"Does today... feel strange?" My eyes locked onto her as I asked this.
Her breath caught for a second before returning to normal.
"What do you mean?" An expression of genuine surprise drew itself on her face.
The aura around her disappeared at that moment. It no longer felt like I was talking to a humanoid monster.
Her breath caught. She definitely knew. She only hoped I hadn't noticed.
...Why. Why would she pretend to not know?
"Heavy. Like something is waiting to happen," I said quietly, glancing left and right.
Her grip tightened around the book in her hands.
Silence stretched between us.
"Maybe I just didn't sleep well." I added.
She stared at me for a few minutes before her lips finally parted.
"I really don't understand what you mean." She looked to the door, toward the blue-robed man, as if telling me to shut up.
Now this was starting to get out of my hands. I did expect the high ranking mages to know about it, but for us to need to hide that we also do?
The academy must've either done something reputation damaging, or it got attacked.
They teleported the students out, did what they wanted, then brought the students back.
But to do that without anyone noticing, they would've had to either erase the memories of the students or somehow freeze their perception.
That would also explain why Denis came back to tell me about Penelope again.
I didn't doubt that the academy had such methods, but why would they erase memories of the event from the students? Information would get out sooner or later.
Considering that Professor Damian was absent, a mage with a specialized uniform took his place, and the presence of faction members here, it was likely an attack at the academy.
But I didn't get teleported away, and nothing seemed to happen in that period of time.
Regardless, I had to find out any clues through the girl in front of me.
It wouldn't work if I kept asking about the same thing and hoped for a different answer, so I should likely ask about something else.
The cover of the book she was holding was the same as the dragon fairy tale's.
"What book are you reading?"
"...It's an alchemy book." She looked at me strangely.
She wasn't reacting in any concrete way to my probing. I needed to ask more obviously.
"Have you read a fairy tale about a dragon and an ever-returning hero party challenging it?" I asked, my face full of skepticism as even I didn't know where I was going with that.
I couldn't even tell her about the ending, since the story got cut in the middle with a single line.
Her gaze towards me turned even weirder.
Oh come on. Who's the weird one here? The girl who talks to her books, or the boy who keeps insisting today feels heavy...
Okay, maybe I'm the weird one.
"No, I've never heard of such a fairy tale." She replied curtly before going back to flipping through her book. She must think that I'm wasting her time.
It did feel like I was a disturbing presence for her.
"Why are you staying here? Everyone else already left, and there's nothing to do here."
"I would've already left, if not for... a certain someone." Her gaze turned to me as she said that.
"..."
No. No. Did it even matter if she viewed me as bothersome? I just had to extract the information I wanted and she would never see me again.
I shouldn't care if she hated me or anything like that.
She started packing her stuff up, and I went to grab my pack before waiting by her desk.
Her gaze turned icy cold as she looked at me.
I shrugged. It did feel bad to have her look at me like that, but she still hadn't told me off.
'I sound like a total asshole right now.'
"So... Why do you keep talking to your books?" I directed her a question as soon as she got up.
I felt the mana in the air compress even more tightly.
'Yep, she definitely hates me.'
"It's a way to see the intention behind the book. It helps understand the ideas explored by the writer." She walked past me.
Not today.
I caught up to her almost immediately.
"How does that work? Does the book just talk back?"
Her movement paused as her fingers curled into a fist.
It quickly released as she went back to walking, ignoring my dumb question.
Was it even dumb? I really wanted to know how it worked.
She didn't want to talk about the day feeling heavy, or the fairy tale, or her books. What could I even ask now? I couldn't just keep prying further and further when she refused to answer the first time.
I should change the topic and maybe try getting closer to her before asking about personal stuff.
"What's all this pressure around you? And why do people avoid you? You seem like a pretty nice person to me."
The pressure around her felt a bit similar to the strain around the fairy tale.
"Someone spread rumors about me using witchcraft." She answered without turning to face me.
She avoided answering the question about the pressure around her, but I didn't mind. It wasn't why I was doing all this in the first place.
We passed by the blue-robed man as we entered the hallway. His eyes swept over me for a few seconds.
