RS: I thought of this one while I was working on the Color of our Mana.

Lloyd: And in the middle of chapter 5, he just starts it off.

RS: Glares You shut up, and read the disclaimer.

Lloyd: 'Red Seraphim doesn't own Tales of Symphonia'.

Lloyd was slipping into a doze when he was suddenly brought back into wakefulness by a copy of 'The Life and History of Mithos the Hero' smacking him across the face. He looked down at the book, and then raised his head slowly to see an infuriated Professor Sage breathing heavily in front of him.

"Professor, why did you throw a book at me?" He asked, innocently.

Raine Sage shouted at him. "You are always falling asleep in class and are never paying attention to the lessons and-" She began to tirade, when her brother got up onto his chair and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Sis, you need calm down." Genis said.

Raine closed her eyes and took a couple of deep breaths. When she seemed to have calmed down, she opened her eyes again. She sighed, and then she went back up to her place at the podium.

"Class is dismissed." She said. All of the students got up. "Not you, Lloyd. I need to talk with you." She said.

Lloyd visibly paled.

Genis and Lloyd were walking to Genis's house.

"What did she say to you?" Genis asked, a little apprehensive.

"Oh, just that I need to focus more, and not fall asleep in class." Lloyd sighed, as if this sort of thing happened everyday. As a matter of fact, it did.

Genis sighed. "Well, Lloyd, maybe if you did some of those things, you wouldn't make her angry so much." Genis said, the slightest hint of annoyance in his voice.

Lloyd sighed again, exasperated. "Well, her lessons just aren't really interesting."

Genis sighed and waved good-bye to Lloyd as he went inside the house.

Raine was waiting on her bed when Genis came into the house, grading all the children's papers. He looked at her, then set his lunch down on the table, and began to cook some rice balls and a steak. He sat down after he set the four rice balls and his half of the steak and went over to Raine and shook her shoulder softly, the usual indication for 'dinner is ready' in their house. Raine rose from the bed and sighed.

"Sis? Can we talk while we eat?" He asked.

"Of course. What do you want to talk to me about?" Raine said.

Genis sighed. "It's about Lloyd." He said as they sat down at the table. He flinched as Raine's fork made a horrible screeching noise, and flinched again at the visible mark on her plate that was left by the action.

"What about him?" Raine whispered, her eye twitching.

"Sis…please calm down." Genis said.

Raine took some deep breaths, then put her head in her hands and sighed. "Do you know why he doesn't pay attention, Genis?" Raine asked, sighing at the end of the sentence.

"Well, I don't know for sure…" Genis started.

"Am I dull when I talk about history and things, Genis? Is that why he doesn't pay attention?" Raine asked, interrupting him.

"Well," Genis started, until he saw the tears begin to look well up in his sister's eyes. "Sis, you're not boring! You talk about stuff, and it sounds fascinating! You put so much energy and passion into everything that you teach!" He said, encouragingly.

Raine's tears still rolled down her face.

Genis spoke again. "I think that I know why Lloyd doesn't find your lessons interesting. He's good at gym and art, right?" He asked, and continued when Raine nodded. "Well, those are both interactive subjects. Maybe if you have some sort of interactive activities for the other subjects, he would be more willing to learn." Genis said.

Raine stopped crying gradually, and instead began to smile. "Thank you, Genis." Raine hiccupped. As they ate, she continued to hiccup and smile, something causing Genis to get up so he could pound on Raine's back, so she wouldn't choke.

Later, Raine was sitting up in bed, planning her interactive history lesson. She suddenly saw something out of the corner of her eye, but just for a moment. She shook herself.

"You need some sleep, Raine." She berated herself. She closed her book, collected her papers, and turned off the lamp. Then, she felt a sudden pain on the back of her head. She fell to the floor, unconscious.

The next day, Lloyd was walking to school. Then he realized something. The schoolhouse was empty. He looked around, and on Raine's desk, there was a note. Lloyd picked it up to read it, and then he realized that he couldn't understand it. He looked around, and he saw a book on the bookcases that showed some similar letters, and he took it down and began to read. He had translated about half of the letters, when he heard others come in to the room. He looked up, and saw that it was Genis and Colette.

"Hey, Lloyd! What are you looking at?" Colette asked.

Lloyd answered in an agast manner. "As far as I can tell, it's a letter from Professor Sage."

Colette asked another question, slightly down-cast. "Is it that she can't come in today?"

Lloyd looked at both of them. Then he took a deep breath. "It's from 1,000 years ago." He said.

RS: Ha! Another chapter story!

Lloyd: Pretty short.

RS: Shut up.