Daybreak 2 was fun, but it's done and I'm back now.

Rean shook his head as he entered the dormitory in an effort to shake some of the lethargy from his tired body. It was already so late at night, but it felt like his work was never going to end. While the swordsman would say he thought he'd done an adequate job of adjusting to a teacher's lifestyle, nothing could have prepared him for the workload the past few days had saddled him with.

Preparing for a midterm exam was a lot more difficult than he could've possibly imagined.

Those hectic days when he was a student rushing to cram for his own tests were positively simple affairs compared to his current duties. Creating an exam that covered bits and pieces of everything they'd covered throughout the year was hard enough, but making sure the classes leading up to the tests went over that material without blatantly giving away what was on it was even more difficult.

And that was with Towa doing most of the work as liaison between the main and branch campuses! Were it not for her stepping up he could've had way more work!

A part of him envied his fellow graduate for her ability to handle everything so efficiently, but even her limitless enthusiasm seemed to be waning alongside her stamina. Randy in comparison seemed to be taking it in better stride, but Rean knew the former jaeger was running on coffee in the mornings, rum in the evenings, and both on the weekends. Even Instructor Michael's professionalism was beginning to wane.

Not Principal Aurelia though. That woman was as unfazed as ever.

Entering the dorm he couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the odd sight before him. Slumped over one of the tables was Fie, head buried in a book as she dozed peacefully. The few other students out and about seemed to take amusement in the situation as they gave his student a wide berth.

Deciding to take pity on the girl he got close, "Wake up, Fie." She was always an alert sleeper, so he was surprised when she didn't stir. In fact it took three more attempts including a shake of her shoulder before the girl began to stir.

"Gah!" ...That was surprising enough, but what really caught him off guard was how freaked out she was as she woke, jolting straight up and looking around wildly, "Wha...?"

She seemed to calm down once her gaze met his, which meant she was alert enough to heed his words, "While I'm glad you're taking your studies so seriously, if you're falling asleep in your books you should go to bed."

Fie blinked before looking down at the open book she had inadvertently used as a makeshift pillow, with comprehension leading to to an embarrassed flush adorning her face, "S-Sorry. Guess I was more tired than I thought?"

She still looked a little unsteady as she rose to her feet, which Rean found worrisome, "Are you alright? I know you like taping naps everywhere, but you usually aren't so... panicked when I wake you. Took a lot to get you up, too."

The silver-haired girl blinked, seemingly searching for an answer to give, "Just a weird dream... I think?"

Rean nodded his head, but he couldn't help but think there was something more to that. Weird dreams don't usually lead to such a chaotic reaction. Still, it wasn't as if he had any say in the matter, "Well, if you say so. Just remember you can always talk to me if you need to, alright? I'm always here for you and the rest of Class VII, whether it's for tutoring or anything else."

In all actuality that wasn't too bad an idea. He should let all of his precious little students know the offer was available. Perhaps he could convince them to partake in a group session after class? Sure Ash, Juna, and Fie might resist the idea at first, but he was confident if he could convince Kurt, Altina, and Musse that the others wouldn't want to be left behind.

There was nothing wrong with using peer pressure to get his students to study, right?

"Yeah..." Fie trailed off uncertainty. The reason for that probably had something to do with how her face suddenly flushed. The room was warm, sure, but that didn't explain why she was so red. Maybe she was sick? Worrisome. He'd definitely want to check up on her later.

The girl practically stumbled out of her seat – further worrying him as normally Fie was so agile – before making a move towards the stairs, "W-Well, I'm gonna take your advice and get out of here. Night."

"Good night, Fie." With her back turned he couldn't see her expression, but for some reason she once again froze a moment before resuming her escape, albeit this time at an even faster pace. How odd.

Only after she was gone did Rean realize she'd left her books and study materials behind in her haste to escape. He'd have to return them to her later. Bending down he scooped up all the materials, with curiosity compelling his eyes to roam across the pages in front of him.

"...What in Aidios' name is an accarezzevole?!"

He'd never admit it out loud but in that moment he was quite glad that music was relegated to a club activity when he was a main student.

