…Ugh… I feel a bit more groggy than before. Must’ve been the night meeting yesterday, but it’s not a big deal, and I probably would go meet her again soon.

…I wonder if I could save her? I believe I can, but how willing she is another matter, and if people at home would accept her… Well they most likely will, but I shouldn’t be completely certain, at the very least I would’ve liked her to know.

I really need to clean myself up and make sure I look presentable at the meeting. I wonder if I should dress any differently or not, or maybe change my hairstyle, tie it up and all… I have no idea, maybe I should stick with this for now.

Hm? What’s that thing slid through the door? Some kind of letter? Let’s take a look.

Hopefully you’ll actually read this letter. Anyhow the meeting will start sometime around midday, and you should be at the castle at least two hours early. I’ll wait at the hall at the entrance to meet up with you. Hope everything goes well!

 

• Maova

 

Well isn’t that nice of her to inform me. Well I believe the time right now isn’t quite there just yet, so I should go do something else beforehand, the problem is what should I do before then? Who should I visit? What can I do?

There’s a few options of course. First are my classmates, they have been doing alright so far but maybe I could inquire a bit more on their situation. Second is… well Clara is probably a bit lonely and chatting with her sounds fine. Whatever should I do? I’m uncertain of what to do first. I really could just do both options, but which should I spend my time on more? Should it be even? Which should hold more priority?

…What can I do? What should I do?... My friends are all fine I’d say, but that girl is a different matter. Perhaps I am a bit skewed in my priority here. I should be worried about my friends more than a single girl, but I really am intrigued and interested in the girl, and she needs help no doubt about it. I think my friends don’t need a long and deep conversation to get better, they have been faring pretty well so far.

“Alright then” I muttered out loud ready to go out.

*Open*

Opening the door and out in the silent hallway. I believe I remember where her room is, and my memory better not be wrong.

*Knock* *Knock*

I walked over and knocked at one of the doors on the opposite sides. Hopefully I didn’t knock the wrong door there.

*Open*

“Hello?... Ah! Miss Reiza!” Clara said, noticing my arrival and saying so, clearly surprised at my presence. She said my name with a prefix there, and I have to change that.

“Indeed it is I. The one who you encountered. How are you faring Clara? Hopefully nothing wrong has happened, how is that dagger treating you?” I asked her as I invited myself into her room. It looks a bit shabby despite the academy being quite fancy, but it works at least.

“Ah, I’m doing fine myself. I mean people seem to avoid me so far if that’s any… consolation?” She replied not quite getting the right word. She’s trying, that's for sure.

“Well if nothing else at least no one harassed you. I’m glad you’re alright?” I said in the gentle tone and a gentle smile, looking over at her and patting her head. She blushed a bit responding to my action. Is everyone here a bit bendable for what exactly? 

“T-Thank you. You’re so kind” She replied with a cute smile. She’s quite cute, and certainly does have that energy that made one wanted to protect her, but I generally like to protect others-usually girls because I like girls-so I wouldn’t say she has a special power to make someone immediately wants to protect her, it’s just how I am and her cute and gentleness being something appealing.

“No need for thanks Clara. I just hope you’re doing well, and that’s why I’m here” I responded with a smile, looking at her and seeing how she’ll react.

“O-Okay…” She replied a bit nervously. What should we talk about? Just ending the conversation here will probably take the wind out of her sails, I don’t want to do that. Now what should I ask… How about what she has dealt with? No that’s a bit of a heavy topic… How about let her ask me about a few things? That might work.

“How about since we’re both here right now with some time to ourselves… Anything you want to ask of me?” I said with a teasing wink hoping for an answer. She should have something to talk to me about, it’s been almost an entire day since we last talked, and it’s not like she talks with others anyway, as harsh as that sounds.

“Well… What’s your daily life like?” She asked nervously brimmed with curiosity no doubt, putting two fingers together shyly and looking at me a bit dodgingly. Now that’s hard to answer for multiple reasons. Mainly because the life of a high schooler isn’t exactly something that can be easily explained when it’s also unexpected coming from an experienced adventurer. Now this is a question that put me in a bit of a hard place.

“Ah… Well to be honest Clara, as an adventurer, there are many calls one can answer, and it disrupts everyday life, leading to a less than stable daily life unfortunately. I cannot say how I live my life normally when it isn’t” I said, in a calm tone with no sign of ridicule towards the one asking the question. She looks slightly disappointed, both in her and I. I didn’t give a satisfactory answer and she asked something that cannot be answered.

“I see…” She replied quietly. Should I add something to peak her interest? Maybe something to at least give her something to think about herself while I’m gone?

“Now now. I still have some tales you might be interested in if that fits your fancy” I said, trying to entice her, giving her something worth being impressed by. Of course I have no idea what I should recount exactly.

