Chapter 2 - Raquel Mayhem
April 1203
Towa sat by herself on one of the plaza's benches as she peacefully read through her astronomy book. She had checked it out of the school library earlier that day so she could have something to read during her free time while out in Raquel for her first Field Study. Of course, she couldn't help herself and started reading it as soon as her final class concluded an hour ago.
It wasn't the most exciting book, but it was one that Towa knew would keep her entertained while outside of Trista.
"Good afternoon, Towa!" Emily greeted as she and her friend Theresia approached Towa.
"Good afternoon you two." Towa greeted.
"What are you doing out here by yourself?" Emily asked.
"I was just getting some reading done." Towa answered.
"Oh I see, would you like to join Theresia and I's shopping trip?" Emily continued.
"Yeah, we came here to the plaza to get ourselves some uniforms and supplies for the Lacrosse Club." Theresia added on.
"I appreciate the offer, but no thanks." Towa replied.
"It's okay, maybe next time." Emily responded before she and Theresia made their way to Boutique - Le Sage.
"I doubt that." Towa whispered to herself as she looked back down at her book.
This hadn't been the first time that Towa had politely turned down an offer to hang out with one of her classmates. She didn't want to be rude to them, but she greatly valued her personal time.
Even if it meant things like her being the only member of Class IV that wasn't in a club. Emily had invited her to join the Lacrosse Club, but she turned down the offer due to her not exactly being the most physically active person. Hibelle let her know that the Wind Orchestra needed a violinist, but she informed him that she had no history with any instruments. Loggins smartly took one look at her and knew right off the bat that she wasn't fit to be a part of the Fencing Club. None of the clubs interested her. Even the Literature Club disinterested her.
Towa was happily content reading by herself around Trista.
After a few more hours outside reading, Towa made her way to her dorm room to prepare for the next few days.
Olivert had sent everyone that was a part of Class VII a document via their ARCUS informing them about what they would have to do for their upcoming Field Study in Raquel.
Upon changing into her pajamas and taking a seat on her bed, Towa read through the document Olivert had sent them.
"Greetings Class VII, I hope this message finds you well. This document contains instructions for your Field Study in Raquel. First things first, the schedule. Thursday the 23rd of April, you are to board the train at the local station all the way to Raquel. Don't worry, just show this document to a staff member and you'll be let on board without having to pay for a ticket. You should arrive in Raquel by sundown. Once in Raquel, you must make your way to the Hermit Inn. You four are to report everything to the inn's owner: Julia. The following day she'll give you four the requests that you'll have to complete by sundown. You are not permitted to be outside of the Hermit Inn once nightfall arrives. Anyone caught outside at night will be immediately sent back to Trista and be punished accordingly. The day after that, you'll all take the train back to Trista and rest up. You'll then use your Free Day to catch up on all assignments you missed out on from your normal classes. Don't fret, I've already convinced all of your instructors to give you an extra week to turn in any assignment that was due while you were off on the Field Study." Olivert wrote.
"That's it? Prince Olivert is sending us to the Entertainment City, and the only rule he gives us is not to go outside at night? Like any of us are even allowed to enter any of those establishments in the first place. If I were in charge of this I would've added more rules. The others better not see this as an opportunity to do whatever they please while in Raquel." Towa thought to herself as finished reading Olivert's message.
Seeing as she would have to wake up extra early the following morning, Towa got up and started preparing her bag for the Field Study. Luckily she was a fairly light traveler, mainly packing two spare uniforms, her usual hygiene products, and her astronomy book.
With everything packed up, Towa turned off the lights and got in bed to get a good night's rest.
4.23.1203 - Thursday (Field Study Day 1)
Towa waited patiently outside the train station for the other members of Class VII to arrive.
"Morning." George greeted as he made his way to the station, clearly still half asleep.
"Good morning, George. That leaves Angelica and Crow." Towa replied.
"Sup. Phew, looks like I'm not the last one to arrive." Crow commented as he walked up to Towa and George.
"Good morning, Crow. That leaves Angelica." Towa responded before looking around to see if she was nearby.
After a few more minutes, Angelica finally arrived.
