BANG!
The heavy oak classroom door right beside us was kicked open with violent force, slamming against the stone wall.
Hana Emberlyn stood in the open doorway, her red hair wild, her wand drawn, and her sharp eyes locked directly onto us.
"WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?!" Hana roared, her voice echoing through the entire hallway. "YOU PERVED ON ME YESTERDAY AND NOW YOU’RE FUCKING AROUND WITH THE SMART—" She stopped mid-sentence, her angry glare dropping from my face down to Lyra, who was still frozen in my grip without her glasses.
Hana blinked, her jaw slowly dropping as she stared at Lyra’s bare face.
"Wait... who the fuck is that?!"
...
...
...
...
...
Lyra’s ears had turned a full, spectacular shade of crimson, and she shoved her glasses back onto her face so fast the frames sat completely crooked across her nose.
Then ducking half behind my left shoulder, she transformed me into an improvised human shield.
"L-Lyra," she squeaked out, her voice barely carrying through the grand hallway. "Lyra Virell. We’re in the same class."
Hana’s intense glare swung back and forth between the two of us. "You’re in my class? I’ve literally never seen you in my life."
Woah what? How could you not...? ಠ_ಠ I looked at Hana in pure disbelief. She was literally the genius answering half of Professor Myra’s interrogation yesterday after our duel.
"I... I sit in the very back row," Lyra offered, so quietly it almost didn’t count as speaking at all.
"That’s not— that’s not the point!" Hana threw both hands into the air in sheer frustration.
Sparks of crimson mana crackled faintly at her fingertips out of pure habit— a volatile physical reflex I was quickly realizing she had zero emotional control over.
"The point is Rex! This fucker Knox right here is just casually strolling through the corridors grabbing girls by their chins now?! Is this a new hobby of yours?! Are you collecting us?!"
"It’s not a hobby," I replied, keeping my expression completely straight. "It just sort of happened."
"THINGS DON’T JUST HAPPEN, REX!"
This girl... keeps... "OH FUCK YOU."
"YOU FUCK YOU." She shouted back.
"Oh MOTHERFUCKER, JUST SHUT THE FUCK UP!" I gritted my teeth.
"BITCH. WHO THE FUCK YOU ARE TELLING ME WHATO DO?"
Sownwbeidowlwmjs < currently me.
Hana made a sharp, high-pitched noise like a kettle looking a bit more like charging something in her mouth.
"MOOOOOO—"
Right at that exact moment, Professor Myra appeared in the doorway directly behind her.
And Hana immediately swallowed the words.
The veteran instructor took one look at the scene— Hana mid-meltdown with glowing hands, me still half-cupping Lyra’s chin, and Lyra looking like she was 50/50 split between fainting and exploding, pressed two fingers against her temple.
You could practically see her aging a full decade on the spot.
"Mr. Knox," Professor Myra said, her voice flat, exhausted. "Inside. Now. Before I am forced to write a second disciplinary report to add to the towering stack currently sitting on my desk."
"Yes, Professor."
"And kindly let go of Miss Virell’s face."
"Face...? O-Oh. Right. Yeah."
I dropped my hand, and Lyra practically teleported the remaining distance into the classroom, clutching her thick leather binder against her chest like body armor while steadfastly refusing to make eye contact with a single living soul.
As I stepped past Hana in the threshold, she jabbed a sharp index finger straight at my chest. "This isn’t over, Knox. FUCK YOU."
"Cool," I said, slinging the wand and thick book over my shoulder. "Have it your way."
Her eye twitched violently, and for a fleeting second I genuinely thought she was going to incinerate the mahogany doorframe out of pure spite.
But Professor Myra cleared her throat behind her with this MENACING quiet of someone who had nothing left to lose, forcing Hana to stomp inside instead, muttering a string of dark curses under her breath that I wisely chose not to ask her to repeat.
I made my way to the back of the class and took my seat.
The A-Class lecture hall was absurdly grand, built less like a traditional classroom and more like a massive, high-ceilinged Gothic cathedral with stained-glass windows depicting ancient heroic mages.
Crimson carpets lined the tiers, and massive spell-enchanted chandeliers hovered effortlessly near the vaulted ceiling.
I tossed my heavy thick whatever textbook onto the desk just as the morning bell echoed softly across the courtyard outside.
Two rows below me, Lyra had already folded herself into her seat, her glasses firmly back in place as she stared intensely at her open notebook, pretending the entire hallway incident had never occurred.
Lyra: urghhh, what’s happening today... am I getting hit on!?!?! Wahhhh!!! L-lets just.
I watched her shakily and awkwardly fix and unfix the book in her table.
As the morning progressed, combat theory gave way to elemental alignment, which smoothly transitioned into magical circulation, spell construct geometry, and mana efficiency calculations.
Professor Myra was a surprisingly brilliant lecturer, managing to make topics that sound painfully complex feel completely logical.
I took notes when it seemed necessary and mostly just listened the rest of the time, letting the lecture wash over me while my eyes wandered outside in this massive ass window at my left out of habit more than boredom.
Eventually, a strange detail began to bother me.
I sat up slightly and scanned the vast, empty tiers of the cathedral-like hall.
Well um... Hana was sitting near the front row, aggressively scribbling down notes with an expression that suggested she was personally offended by the concept of academic study etc wtc.
While Lyra was tucked away two rows ahead of me, practically buried behind a fortress of three separate... what the fuck... books again.
Anyways. And then there was me. I slowly counted the present heads in the room, excluding Professor Myra.
One. Two. Three.
I stared out at the dozens of empty, pristine desks cascading down the stepped tiers.
