April 26 of the Septian Year 1204
Waking up at the usual hour despite the exhaustion of the previous day, Rean started training his forms of the Eight Leaves putting emphasis on the seventh form, the Void. Adopting a quick draw stance, he concentrated on himself like his Master had taught him, (Emptiness is Form and Form is Emptiness, the Void is empty but encompasses all of existence.) Like always as soon he managed to enter that mindset, he saw his worst fear appear before him. Enshrouded with an aura that screamed destruction and carnage, the ogre stood before him, an exact copy of Rean with the only difference the white hair and the blood-red slit eyes, having adopted the same stance, both starred at each other, Rean with disgust and fear, the ogre with disdain and mockery.
For a time, no one moved the two contestants looking at each in silence until on cue they both unsheathed their swords at the same time and struck each other. The result was the same it always has been a draw, releasing the breath he had been holding, Rean fell on his knee while painting slightly, (Damn it, nothing changed, I still am not able to defeat the ogre inside me. If anything, I get the feeling that he is growing stronger each time I face him especially after I used my power, if this goes on… Will the day come where he will win and take over my body?)
Shaking his head to try to clear this thoughts from his head, already knowing where that road lead, having experienced it countless times before, he stood up and took a towel to wipe away the sweat on his face, (Master once said that what matters when facing the ogre is neither losing nor winning but something else entirely and that it is up to me to find out what that is. But if I don't defeat him how can control him? I still think that it was far too early to give the intermediate scroll.) Raising both his hands Rean slapped himself to get out of it, looking at the time he decided to go for some running outside Trista to try to clear his mind.
His course set, he took his Arcus and tachi with him and went outside his room, stopping just for moment to sense that everyone else was still in their rooms, even Gaius who usually woke up at the same time as Rean. (Seems like the field study for Group B was really exhausting if even Gaius is still sleeping.) Making sure that he didn't make any noise when leaving the building, waving at the other early risers in Trista, he made his way to the eastern gate and after doing some stretches, he began running. While running his mind drifted back to the previous evening when Group A returned to Trista and met Group B who had arrived at nearly the same time as them.
—Flashback—
After over forty minutes of intense scolding from Alisa, Rean was mentally more exhausted than before, (Wow, if this had happened to somebody else, I would really be impressed with her, I didn't know it was possible to scold someone like that, compared to everybody that has ever scolded me, Alisa is undoubtedly first place, even my mother can learn a thing or two from her.) Imagining the two of them teaming up against him, caused him to visibly shudder and looking at her he found that she too was looking at him. "We have arrived back in Trista, so I will end this here…" Releasing a relieved sigh, he stepped out of the train, but he nearly fell on his knees in despair, when she finished her sentence, "A shame, I was just starting to get warmed up." Looking horrified at her he could just stare at her, seeing his expression Alisa raised her hand and patted his shoulder while wearing a teasing smile, "Don't look so scared now, Rean. We are friends, so it is only natural that I would worry about you when you do something stupid, like planning on taking on soldiers all alone and then taking the responsibility for it, right guys?"
Behind her were Elliot and Laura nodding in support while Instructor Sara was barely holding back her laughter at his situation, "As long you keep in mind that shouldn't try to shoulder everything on your own, like you were planning to and don't act completely reckless, I won't scold you." Before he could say anything in response, he suddenly felt pain from his shoulder that Alisa was now gripping, "But if you do, well then you should prepare yourselves for more scolding sessions that are harsher than this one." Rean Schwarzer may only be seventeen years old, but he had already seen and experienced more than people that were double his age, including some things that exceeded the human mind, so one could say that while there were things, he feared and dreaded, he was usually pretty easy going in the face of danger but now he was suddenly feeling a soul crushing fear for this girl behind him.
Not trusting his voice he could only nod weakly, satisfied Alisa let go and walked forward with the rest of the group leaving him alone for a moment in his thoughts. Hearing the arrival of another train, he looked at it to see Group B disembarking, they appeared as tried as he felt, especially Emma and Gaius, Machias and Jusis were pointedly ignoring each other while wearing looks of exhaustions while Fie still had the same bored look as always. Noticing him, the group made their way over to him, waving his hand in greeting; Gaius was the first one to speak, "Hey, Rean. Is everything alright? You look exhausted."
"Everything is fine, Gaius Thanks for asking, I am just a bit tried. How about you all? I was going to ask how it went but Instructor Sara already told us some of what happened." At that Gaius closed his eyes and took a deep breath, Emma looked even more exhausted as she recalled what happened while Jusis and Machias continued to ignore each other and Fie was …. gone? Turning around Rean found her making her way out of the station while yawning, raising an eyebrow, he looked at Gaius, who just shrugged his shoulders. Feeling pity for his classmates, "How about I prepare some relaxing tea for you guys? I still have some green tea leaves left; it should be enough for us all."
Remembering the effects, it had on her the last time Emma couldn't hold back from saying, "Yes, please. I meant if it isn't too much trouble, you also seem to be tried Rean." Waving her concern away, he gave her a smile, "Nonsense, Emma. I still have enough energy for making us tea, especially since I can use a cup too." He went in direction of his group who was waiting for him and the rest at the exit and made them the same offer, which they accepted. On the way back, Gaius spoke to Rean and Elliot about how their field study went, "How was Celdic, did you find any trouble during your field tasks?"
"Well, there was some trouble but fortunately everything ended fine for us." Glancing at Rean who seemed as tried as he was, he couldn't help but give Elliot a questioning look catching on what Gaius was asking, Elliot just chuckled, "To be precise, we were all just a bit tried when we left Celdic. Rean, here just got out of a major scolding session from Alisa because he acted pretty reckless this time around." Noticing the stern look Elliot was giving their friend, let Gaius guess that whatever it was that Rean had done, must have been serious this time around, given that even when he fought without sight against that monster, Elliot hadn't appeared this stern. Shaking his head, he didn't ask what exactly had happened since his friend was exhausted but made a mental note to ask tomorrow morning before they went to school if he had the chance to or at the very least at lunch. Arriving at the dorm, Class VII went to their rooms to store their luggage and assembled in the kitchen where Rean was already preparing the tea for his classmates.