"Sorry I'm late. I was on my way when I noticed this stunningly beautiful woman while I was buying myself a snack for the road. I just had to strike up a conversation with her." Angelica explained.
"You mean that new radio host? She is rather pleasant on the eyes." George noted.
"Her name is Misty. Best you remember it, her new show is quite popular." Crow informed them.
"Looks like someone's a fan." Angelica teased.
"Haha. You caught me. One could say that I've been a long-time fan." Crow responded.
"Wait, a long-time fan? But didn't she start hosting Abend Time a month ago? I guess she must've hosted a local show in his area before making her way to Trista." Towa thought to herself.
"Is something wrong? Let me guess, you think that I should be using my radio listening time to do my school work." Crow commented as he turned to Towa.
"W-What? No, I-" Towa nervously responded before getting interrupted by Angelica.
"Okay Class VII, let's board our train!" Angelica ordered before making her way inside the station.
"Roger." George replied as he followed her inside.
"Haha. Don't worry, I'm just messing with you." Crow informed Towa before entering the station.
"H-Hey, wait for me!" Towa yelled as followed the others inside the station.
Class VII sat around a window as their train made its way to Raquel.
Towa knew that it was going to be a long trip, so she had prepared some icebreakers that they could use to get to know each other better.
"So, is this everyone's first time visiting Raquel?" Towa asked, only to be met with silence.
It was only then that Towa realized that the rest of the group were already off doing their own thing.
George slept in his seat, Angelica went off to flirt with some of the waitresses, and Crow had vanished yet again.
"Ugh, these next few days are going to be a drag." Towa thought to herself before pulling out her astronomy book from her backpack.
After a few hours, Class VII finally arrived in Raquel.
"Aw man, the sun's already setting. And here I thought we'd have some extra time to explore." Angelica commented.
"Save the exploring for tomorrow." Towa responded before taking out her ARCUS to look up the address of the Hermit Inn.
Class VII made their way through Raquel for a few minutes, before finally finding the Hermit Inn.
"Welcome to the Hermit Inn, oh you four must be the kids from Thors." Julia greeted.
"Yes we are. I suppose we'll be staying at this fine establishment for the next few days." Angelica responded.
"Good, follow me to your rooms." Julia instructed as she made her way to the stairs.
Class VII followed Julia all the way to the end of the hall on the second floor, where their rooms were waiting for them.
"Alright, the boys room is to the left, and the girls room is to the right. Put your things away in your rooms and take a seat at a table together so I can give you guys your dinner. Seriously, you kiddos must be famished." Julia commented before making her way back to the first floor.
After leaving their belongings in their respective rooms, Class VII made their way downstairs and ate the dinner Julia had prepared for them.
"So what's the game plan for tomorrow?" Crow asked after they all finished their dinner.
"According to what Prince Olivert wrote, Julia is going to give us the requests tomorrow morning." Angelica answered.
"Don't forget that we'll have to have them complete by sundown." Towa added on.
"Wait, you're actually planning to be back here by sundown?" Crow questioned.
"Yeah, live a little." Angelica replied.
"We'll be sent back to Thors if we're caught outside." Towa reminded them.
"If we're caught outside." Crow repeated.
"We are not going to be outside after sun down. No ifs, ands, or buts." Towa bluntly responded before making her way back to the girls room.
"Geez, talk about a stick in the mud." Crow commented as the rest of Class VII watched Towa leave.
"We're totally going to go explore at night tomorrow, right?" Angelica questioned.
"You know it." Crow replied.
4.24.1203 - Friday (Field Study Day 2)
Towa was woken up early in the morning by her ARCUS' alarm. She quickly got out of her bed and changed into her Thors uniform before putting away her pajamas in her bag and making her bed.
"Angelica, wake up. It's time for us to start our Field Study." Towa informed Angelica as she made her way to the other side of the girls room.
"Five more minutes…" Angelica mumbled in her sleep.
"Fine, I'll go wake up the boys. But you better be out of bed by the time I come back." Towa replied, only to be met with snoring.
With that, Towa exited the girls room and walked over to the boys room's door.
