"Oi Y/n, it's lunchtime. Let's go to the cafeteria." Deuce came to your seat after the bell rang. He had been seeing you bury your head down to the desk writing something, that you didn't even notice the lesson was over.
"What are you writing anyways?" The blue-haired boy asked. That's when you finally stopped your hand and looked up at him with a pair of panda eyes. Tiredness was the only thing written on your face, and you couldn't even open your eyes wide.
Deuce immediately figured out what you were working on when he saw the word "history" written on the paper. "Still working on the project?" He sighed.
You nodded helplessly, before you gave a deathly glare to Ace who was hiding behind his friend, trying to avoid any eye contact with you. "Mr. Free-rider, how would you plead?"
Seeing your angry face, the redhead immediately forced a smile. "Haha, what can I help you, the kindest prefect in Twisted Wonderland?"
You rolled your eyes as you heard the sweet talking Ace tried to use so as to distract you from scolding him for contributing nothing to the group project. "You know I don't buy that, don't you?"
Deuce who was standing aside could only sigh. It's a team project assigned by Trein. You were required to write a report about the development of spells in the eras that you had learnt about, which talked about hundreds of years. It will be counted in your daily mark, and that's why Trein took it so seriously that nobody is allowed to hand in the homework late.
Everything was going well, and you thought yourself was lucky enough to be teamed up with Ace, one of your friends in the class, but it was all until you found that he was a totally free rider who had been using different excuses to pass his works to you. He literally told you that he had done nothing yesterday, right after you finished your responsible parts.
"Haha, Y/n you know I am a history idiot. I won't be able to finish it without your help." Ace tried to justify himself and lower your temper.
"I hate the fact that I cannot refuse to help you." You grumbled, being moody about the fact that your term mark depended so much on this project, and if he couldn't finish before the deadline, you'd surely get a failed score, not to mention that Trein would definitely make you two suffer.
"Just take a rest first, Y/n. I've heard that today's dessert is strawberry pudding. I'm sure it will have you recharged." Deuce suggested. He's right, anything related to strawberries could definitely cheer you up, and your love for strawberries might probably be the only thing that you could relate to Riddle.
"I will help you queue up for your lunch, Y/n. Oh, and I can give you my pudding too, if you want." Walking in the corridor, Ace tried his best to make up for his zero contribution to the project, hoping that you wouldn't be angry for so long.
"Save it. But we have to get there ASAP, as I'm sure there will be so many people lining up for that, including Riddle-kun, of course." You looked to the back and hurried the boys before you all of a sudden bumped into someone.
"I'm sorry I-" You stopped apologizing and the emotion on your face did a 180-degree change when you saw Leona Kingscholar leaning his shoulder on the lockers. Wonderful, you had bumped into him, again. It's been a few days since the last potionology lesson, and you had been ignoring him when you met him in the hallway.
You gave him a glare before you looked away and returned to your way to the cafeteria, just like what you had been doing in the past few days, but the next moment Leona stopped you by grabbing your wrist. You could feel the coldness of his black leather glove.
"Mind having a word?" He asked with a deep voice.
Why must he be the one who you have been bumping into? You unwillingly looked back at him with an annoyed face. "I don't think I have anything to talk to you." You uttered and got rid of his hand, getting ready to leave.
"When will you stop being childish?" Was all you heard Leona say from behind.
You let out a sneer with laughter. How could he be so self-centered that he's still calling you childish til this moment, after what he had done? You stopped and again turned to the back. This time, you're not going to hold yourself back anymore.
"I am childish? Leona Kingscholar you ARE hilarious. Think of what you have done before calling ME childish!" You scolded back while pointing at him, not caring how much attention you had aroused from the students in the corridor.
"I wouldn't have called you childish if you had quit ignoring me!" Leona yelled back.
"Why must I do that? I don't-"
"Because it is frustrating and annoying! You wouldn't answer whatever I speak to you! Is it so difficult to just answer a word or something?! Just quit acting indifferent dammit!" Leona didn't wait for you to finish your words and fumed.
You stopped for a second, before you spoke again. "Why must you always be like that? All you care about is yourself, isn't it?"
It's Leona's turn to keep silent for your words.
You didn't wait for him to react but continued, "You have never thought about how I felt, being stuck in midair because you don't even care! You didn't even think of apologizing for that. And now you're not even giving me the right to be angry with you!"
