Sue met Aida at the gate, squeezing past the Wood cohort in order to be the first one to pull her from the ring. She rubbed Aida’s shoulders as she consoled her.

“It’s okay, you still put on a great performance,” Sue said soothingly. “At least the worst of it is over. Tomorrow’s the last match, and you’re not hurt today. Flare up!”

Aida didn’t even know what to say. She felt numb. She didn’t know what to think. She was just glad she wasn’t in the ring anymore. She didn’t even care about the matches anymore. Why did she provoke Weyn like that? She had the life experience. She should have anticipated a volatile response from a teenager - her interactions with the leads and Pritchard had made her think everyone in this world was predictable.

Out in the real world, she had always been careful to not draw attention to herself, because she had crossed paths with and seen people go through psychotic breaks. All it took was one innocent mistake, one unintended stumble into someone’s path, and you could expect a screaming maniac following you for three blocks, or worse. She had always managed to extricate herself safely, but she had never been grabbed and so utterly overpowered before.

She had to admit to herself: because she got teleported into this world, she thought she would be safe. After all, nobody ever got hurt from playing a video game. Video games weren’t real. But when Weyn forced his whole body weight on her, and she couldn’t do anything about it, that was when she realized she really was a nobody in this world. Just like in her real life. Not even Sue’s Main Character plot armor would extend to her.

Caleb touched her shoulder. Aida flinched. “Are you all right?” he asked softly. She focused on him. Sue was filing out to the combat ring, taking her place with the rest of the cohort, and Levi was coming back to them. She had totally missed the Wood match. Aida forced a bright smile on her face.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she reassured him. “Are we still on for training this afternoon? I missed yesterday’s session, so I really think we should make it up today!”

Caleb glanced at her hesitantly. “I don’t know,” he said slowly. “Are you sure you don’t need some more rest?”

“No, I’m good,” Aida insisted. “Besides, I really need to strengthen my body, so that—“ Aida cut herself off. What could she even do? The easiest answer was obviously don’t get caught, but what would she do if she got caught again? Should she focus on her mana, make herself so powerful that everyone would get blasted back if they came too close? But she was already so far behind compared to everybody else. Maybe Caleb knew some grappling moves, and could teach her how to get out of such a position again? After all, he was training grappling with Sue. She had never had time in the real world to take any women’s self-defense classes, and those classes usually taught women how to get out of larger and stronger men’s grips. But surely the existence of those classes meant that it was possible for women to fight their way out of an impossible situation?

“It’s okay, she’s fine, just give her some time,” Sue was saying to Lily. She had returned to Aida’s side, and Caleb was now in the combat ring. Aida shook her head. She kept zoning out.

“Hi Lily!” Aida said brightly. “How did your match go?”

“It was okay,” Lily said hesitantly, clearly unnerved. She peered at Aida, before leaning over to whisper to Sue. Sue bit her lip and shook her head, looking back at Aida with concern.

“What is it?” Aida asked.

“Do you want a sleeping brew tonight?” Lily asked nonchalantly. “I bet you didn’t sleep well last night, since you were in the hospital bed. I can give you something for tonight so you can fully rest up. You know, finish off strong for tomorrow.”

“That’s so thoughtful, I think it’s a great idea,” Aida agreed mechanically, her cheeks aching. Lily and Sue glanced at each other.

“Excellent, I’ll bring you something at dinner!” Lily said with forced cheer. “Great match!” she reached out to pat Aida’s shoulder, but at Aida’s flinch she immediately pulled her arm back into an awkward L shape, bent at the elbow. Giving a robotic wave with her stiff elbow, Lily slowly backed away, as if she was afraid to startle a dangerous beast.

“Aida, do you want to go rest in your room for the rest of the day?” Sue asked her quietly, looking at her with concern. “I think you should.”

“No, I really should be training,” Aida said decisively. “I need to make up for yesterday.”

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“There’s always this upcoming restday to catch up. You should take today off,” Sue coaxed.

Aida shook her head firmly. “There’s one more match tomorrow, so I can’t rest quite yet.”

“If Aida doesn’t want to rest, I don’t think we should convince her to rest,” Levi piped up. He leaned forward from his seat behind Sue and Aida. “She doesn’t have to do physical training with Caleb. It won’t hurt to review some basic theory. I can help.”

Sue looked at Levi apprehensively. “I can help her review in her room.”

“If it’s theory, I don’t think either of you are qualified to help,” Ezra butted in. He was apparently sitting behind Levi. Levi’s expression froze over, but he refused to acknowledge Ezra’s remark.

“Aida, what do you want to do?” Sue asked anxiously. All of the focus was now on her.

Aida bit her lip, thinking.