"Guys, wake up! Field Study!" Towa announced as she knocked on their door.
Towa waited for a response, but was only met with silence.
"Ahem. Guys, wake up! Field Study!" Towa repeated as she knocked on the door again.
Again, Towa was met with silence.
"Keep it down will you. Some of us are trying to get our beauty sleep, y'know. Not me of course, my bad boy charms are all natural." Crow commented as walked up stairs and made his way towards Towa.
Towa was shocked to see Crow, of all people, already awake and dressed in uniform. Maybe he wasn't as much of a slacker as she originally thought.
"Crow? You're already awake?" Towa questioned.
"Sure am. I wanted to take a quick scroll around the city." Crow explained.
"Oh okay, wait a minute. You better not be planning to ditch us so you can fool around the city!" Towa responded.
"Me, ditch? I would never-" Crow replied before getting interrupted by Towa.
"Don't you dare lie to me! I've heard all of the rumors about you. About how you ditch your classes all the time, sleep in class on the rare occasion that you do attend one of them, or even how you sneak off to Heimdallr to bet on horse races." Towa revealed.
"Is that all?" Crow replied.
"So there's more?" Towa questioned.
"Haha. It's always fun seeing a know-it-all know nothing at all." Crow joked as he walked past Towa and opened the door to the boys room.
"Know-it-all?" Towa repeated.
"You heard me. I bet you spend all of your Free Days doing nothing but homework." Crow responded.
"I don't just do homework, I also read books that I check out of the library." Towa replied.
"How exciting. I hate to imagine what your idea of boring is." Crow teased.
"Well, excuse me for prioritizing my grades and education over dumb things like gambling!" Towa yelled.
"Shh. George and Angelica are still sleeping. Let's regroup downstairs for breakfast in half an hour." Crow suggested before closing the door on Towa.
With that, Towa angrily went back to the girls room.
"Why are none of them taking this seriously? It's like they think this is a school sponsored field trip." Towa thought to herself as she took a seat on her bed. She quickly dug through her back for the book she had bought for herself and started reading to pass the time.
After an awkward breakfast together, Class VII walked up to Julia and asked for the requests they had to do.
"Here you go, be sure to be back here before evening." Julia informed them as she handed Angelica an envelope containing all of their requests.
"Don't worry, we'll be back before you know it." Towa responded, all while the rest of Class VII avoided making eye contact with Julia.
It was clear that Towa didn't speak for Class VII as a whole.
Once outside, Class VII made their way to a nearby alley so they could look over their requests without blocking the sidewalk.
"Let's see what we have to do today." Angelica commented before opening the envelope containing their requests.
Inside the envelope there were two requests. The first request listed was fairly simple. Apparently a child had lost a toy somewhere around the city and the local chapel wanted them to look for it. The second request was a bit more complicated. There were reports spotting a dangerous monster hiding in the outskirts of the city that had been attacking people traveling by road for the past week.
"How should we do these requests?" George asked.
"Simple, let's do them in order of difficulty. With the four of us here, we can split up the city into four quadrants and search for the toy that way. Then we head out to face the monster." Towa suggested.
"Sounds boring." Crow commented.
"Yeah, if we do things like that we probably won't finish until sundown." Angelica added on.
"Our priority should be to get these done before it gets dark. We have plenty of time." Towa responded.
"If we take our time on these requests, then we won't have any time to ourselves to explore Raquel." Angelica countered.
"I second that. What's the point of having a Field Study, when we don't even get to learn anything about the city?" Crow added on.
"Maybe we can spit the requests? Towa and I don't have any weapons, so we could look for the toy that's lost somewhere in the city. While Crow and Angelica use their weapons to fight that monster in the outskirts of the city." George suggested.
"I say we start the requests later. I'm going to go sightseeing." Angelica responded.
"Yeah, I think I might go look around the shops. You want in, George?" Crow commented.
"If we're really going to do the requests later, sure." George responded.
"Guys, wait! You can't just bail on the requests!" Towa yelled.
Towa watched in disbelief as the other members of Class VII left the alley and walked in separate directions around the city. She tried her best to run after them, but quickly lost track of them thanks to the crowds of people walking around the city blocking her view.
