{Elisa}

{Monday}

"Don't forget, you have a meeting with your fiance after your classes today."

"I know."

"Good. Do not show up late again, Elisa. Please, you are embarrassing our family every time you do so."

That, however, she could not agree on. Showing up late was Elisa's only way of expressing some manner of agency in this situation, after all.

She nodded though, and her aunt, Carliah, walked away, leaving Elisa alone.

[Finally.]

Ever since Elisa had begun studying at the Academy, this sort of thing had become routine. In her month of time here, she'd put all of her efforts into self-improvement. Hell, she'd even stopped sleeping with random people... Mostly. All so she could focus on learning the ways of an adventurer. No matter how futile her efforts were, she was still trying to do this.

Lately, though, it was getting harder to keep herself distracted from the people she was trying to avoid. Of course, the reality had sunk in a while ago that in just a few months, Elisa would be sentenced to living out the rest of her life in a loveless relationship, stuck in a golden prison with a bunch of people she didn't care about.

But, by the Divine, she wanted to enjoy herself before then.

Once Carliah had left, Elisa was free to head into the nearby classroom with the rest of her classmates. And, as she did, she noticed how obvious it was that one girl's presence was taking up pretty much everyone's focus away from Harriton, who was speaking at the front.

Rin was sitting between everyone, writing down Harriton's words diligently in a small notepad, while everyone else did their best to pretend they weren't looking at her.

She couldn't blame them, of course. Just a day ago, they all thought she was dead. The only person who had continued to hold out hope for her return had been the fairy, but everyone else had simply assumed that whatever strange event Rin had been through had cost her life.

It felt like they were sharing a classroom with a ghost.

Still, Elisa was happy to know her roommate hadn't died out there, and she sat down next to Rin in an empty seat to show that appreciation a little. Rin glanced over at her, and Elisa gave her what so many women over the years had told her was a charming smile, hoping her apology earlier had had some effect.

Rin blushed a little, acknowledging Elisa's presence, before going back to her notes.

[Well... That's better than outright hostility, I guess.]

"Alright then, before we start," Harriton said in front of them, "I just wanted to acknowledge the obvious and all. Welcome back, Rin!"

He started applauding and only a couple of the students joined in.

"WOO!" Eve cheered and Elisa snorted at that.

"Yeah, it's good to see one of our own is safe and sound," Harriton said. "However! Now that you're back, Rin, it's time to get to work."

"Yeah..." Rin nodded. "I know."

With that, the class got going properly. Today, Harriton discussed the "spell reactions", or, the effect of combining two spells from different categories, done by two mages at the same time.

He explained, for example, that when someone used a Mundane spell together with an Illusion spell, they could alter the view of the Mundane spell. Someone could cloak a [Fireball] and make it appear to be an [Ice Spear], for example, which could cause the opponent to use some sort of ice resistance increasing ability and end up paying the price for it.

All the while though, Elisa's eyes would drift toward the girl to her left.

She hadn't brought it up to her more after the first time she'd asked, but ever since she'd first seen Rin, she couldn't shake the feeling that she had met her before. Even after Rin had said they hadn't talked, Elisa still felt like that was the case.

In particular, Rin's eyes drew her in like an old lover every time she looked into them.

It was a terribly hard feeling to ignore.

A few hours later, they were in Eli's class, and something became evident as soon as the students began working out, running along the small course set behind the Academy. Rin was really working her ass off.

Even though the rest of the students had progressed far beyond where she was, thanks to the fact that they hadn't gone missing for a month, her effort could still be seen. She was focused, keeping her eyes on the course and running as far as she could before she was inevitably tired.

By the time the class was done, Elisa couldn't help it. She walked over to Rin, with the intention of complimenting her, but Eve reached the brunette before she could.

"Wow, you're really going at it," Eve told her and Elisa stopped. Rin laughed as she looked back at her.

"Is it that obvious?"

As the two of them started to talk to each other, Elisa walked away, leaving them to it.

A class later, now, all of the students, with their sore bodies from working out, were in Combat Tactics and Dueling, where Elisa was paired up with Dylan. Using a heavy wooden sword, Dylan was using a spear of the same material, as the two squared off, with everyone else fighting around them.

Maria had paired them up since they were of similar skill levels, with Dylan having been a part of the Red Trident before coming to the Academy, and Elisa having received professional training as a child.

However, she was slightly distracted. To her right, Rin was fighting Alea, and she seemed like she'd gotten a little better since she'd first joined. Alea was going for some fairly unpredictable swings of her wooden shortsword, and although most of them landed, Rin still managed to dodge plenty. She even got a couple of punches in, which surprised Alea, Elisa, and Maria, who were all watching.

