A normal free day

Well… hi everyone… it's been some time.

So… yeah, not much I can say here except sorry that it took me literal years to get a new chapter here… well, I better not keep you waiting more so, without further ado, on with the chapter.

Disclaimer: Same old, same old, Trails of Cold Steel I do not own.

The morning of the Free Day.

Rean, already dressed in his summer uniform and done with breakfast, walked to his mailbox to check for the list of requests that Towa undoubtedly sent.

'So, exploring the Old Schoolhouse as usual, a request involving a childhood friend and… one from Fidelio.' The Schwarzer frowned at the last one. 'I guess he couldn't convince Rex to stop… whatever he is doing, after all.' Letting out a sigh, Rean put the list in one of his pockets. 'Well, time to get started.'

Before he could leave the dorm, though, he noticed someone doing something unusual.

"Gaius, are you staying in today?" Rean asked, as he saw the exchange student going up the stairs instead of out of the dorm like usual.

"Yes, I have an assignment from the Art Club; we have to draw something that's important to us, then present our piece to the club." The taller teen answered before frowning. "I'm struggling to figure out what I should draw, though."

"Would it help if we talk about it?" The black haired teen asked.

"It might, I'd appreciate the help if you have the time."

"Sure, let's go." He answered as he approached the stairs.

.

.

In Gaius' room.

"Well, the first thing that comes to mind when I think about something important to you is the Nord Highlands." Rean said after taking a seat on his classmate's desk chair while Gaius sat in a stool in front of a canvas.

"And you would be correct but I've already presented a piece about Nord before, I want to try and draw something different." Gaius answered.

"Okay… well, how about one of your siblings? Or your parents?" The swordsman proposed.

"That… sounds good actually, but it is still related to Nord, besides, while I have a good memory, I'm not sure if I could paint them correctly purely from that." He said. "I think you're in the right track, though… something important to me…" The lancer trailed off as he stared at Rean.

"…umm?"

.

A minute later.

"Well, this is about the last thing I expected I'd do when I woke up today…" The Eight Leaves practitioner thought out loud.

He had moved the desk chair to stand near Gaius' canvas and was sitting there, as still as possible while his friend draws him.

"I wanted to practice drawing people anyway, so this works out perfectly." The exchange student answered, not taking his eyes out of the canvas. "Two birds, one stone, as they say."

"Fair point." Rean conceded, stopping himself from nodding. "I do have to take care of the Student Council's requests, though, so I can't be your model all day."

"That's alright, I just need to do the basic line-out, I can add the rest from memory or the picture from Nord that soldier took of us when we first arrived." Gaius assured him. "Oh, speaking of Nord, I received a letter from Thoma a few days ago."

"That's nice, what was it about?"

"He said that everyone's doing well, as always." The lancer's smile turned into a concerned frown before the next sentence. "But things are still tense at Zender Gate and the watchtower, though."

"I see…" Rean trailed off, imitating his expression. "I wonder who that 'G' person behind all this is, anyway? He clearly had some kind of objective, but I couldn't say what it was…"

"…everyone has something that they wish to protect in their lives." Gaius answered, even as he continued painting. "I want to protect my hometown, my family, and the whole of Class VII but I don't think it's right to sacrifice others to do so."

"Agreed." Rean said. "We still have a long way to go before we're strong enough to protect everything that's important to us." He then grinned. "I'm just glad I have your help, Gaius."

"Haha, likewise." The taller teen answered with a chuckle. "Wow, I didn't expect this conversation to get so serious…"

"It seems we tend to go to those topics, the other day we were talking about nobles and the Reformist Faction."

"True… hmm…"

"What's wrong?"

"Could you move your head back a bit, Rean? You seem to have moved it out of place while we were talking."

"Oh, sorry about that." He did as told. 'Being a model's pretty tough.' The swordsman thought with a wry grin.

After around half an hour, Gaius freed Rean from his duty as a model, thanking him once again for the help.

'Alright, I should go check with Fidelio about the Rex situation… hm?' At the corner of his eyes he caught his homeroom instructor at the entrance of Trista. 'Where is she going?'

Before he could call out to her, Sara had already left.

'This is Instructor Sara we're talking about so I probably don't need to worry but… I'd rather be safe than sorry.' With that thought, he followed behind her.

.

He found her not too far out in the Trista Highway, several wolf-like monsters in front of her.

"Instructor!" He called out instinctively.

"R-Rean? What are you doing here?" She asked in surprise.