"This is just my luck. How am I supposed to get anything done when my so-called 'group' just up and ditched their duties?" Towa thought to herself as she walked back to the alley to escape the crowds.
Angelica walked around the city in search of a woman that tickled her fancy. Which wasn't exactly hard to do, but unfortunately for her, most of the women in Raquel were tourists visiting with their partners or families.
That was until Angelica noticed two girls around her age talking to one another as they passed her. Thinking on her feet, she turned around and started walking closely behind them. If she could get a read on their conversation she might be able to join in on the conversation and work her magic.
"Did you hear? Rumor has it that Lady Mildine has become good friends with Princess Alfin." one of the girls commented.
By the look of her dress, Angelica could tell that she belonged to a noble family.
"Oh really? They are both attending St. Astraia right now, so I shouldn't be too surprised by them becoming acquainted." the other girl replied.
She wore far more simpler clothes, if Angelica had to guess, she was probably a commoner friend of the noble girl.
Friendships between nobles and commoners were fairly rare. Usually because noble families shipped off their kids to the most expensive boarding schools, like St. Astraia, while commoner families usually could only afford to send their kids to Sunday School. Which made interactions between noble and commoner children all the more rare.
Of course, noble parents did their best to force their children to interact exclusively with other children belonging to noble families. Be it because of classism or in an attempt to force them into a relationship for political gain, it was always to the parents' benefit and never their children.
Angelica herself had some experience with the subject matter. She recalled all the times her father had been forced by another noble family with influence to put her in an arranged marriage with their sons. Luckily, she always successfully found a way to break things off, for obvious reasons.
"Say, isn't Princess Alfin good friends with Lady Elise? Maybe her and Lady Mildine are planning to have her brother dance with them to welcome them into high society? They are going to be at that age soon." the commoner girl continued.
"You mean Baron Schwarzer's adopted son!? Not in a million years, I hear he's the result of an affair Baron Schwarzer had with a commoner. Ugh, the people from Ymir are so backwards. I'm surprised the royal family still keeps close ties with them." the noble girl angrily responded.
"There's nothing more elegant than a noble woman's entrance into high society. Mine was a riot from what I remember." Angelica commented as she walked up between the two girls and put her arms around their shoulders.
"That jacket, what's a student from Thors doing all the way here?" the noble girl asked upon noticing Angelica's white uniform.
"Little ol' me? Don't tell anyone this, but I'm a part of this elite group at Thors that gets sent out on secret missions around the Empire. Yeah, my group just got done taking care of all the nearby threats. So I figured I'd have some fun." Angelica explained.
"An elite group?" the commoner girl repeated.
"That's right. You're looking at their leader." Angelica continued.
"Not too surprising, seeing as you're a member of one of the Four Great Houses: Angelica Rogner." the noble girl commented.
"So you've heard of me, I take it? Hopefully my exes have only said good things." Angelica joked.
"Haha. Let's go explore the city together." the noble girl continued before signaling at her commoner friend to leave.
"Hey now, that won't be necessary. C'mon, there's no harm in you joining us." Angelica assured the commoner girl.
"T-Thank you Lady Angelica." the commoner girl replied.
"My pleasure. Who'd I be if I let a pretty face such as yours get away?" Angelica commented.
"Hmph! If you wish, Lady Angelica." the noble girl commented as the trio continued walking.
Crow and George walked around together around the city for a few minutes before finally stopping at their destination.
"Pawn Shop - McEnroe" George read as he looked up at the sign.
"I passed by here when I traveled from my hometown all the way to Trista to attend Thors. This place looked interesting, and I figured he'd have stuff we both enjoy." Crow explained before entering the pawn shop.
"He passed by Raquel to get to Trista? Just where is he from?" George thought to himself as he followed Crow inside the pawn shop.
"Welcome, welcome. You break anything, you buy it." McEnroe greeted as he kept reading his newspaper.
"Say, you wouldn't happen to have any old games in stock would you?" Crow asked as he browsed the store.
