A surprise double whammy today! This time, the short story is *actually* short. Weird, huh?
April 7, S.1206 - After School
Kurt had trouble pinning down the nature of his new instructor.
On one hand, he was fully competent in his teachings. His lectures on Erebonian history were clear and concise, even allowing his roommate Sidney to understand them without much problem.
On the other, his skill with the Eight Leaves hadn't really impressed him. Kurt had asked him once about his ranking in the school, only to find out he was intermediate, just like he was in the Vander school.
If that was the extent of his martial prowess, what more could he learn from him?
Rean Schwarzer was touted as the hero who ended the civil war by leading an independent faction against the Noble Alliance. His main weapon being his Divine Knight, a humanoid weapon made long before the current era and the basis in which the Panzer Soldat was built upon.
So if his instructor hadn't really exceeded him in terms of the sword, wouldn't it only be logical that the sole reason he rose in fame was due to his Divine Knight? The inquiry made sense to him.
But something about that line of reasoning bothered Kurt. A nagging voice at the back of his head kept whispering that he was being too presumptuous.
So, he did what any respectable student would do: research.
Instructor Schwarzer often kept to himself after school hours. He'd have a watchful eye on the students, in case anyone needed assistance or guidance, but he hardly socialized with anyone except for Instructor Towa. Even his interactions with Instructors Irving and Randolph felt more like a professional obligation than friendly work staff fraternization.
Once he was off the clock, however, things seemed to change.
He'd roam around town, often helping out with odd jobs with the citizens. Sometimes he would deliver spices from Nyo-Sui-An Imports to Barney's or help rearrange the store in Lapin. From what Kurt could tell, Instructor Schwarzer wasn't being compensated in the slightest. At least, not monetarily.
Ever since the establishment of the branch campus, there seemed to be a sort of… tension between the students and staff of the school and the residents of the sleepy town. Perhaps the sudden appearance of a military school would shock anyone to an extent, Kurt surmised. But whatever his instructor seemed to be doing, it was helping build relationships with the townsfolk.
At times, he would notice the man staying long periods of time at Carnegie or the chapel. Instructor Schwarzer would often play card games with the children, introducing a rather simplistic fixture from what Kurt believed to be Jurai or learning a new fad of card game known as Vantage Masters (though Kurt could sense an inkling that the man had played it before). When in the chapel, Instructor Schwarzer would chat with the Sister who had transferred there recently. It looked like the two knew each other from their school days, just like with Instructor Towa.
And then, every day without fail, the man would come home in the late hours. Sometimes he'd craft a haphazard dinner in the kitchen and then go straight to his room.
Based on the patterns Kurt observed of him for this past week, it was like Instructor Schwarzer was trying to avoid going back to the dorm until he knew everyone else was asleep. The only reason why Kurt knew these habits of his was due to his own late-night training sessions.
So what exactly was behind Rean Schwarzer's facade? What was he hiding?
…
Well, he couldn't exactly ask him that directly. So he turned his attention to the people who knew him.
He had a few prospects.
"Something about Rean?"
"Yes. Instructor Schwarzer doesn't talk about himself that much, so I wanted to know what he was like prior to becoming an instructor here. All I really know are the stories that my family tells me."
Instructor Towa stroked her chin. She neatly put away the paperwork she just finished before Kurt asked his question into neat piles atop her desk. Despite her stature, she was quite resilient in how she dealt with matters, being able to go on and on during her lectures.
For whatever reason, she was the only one in the school that Instructor Schwarzer had a friendly relationship with. It wasn't that the man was cold per se, but rather he kept everyone at arm's length, going as far to call everyone by their last names.
"Well, if he's keeping to himself, then there must be a reason…"
"Oh, don't worry. I don't want to pry into his private life if it's avoidable. I just want to know what kind of person he is, from your perspective if possible."
Instructor Towa raised a brow but ultimately shrugged. "I guess that's fine. Though, it has been a while since I saw him last. So sorry if I can't be as accurate as I want to be."
