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Chapter 7: Friends, Trials, and Chaos! (3)

Beta-Reader: Ant0nius

~Frankie's POV~

Only one day remained before the first weekend away from home began.

I wasn't expecting anything concerning school-related matters, and I was already making plans on how I wanted to spend Saturday and Sunday. I had some ideas, yet none of them were complete or important enough to put more thought over this circumstance.

Friday, surprisingly, lacked any of yesterday's pressure, and I was quick to notice the fact that I was slowly growing 'accustomed' to the schedule of the first year. While there were some things that I still haven't accepted fully in my new daily life, I felt particularly sure that it was just a matter of time before I had everything under control.

But what truly made this last day a blessing after the rest of the week had gone by was the fact that there were only two lectures that I had to deal with. I thought it was some form of leniency, a reason to spend some more time studying the complex structure of the Prism University. But while this good idea had spearheaded my positive mood up until the first lecture started, I soon found out that someone else had already made some plans that involved me.

As I quietly took a seat beside Hope before the lesson of Prime Literature began, I realized that the Gazelle Prime had finally decided it was time to make the first steps in our recently-formed 'alliance'.

"I have a plan."

A few words, some determination making them heavier than they sounded like, and I spared her a curious glance while I opened my notebook. Blinking for a moment, I perplexity made a brief appearance as I thought back at the fact I had accepted this very situation.

To be fair, I wasn't even sure how convenient it was for me to keep this situation going… as I knew way too well that I would eventually get burned by offering assistance. Shin was offering me his trust- or better, he was giving me trust as I was proving to be a good friend and roommate to him.

I didn't belittle him for his age, nor did I feel annoyed by his voracious curiosity. I was actually impressed by his personality, a mix of mature wisdom with childish fascination over science and other mind-related arts. He was polite, respectful, but also very quick to provide his opinion over the matter.

Despite Miles' quick jabs at the young man's height or intelligence, there was no doubt that the Cat Prime gave out these comments in a somewhat restrained manner. He was irked by the interest the blond had over his path here at Prism Uni, but not genuinely disliking the kind of personality that was unique to our mutual roommate.

Maybe there was more to that, yet it didn't seem that Miles had any genuine issues with Shin over the decisions on studying their shared subjects. Returning back to that simple morning, I stared at the girl for some time, drawing an awkward look out of her.

"What?"

"Just... forgot for a moment what was the topic," I replied quietly, looking away as I prepared my pens. "So, what's the plan?"

Hope nodded, glancing at her own side of the table and opening her own notebook at an empty page.

"You know that Shin is Japanese, right?" She inquired, glancing to the side and settling her green-eyed stare on my hands. "I suppose he did tell you that."

I blinked. "He did, and I really hope you're not planning to do something dumb."

A huff left her lips as she shook her head at the comment, smiling again as she doodled a little on the upper side of her notebook.

"Nothing dumb… or at least, I don't think it's dumb," She replied with a nod. "Since you're good at cooking, I wanted to ask if you wanted to help me make some Japanese sweets for Shin."

This time I actually looked up at Hope, the girl glancing back at me, her confusion rising up at my silent glancing.

"Is that dumb?"

"Not really. No," I admitted quietly. "I mean, it wouldn't be too odd for you to use the excuse that you want to try out a recipe you saw while browsing the net with your phone."

The Gazelle Prime, her smile returning with a stronger intensity. "That's why I think that it will work well. It's simple, it's harmless and-"

"It will take a lot of time to get some Japanese food," I interrupted with a sigh, bringing her happiness to a quick stop. "While the idea is good, it doesn't mean that it would have difficulty because of time itself."

A frown adorned her face, surprise mixed with some confusion.

"Then why not bring Traci to help us as well?" The girl suggested, making me take a brief pause from writing the beginning bit of the lesson.

While I pondered over this, Hope used the opportunity to summarize in her notes the introduction part of the lesson, with Professor Dorion making use of the interactive blackboard to describe the historic period we were currently studying.

