Pritchard and Professor Gemma were already waiting in the teacher’s lounge when Aida and Professor Kozu returned. Pritchard was red-faced and sulky, but seemed much calmer. Professor Gemma was impassive. She nodded imperceptibly to Professor Kozu.

“Well?” Professor Havi asked impatiently.

“Mistakes were made on both sides,” Kozu said serenely. “But I believe it was a good learning opportunity for Miss Loreh.”

“Very good,” Gemma said, relieved. “Mister Spoak has something he’d like to say.”

Shuffling forward at her stern look, Pritchard faced Aida, keeping his gaze on his shoes. “I’m sorry for antagonizing you,” he mumbled.

Surprised, Aida didn’t speak for a moment. Kozu nudged her shoulder. “I’m sorry I hurt you,” she finally replied. Technically true, Aida reflected. In every sense.

“All right, very good,” Professor Bruce said briskly, before anyone else could speak. “Now that we have this settled, can we make an agreement so that something like this doesn’t happen again?”

Both Aida and Pritchard nodded. Havi looked disgruntled, but was unable to resist the tide. The rest of the professors were unwilling to pursue further disciplinary action - probably because they didn’t want to do any paperwork. Professor Lloyd led the the two of them to the door, smiling and bidding them a good day.

Aida saw several students lined up in the hallway when she stepped out. On the left was Sue, Levi, Caleb, and Ezra; on the right was Pritchard’s group, with Dev standing closest to the door. She blinked; the way they stood reminded her of - gangsters, she decided. Gangsters waiting for their mob boss. Every single one of them stood with their feet shoulder-width apart, their hands clasped behind their backs, long-suffering expressions on their faces.

Sue smiled when she saw Aida step out, breaking her composure. She threw a last dirty look at Pritchard and his group before sweeping Aida under her arm and bundling her away. Before Sue spun her around, Aida saw Dev relax, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

Sue waited until they had turned the corner before pulling out a small bun. “Here you go, I was expecting Havi to hold you two all through lunch, and I was right…”

Aida bit into the bun gratefully. “Were you really just standing in the hallway this whole time? You all looked so silly,” she teased. Small smiles appeared on everybody’s faces.

“Well, we didn’t want to cause a scene with Pritchard’s boys,” Levi said playfully.

“They didn’t want to start anything anyway,” Caleb added.

“What happened in there?” Ezra asked.

Aida shrugged casually as she continued chewing. “Havi wanted to pin everything on me, but then Kozu and Gemma took me and Pritchard apart and got our stories. We apologized to each other. No punishments, Bruce just made us promise not to do it again.”

“All’s well that ends well,” Sue said heartily. She looped her arm through Aida’s. “You’ve had a trying day. I’m glad you’re okay.”

“Honestly, I think I’ll be back to normal once I sleep tonight,” Aida said, polishing off the last of the bun. “But since we still have several hours…Levi?”

Levi nodded, stepping forward. “We can grab some texts and review some techniques outside.” He smirked. “Studying in the fresh outdoors is very recuperative.”

Sue reluctantly released Aida’s arm. “Okay, but don’t push yourself too hard. Are you sure you don’t want me to be with you?” she finished in a whisper. Aida smiled at her affectionately.

“It’s fine, I need to talk to Levi, anyway,” Aida whispered back. A scowl crossed her face. “I need to yell at him.”

Sue snickered. “Okay, you’re burning and need to get it out; I won’t smother that.” She stepped back and looked to Caleb, seeming to steel herself. “Some more sparring today?” When Caleb nodded, she hesitantly turned to Ezra. “Ezra, did you want to join me and Caleb?”

Ezra gazed at them impassively. Caleb looked back expectantly, while Sue had a studiously blank expression. Shrugging his shoulders, he acquiesced. Forcing a smile back on her face, Sue turned back to Levi and Aida. “See you guys at dinner?”

Splintering off from the group, Aida followed Levi to the boys’ wing, where he stepped into his room to grab a few notebooks for cover. Then they made their way back to the same forest patch where Levi had first revealed his suspicions about Aida.

“Are you sure this is a safe place to talk?” Aida asked, sweeping off the leaves that had collected on the log where she sat last time.

“Absolutely,” Levi said confidently. “I grew all the flora here. If anyone encroaches, I’ll know, since all the plants contain essence of my mana. And don’t worry about anyone else sneaking any plants in - I weeded them out, or turned them into furniture.” Levi patted the log they were sitting on.

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Aida raised an eyebrow. “You turned the bones of your rivals into furniture?”

Levi laughed. “You can certainly say that. Anyway, don’t worry about being overheard. As long as you don’t start screaming, we’ll have privacy within a ten-meter radius.”

Looking at Levi’s private garden with new eyes, she could appreciate the small details that characterized him. At first glance, it was just a random location in the woods, with random clusters of plants, as forest growth was wont to do. However, upon closer inspection she could see the colors were arranged deliberately, and vines and other stems carefully pruned - not aggressively shaped like topiaries, but lovingly trimmed to maintain their natural shapes while still encouraging growth. Each plant had a purpose. Taken as a whole, the artistic effect was quite soothing.

Levi’s command of his environment extended beyond the vegetation: he had taken great care to grow them in such a way as to offer a home to birds and insects. No doubt to help pollinate his plants, and minimize his mana expenditure. Aida was impressed at how Levi was able to unobtrusively blend aesthetics and functionality.

