"Amir-san!"
"Yes?"
"N-Nothing...I just wanted to say your name, hehe," Yuu innocently laughed. Mira felt as if she was losing hundreds of HP from the cute laugh that Yuu had emitted from her lips, yet she stayed put as she bit on the udon that she had ordered. Although it looked good, the taste was a lot blander than she had thought. It would have been better to stir-fry it for a tad bit longer for the taste to become savoury. She decided to remind herself to tell the ghosts working in the cafeteria to ask for their opinion after school.
I haven't told her my real name...but meh.
Unlike herself, Grim was thrashing on his food with ecstasy, licking his lips in delight no matter how many bites he had taken into his dish. "I'm gonna beat that Ace guy to a pulp."
Mira furrowed her eyebrows and looked from her bowl. "Ace? Who's that?"
"A-Ah, it seems that there's this first-year student who we met when you just left to go to the teacher's faculty. He goes by the name Ace Trappola or something, and he explained to us the seven statues that were aligned before dissing us!" Yuu explained, huffing in annoyance. She dug the fork down the chicken with the aura to murder, yet Mira doubt she would be able to even cause a single mishap. Instead, Mira motioned her to continue. "And then Grim got mad, they both decided to fight while I tried my best to stop them...before Grim aimed incorrectly and burnt the statue of the Queen of Hearts..."
Mira choked on the broth, causing people's attention to drift on her before she punched her chest in utter laughter. It was the first time that she had broken into a comedic fit in campus, so she brought quite the attention than the trio had realised. "Y-You what!?! What the heck!? That's the funniest thing I've heard lately. My gosh, let's hang out more since I love drama."
"Amir-san!" Yuu pouted before munching on the food in front of her. "So then as if on cue, the Principal was there! He scolded the three of us and now we have to clean 100 windows around the campus!"
Mira smirked before placing the chopsticks down on the brim of the bowl, then did the usual ritual of placing her hands together in respects to the food. "Thanks for the food~. 100 windows? That doesn't sound that bad of punishment despite charring the statues of the Great Seven, but I guess he just considers that as being nice. So much for being the first day of the school year, I was expecting you to handle your anger issues a lot better, Grim."
"Me!? He's the one who started to be mean first!"
"First or last, don't throw in any punches that can be risky," Mira lectured, thinking of her past as someone else. All the harm that she herself has caused and the harms that the people whom she had used to know popped up in her mind as quick as a bursting volcano. "Imagine if you didn't have magic. If you were someone like Yuu, who has a defect in power, what can you do? Of course, I'm not telling you to just sit out there and get dissed — use words. Even words can be weapons, y'know?"
Well, that was how I dealt with problems when people diss me about being a sociopath. What good is there to hurt physically?
Especially when you have the chance to break them in the inside, that is.
"I see!" Yuu beamed as she closed her eyes and hummed. "I'll try to use your advice."
"Huh? You weren't the one who attacked though—" Mira started before being interrupted by Grim.
"Right! I'll go tell him who's boss with my vocabulary!"
"Actually, you're not very fit for this at all Grimmy boy," Mira retorted once again. "Your vocabulary isn't much better, is it?"
She sighed and asked mentally why she was suddenly surrounded by idiots. It was the first time that she had someone to eat with, to her realisation, and somehow she felt like the ambience of having an enjoyable lunchtime had caused her to release a little smile. Perhaps eating with a group wasn't as bad as she thought and she had ought to treasure it more. Of course, it wasn't as if she minded being alone, but it seemed that time had passed a lot quicker than it usually had. As much as she had studied things about emotions coming into play when speaking in regards to focusing on time perception. Taking in account the oddball effect, the mere thought of perceiving time in terms of happiness was a lot different to what she usual was — taking time from second by second no matter how long it ticked by.
There it was. A new sentiment that would keep her emotionally occupied for a while.
