Arcadia

Yukiko Tenri

Yura slumped back in her classroom chair. She rubbed her forehead to massage it, hoping to relieve the slight migraine she has been suffering through since waking up.

Boy, all those errands after getting back took their toll. 

Somehow, Yura can't help but laugh deep inside. Despite all the things she had to go through late-night as a member of the Aegis, this never happened. However, all it took is one night full of errands...

"I understand that all of you want to start preparing for the festival which starts next Wednesday. To help get the events organized, I will be assigning group leaders for the events next week."

Still having a headache, Yura did not really care to listen to the teacher. She went on with some more briefing about the festival next week, when...

"For the girls' maid cafe... Leanne Sanchez."

What?!

As if hit by something, Yura sprang up. Suddenly, her headache was gone. She slowly turned her head to the side.

"This will be fun!" shouted Leanne. She had a huge smile on her face.

It's just her being her typical happy self. Yes, that's gotta be it.

For Yura, there remained a really unsettling feeling about having her seatmate as the leader for the group. It felt as if that smile contained some malicious intent. As if sensing Yura's thoughts, Leanne turned to her.

"Riiiight?!" her smile widened even more, which unfortunately made things clear for Yura.

Eeek! This is bad, she's really planning something!

The teacher cleared her throat and flashed some slides on her board. "Alright, time to settle down, everyone. Let's start the lessons for today."

She waved her hand over the screen and switched the slides to an overhead view of the northern district of Arcadia.

"As you may already know, the northern section of Arcadia is the part that is least influenced by the leaps taken by the city over the years."

"Mind you, these people still believe in spirits and such. Well, we cannot blame them. I mean, that site is also the location of a severe earthquake many years ago. These people believed that spiritual forces were at work back then and remain tied to the past until now. Personally, I want to do something about them, but most people prefer to just leave them be."

She turned to the class with a serious look on her face.

"We all know that the only supernatural force at work in Arcadia is magic."

After saying that, she immediately turned to Amaya. After a moment of silence, she once again waved her hand over the screen, causing the visual to change. This time, it showed a view of the outskirts near the mountains.

"Now, we turn our attention to the mountain, El Aldo...."

The lesson on social studies continued on....

~~~~~

"Arghhh! I'm spent! Thank goodness it's a Friday." 

Yura stretched her hands out, springing up from her chair. The last class for the day has just ended and she stayed with Leanne to do some last-minute work on her class terminal. She stowed the monitor on her desk away before picking her bag up.

Leanne followed her out of the classroom.

Reaching the school gate on their way out, they passed by Amaya. She had her sylph, Lyra, on her shoulder. That has become the norm outside class. Not everyone can see her, except those who have some affinity with magic.