More than half of the Fitzsimmons students who celebrated the weekend could be found on Finnigan Street. It was because it was the only downtown area within reachable distance with a student-level teleportation spell.
Bewildered at the idea of her hanging out with her boyfriend’s ex, I hung on Brianna’s leg for half an hour before she finally agreed to go out together.
Bree was as stubborn as she was intelligent. If I told her to break up with Walsh right away, she would stick with Walsh to prove I was wrong and she was right.
I was able to get Bree break up with Walsh ahead of schedule in March, the third round of time traveling, was that I pretended to be a prophet. Then the book-smart Brianna Mosley made me her soul mentor, and I hated that.
I wanted to share a friendship with Bree. I didn’t want to be worshiped unilaterally.
So I clung to her. Bree was weak on affection. The sixth Ariel Dalton’s plan was to dig into her like getting the clothes wet by a drizzle*.
*(Getting the clothes wet by a drizzle:No matter how trivial an effort or action is, When repeated, it becomes so great that it cannot be ignored.)
“He’s doing that again.”
Brianna said as we crossed the courtyard through the bridge connecting the main building and the annex. When I looked outside, I saw Illestia was sitting there again.
“Does this happen often?”
“You probably don’t see much because you tend to go out a little late. I always see him doing that every day whenever I pass by around 7 o’clock. I’m not sure what exactly he’s doing.”
Bree shook her head to emphasize her confusion over his action. Then she bit her lips, perhaps conscious that she had just had a normal conversation with her boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend.
***
“Mosley, do you know what ‘patch notes’ mean?”
“’Patch notes?’”
A wrinkle formed between Brianna’s eyebrows. It was a habit when she was in deep thought.
“I know ‘notes’, but I don’t know what ‘patch’ is.”
“Is it like the patch that they use to relieve body pain? The one you attach to the neck or arm.”
“Then it won’t have a connection with ‘Note’.”
That’s right. Bree shook her head. Her face was blurred by the steam rising from the drink on the table.
Even though the drink looked hot because of the steam, it tasted the same as a soda. It’s even cold enough to make your teeth ache. What appears to be boiling is the result of special effects added to keep the concept of a witch’s potion alive. It even came out of a pot, rather than a cup.
“But are you okay, Dalton?”
“With what?”
“You know, with Blossom. Weren’t you and Villard flirting with each other?”
Me? With Kyle? I was so surprised that my jaw fell.
“Who said that?”
“It’s not important… But is it not true?”
“Definitely not! He and I are just friends! Very close friends!”
“Ah… Is that so?”
Brianna stirred the drink, which was still steaming, with a ladle-shaped straw. Then, from the pot containing the liquid, laughter suddenly echoed, ‘Hee-hee-hee!’, as if it were making fun of me.
I hurriedly made an excuse that Kyle and I were born in a neighboring estate and have been together since we could barely walk and that we were so close that we can even go naked into the bathtub together.
After blurting that, I suddenly thought that talking about the bathtub was overkill, so I ended the conversation there.
“But why Blossom?”
“You care, don’t you?”
“No.”
“Then you can’t possibly still…”
*(Still in love with Willie—I mean Walsh)
“No way! I swear on Salamander’s rainbow scales!”
It was Bree who laughed this time, not the pot. She laughed so hard that I who was sitting across from her, was able to see her uvula. Although she was obviously making fun of me, I decided to let it go.
It’s been a long time since Bree laughed like that. It felt like we were back in the good old days, even just for a while.
On our way to the teleportation circle to Fitzsimmons Academy, Bree and I spotted the Nadon twins hanging out with Rosemary Blossom.
Bryce Nadon, as the Fitzsimmons Times described it, clung to Blossom’s side, eager to squeeze one more gift into her already-full hands.
His sleek jaw looked unexpectedly fine. Either Professor Chapman’s healing technique is greater than I remember, or Delaney Wood hasn’t hit him yet. In my opinion, it was the latter.
Edgar Ramos was about two steps behind his twin brother, but surprisingly, he seemed more interested in the stall selling magic tools than Blossom.
Ramos’s gaze, which carefully examined the quill that automatically draw some magic formulas, suddenly reached me through the colorful awning of the stall.
“Dalton! Mosley!”
Ramos recognized us and waved excitedly. I soullessly nodded back, since I didn’t think it was a good thing that we’d met in an unexpected place.
My good roommate, Briana Mosley, on the other hand, did not.