“Really? Is there anything… Um…” She asked, then trailing off. No doubt what I said piqued her interest, if unable to come up with a question, requesting a specific tale I might have endured. Well I think I should bring something up at least… Now what should I tell her… What could I tell her? Perhaps something recently maybe.

“If you can’t think of anything to ask it’s fine. I’ll just recount something not too long ago if that’s alright” I said to put her mind at rest. Now which part should I recall? I wasn’t exactly the focal point of the conflict so I don’t think I should recall that event specifically… Perhaps just what led up to it and happened in between? I think I can recount those fairly well.

“Ah! If you say so…” She replied sounding reserved as always. Well time to recount some of the things that happened.

“I have to deal with some problems because someone decided to create a game. I ended up in a different land trying to fix the mess, a lot of people were caught up in it. There was a problem regarding many fell victims to the kidnapping so to say, and I tried to deal with it, but along the way I realize that the situation of those unintentionally causing the ruckus is almost just as bad, with backstabbing, general paranoia, and a lot of monsters. I have to infiltrate a castle, deal with an extremely annoying person, and help those who were caught up in it. That’s the basic of what I dealt with before being summoned here. Anything specific you want to hear from that?” I laid down the overall detail of my last story. I’m definitely not the central part of it since I keep a safe distance most of the time, but I’m still involved, just not to the same extent as that one.

“Uhh… Nothing really? But that sounds really hard. I don’t think I can deal with something like that” She replied, intrigued at the last thing I have to deal with. It’s far from dangerous compared to what I have to deal with before, but for anyone else it’ll probably be very nightmarish and nearly impossible to deal with.

“Well, I have dealt with other stuff in the past so it’s not as bad for me as you think. Of course I wouldn’t let anyone into my shoes if I could help it, they probably would be dead” I responded with my opinion regarding it, sighing a bit thinking about the rather boring actions. Not too hard or troublesome aside from keeping those summoned alive.

“I see… You must be really strong and reliable… I hope I could be like that” She said as if looking up to me. All I did was tell a story, I don’t see why she needs to be that impressed. Now what else could we talk about? I think I should give her something else before I talk to my classmates. Should I try to convey advice or a tool to help her out? Something seems to be missing from this conversation…

“Clara, now that I show a story of mine, how about one of yours?” I asked with a smile looking straight at her. She looked a bit flustered but thankfully not too much it seems, just at the not concerning level.

“A-Ah… I… Don’t have anything to add Miss Reiza” She said shyly, backing off a little. I lean towards her. I have to deal with that as well.

“Now now little Clara. There’s no need for formality around me. Call me Reiza” I replied in a smooth voice, looking at her with a small gentle smile, as if looming over her.

“A-A-A-Ah… Reiza… I will… Reiza…” She replied, extremely flustered. Compared to Rumel yesterday I would say it’s at a pretty similar level of fluster, but with this girl here she freaked out much more visibly, as expected of someone younger. She’s stumbling on her words and definitely looks overwhelmed. I backed off soon after she said so still with a smile on me.

“Good” I replied with a single word. I wonder if that’s enough from me for today. Perhaps we should talk a bit more.

“Reiza… Reiza… I… I’m sure what I can say to be of any fun” She said to me with a self-deprecating smile. 

“There’s no need for it to be exciting or anything, I just want to know more about you. Anything about yourself really” I replied firmly. I’m not looking for excitement here, just curiosity. She seems to give in with a sigh there.

“Alright… Well I can use a dark looking magic… It’s scary” She replied with a rather strange tidbit. From the looks of it the incomprehensible nature of the dark element means some assumed it to be harmful or evil by nature. Well if she thinks that is scary.

*Dim*

“Wha!?” She screamed out. Thankfully this place is close and locked up properly. What I show her is the darkness swirling around my hand that I hold out. It’s like darkness has engulfed the room.

“Doesn’t look that scary to me” I said tactlessly as I tilt my head and look at her as if doubting her words. She in turn looks at me pretty bewildered at my action, but clearly doesn't dare to call me out on it.

“R-Right” She replied while trying to calm herself down. That clearly takes her completely off guard.

“I’m a pretty good caster I would say, don’t even need a chant” I mentioned with a bit of a smug look. Perhaps not something I should’ve mentioned since it doesn’t look like many if any know of magic not needing chants. She’s amazed yet still terrified at the darkness, it’s really nothing to fear.

“Don’t even need a chant… I didn’t know that was possible” She commented hoarsely trying to not call me out on pulling out a ‘scary’ spell.

“Yeah. However it’s not something you can just do, so I would recommend keeping chants until you’re absolutely confident in your ability to use spells. Magic is not an easy thing, but you also shouldn’t fear it. Remember” I explained calmly, letting her get her composure along with an advice or two.

