March of Effervescent Spring
The next two weeks passed in a flurry of activity. While the academic portion of Thors Military Academy was not as unusual as their first-day orienteering exercise, it still proved to be strenuous enough on its own.
Fortunately for Irene, not having to wrangle a herd of younger noble girls meant she had a lot more time to study, and it helped that while the students at Thors sure had their eccentricities, they tended to be less disruptive than her former classmates at St. Astraia.
Well, mostly. Ellia's guitar was quite loud, even if she was clearly quite skilled. Fortunately, the ginger haired girl was understanding enough to move her practice to times when there was no one else in the dorm or just out of the dorm completely. Or perhaps she was just too intimidated to refuse.
Ever since the orienteering exercise, and probably in no small part due to the appearance of the noble friend group, the commoner girls of Class VII had seemed hesitant to interact much with their noble classmates. Gaia was cordial, and had no issue speaking with Lawrence, but generally seemed to prefer Ellia and Masha's company, and those two seemed determined to spend as little time near their noble classmates as possible.
For the male commoners, however, not much had changed. Fion and Emmet remained stand-offish, while Elisha interacted with people as he saw fit, with little concern for social niceties or class.
It could not be said, however, that there had been no change at all.
On this particular Saturday morning, Irene ran through her usual set of practice katas, not truly training, but more as a way to center herself for the day.
By some sort of unspoken agreement, part of the ground floor of their dormitory had been set aside for training, and at the moment, the four young men of the class were busy hitting punching bags, in what looked like either a silent competition or some form of male bonding Irene did not fully understand.
Krak! Thump!
"Dammit Lawrence!"
"Ahah…my apologies…"
Irene stifled a laugh as Elisha ribbed the tall noble about knocking his bag over again.
"The school doesn't have an infinite supply of those, you know?" Emmet grunted.
Fion just snorted, before launching a flurry of blows into his own target.
'Well, at least they seem to be getting along fine.'
Some time later, Julia came down the stairs in her training gear, blinking groggily. "Morning," she grumbled, before yawning.
"Good morning Lady Julia!" Lawrence returned with a smile.
"Morning," Elisha returned.
Fion nodded a greeting and Emmet grunted an acknowledgment.
"Good morning, Julia," Irene greeted, smiling gently. "Sleep well?"
"Well enough," Julia muttered back, beginning to stretch. "Can't believe this class has so many morning people."
"You're also up pretty early," Irene pointed out.
"No way I can sleep in with this racket going on," the blonde noblewomen griped without any real heat.
"I think Gaia already left too," Irene observed. "And it's not as if Masha or Ellia get up late either."
"It's too early to think about that nuisance," Julia groaned.
"Juliaaa," Irene chided, "she may not like us, but there's no reason to be rude behind her back."
"True," her friend agreed. "More honest to say it to her face."
"That isn't what I mean," Irene sighed.
"Dunno what she's got against you guys," Elisha snorted. "You three sure ain't as stuck up as most nobles, and you're not freaking menaces to society like Angelica."
Irene winced, both at how informally he referred to and insulted the daughter of Marquis Rogner, the man who ruled the whole northern part of the country, as well as how correct he was to label her so.
"She hangs around the engineering club a lot too, and she doesn't really do much either!" the blonde man complained.
"Surely Lady Rogner can't be that bad…?" Lawrence asked hesitantly.
'Yes. Yes she is.'
"Nah," Elisha scoffed. "She's worse. So when I joined the Engineering club…"
The Engineering building was a squat, rectangular building tucked to the side of campus, separated from the Student Union by a wall.
'Sensible enough,' Elisha thought. 'This way if it goes up in flames there will be less immediate damage to other buildings. Wouldn't help if it was bad enough, but Thors doesn't have something that volatile…probably.'
The first day of classes was over, and it hadn't been too bad. Most likely the brain pain had not quite started, which was why Elisha was here to join a club.
'Might as well get my foot in the door before school really kicks into gear.'
He opened the door and stepped inside, spotting the portly student who had taken his weapon the previous day.
"You!" Elisha exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at him.
"M-me?" The fat man stuttered.
"Yes, you!" 'What was his name again? Gregory? George? Gerald? No…' "Nome!"
"Uh, yeah…? That's me," Nome replied, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.
"I told you not to make anything explode," Elisha barked.
"I…didn't though?" Nome objected hesitantly.
"Well good job," Elisha replied. "I was half certain some of the bombs would have gone off."
"B-bombs!" Nome exclaimed.
"Don't worry, they're perfectly safe," Elisha reassured him. "If you aren't stupid."
"Um…did you need anything?" The portly man asked.
"Yes," Elisha answered flatly. "Are you in charge of the engineering club?"
"Y-yeah…?"
"I would like to join."
"Oh. It's the first day though?" Nome scratched an itch on the side of his head. "Wasn't expecting new students so fast."
Elisha shrugged. "I knew what I wanted, didn't see a reason to wait."
"Well, with that attitude I guess it makes sense," Nome observed. "Welcome to–"
The door opened behind them. "Hey George!"
'Her?!'
Wham!
Angelica Rogner doubled over as Elisha rammed a fist into her gut. "Take that you menace!"
She recovered quickly and returned the favor, sending Elisha crashing into a table. "That was for the hearts of innocent young maidens you broke, you gearhead!"
"Wha?!" Nome recoiled from the sudden violence.
"Ha!" Elisha laughed, wincing at the impact. "Hahaha!"
"Hah!" Angelica broke out into laughter as well. "Ahahaha!"
"…What just happened?" Nome muttered.
"You're getting better Eli!" Angelica gasped. "I actually felt that one!"
"Still a blight on society like always, aren't you, Angie?" Elisha groaned, picking himself up.
"Do you two…know each other?" Nome asked hesitantly.
"Yeah we do!" Angelica laughed, stepping over to grab Elisha in a headlock. "He's practically my little brother!"
"Yes," Elisha drawled, "it was as bad as you are thinking."
"Hey!" Angelica cried in mock offense. "Who taught you to talk to girls?!"
"Trial and error," Elisha shot back. "You and gramps were useless."
"What are you talking about?!" Angelica returned. "I'll have you know that I've had plenty of lovely ladies fall into my arms!"
"I just got slapped when I did the same thing," Elisha grunted. "And I think you're going to have stiff competition, my classmate already caught two ladies in his arms on the first day."
"No!" the purple haired woman gasped, "I need to up my game!"
"He seems to have a little group of admirers already too," Elisha added, to Angelica's despair.
"Nooo! My pure love!"
"Cry me a river you disgusting philanderer," Elisha scoffed, unimpressed by her theatrics.
"I have to talk to Friedel, she'll help me defend the poor, innocent maidens from this menace to society!" Angelica went on.
"Uh…" 'I'm not very good at peopling, but that Friedel Lady jumped out of her window to get to him faster, so…'
"Why are you making that face….? Wait! Nooooo! It's not possible! Not Frieeedel!"
