#4: Unexpected Letter
Birdsong and a gentle knocking at the door stirred Mana early the next morning. Where was she again? True Cross Academy. That's right. It was also her placement test day.
"Tests?! Oomph!"
"M-Mana, are you okay?!" Shiemi called timidly through the door.
"I'm fine, thanks – let me get dressed and I'll be right out!"
"Ah, no rush! You still have time!"
"She wanted to make sure you knew where the cafeteria was." Izumo's voice grudgingly chimed in.
"Okay! I never went last night because I was too tired - crap!" Mana bit her lip as her usually steady hand streaked kohl from the corner of her eye to her earlobe. Why was she so nervous all of a sudden?
No matter. Repairing the damage to her face wouldn't take too long.
"I'm done, let's go, sorry to keep you waiting!"
Shiemi and Izumo were forced to take a large step backward as Mana strode into them at attention, closing the door smartly behind her.
"Hey, calm down! This isn't some sort of boot camp, and you're not impressing any of us like that!"
"Izumo, please! You're getting too loud," A third student with short dark brown hair standing a bit behind the pigtailed tamer looked across the corridor nervously.
"…Hmph."
Shiemi's eyes darted around the group nervously before she followed Izumo toward the exit. "Izumo?"
"Sorry about that. I'm Paku, Izumo's roommate. We actually live down the hall from you there." Paku pointed out a door about halfway down the other side of the corridor. "I saw your luggage arrive, and Shiemi told me about you."
"I'm Mana. It's nice to meet you, Paku." The brunette smiled a bit. "…Did I really act like I was in a boot camp?"
"A little, but I guess some exorcists are raised like that."
"You guess? Are you not an exorcist?"
"I was, but it didn't really work out."
Mana had to look away to navigate the stairs. "I'm sorry. You don't have to explain – we just met and it seems like a touchy first topic of the day."
Paku nodded. "It's okay. I do hang out with them a lot. It's a tough job so they need all the support they can get."
-Flames-
By the time the four reached the cafeteria, even Izumo had fallen back a little to listen in on the others' lighthearted chatter. The new exwire still annoyed her almost as much as Shiemi though. Was she going to turn out as snobbish as their puppet-wielding classmate had been the night before?
"There you are! What took you so long?!" Shima hollered as he waved the group over. He and the other boys had already bought their meals and claimed a table.
"Mana, that's what."
The exwire in question could only blink in shock. "I didn't know they wanted me to come down to eat with everyone – not that I would've turned them away or anything!"
"Hey, don't worry about it. We're the only ones here – Rin and Mister Okumura make their own food at their dorm and join us for lunch." Konekomaru chimed in.
"Their own food?"
Someone tried to explain that the dormitory buildings had their own kitchens, but Mana's eyes had been drawn to the price tags prominently placed in front of the dishes in a nearby food warmer.
"¥25,000…¥50,000…¥38,000… Excuse me!"
"Someone worked up an appetite yesterday!" Shima's laugh turned into a yelp as Bon shifted to "lightly" punch his arm.
"As she should have – she did her share of work and yours!"
"Hey heey, Bon, cut it out before someone gets hurt! We still have mysteries to solve!"
Mana, though still pretty embarrassed about her stomach rumbling, managed to discreetly extract her wallet from her new Academy satchel and count the allowance she'd been given before she left home. Even though her family was relatively well off she'd burn through her cash before the month was out at this rate.
"Do you have enough, Mana? My mom always sends me with enough bento for two so we can share it if you want."
"Maybe. Let me check my bag in case some fell out. Huh?" The brunette added in confusion as a bright pink envelope decorated with small, glittery stickers caught her eye. "I-I think this love letter got put in the wrong bag. It must be…uh…for me?"
'Mana Taninaka' was indeed scrawled across the front in dark purple pen ink.
"It's almost time for class, but you should open it now," Bon eyed the envelope the way one might stare down a hobgoblin. "Rin got a similar one the other day and it turned out to be from Mephisto."
"The headmaster? Right! I guess I have to then in case it's somehow school-related."
The group crowded in as soon as Mana had torn open the flap…only for their jaws to drop in surprise as three crisp ¥5,000 yen notes and a folded letter slid to the tabletop. The brunette quickly scooped up the letter and unfolded it without prompting.
'Dear Miss Mana,
Good morning~*! I hope you're enjoying your first day at my academy – too bad I'm not around to see it. :'(
I somehow forgot to give you the monthly stipend promised as part of your scholarship yesterday, so I asked the staff to put it in your bag. CONGRATULATIONS on your ¥15,000! :D :D :D
Finally, good luck on your placement tests! 3 3 Your exorcist one in particular – how you work with the other exwires will play a BIG part in scoring. :o
*XOXOXO*
Mephisto Pheles'
"Ehm, Miss Taninaka?" A teacher's sudden arrival broke through the incredibly awkward atmosphere settling over the table. "I came to fetch you for your placement tests. You can meet up with your friends this afternoon before cram school classes begin."
"Right." The letter, money, and wallet were quickly shoved into Mana's bag as she got up from her seat. "How can I get in touch with you? I still don't really know my way around campus."
Shima shrugged. "We'll find you at some point since we all have lunch together anyway. Now go get 'em."
"Good luck!" Shiemi's cheerful chirp brought a small smile to Mana's face as she was lead out of the cafeteria, but it did little to settle the butterflies in her stomach. What exactly would she do for her exorcist testing?
A/N: Figuring out exactly how Mana would discover the letter was the most difficult part of writing chapter 4, but I find the end result more satisfying than the most recent manga update...
Mephy will be back in time for chapter 5, for those curious, which should be posted before the end of this month. We'll be wrapping up manga chapter 41 and covering up to 43 or 44.
Those random 3's are supposed to be hearts, by the way, but FF doesn't like the sideways caret/circumflex things much.