"Now that the bell is going to go, I guess I can say 'hope you guys have fun cleaning as janitors'?" Mira proposed as she placed the bowl on the counter to get it washed. Yuu followed suit and placed her plate and tray in the assigned position, groaning in lassitude while Grim cursed at her. She took into record of the time when they were going to start cleaning and assumed when she was going to escape Alchemy classes with Crewel.
Perhaps she could expect something fun to happen just for a little bit.
"Excuse me? Trein-sensei?" She called from behind the classroom door. Not hearing a response, she wondered whether her history teacher was late or not. He was never late, not when he taught her at least, so her suspicions grew when she knocked for the fifth time. "Is he still in the faculty room? Is he taking a big dump? Where is he?"
"Delacroix."
"Oh yo, wassup Sir— I mean, I didn't say anything! What's poppin'!?"
"Again with the confusing jargon," he said blankly with no expectation of her use of lexis and reverence. Mira forced an ingenuous grin from her wicked words, the arbitrary terms that she used when she was once nonchalant as a youth. Repeating high school again already made her disturbed, yet she was glad that she was able to be placed in an academy of magic, out of all things. History and theory-based subjects made her sleepy, yet it was nothing worse than learning the history from when she was in Japan. "Before we start our lesson, I need you to deliver these two boxes that have been taking the space on the front desk to the second mathematics classroom. I'll be waiting here."
Huh? You're gonna make me carry both of these? Screw you, bro, how dare you hurt my feelings— oh wait, remind me what feelings are again?
"Sure thing?" She answered, yet it sounded more like a question if anything. She stretched her arms before hearing the cracking sensation of her bones, then carefully kneeling down to pick up the two boxes stacked as one. Lifting it up was no problem, especially not the weight, but seeing was the problem. Did that damn Mozus Trein not feel any guilt in letting a student carry two boxes that covered their field of vision!?
I wish I could use magic, but I can't use it unless it's for the right subject. Heck, I'm not even starting any lessons yet. Let's just get this over with.
Walking down the hallway of the second-year floor was harder than she had imagined. If it weren't for the period to start already, she would have suffered from the trampling of people making their way to the classrooms begging for their teacher to not be there before them. Yet, she found herself walking weirdly — anything but walking straight, and she swore that she might have made a U-turn by accident.
"Woah there! You almost hit me with these boxes!"
A voice.
She jerked her head to the side of the boxes, eyes closed in exhaustion from carrying. "Haha, sorry. With these, I can't really see where I'm going. Are you alri—"
Her eyes fluttered open to see a pair of ears in front of her. She blinked before tracing her eyes to his face, the light brown soft hair and the grey eyes that brought attention to her. Mira silenced for a moment, almost dropping the boxes that she thought was held tightly from her grasp. The ears, has she ever seen ears as soft as those before?
"Hm? Where are you even looking at?" He asked, his verbal tic evident as he spoke. Her mind automatically stored his voice somewhere in her memory as she perked on her toes.
"Hey," she began, curiosity was written on her face. "Can I touch your ears?"
What was she talking about?
Ears?
It wasn't the first time that someone had asked him to touch his ears, the first time being a few years back when he was selling food that he made with his grandmother. He wondered whether there were such people who had a thing for ears, two times being asked for permission somewhat labelled him unlucky. He didn't know how to react, especially to someone he had met for the first time despite being confident that he knew lots of people in his grade. Perhaps the dark green-haired guy was a first-year? He was sure he was barely familiar with first-years at least.
He smirked. "If you give me 1000 madol, perhaps I'll let?"
"Really!?" She asked enthusiastically, dropping the boxes down with little care before rummaging through her pockets to find a random 1000 madol.
Woah woah, is he serious? He's actually going to pay me for something like this?
"Here!" She slapped the note on his palm before leaning in, her arms reaching out to softly brush her hands on his ears. It tickled, to his surprise, as her slightly cold fingers stroked the fluffy sensation. "Wow, it's super soft! I'm really lucky to feel something as soft as this!"
