Growing teens were ravenous creatures. Especially when they underwent exhausting circumstances. They needed the energy to keep up.

For that reason, there were at least four people at Mathias' section of the table with double-servings. It barely fit on the tray.

Lisanna, Ayla, Erik, and James were quickly devouring their meals with great gusto. Mathias, a little peckish but unaccustomed to eating this early, had ordered a normal-sized lunch.

He still struggled with the latter half of the simple vegetable melody.

"You going to finish that?" Erik asked.

"It's yours." He pushed it in front of him.

"Thanks, man!"

"No problem." He turned to see Lisanna talking with Jennifer, with Wendi across.

"... I mean, there is so much. For example, just the manner of standing, the clothes they wear - or don't! - and their facial expressions are all important! If you want to make someone courageous, you'll need to make sure all the elements fit it precisely! Of course, it'll be easier to have a model. I don't think there would be anyone who would say no, but it might be best to ask someone from our class!"

Mathias looked away.

"... Hey?"

Lisanna poked his shoulder. "You hear that?"

"Hear what?" He kept looking away.

"Wendi says you should model for me!"

Wendi's dimples surged, "that's a perfect idea! I love it! I want to see him! Plus, if the fire is blue, it'll work perfectly for his water-affinity - it'll have that extra little bit that'll make people think twice!"

"... I don't wanna." It sounded troublesome and he was still a little bitter from this morning.

Wendi leaned forward and reached out to grab his chin from across the table. She tilted it left, right, up, and down, to see the full dimensions of his face, and nodded. "It'll work!"

"... What do you mean it'll work?" Mathias thought, 'did she just insult me?'

"You're ice is blue, right?! Right?!" He nodded. At least that is what the veins suggested. It would take a lot of work to have it displayed on a larger-scale, however. "That's great! You two should make a pair that'll look like they're one statue; they can be friends, or lovers, or adversaries! It'll be so, so, so cool! They can be trying to comfort the other that's down... or even one coming to slay the other as they sleep! The possibilities!"

Lisanna and Mathias exchanged a glance.

"... Did you not think it was going to end up this way?" He asked.

"No, not at all..." She said with a sigh.

Wendi was about to keep rambling on when she received another question. "Wendi, what is the best way to convey the journey to be the best swordsman?"

Erik posed the question.

"Well, mountains are typical representations. If there are any specific aspects of the school, it can also be either set into the mountain itself, or in the hands of an opponent you've 'conquered', or..."

She kept talking.

Erik nodded seriously, casting a veiled glare towards a carefree Ayla, and determined he had to beat her in the next competition. She beat him in the fight by abusing the rules, he was not called out (thus, he beat her), but she managed to push back his dark wind inside the stone barrier.

If the next one was an art gallery, he would do it seriously - if for no other reason than that.

Since lunch was not long enough for the entirety of the direct questions and the rapidly advancing train-of-thought Wendi summoned when thinking about such things, it was determined that they would meet up after training. At least for those that were not already given ample 'inspiration' by Wendi already.

"You're banned from having that in the room, by the way," Lisanna said when she remembered the staff he and Fara made. "I don't want to be sleeping in an ice-box."

"I mean, it's already there. I left it on the patio though to see if it'd melt."

"... Did you remember to close the door, like, all the way?"

"... Are you that bad in the cold? It isn't that bad."

Lisanna scowled. "Just the ice-pack on your back made the room cold. I don't want it to be even worse!"

"Huh? That was cold?" He pressed a hand against her forehead. "Are you sick?"

She swatted it away. "No. You're just abnormal. Right, Jennifer? Was that room cold when we went in this morning?"

"Eh? A little?"

Lisanna nodded grandly. "See? I warmed it up, too! And... are you doing that just to piss me off?"

Mathias recalled the water that was flowing around his body. Since his back was still sore, there was plenty of ice there as well. He brought it up to his wrist.

"Is this that bad?"

Lisanna did not back away from his touch, but she pulled her arm back the moment the ice reached her skin. "Of course!"

"... Again? Are you sure you're not sick? You have been training hard, after all."

"It isn't a matter of whether or not I'm sick, but who has a normal reaction to these things."

Mathias sighed and brought the ice back to his lower back. "Well, fine, whatever. Your loss if you want to stay in a stuffy room in the summer."

"Better that than the alternative."

"Hmm," Mathias pressed the back of his bare hand against her forehead again. He concentrated for a moment before quirking his head. "... So you're just weird. Weird."

"Don't say it twice!"

"One was for you, the other for the situation... which involves you as well, I suppose."

"Hah..." Wendi sighed. "A fighting couple is probably fine, too."

"We're not a couple!"

"Nope." Mathias added.

Lisanna was at least thankful for his support - even if his immediate, deliberate words were a little vexing.

"Right, right. We'll work on the details for yours later-"

"I can just make him into an invalid, right? I just need his face after all."

"That-"

"There are a couple of girls from the red light district that come to my Mom's parlour... I think it'll be easy enough to get her face on one of them."

"Wha-?! Your fur is going up in flames the second I get back!"

"No!? Why do you always attack my innocent fur?!"

Ayla, unaccustomed to Lisanna's outbursts, looked at the pair curiously. "I have an idea! Lisanna will be forced to make Mathias heroic and manly; and Mathias'll be forced to make Lisanna beautiful, graceful, and - of course - respectful. Any other statues will be immediately destroyed!"

"... Why is it already decided we'd model for one another?"

"Yeah!"

"It was your fault that this started in the first place."

"Huh? It's because you're being difficult."

The two turned away simultaneously, but the table passively accepted the disturbance. At the very least, while out of character, it was short - unlike some the more pointed accusations lodged against other students when they discovered that they were planning similar things. It is likely that even a last-man-standing match wouldn't have risen so much ire as the planning sequences of an art gallery.

At least they were taking it seriously.