Sue was hanging over the arena wall when Aida arrived, Ezra behind her. His hand was hovering over Sue’s back, ready to reach out and grab her if she ended up falling over.
“What happened?”
“Shon ran into my kick, and he got a bit of internal bleeding,” Aida replied. “Healer Luk says he should be fine.”
“Wow! Maybe I should learn some physical combat too,” Sue said appreciatively, her eyes gleaming. “I bet it felt really good to do that.”
“I feel a little bad,” Aida confessed. “It’s not like Shon was the main instigator…”
“Oh, true,” Sue agreed, her lips drooping into a cute pout. “I still think it would be really cool to do what you did though…chain your mana attacks with your punching and kicking…” Sue demonstrated, kicking out like a ballerina and flicking her wand elegantly. Her hair twirled around her like a cloak, making Sue look like a spinning music box figurine. She let out a shriek, falling. Ezra leapt towards her, his arms outstretched.
Alarmed, Aida pushed through the gate and ran up the steps. Ezra was holding Sue in his arms, and she was looking up into his face, bundled safely against his chest. Aida felt like she was trapped in time, forced to witness something she didn’t want to see.
Ezra’s face was hovering over Sue’s, their lips inches away from each other. Was the distance decreasing? Forcing herself to move, Aida called out. “Are you all right?”
They snapped apart from each other, though Ezra still held Sue’s shoulders snugly. “I’m fine!” Sue said, her face red with embarrassment. “I don’t know what happened - I’m never this clumsy.”
With Ezra’s support, his hands lingering on her back and hand as he helped support her to her feet, Sue smiled ruefully at Aida. “Maybe I should stick with what I’m good at, huh? Just - mana overwhelming.”
Aida forced a smile back. “Yeah, no reason to fix what isn’t broken.” She glanced at Ezra, who was focused studiously on the arena, his cheeks lightly tinged with pink.
“Hey friends,” Levi sang out, clomping up the stairs. “Were you all waiting for me?”
“Not all of us,” Aida said diplomatically. “Good luck, Sue, Ezra.” Without waiting for another word, she headed towards where Caleb was sitting in the stands. She heard Levi call out encouragement to Sue, before following after her.
“What was that all about?”
“I don’t know, but I think your progress with Sue is further behind than I thought.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Tell me,” Aida said, facing him. “How many romantic incidents have you had with Sue so far?”
Levi’s brow furrowed, thinking. “It’s really hard to say. Maybe one?”
Aida looked at him in disbelief. “One? No way, I’m certain you’ve had three so far.”
Levi looked at her fearfully. “Have you been stalking me?”
Scowling, Aida pivoted away from him. He chased after her. “Okay, stop, please - joke’s over, I’m serious now.” She turned back toward him, pinching her lips shut. He looked at her, glancing between her eyes. Finally, he said seriously, “I don’t know what you’re thinking, but all I know is that there isn’t much that has happened between me and Sue that could even be considered romantic.”
When Aida continued to glare at him, he sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Look, I want to help you. I really do. Especially if my future wedding is on the line. But I can’t help you if you won’t share with me what you know. Please? Help me so I can help you help me?” He dropped his chin, looking at her with puppy dog eyes.
Aida scoffed, flapping her hands at his face, making him flinch back as she cleared the melancholy bubble effects from around him. “Fine. Let’s talk in your private place later.”
“I like the sound of that,” he purred seductively.
“Your clearing,” Aida clarified.
“I keep myself well-groomed.”
“Your forest,” she growled.
“That…will take a while for it to grow back to its natural state.”
She turned to him with a murderous glare. He raised his hands in surrender.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
“That was pretty good form,” Caleb said appreciatively. “And you only learned to kick yesterday?”
“Thanks to Ezra,” Aida agreed. “I wonder if I can learn back kick now.”
“You did well as well,” Caleb said to Levi. Levi shrugged.
“I had multiple advantages over her. You’ll want to be wary, though,” Levi warned. “She’s been saying some really crazy things.”
“Like what?” Aida asked curiously.
“Oh, you know - she was saying I’m trying to hitch my plow to the wrong ox, I have better things I can spend my time and effort on, suggestions on what I can do better,” Levi listed off airily. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much, just wanted to give a fellow top five brother a warning.” He extended his fist to Caleb behind Aida’s head, who hesitantly returned his fistbump.
“I mean, she might have a point…you don’t seem like you work nearly as hard as Sue or Caleb,” Aida said fairly.
