Vald found himself oddly enjoying school after he started connecting to professor Halvir. He started wanting to try harder in school, and managed to not fall asleep until after Halvir's class. He was still having problems with his body aching, but it wasn't as bad when he was hanging out with the asocial professor.

Oliver thought his new interest in school was just because of the change from high school to college. Trevor just thought that it was his inner nerd shining through. But Vald knew that his interest was solely because of the professor.

He met up with the professor almost every day, talking to him before and/or after class. He often chatted with him while on Crimson Spell though never teamed up with him for missions. Other students, especially Abraham, thought he was just ass-kissing to get a good grade, like he was often accused of doing in high school. And while part of Vald was always very nice to other people, he felt especially close to the white-haired genius.

He, Trevor and Oliver got together one day to talk about what their plans for the future were. It was mostly just an excuse to escape their houses and/or homework, but also to see what Vald decided to do after the summer semester was over. Vald did his best to be friendly to his two best friends, but his attention span had gotten shorter with continued nights of light sleep, and he found that his thoughts kept drifting back to Halvir.

Vald groaned and dropped his face onto the table. Trevor just stared at him but Oliver put a hand on his shoulder asking if he was okay. Vald shrugged but didn't answer.

He didn't understand why he couldn't get the attractive professor out of his head. He acknowledged that the other man was attractive because anyone with eyes could see how much the girls gawked over him, as if they believed his dark personality to be hiding a soft side he'd only show his special someone. Vald laughed maliciously. That was impossible. Halvir was anything but soft.

"I think he's officially lost it," Trevor said loudly to Oliver, trying to get Vald's attention.

Oliver didn't say anything, but Vald felt his hand on his shoulder again.

Liz's voice called from a distance, "Olly! Mom said I have to hang out with you and your dumb friends!" Oliver's family was hanging out at the nearby mall, but Liz kept bouncing back and forth between hanging out with her parents and them.

Oliver groaned and Trevor chuckled. Vald couldn't help but think how annoyed Halvir would be if he knew Liz. She looked exactly like Oliver despite being a girl but was completely different. She was more hyper, better at video games, artsy rather than book-smart, and didn't give a shit what anyone thought about her. She was also oddly obsessed with rabbits.

She came closer and sat down at the table. "What's wrong with him?" she asked, clearly meaning Vald.

"He's not feeling well," Oliver said at the same time Trevor said, "He had a mental breakdown."

She giggled at Trevor's remark, forgetting to make her obvious crush on Trevor less obvious. "It's probably just girl problems. Did your girlfriend dump you or something, Vald?"

"I don't have a girlfriend," Vald replied quietly. But what she said made him think. Wasn't what he was feeling a lot like Liz's weird crush? He loved being around Halvir, even when no one else seemed to, laughed at what he said even if it wasn't necessarily funny, defended him to other people when they criticized him, and generally acted like a love-struck girl obsessing over a guy.

Trevor got up to order them some drinks. They were hanging out outside a restaurant but hadn't bought anything yet. When he was gone Vald lifted his head up to look at Oliver's twin. "Liz, how often do you think about Trevor?" he asked seemingly suddenly.

Oliver looked at him confused and Liz's face reddened. "What do you mean?" she asked, almost stumbling over her words.

"I mean your crush on him," Vald continued. "How often does it make you think about him?"

Her blush deepened. "I… I…"

"What?" Oliver almost shouted. "You have—"

Vald stopped him from continuing. "Please just answer the question. Trevor will be back soon, and I don't think you want him to know."

"A… a lot," she said quickly. She glanced around to see Trevor coming back with four drinks.

"I got you a cola," Trevor told her. "Hope you don't mind."

"I don't!" she said just too quickly to be normal. Trevor glanced at her but she avoided his eyes by taking her soda and beginning to down it quickly.

"Why?" Oliver asked.

"Why what?" Trevor asked, glancing between them to see who would answer.

"I asked a question," Vald brushed it off. "I just wanted to know."

"No one asks about that for no reason," Oliver pointed out.

Vald felt his face get a little hot. "Maybe I do."

"Spit it out," Trevor ordered, smiling as if expecting something extremely juicy.

"I just think I like someone is all," Vald tried to dodge the question.

"Who?" Oliver asked. He seemed more interested than Trevor.

"Why do you care?"

"Because we're your friends," Trevor laughed. "Now spill, dude, or I'll have to force it out of you!"

"Just my professor," Vald shrugged, trying to get them off the subject. "It's no big deal! A lot of others like him, so it's not like—"

"Wait!" Trevor interrupted him loudly. "You've got a crush on a guy?!"

The table next to them looked over and Vald ducked his head. Oliver looked just as stunned, but for some reason Liz didn't. "So?" she asked angrily. "What's so wrong about that?"

"It's just!" Trevor began, looking between her and Vald. "Well…" he looked at Oliver for an ally but didn't get one. Oliver seemed stunned into silence. Trevor laughed nervously. "Well there's nothing wrong with it! It's just…!"

"It's just homophobics like you who make it weird," she said. She turned to smile at Vald. "Is he cute at least?"

Vald wanted to disappear and die. He should never have said anything to them. He looked back down at the table and hoped that he'd be able to get over this crush soon.

"Just let it go," Oliver said quietly. The other table apparently was still looking at them funny. "We'll talk more about it later."

Note: Because I recently acquired volumes 2 and 3 of the English version of Crimson Spell, I will be changing a few things on my notes, and also change Marse's name to Mars. Ruruka will be changed to Rulca for the same reason. Thankfully they also chose to spell Halvir's name like that so I won't have to change my spelling. This won't likely cause any confusion, but I wanted to include it.

P.S. I'm currently in the process of ordering volume 1 and pre-ordering 4 & 5. Fuck yeah!