"I can't believe you, Musse!" Musse screamed at Juna.
The two were inside the bathroom and Musse's voice bounced all over the walls.
"My throat better survives before you give me my body back," Juna said, glaring at her before facing the mirror.
She was brushing her teeth. She woke up with a bad breath and her self-conscious tendencies got the better of her, which is why she brought some toothpaste and a toothbrush to school. Even this is not her own body, the last thing she needs is for someone to comment that she has bad breath.
Musse was behind, blushing and shaking.
"At least you can heal a sore throat," she said. "You just killed my reputation!"
Juna spat down the sink. "I was merely trying to help you, Juna," Juna said. "Believe me, at the end of the day, you would be on your knees thanking me."
She gestured at Musse and she sighed. Musse gave Juna the purse and Juna started digging for the right lip gloss. The lip gloss she is looking for has to say… modest and honest.
"Well, ignoring the fact that our classmates were staring all the time," Musse said, "can you imagine what Kurt's thinking right now?"
"Juna." Juna smiled at her as she brought out the right lip gloss. "Kurt would be thinking about Juna Crawford. There is nothing in his mind but Juna. You always complain that Kurt thought you don't exist, now he can't stop thinking about you."
She faced the mirror and started applying the gloss on her bottom lip.
"W-W-Well… Uh…" Musse said, bringing her fingers together and blushing madly. "Th-That's good, if you think about it." She was smiling a strange smile.
Juna brought her lips together while Musse murmured. Pop. She admired her face on the mirror.
Tis a shame, she thought. If you acted a bit more feminine, men all over Erebonia would drool over you.
"Whatever you may think," Juna said as she dropped the lip gloss into her purse, "I'm the one who is in danger here."
Musse shook out of her stupor. "What do you mean?"
"You haven't been called to recite back at class."
Musse blinked. "Oh."
"Instructor Irving asked me to stand up back there, however." Juna giggled. "Now, where is my 'thank you'?"
Instructor Irving has a tendency to ask the slower students to recite. If they get it wrong, at least they will have enough motivation to be ready for the next recitation. If they got it right, good for them. Juna was known to be one of the slow ones.
When he called her up to answer a question about ballistics, Juna gave him a perfect answer, with explanations. All of the students turned their heads on her, as if a sunflower is growing atop of her head. Instructor Irving's hat slid down to the floor.
And then Juna forgot that this is uncharacteristic of her.
"I took ballistics in the Police Academy," Juna blurted out. "Fascinating subject! Thing go uuuup! Things go down!" She then laughed loudly.
"I should be thanking you for that?" Musse screamed at Juna. Juna brought out her makeup kit. "You made a complete fool of myself back there! Everybody was laughing at me!"
Musse remembered looking at Kurt, who was covering his mouth with one hand in order to hold back his laughter. Her face was burning at the memory.
"Oh, it's not too bad," Juna said as she faced the mirror again. She started powdering her cheeks, but not too much. "I think it adds a certain klutzy charm to you."
"But I don't want to be a klutz!"
The doorknob to the restroom started turning. The two immediately fell silent. The door opened and revealed Jessica Schleiden, one of Juna's closest friend in Thors. She looked at Juna and then at Musse.
"Can I talk to Juna for a moment? Alone?" Jessica asked Musse.
"O-Of course," Musse said, nodding. She looked at Juna. "I'm going to go check Milly—I mean, Allie, and see that she doesn't get into too much trouble."
After she waved goodbye, she exited the restroom. Jessica closed the door and faced Juna, who was resuming applying makeup. Jessica blinked a few times. This was not the first time Jessica saw her friend using makeup as one. Juna asked her for some tips at one time. However, the way Juna rubbed the puff on her gives off an air of a professional.
"Juna?" Jessica called, walking to her.
"Yes?" Juna replied.
"What in the name of Aidios was that back there?" Jessica crossed her arms. "You were so squeamish every time Kurt is brought up in our conversations. Don't you know how many people saw that stunt you just pulled?"
"What they saw…" Juna looked at her, "was me staking my claim." She closed her makeup kit with a loud snap.