It's a silent dead air that followed your berating. Nobody in the hallway dared to make a single sound while being surrounded by this cold atmosphere. Leona didn't retort. He could see not only anger but also disappointment and sadness on your face. His brain all of a sudden went blank and he couldn't form a word with his mouth at all.
Seeing him not answering, you decided to quit this farce. "Done talking? If so I'm leaving." was all you left for him before getting to the trio and leaving the hallway, leaving Leona standing in the middle of the crowd, looking at the direction in which you had gone.
Ah, you walked away, again, as always.
"Leona-san!" Just then, Ruggie arrived while panting. He had heard that Leona had come to the first year's building, and he could smell the conflict coming.
He quickly pulled his housewarden away from the middle of the hallway, who had been standing there, motionless.
"Haha, sorry everyone, they're just having some sort of squabbling. No worry no worry." Ruggie apologised and tried the move the crowd's attention away.
Entering an empty hallway on the East wing, Ruggie finally couldn't stand and broke the silence, "So you left the class just to come here for another fight, Leona-san?"
Leona didn't reply and kept his eyes on the floor.
"You could just say it if you want her forgiveness." Ruggie told. Looking at the unusual reactions of his housewarden, Ruggie could probably tell what was going on in his head. His housewarden has always been like that, having a big ego.
"Tsk, I don't need that." Leona grumbled before he speeded up his paces and walked to the front.
Looking at the back view of his boss, Ruggie shook his head. "Ya keep lying to yourself. Your face is selling you out." Ruggie mumbled helplessly, not letting Leona hear that, or he'd be surely killed by this housewarden for saying his thoughts out loud.
Leona, who was in the front, looked at his gloved palm. He surely didn't want his vice housewarden to see the emotion on his face right now. There was an unspoken heavy feeling in his heart, and it was frustrating that he was totally messed up by this unfamiliar and strange feeling.
"So it's what they called guilty, huh?" Leona mumbled to himself while folding his fingers tightly into the centre of his palm.
——
The school time had ended, but it didn't make a big difference to Leona, as he had skipped the three lessons after the lunch break. He wasn't in the mood to take any lessons, not even his favourite ancient curses.
Wandering along the hallway, Leona put his hands in his pockets, and let the sunlight shine on him, while the soft wind was blowing his brown long hair. The only thing he wanted at the moment was to have a little wander alone, so as to get rid of those things in his head that had been bothering him.
He should apologize, deep down in his heart, he knew well that he should do that to you. He didn't mean to scare you that much, but the fact was he did. He's tired of this Cold War between you and him anymore, but part of him told him that the word "apologize" was never in his dictionary.
Since he was small, saying sorry had never been a choice of him, no matter if it was his fault or not. You couldn't blame him for that when even the feeling of guilt is unfamiliar to him.
There were a few times, when he saw you passing by in the hallway. He was just a step away from saying the word "sorry", but he just couldn't have the word spoken. He wasn't sure if it was because of the stupid dignity of him, or anything. He just couldn't.
"Uhh... Frustrating." He growled.
The next second, two figures turned at the corner and ran into the hallway where Leona was.
"Huh, the Heartslabyul boys...?" Leona could recognize their hairstyle from far away. They're always around you whenever Leona saw you on campus. He noticed that the red-haired underclassman was holding a stack of paper in his hand. They seemed to be rushing to somewhere in extreme hurry.
They also recognized their upperclassman, but they didn't have the time to stop by. "Good afternoon Leona-senpai! Bye Leona-senpai!" They greeted without stopping the running.
Ace didn't have much time left before he could deliver the report that you had finished to Trein-sensei's table. He had totally forgotten the deadline, that's why he's running as fast as he can, so he wouldn't be late.
He couldn't fail the one and only mission he had got in the group project, after you had spent days finishing it. He had to take it to Trein's table before the deadline. And maybe that's why he didn't notice a stack of stapled paper fell off from his hand when he was running.
Leona picked up the stack of paper lying on the floor. "Oi, freshmen! You've dropped this!" He yelled, but the duo had already run to the end of the corridor and turned to the right, disappearing from Leona's view.
"Tsk, clumsy as hell." He mumbled. He then took a look at the paper and flicked the pages in out of curiosity.
"Huh?" He raised a brow as he saw the words written on the paper. They were neatly written on single-line paper. The handwriting's tidy... and familiar. It seemed that he had seen it somewhere else before.
