Aida took dinner early, opting to enjoy the peace and quiet of the dining hall as everyone else was occupied with being productive during their free period (in the case of Class 2) or required classes (additional “voluntary” training sessions for Class 1, and remedial sessions for Class 3). Then after dinner, she could return to her room early and sulk.
Not sulk, she said to herself firmly. Process my feelings. From previous experience, she knew that once she had a good, long, full-fledged ugly-crying session, she was able to box the unhelpful emotions away and continue smiling. Besides, when was the last time she indulged herself in a bawl? It was long overdue.
Somewhat more cheerfully, Aida slurped down her soup, waving at Nolem as she left the dining hall.
Shutting her door securely behind her, Aida leaned her school bag against the wall on the ground. Her room had started to take on her personality. The books on her desk were pushed haphazardly towards the sides, leaving the middle of the desk clear for whenever she needed to jump to work. The covers of her bed were left in the same position from the morning when she tossed the impediment away. Her nightgown was draped over a pile of clothes that didn’t have to be hung on the top of her sturdy wooden dresser.
Collapsing into her chair, she buried her face in her hands. With nothing else to distract her, she let herself go.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Aida was staring into the fire ruby’s small flame when a timid knock came from her door. She watched the flame flicker a few more times before heaving herself to her feet. The room was dark now, since the sun had completely set.
Activating the gem that powered the chandelier in her room with a wave of her hand, she checked her appearance in the hanging full-length mirror next to the door. Her face had mostly evened out, and aside from a few strands of hair sticking to her cheeks, one could barely tell she had been exercising her tear ducts. She created a small globule of water, swiping it across her eyes to clean up the crusts. Taking a deep breath, she flexed her sore cheek muscles, practicing a smile before she opened the door.
“Hi Sue.”
“Aida, are you all right?” Sue asked anxiously. She stood uncertainly at the door. “Can I come in?”
“Um.” Aida balked. Her room was messy, which was embarrassing enough, but it was also undeniably unlike Aida. “Want to go for a walk instead?”
Sue nodded eagerly, glad that Aida wasn’t in the mood to shut herself away.
“I don’t know if you saw, but the teachers put up a notice during dinner saying that for the time being, students shouldn’t stray too far from the school buildings,” Sue said quickly. She leaned over, looking into Aida’s face. “Are you okay?”
She nodded. “I’m fine. We can walk around the building. I just need some fresh air.”
Sue walked silently next to Aida, occasionally glancing at her to try to get a read on her mood. Aida hummed, relaxed. She felt much better after her emotional release, as expected.
“So it seems like Ezra woke up?” she asked casually, holding the door open to let Sue pass her into the night air.
“About that,” Sue said hurriedly, “It’s not what—“
“Don’t worry,” Aida interrupted. “You don’t have to explain anything to me, I’m just glad Ezra is okay.”
“It really isn’t—“
“Oh, the teachers really did do something.” Aida craned her neck to look around at the perimeter the staff had erected. It looked like all of the instructors had pooled their abilities to create a robust defense. Gemma had shaped pillars out of stone, Lloyd had created a gate that spanned between the pillars, Havi added plant fortifications to the wall, Kozu had set torches along every pillar, and Bruce had laid down a moat on the other side of the wall. The entire assembly spanned around the main building, restricting access to the Lake and the forest where Aida and Levi had first spied on Sue and Ezra. Aida’s stomach tightened at the memory before she slammed the flap shut on that cardboard box of memories.
“Yes, the teachers put the wall up so they can monitor any monsters approaching the school,” Sue explained. “But anyway, that’s not the important thing. I’m trying—“
“Not the important thing?” Aida asked in disbelief. “Did they explain why they’re doing this? Did they tell the rest of the school how Ezra ended up needing to miss class?”
“Yes - I mean, no - enough! They told us enough,” Sue said desperately. “Well, they didn’t say anything explicitly - the notice was just a warning. They mentioned there might be danger, but they’re still trying to determine what the danger is.”
Aida was initially impressed that the teachers had shared the fact there was danger, but then almost immediately after her skepticism kicked in. “Did they say how long this boundary will be up? How restricted will we be from the rest of the grounds?”
“They said this boundary will be monitored throughout the night. We’ll have access to the rest of the school grounds during the daytime, but they’re instituting a curfew,” Sue said earnestly. “Anyway, before I get further distracted - are you really okay?”
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Aida frowned at Sue. “Yes, I’m fine. Why are you asking?”
“I just - you seem like you’re trying to avoid certain topics,” Sue said, wringing her hands. “I’m trying to tell you—“
“It’s my fault, okay?” Aida said loudly, hoping this last interruption would be the one that would stick. She fought to keep her face from crumpling. “It’s my fault that Ezra exhausted all his mana while protecting me, and I was too weak to support him. I’m fine, while he isn’t.”
“Ezra will be fine, too!” Sue exclaimed, exasperated. “He did wake up today, after all.”
“I know he did,” Aida mumbled. “I saw you two.”