“You should check out Lily’s garden,” Levi said, watching her. “Hers is the definition of controlled chaos. She maximizes her space and is the master at companion planting.”

Shaking her head, Aida sat back down on the log with him. “I have no affinity for art, but even I can tell that your composition is very balanced. Very…zen.”

Cocking his head, he looked at her questioningly.

“Nevermind,” Aida said quickly. “Colloquialism from my world.”

“Seems like you’re finally comfortable,” Levi commented, leaning back with a self-satisfied smile.

“Yes…about that.” Aida pierced him with a glare. “I’m deciding to ‘trust’ you, only because I have nothing to lose in this world. Nothing. So, if you plan on betraying me, you’d better betray me in such a way that you’re sure I can’t - or won’t - come after you.”

Levi slowly raised his hands, eyes widening in mock fear. “Woah, those are some intimidating—“

Aida slammed Levi against a tree trunk, her muscles thrumming with her mana surge. She gripped the collar of his tracksuit tightly, leaning over him. Levi’s eyes were wide - not playfully this time, but in genuine shock. They were so close that Aida could hear Levi’s shallow breath hiss as it left his lips - like the air was scraping against his teeth.

“If you’ve been paying even the slightest bit of attention this past week, you’ll know that I’ll go to great lengths to get what I want,” Aida breathed. With her senses magnified by the mana surge, she could feel Levi’s pulse accelerate. Levi’s bronze eyes were bright, feverish. Kozu’s voice echoed in her mind. Sacrifice. Levi’s lips firmed, silencing his breathing. She felt his Adam’s apple bob as he swallowed.

“What’s a week?”

Aida stared at him. Dropping his collar, she stood up on the log, towering over him. He stayed resting against the trunk, his arms splayed to the sides to indicate his harmlessness, looking at her earnestly. “A star cycle,” Aida snapped. “Your culture uses so many unnecessary syllables.”

Raising his hands slowly as if to placate her, Levi sat up, but remained sitting, looking up at her. “Okay, okay, I understand.” He bit his lip, as if he was resisting the urge to say “calm down.”

“Just to make it clear,” he said slowly. “Even if you ‘trust’ me—” he punctuated the word by shaping brackets with his hands “—what if I decide to not give you the full information? Out of fear that you’ll - I don’t know, become some sort of tyrant demon?”

“If I die because you withhold some crucial information that causes me to act in a way that maims or kills me, that’s on you,” Aida said, stabbing her finger at him. She gestured at Levi’s garden. “But knowing you, you’re not heartless like that. You care that even the smallest creature has a comfortable home, so that it can be a productive worker and help you keep your habitat running at maximum efficacy. You can’t cultivate your reputation by keeping company with the incompetent.

“So if you do deliberately sabotage me, you’d better hope I die.”

“You think I want to cultivate you like one of my beloved pets?” Levi asked in disbelief.

“Not a pet, because pets aren’t expected to return anything close to the value of the unconditional love and care you give them,” Aida retorted. She smiled sweetly at him. “You have higher expectations for your network. You expect them to work for you. But at least in the short term, if what you said about desiring Sue’s love is true, you’ll have to help me…and trust that I won’t turn into a ‘tyrant demon.’”

Levi stared at her, clearly struggling for words. Aida suspected he had never had to think that deeply about long-term consequences before - just like she didn’t, until earlier this morning. But who expected seventeen-year-olds to make decisions within the context of mortality? Aida felt ashamed for corrupting his innocence.

Deciding she couldn’t make her threat any clearer, Aida hopped back down, settling herself on the log. “Tell me more about Lyn Trippe. What’s her motivation?”

“Are you going to play mind games with her?” Levi asked hesitantly.

Aida shrugged. “If it will help me win my match. But I don’t want to make her cry if I don’t have to,” she added quickly. “Sue said it best: the winner is the one who has greater mental fortitude. If I can break her concentration, then it will be easier for all of us.”

Levi bit his lip before nodding. “I can tell you about the Trippe family, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t feel comfortable coming up with ways to upset her. Makes me feel like a defoliant,” he said sadly.

Aida nodded. “That’s fine. Maybe just tell me about all of our classmates’ backgrounds, so I have better context on how to interact with them.”

Levi agreed, looking much more at ease with the revised proposition. Aida listened closely to his commentary, asking questions when there was an information gap. Levi’s body language was relaxed, confident, and smooth as he explained. He seemed like he was being straightforward and…trustworthy. The crash course he gave her all made sense, filling in and fleshing out interactions and reactions she’d been observing so far. Too big and detailed of a web for him to be lying to me.

Armed with all the extraneous information, Aida felt much more confident in navigating the rest of her…stay? Life? She bit her lip, pushing away the useless questions she didn’t have time for.

“What’s wrong? Anything not making sense?”

Aida glanced back up at Levi. He had been pacing next to her as he expounded on the necessary information she needed to blend in better. She shook her head, a dry smile curling her lips.

“No, this is all super great. Thank you for sharing.” Aida tilted her head up, looking through the leaves to the clear, slowly darkening sky as she thought. She nodded decisively. “This is really good information. I’ll work on my end of our bargain.”

Standing up, she brushed the dust off her pants. She gave Levi a smirk that would rival his. “Tomorrow, we’ll start working on getting what we want.”