In the early morning, in the girls' dormitories, in Cycelia's room…

Cycelia stirs out of her sleep, and stretches in her bed with a quiet groan.

「Hhhaaaaahnn… Straf?…」

She yawns, and softly calls out towards Straf.

「Yeah?」

A familiar voice calls out from the darkness.

「I was just checking if you're asleep. I didn't wake you, did I?」

Cycelia asks as she turns onto her side, and rests her head on her arm.

「Nope. I can't sleep without those palace beds.」

Straf nonchalantly replies, and Cycelia chuckles quietly in response.

「Don't be silly, Straf… Would you show me around the Academy today? You took a look around, right?」

「Yeah, I did. And yeah, I guess we can look around some more…」

Straf's bed quietly creaks as he sits up in the darkness.

「We could really use a light around-」

He remarks, but abruptly stops himself to think about something. The room suddenly becomes bright, lit by a bright orb hovering aboved Straf's head. Cycelia shuts her sensitive eyes.

「…Here.」

Straf adds, after a brief pause. As the orb gently bobs up and down, the shadows on Cycelia's decorations and figures weave, stretch and twist.

「Ow.」

She says quietly, keeping her eyes ever-so-slightly open to let some of the light into her eyes, filtering it through her long eyelashes.

「Yeah, sorry about that. We really could use a normal light around here. Like a candle, or something.」

「That's true… It's pitch black here after the sunset. Maybe we could ask one of the workers to lend us an oil lamp?」

Cycelia suggests as she sits up.

「Maybe, but I don't know where to ask. I guess we could rove a little… Check the classrooms out, maybe harass a professor until we get what we want.」

Straf shrugs his hands, maintaining eye contact with his bored gaze.

「Straf! We won't be harassing anyone!」

「Yeah, we'll just be really insistent until we get one.」

He nonchalantly replies, and Cycelia giggles softly.

「So, do we go now, or?…」

He asks, spreading his hands.

「If you don't mind. I don't think I'll be able to sleep any longer.」

Cycelia stands up, and heads for the door.

「Sure, alright. Let's go then.」

Straf shrugs and places his hands in his pockets. He follows Cycelia out of the room, and after she locks the door, they head to the ground floor. They encounter nary a ghost on their way, with their footsteps as the only audible sign of life in the halls. The hovering lamps' glow, the faint clattering of the automata legs somewhere in the dark, and the omnipresent shadows are bound to impart a rather eerie impression on whoever would dare to wander the Academy at these hours.

「…Isn't this place kind of spooky after dark, Straf?」

Cycelia asks, following Straf close, and clutching at his uniform blazer's sleeve.

「Why?」

Straf nonchalantly asks, glancing at her while the orb of light above him illuminates their path.

「I mean… This place is so full of life during the day.」

「So?」

「Are you not afraid of ghosts, Straf?」

Cycelia asks, leaning forward a little to look at his bored face.

「Nope. Kind of hard to be afraid of 'em, when you know people are sent off to another-」

Straf stops in his tracks, and goes silent with his index finger extended.

Snap.

「Great idea, Lia! Let's go.」

He abruptly snaps his fingers, and grins at Cycelia, speeding up and forcing her into a half-jog to follow him, if she wishes to remain attached to his sleeve.

「Huh!? What idea!? Go where?」

Cycelia asks with an apprehensive tone, still latched onto Straf. Mere moments later, Straf arrives at the bathroom doors.

「Hmmm…」

He humms, rubbing his chin. The men's restroom has a note hanging off of it, with the contents politely requesting the students to turn the water runes off. The please on the paper is underlined twice, and frustration of the person who hanged it up is almost palpable.

「Straf?… Do you need to use the bathroom again?」

Cycelia asks, looking at the doors with him.

「No, we're going to check if there's a ghost in there. Come.」

「Okay- What!?」

Her eyes widen as she unwittingly follows Straf into the dark bathroom.

