"I can't believe that happened to you! If I find who's responsible I'm going to make them pay." Reniece said after hearing the partially fabricated events of what happened to Julia when they got separated.
"We're sorry we weren't there for you." Trista said feeling awful that her friend was grabbed by some stranger without her realizing and nearly dying.
"Don't worry. It wasn't your fault. I'm alright." Julia said assuring them.
"Would you mind if I ask something?" Reniece asked.
"Of course." Julia said, she hoped that she could answer it truthfully to her friends.
"The person who saved you and the person who threw you. They were different people? You think there was a chance that this was some elaborate ploy?" Reniece asked.
"No, the two people were different. They didn't seem to be working together." Julia said quickly.
"Are you sure? It was awfully convenient that something like that happened only for some mysterious stranger to save you." Reniece said, seeming to come up with her own theory.
"No. The person who saved me definitely wasn't involved with my attack. I'm nearly certain of it."
"Besides. What would that achieve?" Trista said before giving Julia a playful look, "Tell me Julia, was your savior perhaps a man?"
"Oh?" Reniece said suddenly looking interested.
"What?" Julia said suddenly feeling a bit squeamish under her friends' gaze.
"Is she right? Was it a guy?" Reniece asked.
"Uh, yeah. I think so."
"Was he hot?" Trista asked.
"Trista!" Julia yelled.
"Come on Julia. It is pretty romantic that a knight in shining armour saved you isn't it?" Reniece argued.
"Oh, it's not like that. But I do want to meet him again."
"I'm sure you do." Trista said mischievously.
"Oh shut up!" Julia bickered with her laughing friends.
***
Archer Griffen sat in an office room as he fidgeted with his hands. He was currently being confronted by both his homeroom teacher Professor Blackowl and Phil Doyle.
"You lost your alarm?" Blackowl said glaring at Archer who stood there sheepishly.
"Uh, yes sir." Archer replied.
"That alarm is meant to keep you safe. Losing it means that your life is in jeopardy. Had you perished it would have reflected badly on Trinity Academy."
"For this. We will be fining you for the cost of the alarm and warning." Phil said.
"Uh, yes sirs." Archer said quickly nodding along.
"You are dismissed for lunch. I'll see you in class." Blackowl spat.
"Yes sir. Uh… sorry. Where is the cafeteria? I don't know the way around the place yet." Archer said.
"I'll guide you." Phil said as he noticed a vein pop out of Blackowl's forehead.
"Oh, thank you kindly." Archer said happily nodding along as he followed Phil out.
The two of them walked out of the office and down the halls of the school. After they were alone, Phil turned to Archer.
"What happened down there? A girl, an A-rank was found down on the fourth floor of the dungeon." Phil asked.
"I believe a classmate of mine named Luna has been possessed by a vengeful spirit and Julia has been unfortunate enough to be the main victim." Archer answered. Phil immediately stopped in his tracks staring at Archer in alarm.
"Uh, can you lead the way? I really don't know where the cafeteria is." Archer said as he found himself ahead of Phil.
"A possession? Here? How?" Phil said in disbelief.
"I don't know." Archer said shrugging, "I intend to find out. What would happen if I let the faculty deal with this possession?"
"It is very likely that an investigation will be conducted, this girl, Luna, will be convicted, exorcised and kicked out of the school… that is if she isn't killed in the process."
"Exorcism shouldn't kill the host." Archer said looking over to Phil and raising an eyebrow.
"Only if done properly and that takes time. Ridding the host would be faster. Also if she did try to kill a rich A-rank then the family would want her punished, possessed or not." Phil said, "That is the problem that you run into with this school, excessive vendettas. So even if she survives the removal of the ghost, she likely won't have much of a life or career in this country afterwards."
"How much worse would it be for Luna if it was revealed that she also stole Julia's potential groom along with a gaggle of other rich sons?" Archer asked innocently.
Phil Doyle simply stared at Archer in silent disbelief, "You aren't joking are you?"
"I'm afraid not."
"I can get the faculty to deal with it based on what you told me. But it won't end well for her." Phil said, obviously spelling out the course of action Archer should make.
"Don't worry. I know what to do. But I'm going to need some help on your end."
"Of course. I'm not going to let the lives of a bunch of kids get ruined." Phil said.
"I'm going to need the schedules of Julia, Luna, and Annaxia Tori. As well as information on that tunnel thing."
"Who's Annaxia Tori? How is she related?"
"I don't know." Archer said shrugging, "We'll see."
"If it's what you want." Phil said with a sigh.
"You'll tell Electa about this right?"
"Yes."
