Chapter 22: Soup and pancakes

The rest of the week nothing notable occurs, except that Kyo seems to be sulking during club activities. I don't bother to talk to him, since I know what he's sulking about. Oh, and Grabiner seems to be a bit stressed out about something. I don't bother him, although I'm his wife –this sounds so strange -, it's not like he would want do confide in me. I visited the gym a lot in the afternoon, since I still want to strengthen my body a bit. The weekend I studied with Ellen in the library.
I also drew another portrait of her – this time it was a lot better – but decided against showing it to her again. However, I've gotten quite good at drawing.
You have so much more time to hone your skills without the internet… But I still miss the internet sometimes, though it's not as often anymore. I gotten used to this lifestyle.

On Monday I attend another assembly, this time for the introduction into the honor society, or whatever. I don't remember much about this event, but don't bother to listen much anyways, since it's a boring event. Angela gets special honor for proposing a new theory behind this Icarus-Effect or whatever, like in the game.
Well, given her personality, she better be smart. Potsdam ends the event with a speech about our dreams, and how we shouldn't destroy others.
It's a bit ironic to talk about that, after honoring one of the meanest students, someone who managed to abuse her partner so much, that he (William) may have turned gay. Even Damien didn't manage to do that. At least I didn't hear about William swearing off guys, but him dating Damien probably was a secret anyways.

On Tuesday I arrive at one of Grabiner's classrooms, but the sentence 'Free Period' is written on the blackboard. I take a look at the calendar. February, the 25th.
He's actually sick, isn't he? There was this event in the game, I think. But I'm unsure… My memories of my past life start to blur more and more…
I step out of the classroom, deliberating about which classes to take instead, as I run into Professor Potsdam. "Oh, Elise? Might I borrow you for a bit?"
This is about taking care of Grabiner or something, isn't it? "Sure, what's the matter?", I reply politely. "I'm afraid dear Hieronymus is a bit under the weather."
She doesn't sound afraid, or even slightly worried. She sounds happy. What is wrong with her? "And I'm sure you can imagine what a terrible patient he makes."
That, I can indeed. "Could I trouble you to carry up some soup from the kitchens to his room? It has to be done by hand, or it might spill."
So simply teleporting it, is a no-go, huh. Potsdam looks at me, enthusiastically. I really don't want to know, what is going on in her head. But I agree to her quest,
I should be able to do that much for my dear 'husband'. Potsdam is of course overjoyed about my agreement, and immediately starts to give me tons of instructions, on how to properly serve a sick Grabby some soup. The most dangerous part about my mission is, of course, entering the lion's den, aka his rooms.

Soon I'm carefully balancing a tablet with soup through the stairs. Unfortunately I come across Damien. "What are you doing, Elise?", he asks me curiously.
"Feeding the grumpy tiger.", I answer dryly. "Sorry, I have to go, otherwise the soup might get cold." Damien gives me strange look, but let's me continue on my mission without another word. Finally I arrive in front of his rooms. I place the tabled down on a small side table next to his door and use the lion doorknocker to knock on the door. The lion's den, indeed. The lion opens his eyes. "What is your issue for coming here?" The voice sounds like Grabiner.
Is this an illusion enchantment, or some kind of Farspeak? "Soup delivery.", I answer concisely. The door opens and I take the tablet to step inside.
His living quarters are surprisingly nice and spacey. The interior is mostly held in creamy white and looks expensive. He has an armchair and a couch with a small table in front (buried under books), and some bookshelves next to it (filled with even more books, obviously), a desk (buried under books), and a big bed (without books), with nightstands next to it (buried under books).
"You! What are you doing here?", Grabiner grunts at me. His voice lacks its usual bite, he must really be sick. Apart from that, so it was an illusion enchantment, huh. He doesn't wear his hat and is dressed unusually leger, in casual fitting robes. "I'm here on Professor Potsdam's request, Sir. To bring you your soup."
This seems to calm him down a bit. Not wondering, why she had to send me? Well, he didn't see her enthusiasm about this...
"Very well." I look around the room. No dining table, just the desk filled with books and other documents. I won't place the tablet on the papers without his explicit permission. "Where shall I place the tablet, Sir?" "That desk. Over there." "But the documents..", I mumble to myself, while I head to the desk he points at and place it down, careful not to spill anything. He just raises an eyebrow at me. Keep your room more tidy! You're an adult, you should've already learned how to put your books away. If Ellen were to visit your quarters, she would probably faint! Well, books, documents and some stuff needed for rituals are the only things lying around at last. He crosses the room and sinks into the desk chair with a sigh. He looks so tired. A strand of hair clings to his face. Does he have a fever?
"Is there something else I can do for you, Sir?", I ask out of worry. He glances at me, as he notices the worry in my voice. I look away.
It's just natural to worry about you, Sir! "You can leave me in peace.", he answers dryly. "Alright. Get well, Sir.", I calmly reply and turn around to leave.
I'm partly used to his grumpiness already and therefore didn't mind his comment. "… Wait." I stop in my steps and turn back to him surprised. Though, this is still part of the game flow, isn't it? My memories are so blurry. "I appreciate what you have done for me. However, I would prefer that it were not necessary."
Funny, I think the same about our marriage. "I am not accustomed to having students in my rooms. I prefer my privacy." Yeah, I noticed that.
"Of course, which is why you should get well soon. So that you can trouble your students in the classrooms instead.", I tease him with a small smile.
Have I always been that bold? "I will be fine. Now go." He doesn't seem to be angry at me for teasing him. He's surprisingly well-behaved when sick.
I bid him goodbye and leave. I use my free time to study a bit, before I head to my next class. I'm a bit distracted the rest of the day. Am I worried about him?
He should be well again tomorrow, shouldn't he? So nothing to worry about.