「W- What do you mean, check if there's a ghost in there!? I don't want to!」

Cycelia exclaims, gripping onto Straf's arm with veiled panic on her face.

「Well, Lia, your shouting probably woke them up. You might as well commit to it」

Sttraf shrugs, grinning at her as he approaches the girls' bathroom stalls.

「Come on, it's going to be fun.」

「No! I'm leaving!」

Cycelia declares as she detaches herself from his sleeve, and takes a few steps towards the exit.

「I wouldn't do that if I were you, Lia. It's dark outside, you're likely to be eaten by a grue.」

Straf warns, pointing at her. Her frightened emerald eyes snap over her shoulder.

「W- What's a grue?」

She asks, glancing at the dark exit and skittering a few steps away from it.

「A reference I have no business dropping.」

He bluntly replies, shrugging his shoulders.

「Come on, Lia, what are you afraid of? Do you think I can't give a ghost a swirlie?」

Straf rolls his eyes, and spreads his arms. Cycelia finally relents and approaches him, though she hides behind Straf's back.

「…I don't even know what a swirlie is, Straf.」

「Well, don't you want to find out?」

He smugly grins at her, and approaches one of the stalls. Cycelia gulps nervously as he lifts his fist to knock on it.

Thud thud thud!

「Hee-lloooo!? Anyone in there!? Bitchin' Myrtle, or any other flower children!?」

Thud thud thud!

Straf bangs his fist on the stall doors, one after another in quick succession. He circles around, and takes a few steps away. A brief, unnerving silence begins.

「…S- St- Straf, let's just leave and go find an oil lamp already…」

Cycelia pleads, gripping onto Straf's shoulder with all her might.

「Hm. No one home, huh? Let's check if that's really the case…」

Straf hums, nodding his head in reaction to the silence. He approaches the stalls once more.

Crreak!

He swings one of the doors open, causing Cycelia to wince in fear.

「Straf! This isn't funny! Let's just leave!」

She begs, hiding from the stalls behind Straf's back.

Crrrrreak!

「Come on, Lia, one of them ought to have one.」

「That's why we should leave! Straf! Please!」

Crrrreak!

「Eep!」

Cycelia winces and yelps at the empty bathroom stall, clutching onto Straf's shoulder even harder.

「Straf!」

Cycelia shouts, shoving her face into his back.

「Yes, Lia?」

Straf leisurely asks as he continues swinging the doors open.

Crrrreak!

「Cut it out already! I'm scared! You win! Now let's leave!」

She exclaims with her face still pressed into his back, wrapping her arms tightly around his waist.

「You are just scared of the unknown, Lia.」

Crrrreak!

He declares, as he casually opens another stall. Straf then approaches the last one with an unhurried step, while Cycelia is jittering like jelly.

Straf looks at the door and peeks over his shoulder at her pale, frightened face with pink lips trembling.

「…You know, if we take cliches into consideration, the last one is most likely to actually have a ghost.」

He informs Cycelia, and her terrified wet eyes widen.

「Straf, don't, please.」

She meekly tugs at his blazer, begging with tearful emerald puppy eyes.

「I will, Lia. You'll find out what a swirlie is, and the ghost will suffer its final death from shame. No better way to do an exorcism, than to make the spirit too ashamed to show its face again.」

He shrugs, and grabs onto the stall's handle.

「Don't!」

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

She grabs onto his arm, biting her lip out of fear.

「Ready?」

He asks with a grin.

「No!」

Cycelia shouts, nearing tears.

「Three… Two… One…」

Straf chuckles, and begins counting down. Her emerald eyes stare in terror at the closed stall.

「Hup!」

Crrrrreak!

「AAAAAHhhhhh!!」

Cycelia screams as the light above Straf's head goes dark, and the two are in a near pitch-black bathroom, with the last stall door open. The early morning sky is too dark to provide enough light to see more than mere silhouettes. Straf feels two soft blobs squeezing into his torso, and arms tightly wrapping around his waist, almost powerful enough to be painful.

