We finished eating and headed back out to the street.

“That was good. So, where to next?”

“Aren’t you the one who invited me?”

Aliya fell silent. She looked at me, confused, before remembering something.

“Ah, right. Right…”

She fell silent and started to fidget uncomfortably.

“Is there something wrong?”

“It’s just… I said I would be the one planning, but I ended up not planning anything…”

She said, scratching her cheeks.

“Well, what did you come here for?”

I asked. She looked around and shrugged.

“I don’t know. I just thought we should spend some time together.”

“Well, if that’s the case, how about we just go and take a look around?”

I started walking, following the old cobblestone road that had seen countless visitors ever since its inception. We visited the various clothing stores scattered around the road, looked into a magic store, grabbed ice cream, and even visited an arcade. Aliya managed to win a stuffed doll and kept beating me at all the games except one.

“I only managed to win in a wheel of fortune.”

Aliya managed to get five tickets for that game, while I managed to get fifteen. It was the only time where I won or got more tickets than her.

“Don’t worry about it. They were games, after all.”

Aliya said while looking at the bear plushie that she won.

“Does this scare you?”

She aimed the brown colored bear at me.

“Ahhh… I’m so scared…”

I said flatly, to which she replied with a giggle. I couldn’t help but smile as well.

“So, where are we heading next?”

By the time we were done, the sun had set. Beautiful street lamps lit up the street, giving a soft yellow glow to the surroundings. Above them, cables extending from one building to the one across it supported tiny lights that served as decoration to the air above the street.

“Let’s get dinner.”

My mind immediately went and searched for a tactic that would defeat her this time.

“But don’t worry. I surveyed this place before, it’s rather cheap.”

“Really? That’s great.”

“Follow me.”

We didn’t take a car. Instead, we walked, following the main street that led back to the school. After twenty minutes of walking, I couldn’t help but wonder if our destination was the school cafeteria. The school cafeteria did open on Sundays, but from my knowledge, they didn’t open until this late. Last week, on my second day here, I did go to grab dinner there, as I remember them opening for Lunch. The cafeteria was awfully silent by the time I arrived for dinner, though.

“The school cafeteria isn’t open at this time, though.”

I said, in case she really did want to eat in the school’s cafeteria.

“What made you think I’m heading for the school’s cafeteria in the first place?”

“Just in case.”

“Don’t worry, we’re not eating there.”

She led me into an alleyway. Following the narrow street, which could only fit one car at a time, we arrived at a small two-story restaurant with an open balcony. We entered the restaurant. Unlike the one in Zuylu Street, this one had a cashier immediately after the exit. We ordered first before getting a seat. Looking at their menu, I decided to take the fried chicken and rice along with some hot tea while Aliya went for a fried duck and some hot strawberry milk. Unlike before, I paid for my own meal this time.

We sat on the balcony. Sitting at the end of the balcony, we looked out at the scenery, the brightly lit-up Zuylu Street sitting in the distance. Unlike Zuylu Street which had been filled by the crowd, this restaurant was practically empty with only one other family eating her. I couldn’t help but wonder if this place’s food was delicious, but a fried chicken for one EC thirty cents was quite a deal.

The other family did look like they were enjoying their time. I looked at Aliya, who was still gazing at the distant Zuylu Street.

“How did you find this place?”

“Someone from a different class invited us here for dinner.”

“You’re already eating out with people? That’s impressive.”

“Ah, it’s nothing.”

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Aliya scratched her head.

“The one that invited me was Zriat’s younger sister.”

“How did you two even meet?”

“She was delivering snacks for her brother. We talked a bit.”

“I see.”

I wonder how many friends did Aliya have that I didn’t know about? I knew she was quite the extrovert, but she spent so much time with me that I often forget about that. Maybe I only noticed that now in high school, when I could actually see who she interacted with.

“I never saw you talk with her, though.”

“Ah, we didn’t come here with just the two of us. She invited the entire band over. We sat on the first floor, though.”

Half of the tables on the balcony had two seats, the other half had four. Aliya’s band consisted of five members, excluding Zriat’s sister who invited them in the first place. Unless they were willing to either eat at separate tables or bring the tables together, they would need to eat below.

“The food is delicious and cheap. I took a peak at the balcony and thought it was beautiful, so I wanted to eat here again.”

“I see. How did Plona and Mina act back then?”

“Plona acted normally. I don’t think I ever saw her act childish outside the traveling club. Mina was… well, silent as ever.”

I noticed that despite being frightened, Mina did sometimes actively attempt to converse. She probably felt even more uncomfortable surrounded by people older than her.

“That made me remember something. How old are they?”

“Zriat’s sister is our year, while Plona and the rest are a year above us.”

“And if the previous vocalist and guitarist had graduated… how come there were no third-years in the traveling club nor your band?”

“You mean in Winter Rockies?”

“I assume they don’t tell you what it means?”

Aliya shook her head.

“Nope. I think the ones who graduated were the ones behind that name… but about the third graders, we don’t even have any third graders in the first place. That year is entirely empty now.”

…

“Did I miss something?”

