A Study in Potatoes, Part 1

Lilia Stratford was staring at slices of potatoes intensely.

“…And so, the stress applied to this surface is equal to the force applied, F, divided by the surface area, a, of the section…”

Lilia Stratford was confused while staring at slices of potatoes intensely.

“…Now, imagine the strut being stretched. The axial strain at this section, which is defined as the relative elongation of the strut, can be calculated by dividing the epsilon by E…”

Lilia Stratford was staring at cubes of potatoes intensely, while secretly craving for potato chips.

“…This is a simple generalisation of Hooke’s Law. This equation is applicable for one-dimensional linear and elastic deformations, but as the force applies increases, obviously the strut will break…”

The lecturer pulled apart a slice of potatoes to the cheers of his students. He then continued to explain the basics of structural mechanics and started doing computations based on equations he laid out earlier.

Lilia Stratford did not compute.

--------------------------------

Outside of the dull brutalist building, the little animal-like girl sat tightly on the grey concrete slab on the side of the pavement. Wrapped in a vibrant red scarf and a stuffy blue coat, Lilia breathed a sigh of relief. Without becoming a visible white smoke, her breathe dissipated into the air, into early autumn’s howling winds.

“The warmth of summer yet lingers,” I voiced my thoughts subconsciously, “for which the verdant leaves remained.”

“Yuri, you are a poet today, huh.” The shivering brunette girl delivered her comments in her usual sarcasm.

“I did learn poetry, but unfortunately I am not talented enough to be a poet.” I replied.

“But apparently you are talented enough to follow Professor Potato.”

“Professor Sanders has a name, you know. Besides, it is the first lecture of the class. It will be more problematic if I can’t follow.”

“Yes, you are a smart princess and I am dumb, I get it.” Lilia hugged her legs tightly, as if she was a little squirrel trying to roll herself into a ball. She seemed to be genuinely upset, a rare reaction coming from Andrew’s cheeky little sister.

“…what are you smiling at?” Lilia protested.

“It is a bit rare to see you genuinely upset, that’s all. You were always a composed one, after all. I didn’t know your weakness would be potatoes.” I found it appropriate to tease her a little.

Lilia’s face lit up slightly as she heard those words; my tone must have reminded her of the late Yuri Yuzuki. But she quickly put on the usual smile and replied. “Structural Mechanics is just not my thing. I did Thermodynamics and Computing fine. But Professor Potato’s lecture confuses me. Who in their right mind would use potatoes as props for lectures?”

“Is that so? I thought it was a rather genius move to keep the students’ attention…”

“You are just good at every subject! You probably found the Aerodynamics lecture fun too, didn’t you?” Lilia interrupted me.

“Ah yes. Professor Roberts’ lecture, right? The principle and math behind potential flows are quite interesting. He also delivered the lecture quite expertly.”

“You are insane. You actually like his lectures? He was stuttering every other word. Everyone in the class was complaining how bad he was…” Lilia shuddered at my comments, and with a face filled with disgust, looked at me as if I was a demonspawn. Her acting was expertly done too, I thought, before I too began to shiver.

I looked up the sky. It was blue without bounds, its only decoration being the myriad contrails drawn across the sky, and the lazy sun that was often absent in this country. Its light was of a golden glow, not dissimilar to the warm shine in Asturia as the setting sun there.

A beautiful light it was, I thought. But it was the middle of an early October day in Britain; in Rastania, the sun would still be scorching, the warmth of summer would still remain, and we would still be in our summer attires, perhaps sitting on one of its many beaches as we stare into the tranquil sea. Then, as the golden orb start to sink into its gentle embrace, perhaps we would watch the Goddess’ Jewels rise, while sea’s breeze would wrap gently around us…

But London’s harsh winds stabbed me and brought me back to reality. I could no longer go back to Rastania, go back to those days.

--------------------

In the months followed my reincarnation, I often wondered why the Goddess gave a sinner like me a second chance in Elysium, in the Land of Gods. I beseeched the Goddess for answers, but She did not reply. Nevertheless, there must be some meaning, some duty, behind it. There must be a reason why the Goddess made me, a villain beyond saving, take on a hero’s, Yuri Yuzuki’s role.

Perhaps I needed to continue her heroic deeds. Perhaps I needed to pursue greater knowledge in this palace of learning, for the late Yuri never had a chance to.

For months I struggled for answer. Even now I do not know. But one thing was certain: I’ve came to see Andrew and Lilia as who Yuri once see them as: friends, siblings, family.

Perhaps this, too, was my mission.

I extended my hand to Lilia. “It’s getting cold here. How about we go to the cafeteria and get something to fill our stomach?”

“On your tab?” She replied.

“Come on, you can’t have other people paying for your lunch every day. Eventually you’d have to pay for your own food. And it’s not like you didn’t also get your, rather generous if I may add, allowance from your General Strat-your dad. You should really fix your habit to manipulate people and…”

“I was joking,” she interrupted me, “I was wondering what you’d say.”

“Did I answer as you expected?” I asked.

“I was expecting a lecture and I got one.” She smirked at me, “I’ve known you for almost a year by now, after all, Celestia.”

Celestia. No matter how close I am to Yuri in appearance, no matter how much of Yuri’s memories I recovered, to this little animal-like girl, I was still Celestia: an evil spirit from another world that sullied --- and still sullies the dead body of her family, of her adoptive elder sister.

“…How would her have responded, I wonder?” A subtle sense of guilt compelled me to utter those words.

“‘Sure, I am your elder sister, after all. If you don’t mind potatoes only, that is.’ Or something along those lines. That is what my elder sis would have said.”

Lilia smirked. She saw through everything.

“…You little scoundrel set me up, didn’t you?”

“No comments. But potatoes only sound like some sort of torture…” She looked at me with cute, begging eyes.

“…You are a greedy one too, aren’t you…” I gave in. “Fine. Just this time. I can’t let me cute little sister go beg around for food, after all…”

“Don’t make me sound like a beggar! I do give something in return every time. Let’s see… how about let me guide your around the Fresher’s Fair this after lunch? I am certain I am more familiar with the campus than you are.”

“That’s fine with me.” …You wanted to go anyways, didn’t you, Lilia?

“Really? Let’s go then!” The energetic hazelnut-haired girl pulled my arm as she dragged me through pavements, lawns and corridors, golden rays of light occasionally illuminating her face occasionally. To this day, I still remembered her sun-lit smile, one I had never seen before, one borne of neither deceit nor calculation: an innocent smile that a teenager will show her sister.

Author’s Notes

Thanks for reading and hope you enjoyed the chapter! We are finally back on Earth and the next few chapters would be about the Institute Celestia/Yuri, Lilia and Andrew goes to.