Maybe he would ask Elliot the next time he called, as his musician friend was probably the only one capable of surviving in Principal Aurelia's class.

"...Originally I wanted to just do something simple for my classmates, but the longer I've been here the more friends I've made in other classes too, so now I kinda want to do something a little bigger. But I know that's beyond me so I was hoping we could do something as a club."

Tita and Sandy shared a look, "You want to cook a feast for the entire campus?"

"I think it's a wonderful idea! A great way to celebrate the completion of exams."

Although most club activities were suspended while the campus prepared for the upcoming tests the Cooking Club had decided to get together for a group studying session. A perfect time for Fie to unveil her plan to the others.

"Heh heh heh." Freddy gave his signature terrifying laugh, "A feast sounds like fun. I have so many ideas in mind already..."

The other girls shared a nervous look, but Fie had already prepared for this threat, "I was actually hoping you'd be willing to help catch a bunch of fish. The river in town seems to be teeming with them and Rean told me you're really good at catching them. Some local herbs too, if you can pull it off."

Normally Fie would gladly take the chance to catch her own fish, but if her sacrifice would be enough to protect her friends from Freddy's more unique dishes then it was a sacrifice she'd be willing to make.

"Oho! That sounds like a fun idea! My trusty trident and I will catch enough fish to feed the entire school!"

As soon as the survivalist glanced away Fie shot her other club members a cheerful thumbs up, which both girls returned with amused giggles.

"What else are you planning on making?" Tita asked curiously.

In response Fie pulled out a slightly crumpled piece of paper she'd been brainstorming ideas on. Items were scribbled all over the page, with more than a handful crossed out, "Don't mind the mess. I've been throwing ideas onto whenever I think up something. Trying to create a nice mix of things that I know I can make."

The others read it over curiously, "This seems pretty doable, I think?" Tita mused aloud, "But that's a lot of ingredients we'll need..."

"Not a problem." Sandy waved off her concern, "If we're doing it as a group I can just treat it as a club expense. The principal won't mind."

Although the expression on Fie's face remained unchanged, internally she let out a sigh of relief. She hadn't even considered the possible cost of all that food.

"Alright, so we're all in agreement then?" They all nodded along to Sandy's words, causing her to clap her hands together excitedly, "Great! I think the free day after exams will be our best bet, but since I know you two will be busy with the Einhel Keep we should try and do what prep work we can on exam nights. That being said, I don't want us to do too much then because I want us all to keep studying for the tests. Got it?"

The club's unofficial leader tried to appear stern at the end, but Sandy was about as intimidating as Towa. Still, they all voiced their assent regardless.

"I guess that means we should return to this?" Tita pointed towards her open text that had gone ignored as they discussed cooking plans.

All in all the Cooking Club proved to be quite a good study group. Tita - unsurprisingly given her engineering profession – was a top five student in every subject save for Erebonian history. Sandy struggled a bit with the more martial classes, but was pretty great in economics, history, the arts, and anything else unrelated to combat.

Freddy was less a font of knowledge for Fie to exploit, but that was mostly because they shared similar strengths and weaknesses. Both were pretty much the opposite of Sandy – excelling at the combat and field related subjects while struggling at some of the other classes. Still, at the very least her eccentric club mate was truly a master at survival skills and thanks to him Fie was certain she'd never forget some of the more technical aspects of survival training, such as the best way to create a water filter from easily accessible materials.

But even if they had been the worst group to study with Fie wouldn't have cared one bit. Because studying with friends was a lot more enjoyable than studying alone. And as Tita started talking about how one of their math formulas was used in her engineering work to create the giant robots she piloted...

Yeah. This was pretty fun.

"T-The profit earned on the sale of an asset which has increased in value over time is called...?"

"Tch. For the last time, it's a capital gain."

"O-Oh, right. Thank you, Ash."

"You do know I'm not gonna be there to give you the answers, right?"

"Of course I do! B-But you're really smart! I feel like it's a lot easier to remember things when you say it."

"Tch, how annoying..."