"I've got a chess board, but without any pieces. A hanafuda card deck imported from Calvard. Checkers pieces, but without the board. Oh, and I have a fresh shipment of Blade decks." McEnroe answered.
"Blade's popular here too? Played it all the time with Stark back home. Maybe I should buy myself a new deck since I gifted my original one to him before I snuck into the Empire." Crow thought to himself as he inspected the deck of cards.
"Well? Are you going to buy it?" McEnroe questioned.
"Eh, why not." Crow responded before pulling out his wallet and buying himself the Blade deck.
Crow turned around and saw George going through a box of electronics that McEnroe had left lying around.
"See anything you like?" Crow questioned as he walked up to George.
"Hmm. Not really. Looks like most of this stuff is non-functional spare computer parts." George answered as he continued to scrounge through the box.
Just then, George noticed something interesting at the very bottom of the box that caught his interest.
"Judging by the look in your eyes, it looks like you found something good." Crow commented as George pulled out a large dusty portable orbal computer.
"Crow, you don't understand. This thing's extremely rare." George responded as he brushed off the dust covering the portable orbal computer.
"Looks like any old portable orbal computer to me." Crow noted.
"It's not just any old portable orbal computer, this is an original model first generation portable orbal computer from the RF Company." George revealed.
"First generation? I've seen these things go for cheap brand new at most stores." Crow commented.
"Yeah, the revised model. Look at the label. This is an original launch version. These things are rare." George explained.
"Revised model?" Crow repeated.
"Let me explain. The RF Company was having trouble mass producing these portable orbal computers in time to hit their deadline, so they delayed the launch by a month in order to meet the predicted demand. Unfortunately for them, some portable orbal computers got out into the wild. Positive word of mouth started to spread, until it was discovered that the RF Company had made a fatal mistake. The fans inside the portable orbal computers were all installed in such a way that instead of pushing heat outside the vents, it would push the heat straight into the battery. Causing them to heat up to the point of combustion. The RF Company immediately recalled all of the portable orbal computers so they could reinstall the fans in the correct way. They also installed an updated firmware that prevented the users from using up all of their orbal computer's resources as a safety precaution in case someone tried to overload their device and have it explode." George explained.
"Oh, so found a bomb." Crow bluntly replied.
"Don't worry. A hacker in Crossbell made an alternative operating system that let's anyone with the original model run their portal orbal computer at max setting without it combusting into flames a while ago." George assured Crow.
After checking to make sure that the portable orbal computer worked, George went over to pay for it while Crow waited outside.
"So, that thing works right?" Crow asked once George joined him inside.
"Yup, just checked. It still has the original operating system though, so I'll probably wait until we get back to Trista before I start using it." George answered.
"Actually, seeing you're more knowledgeable on the subject. I was wondering if you and your portable orbal computer could do me a favor?" Crow continued.
"Sure, it was your idea to go to Pawn Shop - McEnroe in the first place. I doubt I would've been able to find this original model anywhere else. So we'd love to help." George replied.
Crow and George soon began making their way to Casino - Alisha, as Crow began to share what he had planned.
Towa made her way to the Raquel Chapel to inquire about the missing toy the chapel had requested them to find.
Even if she would have to search through the city by herself, it was her duty to get the requests done. Although, she still had no idea how she was going to deal with the monster they were also requested to take care of.
"Hello, I wanted to ask for more details pertaining to the missing Toy." Towa greeted as she entered the chapel.
"Oh thank Aidios, you must be one of the students Thors sent here. Wait, where are the others?" a red haired nun replied.
"The rest of my group is busy at the moment. So I'll be handling this request by myself." Towa answered. She wasn't sure if she should be covering for the others, but she knew that she wouldn't gain anything if she threw them under the bus.
"Okay then. You said you wanted more details on the missing toy, correct?" the nun asked before going into a nearby room to look for something.
"That's correct. Kind of difficult to search for something, when I don't exactly know what I'm searching for." Towa noted.
"Here you go. The owner gave us an old picture of themselves with the toy to use as a reference." the nun explained as she exited the room and handed Towa an old photograph.