"Good. Keep her updated. I'll probably forget." Archer said as they continued to walk for another minute, "Oh, yeah. I need Luna's address."
***
Archer walked his way through the cafeteria with his tray in hand. On the tray was a bowl of fish chowder, an egg salad sandwich cut in two, an apple already sliced, and a cookie still in its plastic wrapping.
Sitting himself down he began to eat. Taking a few spoonfuls of chowder in between a bite of his sandwich, once he made it around a quarter of his sandwich, he ate an apple slice. As he did so, he nonchalantly dug out his phone and read the message that Phil just sent him.
The weird shaft that Julia was thrown down was an old passageway. None of the modern maps that the academy had labelled this. After some quick digging one of the original maps for the dungeon did indicate the existence of the tunnel, but that was thirty-eight years ago.
"Timeline." Archer said as he reached out for another apple slice before feeling someone approaching. Turning his head he was surprised to see Julia.
"Hi there." Archer said with a smile once he swallowed his apple slice.
"I'll see you after school."
"Uh, why?" Archer asked.
"Just don't leave the school."
"Okay…" Archer said with a slow nod. That's not happening. He thought internally.
"Good." She said before leaving him to his meal. As Archer began to eat again he noticed a few D ranks approach Ran Almer on the other side of the cafeteria. By the way they moved Archer was sure they didn't have good intentions.
Immediately he could hear them start harassing Ran, who began to look agitated. But before anything could get out of hand the massive D-rank that had challenged Ran yesterday interrupted them. Quickly the two harassers retreated as the large man turned to Ran.
"Don't worry. I won't give you any excuses to complain about after I kill you. I have some connections with upper ranks, no one will bother you until our fight. After that you're dead." The massive man said towering over Ran.
"At least you won't stoop so low as to cheat." Ran said meeting his gaze.
"I don't need to." He said as he flashed a sneer and gave him a hard thump on the shoulder.
"Is there a problem here?" Mercy said appearing to have noticed this tense interaction.
"No, we're good. Right buddy?" The D-rank said giving Ran another hard smack on the shoulder.
"Yeah, it's fine." Ran said after a moment.
"Go back to eating your lunch." Mercy said as she watched the D-rank aqueous to her order.
"Thank you." Ran said once he was gone.
"Just don't cause trouble. Just make sure the fight stays inside the arena." Mercy said as she left.
"Wait, you know about the fight?" Ran asked to no response.
"News spreads fast." Archer said as he took another sip of his soup. Right I need groceries. He recalled.
Later near the end of the lunch period as Archer got up from his seat and moved to throw his tray into the garbage he passed by Ran.
"Hey." Archer said.
"Yeah?" Ran said blinking in surprise.
"I think you can win." Archer said as he left.
"Uh, thanks." Ran said surprised turning to his retreating back.
***
A few hours later, the rest of the school day passed with little to note. The first lectures were taught and the final bell rang. As the rest of class 101-A began to spool out, Archer sat back and waited. Part of him debated if he should just nap until someone woke him up and forced him to move. As he pondered he noticed the girl, Selen, approach Luna. They exchanged a few words before Selen seemed to shrug and leave her.
Within a few minutes the rest of the class pooled out of the room and Archer found himself alone with Luna. She hadn't noticed him yet, she simply sat in her chair and seemed to be contemplating to herself, head down on the desk clutching at her head.
Hmm. Archer thought as he purposefully kicked the desk in front of him. The noise caused Luna to jolt around and turn towards Archer.
"Where is everyone?" Archer said pretending to have just woken up, "Is class over. Uh, how long have I been asleep?" He asked as he stretched and yawned.
"Oh! Um, the bell rang five minutes ago." Luna said collecting herself and looking over to the clock.
"Oh okay. Thanks." Archer said getting up and grabbing his things before looking back up, "Oh, uh. Do you live in this city?"
"Um, yes."
"Oh good." Archer said perking up as he made his way over to her, struggling as he navigated through the seats and desks, "I'm new here and I need groceries. Where's a good place buy some?"
"Oh, uh. I just go to the supermarket. But there are some nice restaurants around." Luna said.
"Okay. Good to know." Archer said as he stifled a yawn, "I'm sorry. I'm a bit tired. Haven't had much sleep the last couple of days."
"I think I understand the feeling." Luna said a ghost of a smile could be seen appearing on her face.
"Oh, you're having hectic nights too?"
"Something like that." Luna said with a flash of pain in her eyes.
"Do you mind if I ask a question that might be a bit personal?" Archer asked politely.
"Um… sure." She said with a half nod.