'Will percussive maintenance help fix her…? Nah.'
"Should I be worried?" Lawrence wondered. "Friedel usually has no problem dealing with suitors that get a bit too pushy."
"You do realize they were talking about you, right?" Emmet snorted.
"But Friedel and I are not courting?" the tall man pointed out in confusion.
"Ah, I see, you are clearly just friends."
"Why do I get the sense you are being sarcastic?"
"Because I am."
"Not sure you got much of a leg to stand on," Elisha cut in. "What with that purple noble girl that keeps asking questions about you, or that weird occult girl you kept asking about."
"Don't talk about her!" Emmet snapped.
"Too much protest," Fion grunted.
"No, there is something seriously wrong with her," Emmet insisted.
"That is a rather rude thing to say about a woman who merely seems eccentric," Lawrence replied reprovingly.
"You don't understand," Emmet sighed. "None of the clubs had really caught my interest, then I noticed an 'Occult Research Club' that hadn't been on the list the previous day, so I became curious…"
There was something strange about this 'Occult Research Club.' Aside from it suddenly appearing on the club list, no one seemed to know much about it, even the instructors, who just shrugged and chalked it up to student tomfoolery. Even odder, the head of the club, a 'Beryl', was equally mysterious. There was not any information on her to be found.
'I don't remember ever seeing her before, strange. It seems that there will be no other way of investigating than going directly forward.'
Emmet opened the door to the club room, stepped inside, then froze as a wave of unease swept over him. A dark haired girl with languidly amused amber eyes stared at him from behind a crystal ball. The whole room was decked out in a manner typical of a fortune teller's tent, altogether not too odd, but the girl…there was something off there.
"Hmm…" the girl hummed, "So you did come. Curious." Her voice wasn't much louder than a whisper, but it seemed to fill the room nonetheless. It sounded wrong, with a tinge of something other, different, but reminiscent of some of the people Emmet knew.
'She doesn't seem to be a witch…which makes this even more strange.'
"You were expecting me?" Emmet asked skeptically. Divination was not an easy thing to learn, as far as he was aware, and most fortune tellers were hacks using admittedly impressive mundane observations rather than anything more supernatural.
"You cannot run from destiny," the odd girl replied, which took Emmet aback.
"I'm sorry? What do you mean by that?"
"You have a role to play, no matter how much you may resist."
"Are vague statements supposed to impress me?" Emmet snorted, crossing his arms in irritation.
"I suppose you would be tired of women being…less than forthright."
"That is hardly unique to me."
"Hehehehe!…True enough."
The dark haired girl leaned forwards, looking through the crystal ball at him, her features suddenly distorting into something otherworldly and nearly ghastly through the glass. Her amber gaze struck Emmet with almost physical force through the distortion.
"So. Shall I see you?"
"Just what in Gehenna are you?!" Emmet snapped, dropping into a ready stance, breaking out into a cold sweat.
"I am Beryl," she replied, leaning back, and taking the guise of a human girl once again. "And I am here to perform Occult Research."
"I feel like you might be overdramatizing things," Lawrence muttered.
"Yes." Fion agreed.
"You know, I didn't think you'd be the type of guy to get freaked out by stuff like that," Elisha laughed, giving Emmet a friendly jab.
The purple haired man sighed. "I am being completely serious! There is obviously something unnatural about her."
"So why are you still in the club?" Elisha asked, wiping some sweat from his face.
"Someone has to get to the bottom of this," Emmet grumbled, redoubling his strikes against the punching bag.
"There seems to be more to that,' Irene thought. 'But it doesn't seem like Emmet wants to talk about it.'
"It's quite funny," Julia remarked under her breath. "Those four have the collective social awareness of a potato, but seem to get along just fine."
"Well at least they aren't fighting," Irene sighed, thinking about how awkward things had been with the commoner girls.
"Tch, if the carrot duo wish to isolate themselves, it's not my problem."
"Juuliaa…" Irene chided. "You could try not picking a fight with Miss Regnitz all the time."
"I do not pick fights with her," Julia objected, moving through her own set of exercises. "I simply respond appropriately when accosted."
"Picking out nasty insults to throw at her when she gets mad at you isn't really helping," Irene sighed. "I know she's said some very hurtful things, but–"
"Yeah, yeah, I am aware," Julia cut her off. "As a noblewoman I should embody grace in all things, including when someone who barely knows me is intent on shitting all over me."
The boys did a double take at the curse.
"Juliiiaaa!"
"Sorry, sorry," the blonde woman sighed. "I am not a morning person."
"Don't worry," Lawrence snorted. "I'm not going to throw you into the pond for that."
"You better not!"
"It's strange," Emmet commented. "You three are somehow both exactly what I expected from nobility and entirely not."
"W-what do you mean by that?" Irene asked, glancing nervously at Julia.
"The three of you–" he glanced back briefly at Julia. "The three of you are usually formal and polite, you have your circle of noble friends and a variety of noble things that you talk about, but you also act like normal people around each other too."
"Is that supposed to be some grand revelation?" Julia drawled irritably. "It's not as if being nobles means we are some sort of alien or monstrous creatures."
"Ehh…Lawrence's got some monstrous strength," Elisha pointed out.
"That is…largely unrelated to being a noble," Lawrence returned.
"There's that too," Emmet added, pointing at the tall noble. "You three are a lot less touchy about things than the stereotypical noble. I swear…" He waved at Julia. "Even you aren't as bad as my grandmother."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Julia asked sweetly, her tone rising dangerously.
"These two don't get offended easily," Emmet replied, waving at Irene and Lawrence, unimpressed by Julia's irritation. "And you definitely don't care that much about niceties, or you'd be foaming at the mouth because of the Heimdallr girl."
"Why do I feel this is damning with faint praise?" Julia returned drily.
"Because it is, somewhat," Emmet replied flatly.
"E-everyone!" Irene called, glancing at the clock. "We should get ready for class."
"About that time anyway," Elisha grunted, heading towards the bathroom.
"Hooray," Fion cheered blandly.
"Thank you for the reminder, Lady Irene," Lawrence nodded on his way out.
"Y-you're welcome!" Irene called after him.
"What is wrong with this class?" Julia sighed as the two girls headed up the stairs to change.
"Um…you know that includes you as well? Hehe."
"Not you too Irene!"
Masha Regnitz groaned as she finished up her preparations for the day. She usually had little difficulty getting up in the mornings, but the curriculum at Thors, particularly the physical part, was proving more tiring than she expected.
It wasn't that she liked school, exactly, but Masha had always appreciated the structure and opportunity to learn new things from subject matter experts. It helped that she was quite good at it, not that she was bragging, and she had been the top scorer when she graduated from her last school.
She had also scored very well on the entrance exam for Thors, if she looked at things objectively, but she hadn't scored first. Emmet Millstein did.
'That shouldn't bother me as much as it does.'