Towa quickly inspected the photograph. It was clearly taken a long time ago, judging by how torn and faded it was. She couldn't make out the people in the picture, all she was able to piece together was that it was a photo of a woman with her son. Luckily, the toy in question was still clearly visible in the boy's arms.
It was a small yellow rabbit plushie. From the looks of the photo, it already looked as if it had faced its fair share of trouble. The plushie's left arm looked as if it was burnt.
"I know it looks bad, but I can assure you that the toy was in better condition before it was lost." the nun commented.
"Thank you, this was a useful piece of information. I- I mean, we will have it back before you know it!" Towa assured the nun before handing back the old photograph and exiting the church.
After a few hours of searching throughout Raquel, Towa grew worried that she wouldn't be able to find the toy.
"The sun is already starting to set, maybe I should head back to the chapel and apologize for not being able to find it. Darn it, the others never even answered their ARCUS when I tried calling them. How are we supposed to be a team if we can't work together?" Towa thought to herself as she reached the north edge of the city.
Just as she was ready to turn back around, Towa noticed in the corner of her eye a familiar looking burnt arm a few feet away.
Towa quickly made her way to the nearby highway, and found the burnt arm poking out of a bush. She immediately pulled it out of the push, and determined that it was the same yellow rabbit plushie from the photo she had been given.
"Oh, thank Aidios. I found you. Let's go back to the chapel so you can reunite with your owner." Towa told the toy before running back to Raquel.
It was a good thing that Towa had left immediately, because otherwise she would've realized that she had trespassed on a monster's nest. The same monster that she and the rest of Class VII were supposed to eliminate. Luckily, Towa miraculously visited while it was away hunting for food.
Towa soon returned to the chapel and handed the toy to the nun.
"Oh, thank Aidios. You found it!" the nun commented as she inspected the yellow rabbit plushie.
"Not a problem. Give my regards to the owner!" Towa replied before exiting the chapel.
The nun quietly entered a nearby room and placed the toy on a table, where a blond boy rested his head while he slept.
"Jo- I mean, Ash, wake up. A nice student from Thors came by to drop off your toy!" the nun announced.
"What the? Wait, someone found it?" Ash questioned as he woke up and lifted his head.
"You looked so distraught after you told me that some kid stole it from you during Sunday School, that I got in contact with the authorities, who assigned a couple of students from Thors to find it for you." the nun explained.
"Thors, huh? I wonder what a bunch of wannabe military lap dogs are doing all the way here." Ash questioned before standing up and grabbing his toy.
The yellow rabbit plushie had been gifted to him when he was a baby. Despite everything that had happened back then, it survived mostly unharmed, with only its left arm getting burnt up. His mother had also managed to keep the rest of it in good condition with her sewing kit. It held a lot of sentimental value to him, so he was glad to be reunited with it.
After walking around the city with her dates, Angelica led them to Casino - Alisha. After paying for a membership, she walked over to the nearest slot machine. She wasn't old enough to play, but it was unlikely that the casino would take issue with her playing.
"Wow Lady Angelica, you're surprisingly good at this." the noble girl commented as she watched Angelica play.
"Have you played this game before?" the commoner asked.
"Nope, but I've always liked playing games of chance." Angelica explained.
Angelica soon noticed two familiar figures walk past her while she was playing. She stopped her machine and told her dates that she was going to go use the washroom. Angelic then made her way closer to the two figures as they crouched in front of a portable orbal computer in the corner of the building.
"Wait… Crow and George!?" Angelica yelled upon realizing who they were.
"Shh! Not so loud." Crow greeted.
"What are you guys doing here?" Angelica asked.
"We should be asking you the same thing." George noted.
"Let's just say, I found a way to guarantee ourselves victory over these games of chance." Crow explained.
"So you're using that portable orbal computer to cheat?" Angelica commented.
"Cheating is such a harsh word-" Crow replied before getting interrupted by Angelica.
"I want in." Angelica continued.
"Sweet. Just go back to your machine and we'll work our magic to bring in the big bucks." Crow ordered.
"Roger!" Angelica replied before making her way back to her machine.
