At another field, Rose stood in the testing area alongside four other people. To their left, an old man sat on a foldable chair, while behind him, a young man who seemed to be in his twenties fixed his glasses as he stood in attention.

“Now then, please begin.” The old man hovered his pen over his notebook and nodded towards the students. In response, Rose raised her hands and aimed at the dummy ahead of them. A faint, yellowish light appeared near her outstretched hands as a magic circle formed. Once complete, the circle shone with a fierce light as a stream of orange flames burst from within the circle in a straight line. Her striking crimson hair fluttered as hot winds blew across the field from the tremendous force her spell generated.

Ooh’s and aah’s could be heard from the crowd behind them as they watched her spell sear the dummy. As the burning beam slowly dissipated, the damage meter finished calculating as well, revealing the numbers “872”

“Good work as always, Ms. Grayle. Please proceed to the spectator’s area.” The old man spoke as he wrote in his notebook. Rose slightly bowed and replied:

“May I be excused from class now, Professor?”

“My apologies, Ms. Grayle. Our instructions were to not let anyone leave the field until after the test ends.” The old man replied without stopping. “Next!”

“I see…” Rose muttered and walked back with her head hung low.

(“I wonder how he’s doing…”) As she headed to the spectator’s area, Rose couldn’t help but worry about Jenyx. When she arrived at the field, her classmates were already in position and were about to begin. Seeing this, she requested to be put on an earlier wave. She thought she could leave early once she was done with the test. However, reality wasn’t so kind. As she walked to the spectator's area, a loud voice called out to her.

“Heeeey! Rose! That was amaz- oh? What’s wrong?”

“Hm? Oh, hi, Ria.” Rose waved at the girl approaching her. The girl had long, peach colored hair and sported glasses. They both wore the same uniform but somehow it looked better on her. Whether it’s because of her well-endowed chest, or her noticeably bewitching facial features, Rose couldn’t help but be a little jealous as she gazed at the girl named Ria. Unaware that her own beauty had already wooed men and women alike.

“Why do you look like you’re dying? Does your tummy hurt? Are you okay?” Ria tilted her head as she bombarded Rose with questions. “No, nothing hurts. I just want to leave as soon as possible.” Rose slightly smiled as she replied to Ria.

“Oh? But if you’re not hurt anywhere, then… ah.” As Ria continued talking, a look of realization dawned on her face. “Is this about your childhood friend again?”

“N-no… of course not. I’m not worried about him or anything. He'll be fine.” Rose lied, but her eyes betrayed her. She’s always had the habit of averting her eyes downward whenever she’s lying. Knowing this, Ria let out a sigh as she put her hand on her head.

“You’re always so overprotective of him. It’s not like he’s a little kid or anything, you know?”

“I know… it’s just… I can’t help but worry about him. Anyway, let’s not talk here. Talking while standing is tiring.” Having been seen through, Rose just admitted to it as they kept walking. Ria has been her friend for close to 2 years now, which is why Rose wasn't surprised that she was able to pick up on her habits.

“Mmm, I guess I can kind of understand. You’re my first and only friend in the institution after all.” Ria replied. As the daughter of a noble she didn’t have many friends while growing up, real ones for that matter. Everyone that approached her were simply there because they coveted her family’s power. Whether it be the adults that constantly praised her, or the children who were groomed to spoil her, Ria didn’t consider them friends or the like at all. Just as she was about to give up on having friends, it all changed once she met Rose.

“I guess I’ll just have to wait until the test ends.” Rose resigned herself and fixed her posture as she lingered her gaze towards the other students.

“How did you do, Ria?” Rose suddenly spoke as she continued watching her fellow students.

“Hehe, I got 833 points!” Ria had a smug smile on her as she presented her results. Rose simply chuckled and replied:

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“Good for you. How did the others with you do?”

Ria slowly shook her head and replied, “You, me, and only 3 other people in our class can break past the 800-point barrier. Still, there’s not a lot of students who can breach that barrier anyway.” Rose let out a 'hm' of acknowledgement as Ria explained. Besides the two of them, there were other students standing on their level inside their class and in the higher grades. She had caught a glimpse of them before and was curious about them. Most especially the question of how she would fare against them. While she was deep in thought, a loud, raspy voice made her snap back to reality.

“That shall conclude today’s affairs! Please go straight home and prepare for tomorrow, students!” As the old proctor spoke, the students responded with a bow and thanked him as they all stood up.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then, Ria.”

“Yeah! See you tomorrow, Ro-”

After she bade Ria goodbye, Rose darted towards the exit.

