Just one more day until the real entrance exam. I'm getting more and more nervous as this week comes to a close, dammit. I mean, I've been passing these mock exams with exceedingly high scores, but I still can't help but feel bad that I haven't surpassed 90 points even once. Doesn't help that I'm also fussing over Meil's situation, especially when stuff like this happens...

"Argh! Get away from me!" His screams could be heard from the other room.

It's the middle of the night, mind you. He's having his regularly scheduled night terrors, and it's making him react quite loudly. Apparently the pills he's taking are indeed a remedy for his condition when he's awake, but one of the major side-effects of them is for the "Shadow people" as he calls them to move to his dreams instead. Basically, he has to sacrifice his dreams so that he can live a normal conscious life. I've thought about it some more, and I'm sure this must be the reason behind why he stopped taking the pills before. He must've thought they only caused him more harm, so he probably thought he could go on without them.

"Ugh, it's okay Meil, yaaaawn~!" I rubbed my eyes as I entered his room, "Come on, everything's fine."

"Lune!" He suddenly shouted, "You! How are you...!?"

"Hm?" I stopped gently shaking him to hear out his dream fully.

He's seeing dad tonight? That's odd, he never dreamt about him before. Usually he mutters random names like Aguilar and Heffer, who I imagine are his past acquaintances or something like that, but the funny thing is that the moment I wake him up, he immediately forgets all about his dreams. Asking him about it the morning after also doesn't work, because he just laughs it off and continues eating his breakfast. Still, this is the first time I heard him talk about someone I know, so I'd like to at least wait it out a bit more before waking him.

"I-Is that so?" He suddenly calmed down a bit, "Really... I am glad."

Oi, what's happening? It feels like he's having a super pleasant chat with dad. Well, that's just wishful thinking on my end, though. Dad is dead, and I'm old enough to know that stuff like an afterlife don't exist. The church forces that belief though, that Selzion is creating a heavenly domain for all of his believers, but in my eyes it's just insulting to the dead to think like that. Still, I wish I could take a peek into his mind and see what dad is saying to him.

"So when will you be back?" Meil muttered.

"Ah." I noticed my heart drop when he said that, "H-He's not..."

"Alright then!" Meil opened his eyes the very next moment before screaming at the top of his lungs, "Ack! Nelly, what are you-!?"

"Shhhh..." I lunged to hug him so that he wouldn't see my tears, "I-It's alright. Y-You had a nightmare again, b-but... I'm here."

"Another nightmare?" He patted me on the back with a joyful tone, "But I feel fine though? I do not think this was a nightmare, even though I cannot really remember it."

I couldn't quite answer him, since I felt he would notice me sobbing if I said another word, so I just squeezed harder as I kept silent. He obviously noticed something was amiss, but he knew better than to make it apparent. I like that about him, his naive yet friendly nature reminds you most of a dog, but I don't mean that in a degrading way. He's just... Meil. He doesn't really get some things, but he's always there when you need him. He's a good dog, if that makes sense.

"I am sorry. I was being selfish, only talking about myself." Meil put his hand on the back of my head, "I do feel good now, but I still must have woken you up with my screams during the dream. Once again, you have to be the one to endure the problems I am causing you."

"Don't..." I cleared my throat, "Don't say such stupid things, dummy. There's no problem I can't get past, so please rely on me whenever you feel the need to."

"Oh, I see." He slowly started to let go, only to notice I wasn't gonna budge, "Uhh, Nelly? I am fine now, you can... Ah."

I don't remember the rest of the night, except for me waking up in bed with him again. Once I came to, he told me in the morning how I had fallen asleep immediately after that. I still kind of feel embarrassed about it, but he made sure to drill in the fact that he didn't care at all and insisted on the fact that it actually helped him with his night terrors that night. Well, he didn't wake me up in the middle of the night after that, so I imagine what he's saying is legit. I guess I'll have to take his word for it, though I do feel bad that I ruined my emotional speech in such an embarrassing way...

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"So, where we going today?" I sat down at the dining table as Meil made breakfast.

"Today is Saturday, so I think it is alright to rest." He turned back, "Remember, you have a big day tomorrow, so it is important to not burn out at the very end. I will call some of our friends over and we will spend the day in the house."

"Oh, that's new." I raised my eyebrows in astonishment, "But won't it get boring? I mean, we'll just be stuck lounging around in the house the entire day. Wait, don't tell me that's what you're planning on having us do?"

"Haha, no no..." He shook his head lightly, "I prepared some fun and interesting games for us to play, so after we visit everyone and see if they are interested, we can begin the festivities."

Right, in order for us to actually call everyone over, we're actually gonna have to visit their places and physically ask if they wanna come hang. The problem with this is that the dormitories are quite far away, so I really don't wanna spend the next hour just walking around town.

"Now that I think about it, where do Librarian guy and Waitress girl live?" I tilted my head, "Lem and his dad are right next door to us, and Kevin and Green girl are in their dorms about a fifteen minute walk away from here. So I know that much, but these two I have no idea."

"Ah." Meil corrected me, "While it is a rest day for us students, they still have their jobs to tend to. That being said, we could visit their workplaces and invite them to come whenever their shift ends, though I believe they will not be able to make it."