He was a commoner (the rumors were baseless) from some remote rural place who managed to get a scholarship to one of the most prestigious schools in the empire based entirely on his own merit, not noble nepotism.
'I should be happy for him! He's proof that the smug noble superiority is nothing but a myth!'
But being outdone academically galled her nonetheless, and by a man no less. Having to share a dorm with nobles did nothing good for her mood.
'To think an Albarea would be in this class! What crazy nonsense is this?!'
Masha listened at her door, making sure none of the nobles were still in the dorm. It was still early, but they usually got up even earlier.
She sighed.
'To be honest, Schwarzer isn't that bad. Maybe that's just because she's the daughter of a baron from a remote place. But she's always with that insufferable Albarea! And the Arseid…'
Masha shuddered. Lawrence Arseid was perfectly polite, unless Irene or the Albarea were gravely insulted, but he was also huge.
'If the Albarea sicced him on me…I wouldn't be able to do anything!' She shook her head furiously. 'Get it together! Dad managed to become the Imperial Governor through hard work and determination, and if I don't put in the effort, I'd be spitting on all he worked for!'
"Masha, are you ready to go?" Ellia asked, knocking lightly on her door.
"Yes," Masha replied, opening the door. "Let's go."
The two of them made their way through the now quiet dormitory.
"Heh, I think I'd be fine even if I forget to set my alarm," Ellia commented. "With how early they get up, I probably couldn't oversleep too long."
'Damn nobles, having to show me up at everything!'
"At least we're on the third floor so the racket isn't that bad," Masha grunted.
"Yeah," Ellia agreed. "Though honestly they aren't that loud unless they're training."
"Why do they have to train here anyways? There's a gymnasium for a reason!"
"Probably because it's a long way to go for a morning warmup?" Ellia suggested. "Or maybe it's because the gymnasium is usually very busy too." She fingered a strand of her bob cut nervously. "I should probably train more too, the past couple weeks have been rough."
"Well, it is a military academy," Masha pointed out as they left the dorm and stepped outside, pausing to inhale a breath of fresh spring air. "But the rest of the class seems a little nuts about that."
"Yeah, no kidding," Ellia giggled. "I'm not surprised Lawrence spends a lot of time training, but even Irene and Julia do, and they look so graceful and refined most of the time!"
"Ugh, those three are infuriating!" Masha grumbled.
"...Sorry," Ellia mumbled, looking to the side awkwardly. "But, you know, I don't think they're that bad?"
Masha glared at her, gritting her teeth so she wouldn't blow up at a completely undeserving target.
"I m-mean, none of them seem to mind too much if we talk to them like normal people," Ellia blurted out, trying to defuse Masha's bad mood. "Even Julia doesn't seem to care too much, and Irene usually reigns her in if she gets too mean."
'It's true, even that insufferable Albarea rarely mentions her family's title or influence. And Schwarzer almost acts more like a maid than a haughty noble, but still…'
"I've even met some of the other noble girls from the first day," Ellia continued as they walked through the town towards the school. "Bridget is pretty cool and really good with the piano, and doesn't seem to care much about social class all that much. I think she's friends with Alan and he's a commoner."
'As much as I would like to, I can't pretend that they don't work hard.'
"Theresia is really nice, even if she's really intense about lacrosse, which looks pretty fun by the way."
'Despite his brutish appearance, Arseid definitely makes an effort to study. Schwarzer too. Even that Albarea does. Now if only she'd stop hogging the library.'
"The Floralds are kind of stuck up though…and Friedel is scary."
'If those three hadn't been born with silver spoons in their mouths, they'd probably still get pretty far.'
"I heard she and Lawrence broke all the training swords the fencing club had the first week!"
'Lawrence is definitely not like Arthur, and I don't think his family is anything like Arthur's either.' Masha twitched. 'Damn nobles! Why did it have to be Elsa?!'
"Margarita is…weird…" Ellia finally stopped her rambling to catch her breath, and Masha winced internally as she realized she had mostly zoned out what her friend had said.
"And you know, none of our classmates seem bothered that they couldn't live there," Ellia observed, nodding at the upper class dormitory as they neared it on the path to school.
That was true. "In some ways," Masha sighed, "they are–"
"Hey! You're in our way," an arrogant voice called. "Step aside at once!"
Masha and Ellia's heads snapped to their left, spotting the smug face of an auburn-haired noble in the uniform of Class I.
"Oh yeah?!" Masha snapped back. "Are you incapable of walking without assistance? Why else would you need the whole path?"
"Tch!" the noble's face twisted into a disgusted grimace. "As expected of Class VII, a bunch of jumped up nobodies who don't know their betters." He sneered, while his two tagalongs laughed. "A word of advice, girls, you may be in a 'special' class…but that doesn't mean anything. Never forget your place."
Masha glared, refusing to move.
"What an ugly face!" the noble snorted. "Come on, something that rubbish will be cleaned up shortly. This is not worth our time." The three Class I students walked past them and headed towards the academy.
"Grrggh!" Masha took a step after them, but Ellia held her back.
"I know they were really rude, Masha, but I don't think we'd win a fight against them."
"I'm not going to back down from some spoiled noble brat!"
"M-maybe we should just be glad that our noble classmates aren't like that."
Masha sighed, bottling her rage for later. 'One day, they'll see! Their time is over!'
"Ah!" Ellia exclaimed. "We're going to be late!"
Masha cursed, then rushed forward. Noble scum or not, she was not going to be late for class!
The classes for the day were as dense as usual, but Irene found she actually wasn't all that tired as their homeroom wound down. Part of it was the anticipation of a free day the day after, and another part of it was the lecture on the War of the Lions, a part of Erebonian history that had always captivated her.
'Though maybe I went a bit overboard if Instructor Thomas was joking that I was coming for his job after my answer to his question, hehe.'
"Well, congrats everyone!" Instructor Valestein cheered, snapping her book shut. "You've made it through another week of classes! Real tough stuff too!"
She went on to explain that while there were no classes on their "Free day," they were really expected to make the most of it, even if she herself seemed more inclined to just sleep through it.
"So…while we might be having a 'free day,' what about the school facilities?" Elisha asked. "They'll still be open, right?"
"I would like to make use of the library, if possible," Masha chimed in, "so I would also like to know."
"Yup! The facilities will still be open," their instructor answered, "the school doesn't get days off! And also the staff are getting paid, so…" she shrugged. "Anyways, most of the clubs have something going on on free days, so if you're in one, go have fun, or whatever you do in clubs. Those of you who aren't, most of the clubs are doing recruitment drives, so you should probably check them out."
"Hm, that would be helpful," Gaia said thoughtfully. "Many of the activities on the list were unfamiliar to me, so it would be nice to have an explanation."
"I can help with that!" Ellia called, smiling at the Nord girl.
"My thanks," Gaia returned. "And that would help you find out where you want to go as well, no?"
'I should probably find one to join. If I actually join the Student Council, Julia will never let me hear the end of it!'
