Lilia's Tale: Freyja's Endeavor

Chapter 31: Anxiety

I went directly to class after the talk with the principal. I knocked on the door, opened it once prompted and closed it before saying anything. The teacher didn't wait and immediately replied to the question I would have asked:

"I got the principal's note. You can go sit."

"Thank you," I simply replied as I went to said sit.

There was some whispers from other students wondering just what had transpired between me and the principal. I let it slide, knowing there was little harm that could be done.

To my surprise, however, class was not focused on mathematics anymore. Where before we usually would dive further into the depths of multiplication, however shallow they may seem, we had moved to a different topic. Economy.

He seemed to have briefly talked about the value of every coin before my arrival, now instead rambling on about the importance of supply and demand. The class was...surprisingly interesting to me, though it only scratched the surface.

Lunch came and I felt...oddly anxious. As Sayuri asked to go eat, I simply replied to her plea negatively:

"I'm sorry, I'm not hungry."

"Oh. Are you okay?"

"I guess. I don't know. Anyways, please go eat, I'll just do some patrolling like before. It's been some time since I did that seriously."

She looked confused but nodded, saying "Okay" before leaving. I sighed in relief knowing I wouldn't have to worry her, and went on ahead with what I said.

I went around buildings, checked even what I considered to be the most likely spots to house shady business. Nothing. Nobody was doing anything out of the ordinary. After a while, the head of the students council passed by me and called out for me.

"Hey Lilia! Patrolling?"

"Oh, it's the rumors girl. Did you need anything?" I unknowingly blurted out.

"...My name is Lynn, what kind of nickname is that?"

"Ah, sorry. I didn't mean to call you that."

"Yeah, you don't look too well. Still, what kind of nickname is that?"

"Well, I can explain if you want."

"Please do. Have you eaten yet?"

"No, I'm not hungry."

"Oh, alright. Skipping meals isn't good for you though, so be careful with that."

"Yeah, thanks. Anyways, the reason I call you that is because many times when we talked, you were hungry for rumors about me."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. First time we talked, you asked about rumors. Shortly after, you asked again."

"Oh. I'm sorry if that's how it came off. You see, though I do like rumors and juicy info, I mostly do it for my position."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, as the head of the Judges, I have to take decisions. Some are pretty rough too, and in some cases teachers can't help either. I found that having all the information I can get helps with choosing, and rumors are a nice way to get more info. I hope that makes sense."

Thinking on it, it did make sense. There wasn't any readily available way to obtain information on students of this kind of age without resorting to either interrogation, direct questions or rumors.

"Yeah. It does. I'm sorry for assuming."

"I mean you're not wrong, I like rumors. But it's not just a hobby."