「Ah. The spell ran out.」

He casually declares, unbothered.

「P- P- P- Pu- P- Put it back…」

Cycelia stammers, and her breath trembles. A mere moment later, the orb of light abruptly appears above Straf's head again.

「Aaaaaa!… Ahh…」

She shouts again when she sees the bathroom stall, but then lets out a relieved sigh when she realizes it's empty. Her arms are wrapped around Straf tight, and her breasts heavily squished against his side. She lets go, pushing him away lightly.

「Straf! How could you do this to me!?」

She angrily asks, frowning at him with her fists clenched.

「Calm down, Lia. All I've done is shown you that there is nothing to fear. Look, there's no ghost, right?」

Straf asks, pointing his palm at the empty stall.

「…That doesn't change the fact that I asked you multiple times to just stop!」

Cycelia pouts and crosses her arms.

「Why? So you can continue fearing the unknown? Be scared of a little non-existent ghost? Come on, Lia. I ain't afraid of no ghosts, why would a dragon be?」

Straf scoffs, and walks up to the mirrors. Cycelia doesn't reply, opting to pout angrily instead while she rejoins his side. The two look at each other's reflections in a brief silence. With his hands in his pockets, Straf is standing completely unfazed by the situation, staring with bored eyes at Cycelia in the mirror. Meanwhile, she's angrily pouting at his reflected face.

「…Man, stop sulking already. You'll be laughing at this by the time the term ends.」

Straf says, glancing at the real, unmirrored pouting Cycelia. Her upset emerald eyes glance up for a peek into his, before she snaps her head directly the other way.

「…So what? I'm mad at you right now.」

Cycelia replies, audibly upset.

「Tsk…」

Straf clicks his tongue, and lets out a sigh. She angrily side-glances at his reflection, while he looks at his own slanted mouth.

「Y'know, there's this legend…」

He glances at her, and she turns her angry gaze towards his reflection.

「…Supposedly, if you say Bloody Mary into a mirror three times, a ghost will appear and kill you.」

Straf looks at Cycelia, and gains brief eye contact with her.

「…So?」

She bluntly asks.

「Bloody Mary Bloody Mary Bloody Mary.」

「AAaahh!!」

Screaming, Cycelia covers her face with her hands as she turns away from the window.

「Hahaha… Lia, I thought I already said that there's no ghosts here?」

Straf chuckles with an amused grin on his face directed at her, shrugging with his entire arms.

「You!…」

Cycelia frowns angrily at Straf with her emerald eyes shining from wetness. She rushes up to him with her dainty fists raised.

「You're awful! You're awful! You are awful, Straf!」

Patpatpatpatpatpatpatpat.

She hammers Straf's arm with weak blows, pouting heavily while Straf chuckles.

「Come on, let's go find that lamp.」

He walks to the exit, shaking his head with a grin on his face.

「You're awful! You're terrible! How can you do this to me, Straf!?」

Cycelia shouts with a frustrated voice on the verge of tears, clenching her fists as she follows him out.

The moment they leave, the sun finally rises above the Academy's tall walls, and shines a beam of light into the empty bathroom. A man-shaped shadow stretched onto the wall takes a second to disappear…

…

Straf and Cycelia rove and wander the Academy, searching for places where they could get a lamp. Looking for any Academy worker, they peek into large, empty classrooms that await their students in the near future. Slowly, the Academy is stirring to life, and they walk past a fellow student. Then another, and another, and another. The halls quickly fill once more, and soon a forest of pointy hats sprouts in front of Straf and Cycelia. They continue meandering, until a woman in a low-cut dress and a humongous, path-obstructing hat appears before them.

「Straf Katastrof.」

The familiar woman enunciates with her black elbow-gloved hands on her broad hips, exposed by the side slits on her dress. From beneath the brim of her gigantic hat, she looks down her nose into Straf's eyes, staring at him with a stern face.