A bit surprised that even Jusis and Fie had appeared, he soon found out that Instructor Sara had told the rest to come to the kitchen because she still had something to say to them, done serving everyone a cup of tea, Rean took his place between Gaius and Elliot wondering what his instructor wanted to say so he waited until she stood up from her seat while enjoying his tea, "Alright, with this your very first field study is nearly done, the only thing remaining is grading your performances. This will be done by looking over your reports, how many tasks you did, the observations of the townspeople of you, your teamwork and so on. You can expect your grade tomorrow afternoon, I will make some copies of your individual reports and hand them out to the class, so that every group knows what the other has experienced during their respective field study. For now, you kids should enjoy this lovely tea Rean has prepared for you while I enjoy some good cold beers in my room. Don't forget that you all still have to write your report of today, I want these tomorrow first thing in class, so I suggest that you finish them today."
Done with her speech Sara, took a dozen beers from the fridge and went upstairs, leaving her students behind. Already used to her behaviour, Class VII just drank their tea in silence, debating if perhaps the two groups should do their reports together so that they could discuss what had happened to each group, Rean opened his mouth to speak but Fie, Jusis and Machias were already done drinking, so they too followed Sara upstairs. Sighing he spoke to the remaining people, "I was going to suggest, that we perhaps could do our reports all together, but it seems like they have already different plans for tonight." Looking apologetic at him, Emma bowed her head, "I am sorry Rean, they are just tried after the last two days, it hasn't been…..easy for our group." Putting her cup down, Alisa turned to her, "It was that bad, huh. Instructor Sara has already told us a part of what happened, but it seems like the rest was worse than I thought."
Crossing his arms, Gaius gave her a nod, "It was. We tried to put the positions of these two as far as possible from each other, but it didn't help much. In the end we were forced to split in two groups, me with Jusis and Emma with Machias and Fie. We tried to do our requests separated from each other but given that these tasks were supposed to be done by a group of five people….. You can imagine how much time that cost us, we at least managed to finish the requests that were required to be done. The optional ones we didn't even manage to begin." Patting his friend on his shoulder, Elliot tried to cheer him up, "At the very least you managed that, so perhaps the instructor will give you a passing grade."
"I very much doubt that, Eliot. No matter, what really concerns me is these two perhaps it is because I am a foreigner, but I still don't understand what exactly their problems with each other are. I get that they have different opinions on certain matters but the way the argued with each this weekend made it seems like they were mortal enemies. I know that I already asked this but is the class division in this country that much of a big deal?" Shaking her head, Laura was the one that answered him, "I for one don't think that it a big deal, nobles have a duty to protect and guide their people so that they may prosper while commoners help them by working for them or by their side. Ideally the two sides should be working with each other in harmony but even I know that there are, let's say, some bad apples on each side which makes working together a lot harder."
Standing up, Rean started to clean up the table, "The real problem here is that nobles have certain advantages that commoners don't have, for example. The son of a noble has a far easier time getting a job in the government while the son of a commoner has to work really hard to even get an interview for said job. On the other hand, nobles have the duty to protect and manage their people and territories while commoners don't have that pressure in case there is trouble. Honestly, I could go on and on with these examples, Laura is right though, in an ideal world everyone would work together to better this nation but in reality, that is nearly impossible to achieve as long as both sides are fighting against each other, besides it doesn't help that thanks to constant…. 'arguments', for a lack of a better word, this has evolved to the creation of two opposing factions. But let us put this conversation for another time, I can guess that the two of you have already enough heard of this over the last two days." Giving Rean, a small smile filled with gratitude Emma tried to help him clean but was rejected by the look he was giving her, "Thank you, Rean. So, is that offer for writing our reports together still on the table because I would enjoy the company?" With that, the six remaining students went to work while talking about their field studies.
—End of Flashback—
Done with his morning run, Rean returned to the dormitory to take a shower before school started, on the stairs he met Alisa, who was coming down, "Good morning, Alisa." Surprised to see him already sweating she asked, "Good morning, Rean. Is there a reason why you are already sweating this early?"
"Oh this, I went running for a bit this morning. Sorry, if I am making you uncomfortable. I was going to take a shower before class started to wash it off." Rolling her eyes at him, Alisa just waved it off, "There isn't a reason for you to apologise, I was just wondering." Hesitating for a bit, Alisa went on, "If you don't mind, perhaps we could go to school together this morning and while you are showering, I could make us some breakfast?" Not having expected that, Rean was stunned for a moment, interpreting his silence for something else Alisa quickly tried to explain herself, "Of course, you don't have to go with me, I was just thinking we didn't get to catch up during the field study and …." Seeing this caused him to smile for a bit before he interrupted her, "I don't mind Alisa, I would love to catch up with you. Let me just take a shower really quick and I will be soon down. Do you need help for breakfast, if you can wait for a bit, I can make it?"
Relieved flooded through her, as she heard his answer, "Nonsense, I can make breakfast. Coffee and some toasts are alright with you?" Feeling that trying to suggest that he should be the one to make breakfast would be a waste of time and upset her, so he let it go, "It is more than alright and if you want, I bought some apples from Brandon this morning. You can get some for you if you want." Finished with this conversation the two parted ways, one heading for the showers and the other one to make breakfast. After finishing taking a shower and changing into his school uniform, Rean took his books, tachi and Arcus and went to the kitchen where Alisa was already waiting for him with the promised coffee and toast.
The conversation during the breakfast centred on how both had spent their times after having started at Thors, Alisa with the Lacrosse Club, Rean with helping the townspeople, their shared classes and how apparently next week there would be separate classes, cooking for girls and some new science class involving a new invention called orbal computer for the boys. A short discussion later on the subject why it should be Rean who should clean the dishes, after she graciously prepared the food for them, the two decided to leave for school even if it was a bit early.
Enjoying the morning air, the conversation turned to some things that had happened in the past, "So, let me get this straight, you the son of the ruling lord spend the entire morning cutting wood because the one responsible for it, had a hangover from the previous day?" Seeing the look of disbelief on her face, Rean chuckled a bit before answering, "Well to be fair, we had celebrated the founding of Ymir, the day before and it hadn't been only him that was hungover, there were other people including my dad. It was the only job I could do to help out and I didn't have anything planned for that day, so there I went into the mountains to get the necessary amount of wood for the day. Of course, after Mom found out about it, I and Morris got scolded pretty bad, alongside with Dad too." Shaking her head in disbelief on what she was hearing, though she was starting to think that it was a typical Rean thing to do, "Seems like your mother had her hands pretty full with you, Mister. Just out of curiosity, does she know that you are still being used as a gopher even here in Trista?"
"I think she would be more surprised if I wasn't, though I prefer the term helper instead of gopher."
