"What are you doing here? You got lost on the campus or something?"
You didn't know how many times he had all of a sudden appeared in front of you without any portent, but still you couldn't help gasping with widened eyes.
Although he didn't exactly tell you why he's here, he's in his sportswear, showing up in the stadium, you could told the reason. "So, you are a member of the Spelldrive Club, huh?" You asked, though you hated that.
"Don't reply my question with another question. Why are you here?" Leona refused to answer your question. Seeing you, the magicless herbivore, in the Spelldrive team was the last thing he had ever thought of.
"Tsk, I am here because Headmage Crowley asked me to be the new manager of the team." You told without even looking at him. "Now your turn. Member of the Spelldrive team?" You uttered the question again. According to Leona's lazy image in your mind, you had never imagined him being in a sports team. What you had learnt from the anime and manga was that athletes were supposed to be enthusiastic and energetic, but he was nothing related to enthusiasm and passion. Just look at Sakuragi Hanamichi.
A proud smile appeared on the lion's face. You could see the sharp canine teeth of his. "Well, more like the captain."
"Ha! Funny that you think I would actually believe that." You let out a laughter. He was way too far from relating to the "captain of a sports group", wasn't him?
Leona tsked when he heard you mocking, "Same as you. Don't you think I would believe that Crowley has assigned me a MAGICLESS freshman as the new manager?"
Things had got heated, and even the students near you two could feel the tense atmosphere around. Some of them had seen the two of you arguing before, and they could tell it wasn't anything good at all.
"Oi oi, isn't it Y/n-chan over there?" You were about to "open fire", before you heard someone called you from behind. You turned around, and found that it was Ruggie Bucchi, the other Savannaclaw student. You had seen him several times, as he's always near his housewarden. He's in the sportswear, and even with a broomstick in his hand. He's probably a member of the Spelldrive team, too, you thought to yourself.
Leona seemed to not be happy for his vice housewarden's arrival. He knitted his brows, "You are late, Ruggie."
The hyaena scratch the back of his head, he then stocked out his tongue and winked, "Sorry, Leona-san, Trein-sensei just wouldn't let us go until his had finished the chapter." The sophomore sighed helplessly. Part of the reason was about Trein's strictness, and part of it was because of the fact that Leona is the one who is always late for the practice. Leona just happened to have skipped to last lesson and had a nap in the garden, and so he felt like to be punctual for the Spelldrive practice.
Ruggie then turned to you and asked a question similar to the one his housewarden had asked, "Neh neh, Y/n-chan. What are you doing in the Spelldrive team. I don't remember seeing you in our previous training. Wouldn't you be coming here all way long to find Leona-san for the chitchat that I have just interrupted? Shshsh..." The upperclassman didn't forget to tease with his iconic laughter.
Leona rested his forehead on the tips of his fingers, "Quit bullshitting, would you?" He then pointed at you with the other hand, "Tell her who is the captain of the team."
Ruggie seemed to be a bit confused, but he still did as his housewarden had told. "Leona-san it is. Why don't you just tell her yourself?" He replied. The next thing he saw was the unbelieving face shown on your face.
"Seriously? You gotta be kidding with me, Ruggie-senpai." You gushed the moment you found that you're really going to work as a team with Leona, and you refused to believe that. But all you got was the reconfirm from Ruggie and the other members.
"But that still didn't explain what had brought you here, Y/n-chan." Ruggie wondered again. It had been a while since he started to call you "Y/n-chan". You were a bit awkward at first as you weren't that familiar with him. But then you started getting used to that, and responded usually when he greeted you with that honorific.
That's when you remembered that you hadn't got the opportunity to explain the whole situation, as the boys were busy with their own business. "Now I've got your attention..." you cleared your voice before you started, "Ahem. My name is Y/F/N and you can call me Y/n. I am the new manager of the team."
You told them the thing, including it was the headmage who had assigned you the job. You saw them start nodding and discussing as you explained. "I hope I can help you. Please do let me know if I can do anything, as I'm kinda a newbie." You added at the end.
"So we've got a girl as our manager? That's not bad after all." You heard a member say.
"She's the girl from what, Ramshackle Dorm, right? She's magicless, isn't she?" You heard another member chimed in.
The discussion never stopped. You could hear the whispering among the boys. Some of them seemed to be happy about the new arrangement while some were not. This made you let out a sigh for being forced to help Crowley, again.
"Are we done here?" All of a sudden, Leona, who was standing aside voiced. He was leaning his back on the standing broomstick in impatience. Within a second, the whispering stopped, and all the members had their eyes on the captain. No one dared to let out any sound.
