Celestial University: A Bully Romance

Chapter 58: Giraffe Genius

Sehki blinked. "Huh?"

"My life values honesty, but I am to be as truthful as possible. So, don't lie to me."

"No, my name is Shadow," crap I didn't think of a last name, "Paladin."

"An alias to disguise yourself," sighing. "At least it can fool the ignorant."

"Ignorant?"

So, you return after eight years with no fanfare. All of a sudden the backlash against the fallen lineage and conspiracy theories begin rising, you receive attention from the enigma that is Calypsa Castor, and then disappear again a morning you're caught together."

The hell, she did her research. "Seems you're interested in him, not me."

"The night you vanish, no one's able to find your body. Then as soon as you return to campus, the most apathetic heir who began acting more like their peers suddenly exposes criminal behavior. Vandalism at House Erebus is getting socially discouraged. An heir is being kind to a former member of their Inner Circle without any romantic or sexual conditions."

"Isn't that basic human decency?"

"Not too easy to come by when we've all advanced into fae."

"Good point. Still, you should probably be telling this to the actual Sehki."

"Unless something happened forcing him to act undercover," showcasing photos of evidence from everything she discussed. "If you aren't him, why not show me what's underneath the mask?"

"Because I'm trying to fix the mistakes that caused these scars," responding with instant wrath that broke her nonchalant personality.

Lorena took a second to shake it off as he realized how he came off. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. You, him, aren't the only ones with scars others can't see."

An awkward air between them made him look down. "Nice giraffe shirt."

"Thanks," stretching her neck out to his body, flew back into her room, clicking on the lights and putting up her posters of Taylor, handing him a Victory Rider shirt. "You'll need this. It's a unisex shirt, good fit for anyone."

"Yeah."

"See you then," closing the door.

He blinked. "Did I get a date that easily," skirting out of the dorm in his shadow. Come to think of it, technically this is my third date.

One was fun even though we almost died, one was fun until I almost died, I don't like the pattern this is going towards, letting Candy know the moment he got back.

"Teach me every Cardinal skills you have in the books."

The next morning, both of them woke up placing cream on their arms to numb the work they went into to prep. As he was about to leave, they heard blasts targeting the house. Outside was Sven's crew and Rigal's posse baring their leader.

"So I heard the ghost of the dead prince and the ice Void that stole our power up lives here. Let's show Quilter how hard we'll tear it down!"

Sehki was about to slip out to fight them all when Candy shook her head, slapped her cheeks, and made a rocky wrist ray out of her arm.

"Go, l handle them."

"You sure?"

"I haven't had this much fun here in a while. If I can't protect my new dorm, I don't deserve to live here."

"A bit prideful, but," seeing the drive in her eyes. "Alright Snow Fae, make them hail in fear," leaving out the designs they used to scare her with, alongside a surprise for inspiration. The two exchanged nods as he slipped out.

He headed for House Poseidon, where Lorena was waiting.

"You know there's like two cliques about to head to the dorm now, right?"

"She wants to face them down herself. I trust my friends," eyeing him. "Shirt makes me disguise feel more natural."

"It is that weird compared to what most people wear on this world?"

"Touché," having called an Auriga taxi for them to head between the border of Cusp Central and Coastrosity Coalition.

"They should call it C4 with that name. But it might be too explosive," he tried joking.

"Ha," barely opening up a smile. Sensing the silent treatment, he saw them passing the Bistro, hoping they were making things work while seeing other highlights across the city he wanted to visit.

"Oh Lorena, do you plan on living in Cusp or one the kingdoms when you graduate?l

"Cusp is safer by default. There's a reason my family moved from Coalition."

"Got it."

When they got off, he opened the door for her, approaching what looked like an abandoned housing project, completely akin to the destruction of a monster movie.

"Whoa. Are we sure this isn't real?"

"There's not much protection from the royal guards on the outskirts of the kingdom. The crew probably paid for them to live somewhere safer for now."

"Good, they won't be vulnerable to the Voids."

She started chuckling.

"What's so funny?"

"You're sounding more like a caring king."

"Well duh, a ruler is only as good as the safety of their people. I will," coughing. "Hypothetically if I was a king or prince, it'd only be natural I'd improve the lives of our citizens. What about you, if you were queen?"

"Why, you looking for one," raising an eye with a slight smirk.

"No, I'm wearing bandages, only a crazy person would marry me...if I was royalty."

"I prefer to work in the shadows. A liaison and an advisor that's not just sitting around hypothetically."

"Major?"

"Water Elemental, Journalism and Communications, not that I'll need it."

The two arrived at the building in the center, Lorena looked around, while he was greeted by a young dark skinned woman in a suit, tie, blazer, and dress pants.

"Oh you must be the winners of our behind the scenes contest! You shouldn't have waited until the last day! I'm the executive producer, Starz Gazer, nice to meet you both.

"Sorry, lots of things went down. Are you finished or in pre production?"

"About to finish. We've suffered a few," sweating, "setbacks, but nothing we can't handle when we're close to the finish line!"

As she implored them to follow along, Lorena tugged on his bandages.

"You sense it too. Her voice, the setting," walking out to a crew with sounds of excitement and faces of dread.

"They're worried about the culprit?"

"No, they're probably here, watching and waiting for their every move."