"Now, about next week," Instructor Valestein continued. "Middle of the week you have your practical exam."
"Practical…in what?" Emmet asked slowly, as if he had an idea of what it was.
"Hitting things!" their instructor cheered, throwing her arms up into the air. "Well, kinda. It's part of your combat training."
Murmurs broke out through the class, whether in excitement, concern, or annoyance.
'Definitely a quite different form of practical than at St. Astraia.'
"Oh! Another thing," Instructor Sara continued. "After the practical, I'll be making an important announcement about the Class VII curriculum that I haven't mentioned at all yet."
"Wait, what?!" Masha cried.
"Is this some kind of blind conscription for black ops?" Emmet muttered darkly.
"So make your free day count! Whatever you decide to do, or not," their instructor finished, completely failing to explain her previous words.
'As outlandish as Emmet's idea is…it's still pretty weird that there's this much secrecy. We haven't even gotten our full student handbooks yet! But there's no way it could be something like that, right? Surely Julia and Lawrence are too high profile to be able to do that? Masha too.'
"What's got you so deep in thought, Irene?" Julia asked, sitting herself on the edge of her friend's desk, hiking the rather short skirt of her uniform up dangerously.
"Huh? Hey, don't sit on my desk!"
"Everyone else has left," Julia replied with a shrug, "and you are still deep in thought." She smirked. "Don't overthink it, otherwise you will end up on the student council."
"That's not how that works, Julia!" Irene sighed, shaking her head. "I was just wondering about why we seem to be kept in the dark about a lot of the curriculum. I would have thought a school as prestigious as Thors would have plans for even a special class set up by now."
"You are aware that that is the sort of talk that a student council president might make?"
"Why are you all so insistent on that?!"
Julia shrugged. "Honestly? You wore the title well."
"I don't think I did anything special," Irene countered, most certainly not pouting. "Nor did I find it particularly easy."
"That's because you actually did much of the work," Julia shot back. "You probably should have delegated some of it, but there weren't that many girls at St. Astraia who you could trust to put in the work and be fair, at least after the year above us left."
"Everyone always seemed so busy," Irene demurred, "so I didn't want to give them more work."
"That's just because they figured out that pretending to be busy could get you to give them a pass," Julia scoffed, before smiling slightly. "Though you did wise up to that eventually. You really chewed them out, if I remember correctly."
"Wah! I don't want to think about that!" Irene cried, dropping her head onto her arms.
"Tch, it wasn't nearly that bad and well deserved anyways," Julia reassured, patting her friend on the head. "That kind of confidence looked good on you."
"Juliaaaa!"
The door to their classroom clicked open and they both looked up to their instructor strolling right back in like she had forgotten something. "Oh! Did I interrupt something?"
"Not really," Julia replied nonchalantly, sliding off Irene's desk. "We were merely talking about some facets of school."
"Reeally now?" Instructor Sara asked, an amused gleam in her eye.
"Y-yes! I was just wondering why some of the parts of this course seem so haphazard," Irene added.
"Well, about that…!" their instructor cried. "I was going to ask either of you a favor. The Student Council was working on something reeally important for your school life, and I just need someone to go pick them up for me."
"Are you not capable of retrieving these things yourself?" Julia shot back accusingly.
"Weeell…I got things to do, people to see, you know," Instructor Valestein shrugged. "Got to prepare for your practical exam too."
"That's next week," Julia pointed out. "Since when did you plan so far ahead?"
"Geez, so little faith in your instructor!"
"Not inside the classroom."
"Julia!"
"So I'm gonna guess that's a no from you, little miss Albarea?" their instructor asked.
"Correct."
"I can do it!" Irene interjected, trying to stop Julia from getting too worked up. "I was planning on going around to all the clubs to see what they were like anyways, so going to the Student Council room to pick up a few things shouldn't be that much out of the way for me."
"Really, Irene?" Julia sighed.
"It's fine, Julia," Irene insisted. "Weren't you interested in checking out the Riding Club?"
"Sounds like it's decided then!" Instructor Valestein declared. "The Student Council room is at the end of the hall on the second floor of the Student Union. I'll leave that all in your very capable little hands." With that, she turned and strode back to the front of the class, digging through the podium.
"U-umm…"
"Did you forget the class register again, instructor?" Julia snarked.
"Of course not!"
Despite having a request from her instructor. Irene actually did make good on her plan to visit the various clubs active at the school.
She met Bridget at the rather inaccurately named Wind Orchestra room, given that they had string instruments, including some really nice violins.
"Oh! You've got to play a bit now that you're here!" Bridget insisted, so Irene ended up trying out one of the violins. It really did carry a nice tone.
"Hey, that was pretty good!" the bespectacled head of the Wind Orchestra cheered when Irene finished, running a hand through his brown hair. "Is this the friend you told me about, Bridget?"
"You'll have to be more specific, Hibelle," Bridget laughed. "A lot of my friends know how to play an instrument, since 'it is a fashionable and respectable pastime for a proper lady!' Or something like that."
"Sheesh, are they all this good? We could always use more members."
"Irene's probably one of the better ones, though we're all pretty decent."
"B-bridget is the best musician among us," Irene added. "Though Ferris is quite skilled as well."
"Oh, don't sell yourself short, Irene," Bridget sighed. "If you spent as much time practicing your violin you'd be as good as you are with your swords."
"And if you spent as much time practicing fencing as you did the piano that would hold true for you as well," Irene shot back.
"Touche," Bridget laughed, with a slight shake of her head. "Guess you're not that interested in the Wind Orchestra then?"
"I wouldn't say that!" Irene objected, "I just want to have an idea of all my options."
"Welp, I'll come visit you at the Student Council room when you figure it out."
"Alright," Irene smiled and nodded. "See you later Bridget." 'Wait…no!'
Next to the Wind Orchestra room was the kitchen, from which Irene heard shrieks of terror and maniacal laughter, as well as a casual whoop of excitement…?
'I…don't think I want to know.'
Down the hall was the art club. All of its members seemed very focused on their work, so Irene left them be. 'It's not as if I have much skill at anything like that.'
And so on and so forth it went.
She stopped by the practice field (after being accosted by and smiling for a picture for a boy named Rex from the photography club) to say hello to Theresia and Ferris. As it turned out, a good portion of their class was there.
Julia was talking to a horse as she groomed it, so absorbed in the task that she probably did not even register what was going on around her. Gaia and the head of the riding club were having an animated discussion. 'That's right, Nord horses are some of the most prized in Zemuria.'
Irene had some practice riding horses from the occasions her dad's adventurous nature had looped the family into one thing or another that involved horseback riding, but she was never adept at it. 'I should probably avoid that one. Horses, and animals in general, tend not to like me very much, aside from Badeux.'
