Aida skidded to a stop, and her sudden appearance seemed to take Ezra and Sue by surprise as well. Ezra broke away from Sue, while Sue beamed and came towards Aida, reaching out to grab her by the hand. “You came out sooner than we expected! Let’s walk together.” Ezra’s cheeks were still pink.
Letting Sue pull her along, Aida could only keep looking at Ezra. He seemed unable to meet her eyes, acting more like school-Caleb than the stoic Ezra she first met. It was only when she had finally been pulled past him did he finally turn his head - only to look after Sue with the slightest hint of respect in his face.
Aida felt a small part of her wither away. The familiar feeling was absolutely unwelcome. She chastised herself for feeling that way. You knew that he was a male lead, and it was only a matter of time until Sue activated the romance events. The thought Aida had been keeping at the back of her head, refusing to acknowledge, finally forced its way to the front. How will being Sue’s friend affect the rest of my life?
It was one thing to be overlooked; Annie was used to that. But there was a certain special pain associated with losing a friend due to them finding that special someone. Part resignation, part jealousy. No matter how she convinced herself it wasn’t anybody’s fault, she couldn’t help but feel abandoned. The same song and dance all over again.
“AIDA! How are you feeling?” Channeling the working professional Annie had come to rely on, she smiled at Lily, who had bounced down the stands to walk with her and Sue.
“I’m doing well, thanks for asking. I got your bruise medicine and note, thank you so much.”
“Did it help?” Lily asked eagerly.
“It did! Aida’s bruises went from purple to green as soon as she applied it,” Sue informed her. Lily clapped her hands.
“It’s working better than I expected!” Lily leaned closer, pulling Aida down so that she could look into her eyes with an uncharacteristically concerned expression. “Look, you really were impressive in all of your matches so far. But please, please please please, be more careful. There’s no shame in stopping and resting. You’ve already come so much further than…all of us expected, honestly.” Lily’s last words were tinged with shame. The words of concern cracked Working Professional.
Shoving the bubbling emotions back down, Aida smiled brightly at Lily. “Thanks for your concern. I’ll be more careful today.” Lily nodded uncertainly, stepping back. She gave Aida a small fistpump.
Grabbing Aida around the shoulders, Sue gave her a tight hug. “You got this,” she whispered in Aida’s ears. She also stepped back from Aida, leaving her at the combat gate.
“Come along,” Professor Kozu said. He was a man of average height, with a lean, wiry build. He had a burn scar around one eye, which was usually covered by a mop of charcoal-black hair. Despite his intimidating red pupils, he gave Aida a kind smile. “Mister Bure is already in the ring you two will fight in.”
Aida entered the combat ring, where a tall boy with black hair and ocean-blue eyes stood waiting. He looked at her with assessing eyes. “You look well this morning.”
“I’ve been better.” Aida met Weyn’s gaze.
Character Profile: Weyn Bure
Elemental Affinity: Water
Class Rank: 14/30
“You’re looking forward to this match, aren’t you?” Aida asked softly. Weyn blinked. “I’ve been hurt pretty badly by Lara. You’re going to try and take advantage of my physical condition, and overpower me with raw strength, aren’t you?”
Weyn flushed. “Well, that’s the smart thing to do.”
“Ah, yes. Smart. But not impressive, is it?” Aida gazed at Weyn, unblinking. “It would definitely look smart to everybody else, to take physical advantage of a girl half your size, at half her strength, already weakened by another girl.” Aida released a dramatic sigh. “Not to mention she’s ranked last in the class. I guess I’m going to get manhandled again today…just don’t hurt me too much, okay? I promise I won’t put up as much of a fight against you.”
Weyn had been turning redder and redder with every word Aida spoke. Before he could say anything, Professor Kozu had already yelled “START!”
Weyn screamed, firing a barrage of Water Blasts at Aida. “I don’t need physical strength to take you down!”
Aida skimmed off the edges of the watery projectiles, the layer that Weyn’s mana didn’t fully control. She held onto her handful of water as she turned her body, letting the water hit her hunched form as she let out a cry. Unfortunately, she wasn’t able to gather the rest of the water that Weyn had shot at her before it seeped into the ground and clothes. Once the water soaked into a more substantial material, it was trapped there, and Aida didn’t have the skill nor mana to pull it all out again. Deciding to make do with the water she had already collected, Aida straightened, her lone orb orbiting her.
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“You’re a cheater!” Weyn roared, seeing her take advantage of his attack. “A filthy, stupid—“
Aida cut several Mana Blasts at him, surging to boost her speed. Weyn, in his unfiltered rage took the Mana Blasts entirely. Aida ran at him, the orb streaking along with her.
By the time Weyn had recovered from the Mana Blasts - which were essentially just slaps to the face to him, more startling and distracting than actually painful - Aida had already crossed the ring and had already fired her watery orb at him at short range. The water made contact, as a ball of ice the size of Aida’s fist that slammed into his forehead. Weyn tripped backwards, more shocked than hurt. Incensed, he began gathering his mana from the ground.
Aida flung her hand out, seeing her opportunity to disrupt his mana. Inadvertently, her hand whipped Weyn across the face. A spike of pain radiated across her palm.
“Ouch!”