"While Friday is a peaceful day for us, I think Traci has practice with the rest of the cheerleaders," I pointed out slowly. "I can send her a message to see if she has some spare time after lunch, but I'm not sure what her schedule is so I will not lift up your hopes about it."

She sighed, scribbling furiously over her notebook.

I glanced at her paper, noticing that she was 'cutting' some words she had written without thinking about it. We were both getting distracted in this conversation, especially Hope as she looked fairly interested by the main topic. Perhaps it was also the 'importance' of succeeding with this new 'plan' that factored in as well, so I merely shifted the attention away from the present.

"You know, you never told me how you started to..." I paused for a moment, yet her attention was still on me. "You know, how did you start to love him."

She tensed a little, glancing around as to see if someone was eavesdropping at our discussion.

"I… I think it was when we were still children," The Gazelle Prime started to answer. "It was a senseless crush, one that I didn't give much thought to in the first few times..."

"Then?" I pressed quietly, still paying some attention at the lecture.

"Then the 'crush' continued to be a constant element for years, from Elementary School to High School," She muttered with a sigh. "We didn't spend much time together because we didn't go to the same establishments, but we found solace in each other's company."

"You don't need to answer this, but you didn't have any problem about friends-"

"The opposite actually," The young woman interjected with a tiny smile. "I'm a social butterfly, but I ended up losing many friends from High School by deciding to study here. I still hear from them from time to time."

I nodded at her answer, thinking that this little suspect of mine was just quite silly and-

"But Shin wasn't as lucky as I was," Hope continued much to my brief surprise. "He didn't speak much of any friends he made during that time. He's rather reserved about the topic, but I could see him being a loner with how shy he can get with new people."

Frowning at this addition, I offered another nod, this time glancing at Professor Dorion as she continued with her lesson.

"Thank you," I muttered quietly, causing the girl to give me a surprised look.

"And for what?"

"You might not think much about it, but the fact you were so available to offer me this much information is… nice," I admitted while looking back at her. "I mean, it sounds like some of this information is quite private between you and Shin-"

"Nah, it's… I would say it's more of something that not many tend to see while looking at him," The young woman interjected, shrugging a little at my words. "Plus, I know you mean well, and I also know that you care for Shin."

Giving her a nod, I pondered over her comment for a while, but before I had the chance to finish the conversation, I felt her hand reach out for my sleeve and give it a tug.

"By the way, what about you?"

The question this time caught me by surprise, a frown swiftly appearing on my face as I designed her with a confused look.

"Mhh?"

"I think we should also start thinking about your own 'problem'," Hope pressed on with some curiosity dripping from her words, her eyes narrowing teasingly as she regarded me with a playful look. "We're equal partners with this alliance, and I don't see why I should be the only one making progress."

I leaned back on my chair, trying my best to not show any displeasure at the fact that I was literally unprepared to face this kind of situation right now.

"Wouldn't it be prudent to wait for you to get some progress made instead of complicating things too much-"

"Don't use that excuse on me," The young woman interjected with a huff. "You aren't getting away from some proper interrogation over the kind of girls you like, mister."

I gulped nervously. "I'm not really-"

"Don't tell me that you actually haven't thought about it," Hope pressed on with some surprise, leaning forward to make her point evident. "You didn't think about the potential relationship you could have with… Traci? You both seem quite loving to each other."

I stopped to think at the possibility of going a step further with the care I had for the funny Tiger Prime.

Tiggs was nice, beautiful, smoking hot, and quite friendly. Yet I couldn't see her more than a close friend. Maybe it was a thought born from the fact that it was only the first week here at Prism, or maybe it was something more and-

I stopped at this trail of thought as the only certainty I could draw was that it wouldn't work… right now.

"I see her as a close friend."

"You hug each other. A lot," The Gazelle Prime pointed out with some skepticism.

"We both like to hug our friends," I lamented. "I suppose you are the one that starts hugs with Shin, rarely the opposite."

She blinked, realizing that it was the truth. I remember Shin mentioning that a few days ago while talking about Hope, but I never found a situation up until now where this information could actually help me.