The other side of the academy field was occupied by the lacrosse club, whom the boy from the photography club had been trying to take pictures of… 'I should probably tell them about that…'
To her surprise, it looked as if Masha and Ellia were interested in lacrosse. Neither of them had seemed particularly inclined towards sports, but Ferris hadn't either. Or perhaps Irene's two classmates were just fixed in place by the lacrosse captain's incredibly enthusiastic speech about the sport. 'I don't recognize her, do I? I'm honestly a bit surprised Theresia isn't captain.'
"Do try to control yourself, Emily, I believe you're frightening them," Theresia chuckled, before her eyes found Irene and she smiled. "Oh! Hello there Irene, are you interested in joining too?"
"Hehe, maybe," Irene replied, "though I think I've had enough of being knocked over by you."
"H-hey now!" Theresia stammered, her face reddening slightly. "Please don't give the newcomers the wrong idea!"
"Hahaha!" the red haired girl next to her laughed. "She's got you there!" She smirked, wrapping her arm around the blonde noble's shoulder. "Don't be fooled now, Theresia seems real nice and polite, but she'll run you right over if you're in between her and the goal!"
"Emily! We're trying to recruit more people, not scare them away!"
"I-is that something that happens a lot in lacrosse?" Ellia asked nervously.
"Not necessarily–"
"Yes!"
"Irene!"
"Though that is also what the padding is for," Irene added, her hand over her mouth to hide her laugh.
"I think I'll pass…" Masha said, slowly moving away from the group.
"Sign me up!" Ellia whooped.
Theresia and Emily blinked at her for a moment, before enthusiastically welcoming her to the club.
"Oh! Ahem!" Irene called. "There was a person from the photography club taking pictures of you all earlier. Was that something you were aware of?"
"What?!" Emily yelled, running off the field. "Oh, he's dead!" Masha was not far behind her, and she looked livid.
'Umm…good luck Rex?'
"Emily! Please don't kill anyone!" Theresia cried after her friend, before shaking her head. "All that aside, welcome to the lacrosse club, Ellia! How about we show her the rules, Ferris?"
After that excitement, Irene thought it best to leave Julia and Gaia to their activities, heading towards the gymnasium.
The fencing club did sound a bit tempting. She had been part of the informal fencing club at St. Astraia, after all. The swim club, on the other hand, she was less sure about. Irene knew how to swim, but…
Shouting came through the door to the practice room, scaring away a strawberry haired girl who had been considering entering.
'Oh dear, what happened now?'
Pushing through the squeaky door, Irene was met with the sight of a tall man in a commoner's uniform engaged in a shouting match with an auburn haired nobleman. They had not quite drawn swords yet but it was looking close.
Friedel stood to the side, hand on her hip and an amused look on her face.
"What's up with this guy?!" a girl with dark blonde hair cried, her high ponytail swaying side to side as she shook her head. "Does he really think he should be captain just because he's a noble?"
"So much for respect for your elders," a dark haired boy murmured next to her. The same dark haired young man Lawrence was talking to that first day. 'What was his name? …Alan?'
"I've never been able to get along with people like that," the girl next to him muttered. "Don't see that changing anytime soon."
"As the best swordsman here, I should be the captain," the auburn haired noble declared. "Or do I have to use simpler words for you to understand?"
"I got ya the first time," the tall, spiky haired commoner squared up against him spat. "And I'd be happy to throw down if that'll put you in your place."
"I have no objections to that, but bear in mind, you challenged me, so don't go around whimpering when you lose."
Despite the threats, the two of them didn't actually follow through, at least just yet, giving Irene time to pad quietly over to the blonde fencing club captain.
"Um…Friedel? Is everything alright?" Irene asked quietly.
"Irene! I was wondering when I would see you," her friend greeted cheerfully. "As you can see, we've had some interesting first years join the club, so I am quite curious where things will take us this year."
The two young men on the sparring floor only seemed to get angrier.
"Friedel?" Irene insisted worriedly. "Do I have to go get Lawrence?"
"I do not think that'll be–"
"Aidios no!" the spiky haired commoner yelped, swiveling around to give Irene a pleading look. "That guy's a freaking monster!"
"Now Loggins, don't be rude," Friedel said, eyes closed and smiling dangerously.
"Sorry, sorry, geez," he acquiesced quickly. "Wouldn't want to piss that guy off."
"Sir Lawrence is generally very even tempered," Irene pointed out. 'The only time I've seen him get angry was when Masha cast aspersions on Julia's virtue.'
"Yeah, I noticed," Loggins replied, before doing a double take at Irene's sudden appearance. "Which is why I really don't want to be nearby when he gets mad."
"Hmph," the auburn haired noble scoffed, "so you can learn respect for your betters. Miracles never cease."
"Oh you're one to talk, Patty-boy!" Loggins fired back, nerves temporarily forgotten.
"Um…I can leave and come back later?" Irene offered.
"Now we can't have that, I have waited long enough!" Friedel declared, pulling a training sword off the wall and tossing it to her. "Show me what you have learned!"
And thus Irene was dragged into another activity by one of her friends (and successfully diffused the tension, at least for now). As always, Friedel was almost manic when she had a sword in hand, and unfortunately for Irene, the club didn't have any training weapons suited for her preferred style, so she fell back into her family's variant of court fencing. Unsurprisingly, Friedel beat her quite handily, but it wasn't entirely one sided.
"You seem to have improved," Friedel praised, clasping hands with Irene as they ended their bout. "I'm glad my concerns were unfounded."
"Not…hah…as much…as you have," Irene returned breathlessly. "Thors must really be something." 'I could barely keep up!'
"It truly is a shame you won't be joining the fencing club," Friedel sighed, patting Irene on the shoulder.
"But I haven't decided yet!"
"Dang, Class VII seems to be pretty high level," Alan murmured. "They've got Lawrence, and then this lady."
"Geez, I wish I could get in a fight and come out looking that pretty," the ponytailed girl mumbled.
Irene left the fencing club a little bit faster than ladylike after that. She almost went to the swimming pool, before she heard Lawrence's booming voice, and decided she had enough of embarrassing herself for one day, so she moved on.
The Engineering building was locked, with a sign on the door explaining that the club was out testing something, so she went on to the Student Union, stopping by the cafeteria to pick up some food (quite tasty too!) after her unexpected dueling session, before continuing on to peruse the clubs that were holding meetings in the building.
After hearing shouting from inside the Photography club room, she elected not to poke her head in. The Literature club room emanated several uncomfortably high pitched squeals, so she declined entering there as well. After hearing about Emmet's experience in the Occult Research club, Irene also did not find that idea appealing either. The chess club members just looked sad so she decided not to bother them.
She briefly considered going out to see what the gardening club could offer, but it was getting dark, and she had never been able to get plants to grow properly like her mother or little sister.
And so, after everything, Irene ended up in front of the Student Council room door.
'Well, time to see what Instructor Valestein wanted me to collect. There definitely is someone in there, even if I don't hear anything.'
She knocked on the door politely.
"Come in!" called a light, young voice. 'Oh right! It's Miss Herschel.'