"You do know all the members in Savanaclaw have ears, right? It's not as rare as you think," he said as she declined back to her position. She noted to herself that being 161 cm caused her some problems with the average height for a male, yet she was the latter — so why care?
"I mean, their ears aren't as soft," she explained while folding her arms, acting all factual as if she were an animal-ear enthusiast. "Well then, do you mind helping me bring these boxes to the second mathematics classroom? Trein-sensei is gonna kill me if I don't go back soon."
"If you pay me—"
"Dude, 1000 madol was all I had in my pocket, and it was worth its price," she quickly interrupted before placing a box on his arms, then grabbing the latter and pushing it to fit nicely between her arms. "Then, let's go!"
"Ugh, you should be lucky I'm on my way there," he groaned as she followed him from the side. They both ran, realising that lessons had probably started much earlier, the boxes clanking with items inside. Mira thanked her legs for being able to catch up with his athletic abilities, but she was still quite amazed by his physical ability to be able to run at such a speed with the box secured.
She lifted an eyebrow in answer while huffing in tiredness, "Well I didn't know that, and you're pretty late as well—! So what held you from going to class at the right time?"
"Had to wake an upperclassman up," he replied as he scanned the signs of each classroom they passed. Mira reminded herself that her classroom wasn't on the same floor as the rest of the second-year's classrooms, especially because she requested it solely for her own purpose. For her first year, she had studied from the spare classroom in the third-year hallway to after-school alchemy classes when even the science club didn't use it.
Mira smirked through her breaths, "Wow, how reliable. Damnit, Trein-sensei is gonna slaughter my poor ass once I get back!"
"Autocorrect: please change poor to rich."
"Shut up, whatever-your-name-is."
"Excuse you, I go by a very manly name and it's Ruggie Bucchi!"
"Manly? I don't know about you but Ruggie sounds cute more than anything."
Before they knew it, they had reached their destination close to the end of the hallway where the sign embedded on the top of the classroom read their destination. She huffed in enervation as she reached for the doorknob, twisting the handle to reveal students sitting around the back scribbling notes down on their books. The teacher in front of the desk peered to the side of the room before looking down at the roll.
"Ruggie Bucchi...and?"
"Ah, I'm not a part of this class! I'm just delivering these boxes that Trein-sensei told me to—"
"Then you must be the new student in the class that Crowley recently moved."
"...I did just say I wasn't a part of this class— but what's this about the Principal?"
The teacher looked down at the piece of parchment, one that seemed like a student profile, before it floated towards her as dainty as a butterfly. Her eyes sharpened as she took a closer look at the paper, seeing nothing wrong until—
"Hold on, I should be the sole student of another class...I don't know what you mean."
In an instant, the classroom's students broke into discussion. She could hear them whispering, the keywords 'sole' seeping into their gossip. Did they not know? Was it bad to be the sole student of a class? The teachers allowed her to stay like this for an entire year, so why was it changed?
"It seems that Crowley-sensei has changed it according to your punishment," the old voice echoed to her ears as if they were thorns that stabbed her existence.
Punishment? The principal? Oh frick frack tic tac was that because—
"Huh? He said he would forgive me if I helped the Janitor and his raccoon!" She retaliated, still scanning the parchment that crinkled in her grasp. Was he misunderstanding something? Was there some sort of conflict that she thought was solved?
Ruggie, on the other hand, noticed an error on the paper.
"Shishishi~, it says you're a female."
"WHO WHAT WHEN WHERE WHY!?"
I see—! I see where you're aiming at, that damn principal! I'm assuming it's because of the Great Seven being charred by Grim...since he did tell me to make sure they don't cause any trouble. I wasn't even there.
My lonely high school life that's been brimming with independency will wilt!
"Now that you realise your punishment, Amir Delacroix, please take a seat on the spare spots."
Okay, so, for an entire year I thought I managed to hide my gender, but it seems that they knew the whole time and just ignored the fact that I broke the school regulations?
