{Elisa}

{Sunday}

"Hmph..." Elisa smirked a little, as she took a sip out of her wine.

"Something on your mind?" Rin asked, crossing her thick legs as she sat across from Elisa at the table they were at. Around them were dimly lit candles and soft brown cushions as they ate at one of the better restaurants the higher end of Libera had to offer.

On the table were two plates, one belonging to Rin holding a bowl full of shrimp curry, and one belonging to Elisa with the same. However, Elisa's was nearly untouched whereas Rin's was already empty. This difference was due to the fact that Elisa had spent more time thinking than eating.

"I'm just surprised our schedules aligned so soon," Elisa chuckled. "You've been pretty busy lately."

At that, Rin blushed, but at the same time, she gave a confident little smile as she shrugged.

"Had a lot to do these last couple of days," the raven-haired girl replied.

[Is that so?]

As the many interesting things Elisa had heard from some of the other noblewomen came back to her mind, she raised a brow at the amber-eyed girl.

"We should be able to do this sort of thing more often, though, now..." Rin added, before quickly raising her hands as she smiled nervously. "I-I mean, if you want, and all."

Holding back a grin, Elisa nodded.

"Sounds good. After tomorrow's mission, maybe?"

"Yeah," Rin nodded. "I'm free after that. Although, if I get my butt kicked I'm definitely going to want to sulk for a few hours. That might cut into our time a bit."

"I'll just sulk with you. I've been told my shoulders are comfortable to cry on."

"Wow, does that happen often?"

"I was joking."

"Right!" Rin laughed awkwardly and, again, Elisa held back a smile.

Admittedly, she wasn't sure she'd be available, but she wanted to leave the door open just in case. In all honesty, she was willing to blow off her next family dinner altogether if it meant getting a little closer to the woman who had made a bad habit of appearing in Elisa's dreams.

Just last night, she dreamt she was back in that small town, at a dainty apartment, with her tongue buried deep inside of Rin. When she woke up, she did so with a rapidly beating heart and a bit of sweat rolling down her forehead.

It was exciting, though. Elisa hadn't felt like this in a very long time.

"Are you gonna keep eating?" Rin asked. "It has to have gotten cold by now."

"Eh, I'm good," Elisa shrugged. "I mostly just came for the sake of talking to you."

At that, Rin chuckled.

"That's sort of a waste. We could have just talked at the Academy. Would have saved a few coins, no?"

"Do you think talking here, in nice dresses, with fine decorations and a nice ambiance around us, is the same as talking back in our room?"

"To me, honestly, yeah," Rin shrugged. "Not to say I'm not thankful that you invited me here, or anything, but, I mean, hanging out with you is cool in general. Doesn't really matter where it happens."

Elisa laughed a bit when she heard that.

[Aw, how sweet.]

However, as that was said, the two of them came back to the Academy a short time later, and the day came to a close. Already, Elisa was wondering when they'd get to spend more time together like that.

She felt differently, from what Rin had said. Spending time together at a nice restaurant, or out in the town in any other capacity was certainly different.

Mainly, in that, she felt it might be easier to get in the mood to sleep together after something like that than after a lazy day of relaxing like always.

But, it didn't seem like that would happen anytime soon, if at all. If Rin wanted it to happen, though, all she needed to do was say as much and Elisa would be happy to oblige.

---

{Rin}

{Monday}

"Okay, is everyone here?" Maria asked as the students gathered at the front of the Academy. Some second-years passed them by, giving them some smirks and chuckling behind their backs as they walked into the building. Rin was standing next to Eve, at the back of the group, with Elisa to her right.

Every now and then, she caught Seth glancing over at her, but he wouldn't say or do anything past that. She guessed he must have heard that she won her fight. So, every time she caught him, she would return a little smirk just to see if she could get under his skin.

"Ohhhh, I'm nervous," Eve whispered, as she floated next to Rin. "They said it was gonna be something different this time. What is gonna be!?"

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," Maria said.

"You can hear me!?" Eve asked, continuing to whisper.

Maria giggled before putting her hands behind her back.

"Well then, I believe I've accounted for everyone. On today's mission, we will be taking each of you to an Old World ghost town. It is here that your tasks will be carried out. The first ones to leave will be Eve, Dylan, Rin, and Alea. Eve, you'll be going with Cara. Dylan, you'll be going with Eli. Alea, you'll be going with me. And, Rin, you'll be going with Harriton."

"... What?" Rin muttered, tilting her head.

It was the first time in a while that Rin wasn't going to be accompanied by Maria. Instead, Harriton, her Essence teacher, would be the one to go with her this time.

[Uh, did something happen?] Rin asked. [Or, did Maria ask for this? She doesn't seem mad at all, so...]

"The rest of you, as always, just wait back at the Academy for us to come back."

As she said that, everyone who wasn't named turned around and headed back inside.

"Good luck," Elisa told Rin, putting a hand on her shoulder briefly as RIn smiled back at her.

"Thanks."

After that, only the students who would be going on the mission now remained, along with Xhez, who Rin was carrying in the sprite's bag, in her hands.

Eve, who looked so nervous she could faint, slowly flew over to Cara who, as always, had a firm expression on her face.

"Quit shaking, you'll do fine," Cara told her.

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Eve replied as the two of them went away.

Rin felt a little sad as she watched them go.

[... Am I really never going to get to go on another mission with Cara just because of what happened the first time? There's no way that's fair.]

However, she set her feelings aside for a second as Maria walked over to her.

"Sorry I won't be tagging along for this one," Maria said, under her breath, "but, I wanted Harriton to show you a few things about Old World ruins. You'll learn a lot on this trip, so pay attention."

"Oh," Rin blinked. "Okay."

"Good luck," Maria said before she walked over to Alea.

"... Can't we get started already?" Alea asked.

"Don't worry, you'll get to impress me soon enough," Maria told her.

"Ugh, whatever it's not like I even want to..."

With that bitter sentence, the two of them walked away, and Rin was left with Harriton, who went up to her. He was dressed in a black business suit, strangely enough.

"Ready to head out, kid?" He asked.

"Yeah, let's go."

"Let's get to it then," Harriton said before he spun around and the two of them made their way out of the city.