"We're not wasting another two hours chitchatting, are we?" Leona continued and raised his voice, "Now get yourself to work. Do the warmups if you haven't. We'll start in 5 minutes."
"YES CAPTAIN!"
You saw the whole team spreading and starting to do as Leona demanded. They seemed to be scared of their captain, and wouldn't dare to do anything to piss him off.
"Oi, you!" Just when your eyes were still on the team, you heard Leona's deep voice calling you from behind. "What do you want?" You muttered.
Leona moved his forefinger and signaled you to come over. "Hah...?" You were annoyed and confused, but you still walked towards him as he told you. "What is it?"
"Want a ride?" Leona asked with a smirk while tying up his hair into a middle-high ponytail, with a few strips of brown hair remaining on the two sides of his face.
You raised a brow, "What ride, I don't get- Wait what-"
Without waiting for you to finish the line, Leona had already pulled you down onto the broomstick which was floating above the ground. He then quickly straddled the broomstick and sat in front of you.
You had never been on a broomstick, not even in the flight lesson. As it requires magic to control, Grim was the one who had been taking the lessons, while normally you would sit aside or go to the library. That's why you didn't know how to react when you were forced to sit on the broom. You could feel the position of the broom rising a little bit, as the tip of your feet couldn't touch the ground.
You grabbed the wooden part of the broomstick tightly so as not to fall off. "Leona what are you doing? Lower the broom!" You demanded with a nervous voice.
The lion didn't answer, instead, the broom floated a little bit higher than it already was, which caused you to lose your balance. You unconsciously grabbed Leona's upper arms to prevent yourself from falling. Height was never your friend. Back in your original world, you would never look down from somewhere high, because the next second you would be crouching on the floor with shaking legs. Not to mention the extreme sports like paragliding or mountain climbing. You had never tried any of those. You hated the feeling of not having your feet on the ground, it felt unsafe.
"Look Leona, whatever you're going to do, don't. Let me down." You tried your best to stay calm, but all you did was grabbing his arms even more tightly as the broom continued to rise.
"Hold on." Leona ignored your complaints and uttered.
"Wait, Leona! I can't FLYYYYYYAHHHHHH!!!!"
The next second, the broomstick suddenly speeded up and rushed into the sky. You could feel the broom became vertical as it flew up. The one and only thing you did was closing your eyes tightly and grabbing the person in front of you. The strong wind continued to hit on you and your hair tie was blown away. This was way much scarier than looking down from the rooftops of the Ferris wheel.
"LEONA LET ME DOWN! NO NO NO DON'T GO HIGHER! LEONAAAAA!!" You cried. You didn't dare to loosen your arms, but instead, unconsciously tightened your grip while begging the upperclassman to return to the ground. Your fear of height wasn't developed in one day but years, but here you're, flying in midair at such a high speed. All your calmness had disappeared.
It seemed that Leona didn't hear you, or it was just him ignoring that. It was kinda a little revenge to you, for the mocking you had made during the "wars" between you and him. The broom continued to rush, and all your screaming was covered by the sounds of the strong wind. Suddenly, the broom did a 360-degree flip without any warning. You were on the edge of falling off from the body of the broomstick, but Leona reached his arm to the back and held you firmly.
"I AM SORRY LEONA WHATEVER I HAVE DONE I AM SORRY PLEASE LET ME DOWN I AM BEGGING YOU!!" You kept your eyes sealed shut and buried your face into the back in front of you. You didn't notice how cracked your voice was because your mind had no space for worrying about that.
Leona, who was in front of you, however, could notice that. He surely didn't expect to see that from you. He's always seen you being fearless, since the first time he met you in the botanical garden. You were the few people who dared to talk straight back to him. But here you're, shaking behind him in fear. He could even see the tears formed in your eye corners. He stopped the broom, and lowered it slowly.
"Oi, we're on the ground." You heard Leona uttered, but you were still in shock that your body refused to move.
"You are safe, okay? Just relax the legs and feel the ground." Leona continued.
You thought for a second, before you moved one leg and tried to reach the ground. You didn't dare to relax any of the tense muscles before the tip of your feet met the solid floor.
"See? I told you." The lion said. "Now, would you mind loosening your arms? Unless you're that desperate to hug me like that."
"What...?" You slowly opened your teary eyes. The next thing you found was your arms surrounding Leona's waist tightly, while a side of your face was literally burying on Leona's back. Your cheeks immediately turned tomato red for the embarrassment and awkwardness.