She definitely didn’t want to be alone with Levi. Her head hurt too much from trying to guess his motives, and she didn’t want to spend her night playing political chess. However, she also didn’t want to spend time with Sue; Sue meant well, but her plucky energy was just…too much for her to handle right now. She normally wouldn’t have minded spending time with Ezra - especially because the amount of knowledge he had was fascinating. But she couldn’t stop thinking of the pink flush on his face from this morning when he looked at Sue.

Aida almost decided on training with Caleb, but then she caught herself. Caleb was a big guy; not quite as tall as Weyn, but significantly thicker. If they really were to work on grappling…she shivered, imagining a faceless man of massive bulk holding her down. When she put Caleb’s open and sweet face over the shadowy figure…Aida shook her head violently, trying to clear her mind from that image. He doesn’t deserve that.

Maybe…she should just be alone today? Work on her Mana Circulation, maybe do some burpees, like when she first started in this world. Use the rest of her mana to heal up her body as much as she could in preparation for tomorrow. And then she could think.

Aida didn’t want to think. She wanted to do something. Something productive. She looked up from her hands. Everyone was looking at her, all with varying levels of concern.

Aida locked her eyes on Levi. “I want to train with Levi today.”

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

Aida followed the crowd of students back to the cafeteria for lunch in a haze. Everyone had accepted her decision to train with Levi today with minimal protests. Sue had tried to persuade Aida to let her join Levi with the training, but Aida flatly refused. Sue then made Levi promise he wouldn’t mess with Aida, while Levi and Ezra exchanged smug and dark looks, respectively. Caleb looked relieved that he didn’t have to be responsible for her, while also uneasy about her peppiness.

Aida was at the watering cups again when Pritchard sauntered up to her.

“I’m glad to see someone finally put you in your place,” he said loftily, leaning against the water bar. “I only wish you had learned that lesson earlier.” He shook his head in mock regret. He leaned forward when she didn’t answer, snapping his fingers in her face. “Hey!”

Aida startled. “Oh, Pritchard. Hello.”

“Did you even hear what I said?” he demanded, the corners of his mouth literally turning down in an upside-down U shape.

“Uh, something about learning…” Aida said vaguely. She blinked, seeming to realize who was actually standing in front of her. “Are you here to gloat?”

Pritchard gaped at her, utterly deflated.

“Okay, sure, no problem,” Aida said, taking a deep breath. Held it. “Hey, you know what’s weird? I got a lecture today about disrespecting my fellow classmates, and how this Academy doesn’t look on that kind of behavior favorably, which I would imagine would have deterred your behavior, but you’re still being a right little bitch any chance you can get. Is it because the school thinks you’re harmless?” Aida peered at Pritchard, furrowing her brow as if deep in thought. She shrugged. “Well, I guess I’m not in a position to refute them. Now if you don’t mind, I have more important things to deal with.”

Turning back to the water jugs, Aida sedately poured herself a cup of water. Picking up her cup, she tried to sidestep Pritchard with a polite “pardon me.” Pritchard refused to cooperate.

Smacking the cup out of her hands, Pritchard screeched at her incoherently.

“Will you please shut up and use your words?” Aida asked rudely. Turning back to the water bar, she proceeded to pour herself another cup before Pritchard snatched the whole pitcher away from her.

“You WILL stop disrespecting me!” Pritchard screamed, slamming the pitcher down on the bar, splashing everything.

Aida grimaced. “It’s really hard to respect you when you’re acting like this…”

“STOP IT!” Pritchard howled, reaching towards her, his fingers crooked like talons.

Aida had had enough. Pritchard’s ruckus was ear-piercing and obnoxious, and after all she went through this past week, she just wanted some goddamn peace and quiet.

“YOU STOP IT,” she yelled back, swinging her foot towards him. Her shin soared between Pritchard’s legs, making contact with something squishy. Pritchard’s eyes bulged, and his face turned from red to blue. He slumped with a quiet “Eep.”

Aida’s eyes widened. She tried to pull her leg back, but it was clamped firmly between Pritchard’s thighs.

“What is going on?!” Professor Havi’s gravelly voice cut through the commotion in the cafeteria. He glared at Aida, who pulled futilely at her foot. He reached down, pulling Pritchard up with strength Aida would never have expected from a man his age. “Miss Loreh, come with me.”

Slowly setting her cup down, Aida trudged after Professor Havi. She saw Sue detach herself from the crowd, rushing up to the three of them. “Professor Havi, it wasn’t Aida’s fault. Pritchard has been doing stuff like this for a while now—“

“Now is not the time, Miss Heslia,” Professor Havi said sharply. His flyaway hair seemed to vibrate in anger. “We will bring this to the school council and sort this out.”

Shrugging at Sue, Aida waved farewell as she left the dining hall.