No one knows what the future holds. Not a single person can guarantee a future for anyone, either. Time and again, Terra and its inhabitants have proven that not a single constant remains unchanging in life. It's like a flowing river, eager to happily wash away your stable reality in the blink of an eye. Making way for less than welcome changes and imposing a new order. Life, unfortunately, is all about those changes. Oh how Andy would love to just press pause and make it all freeze in place. How he'd love to have a guide come and take him by the hand, leading him towards a bright, happy future. One where he knows exactly what to do, where he feels right at home, doing what he feels is right…

Snap.

"You dozing off, again?"

Andy blinked a few times and looked up from his newspaper. The school hallway seemed a little less stuffy than usual. It was completely empty, but for a certain someone. With her hands resting against her sides, Mostima kept glaring at the dazed guy, having forcefully dragged him out of his nonsensical train of thought. He had no idea how long she's been standing here for.

"Wh-...?"

With a snarky grin, she snapped her fingers right in front of his face again, before he could fully get the word out. That oughta woke him up for good.

"You've been staring at that wall for the past ten minutes."

"A-And?"

"And if that wasn't bad enough, you're reading a newspaper."

She pointed to it as she took a seat right next to him, crossing her legs. Andy couldn't help but relax a bit and lean back against the bench. Life's better with a friend by your side, no matter how much of a bitch she's being.

"So what?"

"So what? So that you're acting like a forty year old man going through a divorce. Socialize a bit, moron."

"Socialize… With whom, exactly?"

They both glanced around the empty hallway. Her eyes narrowed as she realized that Andy had a point.

"Okay, fair. Still, who the hell actually reads newspapers?"

"I do?"

"Yeah, but you're a backwards weirdo."

She was trying her best to get under his skin, as always. Andy had already started rolling up the newspaper into a makeshift Mostima repelling device as soon as he came back from his inner head ramblings. He shrugged at the jab and focused on revenge. What he needed, now, was a distraction.

"Speaking of weirdoes, where's Lem?"

"Sick."

She let out a little sigh. Life without Lemuel was peaceful, sure, but so dull and boring.

"You sure? Wasn't looking so sick yesterday."

"If you're not gonna believe me, why would you even ask?"

"To lower your guard."

Andy prepared his final move, locking the rolled newspaper in place with a rubber band.

"To what-...?"

He smacked her over the head with it.

"Hey! What the hell-... Hey! Stop, you moron, y-..."

And again. And again...

"Are you out of your m-... Hey! AH!"

And he just kept cackling like a maniac. An asylum escapee, a triumphant mad man. The newspaper kept bouncing off her head again and again, making her squirm in an attempt to get off the bench. Where words fail, light, playful violence triumphs. Pure, raw hatred and affection on display.

Mostima tried to fight back, but to no avail. His sharp trained sight allowed him to make each hit count. She jumped off the bench, giggling and throwing back Lateran curses at Andy.

"Just wait 'till I get a heavy book or something, you caveman..."

He stood proud and aimed his final blow, as she ran for cover, a glimmer of hopeful light at the end of the hallway. With one eye closed and his tongue out, Andy took aim. With this very newspaper, this moron slaying, hand operated device, he was going to put an end to her reign of terror.

The throw was decent. Good, even. The projectile hit her on the back of the head and landed softly on the floor. It even made her stagger in place for a moment, or two. Victory!

Up until she turned back. The two locked eyes, then turned towards the newspaper.

In his moment of gleeful triumph, Andy forgot to take one factor into consideration. He was now defenseless and his Mostima repelling device was laying at the feet of the person it was made to be used against. A sense of betrayal washed over him as he watched her pick up the rolled newspaper.

There really were no constants in life. Even your biggest ally could turn into an enemy in an instant.

Andy couldn't even gain any meaningful distance before she leapt at him, knocking him right off his feet. The situation turned dire as she kept battering the poor guy with his own newspaper, laughing like a maniac. Just like he did, a few moments ago.

"Okay, I g-... Ow! Ow, mind the halo, moro-... Hey! Okay, I get it! Okay, stop!"