"We’re missing people." Even frost... that, uh... Iris Frostwyn? that quiet, ice-elemental girl that’s too awkward and clumsy— was completely absent today.
Professor Myra continued her lecture on internal mana pathways without breaking stride, like she hadn’t heard a word out of me.
Well, erm... I’m a few meters away from the back row so how could she hear me, lol, lmfao.. (⌐■-■)
I glanced at the glowing blue mana-projection resting beside the front chalkboard.
A-CLASS REGISTER: 7 STUDENTS.
I frowned.
Seven— wait, I swear there were only 6 of us total...
Anyways, 7 elites in the highest rank of the academy, and more than half the class just doesn’t show up? Crazy... must be nice to have noble privilege.
Didn’t matter, I figured. Not my problem to solve on a random Tuesday morning.
I let it go and refocused on the lecture, right as Myra shifted the topic toward actually using mana— proper circulation, drawing it up through the core, channeling it out through a focus point.. etc etc.
I actually found myself leaning in for that one.
Mostly because, for the first time since arriving at this academy, I had mana of my own worth circulating.
28, last I checked. Not a lot by anyone else’s standard, but it was mine, and I’d never once gotten to try any of this myself... oh yea it’s illegally obtained...
I leaned my chin on my palm, looking down at my right hand beneath the desk.
I closed my eyes, focused on my core, and tried to trace the subtle warm thread flowing through my veins just like she described.
BANG!
Another fucking BANG! WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!
The classroom doors slammed open hard enough to rattle the frame, and every single head snapped toward the entrance.
Two girls strolled into the lecture hall, and I instantly recognized them from the hallway earlier.
The shorter one had, short bright crimson hair, walking with an arrogant, shoulders-back swagger that screamed high noble status.
Beside her walked her taller sister— a girl with long, flowing crimson hair who shared identical facial features, though her expression was noticeably more refined and hesitant.
My eyes narrowed slightly on both of them without really meaning to.
The short-haired girl casually scanned the empty rows of desks until her sharp, navy blue eyes locked onto me sitting alone in the upper tier.
A wide, mischievous grin spread across her face. "Oh?"
Her taller sister followed her gaze, her eyes widening slightly in immediate recognition rather than surprise.
Professor Myra stopped lecturing mid-sentence, lowering her chalk and the entire room fell into a heavy, suffocating silence.
The short-haired girl paid zero attention to the atmosphere, walking down the center aisle with her hands tucked casually into her blazer pockets. "Well, haha, guess we’re late, sorry Professor."
Professor Myra stared at them over the rim of her glasses. "You are both 4hours late, Miss."
The long-haired sister immediately opened her mouth, her tone deeply apologetic. "Sor—"
"Yeah," the short-haired girl interrupted, cutting her sister off completely with a lazy wave of her hand. She smiled and spread her hands at the professor. "So?"
I stared at her from the table, resting my cheek on my knuckle. Great. One of those arrogant, untouchable noble types... and, wow, didn’t even notice that they were the one yesterday. How... what the fuck, am I incompetent...
Well, panic makes you unfocused.
The taller sister let out a soft, defeated sigh beside her. "I am deeply sorry, Professor Myra. My sister insisted we make an extended detour to the central cafeteria building first."
The short-haired sister clicked her tongue in annoyance. "Tsk, just shut up, Chelly. It’s not like we’re actually going to get punished or anything."
"That doesn’t make it acceptable!" She whispered back anxiously.
"Shush."
"B-But—"
Cherry turned and glinted a sharp glare at her sister, instantly silencing her.
I rubbed my forehead. Yep. Definitely sisters.
Professor Myra let out a long, long breath, looking like she wanted to quit her job on the spot. "Take your seats, Cherry and Chelly."
Cherry and Chelly...? I bit the inside of my cheek hard to keep an unexpected snort from escaping. Are you serious with those names?
I looked down at my desk, sighing quietly to process the ridiculousness of it all.
But when I raised my head a second later, the two sisters were already standing a few feet away, stepping up into my row.
Cherry or chelly, I don’t know... I’m still confused. The short-haired one— Cherry, probably —slowed as she passed my row, stopped completely, and turned to look straight at me.
"You’re Rex Knox, right?" she asked, her navy blue eyes sparkling with amusement.
I looked up, resting my arms on the wood. "Unfortunately."
Her grin widened, revealing a faint canine tooth. "Interesting. You were totally out of your mind in the arena yesterday, by the way." Without waiting for a response, she spun around, swung her legs over the desk on the opposite side of the aisle, and sat down with her boots kicked up onto the ledge.
I watched her settle in, feeling a faint sense of annoyance settling in my gut.
It wasn’t because she was outwardly threatening me— at least, not yet. It was her eyes.
She looked at me like I was a newly discovered entertainment option she’d already decided how to play with...
Fuck I’m getting pissed off...
Gritting my teeth, I leaned back into my leather chair, staring at the cathedral ceiling.
Before I could sink further into my thoughts, the taller sister, Chelly, leaned over to me, her face pale with embarrassment. "S-Sorry about my sister... she’s very blunt," she whispered hurriedly, bowing her head slightly.
I just gave a simple nod and made a quiet, shooing gesture with my hand.
Chelly’s shoulders drooped like an apologetic puppy, and shuffled off to sit beside her sister on the far end of the table.
I turned my attention back to Professor Myra at the front of the room, letting the rest of the lecture play out without much further interruption.
The bell rang not long after, and free period rolled in right behind it. I grabbed my wand, abandoned this thick ass whatever bullshit Book, stood up from my seat, and made my way out of the classroom into the hallway, mind already drifting somewhere else entirely.
Now that I think about it... I haven’t actually checked out the campus cafeteria yet.