The next day is Grabiner back, and I relax a bit. He seems to be healthy again, probably due to some green magic. As I head to lunch break, Potsdam approaches me. "And?" She inquires. I'm confused. "And what?", I reply. "Did you enjoy nursing… him?" No one is around, who could overhear our conversation, but I'm thankful, that she didn't say 'husband' nonetheless. "Uhm… he wasn't as grumpy, as I thought he would be?" Potsdam smiles at me and waits for me to continue. Wait a minute… "Professor Potsdam, did you do something?", I ask her accusingly. "Oh my, you really are such a clever girl. Well, he was a bit overworked, so I helped him a little with getting some rest. This man really doesn't know how to relax." Speechless! I'm speechless! This woman can't be trusted.
To think I was worried about him due to her little prank! "I can't believe you did that.", I honestly respond to her. "Were you worried?", she teases me.
I glare at her and simply turn around to walk away. I can't deal with this woman, she is simply too much. I can hear her chuckling behind me. Damn you, Potsdam!

Thursday and Friday I focused on blue and black magic. A bit more on blue than on black. On Saturday I look for Minnie for a student council discussion, but I walk in on her talking to Jacob. " –then that just proves you were right, doesn't it? If he really cared about you, he'd never think like that." "But he did care!" "He'll get over it. There are plenty of girls." Jacob finally notices me and gives me a small bow. "Like Elise here."
This is about Kyo, right? "Oh hell no, I wouldn't date Kyo, since I know enough about how he treats Minnie. And no Minnie, he doesn't care about you. He is obsessed with you. He cares about the person he'd like you to be, but he doesn't care about the reality-you." They both stare at me in shock.
What, was what I said so wrong? I clear my throat. "Anyways, you wanted to talk with me, Minnie?" Minnie snaps out of it. "Yes – Jacob, you should go. We need to talk about the maple ceremony." Jacob leaves with a "see you later". They're already dating, aren't they? This is about me not being able to attend due to my marriage, right? Pity, I like pancakes. I wait for Minnie to begin, but she's distracted from the earlier conversation.
"Is everything alright with you, Minnie?", I ask her politely. "Everything's fine." She doesn't want me to pry. I can understand that, but it saddens me, that she doesn't confide in me. Though we aren't that close, so I should have expected that. Minnie takes a deep breath to compose herself and fluffs out her hair.
I'm happy, that I went with the rather short ponytail, having hair as long as Minnie's must be a pain in the *ss. Though my hair grew quite a bit, since coming here... "Next week we'll be celebrating the maple sap harvest.", she starts informing me, with her usual poker-face-everything-is-alright-smile.
I nod at her, to let her continue. "We hold a pancake supper with a lot of syrup." "Sounds delicious…", I sadly comment. "There's just one problem. You can't attend."
I sigh. "Why me?!", I complain about my fate. Minnie looks frantically around and then drags me into an empty classroom.
"Sorry, I had to be sure no one was listening. The dinner is a ritual. The students are split up into groups. The boys serve the girls and the girls serve the boys.
It's symbolic. I think, a long time ago, that was the beginning of the traditional season of – courting, or something like that. Even though that's obviously not how romance works in modern times. But the thing is, you're not allowed to sit with the girls, because you're married. It's ritually improper."
What if the amount of girls doesn't equal the amount of boys? Are there some poor souls being left without pancakes, like the pitiful me? Do some simply deliver more than one plate? Are guest invited to even the numbers? Well, I won't find out, since I'm not allowed to attend. I sigh. Pancakes…
"And we can't tell anyone why you're not there either. So you'll have to come up with some excuse. Sorry."
"There is nothing you need to apologize about, Minnie. Thanks for the info. If there is nothing else, you want to talk about….? Then I would take my leave."
Minnie just smiles at me and I bid her goodbye. I shouldn't be too meddlesome.

