A new year at Nine Petal Academy means a new crop of students, including a boy who can't control his magic, a thief, an angel, and even a suit of armor? Adela, Lei, and their friends are tasked with welcoming the new class of first years and helping...
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I sighed as I stared at the blazing sky. The canopy of the forest almost covered it completely. Yen ended up buying her guitar and Kanja got a few clothes. We still couldn't figure out what to make for Carter. I probably would've had a hard time helping make him something even if we had found something.
After having gone on my own, I returned to the others. It seemed like Kanja wanted to talk to me, but she hadn't. Things felt awkward between us now. Same with the second years and Yuzu. And to think that today was barely my first day here.
I pulled out the form that Yuzuki had given me before we left for the mall. I'd taken the time to fill it out after I ran out on them. They had a class on curse breaking. Hopefully, I could get it. Better yet, that the knowledge I learned could be applied to my case. I was tired of living like this.
"Still feeling glum?" a voice called out.
I turned to the right and jumped as Arima sat down beside me.
"Sorry, did I scare you?" She laughed. "I've been doing a lot of that lately."
How had she done that?
"W-what are you doing here?" I asked, turning away. Shouldn't she have been annoyed at me after I screamed at her?
"Yuzu sent me out to gather everyone. It's time for dinner. Had to ask Nahimana to help me find you."
I looked around. There was no sight of the marbles girl.
"She pinpointed the direction you were in. Rushed over in case you decided to move."
So that's why she popped up all of a sudden. She must've used that shadow technique. I had something like it, but it was rudimentary compared to hers.
"Sorry," I said, staring at my metallic kneecaps. "I needed to be alone."
"I understand. Uli and Alto would often do the same." She sighed. "And Iah's doing that right now." She closed her eyes and stood up. "Perhaps, I shouldn't pry. My doing so earlier is what made you upset, isn't it?"
My eyes widened. She noticed?
Arima bit her lip. "I'll take that as a yes. It's something that I have to work on."
"Why were you so curious about me?"
She turned to look at me. "As I said in the dorm, I've never seen a case like this before. Sometimes, my curiosity gets the better of me. Though, I'm not nearly as bad as the Lan brothers or Hal."
Jude's brother did strike me as the kind to poke around. But, maybe that wasn't a bad thing. Who knew, perhaps Arima and he could've come up with a way to break the curse.
"Anyway, let's go. Your friends are also worried about you."
