Asta’xahr, 4044 AOT

Outside the Fourth Watch Tower

Classes have finished and the time for the students to engage in their club activities have started. Tristan is leisurely walking to their clubroom when he notices a thin smoke rising from beside the Fourth Watch Tower, where their club is based. He hurries his steps following the thin smoke to see where it comes from.

“Hey, boss!” Emil greets while dropping a bunch of potatoes beside a bon fire. “Would you like some grilled potato? I just harvested them from the backyard.”

Tristan looks around and finds Prim already eating a grilled potato. Duke is just behind her piercing the potatoes on a stick, preparing to grill more of them.

“Um. Thanks.” He casually walks closer to the bon fire. There is a chance that a fire might occur if they are left alone. “I didn’t know that there are potatoes growing in the backyard.”

Emil chuckles. “Of course, they didn’t just grow there. I planted them.”

“You- w-what?!” He immediately takes a deep breath and then massages his temple. “Nevermind. How am I still surprised?” He mumbles.

“It’s good to get some free snacks every now and then.” Emil adds while sitting on the ground.

“I didn’t expect you to be the ‘I plant potatoes in my free time’ kind of person.”

“Hm, really? What kind of person did you think I am?”

“W-well…”

“The ‘I bury people alive for a living’ kind of person.” Prim suddenly says in monotone while eating.

“T-that’s-!.. That’s a bit too much.”

“Come on, boss. Do I look that scary?”

“Every time you call me boss, I feel threatened.”

Emil laughs nervously. “No way.” He turns to Duke. “Do I really look that scary?”

“Don’t ask me, I have no idea.”

“Oh, sorry.”

Then they both laugh. While they seem to be having a good time, Tristan notices a shadow move by the bushes behind. His forehead knits as he keeps his eyes on that spot. A little while later, Blair emerges from behind a nearby tree. She is holding something keeping it close to her body while carefully tip-toeing her way towards the back of the tower.

“Blair!” He calls. “Is that a duck?”

Blair immediately turns following his voice. She stays silent.

Tristan walks closer. “Where did you get that?”

“From the market.” She smiles. “I bought it.”

“And what are you planning to do with that?”

“I thought it would make good friends with the chickens.”

“Chi-chickens?! Since when did we have chickens?”

“Quack-”

She covers the duck’s beak. “Just a couple of days ago.”

Tristan massages his forehead. “What are you trying to do? Start a poultry farm? Professor Claws already warned you about all the animals you’ve been sneaking inside the academy.”

“It’s fine if he doesn’t know.”

“You think he won’t know?”

“…”

“It shouldn’t be much of a problem if we ask for permission to keep them.” Duke suggests.

“Right, we can just pass it off as one of our club activities.” Emil adds. He walks towards Tristan and then taps his shoulder. “Our club’s already the weirdest. It won’t be too unusual to add more to that.” He laughs.

Tristan pauses to consider it. “We can try that.”

“Great!” Blair raises her voice enthusiastically.

Prim nods. “It’s not a bad idea to keep an emergency food supply.”

Blair grits her teeth while glaring at Prim. “Hey, I’m feeling a sudden urge to hit that midget over there.”

“Don’t start fighting now.” Tristan sighs. “Why would we even need emergency food?”

“You don’t know what might happen in the future. Having food is good.” Prim responds while picking up another grilled potato.

“You only care about foods.”

“Okay, now…” Emil sprints towards Blair’s side and then pushes her. “Let’s go introduce mister duck to his new friends.”

“Hm.” Blair follows Emil’s coaxing. “But this one’s a girl.”

“Is that so… Then we can have duck eggs in the future too.” He says softly as they leave.

“They’re definitely looking at the same thing but they are seeing it differently.” Tristan mumbles while scratching his head. “It seem I’ll have to prepare a report to let the headmaster know about this.”

∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞××× End ×××∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞∞