Ah, I think I forgot to tell Arnos about Ares dorm’s customs. (Sighs) Man, I’m such a klutz. Well, it’s not that big of a deal, is it? Seras thought to herself as she walked toward the dorm.

(Nods) Yeah, it’s not a big deal. I’m sure of it. She mumbled.

"What was all that fuss about, Seras?" a voice called out.

Seras turned toward the direction of the voice. A half-opened door revealed a girl peeking outside, with half her body covered by the door. She looked at Seras with tired deep black eyes. Her neck-length black hair, held neatly in place by a simple black hairband, framed her face. She was noticeably shorter than Seras, her height barely reaching Seras’s shoulders.

"Oh, nothing much," Seras said, radiating excitement. "We’ve got some newbies this year," she added with a smile. "So, did I break your sweet dream? Sorry about that, Alisa."

"You sure did! But never mind. Waking up early is always a good thing, ya know," Alisa replied, running a hand through her hair.

"Ahh… it’s evening," Seras said, smiling.

(Stare)

(Stare)

(Stare)

"Kill yourself, dumb, idiot, stupid Seras," Alisa said as she walked out of her room, closing the door behind her.

"Heyyy, what was that for?" Seras shouted. Her voice made it clear she wasn’t angry.

"I told you to wake me up in the morning, and this is the time you wake me up?" Alisa said as she headed toward the dorm's kitchen.

The kitchen was located just to the right of the east entrance of the dorm.

"You did?" Seras leaned on the kitchen counter, thoughtfully piecing together the events of the previous night.

Alisa creeping into my room, late-night chatter with her…

"Wake me up by 8 o’clock, okay, Seras? Goodnight," Alisa had said in her usual depressed tone before leaving the room.

"Shit! Sorry about that. I think I messed up," Seras admitted in a guilty tone, looking down at the floor and still trying to avoid Alisa’s gaze.

Alisa, who was filling her plate with food that was supposed to be her evening breakfast, turned to look at Seras.

"Never mind that. It’s not that big of a deal," she said with a small smile as she walked toward Seras. "I mean, at least I got 8 hours of sleep."

"It’s 18 hours, to be precise," Seras replied with a teasing smile.

"You know what?" Alisa said, still smiling.

"What?" Seras asked curiously, radiating innocence.

"You should do the thing I first told you," Alisa said, giving a dark, scary smile.

Seras stood in her place for a few seconds. The thing she first told me to do, huh…

"Oi! That’s rude, Alisa," Seras called out as she walked after her, following her back into her room.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

– – – –

Inside the room, Alisa and Seras walked toward Alisa's bed.

"So, who's this newbie then?" Alisa asked with a curious look as she took her place on the bed.

"You shouldn't eat on your bed," Seras said with a slightly frustrated look as she sat in front of Alisa on the bed.

"Ah, I shouldn't?" Alisa replied with a smile. "Well, I don't care about it." (Smirks)

She took the first bite of the sandwich, which was supposed to be her morning breakfast.

"Oh my, it's so yummy—the cold cheese, the cold, dry bread crumbs, oh my…" Alisa said, her voice dripping with sarcasm directed at Seras.

"You know, Alisa, you’re just like a child," Seras added, narrowing her eyes.

Alisa gave Seras a pissed-off look.

"What did you say?"

"Oh, I meant you behave like a child, not literally. You have such a lustrous—" (No, no, that's not something to say, idiot Seras, she thought to herself.) Clearing her throat, she added, "A beautiful adult body."

(Giving her a sideways glance) "Whatever you say. Now tell me what happened with the newbie," Alisa said, a little excitement creeping into her voice.

"Oh, we got two visitors to check out Ares dorm. One was a girl, Mabel, and the other was Arnos. Mabel wanted to jump to join Ares dorm after the tournament, and Arnos was allotted to Ares dorm from the start."

"Ah, that's nice," Alisa said while taking another bite of the sandwich.