"Is there really a difference between them?" Amused at that he just shoots her a playful glare and they both laughed after a moment, "We still have some time before class starts and I wanted to go see George in the Engineering building to see if he could open some more slots in my Arcus Unit this afternoon after classes were finished. Thanks to fighting the monsters around Celdic I got a pretty good amount of sepith, so want to come with me, Alisa?"
Thinking for a moment, she nodded to him, "Yes, I was planning to go there too, I wanted to open some new slots myself too and wanted to see if he can give me some tips to improve my Orbal Bow." Noticing the unspoken question on his face, she continued explaining, "There is nothing wrong with it per se but after fighting with you, Laura and Elliot I thought that I should try to improve myself and it as much as I can so that I don't fall behind during combat situations."
"Oh? I already think that you and your bow are strong enough already." Shaking her head at that, she tried to explain why it was not, "It may look that way, but the energy output isn't very stable and if I keep firing too many Flamberge arrows at once, it can overheat and render it useless. Besides I want to see what else I do with it, if I can solve the problem with the energy output maybe I can charge an arrow with enough orbal energy so that it can penetrate monsters through and continue flying to hit more than one monster in its path." Listening to her idea, Rean imagined the scene and found that it could be an asset in combat if she can turn it into reality, "That isn't a bad idea, and it would definitely help in cases where there are multiple monsters. Though if you don't mind me asking what kind of style do you use?" Tilting her head, Alisa looked at him," I'm sorry what do you mean by style?"
"Your fighting style. You know that I use the Eight Leaves style and Laura uses the Arseid style that kind of thing."
"Ohh, that is what you meant. I was mostly just taught the basics of archery and besides the basic use of arrows as an attack everything else is something that I came up with on my own, like charging my arrows with orbal fire energy." Surprised at that Rean let out a whistle of appreciation, "Really? That is mighty impressive, Alisa." Rolling her eyes at him, Alisa let out a snort of disbelief, "It is nothing like that, compared to the stuff you and Laura can do, the way I fight is mundane, almost boring."
Seeing this Rean couldn't help but comment, "Do you really think so, Alisa? In my opinion, just the fact that you only trained in the basics and can hold your own in a fight like against that beast in the park and can come up with your own crafts is already amazing." Blushing slightly, she turned her head so that he wouldn't notice it, "Come on, stop it. There is no need for flattery here. I know that I am not that great, everyone could have done the same."
Now it was his turn to roll his eyes, "You know I am starting to think that you are worse than me at taking a compliment." Alisa head snapped in his direction at a speed that would certainly hurt later, "Excuse me?! I am not worse than you at taking a compliment! I haven't met someone that bad at accepting praise like you and I can accept one if I think that it is justified." Smirking lightly at her, he walked ahead leaving her to catch up, "Not from where I'm standing. But if you want to prove me wrong then just accept that I think that you are pretty amazing with that bow, and we can move on."
The sudden silent behind him made Rean smirk even more as he imagined how Alisa was debating her next action to accept his praise and prove him wrong or not accept it and prove him right, in terms of chess this would have been checkmate. Noticing no way out, Alisa grumbled, "Fine, thanks for the compliment, Rean." Not managing to suppress a chuckle he hurried on before Alisa could think of a comeback or a way to turn the tables on him and saw George standing out the building, "Good morning, George." Turning around he saw his two underclassmen approaching though their mood were the complete opposite Rean with a smirk and Alisa pouting, "Morning you two. Is everything alright?"
Seeing the confusion on his face, Alisa sent one last glare at her classmate and sighed, "Everything is fine. We would like to ask you if you have time after classes to open some slots in our Arcus Units and if I could borrow you for a moment or two later regarding if you have any advice on how I can improve my Orbal Bow?" Giving both a bright smile, George nodded enthusiastically, "Of course that isn't a problem. You can tell the rest of your class to come too if they want, I love studying the Arcus Unit you know that and concerning your Orbal bow, I got some new tech yesterday that should be compatible with it. What do you think about adding…."
For the next ten or so minutes Alisa and George exchanged their opinions regarding the possible improvements of Alisa's bow until they both remembered that Rean was still standing there. A bit embarrassed they both apologised to him, "There isn't a need to apologise, I admit everything that you two said went over my head, but it is nice to see how enthusiastic you both are." Rubbing the top of his head, George was still a bit embarrassed, "Sorry but the idea of an Orbal Bow has been going for a while and there have been some successful applications of it but Alisa's here is something new in that regard."
Not knowing why but Rean seeing an opportunity to tease Alisa for a bit he jumped at the opportunity before him without thinking, "Hearing that, I can only assume that this bow of hers is really praiseworthy then?" Noticing where he was going with this Alisa crossed her arms and glared at him, not noticing this George gave him a nod, "You bet it is, there are of course still some kinks to work out but overall, the design and applications are pretty good." Returning a smirk to her glare, Rean was going to continue with this if the school bell hadn't just sounded, looking at the time they found that they still had a bit of time until the start of class but would cut it close if they didn't go now.
Not letting this chance to leave the area before he could tease her more slip away Alisa took his arm and dragged him away while telling George that she would see him later. Feeling that Alisa was putting more force than necessary in holding his arm, he kept quiet and just let her drag him to their first class but still didn't stop smirking at her which she returned with a snort and sticking her tongue at him. After having been away for just two days on their field study, it took Rean a while before he could adapt to his classes again, after the History class Instructor Thomas stopped him for a moment to inform him of some small progress he had made concerning their project and that he got some old books with new information and that he would really appreciate it, if he could come by later on to show him, so that he could get his opinion. For lunch Alisa and Laura joined him, Elliot and Gaius where Rean had to tell the story again what his plan had been regarding the provincial army actions against their group.
Looking disappointed at his friend, Gaius started to reprimand him slightly, "I can imagine that, in that particular situation, your hands were tied Rean, but it still doesn't excuse what you had been planning on doing. I mean, even I know that attacking soldiers wouldn't end well for anyone, even if it was in self-defence, and that given your situation at the time you didn't have a lot of options and I can even admit that it may have been the only way out of it. What I can't accept is that you were planning to shoulder the burden all on your own, again. I remember that we had a similar conversation on the last free day, regarding this and thought that you would consider talking to your friends before trying to shoulder everything on your own."
This went on for a while, hearing that last sentence Alisa shared a look with Laura before they turned to Elliot at the same time, noticing the unspoken question, Elliot debated what to do since this involved the old schoolhouse matters and he had already slipped up on that once and he didn't want to do the same mistake twice. Taking a moment to think, he couldn't come up with an explanation that wouldn't involve revealing the artefact they found and going against the principal's request to stay quiet about it. Rean had noticed his predicament while listening to Gaius, catching Gaius eyes he discreetly pointed at their friends, looking at them he found that the girls were looking at Elliot who was getting more uncomfortable as time passed, not understanding what happened he looked confused at Rean.