Fortunately, Aida’s concentration broke only after she had managed to spear into Weyn’s mana, wholly disrupting his gathering. Weyn was turning red; he just realized what happened. Aida danced back from him, shaking her hand out.
“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to hit you like that,” Aida said apologetically. The skin on her palm and fingers felt numb, now that the pain from the initial impact had faded. She truly hadn’t planned to slap him; she had never slapped anybody before, so didn’t brace for any impact. She was expecting to gently touch him, or something.
“Don’t make fun of me!” Weyn shouted. He lunged at her, and this time Aida went down. Aida struggled underneath him, but Weyn was too large and strong. His hands caught her wrists, and he pressed down, so that she couldn’t move. He squeezed, and Aida’s wand fell from her fingers. Aida kicked, but he was straddling her waist, so she couldn’t even kick him. Aida tried surging, but Weyn had finally gotten ahold of his emotions, and was able to realize what she was trying to do and matched her surge, effectively negating whatever advantages she might have had. He glared down at her.
Looking up at Weyn, with his look of pure anger directed at her, Aida felt a primal fear run through her body. She wet her lips, trying to get control of her shaking. “…yield.”
Weyn lifted her from the ground and slammed her down again. “You don’t get to yield,” he hissed. “You’re going to stay through the rest of it.”
“I yield!” Aida screamed, terrified.
“Mister Bure, your opponent yields. Release her,” Professor Kozu commanded.
“I refuse!” Weyn bellowed. His cold control over his anger faltered, and he began shouting over Professor Kozu as he raised a fist. “SHE INSULTED—”
Professor Kozu blasted Weyn off of Aida. With the sudden release from her prison, Aida curled into a small ball, unable to stop shaking. She barely registered Professor Kozu calling for the healer, and only responded after he had called her name several times.
“Miss Loreh, can you hear me?”
Aida nodded. She was now sitting upright, looking into Professor Kozu’s red eyes. He lifted his hands from her shoulders, and she felt her mental clarity recede. Seeing her fall back into shock, Professor Kozu reached out a finger, touching the back of the hand that was clutched around her shoulder. Aida felt herself focusing again as he fed her a trickle of his mana.
“Miss Loreh, are you all right?”
Aida nodded, fighting to box her emotions away, to control her shivering.
“Can you tell me what your intention was? You know the Academy does not look kindly upon disrespectful behavior.”
“I expected him to capitalize on the fact that I’m still weakened from my fight with Lara yesterday, and I know I don’t stand a chance of beating him physically,” Aida mumbled. “I thought my best chance at evening the playing field was if I made him upset enough to use mana, to create water so I could use his water against him…and preserve my own mana. I…wasn’t expecting him to get…like that.” Part of her wanted to protest that Weyn was overreacting over a little bit of trash talk - she hadn’t even said anything wrong or malicious, after all. Or even insulted him personally - how could she have expected he would respond the way he did?
Professor Kozu’s one good brow had been lifting with every word Aida spoke. “Let me make sure I understand correctly. After taking into account your current condition, you decided the best path forward was to knowingly provoke your classmate. On the off chance that he might get angry enough to create water that you could use yourself.”
“I…I also thought it would be easier to disrupt his mana if he was already unfocused,” Aida admitted. She convulsed, as if her body was trying to remind her that she was no longer physically trapped. Professor Kozu was silent for a long moment, looking at her with pity.
“Very well. It is the student’s responsibility to think through the consequences of their actions, and in order to move on peacefully I believe an apology is in order,” he finally said. He waved over Healer Luk, who had been standing a respectful distance away while they spoke. “Try and get yourself together while I calm Mister Bure down. She has something to say to him,” he said to Luk, who nodded.
“Silly girl,” Luk muttered. “What were you thinking?”
“I know,” Aida said softly. “I’m sorry.”
Luk tsked. “I’m not the one you should be apologizing to. I can only take care of physical ailments, not spiritual ailments.”
Weyn approached, glowering. Professor Kozu had a firm hand on his shoulder, keeping him restrained. “Miss Loreh, you had something to say?”
Aida took a deep breath, willing herself not to flinch when she met Weyn’s fierce glare. She felt herself begin trembling again as his mana boiled over her.
“I’m sorry I said what I said. I said it because I was trying to gain an unfair advantage over you, and I’m ashamed I had to resort to that tactic. I also really didn’t mean to slap you, I was only trying to touch you, to disrupt your mana, but I - I don’t have good control over my body, so I accidentally hit you instead. I’m sorry.” Aida babbled, trying to cover all her bases so that he'd stop.
Weyn continued to glowering at her, taking vindictive joy in seeing her lose her composure before Professor Kozu prompted him to respond with a shake of the shoulder. “Fine. Forgiven. Whatever.” The look he gave her was not convincing. He winced as Professor Kozu gripped his shoulder sternly. He finally relented, giving Aida a wary look. “…I’m sorry for not containing my emotions. I went too far. I’m sorry.”
He shrugged off Professor Kozu’s hand and stalked back to the stands. Kozu looked after him, frowning, but didn't stop him.
“Does Miss Loreh need any healing?” Kozu asked Luk. She shook her head.
“Her injuries today are much more minor than the previous days. Only time will tell…” she drifted off, exchanging a meaningful glance with Kozu. “Come along, dear,” her voice was uncharacteristically gentle. “Go sit in the stands and watch the rest of the matches.”