“And what you saw isn’t what it looks like!”
Aida peered up at Sue suspiciously. Gratified that Aida wasn’t going to interrupt her, Sue continued speaking rapidly. “I felt your mana out in the hallway, and I was going to come get you, and he felt your mana too, but he got confused between us so thought I was you!”
Aida continued frowning at Sue. “He thought I was you, and that ‘you’ were leaving, and he wanted ‘you’ to stay,” Sue elaborated. She punctuated every ‘you’ with a poke to Aida’s forehead. “He was really embarrassed when he finally came to his senses and realized he grabbed me instead.” She smiled triumphantly, pleased that she finally got the story out.
Aida felt like her brain was mush. “That doesn’t make any sense,” she declared. “With his mana control and senses as good as it is, how could he make that kind of mistake?”
Sue rolled her eyes. “Well, he was out of it for almost a whole day, and Luk still hasn’t cleared him to resume classes. Besides, you were with him when he got attacked. Weren’t you saying just now how worried you were about getting him hurt beyond recovery? It shouldn’t be shocking for him to be confused upon awakening, right?”
Aida mumbled incoherently, annoyed at how Sue was turning her words against her. Sue rolled her eyes again. “Honestly, you’re so dense sometimes.”
Aida sputtered. “Me? Look who’s talking!”
“Don’t bring that stuff up again,” Sue warned. “We finally got into a good place, managing ourselves just fine, and we have an understanding to not talk about it because we have goals.”
“Goals?” Aida asked, blinking.
“Goals,” Sue nodded. “Goals that are incompatible with…with…dating.” The last word was spoken in a whisper, accompanied by pink cheeks.
Aida stared at Sue, thoroughly disarmed and discombobulated. “That can’t be,” she said stupidly.
Sue’s gaze hardened into a glare. “Seriously, Aida, if you keep insisting on whatever narrative you have in your head, I’m going to get really mad.” The air around Sue began to shimmer, like a heat wave.
Aida raised her hands apologetically, miming sealing her lips. What does this mean, though?
Sue sighed, the heat wave dissipating. “This is so stupid. I can’t believe we’re letting dumb boys make us get into fights.”
Aida nodded glumly, kicking at the dirt with her shoe. Nothing is going as expected.
“Anyway, you should visit Ezra tomorrow,” Sue said conversationally, acting as if she hadn’t just been about to incinerate Aida. She winked conspiratorially. “I’ll make sure to stay out in the hallway so he doesn’t accidentally confuse us again.”
“It’s definitely not what you think it is,” Aida muttered. Sue took a deep, patient breath.
“Don’t get into a fight, it’s not worth it, don’t get into a fight…”
“It isn’t,” Aida insisted. Sue gave her a patronizing look.
“If you say so.” Sue’s voice took on a sing-song quality as she pivoted on her heel.
“But wait, this—“ Aida gestured at the teachers’ carefully cultivated boundary as she jogged to catch up with Sue “—monitoring wall. That must mean the danger is pretty serious, right? The fact that they’re setting up overnight surveillance.”
“I mean, you tell me,” Sue lowered her voice. “You and Ezra were the only ones close enough to the thing. What do you think?”
Aida bit her lip. “I…it felt very powerful to me, but I wasn’t sure if it was just because I was…I’ve never encountered anything like it before,” she said lamely.
Concerned, Sue draped her arm around Aida’s shoulders, giving her a hug. “That’s okay. The fact that it knocked Ezra out is definitely a sign it’s dangerous. Second-year students are supposed to be able to handle the monsters on the grounds in groups, and third-years are supposed to be able to fight the monsters independently…so if that monster took out Ezra, then…” she left the conclusion hanging in the air.
“What do you think happened?” Aida asked quietly, watching red eyes in the forest blink at them. Fortunately, the beasts didn’t leave the cover of the forest, instead just watching her and Sue warily through the five layers of protection the instructors had enacted. “That such a powerful monster showed up all of a sudden.”
“I don’t know,” Sue said slowly. She brought her wand out, summoning a fireball on the outside of the wall. The eyes blinked out of existence. “But…I imagine the presence of that level of monster is going to change our sponsored assignments in a huge way this year.”
Aida worried her lip. Sponsored assignments were something like volunteering hours the third years had to complete in order to graduate. Sponsors would offer assignments to the graduating class, a small task that could be completed over the course of the rest days. The types of offerings ranged from collecting materials and ingredients from the wilderness, to exterminating monster-pests, to helping local companies complete tasks using the appropriate mana skills. The justification for farming out Maglica students as free labor was to provide the graduating students work experience. Internship quests. If it weren’t for the very real and near danger she had recently experienced, she would have found the concept adorable.
“Miss Heslia, Miss Loreh. It is past curfew. Please return to your dormitories.” Professor Bruce had shaped a small bell out of the moat, the edges of his words not fully formed due to the poor acoustics of the liquid medium.
“Sorry, Professor,” Aida and Sue said together. They turned back towards the school, both girls consumed by their own thoughts.