Chapter 35 Petal By Petal

The next morning seemed to be a mere blur. Groggily, I know I must have gotten up and washed my face, changed and got ready as usual. For some reason though, coherent thoughts weren’t quite forming…

“L-Lady Aeriea?”

A meek voice surfaces to my attention. I turn towards the source and see Este peeking at me from her notebooks. She seems out of breath as if she had just run. “Ah… Lady Este. Good morning.”

“G-Good morning…!” She squeaks before pausing, it seems she’s having a hard time saying something. “Erm… Your c-clothes… May I?”

I nod absentmindedly. Este seems to smoothen some crinkles on my shirt and fixes some buttons. even trying to flatten my hair. But of course to no avail, what with my unruly curls and all.

“I-If I may be so bold to ask… I-Is something the matter?”

“Hmn?” Quirking my eyebrows, I indicate I’m unsure what she means.

“Well… You seem a bit out of it.” She pauses, “And you’re usually less… Unkempt.”

Hey, that’s rude.

“I also saw some other students try calling out to you, but you didn’t seem to notice them… It took me a few tries to get your attention as well.”

“Really?” I blink a few times and shake my head, trying to wake myself up. “Don’t worry, I’m perfectly fine! I think I’m just a bit air-headed today ahaha.”

No good, no good. This place is teeming with aristocracy. What if I accidentally ignore someone important!

Her shoulders slump with relief, “That’s good if that’s all then. I thought you might have been tired from last night. I had wanted to let you know when I was heading out, but Sir Fenrir didn’t seem to want to disturb you.”

“A-Ah! Is that so!?”

“A-Aeriea!? I knew you must have overstrained yourself! Your face is all red!” She pushes her hand onto my forehead and tries to measure my temperature.

“I’m fine, Este!”

“How can you say that when you’re as red as a beet!”

“That’s no good, Aeriea.” Mercurius suddenly seems to appear from thin air. He sighs as if troubled, “My little sister would be heartbroken to see you flirting with another girl.”

W-What, why do you sound like an in-law that just caught someone cheating on your sibling?!

“Aeya…” Ceres is pouting with the perfect likeness of a squirrel, and one with food ferociously stuffed in its cheeks at that. She grabs Este’s hand and flings it away from my forehead.

“H-Huh? P-Princess Ceres a-and Prince M-Mercurius…” Este looks absolutely flabbergasted.

“Ceres. That’s not nice. Este was just concerned and checking if I had a fever.” After lightly flicking her on her forehead, I smile at them brightly. “I hope my two good friends will get along, okay?”

Hmn? Why are both Este and Ceres blushing madly now…?

“How fearsome…” I hear Mercurius murmur. I only tilt my head questioningly in response.

*

Mercurius’ words ring hollow in my skull.

Right now, the only truly fearsome thing is this Arms & Aegis class.

Just when I thought I had finally conquered marathon training. Even going so far as managing to increase my endurance after almost coughing up blood… I can now run one whole more lap than before - For a grand total of three laps!

So when Professor Jin said we’d be moving onto something else, I had confidence in being able to handle it. After all, how can something possibly be more frightening than running?

I was wrong.

We are now doing something terrible called strength building.

H-How can all these people keep going…? I slump down in defeat after only a few torturous squats. Uuuu, my thighs are burning.

Professor Jin walks over to me and shakes his head as if with a defeated acceptance. “...Just try your hardest, Miss Newlyn.”

“T-Thank you, Professor Jin.”

His words actually demotivate me more…

Vani, Ru, and Fen are competing to see who can squat the most. After almost fifty, Ru is the first to raise his hands in defeat. “My… I was quite confident in my stamina as a dancer too…”

I nod my head in understanding. “Mhm mhm, it’s quite disheartening to see you can’t do as well as you hoped isn’t it?”

“Y-Yes, I suppose so.”

“Don’t go acting as if you were anywhere near his level! If anything your pathetic display of five squats will curse him!” Sigyn is yelling such rude things to me from a few feet away.

“Er… Don’t listen to her, Aey-”

“Fufu, says the girl who tripped and spilled her lunch all over Hel when Leila walked by this afternoon. I wouldn’t be so quick to mock others.”

“You-! I-I have n-no idea what you’re talking about!” Sigyn’s cheeks go three shades darker as I fufu away in victory.

“Hmn? Were you saying something, Ru?”

“...It is nothing.”

“Aghhh!” Fen plops down beside me, “Vani is a monster! A monster I tell you!”

“I’m Vaniriel, not a monster. You’re simply too weak.”

“I’ll defeat you in this class someday…”

“It would be impossible for you even after a thousand constellation-cycles.”

“Even after that long!?”

They continue their back-and-forth like this for a while. But for some reason, I get a bit antsy.

Ru peers at me, “Are you okay, Aey? Perhaps you strained yourself earlier?”

What do you mean!? As if I would injure myself from five squats! I can at least handle that much!