Home Is When I'm With You - Cynonari

Lost...Again... - 4

Tighnari pov

Over the next 3 weeks since the school year began, I had passed Cyno multiple times in the halls and library. The first couple of times I waved and gave him a small smile. the first time, he seemed surprised at my wave - he didn't wave back. By the third time, he waved first. We hadn't actually spoken to each other since that second day in the library. So, we definitely weren't friends, we were more like acquaintances. Though I'd find it hard to be friends with someone who came off as cold as he did. Either way, I hope we were acquainted enough for what I was about to do...

"Excuse me, Cyno?" I called a couple of metres to the side of him. I saw him sitting on a bench In the courtyard in front of the dormitories reading as I was frantically running around the campus "I'm really sorry to bother you, but I need some help,"

"Hm..?" he peered up at me from his book "Oh, you're...Tighnari, right?"

"Yeah, that's me... Can I ask you for a favour?"

"What do you need?" he replied, his voice was slightly less cold than it had previously been, but the expressionless face and monotony in his voice remained

"I'm going to be late for a class and I really have no idea where it is, I was hoping you could tell me where it is" he could likely tell how panicked I was, my ears were twitching a lot more than I wanted them to, adding to my discomfort.

"Okay, what class are you looking for? I'll take you there," he said standing up, his voice still void of expression and emotion.

"Oh, I need to find one of the laboratories," I explained

"I see, follow me then,"

Once we had re-entered the main building he turned left towards the main entrance. The one direction I haven't been in. Of course... I stared at the ground to hide my embarrassment. Although my ears were now partially facing the ground.

"So are you a Spantamad student?" He asked as we continued walking.

"Oh no, I'm not, I'm Studying in Amurta," I answered

"Huh, I figured since you were taking classes that generally belong to that darshan," He said as we rounded a few more corners. As we walked up stairs and down halls, our conversations were short and sparse, mostly consisting of questions, since we really didn't know each other. As silence struck again, I heard his light and careful footsteps, I could barely hear them.

"So, Cyno, You don't look like you're from Sumeru city," I looked over at him, he was walking just in front of me.

"I'm not, I'm from the desert," he glanced back at me and stared me up and down for a short second "You don't look like you're from the city either,"

"I'm not either, I'm from Gandharva ville," I explained now looking ahead instead of at him, he did the same.

"How have the past 3 weeks been?" He asked "Some new students tend to get overwhelmed and start lagging behind quite quickly, or they drop out,"

"Oh, I've been fine, I'm pretty passionate about what I'm studying," I answered.

"That's good,"

We rounded a corner and he stopped abruptly.

"All of the akademiya's laboratories are down this hall," He explained as he gestured to a long hallway with around 10 doors on each side. The hall was dimly lit but natural light emanated from the large stained glass window at the end, painting the hallway in an array of translucent colours "The laboratories aren't used too frequently, so there probably won't be many people here. Shouldn't be too hard to find,"

"Oh, I see, thank you so much, I wouldn't have been able to find it otherwise," I smiled and to my surprise, he gave a smile back, though it was small and short-lived, it was nice.

We parted ways and I took to looking for the class number I needed. It was the door on the left and third from the window at the end. I walked up to it and entered the pristine white room full of equipment and chatty students.

***

Tighnari pov

I walked past the enormous cafeteria doors and stopped in my tracks for a couple of seconds, I scanned the room until my eyes landed on a head of uniquely braided mint-coloured hair walking up to the lunch line. We had talked quite a few times since we met a few weeks ago, we'd become good friends, at least, as good as you can become in three weeks. I quickly made my way over to her.

"Hey Haypasia," I said as I joined the line just behind her.

"Oh, Tighnari!," she said as she turned to look at me and adjusted her round glasses

"How have your studies been? I haven't really talked to you in a couple of days," I asked as we moved through the queue.

"Yeah, things have been great, it's all so interesting...," she said as she smiled widely and her eyes glazed over in that dreamy state I had seen so many times over the past few weeks.

"That's good," I said as we began selecting our lunch "Things have been pretty good on my end as well, but I got lost on the way to my last class, I had to ask around for help,"

"Oh, I see, well at least you're not getting lost on the way to each class," she complained. We got our food and walked to an empty table through the maze of students "I don't know how you've managed to memorise the layout of this place, it's a labyrinth!"

As we pushed our way through the crowd we came up to a deserted corner on the opposite side of the busy room and sat down.

"I had to ask that boy I told you about, remember?" I asked

"Oh yeah, I remember, the one you said was intimidating or...did you say he was scary?" she asked, taking a large bite of her Shawarma.

"Yeah, his name is Cyno," I said, spooning some curry into my mouth.

"And did he help you?" she asked

"Oh yeah, of course," I said once I had finished my bite.

"Well, was he scary then?"

"No, he wasn't really scary to begin with, just...intimidating," I explained as I let my eyes fall upon the scenery outside the window. This was one of the few places inside the buildings on campus where you were able to look down at the 'marvellous' Sumeru city. The massive window encompassed the whole left wall of the cafeteria. To anyone else, it would have been beautiful, that view of the city and the rest of Sumeru behind it, well, most of Sumeru.

"You know how you said I would get used to the city," I laughed sadly and she nodded in response "I'm actually getting a bit homesick..."

"Aww, really? Well... that's natural, you know? But I'm still sure the city life will grow on you, you've only been here a few weeks anyways," she smiled sympathetically and waited a second before continuing to eat her food.

"Are we still on for that study session later?" I asked after a couple of minutes of us eating in silence.

"Oh, yes, absolutely," she said, finishing the last few morsels of food left on her plate

"Sorry, gotta go, I have a class that I need to get to," she said still chewing on her food she stood up and collected her tray "I'll see you later though,"

I continued to eat as she walked off. I stared out the window, from here, you could see the very end of the Avidya forest. There was a chance I wouldn't be home for the next 4 or more years thanks to my studies, that is, if I could stand it. I hope it would be worth it in the end. I finished up my food and discarded my tray. I left the cafeteria and headed in the direction of the dormitories

***

1316 words