Another day… I have to find a good explanation, a good way to tell her that her sister is fine and all, and probably will be fine with seeing her… I didn’t exactly ask Rumel how enthusiastic she was about seeing Floria again did I. I guess I have to assume the best just so she’ll be more willing to go with my plan and not whatever her ridiculous plan might be.

Speaking of that plan I need to address that as well. From the looks of it she’s trying to gather enough funds to trade for a shelter and a massive amount of resources to live out away from society. I don’t think it is the worst idea she can come up with but I do wonder if she even thinks of how to use it. The fact of the matter is that if she were to contact someone to make a home far away from society for example she would’ve to deal with them being a witness, and with how likely it is that they’ll be hunted down and the person possibly being tracked down to testify I don’t see that working out. If she were to simply buy the materials to create a house then transportation is also a concern, she’ll probably be a center of attention if she were to carry it all out of the capital and extremely far away, not to mention if she’ll even make it work.

To put it simply her plan is a pain to execute at best, and might easily collapse otherwise. I need to think of a way to safeguard them when everything comes to pass as well if that were to be the case. I do have a plan in mind, however if all possible I want to ask the two about it… It’ll be a bit of a tough nut to crack if I were to explain the intricacies of this solution, not to mention if they’ll even get it or if they will adapt. 

What else is there to do? The two of them are my priority at the moment yet I can’t just ignore other people as well, especially my classmates. I guess I should at least observe them during their training, and perhaps convene with Maova if her interest does align with mine. I still have no idea what her deal is aside from keeping up the charade but at least we’re both not enemies at the moment, and at least she didn’t break her promise yesterday.

Those are what I could think of at the moment. What time is this?... It’s very early in the morning and I doubt most people are awake at this time. I guess I could either go for a stroll or try to go somewhere people don’t want me to. I don’t really have the plan for now, and I doubt Floria would be in a mood to talk since it’s the morning at all, probably groggy and grumpy getting out of bed.

Hmm… I can’t choose. I have to think of something to do right now, time is precious and all that… Now that I think about it, since I have seen that underground part of the castle. Could I possibly teleport there at this time? It should be possible… Let’s just try it out.

*Zoom*

It worked alright. The place doesn’t look that different from before, and that was a few years ago.

“Hey! What are you doing here!” Someone called out, seems like people are still guarding this place. Well I fulfilled my curiosity, so I might as well leave.

*Zoom*

Well what else can I do today? Aside from the sisters and my friends… There’s Clara, whatever the heck is up with Maova… That’s about all there is… Oh and the absolutely audacious people from that castle. Sounds like a lot but aside from the sisters and Clara everything else is just observation and acting accordingly. What else is there to talk or think about? I think that’s about all there is to think of for the time being…

It’s still in the morning. Either I rest and skip time or maybe try to do something else productive… Heck speaking of time perhaps I could go back in time to perhaps revisiting things, time is hardly an issue when you can manipulate it… Still doesn’t really answer the question… Perhaps I should just play games and wait. Maybe that’ll be more productive than just dwelling on the same topic over and over. Let’s just bring it out and play for maybe… an hour.

 

#####

 

Has it been an hour already? That’s fast, time moves way too fast when I’m playing games, and certainly a bit… Well like I just mentioned the fact that time doesn’t matter that much so I shouldn’t be too bothered. I should move on from that topic and think of what I could do now.

People should begin waking up and getting ready. First thing I could think of is visiting my classmates or Clara, perhaps both. It shouldn’t take too long… Who should I visit first then? It shouldn’t matter but I still have to make a choice here… Perhaps I should go talk to my friends first since my room is adjacent to theirs, it wouldn’t look jarring if I were to go in that order. Besides they haven’t hung out with me in a while so might as well treat them to that first before Clara.

Okay let’s go to see them right now… Now how should I approach this? Teleport in? Just knocking on the door? Lockpicking? Let’s just do it the normal way. I think if I were to go in unannounced some shenanigans will no doubt occur, I was lucky the last time I did it.

Walking out of my own room and walking like two or three steps to the side. Let’s go into the boy’s room first.

*Knock* *Knock*

“It’s me, Reiza” I said after knocking on the door, waiting for a response. 

Soon enough the door unlocked and let me in. The two boys are… Hm? They’re wearing different clothing from usual… That’s the…

“What is it Reiza?” Mitsuka asked, not picking up on the reason for my reaction. All of us sat down as the conversation began.

“Aren’t you two wearing this academy’s uniform?” I asked even if it’s pretty obvious. 

“Yeah. Our clothes were absolutely dirty and sweaty” Mitsuka said as if reliving a horrible memory. I never have that problem with the enchantment on all my clothes, I could use them for pretty much forever.

