Quistis' research lab.

"Have you stopped training with Zyma?" Quistis asked, wondering why Acma hadn't gone to Zyma's training for the past couple of days.

"Not really..." Acma reluctantly explained. "We're kind of taking a break, you know," she trailed off. "My muscles need time to heal."

Quistis nodded, sensing that something was off but deciding not to press further. She couldn't complain because with Acma's help in setting up the research lab and Timeth assisting with the simulation room, they were making progress on research and training targets that had been delayed for a long time.

Acma sluggishly jotted down a few numbers collected from her experiments and decided to take a short break.

A proper break.

She had had a fight with Zyma. It was difficult for her to call it a fight or define its nature because it seemed to come out of nowhere. Their mentor-mentee relationship had developed slowly through training, small missions, and, of course, the side hustles Zyma skillfully forced her into, like the Triple Triad tournament. Just when she thought they could maintain this healthy relationship, admittedly one of the closest she had since moving to Balamb, he began to criticize her for how she spent her limited non-training time.

Flashback…

"Leaving so early?" Zyma smirked as Acma reached for his room's door after excusing herself due to the impending curfew.

"Please... My muscles need time to heal. We've been training continuously for hours a day, for three consecutive weeks. I want to train, but my body is exhausted. And I still have early classes in the morning, you know," Acma explained.

"Too little training, you're whining. Enough training, still whining. This isn't even the most intensive training. You'd have to train for sixteen hours a day. We barely spent four hours today."

"I know... But I'm a magic caster, not a bodybuilder."

"Tch... but you still have the energy to go to the Secret Area with your boyfriend, right?" Zyma shook his head.

"For the millionth time, he's not my boyfriend," Acma corrected him.

"Wow, I know teenagers nowadays are quite open, but I didn't think you were the kind of person who goes out nightly with a guy for a month without putting hundreds of labels on your relationship. I thought I'd have to buy a wedding gift for my pupil soon. Or maybe a baby shower gift if you're not careful. Are you guys using proper... prevention?"

Acma's head was spinning, trying to follow his strange train of thought.

"Zyma," she addressed him, an urge she rarely felt. "First of all, it's very inappropriate for you to intrude so forcefully into the only hour of personal life I have. And secondly, are you trying to pressure me into buying shady items? You're unbelievable. I thought we were friends after all the crazy stuff we've been through."

After Acma finished speaking, Zyma didn't take her words lightly. He clenched his jaw and took a few deep breaths.

"Go," he finally said, escorting Acma to the door.

He didn't show up to pick her up from Quistis' lab the next day, and that was a week ago.

Acma was confused at first, but after a few days contemplating his words, she began to develop a new hypothesis.

Was he... jealous?


Evening. Training Center.

"Senior Zyma! Wait! I want to buy a few things! Why are you leaving so soon?" a student called out, chasing after Zyma.

"Come to my room," Zyma replied.

It had been a week since he had asked Acma to leave his room and stopped seeing her. As expected, she hadn't made any moves to reconnect either. Women.

He missed her presence.

He didn't know exactly when it happened, but she had become a part of his life. He couldn't understand why he was feeling the things he was experiencing. It hit him hard when she said they were just friends. And, of course, she had her teenage love affair with her Trabia friend. What did he expect?

For weeks, he had tried to bury his feelings, treating her as a passing fling. But this time, it lingered for too long, and he didn't know how much longer he could hold on before he lost control and found himself running to grab her red hair, kiss her lips, and trace his fingers over her eyebrows while embracing her burning burgundy eyes.

He felt hopeless for being jealous of a teenage boy.

He seriously considered going to Xu and requesting an immediate assignment to distract himself from this overwhelming feeling. But he was also afraid that if she was the one, all of his actions would create distance between them.

"For the millionth time, he's not my boyfriend," he heard her say clearly. But she hadn't elaborated any further, and he felt too vulnerable to ask for more explanation. Maybe she wanted to keep him hanging, taking advantage of him being her mentor. Maybe she and that boy really didn't have anything together, but then why did they go to the Secret Area? He couldn't find out because entering that area alone was highly frowned upon.

A brilliant idea suddenly shot through his mind.