☕️ Paper and Joy 🕯️

Chapter 6: Messenger Academia

Clink! Clank!

Starlight Tavern had their usual morning rush as Lily and I ate our sun kissed breakfast of slow cooked eggs and freshly squeezed orange juice. Light jazz played in the background as the early morning light shone through the window panes. This morning was slightly chilly, so I wore the burgundy sweater Lily had bought me from Schrödinger's Cat. Even though Starlight Tavern's morning rush was incredibly busy, it was never as ridiculous as the groups that come in the dead of night.

This morning I noticed that Lily did not tell me her plan for the day like she usually did. Most of the time she would take me around the town for a deeper look in the nooks and crannies, yet this time she remained silent, digging into the yolk of her egg, chewing softly in the silence we created. I mustered up the effort to ask her.

"So," I asked with an impeding look, "what are we doing today?"

"Well," she responded, mouth full, "I was thinking we could stop by my academy."

I stopped chewing for a moment. Tableware clanked in the distance as I processed the thought.

The whole time that I stayed in Cupa village I had only heard her talk about her academy once. It was odd enough for her to bring it up so suddenly. I looked at her without saying anything. A piece of egg fell from my fork.

"Your academy?" I responded after a while, "As in Messenger Academia?"

"Yeah, I mean, I figured you'd want to see it for yourself." She mumbled unusually, looking away.

"Sure," I responded with an upbeat reply, "I'd love to see it."

We sat silently after that, the quiet clanks of the forks and plates in the kitchen occupying the awkwardness.

"Well then," Lily said, swallowing, "we can go after breakfast."

"Alright."

...

The building was large, in fact so large that Cupa Village could probably fit inside of it. Messenger Academia was larger than the village itself. A large gate beholding the ancient building with two large gargoyles defending it and a gigantic clock tower in the middle, staring upon the campus. Gray uniforms were quickly entering and exiting holding messenger bags full of envelopes and files in the bright morning sun, dust kicking up into the air unhealthily. I stood still in front of the big brown building, awed, as the rush through the gates and doors continued and the sun beamed among the scholars.

"This is you school?!" I gaped, still staring, bewildered by its elegance.

"Home sweet home," she said almost singing. She turned to me for a second and then darted off into the crowd, her black shoes tapping the floor.

Hey!

"Wait for me!" I shouted into the crowd chasing after her. As usual, she waited and grabbed my hand running through the students. Our steps were beating the ground unusually like an incoming herd. And we cut through the cloud of grey uniforms that seemed to go on forever. As the building got closer, I mentally tripled its size. Just as I was starting to familiarize myself with it, Lily abruptly stopped.

Umf!

Through the incoming traffic of people, I noticed the frame of a large door surround the crowd. It's flaps were glued open by the rush.

The Entrance.

Inside the large room were flights of stairs larger than the tiny homes of Cupa village. Must have been the main stairs because everywhere I looked, there was nowhere else to go.