“Couldn’t be me. Anyway how are you two doing? I have been busy for the few days and obviously haven’t checked in on you all much” I replied with a question of my own. 

“Haaah… Not the worst to be fair, but it certainly doesn’t feel like we’re going anywhere or getting anything done. Actually speaking about that aren’t you like the one driving everything? Doing everything without anyone knowing, probably the reason why we’re alive even” Mitsuka started complaining then said the last part with a small amount of sarcasm. Can’t blame him since he got railroad along with everyone else to just stay still. In fact isn’t it the case that they only put them all here because I said so? They probably get abandoned if I didn’t interfere. Also he has no idea how true that statement might be.

“If only you have even the slightest of ideas, but I digress. I have noticed a few noteworthy people related to the conflict at hand and talk with them on some occasions. Still nothing conclusive can be said just yet, and not like they’ll actually spill everything out” I replied. I’m talking about Maova but they don’t know that just yet, or at least I don’t think they do.

“Is it that woman who is my teacher one of them?” Kioshi who has been silent this whole time suddenly speaks up. How did he… Oh right, he has been around her for a while and saw me conversing with me a few times.

“Yeah, but you better not say it, she’ll probably tear you in half at best” I said half-jokingly. That vampire is by far the most dangerous of all I have seen so far… Though there’s this gut feeling of mine that she is around as well, for some reason this whole situation feels oddly orchestrated and confusingly weaved. There’s this air of irritating and smug energy of a mastermind somewhere. If she is indeed here then it’s absolutely no contest, and winning will be impossible… No it’s quite the opposite actually, if she won then it would’ve been boring… but is she even really here? I’m still not certain what her deal even is.

‘Look. Everyone got bored at some point. This is just what I do to relive my own boredom, or perhaps even yours and those tangled in it. At least that’s how I rationalized it’ A rather twisted yet considerate sounding mindset. 

“Are you serious about that or not?” Kioshi asked, probably about Maova.

“Oh she could absolutely tear you to shred with no effort whatsoever” I casually said, it’s meant to be a sarcastic truth that won’t make them take it too seriously, yet they don’t fall for it considering their current expression.

“How did you know that?” Mitsuka asked, looking concerned. Well I can see why, considering I’m their crutch, if I can’t beat them none of them can, also I’m their ticket home as well… Yeah if I’m dead it’s game over for all of them, my classmates and the other otherworlders.

“I fought her. It’s time simple” I bluntly stated, which both of them immediately reacted with concern. Considering what I said it certainly makes it sound like we are now enemies.

“How did it go? If that’s alright with you” Kioshi asked. They’re quite curious aren’t they? Perhaps the lack of progression on their part made them crave some exciting information, that’s understandable.

“We were both a foot in a grave at the end” I answered without any qualm of raising or lowering my voice for the sake of the gravity of the situation.

“H-Huh? When was this?” Mitsuka exasperatedly reacted by voicing his disbelief. When was this he said… 

“Four days ago if my memory serves” I answer after a brief deliberation. They all just seem to be even more in shock for some reason.

“Wait… was that why you weren’t anywhere for a day?” Kioshi asked, realizing the reason for my absence that no one dared to ask before.

“Exactly, I need a day to recover” I replied calmly as if this kind of thing is normal, it’s not but with how wild everything is in a world of fantasy it’s hard to be dazed by many things.

“How did you recover in just a day if you were near death? Heck how did she recover that fast as well?” Mitsuka pointed out. I mean it is a slight hyperbole but it is quite severe still. I don’t think I should compromise her secret at this point and time, even if these two won’t do anything about it.

“I just have relatively fast regeneration, also I have a healer around. I don’t know about her but probably a similar situation, maybe her companion the Hero… heal her perhaps?” Once I mentioned the Hero something clicked, will she hold a grudge against me? Maova doesn’t seem to do so but I’m not sure about Rosia. I guess I should look into that as well.

“A healer? That’s convenient” Mitsuka commented, probably pondering on how I have someone like that around in the first place.

“Is said healer someone we know?” Kioshi asked, probably still curious about the whole deal. Guess me not saying anything make them really want to squeeze it all out.

“No. She’s native from this world” I bluntly answered. Probably not a big deal to tell them that.

“I see… Hmm…” Kioshi muttered and seemed to be thinking of something. Guess I’ll leave him to that.

“By the way Reit- Reiza. You aren’t a least bit uncomfortable being like that?” Mitsuka asked, sounding his curiosity quite clearly, but what does he mean by that?

“My clothing or what exactly?” I asked not getting his point, way too vague of a question.