His pleadings were useless, as the bloodthirsty creature on top of him kept swinging away, making a whole lot of noise along the way.

"Ha! Aahaha!"

"Shut up...!"

"You thought, what, that you can win, Drew? Against me?"

"Just get off me, dude!"

"I'll show you how to swing a newspaper, first!"

As their playfight continued, a sound of loud, heavy footsteps filled the empty hallway. In their stupor, however, neither seemed to notice. The two continued giggling away, Andy trying his best to snatch the newspaper away from her and Mostima making sure he never succeeded, continuously battering him over the head with it.

"And this is for today,"

"Ow!"

"And this one's for when you pushed me off the stairs,"

"Ow! I didn't mean t-..."

"And this one's for-..."

Her breath hitched. She swung down at the poor guy, but the newspaper was missing, snatched from her hand by some higher power. She turned back, her smile quickly washing off her face, making way for a look of pure terror and fear. Andy glanced over her shoulder, only to be met with the furious glare of an old, wrinkled, liberi man. The janitor. His grumpy, booming voice soon filled their ears.

"You kids at it again? Again?"

It was dripping with icy hatred. He never liked the trio, not after all the things they've regularly put him through.

"S-Sorry Mister Burk, we were just messing ar-..."

"All you do is mess around. You should be in class, you critters."

"Our class got canceled, c-cause Miss Akney's sick…"

"Yeah? For the fifth consecutive week?"

Andy and Mostima exchanged a quick look of amusement. They turned back to the old geezer with a light shrug.

"... Yeah?"

"No. No, I'm not buying this again. This time you earned yourselves a trip to the headmistress' office, you creatures…"

Despite their loud protests, the old man grabbed both of them by their halos and dragged them along the hallway. With her head slightly tilted to avoid any additional pain, Mostima kept staring daggers at Andy.

"See what you've done?"

"What I'VE done?"

"You threw the damn thing at me!"

"You pinned me to the floor and started beating the shit out of me!"

The janitor clicked his tongue,

"Shut up, you two."

They scowled at each other, but ultimately listened.

The trio kept walking in silence up until the old man had his fill. He dropped them off by the headmistress' office and pointed towards the door.

"In, you go. C'mon."

Andy and Mostima couldn't find any better way out of their situation. They knew that even if they ran, they'd just be prolonging the inevitable. Andy pushed the door open and the old man hurried them inside.

He knew this room well. Pretty, mahogany wainscot, pretty, mahogany furniture, pretty, mahogany flooring…

And Miss Niederhauser sitting behind her desk. What a scary name. Not really fitting, for such a nice woman.

She raised an eyebrow at the janitor and the two troublemakers.

"... Again?"

The old man nodded.

"What for, this time?"

"The blue one was beating the gray one over the head with a newspaper."

Mostima shifted, nervously. She let out a small, defensive whimper.

"Well, he started it…"

"No, I didn't?"

She turned to Andy, raising her voice.

"You did."

"I didn't!"

"You d-"

The headmistress let out a loud, tired sigh.

"Kids. Please."

The two immediately stopped their bickering and turned back to her. The janitor looked around the room, nervously.

"... I'll just leave 'em here, then. Good day, Miss Niederhauser."

He left, and the door made a soft, clicking sound, marking his late departure.

…

Silence enveloped the room as the young headmistress kept her face prepped up by her hands, elbows resting on the desk. She sighed, once more.

"... What am I even supposed to do with you two?"

Andy and Mostima exchanged yet another glance. A small smirk grew on his face.

"You could just let us go…?"

"Don't joke around now, Andrew. I'm serious. No matter how many talks we have, you still end up here at least once a week. When you finally decide to grace us with your presence, that is."

He went silent, feeling a slight pang of guilt.

"I'm sorry."

"And you?"

She turned to Mostima, now. No one was safe from a scolding.

"You're supposed to be his friend, right? You know, better than anyone, that Andrew's failing almost all of his classes, yet you still enable him to freely skip whenever he wants. We've talked about this."