Deciding that the only way to save Elliot from this situation was to explain at least why they were keeping this a secret. Coughing to get the girls attention, Rean spoke up, "Sorry but this involves something that happened in the old schoolhouse last Sunday and the principal asked us to keep quiet about it and that is why we can't tell you anything. Though I can give you a summary without going into the details if you are interested?" Frowning Alisa looked at the three boys, (Again with that building, first there is a gargoyle, then Rean has to fight blind against a monster there and now that I think about it, I can't remember fighting against a monster that could seal sight with some dark cloud down there and why exactly did they go back there? I was so upset with him that I didn't think about asking these questions, well better late than never.)
Before she could voice her questions, Laura beat her to it, "Since the principal asked for your silence on that matter and while I, and I am sure Alisa is too, curious about what exactly transpired, we won't ask. Though maybe a summary like you suggest would be nice." Sharing an conversation in silence with his friends, who decided to leave it to him, Rean took a moment to organise his thoughts, "Let's see, one of the requests that I got from the Student Council that day was to investigate the old building, apparently there has been some strange sightings during the last year and since our class had been down there recently the principal thought we could perhaps find something new or an explanation for why. So, me, Gaius and Elliot went inside and started our investigation, the result was that we truly did find something down there and went to Instructor Sara and Principal Vandyck to inform them about it. From there it was outside of our hands and the academy took over while asking us to keep quiet regarding the details of that day."
Mulling over what he said, the girls were quiet until, Alisa looked at him, "It doesn't explain much but like Laura said if you were asked to keep quiet, then we will just accept it. I have to say, Rean that I am surprised by you." Stopping his drink midway to his mouth, Rean shoots her a confused look at her comment, "Surprised at what?" Giving him a small smile, she elaborated, "From what you had said these requests were something that you had planned to do alone, but you saw that you needed help and asked for it. Seems like you can ask for help after all."
Getting a bad feeling were this was going, he thought about what he could say to divert the conversation in another direction, though it seems like Gaius and Elliot had other plans given their snorts, looking at their direction, Alisa and Laura gave them another questioning look, Elliot had at least the decency to look sheepishly at him before answering the unspoken question, "Rean didn't exactly ask us for help, we kind of imposed ourselves in joining him after we found out that he was going in there alone." Sighing deeply, Alisa shook her head, "Of course, what was I thinking?" Slowly learning that her classmate had trouble asking for help, Laura too shook her head at him, "Just out of curiosity, given what you had found there during your investigation, would you have returned to ask for help, or would you have tried to go ahead despite it being potentially dangerous?"
Finding four pairs of eyes looking at him, Rean debated on how to answer that question, deciding that he should be honest despite the danger (namely risking another scolding session with a certain archer) it could have, he raised his hands in surrender, "No, I would have continued on alone no matter what, the thought of asking for help probably wouldn't have crossed my mind, to be honest." Surprised at that the others didn't know how to respond, the silence continued on until Rean looked at the time and found it was later than he expected, grabbing his plate, he stood up, "Sorry, but Instructor Thomas asked for my opinion on a project that we are working on, and I wanted to deal with this during lunch. So…"
"Not a problem Rean. You go ahead, we will see each other later in Instructor Beatrix class. Try not to let the instructor talk your ear off." Finding it a bit weird that Alisa had a somewhat pitying look on her face and that she hadn't started scolding him for having planned to be reckless, he gave them a slight bow and left. After he was gone, Alisa groaned out loud, "Ok, this is going beyond being reckless. The thought of asking for help wouldn't have crossed his mind. I am starting to wonder what kind of life experience he has that would lead to this." Nodding at her, Gaius added his own opinion on the matter, "Yes, I know. To be honest the reason why Elliot and I insisted that we go with him was the look he had on his face when we saw him coming back from the old schoolhouse."
Turning her head at him, Laura couldn't help but be curious about it, "And what look was that?" Sharing a glance with each other it was Elliot that answered, "I don't know how to describe it. It was a mix of spooked and worried and he was deep in his thoughts too. I and Gaius had to practically shake him awake, so that he would notice us and now that I know about his 'Sensing' ability that makes the way he was behaving just more worrisome." Taking over from his friend, Gaius went on, "We think that it has something to do with old schoolhouse since he came from that direction, and we noticed that despite the 'changes' in the underground area Rean was being extremely careful as if he was expecting something else to happened."
This new information was getting Alisa just more frustrated since she couldn't ask what changes Gaius was talking about and she was pretty sure that if she asked Rean what happened before the investigation, he would just assure her, that it was nothing. Deciding that she would keep an eye on that troublesome swordsman she bit into her dessert with more force than necessary, this didn't go unnoticed by the others, Laura was the one who comment on it, "Is everything alright Alisa? I can imagine that it must be frustrating to listen to Rean after the scolding you gave him last time." Sighing out loud, Alisa looked at her, "I…." Another sigh left her, "I don't even know why I brother, it isn't like I know him that well but seeing him act so reckless without a thought for his own wellbeing just makes me so mad. (It is somewhat like seeing Mother working herself to her death without caring for her family and that makes me so frustrated. What is wrong with them? Don't they realise that by acting this way they make me worry about them.)"
Biting hard once again, she didn't notice the amused look the guys shared, though Laura too didn't notice it, "Besides the field study I haven't spent much time with him, so I am not sure on why he is like that, but could it be that he was raised in an environment that put emphasis on being able to resolve things on his own instead of asking for help?" This gave Elliot and Gaius some new speculations on the question on the who and why of Rean Schwarzer but before anyone could expand on that possibility, it was quickly shut down by the archer, "No, I find that rather unlikely, from what I saw of his mother and little sister, they too aren't happy with his behaviour in certain situations, so I highly doubt that he was raised to be that way."
Done eating, she put her fork down on her plate and grabbed her napkin until she noticed the silence on the table looking up, she found her classmate looking at her with surprised looks on their faces, "Is something wrong? Why are you all looking at me like that?" It took some time before Elliot spoke what the rest was thinking, "Ehm… Sorry we were just a bit surprised, I mean you just said that you don't know him that well and now you said that you know his mother and sister, so we are a bit unsure of how well you actually know him?" Realising what he was asking, Alisa just shook her head, "I honestly don't know him that well, you and Gaius know him probably better than I do at this point, before coming to the academy the time I know him is just some hours at most and of that time we didn't really get to know each other that well besides noticing that he can be really reckless, puts the wellbeing of others before his own, can't take a compliment, is a too caring and kind person and ….." Alisa stopped speaking when she saw the amused looks the others were giving her.