"We also have two more newbies—a princess and the Duke's second son, if I’m not wrong," Seras added.

"I should’ve heated it," Alisa mumbled. "By the way, Seras, you, as a kingdom’s subject, should at least know the princess’s name, don’t you think?" Alisa said with a smirk, clearly picking on Seras.

"I, uh…" Seras turned her head to look at the door, avoiding Alisa's gaze yet again.

Alisa stood up, grabbed a glass of water from the table, and returned to the bed.

"I bet you were excited when you found out the news, weren’t you?" Alisa asked Seras, smiling pleasantly.

"I was. I hu—" Seras stopped mid-sentence, her thoughts drifting to what Mabel had said to her.

"I choked him out of happiness," she added with a smile.

Alisa, who was drinking water, spat it out uncontrollably to the side and began coughing.

"You did what!?" she shouted at Seras, her face a mix of shock and disbelief.

Seras moved closer and gently patted Alisa’s back to help her recover.

"Oh, it was a misunderstanding. I stopped as soon as I realized I was hurting him. Are you okay, Alisa?" Seras asked in a caring tone.

(Laughs slightly) "Was he tapping out?"

Seras remembered the situation again.

"By the time I noticed, he was unable to move his hand."

"You traumatized him, I’m pretty sure of it now," Alisa said, her tone stern and her expression angry.

"I don’t know. I think I apologized, and they left in a good mood," Seras mumbled in a whisper, her guilt clearly showing.

More like they were scared of what you would do if they objected, Alisa said, finishing her sandwich. She stood up from her bed yet again with the plate.

"I didn’t mean to do that," Seras said, exuding a literal dark, depressed energy.

Alisa moved toward her study table and placed the plate on it.

"Well, whatever. So, how were they? Tell me a thing or two about them, keep it short."

Seras looked at Alisa with a curious expression as she asked,

"Both Mabel and Arnos, or just Arnos?"

Alisa, who had now set her plate aside, jumped back on her bed and tucked herself in to relax.

(Giving a sideways glance) "You’re not using me as a lullaby now, are you?"

"I could never do that," Alisa said, hiding her grin with her right hand, her long black nails glinting.

"Let’s go with both."

"So, firstly, they’re both commoners, so there’s that," Seras said.

"Man, that’s good. They might be able to match their frequency with Erik then, you know, due to common struggles and stuff," Alisa replied.

"Arnos is also an orphan from the city of Alcia, and Mabel’s family has a small farmland."

"An orphan…" Alisa said thoughtfully.

How did he manage to buy the books? she wondered to herself. Maybe he got them second-hand or something.

"Mabel seems to be the more outspoken type between the two of them. She was still respectful, though, so that’s a plus. About Arnos…" Seras gave a thoughtful look for a few moments before continuing.

"He’s probably more of, you know, the calm type, I think. I mean, he didn’t speak much in front of me. And when I choked him and Mabel kicked him, he didn’t argue much."

Alisa’s eyes widened as she tried to process everything Seras had said.

She choked him, Mabel kicked him, and he didn’t say anything? she thought, giving Seras a serious, pissed-off look.

"Wait, wait, time out a second. You bullied a junior with another junior and also assaulted him? And you think it’s his calm nature that kept him from arguing? Man, you scared the poor kid," Alisa said, giving Seras a disgusted look. "Tsk, I didn’t expect this from you, Seras."

"That’s not it, Alisa! We didn’t do anything like that," Seras tried to defend herself.

"Nope, not interested anymore. Get out!" Alisa added in a scary tone.

Seras stood up and moved out of Alisa’s room, sulking.

"I didn’t do anything bad," she mumbled under her breath as she walked out.

Alisa lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling.

"I need to get Seras to apologize to that Arnos," she thought to herself.

Her thoughts drifted. What could his affinity be? If he has dark affinity, I could teach him a thing or two.

"I could be a proud, responsible senior for him," she thought with a proud grin on her face.