"It's too dangerous to fight this many on your own, let me help!"

"Aww, I'm touched." She said before taking out her weapons. "I've got this, though. Why don't you just sit back and watch?" Sara took her stance. "And… begin!"

Before he could realize it, Sara had already lunged towards the wolves and not a minute later, all the monsters lay dead.

"There we go. Easy Peasy." The woman said with a grin after putting away her weapons.

"…wow. You beat them so hard I almost feel sorry for them."

"Heh heh. How'd you like that? Willing to admit how awesome and cool your instructor is now?"

"I never doubted your skill… not since that time you beat Jusis, Machias and me at the same time." Rean answered. "So you came here to train, then?"

"Pretty much." She nodded. "I wander out here every now and then to lay into the wildlife. A gal's gotta stay in shape somehow, y'know." Her expression turned a bit serious. "Although in this case, it's more to track something."

"Hm? Track what?"

"I think you know." She made a gesture with her towards the wolves.

"What do you… oh, you mean the 'Alpha Wolf'."

"Yep." Sara nodded. "A monster like that is beyond dangerous; just the fact that it can ignore the lamps makes it dangerous but when you include that it seems to be actively trying to damage them?" She frowned. "That thing needs to be dealt with as soon as possible."

"You won't hear any complaints from me." Rean nodded. "Any luck?"

"Not so far, I take care of a few wolves and try to see where they come from but I haven't found their lair yet."

"You've been doing this for a while, then."

"Of course." She said before turning around. "Since you're here, want to keep me company for a while? It will be good practice."

"If that's fine with you." He said before following behind her. "Have you at least managed to narrow down the place?"

"Somewhat, the trails tend to get cold past a certain point but they all seem to come from the same general area." Sara said. "Who knows? Maybe you'll be my lucky charm and lead me to the big bad wolf."

"…I hate that I can't completely deny that." Rean grumbled, remembering some of the stuff he has ran into since getting into Thors.

.

After a while of searching, the two decided to call it for the day and turned back.

"Still nothing." Sara thought out loud with a frown.

"Do you know where a monster like that could have even come from?"

"I think it's a mutation, they can happen to monsters sometimes and affect them in different ways; I can't say I've ever seen one become disensetyzed to the lamps, though."

"I see…"

"Well, don't worry too much about it, you have other things to do, not to mention that a request to deal with it has already been made to Heimdallr; things will get solved after a while."

"Yeah, you're right." He said as they got to the door of the dorm.

"Well, I'm gonna go take a rest for a while, see ya later Rean." Sara turned around and waved as she entered the dorm.

'…I really hope that monster is found soon.' He moved a hand to his side where the 'Alpha Wolf' impaled him before. 'Instructor Sara is right, a monster that goes after the lamps is too dangerous.'

With that thought, he began to walk. He had other things to worry about for now.

He caught Sharon and Alisa before they entered the boutique Le Sage and the two explained that Alisa wants to send some clothes for his grandfather now that he knows where he is.

Rean offered to help and the three looked around the place trying to find something for him.

The swordsman suggested something for outdoor activities and pointed to the hats.

"How about this one?" Alisa asked as she picked one.

"Looks good to me. The design is nice, too, so I think he'll like it."

"Great! Then we have our gift! Sharon, could you…?" Alisa trailed off as she turned around and saw that the maid was nowhere to be seen. "Huh? Where did she go?"

"I think she disappeared while we were distracted by the hats…" Rean answered.

"D-dang it, Sharon." Alisa muttered.

"Either way, let's go pay for this, we can show Sharon when we go back to the dorm."

"Yeah… thanks, Rean."

"Don't mention it."

Alisa paid for the hat and the two left.

"I didn't think it would take so long to pick something." The blonde admitted. "I'm sure Grandfather will like this, though; thanks again for your help."

"You're welcome." He took a look at the time. "Sorry, but I better get going, I haven't even started with the requests Towa sent my way; see you later."

"Alright, good luck." The two said their goodbyes and walked their separate ways.

'Well now, what to do about this?' Rean thought as he left the upper class' dorm after talking to one of the clients for his requests.

Bridget, a student from Class II with golden blond hair and green eyes, was having trouble with a childhood friend; she explained how they went to Sunday School together but hadn't seen each other since she had to leave it and just met again here at Thors.

The bit that got Rean's attention, though, was the fact that this childhood friend was a boy named Alan, a student of Class IV. A commoner.

Bridget giggled when he pointed it out and asked if it was that weird. His only answer was that it was 'pretty rare'.