"You know, for someone that says that they didn't spend much time knowing each other, you know as much as I and Elliot about him, if not more given that you apparently already met his family." For some reason the way Gaius spoke made her blush lightly, but before she could defend herself, Elliot decided to add oil to the fire, "Now that I think about it, Rean did say that he was grateful that he went on that journey of his just for the fact that he got to meet you, maybe you made more of an impact on him than you realise."
The light blush turned to a tomato red one, Elliot found it funny and was going to continue if Alisa hadn't given him a glare that froze his entire being and made him shut up and consider begging her to spare his life, (Aidios, how can Rean remain standing under that?!), trying to shift the conversation in another direction, Gaius threw his friend an out, "Oh, so you meet Rean while he was travelling through Erebonia, Alisa?" That question let his classmate make some amused snorts as they turned at him, though the question had achieved the intended objective since Alisa was no longer glaring at poor Elliot. Seeing the confusion on his face, it was Laura that decided to clear things up, "Gaius, if someone told you that they went travelling, where do you normally assume that they went?"
"Well, I would say normally somewhere in their country." With that simple answer he realised what was going on, "But given your reactions just now, I can safely assume that Rean didn't travel in the Empire but outside of it, am I right?" The answer was evident on their faces, (Guess that explains why, he is able to help me out like that; he went through the same things as I do now as a foreigner in another country.) Remembering the times Rean helped him out with everyday stuff made him smile and after learning where he went, Gaius made the decision to ask him to describe the scenery that he saw and maybe he could use that as an inspiration for his next painting. The rest of the lunch was spent in idle conversation where the group of four learned a bit more of each other.
After classes were done, Rean followed Sara to the principal office where Vandyck was already waiting for them, after greeting the man, Rean stood in attention before him and waited for him to speak, "Ah Mister Schwarzer it is a pleasure to see you again, I hope that you are well especially after the events of yesterday."
"I am still a bit sore, Principal Vandyck but nothing serious. May I ask the reason why I was called here?"
"I take it then that Sara here didn't tell you anything." Glancing at her direction the homeroom teacher of class VII, just shrugged her shoulders, "There is no sense to go over this two times, so I leave the explanation to you, Sir." Covertly rolling his eyes at the young woman, Vandyck turned his attention back to the student in the room, who besides a slight glare at the his teacher was focusing his attention at him, the way he looked at him and his black hair made him remember an old student and subordinate of his, shaking that thought away and not knowing where it came from since the two didn't look nothing alike, the principal explained why Rean was here.
"The reason why you were called here, Mister Schwarzer concerns your findings in the old schoolhouse. The church has finished its investigations in there and concluded that the contraption you found isn't an artefact but something that was built after the Great Collapse. So, this doesn't fall under their jurisdiction but under the imperial family and they have decided that the old building requires further investigations." Besides being surprised at the report from the church Rean stood still, giving a nod of approval internally at his student calmness and hoped that he would take the rest just as well, Vandyck continued, "They have decided to leave the investigation to the academy with some conditions, the first is that every find inside is to be reported directly to the Emperor himself and no one else, second once a month during the free day an official investigation has to be conducted inside the building and the third and finale condition is that the investigation can only be done with members of Class VII and that Rean Schwarzer has to be a member during every official investigation."
The silence that followed continued for some time until it was broken by Sara shouting, "Wait a minute, Principal! You never told me that third condition and why has it to be my students that have to investigate and why did they explicit demand Rean to be in it?!" More than anything that was said until now the fact that his normally lazy and irresponsible instructor was looking like a lioness ready to fight to the death to protect her cubs at her superior surprised Rean more than anything else, feeling touched at the sight he put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down, "It is alright Instructor Sara, I am sure there is a reason for it and besides I was already interested in the old schoolhouse to begin with, though if you don't mind Principal, I still have some questions that I would like to ask?"
The elder man appeared somewhat surprised for a moment but got himself together and gave him a nod to go on, "Thank you. I think the first one is why is the imperial family willing to leave to investigation to the academy, we found something that is capable of teleporting people to another position with no risk?" Rean may have hidden his actual question within his words, but everyone understood the implied question, "Why isn't the military here trying to find out how it works so that they can use it themselves?"
(Sharp, seems like you raised another good seedling, eh old friend.), recalling his old friend/rival who had exchanged blows with him when he was younger filled him with nostalgia and longing for his younger days where everything had appeared so much simpler, "I asked his Majesty the same question and the answer was he didn't want them here disturbing the students and that the academy is foremost an place for young people to learn and grow and that is something that will never change." A bit surprised at that, Rean gave a nod and opened his mouth to ask the next question but was interrupted by Sara who had somewhat calmed down, "I think it is more important to ask why my students have to be the ones to do it than why the sticks in the mud aren't here shouting orders. I am sorry for my earlier outburst, Sir but this concerns them, so I won't allow them to be in danger unless there is a damn good reason for it."
"Instructor Sara, thank you for your concern but please calm yourself. I can't imagine that the principal didn't ask the same question to his Majesty besides it can't be that dangerous if the emperor wants some students to investigate and not his men."
"Mister Schwarzer is right, I indeed did ask, and his Majesty assured me that he too didn't want to put the students in any danger and if they judge that they aren't capable on going through with it or don't want to, then they can refuse it without any trouble following them. He insisted that this is something for the students to volunteer to but if we want to investigate, these are the conditions that we have to follow if not we are to leave the old schoolhouse alone until further notice." This seemed to calm down Sara even more who started thinking on how to bring this up to rest of the class and how to prepare them for it in case they go for it.
Taking advantage of her being quiet, Rean asked his next question, "Principal do you have any idea why I was asked by name to part of it and why weren't Elliot and Gaius included in it?" Despite having himself prepared for that question, Vandyck couldn't help but sigh as recalled asking the same question, "I don't have any idea and the reason that I got was that since it was you that I asked in the first place and not Mister Craig or Mister Worzel, the Emperor thinks that perhaps the change inside has something to do with you." The reaction that he got wasn't one that he had expected, confusion or perhaps annoyance but not for Reans eyes to widen slightly and something that looked suspiciously like understating flashing inside them, it was so fast that he thought he had imagined it for a second, but one look at Sara, who had been also watching the young man, assured him that he hadn't imagined it since she seemed to have seen it too, sharing a look the two adults didn't ask anything but decided to talk about it later when they were alone.