She went completely silent when we walked by him.
The hallway was almost empty. Only a few students were conversing in small groups while walking to the dorms. Some students were going the opposite direction.
The school day had already ended. No lecture was scheduled after Professor Damian's, so most students took this as a break. The hardworking ones went to self-study in the academy's specialized facilities.
"That's pretty mean. Why would they ruin your reputation like that for no reason?" I knew that she had a bad relationship with some influential people, but witchcraft rumors? That was ridiculous.
"Well, it's not like they're wrong."
My steps faltered.
She said it so plainly.
"You're serious?"
She kept walking, not paying me any mind.
My eyes twitched as I saw her turning to the dorms.
I couldn't just keep following her into her dorm as well.
"What do you mean?" I asked seriously, trying to figure out a way for her to open up to me.
"Exactly what I said. I'm a practitioner of witchcraft. Not the type you're thinking of though, since that's forbidden." Her eyes drifted to a group of three students in the hallway in front of us.
"Could you explain? I don't really get it. Isn't witchcraft the use of curses? Why would something like tha-"
"...Hey! Jack! Kevin, Susie, what's up?" The red-haired girl suddenly exploded with enthusiasm as she stepped toward the group of three students she was looking at.
They were wearing a form-fitting light blue school uniform covered by an almost black jacket. The jacket had two words on it, "3rd year"
The 3rd year girl looked at the red-haired girl strangely for a second before her eyes sharpened as she noticed me behind her.
I was totally marked as a creep. My past self had never once imagined that the tactic of talking to a random group if someone was harassing you would ever be used against me.
"Hey, everything is good. What about you?" One of the third years said.
The two dudes in the group caught on just now, sending me glares as they spoke warmly to the red-haired girl.
Now that I thought about it, I didn't even know her name. Maybe if I started with introductions, things would've ended differently.
The red-haired girl did seem to play along for a bit, even warning me of the blue-robed man's presence. She listed me as delusional not long after, however.
There was still so much to ask the red-haired girl about, but the group in front of me acted like they would skin me if I tried anything.
I started weighing the consequences of my actions, and decided that leaving this matter for later and meeting up with Denis and Penelope would be better.
I turned around, walking to the library.
A sigh of relief sounded out in the hall.
I almost stopped right there. That was an obvious taunt from the red-haired girl.
It was deserved, yes, but it didn't feel good nonetheless.
I shook my head and resumed walking.
Sweat started forming on my back from the glares the two guys were sending me. Their glares didn't leave my back until I took a left turn.
The library wasn't even in that direction, but the looks the entire group was giving me were too unbearable.
That's what I get for prying further than I should, I guess.
I waited for a while, making sure the group had left before heading to the library.
Denis and Penelope had nothing of note to say, only discussing yesterday. Denis even seemed out of it the entire time, his mind obviously preoccupied with another thing.
Whenever Professor Damian or the blue-robed man were mentioned, he always seemed to regain his focus.
Time passed, and it was now about 4:20 PM.
We left a little early, not wanting to risk arriving late.
The same couldn't be said for someone else, however.
I saw the clock hit 5:05, yet no one else came into the clearing.
Why was no one punctual today?
*Psh*
*Pish*
The faint sound of something pulsing picked up in my ear.
*Whoosh*
Suddenly, wind started swirling in the air, making howling sounds as it smashed against the trees.
Grass started getting uprooted, trees shook from the force.
We had to grab each other just to make sure we didn't fly off.
A few seconds after, a man dressed neatly in a blue-robe, with bright rings covering each of his fingers arrived in the clearing, a smile plastered on his face.
I recognized the face. We all did.
Penelope stared head on at the man fearlessly. Denis averted his gaze, not meeting the man's.
A laugh echoed softly in the clearing.
"Your previous instructor got caught up in a bit of a pickle, so I was tasked with taking over."
Surprise filled Penelope's and my expressions.
"Now, now. How about we start with a warm-up?" The man said as he forced us away from each other, the wind picking up more speed.
"Try to stay on the ground for as long as possible, you may use anything in your vicinity."
I was starting to hate his smile.