as we kept going towards the Cafe as Haru ran off at an angle, I guess we'll be beating him there. I didn't even think Hoshi was angry at him, just enjoys having a go at her brother.

A couple minutes later Aspen and I arrived at our destination, only to see Mason and Ivy had beaten us there. To my surprise, Ivy was sitting next to Mason and seemed very animated compared to her usual shy self. I almost didn't want to interrupt them, I nudged Aspen and nodded towards them, as she had been looking at her familiar.

"Should we give them an extra few minutes?" I asked.

Aspen looked over and chuckled, before nodding and walking over to a different store in the recreation area. I followed her in to find our it was a manabeast store, a sign on the front window claimed the store had a Beastmaster on staff that can create the contract for those without the affinity.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

I hadn't ever really paid attention to the other stores in the area because I haven't checked whether I had any non-academy based disposable income. Considering how much Essie had done for me, I truly believed I would have way more than I needed but it still felt like too much.

I looked at the price of the closest, it said a thousand Terran Credits. Why couldn't everyone just use dollars, I bet all the different areas like Alliance, Amphiria etc had their own currency. I knew nothing about the conversion but after checking my account, I was relatively rich with over one hundred thousand credits.

I immediately moved away from where Aspen was looking at a clutch of Grey birds and called Essie, she picked up almost immediately.

"Cain, it has been a while now, how has your academy experience been dear?" She asked.

"Sorry I haven't called that much, I have been focusing on my studies and didn't want to annoy you. I'm sure Mason has been keeping you updated on everything?" I answered, sorry I hadn't called her more often.

"It's ok dear. I know you are still uncomfortable about it but we really feel like you're part of the family. You are even a positive influence on Mason, I don't think I've seen him this happy in years. I truly think he sees you akin to a brother. Like the old saying goes, The family we choose for ourselves is more important than the one we were born into; that people have to earn our respect and trust, not have it handed to them simply because of genetics." Essie consoled me.

My cheeks warmed and my chest felt tight, her words hit a place in my heart that had been almost cold since I was lost in time.

"Thankyou Essie." My voice almost broke a touch as I spoke.

"Oh I'm sorry, it appears I have embarrassed you." Essie apologised in a voice that said the opposite to her words.

"I actually wanted to ask about the credits in my account, it just seems like too much! You already sent me to the academy and paid for everything." I questioned.

"Not at all, you need money to buy anything in the recreation area. There are some lovely little gift stores, supply stores or even manabeast stores if you decide to add to your familiars. Like I said, We see you as family and are happy to support you until you decide differently." Essie told me firmly.

It would appear I wouldn't be telling Essie to stop giving me money even if I was able to support myself. Much like Mason, I couldn't tell her no it seemed.

"Fine. Thank you, I don't know if I can ever repay you all for what you've done for me." I finished.

I could hear the smile this time as Essie said goodbye.

I looked back around the store looking for Aspen. The store was spread over two stories, on the ground floor were Insects, reptiles and underwater manabeasts and on the second floor were the mammals and avians.

I was tempted to go upstairs to look at what they had but I didn't want to get another familiar just yet, it felt rude to Clin when even our bond was relatively new. On the other hand, if they had a litter of a fox, Wolf or similar beasts I would be willing to lie down and take my chances. The cuteness and soft fur made the risk worth it in the grand scheme of things.

I found Aspen looking at some more poison based insects. I saw a green and blue Bee with two stingers, a purple ant with huge mandibles and a mirror image version of Aspen's Scorpion familiar with the colours swapped before I focused on Aspen.

"Tempted?" I asked when I saw she was focused on the Scorpion.

"I couldn't afford it even if I tried. The beautiful little girl is worth more than my family makes in six months." She explained sadly.

I looked at the price, seeing it was one hundred thousand credits, I considered telling my friends to buy it for her for her birthday. It seemed like a good present considering how dearly she wanted it. If I started asking too many questions, I might tip her off to something.

"Should we go and see if Hoshi has finally caught Haru yet or not? It hardly feels healthy to just stare at a manabeast for a while." I offered.

"Fine, I think he probably escaped and made his way here by himself though," Aspen replied while wistfully looking at the Scorpion.

We walked back around the corner to find we were now the last members of the group to arrive at the table. Mason and Ivy had spread slightly further away from each other than before, Hoshi had a small smirk on her face while Haru on the opposite side of the table from her was nursing his arm. I sat down between Mason and Haru, while Aspen took the last chair between Hoshi and Hadley.

"So how was everyone's day?" I asked to start a generic conversation, stopping Hoshi from opening her mouth since I saw a sparkle in her eye when Aspen and I showed up together late.

A few stories about our classmates were thrown out, including Rio tripping over his own pants in our martial Training that morning, very upset that I had missed seeing that though. I also had a good laugh that apparently someone had heard Instructor Finton still practising his speech from our first lesson, I assume hoping his students the next year were more impressed than we were.

I also spoke about how I hadn't really spent much time seeing what else was around the recreation area, the reaction I got was not what I was expecting.

Laughter, they all laughed at me. Apparently I looked upset because Mason, Aspen and Ivy stopped laughing almost immediately.

"Bro, do you not know the image everyone.." Mason started.

"*cough* except Cage *cough*" Haru interrupted.

"Shut up Haru," Aspen retorted with a laugh.

"As I was saying," Mason mock glared at Haru.

"You are essentially considered a hermit to the other students. Can you even name half of our classmates?" Mason continued.

"I mean, I was always used to being the new kid at school when I was younger. Only having a couple friends and never knowing when I would have to leave them too. I guess it affected me more than I thought." I hesitantly answered.

I thought about our classmates, I truly only knew my friends, Cage and Rio. Even Cage's other "followers" were just faces in a crowd to me for the most part. I could recognise a few others but I hadn't ever even tried to get to know any of them. I guess I could see why my friends weren't surprised that I spent all my time with them, studying or cultivating myself and Clin.

I sat there and thought about my time at the academy so far. I could count on one hand the number of times I'd spoken to most of my classmates, and even then it was only about combat forms or the lesson at the time. I think I'd even spent more time with Sergeant Peterson than most of my classmates combined.

I would have to try to be better then, I wasn't leaving randomly due to my father anymore. I came back to my surroundings to find everyone but Haru and Mason had left, the pair were playing some card game next to me.

"Back in the world of the living?" Mason asked.

"Yeah sorry. How long was I in my own head for everyone to leave?" I responded.

"Only about a half hour, everyone left a few minutes ago. They wanted to wait for you but Clin hissed at nearly everyone when they tried to touch you. He seemed to think you needed to be defended from everyone." Haru answered without looking at me.

Contentment flowed through the bond from Clin, he was quite proud of himself it seemed.

"Sorry, spaced out because I wanted to argue your point. I got nothing, lets just go with, I'm an introvert and leave it at that." I finished.

"Time to go to bed, we all have to be up early tomorrow morning." Mason announced.

We stood and started towards the dorm. As we were walking I remembered the Scorpion that Aspen was looking at earlier.

"Hey guys, do you know when Aspens birthday is? Cause I've had an idea…" I started.