"Herbivore?" Leona suddenly recognized that it was the handwriting that he had seen on your notebook, back there in the detention room. The report in his hand was written by you.
Usually, he would never waste any of the space in his brain to remember such small things about others' handwriting.
But somehow, he remembered yours.
He had no idea why Ace would be holding a report written by you, but it being dropped on the floor didn't seem to be anything good to you.
"Gotta return that to her." Leona thought, but the next moment, he stopped.
"Nearly forgot that she doesn't want to see me at the moment."
The disappointment on your face back there in the hallway at lunchtime wouldn't leave Leona's head. And it was the last thing he wanted to see again.
"Mendokusai... What are you thinking Leona..." he mumbled, while shaking his head, trying to clear his mind. "I'm probably not getting enough sleep." He told himself. Yes, it has to be.
Holding the half-folded paper in his hand, Leona continued to walk through the remaining part of the hallway, before he turned into another corridor where the sun couldn't shine on him.
——
The next day.
Due to the low-quality sleep he had had, Leona couldn't stop yawning the whole day. He seemed to have lost his ability to fall asleep within three seconds, and it's not okay for him.
The sunset had started, and the blue sky turned golden yellow, mixing with an orange colour. Leona escaped from his vice housewarden and enjoyed another solitude in the arcade on the ground floor.
"Trein-sensei, I'm sure there's some misunderstanding."
All of a sudden, he heard a familiar voice from the opposite side of the corridor. He fastened his paces a bit to get closer.
Same as what he had heard, he saw Trein, who was in the iconic long wine-red robe, standing at the middle of the arcade, and of course, with his dearest cat in his arms. However, that's not what had caught his attention...
In front of the teacher, it's you, who's facing Leona's direction with your back, not knowing his existence. But he could immediately recognize you from behind.
"Trein-sensei, I'm sure we've finished every part of the report, and Ace has already brought it to your table." You claimed with a worried voice, while your fingers uncontrollably scratching each other.
You were heading back to the dorm, until you were suddenly stopped by Trein in the middle of the arcade. He told you that a part of the project was missing.
"I would have seen that if your team had handed in. But the fact is that the Medieval Magic Era part is missing." Trein ignored your explanation and reaffirmed.
You unconsciously bite your lip when you hear the teacher's words. You had made a double-check before you handed the whole file to Ace, and you're sure that you had done the Medieval Magic Era part. You could even remember what spells you had included in it.
"Sensei, I don't know why it is missing, but I promise I am not lying. I did complete that part..." You tried your best to defend yourself, but your voice became smaller when you saw the teacher didn't seem to buy it.
"I wish there were proofs, Y/n. It would be unfair to the other classmate if I allowed your group to hand in the missing part after the deadline." Trein stood firmly and didn't think to give you another chance. No wonder why most of the students in NRC fear his strictness so much.
You could feel your heart missing a beat when you heard the teacher's words. It implied one simple but terrible fact: Your Magic History daily mark will be failed, after all the night and sleeping time you had spent on the project.
Your eyes were locked on the ground, and you were not saying anything, because nothing could prove that you had completed the work. You're sure that Ace wouldn't be mindful enough to check the report before he handed it to Trein, not to mention he had gone for basketball practice.
The only thing you could do, was to accept both the cruel fact and Trein's punishment.
"The proof you want is here."
All of a sudden, a voice from behind broke the coldness and silence in the arcade. You turn to the back, and that's when you see the familiar upperclassman walking towards your direction.
Leona took out the folded paper from the inner pocket of his vest, and handed it to the grey-haired teacher.
"You can compare the handwriting on these sheets with those on the report handed to you. It's her work." Leona pointed at the lines written on the paper and told his teacher.
Trein turned to the other pages and took a close look at them. "Then why is Y/n's homework in your hand, Kingscholar-kun?" He questioned.
Leona then told his teacher how he saw Ace rushing through the corridor and accidentally dropped a few pages onto the ground without noticing that.
"I wanted to stop him, but I guess he was too scared to hand in your assignment late, Trein." Leona explained.
He then looked down at you, who was standing still next to him, before he turned back to the sensei again. "She didn't lie, not at all." He added firmly.
You gasped a bit when you heard that from Leona. It's just a few words that he had said, but what it brought to you was the feeling of being trusted, that you didn't lie and you were innocent.
Trein turned to the first page of the report and moved his eyes to you. "Very well Y/n. There is no doubt that it's your work. Allow me to apologize for wronging you." He said before he walked away with his cat in his arms, leaving you and Leona alone in the arcade.
