To the Unplanner: Not gonna lie, once I found my writing groove on this story (which was around chapter 3 or 4), writing has been pretty easy (spare for this one and the chapter I'm writing now)- but slice of life fics were always my preferred writing genre. I have oodles of fun exploring each character, going through the buds of new relationships, having small plots (such as these next three chapters) that develop into bigger consequences later, and so on. I'll probably slow up on the updates (hopefully by bumping down from a Monday/Wednesday/Friday upload to a Tuesday/Thursday upload instead, at worse just simple Saturday morning uploads) when I either hit a writer's block or when the calendar dates in story match those in real life. It won't be for awhile though.
I didn't know why or how, but I really, really wanted this chapter for focus on Ira. It took me a week to finish as a result. ^^;
Fun fact: Of the characters I've used so far (Anora, Ephemer, Skuld, Strelitzia, the study group, and others), none of them are in the Ursus house. It mostly has to do with the way they were 'sorted' and not because of a personal prejudice. In my notes, each house is associated with a learning style; Vulpes = Aural/Social, Leopardus = Visual/Solitary, Ursus = Physical, Anguis = Logical, and Unicornis = Verbal.
So, when we learned that Anora was "almost test[ed] into all [Daybreak Academy's] houses," it actually meant that she was a well rounded learner. It does not imply that she is smarter than average, it just means that she has a greater variety of ways to learn new information.
Thank you for reading!
He needed more coffee.
Ira had already consumed one cup earlier, and in waiting for a guest, he felt inclined to have another. The funny thing was, he wasn't even that big of a coffee drinker to begin with. That honored belonged to Invi, with Aced as a close second. Gula was the only one of them to refuse to drink the stuff. He was always a smart guy, that Gula, and refusing the coffee curse was one of his smartest decisions ever.
A knock on his door interrupted Ira's thoughts. The headmaster casually strolled to his door to open it to a Fourth Year student. The student was nervously knitting their fingers together, giving Ira a weak smile of acknowledgment.
"Good… good morning headmaster." they said to him. "I-I'm from the debate club."
Ira gave a warm smile to the student. "Oh good," he greeted. "I was expecting you. Please come sit down."
The student gave a quick nod- one that looked more like a nervous twitch than an actual nod. Ira gestured for them to come inside and they did so without being motioned twice. They took a spot at the visitor's chair while Ira sat down at his.
The student started to nervously tap their fingers against the armrest. Their eyes shifted from left to right as they tried to look anywhere than at Ira. Ira, himself, seemed pretty passive at this point. The student in from of him was one of his own house. Their name was Codi, and their gender was ambiguous at best; their light brown hair held a tight curl, a white headband was used in an attempt to keep most of it out of their face, and their skin was of a rather lovely shade of medium brown. It was obvious on their round face that they were incredibly anxious.
"Stop fidgeting." he said to them, sounding a bit more forceful than he intended.
"Sorry sir." they immediately apologized as they shrunk a bit in their seat. Like their appearance, their voice was of an ambiguous gender. Ira sat a bit straighter in his chair- it always slightly unnerving when the students were afraid of him. Possibly not helping the case, he clasped his hands together on top of his desk.
"You are the debate captain, is that true?"
"N-no sir. I'm the vi-vice captain. More-Moira couldn't make it, she… she had a cold and ask-asked me to come instead."
Well, that made some sense. He couldn't picture this kid leading a heated debate if their life depended on it. Perhaps they had some sense of bravery when they got to the podium? Regardless, it was rude of him to assume this kid's abilities while they were in the headmaster's office. No student liked being here.
"That is quite fine." Ira told Codi with a nod. "I just wanted to make sure that you were ready for the monthly debate. If not, I would like to know how I could contribute. The debate sessions are our house's unique monthly activity, after all."
"Oh!" Codi marveled, a good part of them more certain that before. "We do need your help! Moira was going to contact you before she got her cold, but then when you called for her, she said I should go to pass along the message. Because of her cold, of course, not because she didn't want to talk to you."
"Of course." Ira gently agreed. "What can I help you with?"
Affording the smallest of smiles, Codi then discussed the detail of the debate set up so far. They talked about what microphones they needed to have ready, and assurance that the auditorium was still reserved.
"One more thing," Codi eventually told Ira. "Last month, while we were setting up, we found out that our podiums had graffiti all over them. We assumed it was Ursus because their house mascot was on the-"
"Why did no one tell me of this?"
Almost immediately, Codi's anxiety came back again. Not that Ira could particularly fault them- he had all but snapped at the student as if they were to blame.
"W-we didn't think you needed to be- to be bothered. We had clean- cleaned most of it up before the de-debate took place."
He didn't mean to, but Ira let out an incredibly aggravated groan as he buried his face in his hands. If he only had three guesses on who would have done such a thing…
Ira looked back up to see Codi shrinking into the chair. If the student could go any further, they would have become one with the chair itself.
"You're not in trouble, Codi." Ira decided to say. His voice held a bit of exhaustion to it in doing so. "I am just… very perplexed that this would happen in our school."
Codi only gave a small nod of agreement. The air started to feel stuffier as a silence came between them. Ira calmly cleared his throat before redirecting the mood.
"I believe we've covered all we needed to." he said in a firm tone. "You may go now, Codi."
The poor kid did not have to be told twice. Moving as if they had seen an undesirable vermin, Codi jumped out of the seat and all but flew to the door. Even in haste, the student made care into not slamming the door behind them.
Once he was sure Codi was gone, Ira started to get up from his chair. Trying to purposely control his movements, he went to his door and casually strolled a little down the hallway. He stopped at a certain headmaster's office, took a pained breath in, then knocked. It took Aced three whole minutes to open the door.
"Ira." Aced remarked, looking as off guarded as he sounded, "This is quite the surprise-"
"We need to talk."
Sensing Ira's urgency and mild anger, Aced's expression hardened.
"Come in." he permitted, moving slightly so Ira could enter. The other headmaster did not have to be told twice as he entered Aced's office. Once Aced made sure his door was securely closed, he moved to his desk and sat down. Ira did not sit.
"So," Aced grumbled, "Is this a 'whole school' problem, a 'between our houses' problem, or a 'I feel like yelling at Aced' problem?"
"Last month, the podiums my house used to set up the debates were vandalized. A major part of the vandalism was the presence of your house mascot."
Aced placed his elbows on his desk, knitted his fingers in each other, then rested his chin on his hands. "So it's a 'between our houses' problem." he surmised in a cold voice. "Lovely."
Ira did not seem at all pleased by his reaction. "Aced, I need your word that your house will not interrupt this month's debate."
"But I can't give my word, Ira." Aced told him. He now gave Ira a steely look that was not going to waver anytime soon. "I can tell my students not to do anything reckless, but they're still kids. They have grudges. I can't do anything more than tell them to behave themselves, and assume someone will let us know before something serious happens."
"And what if they never do?" Ira challenged. "We both know how destructive our houses can be against each other. If someone gets hurt, we are both to blame."
"You don't think I know that?" Aced replied, sounding just as annoyed. "At the same time, there is nothing we can do to stop them until it's too late. Even the most inevitable things can not be avoided, Ira."
Ira growled under his breath. "Then you better pray that no one gets hurt." he spat at his fellow headmaster before making his leave. It took a lot of control to not slam the door on his way out. When he returned to his own office, Ira placed his hands against his desk and gave a burdened sigh.
He really, really needed more coffee now.