End of Lecture

Ha.

Haha.

"Hahahahahahahahahahaha!" the Creator laughed, dropping to her knees in front of Ochanomizu Station. Her normally composed and flippant attitude all but disappeared, replaced by a mix of relief and exhaustion. "I'm finally back."

"You don't have to be so melodramatic," Microwaved commented, grabbing by the arms and dragging her out of the main thoroughfare.

"Shut it, Microwave. I don't want to hear it right now." She had gone through a harrowing experience, one that eclipsed life and death. Something so heinous she shuddered just thinking about it.

"It was only a lecture, you know?" Microwave sighed.

"Only a lecture? ONLY A LECTURE??? Do you UNDERSTAND how it feels to be stuck in a bed, unable to move, as you sit there listening to someone scold you for hours and hours and hours?!" Due to her mana exhaustion, the Vice President effectively held her hostage for the rest of the weekend, reprimanding for not only her dangerous choices but potential exacerbation of the fire if things went wrong. "'Everything would've been fine, if you just waited. You could've made things even worse.' But I didn't right?!? Why is she telling me off when everything was resolved so cleanly?!?"

"I think you're missing the point."

"What point?!? That's right. there is none!" she screamed, her eyes turning glassy. "She wouldn't even let me work on my song..." It didn't matter how injured she was. If the Vice President noticed her blanking out, she would either yell, shake, or slap her right in the face. Normally, she would never notice that, but with her 'restriction', each caused a pain she couldn't ignore, no matter how much she tried.

"Well, it isn't that bad."

"You're telling me a lecture for two days straight isn't the worst?!?!?" Her view of punishment was completely warped.

"But she stopped right?"

"Only because she had class." The Creator recovered near the end of Sunday, so they ended up getting back to Ochanomizu around 08:30 on Monday. Given she was more or less fine, the Vice President had no choice but to leave her alone. "And she promised to continue it when she finished." A shiver ran down her spine, her trauma replaying over and over in her mind.

"Haah..." it groaned. It couldn't understand. It was used to handling unreasonable commands. As such, it provided no comfort as she continued muttering beneath her breath.

"Agh... whatever. There's no use thinking about it anymore. Let's just head over to San'ya." She decided to bury her dark thoughts away, focusing on what was truly important. She was starving for inspiration, so much so that as soon as she switched tracks, her feet started to move on their own. After all, she had a feeling that what she was searching for was just around the corner.

"Wait a moment," it reached out, grabbing her arm. "Did you forget? Your classes are about to start." She was obligated to attend classes, no matter her situation. There were very few cases where a Creator could be injured anyway. And even if they were, most of them would be right as rain when the time came. In fact, you could say her mana exhaustion vanished for precisely this reason. Though, in this instance, it was coincidence.

"Completing my song is much more important than school!" Her starved mind rationalized her nonsensical choices, even more so than usual.

Microwave quickly corrected her. "And why are you planning to go right now? It nearly 09:00. Most of the people in San'ya at this time are day laborers." While they could go and scout the place, they would probably need to wait until the afternoon rolled around before there was any chance at catching the person who started the magnesium fire, assuming their theory was correct. There were a few students who showed up at other times, but since they thought the student was unaware of their actions, it seemed unlikely they went at such unusual hours. Microwave meticulously explained this -- one of the few times she actually bothered to listen.

"...right. That makes sense." Even she had to admit she was wrong, though she didn't explicitly say it. "Well, I'll just go to class then. I can write there until the time comes."

"That's not the point of class, remember?" it quipped.

"It's fine," she waved off. "I already know what they're teaching. After all, the textbook was generated from my work!"

"That's not... ok then." There was no point trying to convince her, especially since she was being normal again.

"Well, see you later!" She took off across the street, heading in a completely random direction. As expected, it wasn't long before she stopped and turned back around.

"Let me guess..."

"Yeah... um.... how do I get to class again? I don't think I've ever actually 'walked' there."

"...haah."