"That's fine." Kurt nodded. "Please, go ahead."
"Rean was… is a hardworking person. During my days as student council president, I was hounded with requests from all over the town. So, as a show of goodwill, he decided to take on anything I couldn't make time for. Every free day we had, Rean would always run around Trista helping people out." She laughed. "Though, sometimes I wonder if I stunted his social growth. Because of all that work, he never found time to join a club or just relaxed during those days."
Kurt nodded in affirmation. That would explain why he did much of the same now.
"But it wasn't just that!" Instructor Towa's eyes sparkled as her grin grew wider. "His skill with a sword is amazing! Amongst the first years, the only person to ever rival him was his classmate Laura. From what I hear, he'd practice every night in his room and often sparred with those in the fencing team."
Kurt's face scrunched up. Was Instructor Schwarzer really that good with his sword?
"Instructor, forgive me if I'm being rude, but I can't say I see what you mean by that. After witnessing his skills up front during the orienteering exercise, I could tell he's far from mastery."
She fell slightly, looking back at the boy with crestfallen eyes.
"Well, sure. He's learning just like you. Though I'm no expert in sword schools, I'm pretty sure the Eight Leaves style and your Vander style hold different values, do they not?"
"I… suppose."
Her smile returned, albeit slightly sadder than before. "Rean's got the skill behind his sword. It's just… he has his share of troubles, that's all. While the Vander school values strength and pure martial prowess, the Eight Leaves is more spiritual in nature. Skill alone isn't enough for mastery."
"I see. I'll keep those words in mind. Thank you, Instructor Towa."
"Of course!"
"What do I know about Instructor Rean?"
Kurt's next source was his young classmate Altina. Based on their first day, she and Instructor Schwarzer knew an awful lot about each other, even having a bit of a back-and-forth before their fight against the Magic Knight. Unfortunately, he had to tempt the girl with an order of pancakes from Recette. He didn't particularly mind since he was rather hungry himself, but it was the principle that bothered him.
Oh well, at least he knew what he could do to prod any sort of information from the young girl, even if it did hurt his pride a bit.
What he didn't expect was the friend that she decided to bring along.
"I can't tell you too much. I only knew him briefly when he came by our town. Sorry, Kurt."
Sandy Baker. A girl hailing from the countryside in Lamarre. Kurt thought he'd be surprised that such a cheerful and bubbly girl would attend a military academy, but pushed those concerns aside when he remembered that one of his classmates was barely past the age of puberty for a young girl. Thankfully, Sandy was gracious enough to purchase her own treat from the bakery.
Kurt shook his head. "That's quite all right. So what can you tell me, Altina?"
She ate off a chunk of her fluffy pancakes. Her slow chewing made him slightly impatient, but he remembered his father's words that the world rewarded those who wait.
"If there was a singular word to describe Instructor Rean, it would be 'frustrating'. Many of his actions are completely illogical and oftentimes endanger the missions we are assigned. Sometimes, he'd find himself in precarious situations that lead him to be labeled indecent and perverted."
She took another bite, this time a lot more forceful.
Sandy laughed nervously. "Altina…"
"That's… not exactly what I had in mind."
"Oh? Did I answer incorrectly?"
Kurt shook his head, placing his hand on his forehead. This might be a bit more difficult than he thought.
"No, but I wanted to know more about what he's like outside the classroom and the extent of his martial prowess. I feel like the instructor has more to him than he lets on. I don't want to feel like he's holding back."
Altina's eyes widened, her fork still inside her mouth which was slightly bulged from the inserted breakfast dessert. She took a few moments to chew and swallow before letting out a subtle sigh, contemplating her response. Her mouth opened and closed repeatedly, struggling to come up with the right words.
"Instructor Rean's situation with his strength isn't something I can disclose if that's what you're asking about. I may have loose lips in many cases, but I firmly draw the line there."