"What about Vixy?" The girl asked again, seemingly unwilling to ditch the topic.

"What about her?"

"She was looking at you for a long time yesterday. And don't tell me you didn't check that fine butt." Hope tried bringing this detail up as proof of something happening with her and… I sighed.

"She's just giving me the same long look many students have when I'm around," I retorted with a huff. "I'll remind you that I'm a human-"

"Bah, she looked more than just 'oh, he is a human' interested, she 'oh, he looks quite interesting and I might give an extra swing with my behind' interested."

…

"I think you're seeing more than there is," I rebuked calmly, her fingers tugging again at my sleeve. "And can you stop with that?"

"Not until you show me a proper mindset for your own situation," The girl demanded, pouting a little at my lack of genuine interest in this matter. "If you continue like this, you will never be able to get a relationship. And it's not like girls will approach you if you don't start making a serious effort about it-"

As she concluded with these words, I noticed her green eyes moving away from me and right to the owner of the shadow looming from behind me. The sudden realization that someone was waiting there was enough to make me slowly turn around and see who was standing there and… I blinked at the sight I was bestowed with.

"Can I help you?" I inquired calmly, addressing the quiet Bunny Prime behind me as she seemed to be waiting for my input.

She had waist-long black hair, her fur was a shade of dark lighter than her hair. Her figure was 'curvier' than Hope, but there was a slight decrease on the ass' area. All in all, a 9/10 without hesitation, but still... her pink eyes were staring at my face as if trying to see something more than just my appearance. The young woman calmly nodded, pointing her stare and index at the chair next to mine, currently unoccupied.

"Is this seat taken?"

The question was simple and incredibly curt. So curt that I offered her a positive answer in the form of a slow nod. Letting out a small smile at the 'reply', she then moved to occupy the chair in question, placing her small bag by the table.

I expected her to bring out a notebook and some pens to follow the lecture, yet the Prime merely fished out what looked to be a sketchbook, a pencil and some markers from it. It wasn't truly a stunning development, especially since I've met some students during High School that were known to give little interest over lessons.

Those were either part of the group made by troublemakers, or they were people that didn't have to worry about getting bad grades after getting caught in the matter for one reason or another. Yet the fact that this was happening now within the walls of a college was a different situation altogether.

It was all correlated to the rules of Prism Uni, which were surprisingly lenient compared to the ones of a common High School. Teachers weren't meant to be punishing students that were distracted during their lectures, as lectures themselves were, at least not until the behavior itself ended up getting disruptive enough to make it difficult to continue the lesson itself.

If this had happened all by a standard exam situation, perhaps it would've caused more of a kerfuffle than just some frowning from my part. But instead of questioning the Bunny Prime's current actions and creating unnecessary issues, I decided to return my attention to the lecture, my pen scribbling once more as I tried my best to keep up with the new details on the blackboard.

We were halfway done with the first of the two lessons for today, and I was quite certain that the conversation with Hope was finally over with that arrival. Yet I was proven wrong when I started feeling someone tugging at my sleeve… again. I frowned while turning to gaze back at the Gazelle Prime, spotting a small smile on her pretty face early on.

She didn't say anything, looking particularly confusing at first as she limited this interaction to merely glancing at behind me as if suggesting me to-

Yeah, I wasn't going to do that.

I mouthed a quick 'no', but the girl didn't pause in her new 'duty', huffing mutedly as she gave me a heated glare to try and push me into a situation I really didn't want to be part of. An opportunity for me.

That seemed to be what the young woman was trying to 'tell' me, despite my continuous reluctance to do anything with the newcomer. It wasn't like she was someone I was unwilling to approach, but there was a problem with the general tact of approaching this situation.

The atmosphere was getting awkward from my current predicament, thus making any first steps wouldn't be convenient at all for-

"Your name is Frankie."

A familiar voice quietly stated as I turned to glance at where the Bunny Prime was sitting by, yet I wasn't met with her own eyes.

She was still paying much of her attention on her now-open sketchbook, a half-done drawing visible on the page where she was currently working on. A curious pattern, I was fascinated by the design as it did seem quite familiar at first look.

