Abigail was not looking forward to training with this new regiment. She was apparently the only one. Someone in her class had rented out a movie theater for a horror film marathon. It was a nice gesture since it was meant for people like her. That is to say, people with below-average mental fortitude. This was an opportunity to make friends and get to know the class, so she had begrudgingly let Sarah drag her here. The theater room was packed, and that was after most of the seats had been swapped for tables. Kids crowded around every table, talking excitedly about what movie they were going to show.

“Apparently, we have the entire Terror-verse lined up for today!”

Abigail’s face paled as she heard a guy shout that. His voice was filled with too much excitement for how much dread it created in her. She turned to Sarah; her voice panicked as she tried to come up with an excuse.

“You know what, I forgot to register for my electives. I should really go back and do that. There were like three or four that might fill up right? Doesn’t our teacher have one? I should probably pick that at least. I’ll go back and do that; you stay here and hold my seat.”

Sarah’s face didn’t even change once. Only after she had finished her tirade of excuses did Sarah respond. Her tone was so dry that Abigail thought her lips would crack by hearing it.

“I registered you for them already. As soon as the class had ended, and the registration opened. You should talk with the other students and enjoy the movies. I quite like the Terror-verse’s iteration of Dracula. They did well in portraying the seductive horror of vampires.”

“You just like dark colors.”

Abigail pointedly gestured at Sarah’s black butler-style suit. She liked to switch between the tight-fitting suit, and gothic maid outfit, both of which mainly consisted of the color black. They found an empty table, and she addressed Sarah more directly.

“You know you could’ve dressed casually. Look, I’m the only one here with a servant of any kind. I hoped we could just be friends while we were away from home.”

She met Sarah’s eyes and saw the complete rejection there.

“We are friends, but you literally could not survive without me. Your parents gave me full control of your finances because you overpay for everything. I literally had to drag you here.”

Abigail hunched her shoulders, glancing around to see if anyone had overheard that.

“I get your point. Why do you care so much about me making friends anyways? Like with Cain, you are always so polite.”

“He is a healer, with an exceptionally good gift. It is an uncommon healing variant, and his attributes prove that he is competent enough to succeed with it. In terms of desirability for the family, he is the best student I have seen thus far.”

Sarah’s ever-flat tone always made her arguments sound so good. Abigail wished she could manage that but settled for asking another question. It was just an idle thought.

“What about Clo, everyone is talking about him?”

“His attitude, and frankly unimpressive gifts. They may be useful, but big families are not lacking for power. If he earns any titles or recognitions, I will consider him.”

“Consider? It sounds like you're trying to get married…”

She spoke slowly as Sarah’s head snapped to the side. Abigail hurried around the table to meet her friend’s eyes. Sarah turned away again. Abigail nearly shouted her next words but managed to contain them to a loud whisper.

“I’m not marrying either of them. One of them is a psychopath!”

Sarah raised her hands defensively.

“Not just you. I am also to find someone suitable for myself if at all possible. They must obviously be willing to work alongside me or support my role in some way, but it is something your parents requested of me.”

“No! We are not having this discussion, and you will stop looking! I’m serious here, I will pull out one of those stupid cards if I have to.”

It was a birthday present from Sarah. A set of ten cards on which Sarah had simply written the word ‘treason’. It did what it said. If she used the card, then Sarah would disobey or ignore any request. Sarah rolled her eyes.

“You know you don’t have to get married. I am simply scouting out worthy prospects, which is essentially just identifying the best students. Enough about this, let's make an effort to speak to someone else.”

Abigail flinched and mock-glared at Sarah's patronizing tone. It was in fact the only change in tone of the whole conversation. Nobody took the concept of words as weapons further than Sarah.

“Fine, who?”