"What's that brooch?" Archer asked pointing to the ornate brooch pinned on her collar. It had the emblem of Trinity Academy on it, or at least a variation of it, "It looks really cool. I wanted to know where you got it. Do you buy it as merch?"
"Oh this?" She said feeling the brooch as if this was the first time she was aware of it, "No, uh. I, uh, found it. Worn it since then." She said looking a bit troubled.
"Where did you find it?"
"The lost and found." Luna said running her fingers around the brooch's design with a troubled look on her face.
"We have a lost and found?" Archer said surprised.
"Huh? Oh yeah." Luna said blinking, "There's a desk where they put lost items in the morning at the entrance."
"What during the entrance ceremony? Was there a room for it?"
"No, uh, really early in the morning. Once class nears, they move it to the main office."
"You were here in the morning?" Archer asked.
"I volunteered here during the summer to look after the garden and small farm." She said looking a bit sheepish.
"We have a farm?" Archer said perking up, "Where?"
"Oh, around the back. There are chickens, cows, pigs, and sheep." She said getting excited, "The kitchen uses them for fresh produce, and I think the culinary class uses them too. That's what the garden is also for."
"That's cool. Is it hard to take care of them? I had an uncle who worked at a farm. Mainly raised pigs for meat and chickens for fresh eggs and grew corn. They were pretty self-sustainable in the protein aspect, but I heard it wasn't easy."
"Oh it can be a bit tiring, but it is pretty therapeutic. Though I do have to wake up early to take care of them. But it is part of the reason why I was able to get into the school." She said smiling as she remembered her fond memories.
"Is that why you're tired these days?" Archer asked.
The smile on Luna's face wavered, "No… it's… it's not the reason."
"Oh I'm sorry. Did I bring up a sore subject?" Archer said apologizing immediately.
"No, no. It's fine." Luna said quickly trying to reassure him, "Honestly, I uh, am enjoying talking with you. My head has been fuzzy and this is the best I've felt in a bit."
Archer gave a wry smile, "Are you making a pass on me?"
"What? No!" Luna said her pale face quickly turning a light shade of red.
"I kid." Archer said with a small laugh as he looked at the clock, "Oh boy, we talked for a little bit. I need to go get groceries."
"Oh yeah. I need to meet some people as well." Luna said with a look of disdain.
"Then I'll talk to you at a later time then." Archer said as he turned to leave.
"Uh bye." She said as Archer approached the door.
"Oh, wait. What's your name?" Archer asked whipping around, "I'm Archer Griffen."
"Ah, L-Luna. Luna Foy." She said in surprise.
"Good to know you Luna Foy." Archer said as he left the classroom. A second later he poked his head back through the door, half leaned in, "Excuse me, are you going to take care of the garden tomorrow morning as well?"
"Uh, yeah. I am."
"Would it be okay for me to check out the garden? With permission, of course."
"Uh- yes! The garden is open to all students. But tomorrow they're planting new crops after school so you would need to go in the morning." Luna said nodding her head.
"What would be a good time to go?"
"About an hour before class starts."
"Ah, okay. Thank you. I'll see the both of you tomorrow." Archer said pointing towards Luna.
Luna blink, she swore she heard him say both, "I'm sorry what?" Luna said.
"I said I'll see you tomorrow morning. If not at the garden, then in class right?" Archer said looking at Luna with an innocent face.
"Oh, uh yeah." Luna said nodding as she watched Archer's head vanish back behind the door and his footsteps get quieter and quieter.
"That was weird. He seemed nice though." Luna said as she felt her head clear for the first time in a while.
***
As Archer was at his locker and placing his textbooks inside he was thinking about his next course of action. When I'm buying groceries, I don't have a car… would it be suspicious if I were to carry multiple weeks' worth of groceries by myself? Come to think of it, I know how tough an S rank should be, but I have no idea how capable an F rank can be. Archer pondered as he closed his locker and turned to see Julia standing there.
"Oh hey! It's you, that person." Archer said surprised.
"What are you doing? Trying to leave?" Julia said crossing her arms.
"Yeah. I need to buy groceries." Archer said, "And other stuff."
"Where?"
"The supermarket."
"Good, I need to go there. Let's go together." Julia said flatly.
"Uh, I thought there was a hierarchy. Wouldn't it be weird if the two of us were seen together?" Archer said.
"It doesn't really matter with everything that's happening with me. The rumors and all."
"Rumors?" Archer said getting interested.
"Listen. Can you please just answer some of my questions?" Julia asked with pleading eyes.
Archer paused and looked at her and thought for half a second, "Can you help carry the groceries?"