"Really, she's always in such a hurry when it's about that person..." Ria sighed as she watched her friend speedily leave the room.

**

(“Oh! I should buy something for Nyx. No doubt he’s probably hungry by now…”) While on her way to Jenyx’s field, Rose decided to go to the cafeteria first and buy him some grilled cheese sandwiches. Jenyx really liked grilled cheese sandwiches ever since they were kids and often bought them on their way home. As she strolled to the cafeteria, she withdrew a small purple plate from her bag.

“Hello! Can I get 1 grilled cheese sandwich and 1 bacon and egg sandwich?” Rose gave the elderly lady standing on the counter her plate. The lady inspected it for a while and then gave it back to her. She then opened a box and swiftly gave Rose two sandwiches.

“Thank you.” Rose happily took the sandwiches and bowed to the woman.

“You know… a boy came by a while ago and ordered the same thing.” The elderly lady suddenly spoke as Rose was about to leave.

“Oh? Grilled cheese and Bacon and egg sandwich?”

The elderly lady nodded and continued, “Yes. And I've been in this business for so long so I could tell. He bought the other two not for himself, but for another."

"Oh... I see." Rose found her lips curving upwards as a certain person's face came to mind.

"I- I was just wondering if... Do you, perchance, know him? No… that doesn’t really matter. If-if you see him, will you please help him?”

“Why?”

“...He was dragged away by a bunch of other students somewhere...” In an instant, a single, horrifying image appeared in Rose’s mind. Rose suddenly broke into a run. Her eyes frantically scanned her surroundings as she strained all of her senses in search of something.

(“Calm down… Calm down… “) Panicking wouldn’t do her any good. Instead of wasting her time haphazardly searching the institution, it would be more prudent to calm down and collect her thoughts. While Rose struggled to calm herself, something caught her eye just beside the pavement.

**

Behind the cafeteria, Jenyx was curled up near a dumpster as Brad and the others kept hitting him. Behind him, the bacon and egg sandwiches he was going to give to Rose were crushed. He felt a little regretful for wasting food like that, but if he tried to get up all nonchalantly, they might find out his secret. As like always, he couldn’t feel anything from them, so he didn’t bother doing anything. If he fought back or showed that he was unaffected, things might get worse, so he occasionally threw in a couple coughs and sniffling to make it look like he was truly being hurt.

(“Kuh! What... is this!? It’s like hitting a damn rock or something!”) As Brad kept kicking him, he could feel his leg starting to ache. At first, they kept punching him until he laid down, but due to their knuckles starting to swell after hitting him a few times, they started kicking him instead. However, even their legs started to feel painful. Brad noticed that he was the only one hitting Jenyx now. His henchmen winced in pain as they sat on the ground. How was that possible? They were the ones hitting him; he was the one crying on the ground. And yet for some inexplicable reason, they were the ones who were hurting.

“Y-you… What are y-” Before he was able to finish speaking, a hot sensation spread from his back. Next thing he knew, his body flew as he instinctively protected his face from the wall he was colliding with. Despite protecting his face, a metallic taste emanated inside his mouth, and his arms felt somewhat numb. It was only natural. After all, he just rammed onto a wall. But the question was, what made him? As he sought the person responsible, he saw behind him a familiar girl with hair resembling the liquid flowing from his now-cut-up mouth. A murderous glare met his gaze sending a chill down his spine.

("Rose!?") In front of Jenyx, Rose somehow appeared.

“I told you what would happen if you kept hurting him, didn’t I?” Rose started walking towards them. Her eyes smouldered with rage as she drew nearer and nearer towards Brad.

“Hiiieee! D-don’t come any closer!! Stop right there!” Brad began to crawl backwards as Rose kept closing the distance between them. Soon, Brad felt the cold, hard wall preventing his escape. Cornered and with nowhere to run, Brad started to shiver. His mind was a mess, but one thing was certain; he was going to die today. As he saw Rose aim her hand towards him, his heart quickened its pace. He closed his eyes and waited for his impending doom.

However, no such thing happened. Curious, he opened his eyes and saw Jenyx holding Rose’s wrist.

“Calm down, Rose. I’m fine, ok? I’m not hurt at all.” Not hurt at all? That’s impossible! Wasn’t he crying in pain just seconds ago!? Brad couldn’t understand what Jenyx was talking about. He looked towards him, silently waiting for an explanation, but he never looked back. He simply took Rose’s hand and escorted her away. As if nothing happened at all.