She agreed on that point at least but either way, the issue seemed to be that he was starting to treat her like a nuisance but she can't figure out why. She doesn't believe she did something to anger him, either when they were kids or now.

The only clue he had to go on was that maybe something happened at Fencing Club so, after asking for a few more details, off he went.

'I know I said the fastest way would be to ask him directly but I'm not sure if he would just open up to anyone… maybe I'll ask some of his clubmates if they know anything, first.'

Just as he thought that, he found the Fencing Club's training hall and went in, only finding two people there.

Two second years and, if Rean remembers correctly, the girl with blond hair is Friedel, the captain of the fencing club while the boy is Loggins, a member and said to be only one to give Friedel a good fight among the members of the club.

'No one else here…' He noted as he approached the two. "Excuse me, I'm looking for a guy named Alan. I believe he is a member of this club but is he off today or something?"

"Not with my permission, at least. He didn't even mention he'd be out today." Friedel answered.

"Oh?"

"In other words, he's skipping practice." Loggins added. "Got a feeling I know where he is, though."

"Where are you thinking?"

"I'd check the field if I were you." He said before smiling. "Unlike Patrick, Alan actually cares about this club; chances are, he's skipping practice so he can train on his own."

"I… see…" Rean trailed off. 'Why would he skip practice to go practice somewhere else, though?'

"That's not really an excuse." Friedel said with a sigh. "But I find it hard to blame him after what happened."

The black haired teen's eyes widened at that.

"What happened? I heard a few rumors but…"

"I'd rather not dig this stuff up… but both of them are skipping today, so what the hell?" Loggins said. "Truth is…"

As the two second years explained what happened, Rean couldn't help but frown.

It seems that Patrick, for whatever reason, decided to 'show the refined spirit and dignity of the Erebonian nobility' in a duel against him.

By what he meant, he made it a show of how much he can hold back and still utterly defeat Alan.

Needles to say, Alan's confidence took a heavy blow after that.

The two second years seemed to want him to come back and Loggins even asked Rean to tell him as much if he finds him. It was easy to agree to his request so he left towards the field to find him.

Not too long after arriving at the field, he saw a student with reddish brown hair and yellow eyes, practicing with a rapier.

It didn't take a genius to realize this was Alan.

'Hmm… not a bad form but…' Rean observed for a few moments as his fellow student moved. 'He is hesitating with each strike… well, knowing what happened, I guess I can't blame him.' He held back a sigh as he wondered how to approach this. 'I doubt he'll tell me anything if I just ask about Bridget and even if he did… I kind of want to help him.' The teen frowned for a few moments as he pondered what to do, making sure to make it look like he was looking at the field in general and not directly at Alan. 'Oh… maybe that could work.'

With a plan in mind, he quickly made his way back to the fencing club and asked them to let him borrow something before running back to where he saw Alan.

'Alright, let's try this.' Taking a deep breath, he walked towards him.

"Excuse me, do you have a second?"

Alan stopped mid-thrust and turned to him, slightly surprised.

"Hm? You're that guy from Class VII, right?" His surprise made way to annoyance. "Do you have some business with me or something?"

"Sort of, I saw you training out here and was pretty impressed." Rean answered. "That said, you seem a little hesitant and it's getting in the way of your form."

He clearly didn't appreciate the comment.

"What makes you think you can just show up and criticize me?" Alan said, although remaining relatively calm. "Is it because you're a noble? Yeah, that's right. I've heard about you. Should a high-and-mighty noble like you even talk to a lowly commoner like me? Or do you get a pass when it's condescension?"

"I've never really cared about the distinction between nobles and commoners." 'Especially considering my situation.' He left that last part unsaid. "Truth be told, I wanted to offer you some help."

"Help?"

"You came here to train, didn't you? How about joining me for a while?"

That question made his eyes open wide in surprise.

"Me? Train with you?" Alan asked slowly.

"Yeah." Rean said, taking out the rapier he had asked for at the fencing club. "I don't know if you've heard but Class VII and Class I had a duel not too long ago, I faced off against Patrick and won." He explained, further surprising the Class IV student. "I didn't curb-stomp him or anything but you'd probably get something good out of training with me, don't you think?"

Alan seemed to ponder his words for a moment.

"Well… I don't know what you're planning, but if it'll make me stronger, then I'm on board."

"Great." Rean smiled as he moved to stand beside him. "First of all, you should have your body a bit more sideways, standing straight just gives more possible targets for your opponent."