I blinked at the fact that it wasn't a question, more of an affirmation.

"Yes. And... you are?"

Hope poked harshly at my elbow, probably trying to bring up the fact that I was being too direct about it. Yet I knew that already as I proceeded onwards with this kind of attitude. It wasn't an attempt to appear rude, but to try and match up with the kind of curtness present in that mannerism.

"Angel," The woman answered calmly, not showing any irritation at the way she was being interrogated with.

"Nice to meet you," I said with a quick nod, trying to appear at least somewhat interested in my tone.

"Likewise," She muttered quietly, staying silent for some time as I continued to stare at her drawing.

I waited for a while, staring as Angel continued with her own business and I decided that it was about time to address the curious work on her sketchbook.

"Is that for a tattoo?" I finally asked, my curiosity peaking as I had slowly come to realize that this wasn't just a simple drawing.

The design and style screamed of 'Tattoo' or something similar like that.

Her ears twitched, and her pink eyes darted slowly to look at me. "Not truly, no," The Bunny Prime admitted. "But I wish that would be a possibility."

"It looks good," I praised quietly. "If it's not asking too much-"

"I do body-painting," The young woman interrupted with a sigh, settling her pencil down. "I guess you've other questions?"

I blinked. "Do you want me to ask more questions?"

"It depends," Angel hummed at my words. "Can I ask questions myself about you?"

At this point? I think there wasn't a reason to back away from this situation.

Hope was listening to the entire conversation in utter silence, trying her best to appear uninterested… yet I could see the Bunny Prime looking her way and giving a fairly-curious expression over the matter.

Still, I offered a shrug over the query. "I don't see why not."

My reply was met with a small smile, her full attention now on me at the chance of probing back for some more info.

"Then we can try."

The remainder of the hour was spent in simple questions. Nothing that dug too deeply into her character, just like she kept herself from pressing for anything too personal. In the end I was provided with a curious new acquaintance, a phone number… and an appointment for some body-painting for tomorrow.

Hope called it some progress to my part, but I don't know why I felt it was more different than some romantic opportunity.

Still, Friday was far from over and we had yet to go ahead with the girl's plan for the day.

~Hope's POV~

The very moment the second lesson came to an end, Hope's plan had started.

Miles was assigned to the 'simple' role of keeping Shin distracted and unaware of what they were doing away from their respective dorm rooms. The Cat Prime had been keen in accepting the role, at the price of a share of the food they were going to prepare. And with Frankie managing to get permission to use the kitchen within the Cooking Classroom, Hope felt that things were going to end up well.

While she had been having doubts about actually succeeding with this plan, she couldn't help but be glad that Tiggs had joined them when the human had asked about her interest in taking part in their initiative.

The big girl wasn't explaining the real reason behind this situation, but the excuse that the young man had decided to use was correlated to boredom-induced curiosity over the means to accomplishing this dish.

The Tiger Prime had displayed a degree of eagerness over the opportunity of trying out a dish she never thought of trying out before, and her determination was further intensified by the fact it was a sweet-based food that they were aiming for.

The fact that there weren't any practice sessions for the cheerleaders for the rest of the day also meant that the big girl had no issues in staying for the entire duration of the process.

Browsing around for any good recipes and finding the ingredients around in Prism took about an hour, yet she was glad that she ended up finding everything that was needed for the creation of some Dango sticks.

The idea had sounded interesting when she first started reading the page, especially since the concept reminded her much of how marshmallows looked and were regarded as. Yet those were far from simple marshmallows as the various unique ingredients made the difference.

Frankie had to read and re-read the recipe together with Traci for quite some time in order to properly understand how they were supposed to go through the instructions listed on the page. Both had appeared quite confident in being capable of making something like this, yet the positive news had yet to come to a closure as there weren't just three people working on this culinary project.

Vixy's presence had been a surprise for the Gazelle Prime, but one that Hope had instantly welcomed as the cheerleader had been quick to muse over her interest at trying out one of the resulting sweets.

With the full team now composed, the preparation began without interruption.