Now that she mentioned it, I did notice there being a noticeable lack of students. There were many students inside the school, but not four hundred fifty many.

“The mysterious tornado that hit the city two years ago?”

“Ah, that one…”

Two years ago, a tornado mysteriously struck the city. It hit two weeks after the new year, on the fourteenth of the first month, dealing some damage. I heard about it on the news. No changes were detected in the weather, so the tornado came as a complete surprise. It formed in the center of the school, dealing serious damage. Due to the fact that it wasn’t detected, the shields weren’t placed in time, and unfortunately, two of the teachers and one of the students were hospitalized after the accident.

“I’ve read about it.”

“Yeah. I heard from Plona that the tornado did not move and grew stronger in the school complex. Luckily someone was able to stop it after firing rock magic at it.”

The person who stopped it was one of the teachers who was wounded. He was praised for his heroic act.

“That resulted in some of the school facilities being unable to be used. The school rejected new students for a year in order to do repairs. The third years at the time, who were preparing for final exams, were forced to be moved to a different facility.”

I remember the news mentioning how the nearby area suffered relatively little damage when compared to the school. I wonder if that was the cause for all school buildings having shields? I stood up, surprising Aliya a bit, and gazed at Zuylu Street and its surrounding buildings. Within ten seconds, various different glows started covering my eyes. All buildings in Zuylu Street had either purple or gray glows, indicating non-element and rock shields, but the ones surrounding the street had different properties. Some had red, others had purple and silver, but most of them had none.

“What are you looking at?”

I turned my sight to the building below us, and found that it, too, didn’t have a shield.

“Most of the buildings here didn’t have a shield, which probably meant they gave the school a shield after the accident.”

“Well, most major disasters are predictable to some extent, while the minor ones did little damage. Putting up a shield for a building does cost a lot.”

The larger the object in question, the harder it would be to cover it. The average magic users, especially those who were self-taught and lacked proper Keeper’s training, tended to not have the ability to cover such large objects. Even those who went through Keeper’s training tend to stay with one element, Antonio was an exception, of course. Before I joined, I heard the stories about how easy it was to learn very basic magic, but how extremely hard it was when it came to actually using and mastering them. I was scared, but I forced it, so that I could stay by Aliya’s side.

I came here in the hopes that I could finally utilize them to protect her, only to find out that I couldn’t use them, no matter how hard I tried.

In the end, even in conditions like this, I would be the one who needed to be protected.

“But there you go, a use for your ability.”

She said as I sat back down. I couldn’t help but let out a wry smile.

“I still couldn’t apply a shield myself, though.”

“I could help you with that, once I learned it.”

Aliya gave a sincere smile.

“Should I write that down in one of my debts?”

“Nah. That doesn’t count. Anyway, let’s eat.”

I looked toward the stairs to find a waiter bringing our food up for us.

“I hope this is a good one.”

The waiter set down our meal. We washed our hands at a sink located at the inner end of the balcony and prepared for the meal.

“Let’s eat.”

“I’m full. That was surprisingly great. I’m surprised this place isn’t full.”

“I was wondering the same thing, but it did lie pretty deep in an alleyway.”

We finished our meals and now enjoyed our respective drinks. In the distance, spotlights lit up the night sky. There was live music on Zuylu Street during the weekend nights. The stage sat behind the old town center, sitting in front of a wide, open field. For me, those bright lights signaled the approaching end of this ‘date’.

“Today was fun, thank you.”

I smiled at Aliya, who blushed all of a sudden. She looked at me, slightly shaking.

“Are you cold?”

She shook her head.

“It’s just… how do I say this…”

She said, slightly stuttering. This was the first time I saw her stutter like that.

“Is something wrong?”

Did she get food poisoning? Did she not feel well?

“No. I’m fine… it’s just…”

She took a deep breath and let it out.

“It’s just, the last few days, we didn’t talk much despite sitting front and back. I know we didn’t meet face-to-face that often when we were in middle school, but we still messaged each other a lot.”

She said, gripping her hand together.

“And… I just… I don’t know. It felt different. I ended up thinking about you really often, but when in class, I lost my courage to speak to you for some reason.”

She did start avoiding me. I didn’t think much of it, though. The few days that I spent here, I spent alone. During the day, I would concentrate on the lessons and not talk to her, with the intention of not bothering her. During lunch, I would eat alone. Antonio would go off somewhere, and Aliya would go with her friends. I ate alone in class, as the cafeteria was too crowded.

But I didn’t find it to be weird, not in the slightest. It was normal day-to-day for me.

Not messaging her in the evening did feel off, as we would talk with each other during those hours. Sometimes we even talked with each other until late into the night, sometimes we would call each other even, but I assumed it was because Aliya was busy having fun with her other friends. We did just join high school, after all, so it would be natural for her to spend time with them instead.

“Ah, never mind. I’m sorry for that.”

“Are you really alright, though?”

Aliya shook her head and slapped her cheeks.

“I’m fine now. Let’s go back.”

I couldn’t help but be worried, but if she insisted she was alright, then there was nothing I could do.

“Alright.”

We got off our seats and walked back together to school.