Irene opened the door and stepped inside, beholding a room with several desks that were all overloaded with stacks of paper. Her eye twitched, her fingers flexing in the air.
"Oh! Hello there," Miss Herschel greeted. "You're Irene Schwarzer, right?"
Irene nodded, finally registering the disarmingly short brunette. "Ah! Hello President Herschel, it's good to see you again." Her hair was done up in a long tail decorated with a blue ribbon, and her bright green eyes reminded Irene oddly of a puppy. 'She's shorter than Elise! Must…resist!'
"Ehehe, you don't need to use my title," Herschel said. "No need to keep track of all that senior or junior stuff either."
"As you wish, Miss Herschel," Irene replied.
"Eh?! Please just call me Towa!" the incredibly cute little Student Council President cried, flushing red in embarrassment.
"A-alright, Towa," Irene amended. "You may also call me Irene."
"Oh geez," Towa sighed, "with Angie around I sometimes forget how formal you nobles can be. It's doubly weird when applied to us commoners."
"I w-was just meaning to be polite," Irene explained hurriedly. "I didn't mean to sound condescending."
"O-oh no! It's nothing like that!" Towa assured her quickly, "it's just that the nobles who act super formal tend to treat commoners kind of weird." Her eyes widened, before she began waving her hands apologetically. "Not that I meant to paint all of you with a broad brush or anything, especially not you!"
"No, no, it's fine," Irene demurred. "I've spent too long at St. Astraia, so I sometimes forget to switch my manners to the appropriate ones."
"R-right, ehehe," Towa smiled awkwardly, twisting side to side with her hands clasped behind her back. "I imagine I'll be seeing your class a lot in the near future, so if you have any issues, please feel free to send us a request." She stood up straighter, eyes filled with determination. "If you do, then I'll do my best to get it sorted out."
'Sooo cute!'
"Mnh! I'll be sure to keep that in mind," Irene replied, nodding her head seriously. "Thank you for your hard work, Miss President."
"Y-you don't have to thank me yet!" Towa demurred. "I haven't even gotten a request from you guys." 'Well there's Lawrence's jacket…'
"Even then, it's clear you've been working very hard," Irene pointed out, glancing around at all the paperwork that still had to be filled out. "Where is everyone else?"
"Um…well…" Towa trailed off, before shrugging her shoulders helplessly. "Everyone else is busy preparing for the first free day?"
"Why did that sound like a question?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean–"
"No, no, it's fine, I apologize–"
"But you didn't do anything wrong?"
"Well, yes, but…"
The two young women stared at each other for a moment, trying to remember what they had been talking about previously.
"Ehehe," Towa chuckled awkwardly. "I didn't even give you a chance to say what you were here for, did I?"
"No worries," Irene replied. "Instructor Valestein asked me to pick up something for her, and said that you would have it."
"Oh, right! Those!" Towa turned to her desk, collecting a stack of–were those student handbooks? "Here you go!"
Irene took the stack of student handbooks, noting that hers was on the top. "Oh, I was wondering why we didn't have a full one yet, the ones they gave us earlier were incomplete."
"Yeah…sorry it took so long," Towa apologized, making a face akin to a kicked puppy (not that Irene would ever kick a puppy). "Class VII's curriculum is different enough that we had to write a whole new section for it, especially for the ARCUS orbments, since they're different from the ones the other classes are using."
"Ah, so these have instructions for proper usage?" Irene inquired, looking at her notebook speculatively.
"Yep!" Towa chirped. "The other first years are using the same orbment as last year, so we could reuse the template, but for you guys, we basically had to make the whole thing from scratch."
"That sounds like a lot of effort," Irene observed. "Thank you, Towa."
"Ehehe, no problem!"
"Hold on…" Irene looked around the room again. "When you say 'we'..."
"It was…pretty much just me? Instructor Sara asked me to do it for her," Towa admitted, rubbing the side of her head bashfully. "Which means it's my fault for this taking so long!"
"Oh no no! Don't say that!" Irene objected. "If you were doing all that work by yourself, then we owe you a lot for all that effort." She frowned. "Is this really a task for the Student Council? I would have thought that this should be done by faculty or other academy staff?"
"Yeah, probably," Towa agreed, cupping her chin in a thinking pose. "But your instructor's always so busy, and I've helped the other instructors out before too, so I really don't mind."
"I see…" Irene glanced through the notebooks in her hands. There were nine of them. "So Instructor Valestein would like me to hand these out to my class?" 'That's a bit strange, her room is in our dormitory, so she could have quite easily passed them out to us herself.'
"Yes please!" Towa confirmed. "And I really appreciate what you've all agreed to do too."
"Pardon?" Irene asked, not sure what she was referring to.
"She said you're going to help out with the Student Council's duties, right?" Towa replied, hands clasped together excitedly in front of her. "That's such a nice gesture. Class VII's really getting off to a good start!"
"I…do not remember agreeing to anything of the sort…" Irene said slowly. "Nor have any of my classmates, as far as I'm aware."
"Oh no! I didn't misunderstand something, did I?" Towa gasped. "I thought Instructor Sara said you were all eager to help, so if I needed to, I could delegate some of our tasks to you." She shook her head furiously. "O-oh how embarrassing! I didn't mean to try foisting work off after you've just enrolled!"
"I…believe Instructor Valestein may have volunteered us for something without telling us…" Irene suggested, eyes sweeping across the room, and over the many stacks of incomplete paperwork.
'This is too much work for one person! No matter how diligent.'
"What?!" Towa cried, face twisting in despair. "You mean none of you agreed to help–!"
Irene slammed the notebooks on the table, leaning over so her face was close to Towa's. "What are the criteria for joining the Student Council?"
"Eh?!"
"As of right now, I have not joined a club," Irene explained. "There is evidently a lot of work that needs to be done, and someone is clearly not getting enough support. So even if I did not volunteer as Instructor Valestein said, consider this me volunteering now!"
"Eh? Oh!" Towa's face lit up. "Thank you so much! It's been so hard to find people to recruit!"
"...Does that mean there is a position open?"
"There is now!"
"Excellent!" Irene cheered. "So what is it that you need me to do?"
"The tasks I was planning on delegating to you and Class VII are mostly requests from students and townspeople," Towa explained.
"So…not unlike bracer work?" Irene pointed out.
"Yup! A lot like that," Towa agreed. "I'll go through the ones we got and give you a list for you to handle tomorrow, does that sound good?"
"If I'm going to be joining the Student Council, wouldn't it be a good idea for me to start by assisting you with that?"
"Oh! That would be great, thanks a lot!"
"It's only what I'd be supposed to do."
"Even still, it'll take some of the load off of me!"
"So where do we start?" Irene asked, glancing from one stack of paper to the next.
"Here!"
While St. Astraia was very different from Thors, there were quite a few similarities in paperwork, so Irene got the hang of things pretty quickly. Together, the two young women managed to cut through a lot more of the work than Towa had been expecting to get done that night.