"Remember, we can only do this for twenty minutes. If we leave this thing on for any longer, then it might explode." George advised Crow as they made their way to the other slot machines that their portable orbal computer hacked.
"Relax. We'll be out of here in no time." Crow noted.
Once outside, Towa made a mad dash back to the Hermit Inn to report back to Julia before it became nightfall. She wasn't sure where the others were, but at this point that was no longer her problem.
"I'm here! I'm here!" Towa shouted as she entered the Hermit Inn.
"I can see and hear that." Julia greeted.
"Phew, I made it." Towa replied.
"Say, where are the others?" Julia asked upon realizing that only one of four students had returned on time.
"Beats me. They decided to have some fun before starting the requests. I was able to finish one of them by myself though." Towa revealed.
"So they ditched you?" Julia questioned.
"Yes." Towa answered.
"Well, they aren't here. I guess I'll call the authorities to find them and send them back to Trista." Julia responded.
"W-Wait, you guys were serious? Don't you think that's too harsh of a punishment?" Towa questioned.
"We gave you four a fair warning. After all, you came here on time. So they all should've been able to return." Julia pointed out.
"Surely you could give them a thirty minute grace period?" Towa suggested.
"Fine, but on one condition." Julia responded.
"Let me hear it." Towa replied.
"If you can bring all of them back in thirty minutes, I'll pretend as if you all arrived on time together. If you don't, you'll be punished alongside them." Julia informed her.
"I'll do it!" Towa announced before running out of the inn to search for the rest of Class VII.
Towa couldn't figure out why she was doing all of this. She had no reason to help any of the other members of Class VII. Angelica constantly acted like she was in charge, Crow rarely cooperated with them, and George was too focused on his own interest to care about anything else. Although, she wasn't safe from criticism either.
As she ran through the streets of Raquel, Towa recalled how she never spoke to any of them after their orientation. In fact, she rarely spoke to anyone at Thors. Unlike her, they'd all managed to make friends while at Thors. Meanwhile, she was always off on her own reading by herself.
"Ugh, this is no time to be thinking about my social life, or lack thereof. I need to find the others before it's too late." Towa thought to herself.
Towa continued running through Raquel, until she stopped outside of Casino Alisha to catch her breath. That's when she overheard two girls leaving the casino.
"Wow, Lady Angelica sure is generous." a girl who looked like a commoner commented as her bag was filled with cash.
"Please, Lady Angelica gave us only a fraction of her winnings. I'm sure by tomorrow Casino Alisha will be bankrupt because of her and her friends." a girl who looked like a noble noted as her bag was also filled with cash.
As the two girls walked away from the casino, Towa connected the dots and realized that Angelica, Crow, and George had been out gambling while she was out there worried about them.
Towa couldn't help but feel her anger getting the best of her as she marched into the casino, ready to drag Angelica, Crow, and George kicking and screaming back to Hermit Inn.
"How much did you win?" George asked Crow and Angelica as they all regrouped by the portable orbal computer.
"Enough to not have to bug my dad for allowance money for the next year." Angelica answered as she put all her winnings into her pockets.
"Oh man, I'm going to be making so many trips to Heimdallr." Crow replied as he stuffed his winnings into his pockets.
"I'll probably be able to afford every new model orbal portable computer that comes out for the next few years." George said as he picked up his portable orbal computer.
Just then, they all heard someone burst through the casino's front door.
"Angelica Rogner, Crow Armbrust, George Nome! Do you three have any idea how furious you've made me!?" Towa angrily shouted as she made her way towards them.
"M-Miss! We need to see an id, and also you need to pay for a membership to enter." a staff member cautiously informed Towa as they followed close behind.
"Don't worry. I'll save my talk for when we're all outside." Towa calmly replied before turning to look at the rest of Class VII.
Class VII felt a shiver go down their spines. They couldn't have imagined how the pint-sized bookworm of their group could become so scary once enough of her buttons were pushed.
Towa quickly dragged the others to the outskirts of the city to give them a scolding. She ordered them to sit down in front of her to make sure that they were looking up at her.
Unknowingly returning to the monster's nest.
