Finally time for the second update! Here's hoping the wait wasn't too long! Thanks again to all those who have given feedback so far; this wouldn't be nearly as rewarding without you. Also, thanks to my good friend Alpha for beta reading this chapter!

Now, then, without further ado, shall we continue?

A powerful yawn left Link's mouth while the aroma from the kitchen filled his nostrils. He never thought he'd say it, but that night's session really was the toughest Commander Eagus had thrown at the students this year—perhaps ever. Apparently, somebody thought it was a good idea to take advantage of the unusually-chilly night air to assist in endurance testing. No guesses on the general popular opinion on that decision, but at least they were closer to the academy; if anybody were to keel over, medical attention was only a crawl away.

He was so exhausted and achy he could barely move. The only reason his feet even bothered to listen to him was because he knew he couldn't just plop onto the upstairs floor unconscious, especially with the enticing smell of resident cook Henya's food wafting into his nostrils. Maybe a little bite before I crash won't hurt... Only this time, he hoped that he wouldn't wake up to find his face on his plate again.

Practically dragging his hurting feet, he limped toward the stairs, his hand preoccupied with gingerly clasping his empty stomach. Such was the lack of focus in his eyes that he didn't even notice resident bullies Groose and Cawlin guarding the wall as stiff as statues, who perchance believed that standing still camouflaged them perfectly in the darkness. A little chuckle behind him, on the other hand, rebooted Link's senses, and with a swift turn of his head, he caught them red-handed doing…something.

They pressed their ears so heavily onto Zelda's and Karane's doors, respectively, that he was afraid their hard heads were going to bust clean through the clean cuts of oak. Their eyes popped out of their heads as Link's suspicious yet not-so-surprised gaze met theirs.

Groose recovered quickly, though, and countered Link's gaze with one of his trademark scowls. He nonchalantly straightened his pompadour, which, as they all noticed, had considerably drooped during sparring. …Not that anyone would dare point out flaws in his "do" without a willing risk to be flattened with a practice log.

"Need somethin'?" he grunted, walking the fine line between intimidating and quiet enough to remain undetected by any unsuspecting ears. Cawlin would usually take a chance like this to brownnose his way into backing up his "professional superior," but perhaps Link's sudden appearance caught him too much off-guard to instigate his usually-proactive inquiry.

"What are you guys doing?" Link asked, strain in his voice, as if he had already repeated that same question countlessly. Considering all the trouble they both caused, especially Groose if Zelda was in the equation, he might as well have.

Groose's gut sounded a low chuckle as he crossed his arms, now satisfied with the adjustments to his hair. "What? This is a part of the academy, and I happen to be standing inside it. Problem, pipsqueak?" His mouth stretched to both sides of his face, revealing two gapped arrays of teeth; even in the dim light, Link swore he could've seen some premature wrinkles. The smile was…creepy, to put it mildly.

Fortunately, any imminent mental scarring was deterred by a quick shake of his head and a simple mind wipe, which he was quick to pick up and overuse during the course of his academic career. "You do remember that Instructor Horwell barred you two from loitering in the girls' dormitory after the whole pumpkin fiasco, don't you?" he asked with clearer focus, albeit trying to avoid bringing back the painful memories from the prank that Groose and his cronies pulled the previous week.

Cawlin ended his streak of silence and rolled his eyes. "Like I've been telling everyone, that Remlit had it comin'. Besides, Stritch told me the rash is almost—"

Just like that, the memories returned, forcing Link to immediately clamp his ears shut and shudder. "I'd rather not know, thank you very much!" As soon as he saw that Cawlin's mouth was no longer flapping about certain…unspeakables he'd hope to forget soon, he shook off the snag in his head and continued. "What's going on in there that's so important you're willing to risk detention…again?"

Finally, Groose's otherworldly smirk left his face and was replaced by the pompous leer that often meant bad news. "Well, why don't you come over here and find out for yourself?" An odd occurrence for someone as ill-mannered as Groose, he waved his arm in front of the door in a deceptively-genuine-looking offering, complemented by a devious snicker.

Link didn't even have to think about it. He made up his mind quite quickly that he wasn't going to stoop down to their level and eavesdrop on his best friend. Girls did need their privacy, he knew, so he was all too willing to accept that and think nothing more of it. Any guy with some idea of decency lived by that creed.

Of course, he thought that it was an easy decision; but a soft, nervous voice seeped through the door and raised his concern enough to break his code once, just in case, and approach Zelda's door to listen.

"I was actually planning on telling him during the ceremony…"

Groose started giggling as if he had just won some kind of huge inheritance from his grandfather or something. It was…quite disturbing, as Link successfully noted through grudging observation. (Creeping him out twice in one night? It looked like a new record.) "What is that, my dear Zelda?" Groose whispered rather loudly—probably just trying to tick Link off, which was quite an extraneous effort, really. "You say you have something to tell me?"