"S-Staking your claim?"
When did she learn such language?
"Juna, no one in this school is out to steal Kurt from you," Jessica said, although she realizes that it is kind of ridiculous when she said it aloud.
Juna slowly smiled. "Of course," she said as she dropped her kit into her bag. "How silly of me." She walked up to Jessica, swaying her hips a little. "It won't happen again, Jessica."
She was about to pass her when Jessica grabbed Juna's elbow.
"You've been acting weird today, Juna," Jessica said. "And I mean even weirder than before. And not just you." She shook her head. "Altina was making funny faces at me. Musse looks like her nerves are frayed. Not to mention Instructor Irving had to cancel class early."
"Ah… Right," Juna said.
In the middle of class, Instructor Irving got a call. After finishing it, Irving gave Louise a paper and told her to write the assignment on the board. He then informed everybody that he is called for an emergency meeting.
"Oh and…" Instructor Irving added. His eyes shifted left and right. "Instructor Herschel has informed me that she is… undisposed. Expect her to be later than most."
Ten minutes after Millium opened the box, Principal Le Guin held the silver king piece in front of her. Millium was pointing her scanner at her as she did so. Everybody knew that they need to learn more about the artifact, and Aurelia volunteered to become the guinea pig.
"No pain, no glory," she said as she took the king piece.
Everybody had their backs against the wall, but somehow, Aurelia is still alive. Nobody could figure out if the artifact is defective or Aurelia is simply too strong to die.
"Too bad Professor Schmidt is back at Heimdallr," Randy murmured to Rean, who is next to him. "He love this sort of stuff."
"Let's count our blessings that he's not here," Rean replied.
The scanner beeped.
"Fascinating," Millium said, as she read the screen of her laptop that is on the table. "A wave of mana is coursing through Principal Le Guin's body. It originated from the artifact, then flowed through her arm, then around her body. It just circles, however, doing not much."
"You feel anything, Madam Le Guin?" Towa asked with worry.
"I feel disappointed," the older woman replied. She yawned. "This is not the battle I have hoped for."
"P-Principal?" Rean called. "The last thing we need is a battle."
"Can you please put the chess piece on the table, Principal?" Millium asked as she raised the scanner again.
Aurelia did as she requested. The scanner beeped.
"I see," Millium said, rubbing her chin. "As soon as you lost touch of the artifact, the strange mana coursing through you started to dissipate into the air."
"Like she's sweating?" Randy asked.
"Randy!" Towa scolded.
Aurelia laughed. "What an interesting allegory!" she said. She looked at Millium. "Come on, tiny spy! You said yourself that we are short on time. On with the next test!" She pointed at the sky.
Rean blinked, briefly imagining that Aurelia is just Laura in the near future. Just briefly.
"You may not like the next test, Principal," Millium said. "We need to observe the switching first hand."
Everyone except Aurelia gulped. Aurelia nodded.
"Then I shall be the tribute!" she declared. She then looked at the instructors. "It takes two to tango. Who amongst you are brave enough to escort me to the unknown?"
"I'll do it!" Randy said, stepping forward. "It wasn't my intention in the first place, but I want to make sure Junie is safe while she's here in Erebonia. I'll switch with you."
"Juna, Musse and Altina are my students," Rean said, stepping forward. "And Millium is my classmate. I have a higher stake in this. Pick me."
"I… Uh…" Towa said before gulping. Her knees were shaking. "I'll be—"
"Bah!" Aurelia said, waving her hand. "This is getting us nowhere. If you three are willing, I'll choose at random." She raised a finger at the group. "Eenie, meenie, minie, moe!"
Her finger landed on Towa, who was about to faint when she was chosen. She meekly walked to her boss and waited quietly. Aurelia took the chess piece and looked at Millium. She raised the scanner and nodded.
Aurelia raised her hand at Towa, who was squirming and mewling.
"Be brave, little tea cup," Randy said.
Aurelia touched Towa's shoulder. Everybody held their breaths.
"I don't feel any different," Aurelia said, looking at her hands. "I thought I found a worthy opponent, but you have continued to disappoint me," she said at the artifact on her hand.