Levi smacked his thigh. “It’s not about working hard, it’s about working smart. And I work plenty smart, thank you very much.”
“I’m interested to hear what her suggestions of improvement are for me,” Caleb said earnestly. “It’s always good to get an outside opinion.”
“My guy, you need to have a better sense of self-esteem,” Levi said incredulously. He leaned over Aida, forcing her to duck below his chest. “You’ve been doing great the past two years, and you’ve got the eyes of the Agriculturalists, Builders, and Strongholders.”
“That’s why it’s good to get an outside opinion,” Caleb said reasonably. “With that many opportunities, having many different perspectives will help me narrow down which ones are most suitable for me.”
“Sure, but you don’t listen to someone who isn’t your friend,” Levi argued. He actually put his elbow on Aida’s back in his vehemence. “Lara is actively trying to get in our heads - didn’t you see what she did to Suelina?”
“Okay, that’s enough!” Aida snapped, straightening up so that Levi’s arm slid off her. “Levi, stop trying to convince Caleb when he hasn’t even done anything yet. You’re being just like Lara. Caleb, you listen to what Lara says, take what works for you, and toss the rest. I’m sure Levi and the rest of us will be happy to offer input for your decision-making when the time comes.”
“Thank you,” Caleb said emphatically, giving Levi a dirty look. “All this stress when we still have the rest of the year to figure this out.”
Levi scoffed, leaning back and crossing his arms as he watched the Fire-Metal matches. Aida leaned her head back, stretching her neck. The sky was mostly cloudless, just a few small wisps of clouds floating lazily across the sky. Levi and Caleb’s conversation reminded Annie uncomfortably of all the discussions she had with her parents whenever one of them came across a job opportunity. It was always a risk to agree to the interview process - none of their jobs really allowed for them to take time off to attend any in-person interviews. Even trying to sneak taking a phone call was an effort that required heist-like planning.
“I can’t take a thirty-minute call,” her mother would fret. “My breaks are only fifteen minutes, and my supervisor will come look for me if I don’t make my rounds.”
“Can you ask the company to schedule a lunch interview?” Annie would ask anxiously.
“I tried, but they said they are on their lunch break then,” her mother said, wringing her hands. “Why can’t they understand?”
“You know what they say,” Annie’s father would chime in at this point. He’d inflate his chest self-importantly. “'Nothing worth doing is without risk.'” The only time his accent would disappear was when he would parrot some aphorism tossed about by a drunk yuppie. His impression would always dispel the tension, as they laughed about the “new job worth risking your current job for.”
Aida wondered what kind of job opportunities she had in this world. Would she end up in the same type of dead-end job as in the real world? One where she could theoretically survive on, but not much else? With a pang of guilt, she chided herself for worrying about her own predicament instead of worrying about what happened to her parents. She hadn’t given much thought to how she was transported to this world since she first arrived, so intent was she on just…surviving.
Annie remembered hearing kids discussing webtoons and manga as they waited for their eye appointment, where the story premise seemed to be that a normal everyday person like her would get transported into some fantastical fictional world with amazing new powers - isekai, she believed the genre was called. That genre seemed to be the new craze, replacing the superhero trend - although technically, isekai powers basically seemed to make the protagonist a superhero in that new world, so she supposed not much had changed; just the flavoring.
She struggled to recall the reasons behind the character getting isekai’d. Being a victim of Truck-kun seemed to be a common and easy solution to teleporting the protagonist - she really hoped that hadn’t happened to her, though she supposed it would be reassuring to know she had died painlessly.
Another common explanation was that it was a dream - or a coma. That one made chills run down Aida’s spine. There was no way her parents would be able to afford her hospital bills if she was in a coma. If she was, then it would be imperative for her to figure out how to wake up as soon as possible. But there had been no indication of any sort that she had the chance to wake up - no random flashbacks, no odd dreams, no signs from a higher power - so what could she do?
Levi touched her shoulder gently, snapping Aida out of her spiraling thoughts. “Are you all right?” he asked quietly. Both he and Caleb were looking at her with concern. Aida took a shuddering breath, feeling the little mana that had recovered swirling like a whirlpool around her. Breathing deeply, she calmed her mana down, thinking more pleasant thoughts. Actionable thoughts.
“Yep, all good.” She looked back up at the sky. The clouds had burned away under the sun. “Just trying to figure out my own career plans.”