When Fie had chosen to take an afternoon off from studying for a little rest and relaxation she hadn't expected to be given front row seat to such a sickeningly sweet show, but the unseen benefits of choosing the library as a hiding spot to nap were making themselves known to the girl now.

She'd picked that room because the odds of someone finding her while the other students were in their clubs or in little study groups was slim. It was a good idea and the silver-haired girl had almost fallen asleep.

But listening to the two members of the Literature Club study was too entertaining for her to possibly doze off.

"Do you think you can help me with some of Instructor Randolph's questions? I still have trouble reading the map at times..."

"I thought we were supposed to be reading our books. I wouldn't have shown up had I known all you wanted was to study for our stupid exams."

"O-Oh, sorry..."

There was a long pause, before finally, "The most important part of a battle is to figure out how to hurt the enemy the most. In a battle against a defending force, for example, you'll want to encircle them and hit them hardest where their defenses are weakest."

"Heh. Talk about a big softy."

"Eeeeeek!"

"The hell!?"

Oops. Did she say that out loud?

Ah well, best to just roll with it. Rising to her feet the silver-haired girl abandoned her position behind a shelf of books to approach the duo, "Sup?"

"O-Oh! It's just Fie..." Tatiana let out a sigh of relief, "H-How did you get here?"

"Jaeger's probably been in here slacking off the entire time."

Aww. Ash knew her so well. "Pretty much, yeah. Thought it'd be a nice and quiet place for a nap."

"O-Oh..." The nervous girl seemed thoughtful, "I suppose we could try and be a little quieter-"

"The hell we will! This is our room, remember!? We don't need to do a damn thing to help someone as lazy as her!"

"Rude." And yet Fie wasn't much bothered by it, "But Ash is right. I've kinda enjoyed listening in on your study date."

Tatiana flushed scarlet, "D-D-Date!?"

"Hurry up and get the hell out!" Ash didn't seem as bothered by her teasing. A shame.

"Don't be like that. You're actually pretty good at explaining things. Don't you think so?"

Her question caused Tatiana's blush to fade a little as she started gushing instead, "Oh yes! Ash is really good at explaining things to someone like me. He's really smart!"

"Grr..." Heh. He might've been resistant to her teasing, but it seemed the punk wasn't as good at dealing with his clubmate's heartfelt praise.

Fie gave a thumbs up before going back to her little hiding place, "Don't mind me, alright? You guys just continue doing what you're doing. I'll just listen silently from over here."

Ash and Tatiana could continue their disgusting little study date as usual, and she'd get to pick up a few little things here and there as she rested silently. In her mind it was a win-win deal.

Two minutes later the silver-haired girl found herself forcefully thrown out of the room, courtesy of a fuming Ash, "Aww, c'mon!" She whined as the door was slammed in her face, "You don't gotta be like that! I wasn't trying to be a third wheel! I didn't even get a chance to bring up Dorothee's newest book yet!"

The only response she got was the sound of the door being locked.

"So what do you think of my plan? It's pretty great, right?"

"..."

"Altina?"

"...I think Instructor Rean was right about you being a bad influence."

Fie let out a wince, "T-That's not... Please don't tell Rean about this, alright? My brain still hurts from the earful he gave me and Ash last time."

"Then perhaps you should consider things more carefully before you suggest that we cheat on our exams."

"I-I wouldn't call it cheating, exactly..."

Altina fixed her with the driest stare imaginable, "You suggested that I use Claiomh Solais to sneak in all the answers. If that isn't cheating than what is it?"

"It's making proper use of your partner!" Fie countered, "I mean, Sammy is always with you, right? It's practically a part of the class. Why shouldn't it get to participate in our exams with the rest of us?"

"Stop using that awful name Millium came up with."

The older silver-haired girl glanced at the spot right behind her younger counterpart, "You agree with me, right Sammy?"

Altina stared blankly at her for a moment before letting out a sigh, "Claiomh Solais."

The combat shell appeared... but it was an arge away from where Fie had been looking, off to Altina's side instead of behind her. Whoops.

Even still, Fie decided to take the series of beeps it let out as a sound of approval, "See? It agrees with me. We'll sit together and it'll keep all of our... study aids invisible until we need them. Then it can give us the ones we need for each class."

Black Rabbit continued to give a blank stare, "...Do you honestly think any of our instructors would miss noticing a study guide appearing out of thin air?"

"Uh..." Rean would. Randy too. Michael probably. Aurelia might somehow cause the paper to spontaneously combust. "...Towa might not?"

"...And even if that weren't the case," Altina continued, heedless of her thoughts, "Wouldn't relying on Claiomh Solais' Ebon Shade be a tacit admittance of the superiority of its stealth generator over your so-called natural skills?"

"Urk..."

Altina let out a small giggle at Fie's quandary. But that eventually faded as a contemplative expression adorned the once emotionless girl, "Claiomh Solais, please download any information about the War of the Lions and everyone involved onto your database."

Fie blinked, "...What are you doing?"

"While I am opposed to cheating, your ideas aren't entirely without merit. Thanks to my connection with Claiomh Solais I can send and receive data silently and without hint of detection."

As comprehension dawned, Fie's eyes narrowed, "That is definitely cheating!"

"It is not." Her friend responded a little too quickly, "...It is merely an extra level of assurance should it be needed."

That cheeky little... Fine. If logic wasn't enough to make her feel guilt Fie knew what would, "I guess, but it's still kinda sad, don't you think? Of all the classes for you to need extra assurance it had to be Rean's. What would he think to know his prized student wasn't feeling confident about the things he was teaching..."

Now that garnered a response as Altina all but scowled at her, "Like I said, it is merely a little extra assurance." She looked away meekly with a hint of red on her cheeks, "...I don't want to let Instructor Rean down."

On one hand Fie could understand that sentiment, and Altina's expression was adorable enough that she was tempted to drop the subject, but on the other... "Well, alright. If you're so confident then where did Dreichels gather his first troops before entering the war?"

"The Nord Highlands."

Well, that was an easy one, "Where was the last place the Lance Maiden was seen?"

"That's a trick question. We saw her last week at the Juno Naval Fortress."

Heh. Not bad, "Who was The False Emperor?"

"The Fourth Prince, Orthros."

"Wrong! He was the Fifth Prince, not the fourth!"

Fie's smug smile wavered as Altina looked at her like she was an idiot, "...Orthros was the fourth prince."

A-Alright. Fie had been pretty confident in her answer, but Altina seemed just as confident, and that made her nervous. Manfred was the first, Albert the second, Dreichels the third, and Gunnar the..."

No, wait! Gunnar wasn't the fourth, he was the fifth! That made Altina right, and more importantly that made Fie wrong.

The older girl let out an awkward cough as she recomposed herself, "H-Heh. Nice job. Was trying to throw you off your game, but you saw through me."

Her words caused Altina to tilt her head in confusion, "How exactly does that work?"

"By acting super confident in my wrong answer I was hoping to make your beliefs waver, but you didn't falter one bit. Good job!"

Thankfully, while Altina had become far more emotive and better at understanding people, the young girl's uncertain nod made it clear she still had a ways to go, "...I suppose that makes sense. Someone like Juna would definitely lose confidence when presented with an incorrect answer like that."

"Haha, yep. But you didn't fall for it! Nice one!" Fie did her best to not wipe away the bead of sweat that had formed on her head, lest she give away her own nervousness.

Still, Fourth Prince. She'd definitely not make that mistake again.

"How did this end up happening again?"

Juna's question caused Fie to give a resigned sigh, "Some of our classmates are really lame."

Rean had seemed so thrilled when he suggested that Class VII get together for an after school study session at the dorms that she almost felt bad about refusing the offer. Juna and Ash had been of the same mind.

...But then Kurt, Altina, and Musse accepted the offer. Fie was still willing to blow them off, but Juna had chosen that moment to capitulate, leaving just her and Ash as the outliers. And since being with just Ash was a sign that something was terribly wrong the former jaeger had begrudgingly thrown her hat into the lot.

And of course Ash had followed suit right after, leaving a trio of disgruntled students with their three amused classmates and one delighted instructor.