"... I know, Miss Niederhauser."

"So why have you never tried to-..."

"I did, but nothing gets through that thick skull of his!"

That managed to crack them both up a bit. Andy gave her a playful punch to the shoulder and she smirked back at him. The headmistress seemed less than amused. She wanted to yell at them, slam her fist against the desk… But she knew it would be to no avail. She's already tried everything.

She took a moment to massage the bridge of her nose to help her think. Not much to think about, anyway. She knew there was no point in trying to get through to these morons.

"... Fine. Fine, you can leave, then. Reiff, you stay."

Just as he was about to turn to leave, Andy stopped in his tracks. He glanced over at Mostima, who gave an apologetic shrug and slithered out of the room.

It was just him now.

He slowly turned back to the headmistress, before she spoke up, in a softer, gentler voice.

"... Andrew."

"Uh-huh."

"Do you even realize what you're doing?"

"More or less."

"Less, I'd say. You… Come here."

She took out a folder from her desk and quickly skimmed it, searching for one specific grades list.

Andy approached the desk and glanced down at the document. Miss Niederhauser tapped her finger against a few boxes filled with red numbers.

"Two. Two. One in history, One in biology… Okay, four in maths, that's surprising. Two… Two, Two, A six in marksmanship. Congratulations on that, but the rest is just… Lackluster."

Andy couldn't help but agree.

"You're supposed to choose a university in two years, you know?"

"I know."

"And where do you want to go with grades like these? The military?"

"Maybe."

"No. No, Andrew, I…"

She sighed and adjusted her glasses. Her voice turned a bit softer, a far cry from the usual stern one.

"I'm trying to help you, here. I really am, but you're just… You refuse to be helped. You keep skipping school, you refuse any extracurriculars…"

Andy's mind slowly started wandering away from her scolding. The army? The Pontifica Cohors Lateran…

It was certainly a choice. Who knows, maybe even the Apostolic Knights, some day. Not like he wouldn't fit in, not with his precise aim. Right?

"Andrew? Andrew, are you even listening?"

He blinked a few times.

"Y-Yeah. Yeah, uh-huh."

"Don't "uh-huh" me."

"I'm sorry."

She sighed again.

"... Will you actually listen for once? Just try to start learning. I know you're capable of scoring high, but you're too lazy to do so."

"I'll try… But even if I did, I don't have the cash for a decent uni-..."

"It's not about money. You and I both know there are good, cheap universities out there."

"..."

"Andrew?"

"I'll try."

She gave him one more stern look and shook her head. Maybe she really, genuinely wanted to help.

"... That's all. You can go."

Andy gave a small nod and mumbled a quick "Good day, miss Niederhauser."

Before his hand grasped the doorknob, she spoke up one last time.

"Oh, and no more fighting in the hallways. Either you or Mostima finish up here one more time and you're getting expelled."

There was a bit of teasing to her voice. The corners of his lips twisted slightly, forming a smirk.

"Of course, miss Niederhauser."

He gave a small salute and disappeared behind the door.

…

"Feel scolded enough?"

Mostima was waiting for him right outside, leaning against the wall.

"A bit, yeah. Can't believe you actually waited here for me."

She chuckled at his remark and gave his gray curls a nice ruffling. A grin further stretched out on his face.

"Yeah, I'm feeling generous today. Especially after that. I mean, c'mon, we got off the hook easily."

"Mmm, could've been worse."

They took a quick gander around the empty hallway.

"Sooo…"

"... I'm gonna go see Lem."

She frowned and gave him a look full of mock betrayal.

"Lem? And, what, just skip class and leave me here?"

"Uh-huh. You said she was sick, right?"

"Yeah, but she's not exactly dying or anything..."

"She's not? Shame."

The two couldn't help but giggle a bit.

"Nah, but really, you'll manage. You got my newspaper, no?"

"Naw, Burk took it."

"Oh."

"..."

"..."

"Tough luck. See ya tomorrow!"

With that, Andy flicked her halo with his finger and made a run for it. He kept running through the hallways, accompanied by her incoherent yelling.