…

Or at least that was how Hope had wanted things to go from the very beginning.

While she had been confident in trying to do a good job over the planned steps to take, the girl had sorely forgotten a small detail that was actually… bigger than she needed it to be.

Her mother was an excellent chef, being the one that did most of the work by the kitchen while the young Prime was still back home. But while the woman was someone capable of moving around her kitchen, the rest of the family had been cursed with Kayin Ravenhurst's unique cooking style, or lack thereof.

It wasn't really a curse if the girl had to be honest, but rather a degree of involuntary unwillingness to make the correct choices for the preparation of food was what tended to mess up… everything. Which translated into her current disposition, with her side of the kitchen suddenly becoming a chaotic mess right after ten minutes had passed.

Tiggs had quickly moved to help her out, or at least offering as much support as she could while Frankie covered for her vacated position. Where Hope made some clumsy mistakes that she was failing miserably to stabilize on her own, Tiggs would try to balance with the best of intentions, ending up with fixing the messes only partially.

And with their timing less than optimal from the Gazelle Prime had wanted for it to be because of her initial flaws over her role, Vixy proved to be more competent than she was by handling her own station quite decently. Still, it was a little slower compared to both of the Cooking Class students.

Harmony in that chaotic situation was found twenty minutes after that predicament had started, with Hope still struggling with her own role as two sticks with three Dangos were each laid down on a big plate. Four more were needed to satisfy the completion of their planned quota, so the preparation was almost halfway done.

While the pace wasn't the ideal one, they were going pretty fast considering the difficulties that had crippled their capacity. But as the Gazelle Prime grew more attentive with her own actions and getting more confident with her chances of finally getting a grip over her station, another tragedy struck.

Vixy let out a sudden yelp of pain while retreating away from her station, the girl holding her right hand close as her face sported a pained look for a few seconds. She waved her palm to try cooling the small burn down, then blew some air on her damaged finger before reaching for the sink.

"Are you okay?" Frankie asked while looking at her, the Fox Prime merely sighing as she let the cool water on her finger.

"Mostly, it's just the shock now but… seems like it's nothing to worry about."

The positive response did little to solve the fact they were down a member because of one little burn.

Quite ironic that it was the daughter of the Crest of Fire that got that kind of injury. Yet the human decided to make a unique decision.

"Vixy, if you manage to get the situation under control, I can leave you part of Tiggs' original tasks," He offered with a hum. "Just the ones that don't have you straining the finger."

The young woman seemed to ponder about it, but she eventually seemed to give a slow nod at the proposal. "I think… I will be back in two minutes."

"Understood and- Thank you," The young man stated before returning his attention on his side of the kitchen.

Hope sighed in relief as not everything was lost because of that unexpected development, with her control over her own tasks increasing more and more. It was arduous to ultimately regain the full bearing of the situation, but after another ten minutes Tiggs was finally relieved to return to help Frankie by sharing the burden created by the station vacated by Vixy.

Their hardships went on for another hour, with the preparation of the sixth and final Dango stick on the now full plate. With their initiative now finished without any major issues, it was time to examine the product finally complete… but not before calling for the two wayward Primes meant to take part at this final test.

Miles was contacted shortly afterwards by Frankie himself, and told to bring the unsuspecting Shin right to the kitchen, as they were just waiting for them with the preparations finally over.

With the two starting to make their way to them, Hope couldn't help but feel slightly nervous over the results obtained from their hard work despite the fact she had some pride over the content of that large plate.

The dumplings looked delicious by sight, and the sweet aroma was quite a tempting element in the Japanese dessert. To see the blond appear so surprised when presented with the food that had been waiting for him was quite a great scene to envision from afar, and it was easily surpassed by what followed that moment.

Shock swelled in Shin within that moment of stunned silence, yet the White Tiger Prime seemed to recover quickly the instant he was offered one of the Dango sticks to eat from.

Hope felt anxious as Frankie muttered to the blond something about the Dango he was offered having been 'prepared by Hope with lots of care and attention', making her internally panic at the possibility of the teen discovering her real motivation.