"R-right." Alan nodded and tried to imitate Rean's stance.

"Next, don't put so much weight on your right foot when you lunge forward unless you're going for a decisive strike, being able to quickly move back in case your opponent blocks or parries is important."

"Got it."

Their training session continued for a while, with Rean pointing out all the stuff that he could see could use some improvement and where Alan was forcing himself to move a certain way.

"Alright, ready for a spar?"

"Y-yeah, bring it on!"

Rean smiled and moved to stand in front of Alan.

"Ready? Begin."

The two stood still for a few moments after the declaration until Rean moved forward and thrusted his rapier.

Alan saw it coming and parried the strike before attempting a counter.

The black haired teen stepped back to avoid it and parried the following strike.

'Good, he is not overextending by putting all his weight behind each strike like before.' Rean noted as the two traded blows.

"Haa!" Alan's sword was suddenly enveloped in energy before a yellow slash resembling a bird was suddenly launched from his blade.

Rean was forced to duck to avoid the strike, his stance practically broken with the way he dodged.

Alan took advantage of the opportunity and lunged forward.

Unable to properly parry, Rean placed the flat of the rapier in the middle and let the strength of the attack send him backwards, gaining some distance and regaining his footing.

"Nice, looks like I can't keep up when it comes to court-fencing."

"…I was wondering about that." Alan grumbled, looking at the other blade the teen still had at his hip. "Are you looking down on me and using court-fencing instead of your usual style? Do you think I'm that weak?"

"Not at all." Rean answered, sheathing the rapier and taking out his tachi. "But you seemed to."

"W-what?"

"I heard about that duel with Patrick." Alan recoiled at this words. "Anyone would have their confidence take a blow if what I heard is true."

"Nrgh." The yellow-eyed teen could only growl in frustration. "So what? Did you want to build up my confidence before crashing it down?"

"…how about we trade a few blows and see if that's the case?" Not waiting for an answer, Rean lunged forward with an overhead slash.

Alan reacted in time and parried the attack, going once again for a counter but Rean side-stepped the attack and went for an horizontal slash this time.

Before he could connect, Alan moved his rapier in the middle and blocked it. His eyes widening in surprise.

"See what I mean?" Rean asked, moving back to end the clash before lunging forward once more.

They traded blows for a while longer before this time Alan took a step back and sent another bird-like slash against him.

Rean countered with his Arc-slash and quickly parried the follow up from Alan who used the attack as a decoy to close the distance.

The Eight Leaves practitioner met the attack head-on and the two stood at a stalemate.

"I'm going to raise the level now." Rean declared.

"Bring it!" Alan smiled.

The two swordsmen jumped back before rushing back towards each other, their blades clashing as they fought.

Rean had a clear advantage but Alan was managing to keep him at bay, even if he could only aim at counters he wasn't losing out against him.

"I'm guessing Patrick taunted you when you had your duel, didn't he?"

"Y-yeah." Alan admitted.

"And that broke your concentration and made you reckless." Rean did a diagonal slash from his upper left. "Didn't it?"

"Pretty much." The Class IV student admitted, parrying the slash.

"And now you're fighting me as an equal, someone who managed to defeat Patrick in a duel." The Eight Leaves practitioner took a step back, just out of range of Alan, and sheathed his blade. "Do you understand what that means?" He asked before seemingly disappearing from sight with the fourth form.

Alan barely managed to see the attack coming and placed his blade to block but his guard was blown open as Rean was suddenly behind him and, before he could turn around, the tachi was placed near his side.

"It means… that I let him get to me and that's why I lost." He said with a sigh.

Rean nodded, satisfied, and sheathed his tachi.

"If I'm completely honest, Patrick is better than you at court-fencing but that's normal; he is a noble who has trained for years, I'm guessing you didn't have any formal training before coming to Thors, did you?"

"No." Alan admitted.

"He may be better but it's not to a point where he can completely dominate you as long as you keep a cool head." The black haired teen said, pointing to his own head. "Just make sure you don't let him get to you, you'd be amazed how many nobles find it the most annoying when you ignore their taunts." He added the last bit with grin.

"Th-thanks…" Alan trailed off, looking away.

"What's wrong?"

"Uh, well… I feel kinda bad about all the flak I gave you earlier… you know, all the 'high-and-mighty noble' stuff… sorry."

"Apology accepted." Rean said easily. "Is there a reason you get so caught up on that? Or was it just because of that duel with Patrick?"

