Aida forced a smile back at Sue, trying to swallow her panic. “For real, I have no idea what’s been happening with you this past cycle.”

Sue giggled mischievously, moving over to help Aida tie her hair up. “Nothing’s been happening with me. But what about you?”

“Me?” Aida’s hands spasmed, fingers missing the loop she was aiming for. “What about me?”

Sue leaned closer, her breath tickling Aida’s ear. “Don’t you think Levi is into you?”

Aida froze, her face flaming with Sue’s intima–ABJECT INCORRECTNESS. “Excuse me?”

Sue sat back, a self-satisfied smirk on her face. “Come on, girl, he comes over whenever we’re hanging out all the time.”

Aida stared back, utterly nonplussed. Was Sue being serious, or was she really that obtuse? “Girl, he comes over to hang out with you all the time.”

Sue looked back slyly. “Okay, that’s fine, we don’t have to talk about it yet. We have two hours in this spa,” she jabbed a finger at Aida’s nose, “and then another hour of a full body massage after, so I can be patient.”

Skipping out of the dressing room, Sue began chatting with Connie, who had been anxiously floating around the dressing room entrance. Drifting after Sue, Aida wracked her brains trying to figure out where Sue was coming from.

Was this some variant of Main Character Syndrome? Sue was very obviously the Main Character in this world, but she seemed to be willfully oblivious that she was the center of attention. She never even brought up the confession letter during her first day here, nor the bouquet of flowers she received from Ezra that evening. Levi’s extremely obvious flirtations also completely went over her head; surely she knew? Maybe she was humblebragging? But no, she was genuinely kind and friendly to everybody. Aida had been watching her closely, while also maintaining whatever distance she could from Sue, and Sue had never once given any indication that she was playing 4D chess.

The hypothesis that made the most sense right now was that Suelina Heslia was Perfect.

“Come, girls, come this way,” Connie sang, guiding them through a curtain into a steamy room. “We have four pools: three held at varying hot temperatures, and one ice bath. Don’t worry about prying eyes; even though we’re in the city, we have carefully cultivated a bamboo forest to maintain our patrons’ privacy.”

“Thank you so much. I’m sure we’ll have a very relaxing time,” Sue said warmly. Beaming at the two girls, Connie gave one last bow and backed out of the hot spring room.

“This place is so cute,” Sue said happily, looking around at the setup. Aida nodded in agreement. There was a tall bamboo wall at one end, presumably separating the men’s hot spring section from the women’s. The hot spring at the bamboo wall was set three steps up, and was clearly the hottest, with the most steam billowing from it. One side of the hot spring was cut lower, creating an artificial waterfall for the hot water from the hottest pool to flow into the second pool, which was releasing slightly less steam. Like its parent spring, the second pool had one side cut lower, allowing the water from the second pool to flow into the third hot spring, which was a lukewarm pool. Opposite the trio of hot springs was the cold spring, which had a small fountain trickling cool, calm water into it.

“Let’s get rinsed!” Grabbing Aida’s wrist, Sue dragged Aida to a line of hooks along the wall, pulling her spa robe off and hanging it up, forcing Aida to do the same. At least this isn’t really my body, Aida thought, agonized. Sue marched around with pure confidence, not a care in the world. She had grabbed two ladling buckets, and was beckoning Aida over to the cold spring.

The instant Aida came within reach, Sue dumped icy water over her shoulders. Aida opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out. Shivering, Aida glared at Sue, who easily poured two ladles of ice cold water over herself, shivering in delight. Completely ignoring Aida’s discomfort, Sue grabbed Aida and hauled her to the third hot spring, the least-hot one.

Smoothly dipping her legs in, Sue slid down, releasing a sigh of satisfaction. Teeth chattering, Aida clambered in, almost screaming at how hot the contrasting water was.

“This is luxurious, isn’t it?” Sue asked dreamily.

“Better than the cold water,” Aida gritted. She took a deep breath. She could feel her heart rate rising as her body started to go into shock. The edges of her vision started to blacken. “...I don’t feel so good.”

“Aida, focus on Mana Cycling,” Aida heard Sue say. Her voice seemed to come from far away. “Come on, you can do it. You’re in water right now, it’s your element!”