「And Lia Vindict, I presume?」

The woman asks, with a much softer face directed at Cycelia.

「Ah. Yes… Yes, I'm Lia…」

Cycelia nods her head, with her brows raised a little in surprise. The woman very gently nods her head, taking great care to not disturb the massive hat on her head, and turns her glare to Straf.

「…And Mr. Katastrof is your bodyguard, correct?」

She asks, looking at Straf with her mouth scrunched, he mirrors her expression.

「Bodyg-? Ah, yes. Yes, he is.」

Cycelia confirms, nodding her head again. She glances at Straf, then at the mysterious woman.

「Hmm… Your story checks out then, boy…」

The woman humms, then scoffs, all the while maintaining intense eye contact with Straf.

「…But I am keeping my eye on you.」

She points her gloved fingers at her eyes, then at Straf's, before attempting to walk past him.

「Um, excuse me!」

Cycelia quickly stops her, calling out towards her while peeking out from Straf's side.

「Yes?」

The woman softly asks, looking at her with gentle eyes, propping her hat's brim up with her finger.

「Do you teach here?…」

Cycelia asks, and the woman sputters, practically having to stop herself from laughing out loud.

「Yes, young lady, I teach here. Why?」

She asks with an amused smirk, glancing momentarily at Straf.

「We've been looking for an oil lamp, or something. Our room is really dark after the sunset, and light magic is too bright. It'd be nice to have some soft, steady light there. Would you happen to have one we could borrow?」

Cycelia asks, and the woman looks at her in silence. She then glares at Straf, then looks with a soft gaze at Cycelia again.

「Hm. I might. Come with me.」

She gestures Cycelia to follow, and turns the same way she and Straf were headed. Despite her enormous hat, the woman expertly navigates the crowd without knocking other pointy hats off the students' heads, nor does she bump it into someone. Only a few minutes later they arrive at a door, and the woman enters, squeezing her hat through the narrow doorframe. Straf and Cycelia follow.

The room is one of the classrooms, much like the ones they have seen before. It strongly resembles a contemporary high school classroom in its layout, although the floor rises towards the back, and the long desks fit multiple students at once like in a university. A large blackboard spanning the entire wall has some esoteric scribbles and runes drawn all over it in white chalk, while the large windows nearby ensure it's all well-lit. The teacher enters through another door, right beside the blackboard, and once again begins squeezing through with a large amount of effort involved.

Cycelia sheepishly follows in, while Straf only peeks his head in and leans at the doorframe with his arm. Racks full of boxes varying in size line the walls, along with bookshelves packed with tomes as thick as telephone books. The professor rummages through the room, searching through some of the boxes seemingly at random. She clicks her tongue a few times, and every now and then lets out a frustrated sigh. Eventually, after a few minutes, she pulls out a little brass lamp suited for oil-burning.

「Ah. I knew it was here.」

She shrugs her shoulders, and walks towards the door. Straf and Cycelia back out, and let the woman out of the storage room.

「Hhmmmmmppf!…」

She grunts as she squeezes through again. Someone watching the scene unfold with his ears plugged would surely hear a wine bottle being uncorked, when the hatted woman finally pops out of the doorframe with a grunt.

「Whew. Here it is. An oil lamp.」

The teacher presents the oil lamp to Cycelia, and she accepts it into her hands with a little bow of her head.

「So… Starting this term, I'll be teaching you, Ms. Vindict?」

The woman asks with a sly smile, and sits down on the teacher's desk in front of the blackboard.

「Ms. Vind-!? Er, yes…」

Cycelia's character almost breaks, and the woman's brow rises. She glances at Straf with a sour expression, before returning her soft eyes to Cycelia.

「Um, what do you teach, Miss?…」

Ms. Vindict indirectly asks for the teacher's name.

「You can call me Aria. Or Ms. Aria, if you really insist. I specialize in battle magic.」

Aria casually replies with a soft smile directed at her…