(Could it be it is because of last time, when I sensed that presence that the changes happened, but it doesn't make any sense. That was just the second time I was there, if it did react to me or rather to my power than why only later and not when I was there the first time. Doesn't matter, these are questions for later than for now, I should try to get back there just to see if anything else has changed and if I am indeed the reason for this.) Regaining his composure, he didn't notice the shared look of the other two and went on asking some other questions.
In the end it was decided that Instructor Sara was going to talk with rest of Class VII about this tomorrow during their combat lesson and that for the moment Rean shouldn't even think of going back to old school building alone and that if he wanted to go inside he should inform an instructor and be accompanied by at least one or more of his classmates and he was never to go inside alone, Instructor Sara stressed that point specifically and warned him of the horrible consequences he would suffer if he didn't respect these rules.
After leaving the principal's office, Rean made his way to the library where Instructor Thomas had left the new books that he got with the new information about the old building, deciding that he should get them now and put them inside his room where he would read them after he was done with his training. In the library the sight of Machias Regnitz studying surrounded with mountains of books was quickly turning into a normal occurrence with the exception of course if Jusis was the first one inside then you could find Machias grumbling outside of the library.
Seeing Machias made Rean remember that he had decided to come clean with his social status and though he hadn't exactly lied outright, he did lie by omission in that regard, dreading that conversation for a moment, he gathered his resolve to get it done tomorrow and inform the rest of classmates at the same time too. Asking for the books, he sweat dropped when he saw how thick there were and the quantity, picking only two since he couldn't carry all of them at once, he left the library and went in the direction of the dormitory where he put the books in his room and changed his clothes to his tracksuit, thinking that perhaps some hard training and fights against the monsters outside of Trista would help him with organising his thoughts or at least let him forget them for some time, since he couldn't stop speculate that his power had something to do with the old schoolhouse and went outside.
There he meets Alisa, who was just returning from the academy, greeting her absentmindedly he went past her, just to be stopped by someone grabbing his arm and holding him in place, surprised he turned around to find that it was Alisa who stopped him, she was looking at him with a bit of concern, now that he looked at her. "Is everything alright, Alisa? Do you need help with something?" The bit of concern turned to confusion before settling on determination, "I should be the one asking you that, Rean." Now it was his turn to be confused, "Me? I am alright, I was going for a run and some training outside of town."
"Again? Didn't you just go this morning? Constant training is a good thing, but you shouldn't overdo it." Crossing her arms, she started scowling at him, the sight caused him to recall his master who told him the same thing repeatedly, the thought of comparing Alisa to his master made him snicker which caused Alisa to raise an eyebrow in question to it. Shaking his head to get the image, of Alisa wearing his master clothes while drinking from a wine gourd, he looked at her, "Don't worry in the morning it is just some light training, I still have school to attend to afterwards and it wouldn't do if I was too tired to pay attention to the lessons." Deciding to believe him for the moment, Alisa tried a different angle, "You still haven't answered my question though, I called out to you before, but you didn't seem to notice. So, I will ask again, did something happen after the instructor asked you to go with her?"
"Oh really? Sorry I wasn't trying to be rude or anything. I guess, I was too deep in my thoughts that I didn't pay attention to my surroundings. Sorry." Waving his apology away, Alisa got that look where she was focusing on hitting the monsters with her arrows, that he had noticed during the field study, though it wasn't the first time that he got that look from her, the first was after bumping into her after the unfortunate incident on their first day at Thors. This time around there shouldn't be a reason why he was getting that look since he couldn't remember upsetting her, before he could ask what he had done wrong, Alisa beat him to it, "You don't have to apologise for that, the same thing happens to me too, so don't worry but I noticed that you haven't answered my question in regards with Instructor Sara."
"Well, let's just say that I got a load of information at once and I was trying to organise my thoughts by training for a bit and don't worry you will get the same information tomorrow from her too, you and the rest of the class. The only reason I got them before the rest was that it had to do with the old schoolhouse." Still looking at him with same look, Alisa felt that it couldn't be only that, that caused him to be that absentminded so she went on, "Ok, I get that, but I don't believe that, is the only reason because if that was the case Elliot and Gaius would have been called too but I won't press you and like I told you back in Cledic. If you want talk about whatever is bothering you, you can come to me anytime, Rean." Giving her a small smile, he was going to thank her, but she didn't give him a chance, "Do you recall what we were talking about this morning?" The sudden question threw him off for a moment but wasn't enough to stop him from recalling their conversation, "We talked about me being a helper instead of gopher, about how amazing you are with that bows of yours." That remark didn't break the focus on him but gave her cheeks some light red, "And we talked also about going to George to…oh."
Hitting his head with his hand, he remembered that they had asked George to unlock more of his slots this afternoon after classes, looking at her, he could just smile sheepish. Finally breaking away from that focused look, Alisa just sighed at him, "Exactly, I already went there and was waiting for you to show up,…hem I meant I noticed that you hadn't shown up after all that time while I was going through the new tech George had told me about this morning. I borrowed some guides from him and returned here to put them in my room before trying to call you on your Arcus."
"Sorry, I completely forgot about it after my conversation with Instructor Sara and Principal Vandyck."
"(The principal was there too? This is getting me more curious about what they talked about.) I just thought that you were once again getting side-tracked by helping people out, anyway George is still in the engineering building, some of our classmates went to see him too with regards to opening slots, so if you hurry up you should still be able to get him to help you too." Looking at the time, Rean decided that he should get a move on, giving Alisa thanks he turned around to start running back to the academy but was once again stopped, the archer was looking at him, with some indecision and somewhat red cheeks, till the indecision disappeared, "Rean would you mind if came with you outside the town to train too, like I said this morning I want to improve myself so that I don't fall behind in combat. Improving my bow is a way of keeping up but I still should train my body and my technique too and you seem like you know what you are doing. The only way of training that I know is practising my archery, jogging and some strength training and I don't think that is going to cut it, in case we got ourselves in similar situations like in the park against the soldiers and that big monster. Of course, you don't have to, I could always ask Sara or even Laura for advice …"
She continued babbling, before he snapped his fingers in front of her face to make her snap out it, "I don't mind if you want to train together, Alisa not in the slightest. Regarding training your archery besides giving you a live target to practice on and some tips for combat situations, I can't help you much. The physical side of the training that, I think can I help with, if you are up for it of course. How about you change your clothes while I go to George, and we meet at the eastern entrance of Trista and go from there. We can talk about this in more detail while we are outside running, ok?" Giving him a nod, since she couldn't trust her voice for the moment, she ran inside the building to change, finding her behaviour cute, Rean ran in the opposite direction not noticing that he was smiling and more relaxed than before this conversation.