The silence had lasted for half a minute, with you two standing there, not saying anything. You're kind of in a dilemma of whether you should thank him at the moment when you're supposed to still be in a cold war with him.
Wanting to escape from the awkward atmosphere, you decided to turn around and leave. You fastened your feet up and started walking to the right end of the arcade at a hurried pace.
"Y/n."
You gasped in surprise and your feet uncontrollably stopped when you heard the familiar voice calling you from behind.
It's the first time Leona had ever called you by your name.
There was a distance between you and Leona, probably a meter or two. You stood still in your position, not turning to the back.
"Yes?" You tried to act calm, but in fact, you could even hear the pounding of your heart, and you could feel the slight heat on your cheeks, though you didn't know why you were so nervous.
"I've got something that I didn't get to say it last time." You heard his voice.
"I am sorry." Was all Leona said. That's when you finally looked back at him.
The soft golden-yellow light from the setting sun shone into the arcade from between the pillars and onto Leona. He was looking at you, not looking away or avoiding eye contact, just you.
"I am sorry for making you scared, Y/n. I shouldn't have done that anyways, especially when you're afraid of height."
"You're right. I didn't think of your feelings, probably everyone's, and you definitely have the right to be mad at me."
"I only hope you can allow me to apologize for the stupid action of mine, and that's all." Leona said.
It's no more than a simple apology, probably similar to those from the kids.
But somehow, it's also the most genuine apology that you had ever received, and it's from Leona, a person who you thought would never say sorry.
The meters of distance between you two remained, but you had never felt closer to the person in front of you.
You turned around, again facing Leona with your back. You surely didn't want anybody to see your apple-like cheeks.
Seeing that, disappointment appeared on Leona's face, but he tried to hide that. You're not forgiving him, he thought to himself. He should have known it.
"It's fine. I understand that. You don't have to-"
"I forgive you."
Leona raised his head in surprise when he heard the three simple but unexpected words from you. You forgave him...?
"You have apologized, and I accept it. As long as you won't do anything like that again, I am forgiving you." You continued.
You then turned to the back with a smile on your face, "Arigato, Leona. Thanks for your help." You immediately walked away from the corridor with slight running, not waiting for the upperclassman to respond.
Leona stood in the middle of the arcade, eyes locked in the direction where you had gone, while his mind stopped at the moment you looked back and smiled. He pressed his hand against his chest when he all of a sudden found his heart pumping much quicker than usual. He could also feel the unknown heat on the two sides of his cheeks. A strange and weird feeling spread from his heart, that he had never felt before.
He immediately shook his head and patted his cheeks, so as to cool them down. He then pointed at the setting sun outside. "It must have been the goddamn sun that makes my face hot as hell. I'm probably getting a heatstroke. That's why my heartbeat rises. Right, right... Gotta get back to the dorm before I faint due to the heatstroke." Leona kept mumbling to himself while speeding up and got out of the arcade.
Perhaps it wasn't that bad, after all.
——
"Good afternoon everyone!"
You greeted as you arrived at the Stadium in your sportswear. The members of the Spelldrive team all looked at you in startle. They didn't expect you to come back, after the incident happened.
"Oi, done standing there like woods?" Before they could respond, another person came from the opposite side of the venue. It's their captain, who had arrived just on time.
"Start the training before I kick your ass out of the team!" Leona yelled. The next second, all the members started moving and got ready for today's practices.
Leona stopped next to you. "Afternoon herbivore." He greeted with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"You're punctual today, Captain Leona." You teased with a slight smile by emphasizing his title.
"So are you, Miss Manager." Leona teased back with a smirk.
"Okay, that's enough. Let's quit it. It's weird." You couldn't help but laugh a bit, and so as him.
"Thought you could finally pronounce my name." You joked and helplessly rolled your eyes.
"I call you whatever I like. You're still herbivore."
"Fine. Then you're Captain Meowmeow."
"You don't get to call me by that."
"Well, actually I do."
You two were too focused on the "Nickname War", that you didn't even notice Ruggie, who had been looking at the two of you from not far away.
"They're still arguing like before, aren't they?" A sophomore member asked Ruggie.
The hyena let out a smile, followed by a shrug. "Well, they may be squabbling. But you can't deny the fact that they're both enjoying it."
He wasn't totally wrong, after all. Just look at the smile on your face and Leona's.