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"Well, the coffee shop and the Library don't stray too far from our path to the dorms, so we can just split up and have one person ask them while the other person presses onward to ask Kevin and Green girl." I figured, "Is that alright with you?"

"Of course. I do not mind." He smiled as he handed me my plate, "For today, a local delicacy - the famous croissant!"

"Ooh! I've heard of these!" I immediately grabbed one before dropping it back onto the plate, "Ow! Hot!"

"Careful! Indeed, they are fresh out of the oven, so please do not be hasty with it." He then sat down with me to teach me a neat trick, "See here, the Simpletonese usually frown upon this way of consuming croissants, but if you cut it up into smaller pieces, it will cool off faster. Try it."

"Oh, I know about that." I started blowing on my own croissant without cutting it up, "It improves airflow and ventilates the pastry, but I would still like to eat it the traditional way. Having my first time eating a croissant be the traditionally "incorrect" way is kind of sad, wouldn't you agree?"

"Hm, suit yourself." He shrugged as I continued to puff my cheeks out blowing the croissant.

Once it cooled off enough, I could finally take a bite of it, and I must say I'm impressed! The pastry is sweet, which I at first found odd, given a sweet breakfast isn't really something I was accustomed to, but by the end of it I was left pretty satisfied. I guess it's the mixture of carbs in the bread and the sugary jam inside that tricked my brain into thinking I had a fulfilling breakfast, though I can't imagine it'll stay fooled for long.

Once we got done eating, we put on our shoes and headed out to gather all of our friends. During our walk through the campus, I volunteered to take the longer path and get Kevin and Green girl, if not simply because I vibe with them more. I had a lot of trouble making this decision, though, since that ultimately means Meil is the one who's gonna be seeing Waitress girl, who I assume is my love rival despite how much they deny it, but I trust Meil not to lie to me at least. Once we made it around halfway to the dorms, Meil made sure to repeat the directions to me one final time before splitting away to head to the coffee shop and Library. I pushed forward, just like he said, and before long I found myself in front of the two giant buildings where all the male and female students of the campus lived, respectively. I first entered the female dorms, since I didn't have to go through the process of asking someone to go get Kevin as I waited outside alone. Asking the booth lady which room was Green girls before walking up the huge flight of stairs, I had made it to the third floor, or more specifically, room 217.

"Knock knock." I knocked.

"Who could that be, knocking on my door?" A chipper voice rang out as two ginormous mounds greeted me, "Ah, Nelly, what a pleasant surprise! Did you come to play?"

"I'm thirteen, you." I made a disgusted grimace, "Girls my age don't "play" anymore."

"Oh, so what did you come for then?"

"Meil said he wanted all of us to hang out at our place, so we're going around inviting everyone." I explained before realizing my earlier statement, "W-We're gonna be... doing some board games."

"Humu, is that so?" She teased, her breasts lagging behind just enough as she swayed from left to right, "Though I don't think "do" is the proper verb here. I think there's another word that fits the description better, don't you agree?"

"Mn..." I got mad and slapped those annoyingly smug mounds of hers, "Stop lounging around in your damned tank top and panties!"

"Yeow! Nelly, that was mean..." She covered them up with a spare shirt she hastily picked up off the ground, "You're purposefully going for that spot because I can't get back at you. That's just plain unfair..."

"Wha-!?" I slapped her tits again, "That's it! I'm going to get Kevin, and when I do, I'm telling him all about how much of a slob you are!"

"Oww..." She rubbed her sore breasts as if to mock me even more, "Do it, he already knows."

"Huh?" I turned around with my eyes furrowed and head tilted, "He does?"

"Well yeah, we're childhood friends." She suddenly got all smug over a weird reason, "In fact, he even has my panties framed in his living room!"

"Do childhood friends... do that?" I backed away slowly.

As if finally realizing just how embarrassing of a statement she made, her face went bright red as she slammed her dorm door shut and presumably went to change into some proper attire. Looks like that's a them-specific thing and not a normal childhood friend thing, after all. Thank goodness, too, because I really wouldn't feel comfortable giving Meil my panties to frame. I'm willing to do a lot of things for him, but that just kind of feels like too much. I have my boundaries.

Heading out of the women's dorms only to immediately swerve to the left and head inside the men's dorms, I was stopped at the entrance by the booth guy. He very politely informed me that females can only enter if they gain permission from the person they're visiting, so I asked him if Kevin Papillon was in his room. After a short while they both came back down the stairs and Kevin gave me the all clear. Really, I only just wanted to tell him to follow me to our house for the party, but I just wanted to see something for myself.

"Makes me wonder though, why exactly do you wanna see my room, Nelly?" He chuckled as we made our way up the stairs.

"I wanna see something." I said as we stopped at door number 217, "Oh, just like Green girl's."

"You've been to her place as well?" He chuckled, "Man, that brings back memories. Did Meil ever tell you about the time we both entered her place on accident because we thought we were in the men's dormitory?"

"You two did?" I giggled as he unlocked the door and let me inside, "Now, lemme see them framed panties!"

"W-Wait, that's what you wanted to see!?" He immediately ran inside without even bothering to take his shoes off, "S-Stop, don't pull that curtain away...!"

"Hey." I pointed to the panty shrine hidden behind the curtain, "Explain this."

"Urk... Long story..." He slumped forward dejectedly.