“I will remember what you said, promise” She replied, completely regaining her composure and trying to look as calm and collected as possible.

…We both stared at each other as the room continued its silence... She’s definitely starting to crack as the stare down continues, now would be the good time to break the silence.

“Good answer. I do not have all the time in the world to talk with you unfortunately. I hope you can forgive me” I mentioned with an apologetic smile.

“It’s fine! I understand you’re busy” She replied, being understanding of the situation.

“Thank you. Unfortunately it would be best of me to leave right now, sorry” I said. It’s better to end the conversation than to prolong it with a time limit in the way. I turn my back to her waiting for her goodbye.

“It’s alright!... We’ll meet each other again, correct?” She replied with a hopeful tone.

“Certainly” I look at her with a confident smile one more time before I leave her room. Leaving her behind for the time being.

Now that that’s over… Time to meet with my friends from my world. I need to give some parting words before I go to a no doubt troublesome meeting, hopefully I can come back soon before everything goes wrong, as it probably will.

*Open*

I opened the door into the boy’s room. The two are chilling and just biding their time. They seem bored more than anything else.

“Hey there you two. How’s life here treating you?” I asked them not expecting much of an answer.

“Hi Rei. Just keep going and all, really nothing of note” Mitsuka replied, sounding a bit sleepy still, and that name, I don’t like him calling me that, I know he shortened it because he’s a bit sleepy but that just won’t fly.

“Sorry but Rei is a special nickname. You have no right to use it” I responded with a threatening smile which he tried to shrug off, but clearly intimidated by it.

“There are certainly many things you still haven’t told us if what you just said is any indication” Kioshi commented, sounding less than enthusiastic as well. One would expect being in a fantasy world to be exciting and all that, but when you’re in a school arc with so much restriction to explore the world I guess that just removes the enthusiasm from all involved, sad.

“Yep, and even if you tried to ask for all of it I wouldn’t answer all. It’s just too much to comprehend, and that’s not a joke” I said a bit jokingly despite just saying that it’s not.

“I’m just glad you’re here to help” Mitsuka noted mindlessly. Yeah I did help them out a little, showing their potential, explaining a bit about magic, stuff like that. Also giving them gifts as well… I still have a lot in store so I might as well give them some today.

“Ah right. Here’s some treat from home for you both” I said as I threw some snacks for the two much to their surprise.

“Thanks!” Mitsuka replied with a bit more energy than before.

“How generous” Kioshi replied, sounding a bit enthusiastic as well.

“Alright then boys. I’ll go to the girls, good luck with whatever training they have okay?” I said as I left the room immediately, ready to go to the next and get this over with before quickly going to the castle.

*Open*

“Ah! Reiza!” Yumi said as I just walked in unannounced with a skeleton key. Oh wait she’s not quite done with-

*Throw* *Puff*

“Really? Well that was uncalled for” I commented sarcastically as the pillow fell to the ground soon after hitting my face, this isn’t a show, this isn’t funny, or at least not as it is on screen.

“S-Sorry, I was panicking” She replied regaining her composure, putting her blanket on so I won’t have to see her still trying to dress up.

“I’ll just look the other way, say when you’re done” I said with a fake bitter tone. Walking over to a corner and just stare at it.

“...There! I’m done! You can stop now!” Yumi announced, sounding rather shameful of her outburst. I turn around to see her no longer just in her underwear. Actually with Yumi just making a mess just now I’m surprised Ran didn’t say or do anything… Oh she’s still sleeping?

“Ran is still sleeping?” I asked walking over to the girl still sleeping on her bed with Yumi by my side.

“Yeah, I think she’s really tired and sick of the expedition yesterday. She told me you did some pretty crazy things to put it mildly, and she’s not comprehending it too well. I think she has some trouble sleeping and now trying to rest some more” Yumi explained the situation. Well it is partially my fault isn’t it? That’s on me definitely.

“My bad” I replied with a sigh.

“Well she doesn’t blame you for it so I don’t really hold it against you. There’s no need for that” Yumi noted. I guess if it’s like that then that’s good, no grudge about. Also since I gave the boys something I should give them something as well.

“I see. Well since I’m here now here are some snacks. Maybe Ran can enjoy it once she properly wakes up” I said while giving Yumi some snacks to hold on to. Her eyes widened a bit at the amount that came out of nowhere.

“Okay then! I’ll make sure she knows” She replied as I walked over to the door, she was still looking at me.

“Thanks. I need to go somewhere else now actually, so sorry for not able to say much. Good luck on your time here” I said as I opened the door.

“Good luck to you as well” Yumi replied as I walked out and closed the door behind me. 

Now all the morning greetings are dealt with. Everyone here is fine and they know I’m busy… Let’s go and make sure nothing catastrophic happened, I need to make sure everyone else and I are safe, coming up with something to secure our safety.