She proved to be a bit too distracted and Dylan smacked her abdomen with his spear, making Elisa cough.

"You should try to focus," Dylan told her. As Elisa nodded, he kept going. "We want to make the best out of this time we have, no?"

"Yeah. Sorry," Elisa replied and she began giving this her all.

An hour later, she wiped away a bit of sweat and everyone started to walk toward the cafeteria. Elisa, though, had another idea. She walked up to one of her classmates and pulled her aside.

She didn't walk up to Rin, though. She approached Eve, instead.

"Eve, can I speak with you?"

Both Eve and Rin, who were standing by the side, were shocked to hear that.

"Oh?" Eve asked. "Uh, why?"

"I just wanted to ask you something."

"Oh... Okay. Go on without me," Eve smiled back at Rin.

"Sure," Rin said, though she was clearly curious as to what Elisa wanted to say to the fairy. She walked away, and the two girls were left alone.

Elisa's eyes laid themselves on the fairy, floating in the air just in front of her. The words that came out of the noblewoman's mouth next were genuine.

"... I wanted to say, I've been impressed with you. You're doing really well," Elisa told her.

At that, Eve blinked a couple of times as her brows shot up.

"... Wow. Thanks," Eve looked away. "U-Uh, thanks, but... Why are you telling me this?"

Elisa breathed in at that and gave a little smile as she said:

"Well, I wanna get closer with my classmates. So, I figured maybe we could catch something to eat. Not today, necessarily, but, whenever."

If Eve was surprised to hear Elisa's statement just a moment ago, she was downright shocked to hear that.

"Are you serious?" Eve asked. "This isn't some joke, right?"

"No, no. I mean it," Elisa replied. "One hundred percent serious here."

"Oh... Um. Okay, m-maybe we can do something then. With Rin, too," Eve quickly added.

"Sounds good," Elisa chuckled. "Well, come on. Food's probably nice and ready by now."

"Y-Yeah."

With that said, they went to the cafeteria, where Elisa went to sit by herself, but not before casting Rin a little wink as Eve went to join her.

All of this, however, was really just one, long, drawn-out way of stalling for time, before Elisa had to go face that horrid man she called her fiance. Still, that time was going to come at some point, and soon, Elisa was getting ready in her room. Rin was somewhere else, which meant that Elisa was alone as she put on a white dress, and tied her hair in a ponytail.

[Okay... Now, let's see if I can go another day without gouging his eyes out.]

---

{Rin}

{A Few Hours Later}

[Hi, mom!]

[I'm sorry I wasn't able to get back to you for so long. Something went wrong on my first mission and, well, yeah. Don't worry though, I'm okay! Still, this whole thing's been pretty... Eye-opening. Honestly, I have so much more respect for Tristan now that I've seen what stuff is like out there. I've discovered that I have pretty much no talent for this sort of thing, haha.]

[But, I'm still going to work hard at it. It's not going to be easy, but I feel like it's possible, and that's more than enough for me.]

[What about you, though, mom? What have you been doing? I hope you haven't gotten any sicker lately. Maybe, after my next mission, I can hope back on the train and visit Dren for a couple of days. I have muscles now! Maybe, at some point soon, I could show off to everyone a little.]

[Stay safe, mom.]

[With love, Rin.]

Willing her muscles to work, even as her wrists and arms were still recovering from the earlier workout session, she finished writing the note and gave it to the magical bird her mother had given to her.

The bird took the letter and flew out the window.

[Okay, time to get some training in.]

Rin then briefly gave Xhez a quick look in her bag to make sure she was still okay and walked out of her room before heading straight up to the Meditation Center. She was still a bit sore, but she wanted to make the most out of her day.

And, honestly, she was excited.

As she walked into the Meditation Center, she had a smile on her face.

"Hey!" Rin announced as she walked in. "So, what are we-"

She froze.

She wasn't ready for the sight in front of her.

Maria was standing in the middle of the room, alone. She had her hands behind her back and her head lowered. That wasn't the part that surprised her, no. It was the fact that an ethereal white dragon was circling her. Rin had no idea what was happening. All she could tell was that Maria was in deep focus.

A focus that broke as she heard Rin enter. The dragon disappeared and Maria took a shuddering breath. Her eyes looked watery.

"... Whoa," Rin said.

"Welcome, Rin. I'm glad that our sessions are resuming. Today, though," Maria wiped away a tear. "I thought I'd show you what your path has in store."