Lilia's Tale: Freyja's Endeavor

Chapter 37: Capture

I didn't wait for anything and simply walked under the rain to the dormitory. The sound of the rain drowned out whatever talk the others could be having, so it ended up feeling oddly peaceful of a short walk.

I went in our room and sat at the desk, once more. I had the answers I wanted already, being forced to live with the responsibilities coming from my identity. I was not satisfied with them however.

I took some time to think things through, once again. Try to find any other possibility for my future. I ended up failing to, ever thinking of the necessity to uphold my responsibilities.

I ended up giving up and fully gave in to reality. I resolved myself to work towards whatever it is I would have to do as a goddess, leaving no stones unturned.

I went back to the window and looked up at the sky, finding much needed solace in the rainclouds and their aggressive downpour. I stayed staring until Sayuri came in. We talked about mundane things until dinner, then went to sleep after our baths.

As the next day was Saturday, I took the whole weekend to training the wall spell, making sure I was capable of changing its shape freely. I managed to improve very significantly, as I was capable of creating complex, though undetailed, shaped fairly consistently.

I did go to the guild on Sunday, but Souji was once again nowhere to be found. Alice and Jor both reported that the tailing had been going well and there was no extra signs of suspicious movement. They did not meet up with any demon group either.

By Monday, as magic theory class started, Tanaka-sensei gave us a paper to fill. I did not expect to be given surprise tests, but I was fine with it. It was about everything he had been teaching us so far concerning the basics of magic.

I quickly filled the paper in, not thinking too hard about the answers, and brought it to him. To my surprise, he looked over at the paper right away, looking troubled. It worried me, leaving me increasingly anxious as other students brought their papers back and he didn't have the same look.

Once the bell rang, I went directly to him and asked him:

"Excuse me..."

"What is it Lilia?"

"You looked trouble while grading my test. Is something wrong with it?"

He frowned and looked at me in the eyes.

"I can't say wrong, but we do need to have a talk about it. Come find me at my office after your next class, before you get lunch."

I froze up and nodded, anxiety turning into fear. I ended up incapable of focusing on general theory class, whatever the topic was. As soon as the bell rang and we were dismissed, I headed for the principal's office and knocked on the door without delay.

"Come on in," he said from inside.

I obliged and closed the door behind me. He started rummaging through his papers on his desk. Within his frantic search, he waved towards the table and chairs in the middle and told me:

"Come and have a sit."

"Thank you."

I went to sit and waited as he kept rummaging through. Eventually, he took out a pile of papers he had put aside and filed through them, took out a few and came to sit with me.

"So. I wanted to talk to you about the test today."

"Yes. You said it wasn't wrong, but that it needed talking. Could you elaborate?"

He set the papers on the table, facing me.

"Have a read at what other students wrote."

"Are you sure it's fine to show me?"