"You are still free to reject his offer." Musse pointed out, "In fact, I insist on it. Instructor Rean and I would surely have a most productive private study~"

"I know you're just saying that to piss us off and it annoys me that it is working." Fie groused.

"Alright, let's settle down." Either Rean somehow completely missed Musse's words or he had gotten good at ignoring her weirdness, "Is there anything in particular any of you need help with?"

The six members of Class VII shared a look,"Well... I suppose I could stand to brush up on my military tactics a little." Kurt admitted.

"Er..." Juna seemed to ponder the question for a bit longer, "I guess there's a lot of things I could use help on, but Erebonian Law might be my biggest trouble...?"

"Meh. If we're here I should study history some more, although that might just be because our teacher is so damn boring." That response was as predictable as it was obvious who the speaker was.

"I'm happy studying anything you wish to teach, Instructor Rean!" Same with that one.

That just left the final two. Fie shared a glance with Altina, shrugging at the blank look she got in return. Still, despite the utter lack of communication they must've been thinking the same thing as they spoke in unison, "Art."

"Ah..." Rean's smiled wavered a little, "I gotta admit I don't think I'll be very useful helping you out there..."

"What good are you then!?"

"But..." His smile returned as he ignored Fie's gripe, "I know someone who might be able to help in my stead. When I was a student Thors had an Art Club. And in that club was a certain pink-haired twin who became a nurse after graduating..."

Huh. Good to know. Still, the only reason she was sitting here listening to a teacher after class is because she had been peer pressured into it. There was no way she would willingly go to a member of the staff she wasn't nearly as close with.

Unless...

"So you're not gonna complain if I start feeling really sick tomorrow and need to spend the day in the nurse's office, right?"

"Er..." Rean blanched as he realized the error of his ways, "I'd rather you not, unless you're actually sick, of course. But I can ask Linde if she wouldn't mind stopping in during homeroom tomorrow to provide some tutoring...?"

"Works for me." A good enough compromise. If Linde wanted to help her on school time that was perfectly fine with her. Altina nodded alongside her.

Rean nodded approvingly, "Great! But for now... History, law, and military tactics, was it?" He got two approving voices and one sarcastic quip from Ash, "Perfect. I'll go get what I need. Be right back."

They watched as their teacher went up the stairs, presumably to his room. He must've used Gale or something 'cause he was back within two minutes. In his hands were the textbooks needed for all the suggested courses.

But what really caught their focus... "Is that your radio?"

At Juna's question the teacher looked down at said object in his hands, "Haha... yeah. I figured a little background music would help make this study session go a little smoother, unless someone has an objection...?"

It was a weird offer, but at the same time it wasn't like Fie hated the idea. And given the silence from her friends it was obvious they felt the same. With silent approval given the swordsman set his things down before turning on the radio and fiddling with the station. It was a bit weird he wasn't asking them what they wanted to listen to, considering he was usually the kind of guy to bend over backwards to support them...

With a crackle the radio came on, and for a few minutes she thought nothing of it as some random song played while Rean began preparing an impromptu lesson on Erebonian law.

It was only as the song ended that his schemes were laid out for the world to see, "And next we'll be playing Look to the Sky, a new song from one of the Empire's rising stars, Elliot Craig!"

"Really, instructor?" A deadpanned Kurt asked, "Was all of that stuff about background music just an excuse for you to listen to your friend's song?"

"Haha..." The teacher sheepishly laughed under the withering stares of his students, "Not exactly! I mean I did learn the song would be playing tonight after I called him yesterday and made a promise to give it a listen, but that wasn't the only reason I came up with the idea! I swear it!"

Fie wasn't alone in her grumblings as the song began. Her teacher truly was hopeless.

"Still..." Altina mused softly with a smile on her face, "It is a truly beautiful song, isn't it?"

Yeah, it was. Fie had little understanding of music, but the violin was pretty soothing to listen to. Maybe Rean was doing this solely out of nepotism, but at the end of the day it wasn't the worst thing that could happen. Good music, good friends, and a teacher who was a pain in the ass, but at least he was a helpful pain in the ass.

'Look to the Sky, huh...'