Something seems wrong.
Awfully wrong.
"Sorry, Sir, so these boxes..." she began, quite perplexed. If Mozus had told her to bring the boxes to this classroom coincidentally matching with the 'new class environment', she imagined that Mozus had already left somewhere else instead of the spare classroom where she usually took her lessons. "May I ask what these boxes contain? If you're saying that I'm the new student in the class along with the coincidence that I have to bring these boxes from Trein-sensei, then everything was according to the Principal's plan."
The teacher's expression changed, a lot stiffer than just now.
I'm right, huh.
"If I'm right, then that expression right there when you turn your head to the opposite direction by 14 degrees, 27 minutes and 12.32 seconds from your vertical— when your eyes look at your desk for a mere approximate of 0.18 seconds to the nearest two decimal places and finally when your two index fingers brush against each other, I can assume that's your habit when you've been busted," she said as if she did not take a single breath, a malicious smile bore on her lips. Mira hoped she didn't sound like she was rapping especially when she called this her rad moment, despite rad being a term that was highly popular when she was a youth.
She dropped the box that she was carrying and propped herself on the floor. Pulling out her magical pen, the green jewel that confused her to why the colour was green out of all the colours in the world — tapping it on the top of the box to reveal a 'POP', the top stripped of its cardboard. "I see. These are my belongings, aren't they?"
"Y-Yes they are, so please take a seat so we can continue our lesson!"
Mira, her eyes still sharp while her mind raced with thoughts, dusted her pants before looking back at the male who was still beside her— confused as well. Instead, a glimmer of malice appeared in her amber eyes as she pointed to the spare desk on the top row to one of the left columns.
"Hey, Ruggie, you mind putting that other box on that desk, please?"
"I'm seriously not getting paid?"
Mira pursed her lips, an irk mark appearing on her forehead before pulling out 500 madol from her other pocket. "I was going to save this if something else went wrong— but consider this for carrying it to this classroom, to the desk and when class is over. Of course, it's not for free."
'Of course, it's not for free.'
Where did he hear that exact line from?
In any case, at least he was able to receive some sort of payment, in which he took the note and smiled in amusement before bending down to take the box. Perhaps making money this way wasn't anything bad, considering that he had received 1500 madol in less than a few moments. Mira, who realised that there were two spare seats beside each other, decided to put the two boxes stacked up as one pile before sitting herself on the other seat beside a random student.
"Why hello to you, young Sir. I further apologise for the complications that my existence has emitted," she greeted before pulling out her textbook. It seemed that alike of her old world, the academy still needed to know the basics of mathematics, English, sciences and all that jazz. Glad to already have a headstart in regards to the three main subjects due to making into one of the best universities in Japan for majoring in psychology, she felt nothing but confidence to be able to compete with the other students of the academy.
"It's a bit too late for an apology, but it seems that you know how to apologise in behalf of your problem unlike some of the insolent first-years in my dorm," he replied calmly, yet she could sense a hint of irritation from his voice. Aside from his small body — crimson red hair and large grey eyes that seemed like feminine features a girl would seemingly die for, she dismissed his attitude. "I'm Riddle Rosehearts. You're quite unlucky that we're having a joint class for 2-B and 2-E. This is where the content gets a lot harder."
"Amir Delacroix...please take care of me," she returned the introduction before hearing the teacher beginning the lesson.
Like all teachers, he swiftly moved back and forth, waving the pointy black stick that was tightly held in between his wrinkly fingers before assigning textbook work. For most of the time, she thought about how different it was to be learning with other students instead of being in a class solely for her. In comparison to the teacher randomly picking students to answer the questions and writing the answers along with the working out on the board— Mira usually searched for past papers from difficult exams that she saw in the Library. It wasn't much different from when she was in Japan studying for her finals.
This guy...if you separate the two A's, this just means its the complementary event of the other question where you subtract the unrestricted by the question where it asks you to solve for when the two A's are together.
