Rain.
Balamb rarely experienced rain, except for a specific week in January. It was like clockwork, starting precisely on Monday and ending by Sunday night. Due to this predictable pattern, that particular week saw the lightest tourist traffic, resulting in low sales in item trading. It was the perfect time for Zyma to host an underground card tournament.
Zyma sat in his usual spot at the back of the classroom, shuffling his Triple Triad card deck beneath the table and checking for any missing cards. The bastards attending his events were usually foul players who aimed to win cards by any means.
"Just a few more minutes, we're waiting for the new transfer student to arrive. She might be lost," Nida announced, trying to quiet down the restless class.
Zyma smirked. Although Nida and Zyma were the same age, Nida's accomplishment of passing the SeeD exam alongside the Legendary SeeDs seemed to give him a more solid track record for becoming an instructor. Zyma didn't have any complaints about Nida's abilities, but he found him to be a poor facilitator, even worse than Quistis—a skill crucial for instructors dealing with mischievous teenagers.
The door slid open, and a girl entered, audibly out of breath from running.
"I... I'm sorry," she managed to say, trying to catch her breath.
Zyma glanced up but couldn't see her face as she was bent over, hiding herself under the table in the front row. He redirected his attention back to his card deck beneath the table.
Short. Very short, Zyma remembered Sean's comments and involuntarily snorted. She might have a hard time as a mercenary.
"No worries. It can be tough for students from Trabia to come here. I was a transfer student from Trabia myself and got lost for the first few weeks when I arrived," Nida reassured. "Would you like to introduce yourself?"
"Hi, everyone! I'm Acma, one of the transfer students. Nice to meet you all," the new girl introduced herself concisely before catching her breath.
"Very well... Please take any available seat... Hmm..." Nida looked around the room, hesitating.
Zyma had a bad feeling, and it quickly materialized. As expected, Nida had forgotten to rearrange the seating plan. Reluctantly, the girl walked down row after row until she reached Zyma's table, which happened to be one of the few tables with an empty seat.
Great, Zyma sighed. There gone my freedom at my own desk, he thought*.*
"Hi! Can I sit here?" she asked.
"Aye aye, but only for this class. Find another seat next time," he replied, not even bothering to look at her.
She nodded, likely annoyed by his intentionally unwelcoming demeanor, but took her seat regardless as Nida began his lecture on magic history.
Nida gripped the chalk tightly, his handwriting trembling as he wrote on the whiteboard. As if realizing he had exposed too much insecurity of his own teaching, he would occasionally pressing harder on the chalk, resulting in a grating, teeth-clenching sound. It was odd for someone who was more of a technician to choose such a traditional method of lecturing. Zyma believed Nida used this approach on purpose to minimize verbal interaction, filling the class by writing unnecessary information on the board.
"Um, excuse me," the new girl started but trailed off.
"What?" Zyma felt annoyed. "Just spit it out. You're wasting everyone's time."
"Um, sorry. I can't see what he wrote in the last line. Can I borrow your notes?" she asked, perplexed as to why this particular desk lacked screens like the others in the class, and why on earth this guy wasn't taking notes on a laptop.
Zyma snorted. "Do you see me holding a pen?"
"Oh... Sorry," Acma said, looking puzzled at the notebook filled with handwritten notes.
"These are from last year," Zyma explained. "Or maybe the year before…"
"Oh... Is the material the same then?" she inquired further.
"No, Quistis used to teach this class," Zyma replied, growing increasingly annoyed. However, he knew that if he didn't help her with this issue, she would be a huge pain for the entire class. "Try kneeling on the chair, kid."
Acma felt a sense of unease not only from the suggestion but also from the way he addressed her. However, her offense subsided slightly as she realized that he appeared to be in his twenties. He wore a light green bandana that matched his trousers, along with a dark green windbreaker, setting him apart from his younger peers dressed in cadet uniforms. His strong jawline exuded an unwelcoming aura, accentuated by a faint scar above his left eyebrow that furrowed over his cold, piercing black eyes.
