Infernal Academia

Chapter 29 - Suyas' Big Day: Part 4 (A Notable Absence)

The winter holidays had begun.  With the weather getting worse by the day, the students of B.I.D. were instructed to remain in their rooms and keep warm.  The heating furnaces were cranked up as high as they would go, and though the radiators in the dormitories were unreliable at best, they certainly helped keep frostbite at bay.

But it wasn't the cold that worried Karazelle.  She had learned from her first year at the school that it was best to sacrifice her personal style for the sake of keeping warm.  Her carefully-selected outfits had been sequestered to the back of the wardrobe, replaced instead by fluffy woolen jumpers and thick trousers.  

No, she was worried about something else entirely.  Namely, the sudden disappearance of Cobalt Trayer.  Her mother said that he had returned home for the holidays, but Karazelle didn't buy that.  Tapping a few numbers into her phone, she gazed out of her bedroom window and held it to her ear.

"Hello?  Trayer household!" spoke the voice on the other end.

"Mrs. Trayer?  It's me, Karazelle, remember?" asked the Succubus, drumming her fingers against her arm.

She held the phone away from her ear as Cobalt's mother gave a high-pitched squeal of delight.

"Oh, Viola's little girl, how are you?!  It's so good to hear from you!"

"Y- Yeah, yeah it is!  Listen, I'm in a bit of a rush here, so can I ask you something?"

"Of course, of course!  What's on your mind, sweetheart?"

Swallowing hard, Karazelle peered out through the flurry of snow at the window opposite hers.  It was dark.

"Is Cobalt there with you?" she asked, bracing herself for the answer?

She heard Jezebel make a confused humming noise.

"Snookums?  Why, no, he hasn't so much as called me!  Honestly, that boy...!" she huffed.

Karazelle bit her lip.  She had feared as much.  For Cobalt to just up and disappear without a word... It wasn't normal.

"I do hope he's taking care of himself.  Karazelle, sweetie?  Have you had a chance to use that special gift I gave you yet?" asked Jezebel.

"Um..."

Turning around, she glanced over at her dresser, where the glowing pink bottle lay tucked between a makeup bag, a discarded magazine and a half-empty takeaway carton.

"I'm working on that at the moment," she murmured, the edges of her mouth curling downwards at the sight of it.

Truth be told, in all the hectic chaos of the past few weeks, somehow getting Cobalt to ingest the Red Rose Extract had completely slipped Karazelle's mind.  Between trying to help the Incubus with his food situation and keeping on top of her assignments, that little bottle of aphrodisiac had completely fallen to the wayside.

It was strange.  She hadn't put nearly as much effort into her schoolwork the previous year.  What with Mr. Whittaker being a creep and her mother barely paying attention to her, Karazelle felt as though she could just kick back. relax, and let the deadlines pass her by.  But somehow, this year, she felt like she had to start catching up.  Perhaps it was the fear of a nasty wake-up call next year that could be partly attributed to this sudden sense of academic urgency, but she knew herself what the real reason was.

It was Cobalt.  He worked so hard; put so much of himself into his work, that she just felt compelled to reciprocate.  It felt wrong not to.  And she had to admit that he was doing a good job.  Before the Incubus sat her down and explained it to her, Karazelle had no idea how the Hellish justice system worked.