"Done zoning out, huh? Now-" "SLAP!" Leona couldn't even finish the sentence, before you gave him a hard smack in his face without saving any strength.
"Leona Kingscholar, you fucking asshole." Was all you dropped in rage before you got off the broomstick and left the stadium.
The other members were all in shock when they saw their captain being slapped in the face. Ruggie squeezed out from the crowd and reached Leona, who was still sitting on the broom and starring at the entrance of the stadium, where you had left.
"Leona-san..." Ruggie carefully approached his housewarden. He gasped a bit when he saw the red mark with the shape of your palm left on Leona's face. It was even more obvious than the last one you gave him in the botanical garden.
"God, he's gonna be really mad..." Ruggie mumbled to himself and got ready to calm the captain down.
"Tsk, such a brat she is." Leona grumbled, but that's all. He then turned to the team. "Spread. There's nothing to see. Have you all done the warmups? I suppose you have. Now get yourself onto the broom and start the training!"
"YES SIR!" The team didn't dare to slow down and spread as the captain demanded, although some of them still hadn't come back from the drama that had just happened.
"Eh?" Only Ruggie still couldn't react to the situation. Leona didn't blow a fuse... did he? Ruggie couldn't believe that his housewarden was so calm after being smacked in the face by the same person twice. Although it's clearly his fault for tricking you, as Ruggie had seen, usually Leona wouldn't forgive anyone who did that to him. Ruggie even doubted if anyone had done that to him. "Leona-san... are you okay? Umm, you face..." Ruggie hesitated.
"Huh?" Leona touched the reddened part of his face, "Ah, it was nothing. Guide the other members, would you? Especially the newcomers." He asked, but his eyes didn't actually leave the stadium entrance, and Ruggie surely could notice that.
"She probably hasn't gone far. You could catch her up if you go now." Ruggie suggested. He didn't understand the weird move of his boss, but he could tell that Leona was somehow thinking of you.
Leona turned to Ruggie with a mindless smile, "Ha, why would I? If she wants to leave, then let her. Let's go to take care of the newbies first. They seem to be all lost." He uttered before getting off his broomstick. He didn't forget to look at the entrance for one last time before he walked towards the team. "Oi the one with purple hair! Hold your broom properly!"
Ruggie looked at his housewarden from behind. "You love saying no but meaning yes, don't you?" He sighed. After serving Leona for years, he could understand his feelings with just a little glance or a gesture. But Ruggie wouldn't want to debunk that, as he knew his boss hated being seen through.
"She'll probably be fine... I guess. Unlucky me, gotta continue my work as the babysitter of the whole team." Ruggie let out a sigh. His captain had just successfully driven away the only person who was willing to be the new manager of the team, which made him have to take care of the Spelldrive team, apart from Leona.
"Oi, Leona-San wait for me!"
——
"Fucking Leona Kingscholar..." you bent your knees against your chest and wrapped your arms around them. You were sitting on the toilet cover with the door sealed shut. You rushed into the washroom after leaving the stadium and ignored the weird looks of the students on your way.
The toilet was quiet, which made your heartbeat even louder than it was. You could still feel your shaking hands, although you had already left the midair. It wasn't the first day of you knowing your fears of heights, and you hated the feeling of losing control of your body. You tried to stand up straight but your legs were like jelly, and so were your fingers, which couldn't even form a fist.
You wiped the tears near your eye corners and calmed yourself down. "Y/n, it's fine. You're okay. You can't and should not cry. Don't show your weakness. You'll be fine..." You continued to comfort yourself until your breathing became smooth.
"I swear I will kill that lion." You bellowed while biting your lips and grabbed the tissue in your hand. This was far from the jokes or mocking he had made. You were scared out of your skin, that you might have fallen off the broom. Height was your weakness, and no one should cross this limit.
You glared at your palms. You all of a sudden recalled the scene where you wrapped your arms around Leona from behind like he was the last thing you wanted to lose in your life. "Dammit!" You facepalmed in embarrassment and buried your face to the knees. How could you be able to continue your job as the new manager, when your first day had already sucked? Part of you wanted to just quit it, but the ration part told you that Crowley would have a perfect excuse for putting your issue aside. "Arrrr, my head is blowing!" You shook your head in helplessness.
You didn't know how long you had stayed in that tiny space in the toilet, but you could tell it was long enough when you saw the sky turning from blue to yellow and to dark. You just did not want to face the team and anybody at that moment. You had a lot of thought and had come up with many things during your time staying in the toilet. Some were useful while some were just random and unimportant. Finally, you decided to unlock the door and leave. You rolled your sleeves and washed both your hands and your face. "Time to face the shit." You told yourself.
