Her best friend was weird.

Not that Felicie minded weird, of course not! In fact, she loved weird! Weird puppies, weird food, weird cups, everything weird! You could say it was the spice of her life.

But for the life of her, Felicie could not figure out her best friend.

Well, at least she was Felicie’s best friend. Felicie didn't know if she was Reina’s bestie, but she hoped so. Or at the very least, somewhere high near the friendship chart.

Anyway, Reina kept on acting differently. It was like she had multiple personalities or something!

Oh, wait. Felicie knew of Multiple Personality Disorder. Maybe Reina had it? She wasn’t sure.

It wouldn’t change a thing though if she did. Reina was Felicie’s first friend when she came to the Academy, and therefore, Felicie would always be there for her!

She simply wished Reina would open up more to her. She wanted to hope her out as best she could, and it would be easier if she understood her friend a bit better.

It was just like her papa always said, you need to learn how a clock works before knowing how to fix it. Then again, he was talking about a literal clock and Felicie didn’t think Reina needed to be ‘fixed.’ She liked her friend just the way she was!

“Hey, Reina?” Felicie asked.

“What?” Ever since Dawn asked Reina the same question Felicie’d asked, Reina was in an even bigger slump. Felicie couldn’t help but feel the tiniest bit smug Reina wasn’t nicer to Dawn either. Petty, she knew, but she couldn’t help it!

“Do you know this place? You act like you’ve attended the Academy before.”

Reina leveled her cold eyes onto her and Felicie broke out into sweats. Her eyes were terrifying when she wanted them to be. Felicie’s throat became parched and she frantically waved her arms around.

“It was a stupid question, I know! I’m so sorry, please stay friends with me! I’ll do-“

“You talk too much.”

“Huh?” Felicie looked up, blobs of liquid in her eye.

“You’re too loud. If you expect me to answer, at least ask in a lower voice,” Reina said grumpily.

Felicie gasped, feeling joy akin to when she got accepted. “Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!”

“Hey hey hey, chillax. Anyway, I’m kind of surprised you asked me that. You have more gut than I believed. It’s a good thing, don't worry,” she added, maybe seeing her worried face.

“You’re right, partially. As you know, I’m too young to have been a student. You need to at least be 14, which I am now. I had an unusual circumstance, so the only place I could stay at was the Academy. Therefore, I became the Nurse’s assistant. Heaven knows she needed it, this place is crawling with injuries. Anyway, there you have it. The full glorious tale of Reina Romane and the Academy.”

Felicie was flabbergasted. To think her friend stayed at one of the most prestigious schools in the world as a kid, and even worked as the assistant for the Nurse! She was already cool, but now she got boosted up to insane levels.

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“Did you meet anybody?” Felice asked. She worried she was pushing the newfound limits of how much she could ask, but the curiosity was too much!

Reina nodded. “Yep. Most of the students who came to the Nurse were the older kids, dealing with harder classes and all that. I met a lot of them, always hiding in the corner. Some of them may even still be in the Academy, but I’m pretty sure most of them have graduated by now.”

“Wowww! Do you think you’ll run into them in Neverstien tomorrow?”

At this, her brow furrowed. “Neverstien? What about Neverstien?”

Could this be possible? Was this her chance to prove to Reina she could be helpful?

“Tomorrow’s Saturday! I and a bunch of girls are planning on going on a shopping spree because we want to experience what Neverstien has to offer. I bet it’s crazy different from what I’m used to! So, can you please come?” Felicie clasped her hands together and did her most potent puppy dog eyes.

She neglected to add that she was going to spend the whole time tagging along only. Her family was low on cash, and she was determined to make all the money she could to pay them back. There was no way she was going to spend them on clothes when she already brought some from home.

Reina stared at her for a second before exhaling. “You’re a dummy, aren’t you?”

“Eh?” Confused, Felicie lowered her hands. Did she say something wrong?

“You’re planning on being the third wheel, aren’t you? Because you don’t have a lot of money and don’t want to burden your family?”

Felicie’s mouth fell open. Ho-how did she know!? It was only after Reina chuckled did she realize she’d said this out loud.

“Don’t underestimate me. I may not be as good at sleuthing work as Rhea, but I’m still better than average.”

Felicie desperately wanted to ask who this ‘Rhea’ was, but at the moment, she was more preoccupied with what this meant.

How long had Reina known for? Just now? Did she slip too much in this conversation because she was too eager? Or maybe she’d known the entire time! That would be the icing on the cake of misery! Was she going to abolish their friendship? Was she-

“Ow!” Felicie frantically rubbed her forehead from where Reina flicked her. “What was that for?”

Reina seemed amused as she replied, “I wanted to see if you were still with me or vanished into a different reality. Anyway, you’re a whole another deal, you know that?”

Felicie studied the floor in shame. “Yeah, I know.” Stupid stupid! She’d just blown her chance!

“Well, I guess I have to tag along to feed you some money, otherwise who else will take care of you,” Reina nonchalantly said, rubbing Rabbit.

Felicie blinked. No way. Had Reina said what she thought she did or was she just imagining this up, wanting this too much?

Reina eyed her. “Geez, am I already losing you? I said I’m going, relax!”

And with that, Felicie let out the sigh she’d been holding in. Reina still wanted to be her friend! Everything was fine! Then a part of what she said came back to her.

“Oh, no! You don’t need to pay for me, it’s fine!” Felicie frantically tried to stop her.

Reina closed her eyes and whispered something that sounded like, “Real handful, this one,” and Rabbit chirped. “Look, be honest with me here. Do you want to get some clothes? Or anything really from Neverstien?”

Felicie opened her mouth to reply in the negative, but a glare from Reina stopped her in her track. This time thinking this through, Felicie finally came to a conclusion she’d forced herself not to have.

“Yes,” she whispered.

Reina cupped her ear and leaned in. “What’s that, I couldn't hear you.”

“Yes!” Felicie exclaimed, face beet red. Reina pulled away, a satisfied look on her face.

“Now that’s it. You want it, and besides, I have too much money for my liking. Also, you’re my friend, and I take care of my friends,” Reina answered.

She might not know how much this meant, but to Felicie, this was a moment she would never forget.

At this moment though, a cold shiver passed down Felicie’s back and she shook. “Brr! What was the-Reina?”

Reina had turned around and was staring at the wall which pointed to the city. Her gaze was hard and unrelenting, an intensity to which Felicie hadn’t seen before. Finally, she relaxed and sat back down.

From the sound of everybody gossiping and even the scary teacher stopping, Felicie could tell everybody felt it as well. Reina seemed to know what it was about, but Felicie knew she wasn’t going to tell.

Still, she could ask.

“What was that, Reina?”

Reina leaned back against her elbows. She cracked one eye open, with a truly amused smirk on her face.

“Oh, just a little flame making its way home again.” With that, she burst into tiny giggles which made her look cute, (no, bad thoughts, bad thoughts) and Felicie even more confused.

It didn’t seem like her friend was too worried though, so Felicie decided she would do the same.