Yet, just like it was now expected in her long history of efforts, Shin ignored the hidden meaning in the human's words, and she stared at her love interest taking the first bite out from the top dumpling.

Her anxiety vanished moments later as she eased up at the sight of his eyes widening in genuine awe at the taste. With victory confirmed after much time and effort had been put into creating these delicious things, the girl then started to enjoy her own stick, humming happily at the delicious flavor created by the sweet ingredients.

Her eyes wandered away from her dumplings as she studied the reactions from the rest of the group. Miles was talking quite rapidly with an amused Tiggs, with the Cat Prime to get some more insight over the ingredients used to make the dessert, which the fellow Feline was more than happy to provide at a more normal pace of voice.

While Frankie was… quietly putting a small band-aid on Vixy's burned fingertip.

Aw, that's cute.

"I should've been more careful," The Fox Prime muttered with some annoyance.

"You should, but at least it's nothing to worry about," The human commented back with a nod. "At least you didn't get blisters."

The girl flinched at the mere thought. "And now I'm losing my appetite."

"Then does that mean that I can take your stick?" The young man inquired with a little grin, a snort leaving Vixy's lips as she snatched the second stick out from the young man's closest hand.

"Nope. My stick is mine to control."

A chuckle left his mouth at that response, making the small smile within the Fox Prime's lips widen up a little more at the development.

Hope blinked, pondering well over the scene happening so close to her. Her own words over helping Frankie with his own dilemma were now echoing in her mind as she thought about the possibility of pairing him with Vixy.

While she wouldn't deny the fact that Angel had seemed like an interesting individual with good intentions, there was just something that made the Gazelle Prime doubt that what she had seen in that encounter was completely genuine. Something was off and… Frankie had apparently noticed it from the very beginning. Yet the human didn't seem as cautious as she was right now over the matter.

In fact, he had sounded quite serious with his willingness to go meet with the Bunny Prime for tomorrow morning. With her suspicions hindering her capacity to offer good support for that kind of endeavor… Hope saw in Vixy a candidate that was a little better to get a read of.

Or at least she hoped that it was the case.

The Fox Prime didn't look to have inherited the Crest of Fire's well-known hatred for her family, which made interactions with her possible without any animosity. The fact they took the time to 'admire' each other quality details also bolstered the morale for a bountiful friendship. As bountiful as Vixy's butt or Hope's perky breasts.

Then there was the fact that Tiggs counted as the best proof Hope had about the younger girl's good intentions, and with the interaction she just finished witnessing, she could see something sparking with a few nudges.

Perhaps Vixy was the best candidate for Frankie to date and go for a romantic route, as they both seemed to have enough chemistry to work as a proper couple. But while Hope felt like she had accomplished a good victory today, the girl failed to notice that something was indeed off from her initial speculation.

Instead of capitalizing on the fact that Shin was now well-distracted and easy to talk to as she had planned to do, the Gazelle Prime had turned her complete attention over the predicament happening to her 'partner'.

But the reasons driving her to prioritize this detail were unknown even to her as she stared and… contemplated over the oddity that was Frankie Parker. And why she felt suddenly way too invested in his love life.

AN

This chapter is over and-

Did you know that I made a new acquaintance?

...I think I know whom you're referring to.

Really? Did she make an appearance in the notes too?

She did, and I think we need to talk about you being irresponsible in giving that kind of power to certain individuals.

It's not that bad.

I swear, if I end up dealing with someone like Francesca Prelati or Rizevim Lucifer, (or Gods forbid, HIM) I will not go to Paraiso.

Now, it wouldn't be that bad if-

That's the line. Pass over it, and I will take drastic actions.

...Meanie.

All for the greater good- I mean, yes, new chapter and we got some action going. Could it be that Angel is meaning well? Maybe, or maybe not.

Do you think I should appear in the story very soon?

It all depends by two circumstances and… I think you might appear a little later than two Crests I plan to introduce in the next arc.

Wait- I don't remember reading about-

I've changed the locks and moved my notes. Sorry.

...Meanie.