On Tuesday, March the 4th, is the maple ceremony. I ditch my last two classes and make myself sick with the help of green magic instead. That helps me with my acting towards Ellen and Virginia, since I'm not good at outright lying. Besides, this way they can convince themselves about my disease.
Good thing my green magic is so good. After they finally headed to the ceremony and I'm sure, that they won't come back for having forgotten something, or something like that, I heal myself with my green magic.
Now, what to do in the meantime? Was there some kind of event supposed to happen, while I miss the maple ceremony? I try to remember, but… this part of my memory seems to be blurred as well. To fight my boredom, I decided to paint another illusion on my ceiling, but… I lack inspiration. I sigh. What now? I'm bored…
I head to the library, maybe I can find something interesting to 'paint' there. I randomly grab some magazines and flip through the pages.
It's a teen magazine about prom dresses and stuff. Speaking of which, is still need to buy a dress. I need to go shopping with my mom in the next holydays.
Though probably no one will want to dance with me, the teacher's wife. Minnie will have spilled the beans, after all. Would I even be able to enjoy the Dance, since the player doesn't? I grab another magazine. This time it's an cooking magazine. Sigh. "Pancakes…"
Suddenly I hear a book being dropped in the return slot. Someone else is here? I look up. Oh it's just Grabiner. Is this a game event?
"Good evening, Sir." I doubt Grabiner ever attended a courting ceremony, so no one would be suspicious of his absence, right? So he doesn't need to worry about someone finding him. He just mumbles something as a response. Not even a 'Hi' ? How rude. "What kind of book are you returning?", I ask out of curiosity.
"It is an interlibrary loan." I wasn't asking about that? "Arhitektura Slovenskega Kozolca." I see, something about some kind of architecture.
"A particular form of handcrafted architecture, of which you have heard nothing.", he adds with an arrogant smile. Dismissive as always.
"You're right, I haven't. Have you heard of deconstructivism?", I counter. He looks at me strangely. "No, I haven't." Thought so. Too modern, huh.
"Well, I doubt it would fit your tastes, Sir, but you should check it out nonetheless, if you're interested in architecture. Also, I'm sorry for my ignorance regarding your slightly unusual interests." I'm a bit tired of his 'you know nothing, Jon Snow'-attitude. Grabiner makes a defeated sigh. This round goes to me, huh.
"You have nothing to apologize about. No one would expect you to know about such things at your age, not even at mine, and my expectations are no exception. Good night to you." He bids goodbye and leaves. That was a strange answer. Game-fate-thingy?
How strange indeed, he was unusually polite to me as well. I can't tell whether he was trying to make fun of my intellect or not. I stayed a bit, scanning the magazines, and then decide to head back with a travel magazine. I'm going to use it as reverence for creating landscape-illusions. I will use my wall instead of my ceiling this time. I head early to bed, to avoid meeting Ellen and Virginia after the maple ceremony. I don't want to pretend being sick again. Since it's so early, I use some white and green magic to help me sleep. I ought to improve my white magic, I think while falling asleep. A way to contact a professor close by, could become important after all, though I don't plan to put myself in danger.

The next morning I wake up feeling refreshed and I tell Virginia and Ellen, that I would be cured due to the rest I received. I also asked about how the maple ceremony went for them and from who they received their pancakes and to whom they gave theirs. Ellen exchanged her pancakes with Donald.
Does she know what that means? Virginia doesn't seem to notice the meaning though. Virginia received her pancakes from Balthasar, to her displeasure and gave hers to some random student, she can't remember. I complain a bit to them, about how I also would've liked to receive some pancakes, no matter from whom.
The rest of the week I distracted myself from thinking about my 'marriage'. Since my drawing skills have increased, I tried drawing more portraits, trying to picture the people in my head, instead of persuading someone to be my model. I'm especially interested in drawing movements, but the proportions are hard to imagine, so I have to use sport magazines as references for that.
On Thursday I wake up in the middle of the night. This happens way too often. Virginia mumbles something in her sleep. Not this again. What is she dreaming about this time? "No, don't eat the cake, Elise… it will explode." Another dream about the cake being a lie? I consider silencing her for a second, but decide against it.
She probably wouldn't appreciate being enchanted in her sleep. "Noo…. Pudding boss has tentacles!" I grab my pillow and try to muffle my ears with it.