The Virtues' Magecraft

Page 15: Trial By Steel

"I hate Tucker," Anastasia sighed, placing her head onto her cold metal locker.

"Yeah, but... Why? He's pretty nice," Alexander said.

"He's annoying. And weird. Very weird."

Alexander slightly nodded. "Yeah, fair enough. But don't worry about it. There are bigger problems to care about. Y'know?"

Again, Anastasia sighed. "Don't remind me of the fact that we're gonna be fighting a demon."

He smiled. "Relax. It'll be easy this time."

"Do you really believe that?"

"...No."

"I was useless last time. And then, you got your hand cut off. It was weird."

He stared at her. "I think you're the only person in the world to just dismiss the entire event as just 'weird'."

"Either way... the whole thing is weird. This one's stronger. And the next one will be, too. And we're just supposed to, what, handle them?"

Alexander didn't know how to respond to that. "Y'know, Leonard had wanted to make a bet as to who would die first."

"You, too, huh?"

"Wait, he asked you, too?"

She nodded. "Yep. He ended the conversation when I said it would be him."

"Realistically, though..." Alexander said. "I wouldn't be surprised if I die. I don't even have an affinity."

"Yeah, but at least you're good at enhancement, right?"

"Yeah," he said, smiling and nodding. "I've been exercising to make sure I actually stand a chance, too. For like the past six months at this point. It's horrible. I'm just hoping it's not a waste of time."

"How would that be a waste of time?"

"I could be using this time to do something else."

"What else would you use that time for?"

"Nothing."

She stared at him in confusion.

"As in, I would do nothing," he said.

She was still confused. "What's so good about doing nothing?"

"Doing nothing is the best. If you're doing nothing, you have the possibility to do anything. That's why I'm constantly doing nothing."

"That's..." She paused. "That actually makes sense. Kind of. But still..." Anastasia shut her locker. "Well, we still have a mission tomorrow, right?"

"Yep," he said. "Wait. I think it's today, actually."

"No, it's the fifth. Today's the fourth."

"...Today's the fifth."

Her eyes widened. "No, it's- Oh my God. Today's the fifth."

"Anastasia Velda... you really forgot, huh? You with all of your punctuality and all. You really forgot."

Anastasia stared at him. "Just shut up."

Alexander smiled.

"I gotta go tell Emilia that I got a mission. Kinda forgot, too."

She smiled as he walked away before turning to shut her locker.

Not five seconds after that, Alexander froze. He turned, walking back to Anastasia. "Wait, since when did we have lockers?"

"You didn't know we had lockers?"