The Virtues' Magecraft

Page 71: The Troubles Above

Back in the New York of Midgard, Mukuro Tucker was once again falling asleep on his desk. His classroom was empty, and he finally found a moment of silence to himself to exist in peace, free of all the troubles of his routine.

And so, his head slammed down onto the wood, exploding out a clatter. Neither the sound nor the impact woke him, leaving him to sleep in still silence.

Until his door was swung open.

In an instant, he was brought to awake into alertness, only to ease his heart as he set his eyes on the most lovely woman he had ever seen. Sophia Tucker, a woman famed for her strength and the position of Paladin it brought. Although to him, all of that was meaningless compared to what she was to him. His wife.

Now relieved, he smiled at her and let his head fall onto the desk once again.

Sophia Tucker couldn't help but smile at her resting husband. She was a beautiful woman, with verdant eyes and golden blonde hair in a bob cut, and while she normally appeared on television and on the news wearing some sort of battle armor, now she only wore plain and simple clothes.

Her sweet voice uttered, "You're so cute when you're asleep."

"Sophia..." he groaned out as he now found himself unable to shut his eyes. "I'm a grown man, you shouldn't be calling me cute."

"That fact that you think like that makes you even cuter!" she giggled, throwing herself onto his still-resting body. She took in a deep breath of his head of black hair and smiled. "What made you tired today, Mu?"

Mukuro groaned once again. Sophia stood back and gave him some space while he finally brought himself to sit up. He locked eyes with her again and explained. "I had to tell the students about the inter-branch competition. Well, most of them about the battles but I still had to inform them directly. Then everyone got into a loud argument about who should participate in the stage of the group battle."

Sophia smiled. "Obviously. That's what everyone wants to participate in!" she exclaimed as she thought back on her own memories of the event. "Sure, they don't make such a big deal out of it nowadays, but back in my day, it was like the whole world was watching!"

"...You're still a bit too young to use the phrase 'back in my day' though."

A sigh left her lips. To change the subject of aging, she spoke again. "Speaking of the competition, I saw some kids from Houston when I got here. I didn't see any of the teachers, but they're probably here anyway."

"You're kidding, right?" Mukuro responded.

"Nope."

Mukuro immediately got up and reached for his phone. "Then those teachers are definitely here, and that's not good. Go lock the door."

"Huh? Why? It's not like we're in danger," she said with a chuckle.

He nodded as he dialed numbers and raised the telephone to his head. "But it's even worse. They're annoying."

Sophia Tucker was quick to understand. She reached for the open door but at that same second, a man came from nowhere with a grand smile full of fake, metallic teeth. Gold and silver were scattered over his ivory grin as he held the door open for himself and stared at Sophia.

"This is Tucker's class, ain't it?" the man asked.

The next sound to be heard was a loud groan from Mukuro's lips. "Goddammit," he muttered out.

"Mukuro Tucker! How are ya, man?!" the man cried out as he turned to the side and met his fellow teacher with his wide grin. He rushed over to Mukuro with Sophia following behind him after shutting the door. She kept herself quiet in confusion of what was to come.