Their room set up, or as much as could be expected, Mathias heard a strange demand. "Leave. I'm going to change."

"No. Change in the closet." He said, in the pale moonlight trickling in.

"No, you leave. I don't want to change in there. There isn't any light and I'm exhausted."

"You can literally make little balls of fire. Use that as light."

"Except you're completely facing the closet! Maybe I'd reconsider it if you swapped beds."

"That isn't my problem, is it?"

"Just do it!"

"No. Hurry up or change in the open. There are also the girls' baths too."

"I want to be able to change in the comfort of my own room."

"Then do it?"

"Not while you're there!"

Mathias grumbled irritably and relented, "fine, I'll go out this once. That's it. Nothing more."

"... If you look, you'll wake up as ashes."

"Awe, you're kind enough to let me wake up?"

Lisanna snorted but said nothing as Mathias left the room. It seemed Lisanna preferred to bathe in the morning, or something, so she was getting ready for bed once the sun fell over the horizon. Mathias, however, was only a little tired from waking up so early so he went to take a bath.

Frankly speaking, while he could have asked to verify it, his senses long-since pin-pointed the sheer volume of water in the building. It was not a particularly difficult challenge to circle around the walls until he found the entrance.

Once he finally changed, he was pleasantly surprised at the male bath. He had to verify it with the guard that sat at the reception desk, regarding that it was the male one (on account of the strange symbology employed instead of words) but being inside, he was glad for their gaudy tastes trickling into the architecture seeping into this area as well.

More specifically, he did not care about the oil-painted murals, stone sculptures, or decorative pillars; rather, he appreciated the tall, east-facing, fogged windows letting in liberal amounts of moonlight towards the center-most section of the bath. It was warm, but not especially so; so it was refreshing. Especially as he leaned his back against a decorative island in the center, naturally possessing its own statue, as was the school's modus operandi, and stared out at the moon.

His body felt light and powerful, but his eyes were heavy and weak.

.

..

...

His body felt hot. Too hot. He yelped as he tried to escape the terrible light, but even as the water sluggishly reacted to call, the refracted rays still assailed his eyes.

He regretted his actions.

Mathias looked around to see a few boys looking at him curiously, seeing the bath's water forming a wavering shield in front of his eyes.

'... If only it faced the sun-set,' he thought irritably, feeling exhaustion seep itself to his core.

He slept long enough, but to be awoken by the sun-light? It was unthinkable.

Now he understood why precedent might need to be changed - or want to be changed - between the girls' and boys' placements.

His mind was by no means clear as he escaped the calming tides, so much so another shouted, "don't take the water with you!"

And Mathias had to begrudgingly abandon his shield as the powerful light assaulted his pale body directly.

"... Three years of this?" His nose scrunched up, reaching tiredly for his clothes. "Oh, right..."

The water in his dark blonde hair fell out towards the tile floor as did the water clinging to his chest. He dried the casual clothes he brought as a change and begrudgingly started his day way, way too early for his tastes.

"... Aren't they open yet?" A girl asked her friend, motioning to the dining hall.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"No, but isn't it late?"

'... Too early... too early for breakfast for normal people...?'

Sigh.

Mathias, with half-closed eyes, opened the door to his room.

'Ugh, right, I locked it, didn't I?'

He tried again.

And he saw Lisanna in a night-gown pouring over a textbook with extreme concentration.

It seemed familiar as he passed it by, but he said nothing until he stood in the center of the room. He looked from left to right. His messy bed, according to unwritten rules (and the placement of his fur), was on the left, in front of the closet, if looking towards the door from inside. However, he turned to glare at Lisanna, half-shouting, "that's my bed!"

"..."

Her eyes were still locked onto the book.

His prized fur was ruffled, his sheets creased, and both blankets pushed aside.

If it was him doing the same thing, it wouldn't matter, but that was his bed!

"Hey!" He said, tapping her shoulder pointedly.

She jumped, "what?! What the hell are you doing here?!"

"This is my room!"

"Yeah, but I figured you just left last night and never came back."

"Wha-? Like I would just leave my stuff like that. And explain to me why you slept in my bed?!"

Lisanna snorted, "well, mine still smelt like a stupid experiment gone horribly wrong so where else was I supposed to? And you didn't even come back after an hour so I figured you just left or got killed or something."

"Hmph. That's not my fault. And what the hell? You are strictly forbidden from sleeping in my bed - I spent, like, ten minutes cleaning it completely."

"Ten minutes?! Then why didn't you clean mine!?" Lisanna shouted, kicking the chair back and standing up, glowering.