"But you do know that there's no guarantee that he'll actually win, right?" an apprehensive voice hummed out of the other room, where Cawlin was able to pick up without a hitch. Then there was a moment where they couldn't hear either of the girls saying anything. It was almost alarming, since now the only thing they could hear was a lonely cricket chirping somewhere downstairs.

Getting a little nervous himself, Link looked at the others in hopes that either could break that silence, but they remained quiet, as well. Of course, Groose was preoccupied processing what was just said with a prideful scowl on his face that said, "You're giving me way too little credit there, girly." On second thought, Link preferred the silence.

His heart sank doubly when he heard the double doors opening behind him. Groose and Cawlin almost hit the ground running in panic, but as soon as a fellow student wearing a golden-colored tunic stepped inside, an upperclassman by the name of Pipit, they couldn't so much as move, much like when Link first stepped in.

"What are you guys doing up here this late at night?" the older student asked the three in a stern voice that was more-or-less his defining trait…if it weren't his diligence or appeal to honor. Everyone knew he tended to set high standards for everyone's behavior sometimes, but Link knew that he meant well. He was always a good friend to him during his time at the academy, and he, along with Zelda, was the one who pushed him to keep his grades somewhere above water.

"Uh…talking?" Cawlin asked after thinking for a couple seconds.

Wow. How very convincing, Link shot at him mentally with a sliver of hope that the message somehow telepathically reached his brain. When no response was given, he gave up on him and almost brought his palm to his forehead, but to avoid drawing attention and risk nasty looks from the bullies, he resisted.

Pipit himself didn't even bother verbally acknowledging the unconvincingness of his stutter, either. Crossing his arms, he decried, "The headmaster will not be happy to hear that you're up on the girls' floor again after what happened the other day."

Cawlin snorted. "Aren't you a little old to be telling on people?"

Pipit didn't answer him directly, save for an irritated shake of his head. "To be honest, this doesn't really surprise me. This isn't exactly the most of what I've seen out of you two." He then turned to Link, who rooted his feet and stiffened his shoulders in surprise. "But this is way more than what I'd expect from you."

"Wait, what did I do?" Link asked somewhat defensively. Surprisingly, Pipit's stern look lightened up and turned into a chuckle fit and a pat on the now-confused junior's shoulder.

"Ah, denial. That does little to ease the suspicion on you when it looks like you've taken Groose's challenge to listen in on other classmates, one of which happens to be quite a special classmate, wouldn't you say? I guess it was only a matter of time you would do this, but…"

"…What's that supposed to mean?"

"Come off it, Link. I know what's going on," he laughed. "The way you two look at each other when you pass by in the hall? How you're spending more time with her than ever? How you two always bring each other lunch? Your tendency to become giddy whenever she laughs? Two plus two equals four, as they say."

Link tried to hold back his bashfulness; he really did—perhaps more than he ever had a decent amount of practice to prepare for it. Before long, the effort only made him look like he had just sucked on a spicy lemon. And what do you know? No words in his mind had mercy enough to grant him amnesty from all this attention. The only thing that could come to him at that moment was a nonsensical statement that Pipit thought had involved pineapples and singing rocks.

Cawlin couldn't help but laugh at his inadequacy to say anything; Groose, surprisingly, didn't say a word, only crossing his arms, clenching his fists, and turning his hardened face away from his rival with heavier breath.

Needless to say, Link was completely nonplussed. What was he saying? So what if he and Zelda had been spending more time together? They were best friends! So what if they smiled at each other without a word when they were on their way to class? Sure, they were the only ones in the academy who did that, but that was normal for friends, wasn't it? So what if her laugh had the power to pick him up from out of a bad mood? So what if they were the only two people who walked side-by-side within only a few centimeters of each other? So what if they liked sitting by the waterfall and watching the sunset? So what if she liked surprising him with hugs? So what if…?

…

He completely forgot where he was going with that. While panicked, he still opened his mouth and actually sputtered a sensical response, however weakly. "It's…not like that…" Sadly, that was all that he could conjure up, and it was sadder still that Pipit's smirk only widened. I guess that didn't work, his thoughts groaned in trepidation of the further accusations that would soon follow.

Oh, boy. They're on to him! Get some more toilet paper! *smack* Erm, sorry.

Stay connected for the next update, which you can likely look forward to this Saturday. Actually, you can probably expect an update every three days. That doesn't sound too bad, right? Don't be afraid to raise any objections. Or, you know, constructive criticism. That works, too!

Until next time!