She spoke as her eyes drifted over the mostly empty movie theater. The room would normally have a slope where more and more seats would be laid out. This was however a more modern theater, and the chairs and elevation were retractable. She could spot a few boys in the back messing around with the controls and watching as the tables and chairs rose out of the ground. What was the point of that? Were boys really so easily amused? Yes, they probably were. She answered her own question as she decided to search for a different group. It wasn’t that she was judging them. Why kid herself, she was judging them.

Her eyes circled the remainder of the room with little hope. She wanted to meet people and make friends, but it didn’t seem like it was going to be that easy. Nearly everyone else was comfortably in one group or another.

“Did I miss something, why does everyone seem to know one another?”

She glanced at Sarah, who definitely wouldn’t have missed anything.

“I believe it is your expensive yet unflattering outfit. Coffee Cat is not exactly what I would describe as an adult outfit.”

Abigail was indeed wearing a Coffee Cat branded oversized sweater. It was bright pink with the exception of a single drawing on the front. A large white cat holding a coffee mug smiled at anyone who looked at the sweater. Other than that, she had baggy blue jeans with a lot of pockets.

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“There’s nothing wrong with Coffee Cat.”

Abigail would defend the brand to her death if she had to. Sarah rolled her eyes but gestured toward the crowd.

“Why not approach Cain? He has found himself at a table with two others with adequate profiles.”

That drew Abigail’s attention away from her exceptionally capable maid. Sarah was, in fact, good enough to get into the better academies. She could’ve gone almost anywhere with her results, but she had chosen to accompany Abigail. Sarah could probably beat Clo in a fight and was actually ranked in the top 100 too. Thus, when she said someone was adequate it really meant that they were exceptional.

She spotted Cain easily enough. He was tall-ish and stood out as being one of the only awkward people here. Like everyone, he had an athletic build, but unlike most, he was lanky and had a very noticeable ponytail. One of the few guys she had ever seen to have one. That combined with some famine features gave him a weirdly pretty vibe. He was also wearing an entirely too-yellow outfit. Where did he even find yellow pants? Despite all of that he was at a table with two girls.

“How does a yellow tracksuit get him that, and Coffee Cat get me this?”

She muttered the question to Sarah as she walked over to his table. She recognized one of the girls. Sabrina stood beside him. She was wearing what could only be described as a wool sundress. It was brown, but it looked extremely comfortable. Abigail spoke when she was close enough.

“Hello, Cain. Sabrina, and uh….”

She intentionally let her words drift for the last speaker to offer their own name. The last girl had pink hair and felt vaguely familiar now. Where had she seen her before?

“We met actually. Back at the fight, I was the one who managed the bets. I’m Maya, and you’re Abigail and Sarah Kaminari. I’m guessing that’s just an honorary name for Sarah. I’m surprised your family had a retainer who get into this school. Also, I love your sweater.”

Abigail was only a little overwhelmed by the storm of words that was Maya. She spoke quickly and ever so slightly slurred her words.

“Thank you, and Sarah is a friend more than anything. And between us, she could’ve gotten into any academy.”

“Seriously? Guess, that’s what you get with one of the big families, huh.”

Maya sucked in a breath after speaking. She didn’t give anyone the time to respond and apologized immediately.

“Sorry, that was rude, wasn’t it? I really didn’t mean anything by it, and I’m rambling again. I’m sorry.”

Abigail stared at the bumbling woman and wondered what she should say.

“I am not offended, and you have nothing to apologize for. Abigail is generally considered the black sheep of the family. I would put her influence and power at the level of one of the main family’s cats.”

Sarah spoke before she could, and she did it with the same tone as usual. The one that made people believe what she said. Abigail felt her face heating up a little, but she saw the effect it had on Maya and Sabrina. Maya sagged against the table in relief, and Sabrina’s shoulder drooped a little. Were they tense because of her family name?

“Wait, was that why no one talked to me?”

Maya who seemed to have recovered impossibly quickly replied first.

“Yup, that and your frankly terrifying friend. Again, no offense, but you are very tall and look vicious. I mean that in the nicest way possible and will forever be jealous.”