Before she could start, Towa grabbed the portable orbal computer that George had in his arms and placed it down behind her to make sure that they would all pay attention to her. Unfortunately, she didn't give George enough time to turn it off, leaving it to continue running as she gave them a piece of her mind.
"I'm so furious right now! You people ditched me! I had to do one of the requests by myself! Do you have any idea how many times I had to circle around Raquel to find that toy!?" Towa yelled.
"Uh-" Crow tried to guess before getting interrupted by Towa.
"Many! And because I don't have a weapon, I couldn't go out and search for the monster we had to fight!" Towa continued.
Right on cue, the monster popped out of the shadows and crawled closer to Towa from behind. The rest of Class VII were able to determine that it was a large Billgasso.
"U-Um, T-Towa t-the monster-" Angelica said as she tried to warn Towa about the monster behind her.
"Don't get me started on the monster! How are we supposed to tell Julia that we didn't take care of the monster like we were requested!?" Towa continued.
Just as the Billgasso was ready to strike with its sharp beak, a notification popped up on George's portable orbal computer.
"ERROR! SYSTEM HEATING UP PLEASE TURN OFF!" the notification alerted.
The Billgasso then stepped on the portable orbal computer to get closer to Towa, causing the portable orbal computer to explode. Setting the Billgasso on fire.
"Towa!" Crow shouted as he got up.
"Sit back down!" Towa ordered, scaring Crow more than the monster on fire behind her.
Towa continued to rant about the group's poor ability to work together, while the monster ran around behind her as it slowly succumbed to the fire burning it alive.
Class VII knew that the portable orbal computer was going to inevitably catch on fire, but they couldn't help but question if Towa's fury had been what caused it to explode then and there. All they knew was that they never wanted to get on Towa's bad side again. Unless they wanted to face the same fate as the monster dying behind her. They also could've sworn that Towa was now surrounded by a dark aura, scaring them even more.
"Have I made myself clear!?" Towa concluded.
"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Angelica, Crow, and George responded together.
"Okay then, let's head back to the inn. I think I'm ready to go to bed." Towa replied.
Suddenly everyone's ARCUS began ringing to let them know of a notification.
"What the? Says here that we've successfully taken care of the monster." Towa commented as she read through the message.
Towa then turned around and noticed the burnt remains of the Billgasso that tried to attack her.
"Wait, it's been dead this whole time? Lucky us then. Come on, let's go report to Julia." Towa noted before walking back to Raquel.
The rest of Class VII followed suit, keeping a noticeable distance away from Towa. Just in case she caused another explosion.
4.25.1203 - Saturday (Field Study Day 3)
Angelica, Crow, and George sat around together having their breakfast.
"Do you guys even remember what happened yesterday?" George asked once they all finished their breakfast.
Due to everything that had happened, they all remembered very little about the previous day's events.
"To be honest the only thing I remember is-" Crow replied before getting interrupted by Angelica.
"T-Towa!" Angelica yelled as she saw Towa sit down next to them.
"Good morning, guys. Ready to head back to Trista?" Towa greeted.
Unlike the rest of them, Towa still remembered everything about the previous day. She decided not to remind them, in hopes of making sure they never tried the same stunt ever again.
"Good morning, Towa. What would you like for breakfast?" Julia asked as she approached the table.
"Oh, I'm not hungry right now. Can I just have a coffee with extra sugar?" Towa asked.
"Sure thing." Julia replied.
The rest of Class VII kept quiet as Julia came back with Towa's coffee. The only thing they could remember about the previous day was Towa and her dark aura. Along with her anger towards them for something they don't remember.
"Is something wrong?" Towa questioned upon noticing that the rest of her group were staring at her.
"N-Nothing at all. I think I'm going to go pack my things." Angelica answered before getting up and making her way to the second floor.
Crow and George followed suit, using the exact same excuse as Angelica. Leaving Towa alone to enjoy her morning coffee.
"Haha. I could get used to this." Towa thought to herself as she enjoyed her coffee.
Author's Note
I hoped you all enjoyed this chapter!
I Had a blast writing the train wreck that is this Field Study.
One has to wonder who Thors will hire to whip Proto Class VII into shape.