Apparently, the admission of the time was a sore point with her.

"I did! I just spent more time on mine - because it is mine!"

As the two argued, they turned to the door simultaneously and screamed "what!?" at the sudden knock.

Natalie appeared rubbing her forward, half-glaring, "please don't make so much noise. I have a lot of stuff to do than just respond to the sixth noise complaint in a row... argh, no one can settle down, can they? I hate this time..."

As Natalie grumbled her complaints, Mathias said, "I'm sorry, but she stole my bed after I fell asleep in the bath."

"... It isn't my fault he didn't clean my bed properly!"

Natalie clapped her hands twice. "Okay: how long does it take to clean a bed?" She asked Mathias to which he answered.

"Ten minutes."

"Okay, and how long have you been arguing?"

"Hell if I know," Lisanna answered this time. "I was just studying!"

"So probably more than ten minutes. Anyways, Mathias, is it? Just clean then bed if that's why this room is foul, and then I'll have Miss O'Clair formally swear to never touch your bed again. Deal?"

"Why should I have to? I already did!"

"... Just be the bigger person or else I'll call off the cleaning staff who was supposed to be dealing with this. In fact, I'll even call off the request to have them move the desks in here."

"... Like I care about-"

"Fine! He accepts!"

"I do no-"

Mathias' mouth was covered and he struggled violently. However, Lisanna was a lot stronger than she looked and Natalie took the first opportunity to leave. Another student was calling her over in a loud, demanding voice.

"Hmph. Just do it and then I won't. It isn't that hard, is it?!"

"It isn't, but why should I!" He said, staring at her directly.

Lisanna put her hands on her hips and taunted, "If you just woke up now I can make your mornings really difficult, you know?"

"And I can make your nights difficult too-"

"But then you'll have other people complaining about you. I, on the other hand, can get away with it since most people don't sleep in until this late!"

"This is too early!"

"See! I'll win this one," she grinned. "Anyways, I'm gonna... gonna... change... ch-ch-" she yelped. "G-get out!"

He had seen her in the thin, translucent nightgown so he did not think it to be a big deal. They did spend a long time arguing so there was time aplenty for ample exposure to her hardly veiled figure.

"If I leave again, you'll steal my bed!"

"Th-that isn't the issue here!" She said, shoving him towards the patio door. Once he stumbled out, she grabbed the door, quickly threw him outside, and slammed it shut - locking it in the process. "Stay out!"

He, however, was much too anxious as he saw the curtains close so he summoned water to slip through the locking mechanism, froze it before it could be liable to rust the metallic base, and fumbled with the tumblers. He tried circling it through the gaps in the metal to open it directly, but there seemed to be a force preventing him from exploiting the obvious solution.

It took a fair while to finesse the lock as his efforts were consistently defeated.

After five minutes, he grabbed the handle, pulled, and barged into the room, protectively claiming his molested bed. Apparently, one needed only jiggle enough it since it wasn't locked properly.

"Ugh, just in time," Lisanna said tiredly. "And don't do that - what if I was naked?!"

"... Oi, don't think about getting naked in my bed. I'd need to clean again-"

He dodged a launched book. The old, leather journal creaked as the spine was dislodged from the cover, but Mathias was no worse for wear.

"Do not insinuate that I'm dirty! And, I'm telling you, just clean my bed and that'll be the end of it!"

"..."

"Don't look at me so suspiciously. Just do it and then I promise I won't touch it."

The bed was a proxy for another issue: an important issue. It is where his eyes and his efforts were focused the entire time.

"... Even the fur?" Mathias asked with narrowed eyes.

Lisanna, holding a shirt in front of her, stopped. Her head to the side and eyes down. "... Well, that was comf-"

"Rejected!"

"Fine! Even the fur too!" Lisanna stared at him, offering a strange cross between desperation, sincerity, and irritation.

"Hmph. I'll clean mine first and then - only then - deal with yours," Mathias muttered suspiciously, holding onto his fur that he murmured to, "... don't worry... you won't ever have to deal with someone like that ever again..."

He dodged another book thrown at him but managed to spend only ten minutes cleaning both beds once more. He spent the entire time growling at her, educating her about the inescapable moral issues that came with endangering defenceless furs. Granted, he kept his word: since he was distrustful of her, he spent the majority of the time on his own, but got a begrudging word of approval from Lisanna on the other.

Only then did he start to get changed.

"G-get out!" She screamed as he took off his shirt.

"Stop being unreasonable!"

...

It was going to be a long year.