'It's strange. I never really enjoyed doing paperwork on the Student Council, but this is actually a bit…nostalgic–!'
"Wah!" Irene's head hit her desk and she groaned in embarrassment.
"Irene!" Towa cried worriedly. "Are you ok?!"
"Yeah…sorry," Irene sighed, sitting back up and rubbing her forehead. "It's just…some of my friends kept teasing me about how I would end up on the Student Council. And well…now I'll never hear the end of it."
"I'm s-sorry! I d-didn't mean to pressure you into joining!"
"You didn't, don't worry. We have our class assignment anyways."
"Oh! I should have known there was something off about that!"
"That's the instructor's fault, not yours!"
This went on for a while, but eventually Irene managed to convince Towa that she really was on board with joining the Student Council.
Even with two of them working, they were not able to finish all the paperwork that had managed to build up. But Towa was still ecstatic that they had made as much headway as they did. Either way, by the time Irene left the Student Union, it was well after sunset.
Despite the dark of night, the path back to their dormitory was mostly well-lit with street lights, so getting back was not terribly difficult, not to mention that Irene had walked this path often enough she could probably do it blindfolded.
As she crossed over the bridge heading into the town, her ARCUS rang. It took her a moment to realize what that meant, before she pulled it out of her pocket and thumbed it open.
"Um…H-hello, Irene Schwarzer speaking."
"Guten Tag, my favorite little wunderkind!" Instructor Sara's cheerful voice rang over the line.
"Instructor Valestein?" Irene replied. "But…it's well into the evening…?"
"Ack, fine! Guten Abend," her instructor shot back. "Sheesh, it's a little late for these things, isn't it?"
"I suppose…" Irene conceded. "But may I ask why you are calling me this late, Instructor? I do have the notebooks you requested I pick up. I also have the list of tasks that we were requested to take care of."
"Huh, well look at you go!"
"Although…" Irene continued, voice lowering dangerously. "There is also the matter of you volunteering me for tasks I did not agree upon."
"Hey, don't be like that!" Instructor Valestein objected. "It's got to do with the part of the curriculum I haven't told you about. Consider this a bit of a head start on that. And the Student Council really is busy, so hey! Two birds with one stone. Pretty good idea, right?"
"They really are quite busy," Irene agreed. "Which is why it was very inconsiderate of you to add more to their workload, Instructor!"
"Hey now, I'm busy too! And in all honesty, I don't have that much more experience using the ARCUS than you guys, even less so in making instruction manuals."
"But…you are an academic instructor…"
"Right? Who would have thought?!"
Irene sighed. "Regardless of your questionable decision making, I'd be more than happy to assist the Student Council. Is that all your assignment requires?"
"Ehh…don't think of it as an assignment, if you've got a club you're interested in, feel free to do that instead during your free day."
"As a matter of fact, I have decided on a student run activity I would like to partake in," Irene sniffed primly. "As such, I will be busy with that tomorrow."
"Huh, maybe I had you pegged wrong. Guess I'll have to see if someone else can take care of those requests–"
"Since I have, as of this afternoon, joined the Student Council," Irene interjected. "I will be taking care of said requests."
"...Hahahha! You got me good there!" Instructor Valestein laughed. "Should have expected something like that from Team Mom!"
"Instructor?"
"That's part of the reason I picked you for this idea," she continued, "You've got to be wondering 'why me?' right? Well, the long and short of it is that you're the one who can get the whole class to listen, while also being considerate enough to try.'
"H-huh?" Irene stuttered. "I d-don't think that's true. Masha will barely even talk to me, for one."
"True, but you did manage to get her to go along with you down in the dungeon. Not to mention you convinced the whole class to start working together real quick."
"It j-just made sense! Especially after Ellia got hurt because her group wasn't as prepared."
"Ha! Like I said, you're kind of the team mom."
"Umm…shouldn't that be you, Instructor?"
"Me?! Pff! I'm too young for that! I prefer the role of the big sister, personally."
"Err…Instructor? You're older than me, aren't you?"
"Hey, hey! I'm not old!"
"I…didn't say you were?"
"Aww…you really are too cute for your own good. No wonder you and Towa got along so well!"
"Instructor?!"
"Hehe, well anyways, that's all this was!
Irene sighed, shaking her head at her instructor's lackadaisical manner–
"Wait…Instructor, are you drinking?"
"Of course!" came the not so surprising reply. "It's the weekend, and they won't let me have vodka, so beer will have to do!"
"Did you…call me while you were at a bar?" Irene asked worriedly. There were a few places that served alcohol in Trista, but most kept a pretty close eye on students.
"Nope! I'm in my room, by myself, unfortunately," Instructor Valestein sing-songed back. "If only I had a nice and classy gentleman friend who would go drinking with me, but alas! No such man can be found!"
"Umm…Instructor, I'm fairly certain that there are at least a few men that could fit that description among the faculty or townsfolk…"
"Oh? Keeping an eye out yourself?" her instructor teased. "Didn't know you liked them older, but hey! I toootally see the appeal."
"Instructor!" Irene squeaked. "That's not it at all!"
"A thoughtful and mature girl like you? I can see why you might find the hot-headed boys your age a bit off-putting."
"I did not mean that whatsoever!" Irene cried, stamping her foot in frustration.
"It'd really break quite a few hearts on campus though. I didn't know someone like you had it in them!"
"Instructor." Irene smiled, closing her eyes to center herself. "I was going to say that if you really wanted companionship so much, you could send a request to the Student Council to find possible candidates. But now that you've decided–"
"Wait wait wait wait! I can do that?"
"I mean…theoretically," Irene replied, playing with her hair tie. "We'd need some criteria, obviously, and it wouldn't be a guaranteed thing."
"How come I never thought of tha–waaait! I'm too young to need a matchmaker! I've still got plenty of charm left!"
"Umm…but instructor, there are some people who are betrothed at a very young age."
"Oh right, stuff like that is more common for you nobles…but I'm still too young for that!"
"Well, ok then, instructor. Is there anything else you need?"
"Nope! Well, I'd like some vodka but I'm pretty sure I can't request that," Instructor Valestein replied cheerfully. "Anyways, good to hear you've found somewhere to plant yourself. You'll go flying off with the wind if you don't. Oh yeah! Be back by curfew. You never know who a nice young girl like you might run into late at night!'
With that, she hung up, leaving Irene to realize she was still on the bridge. "Our instructor sure is a strange one…"
"You could say that again."
Irene swiveled around to see Julia and Lawrence strolling towards her from the direction of the academy.
"Oh! Hello you two!"
"Good evening, Lady Irene," Lawrence greeted her in return.
"What is our instructor calling you about?" Julia asked, narrowing her eyes. "She has a room in our dorm. Is she so lazy that she can't even be bothered to walk up some stairs?"
"I…don't know, now that you mention it," Irene admitted. "Oh!" she pulled open the bag she had stored their student notebooks in. "Here, this is what Instructor Valestein wanted me to collect."