“Your form. Even now seeing it is so jarring. You didn’t act all that different or anything but it’s really bizarre” He answered sounding a bit nervous, perhaps afraid that he might touch a nerve? He did have some trouble with being unintentionally insensitive before, doubt anyone could forget the Egg Incident, that was a huge blow to his social credibility, funny in some retrospect but really a pain to watch or reminisce.

“This is who I am, there’s no way I’m uncomfortable with this. I’m way less comfortable in that other form I won’t be in until we get back. If you can’t take it then don’t talk to me, or rather we could stop being friends” I answered making my stance on the matter clear. Perhaps too strong of a threat but it’ll get the message across.

“N-N-No! I’m fine with it okay!?” He nervously and quickly replied. That really sent him into a panic quickly.

“Yeah I heard that” I replied with a slight chuckle at his expense.

“Ah! I remembered something” Kioshi said, sounding a bit more emotional than he usually does, sounding slightly excited.

“What is it?” I asked, feeling curious about his moment of realization of whatever.

“I remember hearing about a girl and her… what did they call it? ‘Enigmatic lady of wind’? Something cheesy like that” D-Did someone really call me that? That’s quite a cringeworthy name… Then again it doesn’t seem like the students here are that mature to know how silly it sounds. Did those bullies call me that? I would’ve thought they would’ve come up with a more demeaning name.

“You’re not joking are you? Also how did you even hear that? Did you talk with the girls?” I wondered what could possibly have led him to hearing these rumors.

“They came to me” Kioshi bluntly stated, not sounding like he understood the implications of that in the slightest, it’s everyday Kioshi but it’s still one of the most ridiculous things I have heard that didn’t involve any mystical.

“Right… You were hitting up with them hard, Ran was furious all the way through” Mitsuka commented. Guess he was there as well? Or at least observing the situation.

“It was nice of her but she really does take it a bit far” Kioshi noted. Guess he still doesn’t understand her reasoning, that puppy love of hers. Actually does Kioshi have more information I might’ve missed out on?

“Say. Any idea why they didn’t call me a monster or something? I did choke their neck” I said that and immediately the room went quiet for a few seconds as both looked like they were sweating buckets. Did I say something wrong?

“That sounds… brutal” Mitsuka commented. Well he’s not wrong with that assessment, but I feel like they think too much into it.

“Anyhow I do have some clue as to why. They offhandedly compliment you for unknown reasons” Kioshi explained. Excuse me but how does that work? I have no right to be complimented by those who I personally attack, do they have a few screws loose or what?

“Huh? How does that make any sense?” I asked, sounding very much bewildered by this trivial yet strange piece of information.

“I have no idea” Kioshi replied quickly, making it clear that he doesn’t know what’s going on with them… actually… 

“How did they compliment me exactly?” I asked, wondering what they could’ve said that could be considered compliments. 

“...I don’t remember the exact wording, but it does go somewhere like this. ‘She’s so mysterious and majestic’ ‘That lady is too much like a fairytale prince’ ‘Anything involving her makes my heart skip a beat’... Something along those lines. Hearing that the first time I thought they talked about an actual prince and they just misgendered the person, however with you in consideration…” Kioshi answered and all of those words are… um… uncomfortable to imagine being said to me behind my back. These kids have a screw or two loose I swear.

“Not you too!” Mitsuka said, sounding exasperated. Is he calling me a chick magnet like Kioshi as well? That’s ridiculous! I’m certain women that love women are of the minority, so it should be way less apparent even if it’s true!

“What? It’s not like I attract anyone in my male form, why would that be the case in a female form?” I asked, wanting to know why that is his conclusion. I know I instinctively do some lady killer moves but that doesn’t mean I’m naturally attractive to other women am I? If this is true this is even more ridiculous than Kioshi’s case.

“Well clearly it’s the case with you as a girl! Not like a lot of things in this world make much sense anyway!” Mitsuka retorted. Okay that’s a fair point, this world seems slightly wacky with how archaic and fantastical it is to our world and time… I mean it still makes no sense but sure!

“It does seem a bit odd that you as a woman is much more attractive for women than yourself as a man” Kioshi commented. Now they’re double down on this topic aren’t they?

“I’ll take that as a compliment… can we move on to other topics or are you two done messing around?” I asked, reclaiming my composure and asked them seriously. They both ponder for a bit seeing my no nonsense attitude. Let’s see if they really have anything else to say aside from those trivial matters.

“Nothing else from me” Kioshi admitted. That’s one down.

“Yeah. Out of ideas as well” Mitsuka replied. Well that’s both of them done talking.

“Okay then… Guess I’ll make my leave. I still haven’t visited the girls just yet, I’ll visit them after this” I said while standing up and ready to go. Perhaps I could say one encouraging thing before leaning.

“You’ll be a hero someday, both of you will, just keep trying” I said as I opened the door and left. Leaving them both and walking over to the next.