Acknowledging Sue’s point, Aida begrudgingly closed her eyes (not that it mattered, as her vision had collapsed into a pinprick already) as she rested her head on the side of the hot spring, focusing internally. She felt herself drift away from her body; her awareness seemed to extend far beyond her body, which was just a lethargic lump. There was so much life in the water, pulses and waves of water roiling over each other, trying to rise to the top. Intrigued, Aida rode the waves, tumbling over herself, getting pushed down while at the same time being buoyed up, until she broke the surface and splashed back down. Feeling both elated and calmed by the soothing rhythm of the waves, she extended her senses further, hunting for the brightest source of energy. There were three obvious sources: one small, but familiar source that Aida recognized as her own body. A second source that was extremely bright, next to Aida’s own vessel. Aida did a cursory examination, recognizing the red barrier as Sue’s energy, so please kindly do not explore further than you already have, thank you very much; acquiescing, Aida moved on to the third energy source, the steady stream feeding her comfortable extended awareness.

Aida opened her eyes, suddenly full of vigor. “Wow. That was incredible.”

“Right?” Sue smiled at Aida lazily. “I could tell your mana awareness got upgraded. Who knew what you needed was just a hot spring session?” Sue stretched, her arms breaking out of the water. “Shall we move to the next hot spring?”

Less apprehensive than when she first approached the third spring, Aida followed Sue to the second hot spring, not even bothering to cover herself anymore. Sliding into the warmer water, Aida felt the now-welcome sensation of the stronger energy pressing against her chest, seeking to infuse her with its restorative power. The feeling she initially considered suffocating, she now embraced; taking a deep breath, deeper than she’d ever taken before, she let the energy soak into her body.

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“Hey Sue,” Aida murmured. “Are you also getting mana benefits from being in a hot spring?”

“Yep!” Sue sloshed through the water to Aida, linking her arm through Aida’s floating arm. Aida was so relaxed she didn’t even flinch at the affectionate gesture. “I probably don’t get as much benefit as you, since you can extract more mana out of this medium than me, but I still get plenty of mana from the heat. Here, check this out.” With what felt like a warm ray of sun shining over her, Aida felt Sue push a pulse of mana through their skin contact.

“Is this what your mana feels like?” Aida asked, surprised. “It’s just…heat?”

“Mmhmm,” Sue agreed. “The first practitioner my parents took me to as a child warned my parents that I wouldn’t do well in cold and wet places.” She stroked Aida’s fingers thoughtfully. “This is the first time you’ve been able to feel my mana. Remember how in first year, we had to do the mana exploration exercises, and you felt nothing?” she laughed.

Thankful that she was already in hot water, Aida tried playing it off nonchalantly. “Yeah, it was hard to feel anything. You’re right that being in the hot spring really helps me feel the flow of mana.” Hesitant, Aida figured her next question wouldn’t raise any awkward questions: “What does my mana feel like?” Tentatively, Aida pushed a small stream of mana towards Sue, who eagerly accepted the exchange. Sue stilled.

“Aida…”

Surprised by Sue’s suddenly serious tone, Aida looked at her. She didn’t have her usual bright smile on her face, but instead was looking at Aida as if she had never seen her before. “Who are you?”

“What do you mean?” Aida laughed nervously.

“Your mana flow’s improved so much! You feel like a completely different person!” Sue exclaimed, delighted. “I can’t believe one hot spring session made such a difference.”

Aida relaxed. “Well, I can’t say I didn’t have a lot of help in finding my sticking point…”

Sue cocked her head. “Really? What happened? We spent the last two years trying to get you in touch with your mana.”

Uh oh. Resigned, Aida slid down into the water to give herself time to sell her story. Give her something else to latch on to. “...Ezra helped me out.”

“Ezra?” Sue repeated incredulously. “Really? What did he do? He doesn’t even talk to anybody.”

“He was pretty helpful,” Aida said, slightly defensively. “He walked me through from the beginning how to feel my mana.”

Still skeptical, but clearly trying to be supportive, Sue probed for some more details. “Okay, so when did this happen?” She gasped, seeming to be struck by an epiphany. “Wait, did your parents arrange for you – and –” her fingers flew to her mouth, as she stared at Aida with wide, purple eyes. “ – are you and Ezra – after graduation –”

“No!” Aida said, feeling her stomach drop. She couldn’t seem to stop digging herself new holes; and how would she explain what happened at Shale Port yesterday? “My…my parents said they’d have some suitors lined up when I graduated,” she finished in a mumble.