Kurt stepped back, his brows arched up in surprise. As Altina said, her tendency to spout out very sensitive topics concerning her Intelligence Division work came up more often than not. The fact that she'd bite her tongue about anything shocked him, even if he hadn't known her for too long.
"But I can say that if that's your main concern with him and the battle data I gathered from you during the Keep trial is the best you can offer, then I wouldn't get so comfortable."
"Was that… Was that a threat?"
"You can perceive it however you'd like."
Despite his shock, Kurt hardly felt offended. He knew that he lacked in many areas as he was now. Intermediate rank didn't amount to much when you're surrounded by masters all the time. And with the dual-blade style falling out of vogue several generations back, there weren't many masters out there to teach him as well. No, what he felt wasn't offense.
Rather, he felt his curiosity piqued. Like he said back at the Keep, Kurt had no qualms in being put into Class VII. In fact, being in a smaller class helped him concentrate much better on his studies. It was the fact that his instructor was far more powerful than he could even perceive. Was that a weakness on Kurt's part? Or was he holding back for a specific reason?
There were too many variables at play, but that didn't change the fact that Instructor Schwarzer failed to impress him.
"However, if you wanted to know about his social habits, I believe there are a few things I don't mind telling you."
"Oh yeah?"
"Ooh, ooh!" Sandy raised her hand in excitement. "I wanna hear!"
Altina nodded. "The instructor has the tendency to be quite the despicable human being. Especially around members of the opposite sex…"
Later that day
Kurt entered the dorm, exhausted beyond belief.
Not from his usual training routine, no. He had learned a bit too much about his instructor's love life than he'd care for and the fact that the young girl had that much dirt on him absolutely bewildered him.
It almost got him to sympathize with the poor instructor.
He slipped into the dining area, hoping to at least get a glass of water before he headed to bed. However, he managed to run into a peculiar sight.
Juna sat alone, devouring a plate of her dinner while glaring intensely into the kitchen. Kurt followed her gaze to see a certain instructor chatting with another student, a girl he remembered from orientation.
Kurt wasn't able to make out the incoherent mumblings of his classmate, but it almost sounded like she was having a full-blown conversation with herself.
"Juna?" He tapped the girl's shoulder, making sure to keep some distance as he sensed the danger of rousing the attention of an angry beast. The moment she turned around with her sharp, unamused expression, Kurt immediately backed away as his survival instincts kicked in.
"What?"
Her voice was as deadly as her eyes.
"A-Apologies. You just seemed… distracted."
Her face contorted in many different expressions and yet it never lost the scowl that had been imprinted onto it. She put her utensils down, freeing her arms only to cross them. She sat there silently, continuing to glare into the kitchen.
Kurt followed her gaze again. "I take it that you aren't fond of the instructor being close to that girl?"
"It's whatever. We're strangers, after all. What he does is his business. It doesn't bother me."
It was clearly bothering her.
"Anyway, did you need something?"
Kurt contemplated for a brief moment. He had pretty much finished the survey for the day, so he wasn't exactly looking for more information about his instructor. However, his conclusion about the man had been far from satisfactory.
All he really knew about him was that he was a busybody that hid his true strength and enjoyed flirting with women on his off time. The jury was still out on that last one though.
He still had questions and this looked to be a good opportunity.
"Yes, actually. I wanted to ask a few questions if you don't mind. Though…" he glanced into the kitchen, "we should probably take this somewhere else."
Juna stared at the boy, her eyes wide with surprise. However, she offered no words of protest and left her empty plate and utensils on a cleaning rack. Kurt led her upstairs to the study room that was still empty thanks to the lack of heavy studying during their first week of classes.
"So what's up, Kurt?" Juna asked.
"Well, you see-"
"Wait, hold on. Before you continue… you're not asking me out, are you?"
"...Excuse me?"
"Because, like, I'm flattered but we barely know each other and I'm kinda going through my own thing right now and I'm really not looking for a relationship and I know we got off on the wrong foot a while ago, but you really don't need to feel like you have to make it up to me."
"That… wasn't what I was going for at all."
