“And so today, we're conducting a joint exercise from another section!”

It was only my teacher who was delighted at her own declaration as she clapped to herself.

Well, it's obvious. I thought, looking at the line of students. It wasn't that much, but we could definitely fill a room easily.

From the row of the women, I could see a familiar face, her distinct icy atmosphere was still apparent even in the plain gym uniform. It was Lisa, my costumer for the week.

It seemed that she still didn't notice that we were in the same place as she was staring upfront. I don't plan on having contact with her though.

I bet she did not want me to approach her or anything like that, it would only create trouble.

The teacher cheerfully took a box and she shook it while introducing it to us proudly.

“Please pick a number from here!” She exclaimed. This teacher was known for her eccentric ideas, and it wasn't like she meant harm to it, but the absurdity of her suggestion earned her a title. Ms. Unexpected.

Now, I didn't know who the hell thought of that cringe ass name but it definitely befitted her.

The other section was the first one to pull papers that had a number written to it. We still did not know what it would be used for. So that reaction from the students was not that strong.

Soon, it was our turn to pick, and we did it while maintaining the line.

My hand went down from the mystery crate and something soft touched my finger. I grabbed it gently and begun to stare at it. Eighteen.

What does this mean exactly? I left the innocent-looking teacher as I returned to my spot. One after another, my classmates emptied the box and all of us had a paper in our hand.

The teacher clapped once again. “Please find your number from the other section and partner with them!”

With a tired expression, I and my classmate went to the other place. Some shouted their numbers while the others took a sneaking glance at the paper that was being held.

“Oi, who's eighteen here?” I exclaimed at the busy crowd with a deadpan voice. It was because I knew that this would be an intense activity, and it would burn the scant calories that had left in me.

“I'm still seventeen, is that alright for you?” It was a familiar voice, surely I didn't need to tell you who it was.

Lisa walked to me with light steps. The metal fan in her hand moved back and forth, the air was being produced by the motion, fanning her face.

“Don't tell me...” I muttered, not sure whether she heard that or not.

She answered with the paper in her hand, raising it up, she smirked at me. “Congratulation, you're partnered with me.” Eighteen...

Why! Oh, gods why! Was it because I always forget to pray! But my sister was quite devoted to the gods of order! She would always include me in her prayers!

“Y-yeah, I wonder what's gonna this time?” Crossing my fingers, I hoped that we wouldn't perform something too crazy, just at least for today.

She closed our distance with a hop in her feet. Her sweet-citrus perfume wafted and tickled my nose.

“So, did you finally met Rito?” Her voice sounded like a maiden in love—wait, she was actually a maiden in love. I could almost see her eyes turning into heart shapes when she uttered her thoughts.

“Yeah,” I said, quite awkward at how near we were.

“Isn't he kind?” Lisa stayed oblivious about the fact that students around us were peeking.

It was only natural. She was letting out a blooming smile as she was facing me in this distance.

I trudged backward and cleared my throat, annoyed. “Yeah, he's kind. I think you and him suit each other.”

It was nothing but mere lip service, but the effect it had to her was powerful than what I was inspecting.

“If Elric says so, then it must be true.” She nodded to herself with a lovely smile, waving her fan all around.

I'm not lying, but I feel guilty just by looking at her. So I avoided my gaze altogether and listened to the teacher who was about to begin her speech.

“So! Everything is good now? No one was left, right? Are your partners handsome or beautiful? Lucky you!” She said, and the class burst in laughter.

It also provoked a small chuckle from me but I quickly suppressed it when I noticed that Lisa didn't even smile.

“Why are they laughing?” She said, not expecting a reply or anything like that.

The teacher proceeded to speak. “If you have a good-looking partner, it's now your chance to get their heart because... This week, you'll have to spend your entire school day with your partners!”

““...WHAAAAATTT!!??””

The ear-splitting noise made me, and the teacher covered our ears. She waited for the commotion to settle, then she spoke, still holding her ears, one of her eyes closed. “Quite interesting, right?” She was poking fun at us with a grin.

My eyes did not fail to catch the blushing face of the students who were partnered with the opposite sex.

But of course, neither I nor Lisa was excited about this.

“So that means that I have to stick with you all the times...?” She came across as irked by all of this, and I am too.

“We have no choice, it's a school activity after all,” I replied to her, rubbing the top of my head roughly.

Then, from one of my classmates, a hand has risen. “What about the class?” The student said.

“About that, we're actually stopping class for now, but instead, we got a couple of activities to do with your partners!” The teacher answered merrily.

Tadah! She proposed to us the activities that we need to complete before the end of the week.

“Let me explain it to you, fast and simple.” She said. “You need to collect a certain amount of points to pass these activities. Your score will be posted at the board.” She pointed at the place where the board was.

“How do you get points, you ask? It's to find keys! Finding keys that were extremely well hidden in the entire school! But that's too troublesome! You say. You can just earn points from your classmate when you defeated them in a duel, that certainly makes things easier, does it?”

The class became dead silent after she stopped speaking. Fighting with each other was nothing new to us, we did a lot of combat in our first year, but still, fighting was still fighting, it involves danger.

“Oh, before I forgot!” The teacher declared, saying like it was just a footnote. “The number is fixed, it's not really random. I partnered with you based on your abilities. The higher the abilities you got, the higher the points one will get if you are defeated. So... Good luck, number eighteen pairing!”

