CHAPTER 20

Outside of class, Sheila DeSanto is still a boring professor (part 1)

 

There had been a lull in exams recently, and not many students opted to visit the de facto campus library of High Tower. And so, Ryan found himself standing alone next to the statue outside the building, looking up at the sheer height of the building’s trademark tower.

 

The next hour or so was probably going to be boring.

 

Typically one to prefer physical activity over books, Ryan felt slightly out of sorts in front of a library. But after last night, he recognized he was lacking something foundational that many of his fellow aspiring Stars seemed to know naturally. Being here was going to take his luminescence game to the next level. This was something he needed.

 

Moreover, he wasn’t going in there alone. He checked his phone and glanced over his conversation history with Mindie Tachibana-Callahan. A text message she sent ten minutes ago indicated she just got out of class, along with a lively see you soon!

 

It prompted an amused smile from him. Her name was a mouthful, so he had opted to call her TC as Erika and Crystal did. Ryan had to admit to himself that she was a pretty incredible peer for her willingness to help out the competition like this. And she was easy on the eyes.

 

Not a moment later, Mindie zipped into view on her rollerblades. She circled to a halt in front of Ryan and struck a quick pose. “Heyyy! Did you wait long?”

 

He raised an eyebrow and teased, “What is this, a date?”

 

“Pfft. A date? To the library?”

 

She sat down against the base of the statue and quickly undid her red rollerblades, stringing them to her backpack and replacing them with her equally red shoes. When she was done, she popped back up to her feet with a brilliant, if slightly smug, smile and made a curt gesture towards the building’s entrance with her head.

 

“Please. If I wanted this to be a date, I’d at least take you to Burger Meister or Lucky’s or something.”

 

=-=-=

 

While the most prominent feature of High Tower was its namesake tower, the base of the building itself was enormous to an imposing level itself. From the first step inside, one would be greeted by the fairly open space leading to the front desk. The desk itself was framed by the backdrop of shelves upon shelves that stretched around the vast, circular ground floor and extended to its ceilings high above.

 

They were filled with books that most likely hadn’t been touched in ages. Although, there were some who did check them out for a brief time. They did so for the sole purpose of boosting their egos, satisfying a last-resort effort to cure boredom, or perusing the occasional tome on more detailed luminescent-related topics, which HRU had been slow to digitize.

 

Mindie and Ryan were instantly humbled as they stood in the lobby. In a moment contrary to their heaping amounts of confidence, their shoulders slumped as their respective airs of pride deflated. Talk about feeling inadequate.

 

“I’m a pretty tall guy, but being here makes me feel kind of… small.”

 

“You’re telling me.” Standing next to him, Mindie didn’t even reach Ryan’s shoulder height.

 

“How can I help you?”

 

The two straightened up and looked towards the source of the voice—a woman who clearly worked for the university. While there was no actual uniform for faculty, most teachers opted to wear one of two kinds of attire. One was anything that went with the university sports jacket. The other was a dark brown blazer, with some sort of black shirt beneath it, and bottoms of similarly dark hue. Faculty who took pride in being a sports coach wore the former; this woman wore the latter as she walked out from behind the front desk.

 

“Uh, well…”

 

Mindie’s gaze on the woman gradually took a turn for the more curious. She was wearing eyeglasses and had her dark hair up in a hastily-made bun much like her own. Her tan skin and slightly exhausted eyes reminded her of Pike. Or more specifically…

 

She recoiled in surprise. “Professor DeSanto?!”

 

Sheila DeSanto. Prominent professor and researcher in the field of luminescence. Status: retired Superstar. (Only now was she being recognized as someone with some semblance of life outside her classroom.)

 

Sheila placed her arms akimbo, her face offering a grim grin. “That’s right.”

 

Mindie did a side-by-side comparison in her head. On one side was the luminescence professor who had a perfectly made-up face, whose solemn expression was boring and couldn’t hold the attention of a classroom. On the other side was the woman in front of her, whose slightly more unkempt countenance felt more real and tangible.

 

“It took me a moment to recognize you,” she admitted, still reeling from her befuddlement.

 

“Well, I double as a librarian and archivist here at High Tower. I take it you don’t make it a habit of coming here very often.”