Juna blinked.
"Oh."
"Not that I don't find you charming, at the very least, but I'm also not looking for a relationship."
"That's good to know… Though you really didn't need to add that second part."
Perhaps Kurt should learn to be careful with his words lest he ends up like his instructor.
"I wanted to make sure we were out of the instructor's range."
"Oh…" Juna's face fell. "You wanted to talk about Instructor Schwarzer."
She said his name with such disgust that it caught Kurt off guard. Did he already get the answer to his question?
"Is that a problem?"
"No, no. It's fine. Just shoot."
Her change in demeanor felt palpable, but Kurt elected to ignore it. He thought it best to learn the answer straight from her mouth rather than rely on pure perception.
"From your point of view, who is Instructor Schwarzer? Or rather, how do you view the Ashen Chevalier as someone who hails from Crossbell? I've spoken to several of his acquaintances, including Instructor Herschel and Altina, but I wanted to know an outsider's perspective."
Juna's face shot back up, her eyes widening at the question. She scoffed to the side, crossing her arms once more and mumbled. "'Outsider's perspective', he says…"
"I'm sorry, did you say something?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it." Juna sighed. "If I had to put it simply, it would depend on who you ask. Or, I guess it depends on how you look at it."
Kurt raised an eyebrow but said nothing, urging her to continue.
"The Ashen Chevalier became known as the 'hero' of the Erebonian Civil War and was made to be the poster boy of the Crossbell occupation. Everyone's got their own opinion on that whole mess. Some welcome the occupation and adore him, others prefer independence and despise him, and the rest, well, they're pretty 50-50."
"Interesting… So most of the public opinion is mainly based on if they associate him with the occupation. It sounds like a majority do, but other factors contribute to whether or not they see that as a positive or negative thing."
"That's basically the gist, yeah."
As an Erebonian, Kurt simply thought that the annexation would purely benefit the people of Crossbell. Considering the fact that it had been caught in the crossfire between two superpowers, it would only be in its best interest in joining one of them out of self-preservation, right?
But things are hardly that simple.
"What camp do you land on?"
Juna stiffened. The question was innocent enough. However, from the way she was reacting, perhaps it was a lot more complicated than Kurt originally surmised.
"I think you've made it abundantly clear that you're not fond of the annexation, but what of our instructor?"
"..."
"Juna?"
"..."
"If it's a tough subject, then please don't feel the need to answer."
"No… it's not that. It's just… complicated, I guess."
"I seem to recall that you were rather wary of him during orientation."
"Yeah, that's… Yeah." Juna trailed off only to finish her sentence lamely. She tucked her hands into her pockets and averted her eyes. "Sometimes… I want to hate him, y'know? It'd make things easier, that's for sure. Though, that's probably because it's a dumb trait we humans have. We want to blame a person with a name rather than the little things that became the leading cause."
Perhaps this ran deeper than Kurt originally thought.
"That's not to say I don't have issues with him. He infuriates me sometimes and looking at him brings up these frustrating feelings…"
"As a Crossbellan, right?"
"...Yeah. As a Crossbellan." Juna let out a hefty sigh, her entire body falling over upon her exhale. It looked as if she was more than eager to get this off her shoulders. "But still, I don't think it's fair to pin all the blame on him. I guess I just have more to learn on that front…"
"That's… surprisingly mature, Juna. I'm impressed."
She glared at him. "And what's that supposed to mean?"
"Nothing at all. I merely appreciate you giving me another perspective on things. Thank you for that."
"You sure? I don't feel like I did much."
"You at least gave me more to rummage on." His lips cracked a smile. "But don't worry too much about it."
"If you say so."
The two parted ways, Juna heading off to bed while Kurt went on to start his evening training. After his talk with Juna, he felt unexpectedly energized and wanted to get in a quick session before he retired for the night.