"…honestly? Envy, mostly." He admitted shamefully. "I used to be awful at almost everything I did; sports, studying, anything you can think of. Still am, really but I knew this noble who was basically my opposite: she could try anything and do it flawlessly." He frowned. "I was always so frustrated by that. All I wanted to do was to be her equal, but no matter what I did, I couldn't manage it." He let out a self-deprecating chuckle. "That's a pretty lame reason, huh?"

"No, not at all… but that noble you're talking about is Bridget, isn't it?"

"H-how did you know?"

"Sorry, to be completely honest…" Rean explained to him about Bridget's request.

"So that's how she felt…" The other teen trailed off before frowning. "Now that I think about it, I really have been acting like a jerk."

"To be fair, I can understand why you acted that way, no one wants to show weakness in front of someone they look up to."

"It's not so much that I look up to her as I want her to look at me…" Alan's eyes widened and his face turned red as he realized what he said.

"Oh?"

"Gaah! Nothing! Forget I said anything!"

"Relax, I'm not one to babble." He assured him before frowning slightly. "Please don't ask help with this to the Student Council, though; they already have enough on their plate and even if they send the request my way, I never had a girlfriend so…"

"Ah… well, alright… why would I send a request about this to the Student Council, though?"

"You'd be surprised by some of the things that people ask of them." Rean shrugged. "If you want to talk about it, though, I'm happy to lend an ear."

"N-no, thanks." He stammered. "A-anyway, if that's what she sent you here for, I'll go talk to her." Alan said before turning serious. "Besides, I owe her a personal apology for being so mean to her lately. She needs to know my issue is with myself, not with her... in fact, I'll go do that right now."

"I hope you two can smooth things over."

"Me too." Alan smiled. "And thanks for everything."

"You're welcome." With that, Alan walked away.

"…I wasn't aware you knew court-fencing." A female voice called out after Alan was out of sight.

"Oh, Friedel." Rean said as she approached. "I know some of the basics from my dad before I took up the Eight Leaves."

"The advice you were giving him didn't seem like that of someone who just knows the basics."

"Well, I could put what I've seen from others that practice that style combined with my own training in the Eight Leaves One Blade school to good use." He explained. "Besides, it's not as if what he needed was technical advice."

"Yeah, that's true." She agreed. "Thanks for helping him get his confidence back."

"Don't mention it." He unhooked the rapier he still had on his hip. "Thanks for letting me borrow this." He said as he handed it back.

"It was my pleasure, feel free to come by the Fencing Club once in a while if you ever feel like sparring."

"I'll keep that in mind."

With that, the two said their goodbyes.

'Alright, guess I'll go take care of that thing with Rex… I really hope it's not as bad as some of the things I'm imagining.' The swordsman thought as he walked towards the Student Union building, spotting Jusis sitting at one of the tables of the cafeteria.

"Oh, hey Jusis." He greeted, walking towards him.

"Rean." The blond said back. "Doing your rounds, I see?"

"Hehe, you could say that, what about you? Just taking a break?"

"Of sorts… I've been caught up in some bothersome circumstances, as it were."

"Oh?"

"Pay it no mind. It's nothing but a trifle, really."

"Alright… you know you can talk to me if you want to. I'm willing to listen, or help out, or whatever you need."

"I really meant it when I said it was just a trifle…" Jusis trailed off as an idea seemed to come to mind. "But that said, having you here may make things easier when they arrive."

"Hm?"

"…would you like a cup of tea?"

He gave him a half-lidded look before saying "Sure."

Jusis got up and got another cup of tea before coming back to the table.

"Thank you." Rean said as he took a sip and let out a sigh. "Nothing's more relaxing than a good cup of tea… I'm kinda surprised you treated me, though."

"Think nothing of it." Jusis said. "Consider it an… advance payment of sorts."

"You know how ominous that sounds when I don't know what you're paying me for, right?"

"I…" The answer he was about to give was cut off when he saw something behind the swordsman. "And here they come now."

"Hm?" Before he could ask what he meant, he noticed two people approaching the table.

Clearly nobles, considering the uniform, one with black hair and the other a light brown.

"Good day. It appears our paths have crossed again." One of them said.

"Is this one of your friends from Class VII?" The other one asked.

"I am." Rean answered. 'I believe they're second years if I'm not mistaken.'

"…if you have business with me, I'd appreciate you making it brief."

"Ah, well… ehem… we just wanted to ask you once again if you'd be interested in accompanying us to the salon." The one with black hair said.