She attempted to kneel on one knee on the chair, but her tight pencil dress made it too revealing.
Who designed this dress for a military school? She exclaimed internally.
Just as she was uncomfortably trying to find a good posture, a dark red garment was tossed onto her desk.
"Um... Thanks!" She said to the man and covered her knees with it.
"Be careful not to ruin it. I'll sell it later," Zyma remarked.
"What is this? It's... wet or something," she asked.
"Ifrit's briefs. Just rain, I hope,'' he responded with an amusing voice.
His answer startled her, causing her to swiftly pick up the briefs with two fingers and toss them back to his desk. He snorted and finally looked at her face for the first time.
"What the..."
He was on the verge of lecturing her about her ungrateful attitude, but he soon found himself captivated by her burgundy gaze. Her eyes reflected a mix of shock and frustration, while her slightly damp red hair added a radiant touch to her fair complexion. She had a mature look to her, definitely not as childish as her 15 or 16-year-old peers.
His eyes fixed on hers uncontrollably until she broke the staring contest.
"You're kidding, right?" She asked, although her voice conveying that there was no other plausible explanation.
"Tch... kid, stop bothering me," Zyma blurted out.
Much to her credit, she obliged his request and ceased speaking to him, obediently exchanging seats in the front row with another classmate for the following classes.
However, he still had to endure her deceptively meek voice throughout the morning. Instructors welcomed the new student by persistently posing questions that no one seemed eager to answer.
"I don't know... but I think there is no damage whiled Poisoned if you take no action."
"I'm not sure, I only used Holy a couple of times on monsters... but my best guess for it to work with human enemies is to cast Zombie first, then the human target would succumb more easily to Holy attacks..."
"This may sound silly, but can we…"
But… but… but…
Zyma seriously contemplated throwing his Shuriken at her if she dared to begin her answers in that manner again. These gardens housed students who would become top-notch fighters and researchers, so being acknowledged as a prodigy meant she could never be wrong.
"Timber. Urgent," Zyma felt a sense of relief when he received a message from Xu—a perfect excuse to skip his classes. He visited Xu's office to get his assignment and immediately boarded the first train to the Forest Owls' nation.
"Do you know where the library is?" Acma asked Timeth as they coincidentally finished their classes at the same time.
"I'm not sure. Maybe we can ask someone from our classmates to give us a tour," Timeth suggested.
"Your classmates, please," Acma sighed. "You can't imagine what a jerk I had to deal with in my first class today. Oh, I'm starting to think it was a mistake to leave your side, dear Timeth."
Timeth smiled warmly at Acma. "You'll be fine... Although, honestly, that's why I don't like skipping classes. Older students tend to bully newcomers. I'm not up for that challenge."
"You're always the wiser one between the two of us," Acma sighed. "Oh, hey, I think I know that student... He's Sean's brother."
Acma hurriedly followed a bulky figure that had just emerged from S21.
"Hi! Raddie, right?" She waved.
A brown-haired boy was startled by someone calling his name.
"Yeah?" he replied, and Acma noticed his dark-skinned friend's jaw drop at the sight of her.
"Hi! I'm Acma Mirin. And this is my friend, Timeth Farin. We've just transferred from Trabia. And..." Acma introduced, "I've met Sean. He mentioned that you're also in S21, and, well... you and Sean look so alike."
"Oh, yes," Raddie scratched his head. "Nice to meet you, Acma and Timeth. This is..."
"Keannu. Nice to meet you!" A dark skin boy grinned and shook hands with Acma and Timeth.
"How do you like Balamb Garden?" Raddie asked.
"It's so much bigger than Trabia," Acma exclaimed. "It's beautiful, but we're having trouble finding places. Um... We need to meet up with an officer at the library, but we don't know where it is."
"We can show you around!" Raddie kindly offered.
"That would be awesome. That's very nice of both of you," Acma accepted the kind gesture.
"Hey, Shrew! Wanna join us?" Keannu waved to a girl wearing a light pink hoodie with long black hair.