You walked out from the washroom and were ready to head back to the Heartslabyul Dorm to pick up Grim, but you immediately noticed that someone was standing outside, a familiar figure, Leona. He was leaning on the wall while scrolling his phone. He seemed to have been here for a period of time, and he's still in the sportswear. He's... waiting for you?
You gave him a glare before you turned around and walked away. You didn't even want to see him, and there's no reason for you to talk to him.
The next thing you felt was your hand being grabbed. You stopped your pace. "Let go of me, would you?" You uttered with an emotionless voice. You tried to move your hand from Leona's, but he just refused to loosen it.
You had met the limit of your patience and that's when you turned to the back. "Leona Kingscholar. I am so done with you, can you just-"
"You're afraid of height, aren't you? Acrophobia?" Leona asked, followed by a short silence.
"Isn't that obvious?" You rolled your eyes. "Let go of my hand, Kingscholar." You repeated.
There was no reply, just silence and the two of you in the hallway.
"Now what on earth do you want exactly?" You gushed in rage. Leona loosened his hand with hesitation after hearing your bellow.
"Tsk." You hissed before turning your back against the upperclassman and left. You didn't want to stay here for one more minute.
"Herbivore," You heard Leona call from behind before you were about to turn left, and you once again stopped your pace.
"Speak." You muttered, while still facing the front. It didn't feel usual for the both of you, being in such a serious mood.
"I..." Leona hesitated. There was something he wanted to speak, but he just couldn't form the word. Moments of complete silence turned into seconds, and seconds turned into minutes.
You decided to give up waiting, because there was nothing worthy. You continued your pace without looking back and entered the main school building, disappearing in the sight of Leona, leaving him alone in the middle of the hallway.
"What is happening to me... Dammit." Leona pressed his forehead against his finger and shook his head.
——
It was already evening when you and Grim returned to Ramshackle Dorm. You hadn't touched your assignments and you could tell it would be a busy night for you. You also made sure that you would remember to figure out how to turn off the job of the Spelldrive team's manager to Crowley.
It's 11 pm at night, and you had nearly finished your homework. You couldn't figure out the answer to a question in the potionology homework that Crewel had given you today. Grim had already fallen into deep sleep and was snoring loudly on the bed. You tidied your table and walked downstairs. You didn't forget to close the door softly so as not to wake the sleeping kitten.
You decided to take a little walk outside the building. The fresh air and the gentle wind could perhaps help you to find the answer. "Ahh, Crewel-sensei knows how to torture us." You shook your head when you remembered the quizzes he was going to give you in the coming weeks. You'd been trying your best to pick up the lessons, and in fact, you did make some significant improvement.
You took a sit under the tree and opened your potionology book. You poked your temple with the pen while tackling the question. It's an experimental question about making the potion to speed up the growth of the mandrake. Crewel threw the question to the class and demanded you figure out the answer before the next lesson. Not even the Heartslabyul duo could figure that out, so it's all on yourself.
"Umm... Let's see. First the black sand, then the campus fire ash. Stir the mixture and... add these. What's next?" That was the part you were trapped in.
"What's the question again? What kind of... water should I add? Oh, so even water is classified here, wonderful." You didn't notice yourself mumbling so much. You tried to recall if there were any clues given by Crewel in the lesson, even a small one could help. But as far as you remembered, there weren't any. "God, just kill me. What water should I use??" You yelled helplessly.
"Dew water it is."
All of a sudden, someone answered your question. You froze in shock, and slowly turned your head to the back, where the voice came from. That was when you saw a tall stranger probing his head from behind the tree. He has black long hair and pale skin. He's probably a student of NRC because he's in the uniform. The part that caught most of your attention was the two black horns on his head.
"Crap! Why y'all like to show up without any sounds?!!" You gasped. You hadn't noticed that you weren't alone here, and there was another person near you the whole time.
"Sea water's for cleansing and healing, not suitable for a growth potion. Stormwater is way too vigorous for that. It may react with the herb you had added, and the whole potion may explode." The stranger ignored your shocked face and elaborated his answer.
Hah??? You couldn't react the the situation.
"Snow water is a good choice, but the effect may not be so significant, so I suggest dew water. It provides all the nutrients baby mandrake needs, and it won't clash with the ingredients you had added." The stranger finished his explanation fully, but you were still starring at him in shock and confusion.
What on earth is happening?