"U-Uhm, Sir," she began, her hand slowly rising up while the teacher was moving onto the next question. "You might have answered that a bit—"
"Ah, don't worry about him," came another voice. Mira cocked her head to the row below her and noticed another random student with a carefree expression. "Sometimes he does things wrong, but when we ask him about it he totally ignores us and goes onto the next question as if he doesn't have any sense of hearing."
You sure it ain't just because he's the head of stubbornness?
She let out an exasperated sigh, then looked back to her notebook before correcting the answer to what it should have been. Perhaps Night Raven College was definitely one of the best academies for magic, but they still needed to improve on their other subjects. As glad as she was to understand the content, perhaps she needed to become a bit sharper in order to not take into account the mistakes that teachers might have made.
That reminds me, I still need to find Yuu and Grim once all my classes are over so I can help them out with the cleaning. Hope this will be enough to get the Principal to get me out of this 'new' class..but maybe he hasn't planned too far on what class I'm attending because this is a lesson for two. Although there's a high chance that I might go into one of these classes, it's still not impossible to get my lifestyle back.
It wouldn't hurt to try.
"Amir-kun, the period already ended!"
"H-Huh!? I see," she said as she noticed the familiar ears slightly twitching in her sight of vision before she looked down at her notebook, realising that she had unconsciously answered the questions without her own self knowing. As much as she wanted to flex on how easy the questions were, somehow karma would always be watching her— so she quickly placed her notebook on the top of the first cardboard box and depended on Ruggie's spare arms for the other.
"You seem like you're really good at math?" Came his question as they walked down the hallway. They had decided to drop the boxes off to the entrance where she would dismiss him to his dorm via the mirrors, then she would place her belongings in her dorm before making her way back to find Yuu and Grim.
Mira scrunched up her face. "I don't really like math, but I guess it's one of my strongest points. I'd say my favourite subject is alchemy, though."
—And I'm kinda cheating, too.
"What about you? What subject are you good at most?" She asked in order to lighten up the mood of silence.
He hummed for a moment before a light bulb miraculously appeared on his head. "Animal language!"
She furrowed her eyebrows, a little laugh escaping her lips. "Animal language, huh? This is probably the first time I've seen someone so enthusiastic about that subject."
"Perhaps it's because you don't have any friends?"
"Savage much," she sneered before looking down at her brown loafers and her rolled-up pants. Unlike other students, she had a lack of care for the school uniform rules. This meant that she usually tied her blazer around her waist, the long-sleeve button-up shirt slightly rolled on the sleeves and the tie loosely secured around her neck. Due to not receiving the vest of her original dorm, the strip of cloth that people usually tied on their arm— she wondered what dorm she would be assigned. "You're saying it like you have oh so many friends to rely on. I bet you're just the type to find something else to do like earn money since you're so into it."
"Geh, you're sharp," he said as if he felt attacked by the way she phrased it. Even she had wondered why he would ask for money for even the smallest things that someone needed help for, yet decided to hear him out. "I do help out with part-time jobs here and there...but it would've been much better If I could tend the botanic garden so I can sneak out some of the— I mean, the plants are pretty nice aren't they?"
"No-no-no. You were definitely going to say 'sneak out some of the plants so I can sell them', weren't you?"
"Shishishi, definitely not."
Mira found herself scoffing before she realised that she was at the entrance, the latter still chuckling with his hand near his mouth as he did so. She paused "Whatever. Thanks for your help, Ruggie. See you tomorrow!"
His eyes widened for a single moment as she brushed some of her dishevelled hair from hitting her face, the fresh breeze and scent of the discount coconut-scented shampoo that was sold in Mr. S' Mystery Shop. It seemed orphic, that the amber eyes reflected on his own seemed something much more familiar than he had thought. It matched with the afterglow of the sunset, the maple leaves that slowly swayed to the ground yet the orbs were much more fierce and mysterious.
"Y-Yeah. See you then."