"Our student notebooks?" Lawrence wondered, palming his copy. "Thank you very much, Lady Irene. I wonder why it took this long."
"The instructions for the ARCUS needed to be made wholesale," Irene explained.
"Ah, I see," Lawrence nodded. "I will definitely need to study those thoroughly then."
"She sent you to get our notebooks from the Student Council?" Julia asked exasperatedly. "Need I repeat that she has a room in our dormitory."
"Hehe, she did say she was busy?"
"With what?" Lawrence wondered. "Preparing for the as of yet unannounced part of our curriculum?"
"She didn't say much," Irene sighed.
"Tch," Julia scoffed. "Some kind of instructor we have."
The three of them started towards their dormitory again. In the lamplight, Irene spotted a few droplets of water on their skin, and smelled a faint scent of the chemicals used to keep the pool clean.
"Were the two of you swimming?" she asked. "I thought you joined the riding club, Julia?"
"I did," Julia confirmed. "But the swim club does not have exclusive use of the pool."
"Oh, so you waited until they were done for the day?"
"I had worked up a sweat out riding," Julia shrugged. "There are showers in the gymnasium, but I thought I might as well go for a swim while I was there."
"And I decided to keep her company," Lawrence added.
"I do not need to be fished out of the pool," Julia said, voice flat, "but your company is pleasant enough, compared to some of the other insipid fools here."
Lawrence laughed. "And the fact that my presence helps dissuade any would-be lecher had nothing to do with it?"
"That may have played a small part in my thinking," Julia admitted.
"Hehe, you two really are close," Irene observed, happy to see Julia so relaxed with someone.
"He has his uses," Julia drawled, "like a large guard dog. Very threatening to other people, but mostly harmless to you."
"I will take that as a compliment," Lawrence snorted.
'I see, he can see past her status–both ways even–and see the person there. No wonder she's so friendly with him.'
"Tch! I see you've become inured to my prodding," Julia grumbled. "I will have to innovate."
"Your tongue is sharp as ever, but as usual, mostly harmless," Lawrence shot back with a grin. "But I still say you'd win more friends with that smile of yours."
"I'm not here to make friends," Julia mumbled, turning away from her tall friend. Even in the lamplight, Irene could see the slight flush on her face.
"You said that St. Astraia, and look what happened there," Irene pointed out.
"Your first few days with the Junior Eisenritter were like that too," Lawrence added.
Julia rolled her eyes. "Putting on a disinterested front dissuades the social climbers and creeps."
"I see," Irene nodded solemnly, before giving her friend a teasing smile. "You wish to reserve your smile for people you actually care about."
"Nothing so saccharine," Julia sighed. "I simply wish to reserve my energy for people who are worthwhile."
"Well, then I'm honored you consider me so," Lawrence laughed.
"As am I," Irene agreed primly, affecting a haughty air momentarily.
"And here I thought it would be a good thing for the two of you to meet," Julia grumbled, shaking her head in exasperation.
"I have to pay you back for all that teasing somehow," Irene chuckled, covering her mouth with her hand.
"Come now, Lady Julia, the riposte is part of the duel," Lawrence added.
"Just one of you was bad enough…" Julia sighed, though her lips twitched upwards in a slight smile.
"Oh, I do believe we have a new record here, Lady Irene."
"It would seem so, Sir Lawrence."
"Oh for Aidios' sake, you two!" Despite her protests, her smile grew wider.
The three of them reached their dormitory in good spirits, though Julia tried to hide that fact.
When they went inside, they found Emmet hammering away at one of the punching bags.
"Evening Emmet," Lawrence greeted, to which the purple haired man returned with a grunt.
"Excuse me, Mister Millstein?" Irene called. "I have your student notebook. It was delayed due to needing time to write out the instructions for the new ARCUS units."
Emmet paused to take the notebook, flipping through it briefly. "They should have planned for that. Thanks."
"You're welcome, Mister Millstein."
"Just call me Emmet. Mister…sounds wrong."
"Mn! If that's what you prefer," Irene nodded.
"I can take Elisha and Fion's notebooks, if you'd like," Lawrence offered, "save you some time."
"Oh, no, it's fine," Irene replied. "It shouldn't take long."
"I'm going to my room anyways," Lawrence pointed out, "so it's even less of a detour for me."
"Just give him the damn notebooks," Julia snorted. "Unless you two just want to keep flirting."
"Julia!"
"I don't see how this is flirting."
"Just go to sleep already," Emmet grumbled.
"Ah, sorry Emmet," Irene apologized, handing Lawrence the two notebooks.
The three of them headed up the stairs, and Lawrence bid them good night as they reached the second floor.
"…Wait a moment," Julia called, reaching into her bag and pulling out a swimming cap, offering it to Lawrence. "Thank you for letting me borrow this."
"Keep it," Lawrence waved her off. "I know you dislike getting your hair too wet, so I brought one for you."
"…Thanks," Julia mumbled, putting the cap back into her bag with deliberate slowness.
The two girls walked up to the third floor in silence, Julia glaring at her friend, daring her to ask about what just happened. Irene declined, heading down the hall to hand out the notebooks.
Irene knocked on Ellia's door, explaining the situation and handing the nervous looking girl her notebook when she opened it. Ellia thanked her quietly and closed the door.
Then she knocked on Masha's door.
"Ellia, is that you?"
"It's Irene."
"What do you want?"
"I have your student notebook."
"Why do you have it?! Shouldn't that be something our instructor is handing out?"
"She…um…asked me to hand them out, hehe," Irene replied, rubbing her hair tie nervously.
"…Oh."
Masha opened the door, took the notebook, then closed it without a word.
Irene sighed. 'I suppose that could have gone worse.'
"Still as prejudiced as ever," Julia snorted, leaning against her door frame. "Maybe it's a Heimdallr thing?"
"I don't think so," Irene replied, stepping closer to her friend. "I feel as if she had a personal experience with nobility that must have ended poorly."
"That…is unfortunately all too common," Julia conceded.
Irene nodded. "We've seen that firsthand too. And poor Kordell…"
"Yeah, some nobles are real pieces of work."
"But enough about that," Irene declared, giving her friend a teasing look. "Did you and Lawrence really go on an evening swim together?"
"It was nothing like what you're implying," Julia deflected. "We simply practiced actual swimming."
"Do you…wish it was more than that?" Irene asked gently.
"No–I don't know," Julia sighed, before shaking her head. "It will never happen anyways. Not while my father and Viscount Arseid disagree as they do."
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up."
"All is forgiven," Julia shrugged. "Though…what were you doing out so late?"
"I…may have joined the Student Council?" Irene admitted slowly.
Julia snorted, looking far too pleased with herself. "Told you."
AN. And here's the last chapter I had posted to the Trails Ideas Thread. Irene interacts with Towa more. It goes about as you'd expect.
Next chapter has a fair bit done, including sort of bonding events I randomly selected.