Her Armor

The atmosphere was different now. As I walked toward the dorm, my body felt lighter, as if a great weight had been lifted from me. It wasn't that my anxiety about the tournament had simply disappeared, but that victory against Lyra made me understand that I was more prepared than I imagined.

I could hardly wait for the next few days.

It was already evening, and most students had already left the school, leaving the hallways practically deserted. Compared to the usual hustle and bustle, the place seemed unrecognizable.

I was tired. The fight with Lyra and the intense use of magic had drained all my energy. All I wanted was to get to the room and crash into bed, without even bothering to take a shower beforehand.

Darin had left the training hall a little earlier than me, so he was probably already in the room, in a deep sleep. At least that way, I would have some silence to rest.

But something interrupted my thoughts as I walked. A murmur.

The voice was coming from inside one of the classrooms, and as scary as a lone voice in a nearly empty hallway might sound, I wasn't afraid. The tone was soft and familiar.

"Where is it?"

It was Nina. Inside the room, she was frantically searching inside her bag and looking under the tables. But something was different. And as soon as I entered the room, I understood the reason for her frustration.

"Did you lose your hood?"

She spun around abruptly and, seeing me, instinctively raised her hands to her head, trying to pull up a hood that wasn't there. Although I had seen her ears before, it was still not a sight I was used to. There was also a certain charm in the desperate way she tried to hide them.

"Don't look," she said with a furious glare.

I turned away before her irritation could make her hit me. "What happened?"

"I was preparing a potion, but I messed up the amount of Fiorumbra petals. I accidentally created a sleeping potion."

"So even you make mistakes."

"Hey, this is no time for jokes! The potion exploded, and I ended up falling asleep. When I woke up, my hood was gone."

"I can help you look, but for that, I need to turn around."

"F-Fine."

I turned slowly. Nina's face was visibly flushed, and her ears were intensely twitching. It was a completely different sight from the sarcastic and confident Nina I knew. She looked fragile, almost shy.

Seeing that made me feel like I was witnessing something that wasn't meant for my eyes to see. My own face started to warm up, and for a moment, I was hypnotized by the person in front of me.

"Are you going to keep staring at me, or are you going to help?"

I snapped out of it and started helping with the search. But no matter how much we looked, there was no sign of the hood.

"Are you sure you were wearing it?"

"Of course I was! I never go out without it."

"Then how did it just disappear?"

"If I knew, I would have found it already!"

Just then, a strong wind blew in through the window, sending some papers on the table flying and violently shaking the curtains.

"Did it fly out the window?"

Nina ran to the windowsill and leaned out. With the movement, her skirt went up slightly, and I instantly looked away.

"I don't see anything out there."

Her voice was almost a whisper, unrecognizable. She hugged herself, as if the lack of the hood left her incomplete.

Even if it were just for one night, the lack of the hood profoundly disturbed her. That piece of clothing had some greater significance, something that was able to change her attitude completely. A Nina who was once sarcastic and provocative was now acting completely differently.

That situation made me uneasy. I needed to help her somehow.

"I don't really know what the hood means to you... But is there anything I can do? Anything at all?"

Not knowing how to comfort her, the only thing left was to show that I was her friend. That I was there for her, willing to listen without judgment.

But the way she was right now, so evasive, made me think there was something beyond the simple fact that she wore the hood, something that distressed her in a way I couldn't understand.

"You won't abandon me?"

I looked at her, confused. Her question had caught me off guard.

"Why would I do that?"

She crossed her arms and looked away. Her ears trembled slightly, involuntarily revealing the source of her anguish.

"It's because... It's what they always do."

For an instant, the room seemed quieter. The wind coming through the window seemed to have frozen the atmosphere.

"Is that why you hide them?"

Nina hesitated but eventually nodded.

"I didn't want that anymore, that false closeness. I've been through it many times, so I decided to hide them."

"Is that why you also stopped coming to school?"

Nina hesitated once more, her eyes losing focus, as if she were seeing something distant.

"Yes..." She lowered her voice even more. "In the beginning, I even tried to come without the hood. But... it wasn't just curiosity. They draw attention. And I need to avoid certain kinds of attention..."

She paused, as if to choose her words carefully.

"So it was better to hide, to become invisible. It was safer." She shrugged, trying to appear indifferent, but the tension in her shoulders betrayed her. "At least until I missed studying so much that I decided it was worth the risk. And then... I met you. And it was different."

"Different how?"

"You just... saw Nina. So I decided to help you. Part of it was for you, of course. But part of it was for me. Thinking that if I was useful... maybe you wouldn't leave. And I wouldn't have to hide from you."

My chest tightened. It wasn't just loneliness that haunted her. It was fear. While I had my own mission, she carried a burden I couldn't even begin to imagine. Her provocations weren't just out of hate, as I thought, but were also a smoke screen, a way to control a situation before anyone saw through her act.

She didn't push me away because she didn't like me. She pushed me away because she was afraid to show who she really was.

I remembered when we started training, how she would say I was incompetent for not even knowing the basics, but then she would spend hours patiently teaching me. All those contradictions made sense now. Her aggressiveness wasn't disdain, but armor to protect herself.

"Nina..." I said, my voice firmer. "I would never abandon you. And it's not because you're useful. It's because you're my friend. And friends protect each other."

Her eyes widened, surprised not just by the words but by the intensity with which I spoke them.

"Really?"

"Yes. It's because you are you. Sarcastic, stubborn, and you even have..."

"My ears?"

"Well... I know you don't like me to mention them, and you try to hide them. But I think they suit you."

Nina's face turned red all the way to the tips of her ears. For an instant, she seemed paralyzed, but she soon clenched her fists.

"Idiot!" she yelled, landing a light punch on my arm. "You don't know the size of the trouble you cause by saying that!"

I rubbed my sore shoulder, but couldn't help but smile.

This was the Nina I knew returning to the surface, with something extra. Now I understood a little better what afflicted her. The fears behind those red eyes, and the gratitude hidden in them.

Maybe I didn't exactly know the meaning of having to carry those ears, or the weight of the curious stares of those who approached her in the past, but I knew how to recognize loneliness when I saw it.

And behind that tough girl facade was someone who just didn't want to be left behind.

Because of that, I didn't mind when she pretended to annoy me or when her hands flew in my direction. Because I knew she was much more than that. She was a true friend, and it was actually me who didn't want to lose her.