 

Guilty as charged. Mindie had no retort.

 

Ryan stepped forward. “Anyway, we’re uh—here to learn about luminescence?”

 

“Well, we have plenty of books on that.” The professor made a gesture to the many, many bookshelves throughout the first floor. There were sure to be more on the floors above.

 

“What a surprise…” Ryan slouched, feeling once again the intimidating air of all the literature. “No offense, but who even uses like, physical books in this day and age?”

 

As if on cue, a stack of books approached Sheila from behind, stopping just before the front desk. At first glance, it was as if the mound had grown little legs of its own and had begun walking around. But at a second, it was certainly a person behind the literature wall. The hands carrying them were so small that the fingers curling around the bottom of the pile could easily be lost. It was a wonder how such tiny hands could prove themselves a solid foundation for the stack—let alone how they were carrying such a load at all.

 

“Hey professor,” said a small voice behind the pile. “Can I check these out?”

 

Sheila turned around—and was immediately shocked by the sight. Her hands flailed as she blurted in involuntary Eastern, “Teka lang, ang dami yan! (Wait, that’s way too many!)”

 

She hurried over, hastily taking the books a few at a time off the little hands. Then she piled them on the decidedly less precarious foundation of the front desk. “Check two of them out and reserve the others for next time. You aren’t the only one who wants to read these, you know.”

 

As the wall of books was lifted away, the face of the girl behind it was gradually revealed. Pale skin. Big, round glasses over owlish eyes. A veritable tangle of dark hair that was thick and dark. She and Mindie immediate exchanged glances and pointed at each other in surprise.

 

“You’re that girl from before!” It was Sam Foster.

 

Mindie’s face brightened upon recognizing her. “How’re you doing these days? Not feeling any chaos bubbling up anymore?”

 

Sam flinched at the notion of chaos, throwing her hands up and waving them defensively. “I-I’m doing just fine—just fine!” Unable to keep eye contact with her, Sam ducked her head and fidgeted nervously with her fingers, which had been completely relieved from their book load. “Th-Thank you so—I’m really appreciate you—that you—appreciate you saving me. Back then.”

 

Watching how she acted made Ryan cringe. This kid was kind of awkward.

 

=-=-=

 

Back behind the front desk, Sheila took a few minutes to help Sam decide which two of the books she wanted to check out first. The timid girl hesitated a fair bit, caught somewhere in between knowing enough about the basics of luminescence, but not quite sure where to continue from there. That being the case, Sheila recommended she take two books on records of various historical Stars and come back for the rest another time.

 

Sam gave an awkward little bow as she backed away from the front desk, turned around and scurried towards the entrance. At some point during the exchange, her brother Zack had appeared by the exit and waited patiently for her to finish her business. Together, they left the building.

 

Sheila watched as the door closed behind them. “Since her incident, the only place she’s allowed to roam by herself is within High Tower. But she recently gained an obsession over reading about luminescence. Company like hers is most welcome here.”

 

The thought that she might recruit the timid girl as a research assistant briefly crossed her mind, but she waved it away with a dismissive shake of her head. She turned back to Mindie and Ryan.

 

“And you two want to learn about it too, you said.”

 

Mindie threw a thumb over her shoulder, gesturing to Ryan just behind her. “This guy in particular. He joined the Tour late, and he doesn’t even know the basics of luminescence.”

 

“Yeah, I only became luminescent earlier this year before transferring.” Ryan rubbed the back of his neck self-consciously. “My old school wasn’t very helpful…”

 

The professor crossed her arms, raising a curious eyebrow at him. “You’ve been participating in the Halo Tour without knowing the basics of luminescence? That’s impressive.”

 

“That’s what I said!” Mindie chimed brightly.

 

“And dangerous.”

 

She shrank back a bit, an embarrassed bead of sweat forming on her brow. “Eh…”

 

A sigh escaped Sheila’s lips as she began taking the remainder of books from Sam’s pile and placing them in a cart behind her. “It sounds like both of you could use a bit of a lecture. I’ll teach you the most important concepts first. In return, I’d like your help putting some of these books away.”

 

“Yes, ma’am!”