“Aida! You’re finally done, I was about to come get you again,” Suelina chirped. She was carrying her own school bag and had her wand poking out of the fist that was gripping the bag handle. Aida’s eyes locked onto the wand, and she deliberately let the door close behind her.
“Ah, oh no, I think I forgot to bring my wand,” Aida said, trying to inject a tone of helplessness into her voice. She opened her bag, rifling through the contents. Notebooks and a box? Pulling the slim lightweight box out of her bag, Aida flipped the lid open to reveal a small glass bottle of ink and a dip pen with a wooden handle, both tucked snugly into the cushion adorning the box.
“Silly Aida, why would you keep your wand in your pen box?” Suelina asked airily. She reached out and snatched Aida’s name tag off her chest, marching to her door and passing it over the door knob. The knob melted away, and Suelina pushed the door open, leaning against the door to invite Aida in.
Aida gave the most genuine smile she could as she passed Suelina. “What would I do without you?”
Suelina smiled back, slapping Aida’s name tag into her hand. “I know, right?”
Aida clicked her name tag back on her blazer, feeling a small tingle through her fingers as the tag zoomed towards the magnet in her blazer pocket. Approaching her bed, she hesitated. She still didn’t know how to pick up the wand without causing another mini explosion, but Suelina was waiting, humming as she straightened the items she helped replace earlier. Nothing to do but just go for it. After all, Suelina seemed to be pretty forgiving of Aida’s stumbles this morning.
Holding her breath, Aida reached for the wand, grimly preparing for the kickback. If she couldn’t stop the wand from exploding, she could at least make sure the wand didn’t take out Suelina’s eye. As her fingers closed over the wood, Aida had a sudden implicit understanding of the energy that had erupted from her core just earlier. Almost as if she was in a meditative trance, Aida imagined herself barely catching onto the amorphous blob of energy that strained towards the wand. Triumphant, Aida picked up the wand, feeling the smooth wood gently vibrating under her fingers, until–
“Hey Aida!” Suelina jostled Aida’s shoulder, causing Aida to panic and lose her grip on the energy she was containing. The blob - granted, it was smaller than the one earlier - exploded out of her wand, ricocheting off the wall and up to the ceiling, where it fortunately dispersed harmlessly.
“Seriously, Aida, are you okay?” Suelina demanded, peering up at Aida from underneath the slim volume she had instinctively ducked under. “You normally stink at mana control, but why are you extra bad today? It’s like you completely forgot what we learned over the past two years!”
Offended, Aida opened her mouth to retort, before turning thoughtful. This might be the handicap I need to catch up to what I’m supposed to know in this world. “I…I don’t know! I just woke up so confused this morning, and…” Aida inhaled and held it for a beat before exhaling, and dropped her eyes. “...I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about it yet.”
“Oh, you poor thing, I’m so sorry,” Suelina said mournfully, embracing Aida. “I didn’t mean what I said about you being bad with mana. I was just surprised, and…and I’m really hungry too,” Suelina said sheepishly, her stomach rumbling helpfully. She gave Aida another tight hug. “But I’ll be here once you’re ready to talk about it!”
Aida awkwardly patted Suelina’s back. “Anyway, what were you asking me, Sue?”
Suelina pulled back, her eyes round. “‘Sue?’”
“Um, should I call you Suelina…”
“NO! No! Sue is great!” Sue smiled, lighting up the room. “I just never thought you’d come up with a nickname for me after all this time. But I love it!” After swaying on the spot for a few seconds, Sue held out the book in her hands. “That’s right! I wanted to ask if I could borrow your notes? You know how sloppy mine are…”
“Ah, I actually haven’t reviewed my notes yet,” Aida said apologetically. “Can I give them to you later?”
“That’s fine with me,” Sue said agreeably. She placed the notebook on Aida’s desk. “Now can we finally please go to breakfast?”
Smiling and nodding, Aida picked up the notebook Sue had just deposited. “For when there’s downtime, so I can finish reviewing faster,” she told Sue, who smiled in return. Praying that she actually had time to read the notes before she got identified as sus, she followed Sue out.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Sue led Aida down the marble and rich wood stairwell to the cafeteria on the first floor, where breakfast was in full swing. Looking at the menu overhead (it was laid out much like a build-your-own-bowl menu, with steamed rice as the base option), Aida didn’t see any prices - and she didn’t recognize many of the menu items, so she couldn’t judge how much the food might cost. “Hey, Sue, what are you going to get?”
“Hmm, I’m feeling a little too fire, so I think I might get some sweet porridge and stir-fried mushrooms,” Sue said thoughtfully. Not helpful at all… Perusing the menu again, Aida identified the items Sue called out.
Sweet porridge was underneath a category with a blue border, and stir-fried mushrooms was in the brown category. All the other items on the menu were listed in their own colored categories, and it looked like there were five categories total: blue, brown, green, red, and yellow. As far as Sue’s cryptic reasoning went, Aida still had no idea what distinguished the different-colored foods.
“I guess I’ll get teppan-style beef and braised bamboo shoots,” Aida said, taking a stab in the dark. Teppan-style beef was under the yellow category, and braised bamboo shoots were green. Aida didn’t feel “fire” like Sue, so she reasoned she could fly under the radar a little longer with a combination that Sue wasn’t getting.
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
“Are you sure? Maybe you should get a water side instead of bamboo shoots, since you lost control so easily this morning,” Sue teased, going up to the worker at the counter.