Outside of Trista the two went running side by side, it didn't escape Alisa's notice that he was slowing down so that he could match her pace, that just spurned her on more to run faster, her competitive side coming out though the result was easily predictable. Deciding to take a break so that she could rest for a bit, Rean looked at Alisa who was painting, "Alisa, you should try to pace yourself better, there is no need to run that fast. You should try to find a rhythm that you are comfortable with." Trying to get breathing back under control, she took a minute before she answered, "I just have to get used to this give me a few days and I should be able to keep up with you."
Rolling his eyes at her, he took out his bottle of water and gave it to her, "First, there isn't a need to keep up with me and second we are running to improve our stamina and that means running at a pace we are comfortable with." After taking a sip of water she gave it back to him, seeing that she still was a bit out of breath, he decided to help her out, "Alisa, do you know any breathing exercise?" The blank look on her face was answer enough for him, "There is a technique called Deep Belly breathing, I learned this method in the East, and I find it very useful for running, if you are interested, I can write you how to practice it." Not knowing what to say to that, Alisa could just nod, for some time no one say anything, they were just enjoying the evening breeze while resting. Glancing at the boy beside her, Alisa tried to find a way to ask what had been in a corner of her mind since her conversation with the others at lunch, even with his eyes closed Rean could practically 'see' the tension that was building inside her, releasing a sigh he opened his eyes and looked at her at the same time she was looking at him.
The action caused her to freeze, giving her a gentle smile before he opened his mouth, "You can just ask, Alisa, I don't bite." He did make a small move with his mouth as if he was trying to bite something, "Much." That action and the way he blushed afterwards was so ridiculous that she just laughed out loud for a long time until she was once again out of breath, "What was that? Aidios, do you have any idea how you looked?" Still laughing, she looked at him, who was once again smiling at her while rubbing his neck, "My attempt at an icebreaker, I saw an acquaintance of mine do this and I would rather not think how absurd I appeared doing it, thank you very much."
"Any reason why you did that?"
"You looked like you wanted to ask me something and didn't know how to ask, so I tried this to make you relax, even if it costs me my dignity." Regaining her breath, she just looked at him still smiling, "Yeah there is something I want to ask you, but this cleared my head a bit and I decided to ask it later. I don't want you to think of me as someone who is intrusive or anything like that. You must already think of me as an unreasonable person given how I scolded you yesterday." Waving her concern away, Rean just looked at her, "I don't mind that you scolded me because I know that you were worried about me and contrary to popular belief, I am not a pushover, so if you do something that I don't agree with, I will let you know and I am sure that it is the same for you, so don't worry about it. Besides I can think of some things that you would want to ask me, and I am sure that it has something to do with our conversation at lunch, am I right?"
That just left her speechless for moment, "Seems like you are more perceptive than I thought. Yeah, something in that conversation made me curious but like I said I will file that question for later, for now we have some running to do." Stretching her legs for a bit she made a motion to start running back to Trista but not before she made one last comment, "By the way, you do realise that you have just given me a your permission to scold you whenever I think that you are being reckless and given that you seems to do that at a regular basis, I foresee that I will be doing that a lot in the future." That smile on her face would have been postcard worthy if the implication on what he had just agreed to didn't leave him rooted on the spot while Alisa started running, paling slightly Rean ran after her to try and fix this situation.
The classes next day passed in a blur until Class VII combat training was supposed to start but instead of going to the academy field like usually, Sara made her students gather in front of the old school building and for once their instructor was there before them. This caused no small amount of surprise since this was the first time that they had seen her taking a class serious, "Alright, we are all here. Please come inside, because today we are going to train while using monster for your training, but before we begin there is something that I must discuss with you all." This caused to rest of the class to be curious what was going on, besides Rean who already knew what was going on, (I just hope that this won't end badly, if this place really reacted to my power….)
Imagining the ways this could turn out to be a bad idea, he had to hold himself back from stopping the others from going inside, feeling someone looking at him he saw Alisa, Gaius, Elliot and Laura looking at him with some concern, the sight relaxed him greatly, as he concluded that no matter what happened inside, the very least that he should do was to ensure that no one would be hurt because of him. Taking a deep breath, he let out all the negative feelings inside him for the moment, (Really, I should try to add some meditation to my training schedule, I guess I have spent too much time copped up in Ymir. It has been a while since I was with people that I don't know since I was a child, and since noticing that presence back then somewhere inside my mind, I was always afraid that something terrible could happen because my power could be connected to this place. I guess this is the fabled teenager angst I heard so much about. I have just to remember what I decided on that day, it doesn't matter if people fear or hate me, as long I am able to protect them from harm then I won't hesitate to use my power no matter what happens to me afterwards.) Recalling the events from that small town in the East, he gathered his resolve and gave his friends a grin and went inside.
Inside the students were feeling a sense of Déjà vu as they looked at their teacher who had once again chosen to stand on the old stage, though this time the students avoided standing anywhere the trapdoor, having noticed that small detail caused Sara to smirk for a bit, before she turned back to being serious, "All right, kids. Like I already told you before today we are going to have some training with the monsters here, there are two reasons for this. The first is Group B abysmal grade that you got from your field study, I already explained that you don't have to like each other but we ask of you that at very least you can work together no matter with who." The sounds of two different 'hmpf' could be heard as Sara looked at a specific pair of boys, ignoring that for now, she continues, "The other reason has something to with a request that Rean here got from our principal, you may know or not, but Rean here volunteered to help the Student Council during the free days." She once again ignored the sound coming from the peanut gallery, though it sounded suspicious like "was volunteered to without being asked." moving on, "That request was to investigate the underground area where you guys fought against the gargoyle and there, he, Gaius and Elliot discovered some disturbing changes…"
The next ten minutes were spent with Sara explaining what these changes entailed, what they had found and why they were asked to keep quiet, though she left the exact details about the supposed artefact and that the church had been involved. Of course, besides the three students everyone else was extremely surprised at what they were hearing, and some were in disbelief about the possibility of an entire structure changing and that there was a machine capable of teleportation but after showing the rest of Class VII that these changes were real, they fell silent.