“Hello, uh, Nadon?”
“It’s Ramos.”
“Ramos.”
Ramos and I spoke at the same time.
“As expected, you can tell right away. Do you by chance have feelings for me?”
“I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but I have such keen eyes that I can even tell all of Professor Monaghan’s pet wisps* apart.”
*(Wisps: a small thin piece, a smoke/cloud stem. In other references, Wisp is a white ghost roughly spherical in shape.)
Of course it was a lie. The reason I can tell the Nadon twins apart is that I’ve already seen them for 10 years.
But I couldn’t say that, and I didn’t want to add to the unnecessarily high self-esteem of Ramos, who must have been a popular man all his life.
“How do you tell a wisp apart? They don’t have any facial features!”
Brianna was astounded.
“Their brightness is slightly different.”
After my brazen reply, Ramos disappeared with the crowd, as if he was threatened with a goblin’s dick*, after Professor Monaghan’s sudden appearance.
*(I dunno how to translate this properly but it was something like “As if he was held at gunpoint.” but the gun was replaced with goblin’s dick.)
***
As Brianna said, Illestia sat in the courtyard every morning. It was the same as what I saw on the first day, as if it had been painted there with a brush.
To get to the courtyard, I had to go around a building from my room, so I told him about my intentions using the magic science textbook; Meet me for a while after lunch.
Legend has it that Illestia schedules his life down to the minute, so I had to take the lead to meet him in a way other than by accident.
After opening the note, Illestia turned his head and looked up. I tiptoed and waved my hand to let him know where I was.
“Can you come?”
I asked, deliberately opening my mouth wider than usual, but it seemed that communication was still not carried out properly.
“After the morning class, I’ll go to the magic science classroom!”
“I’m not asking you to have lunch— Nevermind.”
It’s something I realized after talking a few times with Illestia recently; he listens to what others say but tends to only do what he wants.
It was a relief that he was very handsome and a crown prince. He can control other people’s anger with his face and position.
As a person with a minute-by-minute schedule, Illestia appeared with a halo behind him in less than thirty seconds after Professor Houston had finished class.
“Dalton, I’m here to pick you up.”
The students who were packing their textbook started buzzing. Feeling like I was about to have a headache, I grabbed Illestia’s forearm.
“Go outside and wait there. Outside.”
“What is it, Keran? Why are you picking up Ari?”
I don’t know when Kyle came close. Kyle placed his arms around my neck as if he were locking me up. Following him, Blossom stood half a step behind.
It was a very suspicious composition. Now, the students passing by in the hallway were also looking at us. I felt like I was going to die of embarrassment.
I poked Kyle hard in the side and pushed him away. But not only did he not budge, my fingers also didn’t seem to affect his hard body in any way. It was a rather strange feeling.
Kyle, who was born prematurely, had a lot of minor illnesses, so when we were younger, I was taller and bigger than he was.
The Countess of Villard was worried that her little son would be bullied somewhere so she made him learn swordsmanship at an age where he couldn’t even hold a toy sword. I was much better at it even though I only learned it by tagging along (I have always been grateful to her. I never thought I had such a talent).
When did he grow up so much? He was just like the size of an acorn before.
Anyway, I was still mad at Kyle so I didn’t even look at him throughout the class. It was even more so because Blossom was sitting across from me with Kyle in between us.
“Hi, Dalton. I forgot to bring my textbook, so Kyle suggested that I share it with him.”
Blossom said.
“Her friend Michaela Maynard went to the infirmary.”
Kyle added quickly.
Either way, I was bothered with the difference in familiarity from the two names she mentioned, “Dalton” and “Kyle.”
Well, I’ve never had a proper conversation with Blossom,while Kyle, according to rumors, was a prince who rode a griffon to rescue Princess Rosemary Blossom from the clutches of the Playboy King Bryce Nadon.
“Do as you please.”
So I said nicely.
“You don’t have to explain to me.”
The funny thing is, Kyle became very restless. He drew a chair and sat close to my side, and tried to write a story by playing with a pen in my magic textbook. Making up excuses as if he wasn’t with Blossom of his own volition.
But honestly, it didn’t matter to me. I was upset with Kyle because he kept hiding something from me, not because he loved Blossom.
Even if there is a possibility that she is the one preventing me from graduating.
“Why do you care?”
So when I said this, Kyle unknowingly put on a very hurt expression.