Aida bit back her retort. She hadn’t played the game long enough to understand the mechanics of this world, but she was extremely confident her diet was not the reason for “losing control.” And besides, beef and bamboo shoots over rice sounded comforting. Watching Sue’s interaction with the worker carefully (she made no moves to bring out any currency or swipe her name tag anywhere), Aida took her own place at the counter.
“And what can I get for you, miss Aida?” the worker asked pleasantly. Aida placed her order, the worker nodding and turning away. Within a couple minutes, the worker returned with one tray in each hand, setting the trays in front of Aida and Sue.
“Amazing, thank you so much!” Sue said enthusiastically, collecting her tray. Aida smiled and thanked the worker before following Sue to a round table near a floor-to-ceiling window. The cafeteria looked nothing like any school Aida had been to. The entire wall was made of glass, giving the impression that they were outside, except for the lack of a breeze. Instead of long tables and benches like the cafeteria at Annie’s public schools, there were clean round tables and chairs scattered around the large room. Despite nearly every table being occupied by hungry students, the dining hall still felt very spacious.
“Skies above, I’m so hungry,” Sue moaned, digging into her rice. Even though her actions were uncouth, she still managed to look beautiful while stuffing her mouth. She would make an amazing mukbanger, Aida thought, amused.
“Hi, Suelina?” a nervous voice asked from the side. A nondescript male student, in a gray blazer, navy blue pants, and blue plaid tie, bowed low over a cream envelope extended in both hands towards Sue. “P-Please accept this letter!”
Aida choked on her bamboo shoots. It’s happening already!
Confused, Sue reached towards the letter before it suddenly burst into flames. The boy let out a shout, snatching his hands back as the fireball fizzled out.
“Move along, scum. Why would Suelina be interested in someone who isn’t in the top ten?” a haughty voice rang out. The chatter that was echoing around the dining hall quieted as all eyes turned towards their table. The speaker was a somewhat short boy with piggy eyes and thin, mud-colored hair that was swept across the top of his head, the stiffness implying the hair was coated in product. He had his eyes fixed on Suelina, greed evident on his face. He wasn’t the one who had fired the fireball, though; standing behind him was a group of his cronies, with one boy casually tucking his wand into his blazer, trying to affect a slick and cool vibe; unfortunately, though he was taller than his leader, his bearing was awkward and made Aida cringe. The leader leveled a pompous gaze upon Aida, his simpering face taking on a shade of contempt. “...though, I guess I can understand why you might think Suelina would pay attention to you. Are you ready to be cannon fodder for the rest of the class again this year, Aida?” he sneered.
Oh dear. Aida supposed it wasn’t unreasonable for her, as Sue’s best friend, to be a target of bullying. I’m here to let Sue demonstrate her righteous and principled character.
Right on cue, Sue pulled out her own wand and aimed it at the bully. “Don’t talk about Aida like that!”
Aida stayed behind Sue, not saying anything; nominally to allow the script to play out as it should, but also so she could get her bearings of what the social hierarchy looked like.
“Or what?” the bully - Pritchard, according to his name tag, with a brown gem - asked mockingly. “Words are just words. Don’t be so sensitive.”
Aida unconsciously put a piece of beef in her mouth as she waited for Sue’s response, which was apparently the wrong thing to do.
“Hey! Who said you could eat while your betters are talking?” Pritchard demanded.
Pausing mid-chew, Aida looked towards Sue, who had retorted without missing a beat: “She didn’t even say anything! Since when did you get so sensitive that you’re getting affected by literally nothing?” Aida couldn’t help but giggle at Sue’s response, which only served to incense Pritchard further.
“I notice you didn’t refute the fact that she’s inferior?” the boy who had shot the fireball drawled out from behind Pritchard. Everyone laughed.
Sue’s actually not looking very good, Aida realized as the blonde girl opened her mouth furiously. “It’s fine, Sue.”
At Aida’s interjection, everybody paused, seeming surprised she had spoken out. Aida drank a sip of water to wash down the remainder of the food in her mouth as she stood up - it wouldn’t do to have chunks of debris in her mouth while she tried to make a point.
“It’s the first day of school, and breakfast isn’t even over. Can we just finish eating so we can go to class? You can confirm my inferiority when we have exams or something.”
Pritchard was turning red. “You be quiet! You have no right to interrupt our conversation and tell us what to do!” He pulled his wand out of his blazer and aimed it at her threateningly.
He’s going to be angry no matter what, Aida thought, resigned. She stepped forward, her hands raised placatingly. “Look, Pritchard, I don’t know who hurt you, but I can assure you–”
“You don’t know who hurt me?” Pritchard yelled - shrieked, more like, his eyes bulging. “I’ll show you hurt!”
Aida yelped as the ground suddenly crumbled beneath her, her arms windmilling as she reached helplessly for balance. As her feet sank into the marble floor like quicksand, it firmed right below her knees, trapping her. The adrenaline rush from the sudden fall brought everything around her - the bystanders’ faces, in mixed expressions of shock and excitement, Pritchard’s obvious vengeance in his eyes - into clear focus, wiping away any lingering belief that she was dreaming. This is real.
Aida could feel the magic building behind Pritchard’s wand, but was helpless to stop it; the rest of the student body seemed to realize Pritchard wasn’t going to back down, but nobody was ready to stop Pritchard–
–except for the one person who caused a sapling to burst underfoot, toppling Pritchard over with a squawk.