SAMSARA

SAMSARA [11]

Eventually I had to wake up. I felt quite disturbed at the thought of leaving my comfortable bed, but school is school. And as always, it's early in the morning.

I sighed as I got out of my bed. I undressed and entered the bathroom, doing the usual morning routine. Then I dried myself up and put on my school uniform again. I brushed my hair properly, then approached my weapon case. I opened it, and carefully grabbed my sword Frost-Eater. Now I'm ready to go, I thought in my head as I left the room. I walked down the stairs and ate breakfast with my mother. When I was done, I didn't really expect her to say these next words. "I'll put the dishes away, you can go and rush off to school with Akaza now," she laughed. I snorted and only nodded to her and practically sprinted out of the house. When I was halfway there to Tempesta Defense Academy, I met up with Akaza. "So you didn't decide to be absent today after all!" I laughed at Akaza as I slowed down my pace to match his own. Pretty much mocking how slow he is.

"Of course I didn't, man," he said to me with a tone of faux offense as we both walked to school together.

Eventually we reached the gates and saw both Aurora and Bronze there. They probably arrived around the same time as us, if not even before we did. However I decided to not say anything to them and focused on rushing to the first period of the day, or homeroom period. Akaza was pretty much struggling to keep up as I ran. I found that a little funny, though.

The two of us eventually made it to our homeroom class, and we both got to our own seats. As per usual, like with every other class we have together, we sat next to each other. We heard the bell ring, which signified it was already 8:00. Nice, now the twenty minute countdown is on in my head. Just have to wait a little.. or, well, maybe a little longer than just a little. I think I just said the word little three times in a row, and that one just marked the fourth. I need to stop rambling. I mentally punched myself to stop it, and I opted to distract myself with socialization instead. So, I nudged Akaza and he turned to me with his eyebrows raised and his hazel eyes filled with intrigue. I rolled my eyes jokingly at his expression as I then said, "We've got Sparring Exercises class first thing in the morning after the twenty minutes are up," and I laughed at him. He seemed to be offended by that as he gasped at me and replied, "I hope our Professor doesn't pick me!"

To either terrify or anger him, I said this, "Who knows? I think Professor Everleigh might pick you first. And maybe, you'll go against Bronze. Or me." And I then grinned at my own words. He shivered and denied it, saying, "She wouldn't. I know it!"

I only laughed at him and he decided to end the conversation right there. I pretty much just stared at him with an expression that said you're no fun. I rolled my eyes for like, the second time this morning, and decided to sleep the next seventeen minutes away like the lazy guy I am. Though, personally, I'd say I'm not that lazy. Probably. Uh, who cares anyway? Definitely not me.

Eventually the ringing of the bell woke me up as I grumbled due to being awoken, so rudely no less. I sighed and stood up alongside Akaza and we both walked to the classroom directly next to Ulv'djevel Combat, which is Sparring Exercises class. Convenient, if I must say so myself. It's close by. There, we sat in what was pretty much the second middle row of seats, since there were just so many students that are all stuffed into the same room. Bronze was directly next to me, though, on my left side. "What's up man?" I said as a greeting to Bronze. He nodded at me and said, "Nice to see you two." I could even see him winking at us, with his left eye closed for a moment though it opened a moment later once more. It revealed his heterochromatic eyes. I always thought his eyes were cool. His left eye was forest green, and his right eye was simply brown. "Now, uh, how about we pay attention to the front? I think Professor Everleigh's going to start speaking any minute." He said awkwardly, a contrast to his behavior just a minute ago. I smiled and nodded at him, though Akaza seemed pretty ignorant this morning. I inwardly chuckled at that. The three of us looked at the front, where Professor Everleigh then looked from the board towards the students, her evergreen eyes sharp as ever. Funny, considering her surname, though I suppose there's no connection between her eye color and surname. I sighed at my lame attempt. The windows in this classroom were open, causing many female students' hairs to sway in the wind, Professor Everleigh's auburn hair included. I shook my head as she started speaking at last. "Good morning, first years." She smiled. "Today is another day of Sparring Exercises, so we shall not remain in the classroom much longer. Let us go to the sparring hall," to which she then motioned for everyone to stand and follow her. We all did as she said, and Akaza and Bronze walked behind me. Eventually we passed some halls and made it to the giant room that looked like a theater, though it was used for fighting, not acting.

We all sat on the seats positioned right in front of the stage, with Professor Everleigh standing in front of us all, though not on the stage herself. She started talking a moment after we all made ourselves comfortable in the seats, "Now, you all already know the rules of our sparring. No major injuries, taking a fight too seriously, the usual. I won't bore you kids with that." She sighed. "Today, instead of one battle, we'll have two, so make each fight quick. Next, obviously, I'll need four volunteers. Is anyone going to fight in round one?"

Two random students whose names I never bothered to learn raised their hands. The male had red hair, and the female had light blue hair in braids. That's all I could see from behind. Professor Everleigh nodded at them, saying, "Max Tora and Rose June. You two may fight each other."

Oh. So that's their names. I'm going to guess that by Max's surname, the man has a feline-related Pyrokinesis or something. I'm not sure about Rose, however.

The two walked onto the stage on opposite ends, with Max on the left and Rose on the right. "I'll beat you this round," said Max confidently. Nice attitude, I complimented him inwardly. "Sure you will." Rose grinned.

The two of them unsheathed their weapons. I observed that Max's weapons were clawed gauntlets, I probably guessed right on the Pyrokinesis, and Rose had a scythe. Not many people use that. This is interesting. Two melee weapons against each other, one a pair of gauntlets, the other a scythe. Let's see how this fight ends.