Done with the demonstration Sara divided the class in pairings and told them to go search for monsters and fight them while using the combat links, they were to return after fulfilling certain conditions, beating a certain number of monsters or a certain type or bring back a definite amount of sepith and since the numbers of students were uneven, one of them had to pair up with their instructor. Sometime later after finishing a fight against a group of monsters alone, Rean turned to his supposed partner who had since the beginning not done anything to help him out besides linking up with him, "With this I have fulfilled the asked number of monsters, Instructor Sara. Perhaps we could now talk about the real reason why you chose to come with me without the others to overhear us."
Grinning at him, Sara stretched her arms over her head, "How very percipient of you, Mister Schwarzer." Roiling his eyes at her, he just snorted, "Instructor, please. You didn't even try to be subtle; you just grabbed me and dragged me away as soon as the others left. So, what did you and the principal decide to do about all of this." Sweeping his hand around to indicate what he was talking about, the grin quickly disappeared from her face as she once again showed her serious side to him, "We discussed this situation at length yesterday and arrived at the conclusion that we will leave the decision of what to do to you students. The emperor said that this should be done out of your own free will and we will respect that no matter if you want to do this or not, but if you decided to go forward with this, then you all must follow the rules that I told you yesterday, informing an instructor before coming here and only coming here in a group and never alone. So, I leave the decision to you if you want to tell the others the truth about his Majesty request or if you want to keep quiet about it and just frame this as an extra exercise for the class, the choice is yours."
Rean spent just a moment to decide what he was going to tell and decided for the truth, "I am going to tell what the principal told me yesterday in its entirety, I don't want to keep this from them if they decided that they want to help me with this, I own them at least this much and I want to tell the rest of the class something else to, so this is actually a good opportunity for that." The look on Saras face told him that she had already anticipated what his answer was going to be, so she simply nodded at him and gave him the key for the old schoolhouse and the two returned to the meeting point where some of the others were already done with their tasks. When the last ones arrived, Sara declared that they were done for the day and that they would do this exercise at least twice a week to improve their teamwork and that the difficulty would rise after each one.
Done with that she left the building after telling them to remain here for some time because Rean had something to tell them, seeing that everyone was waiting for him, he calmed himself and repeated to them what the principal told him yesterday, like he expected this caused an outburst of questions the like of 'Why wasn't the military here to research this?' (this one came surprisingly from Fie) and 'Why he had to be included in every investigation' (this one was from Alisa) and so on, he tried his best to answer their question but besides repeating some answers from the principal and some guesses of his own, it didn't explain much.
After satisfying his classmates to the best of his ability, he spoke of something else before another discussion could happen, "There is something else I want to tell you all, it doesn't have anything to do with the old schoolhouse and it has to do with me or rather my social status." Letting this sink in for moment, the others besides Group A were confused, turning to Machias, Rean looked at him, "Back then you asked me what my social class was and I told you that I don't have a drop of noble blood inside me which is true but what I didn't tell you was that I am also the adopted son of the Baron of Ymir which on paper makes me a noble. I may have not lied to you directly, but I didn't answer your question with the truth and for that I am sorry." Finished speaking Rean bowed deeply to Machias for a moment no sound was made until Machias stomped away and on his way out closed the door with a bang.
(Well, that went as well as I expected, I guess I should let him cool off for now and then apologise again and again until he forgives me.) The rest of Group B turned back from the direction of the door back to him, Fie was the first to speak up, "Was that all?" at his nod she just yawned and said, "I am going to take a nap then, later." And left the room too but in contrast to Machias left the door open, the next was Jusis, who just gave him a questioning look and left too with a simple goodbye. Emma and Gaius approached with the rest of Group A, "Since you mentioned that you are a noble do want me to treat you differently then?"
Looking horrified at Emma, Rean quickly shook his head, "Aidios, no! The only reason I told you all was because I didn't want to keep this from my classmates anymore, you can just treat me the same as before or rather please do." This caused the rest to laugh at his look of horror, crossing his arms Gaius gave him a grin, "We are friends, Rean. It doesn't matter to me if are a noble or not, that doesn't change that simple fact, my friend." The rest of the time was spent in simple conversation about what they were going to do about the old schoolhouse and so on, until the others left, leaving only Rean and Alisa behind.
"So how are feeling? Lighter now that you have told them your darkest secret?" Alisa had meant that in a joking manner, but it didn't escape her that he had stiffened up for just a moment, putting that observation for later she looked at him, as he smiled at her, "Somewhat, though the others took it better than I had expected besides Machias that is." Frowning at the direction the gunman had left, she said, "I think that was a bit of an overreaction on his part, it isn't like you lied to his face and you did apologise to him. Maybe let him calm down for a day or two and try to speak with him again?"
"I was thinking the same thing actually, I just hope that he is able to forgive me."
"If you and I were able to bury the hatchet after the way I reacted then you and him can certainly do the same." Scratching his neck, he gave her a weak smile, "I can only hope." Deciding to the change the conversation, Alisa spoke to him, "So when do you want to start training here?" Blinking at that sudden question, he could only utter, "What?" Putting her hand on her hip, Alisa looked him straight in his eyes, "I said when do want to start training here? Don't even bother to deny it, Gaius and Elliot told me that you asked the principal if could train here and since Instructor Sara insisted that we can only be here when we are at least two or more people. So, you must have someone with you if you want to use the monsters here for practice and since I want to train too, this a good an opportunity to practice."
"Are you sure about this? I mean, I am certain that you have better things to do than to accompany me for training." Groaning at him, she narrowed her eyes as she took steps in his direction, the closer she came to him the more she saw that he was trying to think of an idea to talk her out of accompanying him, "(If have I had to guess what is going inside his head, I would bet it was something like that he doesn't want to trouble me or that he thinks that I am just trying to do him a favour or some nonsense like that. Sorry Mister Schwarzer but I decided to keep an eye on you so that you stop being so damn reckless and besides I do want to improve.) Are you listening to me? I already told you that I want to improve myself and you told me that you would help me."
Unease appeared on her face now, "Or could it be that you don't want help me or think that I am a burden?" Seeing this caused Rean to panic and speak without thinking, "Of course not! I don't think of as a burden at all, and I do want to help you." Faster than he could blink the unease disappeared and a grin was in its place, "Good, then come along and we will set a schedule up for our training." Not bothering to wait for him, Alisa went past him to the door, leaving a dumbfounded Rean Schwarzer behind, (What just happened?) slowly he followed her while trying to make sense of what just happened and the only conclusion that he could come up with was that he just fell for the oldest trick in the book.