"As I've told you before, I'm afraid I have little interest in spending the day being pampered and, as you can see, I have a prior arrangement with a friend of mine."

'Ah, so this is what the 'advance payment' was for.' Rean thought.

"I-I see, well… terribly sorry to interrupt." The one with brown hair said.

"But should you have a change of heart, we would love to see you there. You could even bring your friend along if you'd like." With those words, the two walked away, clearly disappointed.

"So, I see people have started to invite you to the salon again."

"Indeed." Jusis said with a sigh. "It seems that the 'talk' I had with Hartmann only bought so much time." He explained. "I've found that the haughtier the noble is, the easier and more satisfying it is to reject their invitation. Finding the words to decline more subdued ones like the ones we just spoke to is much more difficult."

"So you used me as an excuse to keep them away." Rean summarized with a grin. "Clever."

"I do apologize for that but since you offered your help…" The Albarea shrugged.

"I don't think those two had any ulterior motives, though. They just looked like they wanted to talk to you."

"If that were the case, there would be no reason to invite me to the salon, now, would there?"

"That's probably because of their pride." Rean grinned. "There is a good chance they've started to invite you again because you seem more approachable now."

Jusis remained silent as if pondering his words.

"…so this all comes back to you, then."

"I don't know about that…" Rean trailed off. "But more importantly, why don't you take them up on their offer sometime? The salon might be full of snooty people, but I'm sure there'll be more students like them who simply want to talk to you."

"Hmph… perhaps I will, if the motivation strikes." He answered before grinning. "But you'll accompany me if I do."

"Haha, sure."

"…"

"Is something wrong?" The black haired teen asked as he took a sip of his tea.

"Rean… what is the situation with your father?"

Caught off guard, he suddenly began coughing when the tea went the wrong way.

"What… do you mean?" He asked carefully after recovering.

"It's something that's been bothering me since our field study at Bareahard." Jusis explained. "When my brother first greeted us and took us to the hotel, during the trip you asked him if he was 'aware of your father's situation'." He recalled. "Rufus said that he was and then changed the subject and I was rather… preoccupied at the time to give it much thought but thinking about it now, it's gotten me curious."

"…I see." Rean said with a frown. "Did you ask your brother about it?"

"I have not. This situation involves you and, should I find myself curious enough to ask as I am now, then I'd prefer to come directly to you instead of hearing what my brother says he heard from others."

"I appreciate that." He sighed. "In simple terms… the Schwarzer family has… fallen out of favor from the rest of the nobility."

"What for?"

"You're looking at the reason."

Jusis stared at him for a moment before his eyes widened in understanding.

"Oh… I see."

"Yeah." Rean said, holding back a sigh. "I don't believe every noble thinks the same way but the majority does, especially the ones of high rank and in those circumstances…"

"Speaking out in favor of the Schwarzer barony would lead to whoever does it to receive the same treament." Jusis finished. "My apologies for bringing up this subject."

"I don't mind, it's not a secret." The swordsman shrugged. "Just something I rather not talk about."

"…then I'll make sure to not bring it up again unless you do so first." Jusis said, picking up his tea cup.

Rean did the same and, after finishing it, excused himself to continue with his tasks.

"Hm?" Or that was the plan. "Is everything okay Emma?"

"Eh? Ah, Rean." Said girl greeted as she came down the stairs. "Yes, I'm fine, just… a bit tired." She said vaguely. "Dorothee, another member of the literature club, wrote something and asked me to proofread it." Her face turned slightly red as she said this. "I got so embarrassed that I fogged up my glasses." The class president said, taking off said glasses.

"…"

"I-is something wrong?" She asked as Rean stared at her with wide eyes.

"Oh, no… it's just that this is the first time I've seen you without your glasses on."

"Wh-wha…?!" She hurriedly put them back on and let out a sigh.

"Uh… sorry, I didn't mean to stare." Rean said. "It's just… I mean… it really changes up your look. I'm sure not complaining."

Emma let out a giggle while muttering 'how embarrassing'.

"Th-thank you for the compliment, I should get something to eat before going back to proofreading that."

"Alright, let me know if you think it's something I would like."

Emma flinched at that and let out a nervous laugh.

"I-I'll do that…" She trailed off before walking away.

'…Now I'm really curious about what that book is about.' Rean shrugged. 'But that's for later, for now… let's see about Fidelio's request.'

Well… here I am again.

Hopefully, for good.

I hope you enjoyed, until next time