Kurt still had his doubts about the instructor. His self-hampering of his abilities felt like an insult to Kurt, someone who had been practically raised by the sword, and what he did have on display was a far cry from the incredible feats he had heard about the Eight Leaves One Blade school. Outside of his Divine Knight, he had no idea why Instructor Schwarzer was as revered as he was.
But maybe that also meant that Kurt was only looking at the surface.
He would just have to wait and see.
"Musse."
"Yes~?"
"You know I can feed myself, right?"
It was more of a statement than a question.
Musse retracted her arm, instead opting to bite into the sandwich in her hand with her own mouth. Though, based on how slowly she chewed, it looked as if she was pouting.
"You're no fun."
Rean let a soft sigh escape his lips before consuming his own sandwich with them. He didn't remember how they ended up in this situation, but they ended up biting off more than they could chew.
Quite literally.
As they were stocking the food supply for the new school year, the shipments ended up giving them a bit more than they could handle. Most of the ingredients were given to Barney's and Nyo-Sui-An for later use. However, even with that amount of space plus the storage the branch campus had to them, there was still an overabundance leftover. As a result, he was tasked with making use of the perishables before they could expire.
And, somewhere along the way, Musse decided to join in.
At least it gave him the excuse to make himself something decent for dinner for once though. It had been a while since he cooked, well, anything for himself.
Neither of them was an expert in the kitchen, but he at least had some recipes to fall back on during his school days.
He should really make some fish burgers again.
"So how have things been, Musse? Adjusting to school well?"
"Oh, it's been wonderful. Instructor Towa has been so helpful in getting me well-adjusted to everything and everyone in my class has been a joy working with. And it's even more exciting knowing that you're one of the instructors here, Rean~"
He sighed. "Don't forget we're meant to act professionally here, all right? No funny business."
"Yes, yes. Of course."
"And don't think I'm going to go easy on you just because we know each other."
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it~"
The cute twang she added to her voice only put Rean on edge. Anything he ever said to her always backfired in some way. At some point, he probably just had to learn to give up.
"You know," Musse spoke up, breaking him from his thoughts. "I heard there was a student going around asking about you today."
"Really? Who was it?
She shrugged. "I'm afraid I don't know. They were quite curious about you, though."
"..."
"Is something the matter, Instructor Rean?"
"N-No. Sorry. I think I just got a lot on my mind, that's all."
"Perhaps it's something you'd like to get off your chest? I'm open to listening if that's what you wish."
Rean shot her an unimpressed look. "What, and unload my deep-seated secrets onto a student during the first week of school? How desperate do you think I am?"
She giggled. "You know how fussy Elise can be about your well-being. I ask for both her sake and my own vested interest. But, seeing as how you can let out quips like that, I don't think I have much to worry about."
"...Yeah, yeah." Rean immediately backed down at the mention of his sister. Knowing Musse, she'd definitely pull that card on him again. "But thanks, Musse. I'll keep that in mind. It probably won't be for a while, but… I'll get there somehow."
"My pleasure." She stood up, pushing in her chair as she picked up her empty plate. "I believe I'll retire for the night, however. I expect this year to be a hectic one."
"You and I both." He replied, cracking a smile on his lips. "Good night, Musse."
"Likewise, Instructor."
Musse walked off with a smile on her face and the sound of swinging swords flying in her ears.
I've been working on this one for a while, but I'm gonna be honest, this one was... not "hard" but I was coming up short on ideas on how to make it any longer. Then again, it's supposed to be a "short" story, so I guess the length is fine. If anything, I put most of my creative juices into the other stories I just uploaded recently.
So here we have the first chapter where neither Rean nor Juna is the main point of view. From this point forward, I'm expecting to make more chapters like this where we have more characters take the spotlight. Kind of a shame when I JUST said that Juna's getting more focus last chapter, but I want to flesh out the others since I have plans for them.
That aside, I just uploaded two other stories on Archive of Our Own! I don't think I'll post them here since I've been moving away from , so go there to read them. They're more comedic in nature, but I still recommend you to check them out! They were a blast to write and may or may not have had an impact on my progress in this chapter.