Towa let out her breath. Millium was staring at the screen.
"That is odd," she said. "There is a transfer of mana to Instructor Herschel, but not much." She looked at Aurelia. "Can you touch her again? This time, a bit longer."
Aurelia placed her hand on Towa's shoulder.
"There is the transfer," Millium said as she looked at the screen. "But it is not the same amount as the artifact transferring mana to the holder."
"So touching is not enough to activate the switch then," Rean said.
Touching isn't enough…? Altina thought.
She remembered what happened yesterday. Juna was trying to steal Musse's ARCUS at that time, but they did not switch at the time.
Could it be…?
"Impact," she said.
"What?" Aurelia said, raising an eyebrow.
"There needs to be some force involved in order to activate the switch."
She remembered when Juna and Musse fell down on the floor, and the time when Millium slapped her shoulder. It makes sense now. However…
Musse gave Juna a hi-five earlier and they didn't switch. There must be more to this.
Millium raised her scanner.
"Principal," she said. "Can you lightly slap Instructor Towa?"
Aurelia has half an idea on what is going on. She patted Towa's shoulder. Towa squirmed. She patted again. Towa's face was purple.
"Are you sure you don't want to switch out, Towa?" Rean asked, as he is starting to get uncomfortable of her mewling.
"I-I'm fine!" Towa shouted. "This is for the sake of our students, so I need to do this!"
Aurelia raised her hand again and slapped it down.
Everybody screamed, except Millium, as a bright light engulfed them.
"Did it work?" Towa asked. She looked at the two stunned Instructors nearby. "Well?"
"Am I flying?" Aurelia asked. She looked down on the floor. "Whoa…" She felt vertigo all of a sudden.
"Aidios, they did switch!" Rean screamed.
"Um… what's the consensus, Altina?" Randy asked Millium.
"Let me see," she said as she stared at the screen. She was watching replay in slow motion. "I see. The mana inside Principal Aurelia transferred to Instructor Towa. Afterward, when Towa is filled, more mana flowed from the artifact and refilled Principal Aurelia. Once they were both filled, a change occurred. Both their mana swapped against each other. Some of the excess mana spilled out, but—"
"Wait a minute!" Aurelia said, her eyes widening. "We have a very big problem here!"
"I-Is something wrong?" Randy asked, expecting her to explode at any minute.
"Of course there's something wrong! It's almost time for my class and I have yet to get ready!" She was hopping slightly as she panicked.
Rean's eye twitched, not ready to see his boss acting like this way.
"Fear not, my children!" Towa said, wrapping her purple cloak over shoulder. Where it came from, no one knows. "Do you not know that I'm a Thors graduate myself? I can teach a bunch of infants as easy as crushing a tree in half."
"…You mean cutting a tree in half," Rean said.
"No, I said crushing." She flicked her cape and headed to the door. "My next battle is before me!" She laughed.
Everybody was not ready for this version of Towa. Even Towa herself. Aurelia shook her head and started running for the door.
"Wait!" she said, spreading her arms in order to block very short Towa. "If you go out like with an attitude like that, everybody is going to notice!"
"Towa is right," Millium said to Towa. "We now have six people who have switched. Three are already out there with the other students and it does not take a genius to know that something is wrong with them. If you go out there—"
"Bah! Fine!" Towa said, waving at her. "We will suspend all classes today. We'll just say that, ah, Intelligence Division has called us in a meeting about our next field exercise. Towa!"
"Y-Yes, ma'am?" Aurelia stood attention, giving her a crisp salute.
"Call back Instructor Irving. We need all hands on deck right now."
"Right!"
Aurelia grabbed the doorknob and pulled. The doorknob was torn out of its socket. She screamed.
"W-Wait!" Aurelia said. "I can fix this!"
She pushed the knob into the socket. She pushed too far and created a hole on the door. Aurelia screamed in dismay.
Towa chuckled, rubbing her chin. "Impressive display of strength, me!"
"I'll call Michael," Randy said, raising his ARCUS.