She didn't look very enthusiastic at the sight of Acma and Timeth, but nodded after a moment's pause.
"Sure. Nice to meet you. I'm Shrewdya. Follow me."
Shrewdya led the group to venture into different areas. Meanwhile, Raddie engaged them in conversation about various Balamb Garden traditions.
The Garden Festival, which now included the yearly SeeD Ceremony, had become the grandest event in Garden since Miss Tilmitt assumed the role of Chief Operations Officer. Raddie enthusiastically announced that he would take part in the upcoming Garden Festival, in which he would wear a T-Rex costume and carry a prop gun. He would perform Sir Laguna's Desperado limit break on stage, accompanied by the rhythm of "A Man with Machine Gun."
Acma feigned excitement while listening to her new friend, concealing her lack of interest in non-academic activities.
"Has your brother recently left Garden?" Acma inquired, recalling that Sean had mentioned their trade would be one of his last.
"Yes, both he and his girlfriend withdrew from Garden. They're opening an antique shop in Fisherman's Horizon," Raddie replied.
"Why Fisherman's Horizon?"
"Because there are fewer rules there. People don't care where you're from as long as you're involved in trading or technology. As long as newcomers don't cause trouble or resort to violence, they're welcome to stay."
"It sounds like a great place for trading."
"Absolutely. Even a notorious criminal like Seifer Almasy managed to hide in Fisherman's Horizon for months before being captured."
Acma nodded. While she couldn't forgive Seifer for his actions against her Trabia school, she acknowledged that he had been possessed. It wouldn't be fair to fully condemn someone who hadn't intentionally committed crimes, even if homicide was involved
"This is our library," Shrewdya announced.
"I love libraries! Oh, Hyne, it's so much bigger than Trabia's!" Acma exclaimed. She had a deep love for books and could easily spend her weekends living in the library, staying until Instructor Aki kicked her out after curfew.
"Let me introduce you to the Library Committee. They're incredibly helpful in finding information, even faster than a computer," Shrewdya explained.
Acma glanced around and immediately made eye contact with a girl walking alongside Shrewdya.
"Here are two Trabia transfer students, Acma and Timeth," Shrewdya introduced them. "And this is Arya, the most resourceful person in this Garden."
Arya held Acma's gaze for a moment before briefly glancing at Timeth.
"Nice to meet you, A... Acma, Timeth," Arya greeted them.
"Nice to meet you too, Arya," Acma replied. "I actually wanted to find a book. Could you show me around?"
"Sure!" Arya smiled and rushed Acma to one of the shelves. "Let me show you the section on magic history."
Shrewdya rolled her eyes. "Wow, Acma really loves her books."
"Yes, she really does. Let's continue the tour. It might take her a while," Timeth said.
"Of course. Let me show you how to use the checkout system," Shrewdya continued the tour for Timeth.
At the magic history shelf...
"I knew immediately it was T when I heard about the time freeze ability. But I didn't expect the other person to be you, A. I thought..." Arya trailed off.
"I couldn't believe I survived our last race either," Acma smiled, reaching out to hold Arya's hands. "Thank you for healing me."
"I'm so glad you made it. So you were at Trabia Garden the whole time with T?"
"We sticked together since then. How have you been?"
"Things have been good, although it was tough after the Galbadia Garden attack. Many of our friends didn't make it. I was spared because I didn't participate in the battles, but... Betulia..."
"Oh no... I'm so sorry," Acma gasped.
"She passed away without much suffering and finally had the freedom she longed for. I try to find solace in that."
"May she rest in peace."
"On a brighter note, there's nothing G can hold against me anymore. I'm going to the Deep Sea Research Center with Zell. We're kind of a thing after he returned from Ultimecia's castle."
"That's wonderful. I'm sad we won't have more time together, but I'm happy that you move on with your life, B."
"Thank you, A. There used to be more of us on the Library Committee; now only Lina remains. She's a great comrade. You can ask her, or write to me if you need anything."
"I will," Acma assured her. "You take care, B."