{Rin}

{Monday}

Just before classes, Rin let Xhez out to hear about what happened. She'd meant to ask yesterday, but the sprite let her know that she didn't have the Spirit for it. Rin understood that whatever happened must have taken a toll on her. Elisa woke up just as Xhez jumped out of her bag. The blonde stretched, letting out a cute yawn, while Rin waited for Xhez to be ready to speak.

"Hey, what's up?" Elisa mumbled quietly. "What are we doing?"

"Uh, Xhez wanted to talk this morning."

"Ohh. Okay."

Elisa nodded slowly and then sat up, moving her legs so they hung over the edge of the bed. Xhez went and sat down next to Rin on her bed. She took a deep breath and, just before she could say anything, Elisa asked:

"So, did you fuck or what?"

"Hm? Oh, the sex?" Xhez tilted her head. "We... Almost did," Xhez shrugged.

"Almost? What happened?"

"Well,"  Xhez looked down, swinging her legs back and forth as she hunched over, clearly saddened by whatever occurred. "My illusion ran out."

"Really?" Rin asked, confused. "What about all the time you spent in the springs?"

"I do not know," Xhez said. "I had thought my illusion could go on for a little longer, but... Yes, it ran out somehow. After that, I ended up having to run back here. On the way, I encountered someone, though. A person with huge ears," Xhez stated, forming their general shape with her hands. "She helped me get past a guard, and, then, I reached the Academy."

"So, June didn't reject you or anything?" Elisa asked.

"No," Xhez shook her head. "Things were going well up until my disguise faded."

"Hey, at least you got some progress in," Elisa said with a reassuring smile. "That's something, right?"

"I suppose," Xhez nodded. "I just wish... Ah, it felt so wonderful!"

Suddenly, she gave off a beaming smile as she stretched her hands out, nearly striking Rin on accident.

"At one point, she had her tongue pressed against my privates! Sort of like Rin did that one time," she said with a wave of her hand. "It was amazing!"

Elisa's eyes turned over to Rin, and her brows shot up to the ceiling.

"No, no, nonononono, not like that, I-I, I showed Xhez some..."

"You showed Xhez some...?" Elisa said as a grin slowly grew on her face.

"MEMORIES! X-Xhez can see memories!" Rin quickly stated. "Xhez can see memories. She asked to see some of mine, so, I showed her some."

"Of you fucking?" Elisa asked, resting her head on the palm of her right hand. "That's kinda..."

"It was great," Xhez noted. "Rin is quite skilled. You know, Rin used to-"

"Okay!" Rin placed her hand over Xhez's lips, stopping her. The sprite looked up at her, confused. "How about we move on from this topic, alright?"

Xhez shrugged. Elisa was still grinning.

"Um, as I was saying," Xhez continued, "I... It went well, but I do not understand what caused my illusion to expire like that."

"Hm..." Elisa tapped her chin. "Could it have something to do with when you were getting eaten out?"

For some reason, hearing about Xhez getting cunnilingus performed on her didn't feel too good for Rin. Still, she looked over at the sprite and waited for an answer just as Elisa did.

"Eaten?"

"Um, when you were getting licked," Elisa clarified with a smirk.

"Oh. Maybe," Xhez said. "It was my first time, after all. I suppose it could have had some strange effect on my body. I hope not, though. I would like to do it again, after all."

As much as Rin felt like digging further into this incident, soon, it was time to head to class. She and Elisa said their goodbyes to Xhez, and the sprite went back into her bag before Elisa and Rin got ready and went to their first class of the day.

Essence 101 was the same as ever, with Harriton excitedly teaching them new things about some of the different subcategories within Mundane spellsigns. Or, at least, it began the same as ever, right up until the end when Harriton stopped the class to tell them something.

"Alright, listen up everyone." All of the students, including the likes of Carla and Seth who rarely paid attention in this class, perked up at the sudden beckoning. "I have something pretty important to announce."

[Hm?] Rin leaned forward a little, as Harriton cleared his throat.

"The guildmaster has said that she wants you all to start working," he told them. "Now, in case you've forgotten, normally, students begin taking real missions at the beginning of their second year. You, however, are going to be starting off way sooner, at the request of the guildmaster."

"Seriously?" Elisa asked, looking both shocked and excited. "When do we start?"

"At the start of the next semester," Harriton stated. The room shifted when they heard that. Eyes widened and even a couple of gasps rang out. "Don't get too excited," he quickly added. "You won't be doing anything too big. For obvious reasons, we were a little hesitant to agree with the guildmaster to let you do this, but after some discussion, we reached a compromise. That compromise is that your options will be limited to just small, Rank D missions. However, they are going to be, indeed, real missions. And, since we only have a month left in this semester, that means you'll be starting pretty soon."

He paced from side to side. The others might have all been too excited to tell, but Rin could see that he was slightly hesitant about all of this. He, and the other teachers, probably wondered if this was wise, but they couldn't go against the guildmaster's request.

"So," he forced his usual charming smile to come out, "put a little more pep into those training exercises, okay? You're gonna be in the field sooner than you think."

---

In the evening, after Rin got the chance to eat at the cafeteria and finished up all of her classes, she went up to the Meditation Center and sat down to speak with Maria. Of course, what quickly needed to be addressed was that announcement Harriton made.

"Uh, so, it's official?" Rin asked. Maria had told her that this was just a rumor before, but now, it had solidified.

"Yes," Maria replied as the two of them sat down cross-legged in front of each other. "I don't know what prompted the guildmaster to make this decision. I can imagine that the decreasing number of adventurers has something to do with it. But, yes. It's official."

"Holy crap," Rin let out quietly as she leaned back. "It feels so surreal. What are we going to do?"

"Nothing too special," Maria replied quickly. "In terms of what you'll be fighting, it won't be too different from your test missions. The big difference is that neither I nor any of the other teachers will be there. You'll need to be careful, but I believe you're prepared. It's just a matter of being a little overprepared, you know?"

"Yeah," Rin nodded. "I get that."

"Well. Let's get started."

Once that was all said and done, they went through their usual training session. Rin, however, put quite a bit more effort in now. Not just because of the announcement, but because of one simple fact.

She had a fight scheduled for Wednesday, after all.

"Remember, unlike monsters, people are predictable. As such, you'll want to focus a lot on reading your opponent. Predicting their next move," Maria said to her, once they entered their human-versus-human portion of the training session. "If you can develop this skill, you'll find that there aren't many opponents who can break past the wall that is your skill set."

Rin could think of one who already had, though.

That loss to Seth still stung her heart whenever she thought about it. But that was why she was here. She hoped to rectify it.

If she lost again, that would probably be it for Lyn Rosecaller. If she won, however, then that meant there was one more path she could traverse.

Either way, all she could do was try her best. And, she planned on giving this next fight everything she had.