Maya seemed unable to control or mitigate what came out of her mouth. In a sense, that made it really easy to understand what she was thinking. In another, Abigail checked to see if Sarah would punch the girl. Cain cut in before anything could happen.

“Hey guys, uh gals. We were talking about the electives we chose. I got this list from the teacher of the best ones for my gift. I’m not sure what to do for fun though. “

Sabrina finally joined the conversation after him.

“I was explaining to him that he need not fill his schedule. There is no required minimum for classes, and we could all use as much time for training as possible.”

“That sound boring.”

Abigail spoke without thinking and saw the disapproving look on Sabrina and Sarah’s faces. Cain and Maya were nodding.

“Plus, these academies have some of the best teachers for anything. I saw a cooking elective that seemed pretty fun.”

Maya’s helpful comment met a whole lot of scorn, but Abigail thought that sounded interesting. She needed to check what classes Sarah had picked for her and make some changes. She was about to say as much but felt someone bump into her and felt a hand, not so discreetly, rub against her backside. It actually took her a second to process what had happened, and she turned to glare at the guy. Sarah and Sabrina were faster. Sabrina slapped the man, her hand moved like a blur as she did so.

Sarah was not so kind. She grabbed the man’s wrist and yanked his arm straight; her overwhelming power held the man like a status. His eyes widened, and he tried to come up with an excuse.

“It.”

He got one word out, before Sarah’s knee hit his arm at the elbow. Sarah's movement was smooth and sudden. It wasn’t a gift, just pure finesse. The guy barely even understood what was happening. Then a very disturbing snapping noise echoed through the room. The sound would have better fit the movies they were going to watch. Only this wasn’t a movie, and the boy’s howls shattered the moment. He screamed, cried, and tried to pull away from Sarah. She didn’t flinch.

Abigail moved before Sarah could do worse. She grabbed Sarah’s shoulder and pushed her away from the guy. Sarah relented only after the boy yelped out an apology. It was broken by his pain and didn’t really sound like anything.

“Srrur!”

Abigail hated the sound of it, and pushed harder until Sarah let go. Sarah still looked ready to kill though.

“Too far! Too far!”

Abigail said the words, but she was unsure if she meant them. She was mad and wanted to punch the guy too. One look at him clutching his arm and crying stopped her though. He didn’t deserve that. Just looking at his arm made her feel a little queasy. That looked like it hurt a lot.

The room shifted as everyone figured out what happened. Every gaze fell upon the crying man on the ground and the women surrounding him. Sarah didn’t back down under the gazes and moved to block Abigail from most of the crowd.

“Let’s all calm down here.”

Abigail placed the voice immediately. It was Arthur who pushed his way toward the scene. The other representative of the class stood over the boy and took in the situation. He didn’t address anyone in particular at first but turned toward Cain.

“Healer Cain, can you heal him?”

Abigail expected him to say yes, but he didn’t. He met Arthur’s eyes and spoke very clearly in the silence that had built.

“I probably could, but I won’t.”

Arthur looked more than a little bothered by the words, as he responded.

“Whatever he did surely didn’t deserve this. “

“No. It did. Honestly, he deserved worse, considering that he will just go to the nearest healer and get it fixed within the hour.”

“Y-you can’t be serious. His arm is broken.”

“You know, If it was my sister, I would be over there kicking him right now. I still kind of want to.”

Abigail was not at all prepared for the sharpness and anger radiating off of Cain. He had no problems interrupting Arthur and made his point very clear. She remembered now what Sarah had said the other day. Cain was far too comfortable around gore. Arthur hesitated but nodded in the end, he did not sound so certain when he next spoke.

“Ok. I’ll start the movies and help him get to a healer.”

Arthur t moved quickly then. He helped the guy stand and walked him toward one of the exits. At the same time, the lights in the room dimmed and the intro for the first movie started to play. It was a good distraction. Abigail turned to the screen. Right, she was here to watch scary movies. This really was turning out to be just a terrible day.