“Oh, Aida…” Sue said sympathetically. She wrapped her arms around Aida. “It’s okay, I’m sure your parents will find some good men,” she said hopefully.

“I don’t want to get married,” Aida blurted. She rubbed her eyes. “I mean, I don’t want to get married like that. I want to get married on my own terms, I don’t want to be married because I’m a burden and I can’t provide anything else of value.”

Pulling back from Aida, Sue grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at her. “Aida, I know we haven’t really talked about this very much…but, and I’m only asking this because I think you really have a chance: when we graduate, would you be interested in making an adventuring group with me?”

Aida met Sue’s gaze, looking between her eyes to gauge her sincerity. Sue really believed Aida had a chance? Was this just the main character confidence talking? The protagonist’s belief that everything would work out the way they hoped? Did Sue’s plot armor extend to Aida too? She would be lying if she didn’t fervently wish that close association with the main character would yield some fringe benefits, but she also knew depending on someone else would lead to the biggest vulnerability.

“I mean, it won’t be easy. We won’t be able to bid on the lucrative contracts right out the gate,” Sue said quickly, Aida’s silence making her nervous. “But we can start small, just start with local requests…we can slowly build up our reputation over time. I’m sure there’s so much good we can do while we build up our humble origins. So, what do you say?” Sue asked, clearly on tenterhooks.

Aida shook her head slowly, Caleb’s words drifting through her mind. Are you ever worried she can’t keep up with you? “Sue…I’m honored that you want me to be in your party,” she said carefully, trying to organize her thoughts. “But I don’t think you realize the full ramifications of having someone like me in your company. I know it seems easy and straightforward right now, because you haven’t experienced it yet…but one reputational flaw would outweigh all of your merits when it comes to trying to find work.”

Sue gazed at Aida silently. Finally she exhaled. “You sound just like my parents. And I mean, that might be true back then, but come on, they don’t know what it’s like now. People aren’t as judgmental anymore! Besides, you’ll be a graduate of Maglica Academy,” Sue argued. “That’s nothing to sneeze at! The fact that you can practice any magic at all gives you a lot of advantages!”

Listening to Sue’s passionate speech, Aida couldn’t help but smile sadly. She remembered those same arguments passing her lips: everything would work out eventually, for one reason or another. Times were different than when her parents were younger; they were in an entirely different culture, even. Adults were jaded, slowed behemoths who didn’t have the energy to forge their own future, so they just assumed the worst all the time. Being young was the best time to take risks. If not now, when?

Gripping Sue’s hands in the water, Aida looked at her seriously. “Sue, everything you’re saying is right. Being a Maglica graduate is a privilege that grants advantages over someone who isn’t affiliated with Maglica. But what I’m saying, and what your parents are saying, is that this individual benefit isn’t going to give you everything you want. Because I’m not as talented with mana as you, I will only hold you back when you start pursuing your dream.” Aida blinked back the tears that mirrored Sue’s. “You have so much potential, and I would hate to know that I’m the one who dragged you down and stopped you from getting everything I know you want and can get.”

“Why are you talking like this,” Sue cried. “Why can’t you just be happy that I would never abandon you?”

“I’m happy to know that you’re such a loyal friend,” Aida said, shaking Sue’s hands gently to pull her attention back. “I just don’t want to be dependent on anyone’s charity, especially yours. I want to stand next to you as an equal, where people can’t dismiss me by calling nepotism.” her voice softened. “I promise, Sue, I’ll work really hard to establish myself and my own reputation while you take on all the tricky quests and get all the fame. Then, when we’re both seasoned practitioners, we can partner together, and no one will be able to use me to bring you down.”

Sue nodded slowly, her eyes watery. “You’re such a selfless friend,” Sue sniffled. She straightened her back, setting her mouth in a firm line. “I promise I’ll achieve so much power, nobody will question my choices.”

Aida couldn’t help but laugh, reaching out to pinch Sue’s delicate cheeks. “That’s the spirit!”

Sue caught Aida’s hands, looking deeply into Aida’s eyes. “Promise me one thing?”

Aida cocked her head.

“Promise me that if there’s anything I can do to help you, you will ask me.”

Aida’s heart melted at Sue’s sincerity. “Of course.”

They smiled at each other, before Aida finally said. “But maybe we should get out now. I’m pruning really hard.”