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

With one gulp, I emptied the content of the cup and put it back to the table quite harshly.

My actions were the opposite of Lisa's refined sip, rotating the glass repeatedly, then she spoke. “Why are you so agitated? It's not like we can't handle them. I might not be as strong as you, but I doubt I'll lose to some nobody.”

“That's not what I'm concerned about,” I said to her.

Do you have any idea what it feels like to fight with an empty stomach! It's the worst!

I felt the dizziness attacking my head. Placing my hand on my forehead, I let out a sigh. “It's not like complaining will do something. As much as possible, I don't want to fight. We should start finding the keys after this.”

The club room has nothing except Lisa and me. The bell had rung, signaling that the lesson time was over.

I observed the noble girl fanned herself with a calm expression.

“I think Rito will come today... Maybe.” I nonchalantly said.

“What...! R-really...? Oh my.” The flapping of her metal fan sped up, her silver hair started to get swayed.

She then produced a small circular mirror and a red lipstick from her pockets, saying, “do you mind?”

“Sure, go on,” I said, standing from my seat and heading for the bright windows.

They said that it was rude to watch a maiden putting her make up. Well, it was only nobles who worry about their cosmetics, commoners didn't really have a leeway when it comes to dressing themselves.

But I guess harlots were a different matter.

I peeked outside while waiting for Lisa to finished her lipstick. It was midday, and the sun was radiating warm light.

The rich scene of grass and trees and buildings was hypnotizing to witness.

“Ha!”

“Ya!”

From afar, the students who were eagerly swinging their swords shouted. Even though they were wealthy, you couldn't sneer at their effort to improve themselves.

“It's all right now.” A female voice reached me and I turned around.

Lisa's lips were rosy and her cheeks were slightly blushing, her eyelashes moved with a blink. Well, she was beautiful, what could I say more than that?

But I did not utter a single compliment, as to not make things uncomfortable. I am not a flirt, I wouldn't throw praises here and there just to gain favorable reception.

When I was about to settle on my seat, a knock came several times.

We both looked at each other, then I went to the door, hauling my feet before opening the door.

“So it's you.” Just seeing the man outside the room brought a smug smile to my face. It was Rito, staring at me seriously.

“I want to talk, is that okay?” He said solemnly, he would not take a no for an answer, neither do I have a plan to deny him.

“Yes, please come.” I stepped aside and presented the room with my hand.

“Ms. Lisa?” Rito halted his pace when he was welcomed by the figure of Lisa, who was gently drinking tea.

“Oh, Rito, I didn't notice you.” She said, quite surprised.

Wow, I really thought that you're not a deceiver but... Boy, I was wrong. I hid my emotion behind the never-fading business grin and took another chair from the corner. I placed it near to Lisa.

“Would you like some tea?” I told the confused man, encouraging him to sit.

“N-no... I'm good.” Rito answered. It was obvious that he was cautious of me. Just from his eyes that observed all of my movement was enough to conclude that he didn't trust me.

Well, it's fine. That just meant that I could save one more cup of tea for the other costumer.

Rito and Lisa sat side to side, while I, on the other hand, faced them.

“Alright.” I broke the staggering silence with a clear voice. “What do you have for me?”

The dense Rito was only paying heed to me while ignoring the blushing girl beside her. This girl... She's hopeless...

Day by day, the disappointment that I feel towards Lisa was only growing more and more.

“I want you to tell me everything you know about the evil organization.” Rito took something from his vest. A golden coin that glowed at the sunlight.

Holy sh*t! A gold coin just for information! I want it! But I don't know about that evil organization!

“Hmph, don't think I'm cheap,” I grunted at him. Naturally, my attitude made Lisa frowned at me. Her glare pierced my very body.

I just wanted to buy more time! I want him to go back so I could collect information about the evil organization!

“I thought so.” He made an expression that revealed that he was expecting this to happen. He pulled another two gold coins and placed them to the table with a clang.

I almost stopped breathing. Three gold coins... I can finally pay the tuition fee of Claire if I take this!

My hands were shaking at the money so I put them in my pocket. What should I say!? What should I say!?

I racked my brain for an answer but nothing was coming out.

Rito and Lisa just stared at me, waiting patiently for my next word. Oh, the pressure!

In the midst of m despair, a shining—no, a beacon of darkness had come, literally.

Shadow had formed at the center of the room, soon the gloom transformed into... What was that? A humanoid monster?

When I was thinking about what should I call about the thing, Rito reacted fast and unsheathed his sword.

“Shadows!”

Ah, so it's called shadows. Lisa followed the action of Rito and raised her metal fan. I heard a clicking sound, then the edge of her fan turned into a blade.

“It's been three weeks since I last fought one.” She said, clearly enjoying the moment where she could fight with Rito.

Rito gave her a smile, and Lisa blushed. “Let's fight together again, Ms. Lisa.”

“Gladly.”She answered quite coldly. Whoa, she was playing hard to get? Now that was new.

I observed the situation and determined that I should sit back and just watch the fight.

There were three reasons. First, it was to make sure that Rito and Lisa would bond in this battle. Second, I could watch the movement pattern of the enemy from here, giving me something to say to Rito when he asked me again about the organization. Lastly, my energy was almost draining. If I pushed myself right now, I would die from starvation.

The last one was REALLY important, I didn't want to die in hunger, that wouldn't be funny.

Now, let us see how things would turn out. I thought while resisting the temptation to snatch the three gold coins that laid on the table.