[S1] Chapter 8: School

"If you check your luggage one more time, I'll leave without you."

I was firmly convinced that I would be the one to slow us down, but right now, it's Miko who's pushing a bad case of paranoia that will make it difficult for us to get to the school on time.

"Don't hold it against her. She hasn't been out on her own for years."

Hey, I'm with her. She's not alone. But I think I know what Eliza means.

"We're ready to go."

Almost thirty minutes late, we set off in the direction of the Loewenstadt Academy for Magic. The weather is genuinely fantastic, nearly too warm for the beginning of May, and Miko is still wearing a thin long-sleeved sweater. At my doubtful gazes, she just snapped at me and forbade me to look at her.

"Damn, the heat is killing me."

"Same."

Don't get me wrong, but it is somewhat satisfying to see Miko suffer, not that I am overly sadistic. It's just that she usually shows a certain degree of confidence, which causes a slight inferiority complex in me.

I get the glorious idea of opening the windows to get the refreshing air we were longing for, but apart from the ear-aching noise, the air is more warm than cold. So, back to closed windows.

The car's air conditioning is also one to forget. The worst thing is the cooling chest in the back seat, which ensures that we can enjoy an ice cream break later on, but this thing radiates even more heat.

According to the navigation system, we've been on the highway for almost thirty minutes and still have a little over an hour to go. In this short time, my back and my top had become one. I was completely drenched. Meanwhile, Miko is sitting next to me and has at most one or two beads of sweat on her forehead.

"Shouldn't you be looking at the road instead?"

"I am. Can we stop at the next rest area?"

"Already?"

"We don't have to."

"Yes, we do. It's fine."

Aww, does she feel sorry for me? It's a real shame that I can hardly take her seriously. However, arriving at the parking lot, Miko jumps out of the car.

"Gotta pee."

With a sigh, I unbuckle my seatbelt and turn my attention to the cooling chest. An ice cream can only do me good, so I lift the lid and feel... no cold?

My eyes immediately wander towards the power cable, which I grab. Unfortunately, Miko has only connected the cable to the car, but not to the chest itself. Nothing you can do about that, right? Right?

Anyway, everything is fine. I get out of the car to at least catch some fresh air. A few minutes later, Miko comes back from the toilet and looks at me with a skeptical expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Your top is quite see-through when it's wet."

I look down at myself and realize that she's right. But apart from a black sports bra, there's not much to discover. Maybe that's the reason why she looked so disappointed.

"Sorry, I don't have more to offer."

"Don't worry, you have other qualities for sure."

"So, it was about my boobs. I don't know if I should be happy about that."

"How about we enjoy some ice cream and get back to the road?" Oh, how I had hoped for this question. I couldn't show my malicious joy on my face.

"Good idea, I'm just going to the toilet. You can go ahead and take one."

With quick steps, I walk to the restroom and hide behind a ledge in the entrance area to watch Miko from there. She opens the door to the back seat of the car and climbs in head first. Not even ten seconds later, she crawls out again. While she can now reflect on her mistake, I actually disappear into the building.

When I come back, I see her standing in front of the car with her hands on her hips and a frighteningly self-satisfied smile all over her face. It's not what I expected. That can't really mean anything good.

"Do you want some ice cream?" Miko asks with an irritating giggle.

I look into the chest and find a massive block of ice surrounding every single item inside. She just killed the creamy part and still seems that proud?

"I swear it was the first time I tried ice magic." Is she expecting praise?

"I can see that." Thinking about it, I am glad that it's just inside the chest and not the whole car; maybe she deserves a clap on her shoulder.

"Don't look like that, I'm sorry."

"It's all right. We'll just leave the chest open. Maybe it'll keep us a bit cold. Does the stuff actually turn into water, or does it dissolve into mana?"

"No plan."

And so we get back into the car without one bite of ice cream. I'm sad, but life goes on.

"Miko?"

"Hm?"

"Thanks for trying."

"I didn't do it for you, but you're welcome, I guess."

Such a brat.

It felt like Miko turned into a different person the moment we sat down in the car this morning. It's a bit disconcerting how many faces she puts on, while I don't know which one is her real one.

"But the temperature in here is more pleasant than before. I'll give you that."

"Always seeing the best in the situation is a great quality. Keep that, Kayla."

"Where did the wise teacher in you suddenly come from?"

"It was always there."

"My fault for not recognizing that."

"I forgive you, my foolish student."

Yes, I think that's the closest she gets to her true self.

◆

Considering the prestige of this school, it is really badly signposted. Without the GPS, I would have driven right past the departure.

"Are you excited?"

Miko looks at me dumbfounded.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?"

"I don't know. It's your first time at a school like this as well."

"I'll just try to think of it as a mission."

"So you're excited."

"A little. And you?"

"Yes, but I'd call it rather anticipation, especially knowing you'll protect me if these people are mean to me."

"I regret ever saying that to you."

During our little chat, we drive at a walking pace along a rather bumpy road deeper and deeper into the forest, which is said to hide the school deep within.

Whether to the left, right, or in front of me, there is only forest everywhere. The only thing that doesn't correspond to nature is the magical barriers that we constantly drive through.

They are weak, but I can see the faint shimmer of mana. Miko and I are probably being well scanned before we arrive at the school gates.

After a few minutes, we arrive at a fence with a massive gate. Two people in neat black and red uniforms are already waiting for us there. They have bandages around their arms with the school's emblem, a lion, on them. I open the window on my side as one of them approaches the car.

"Good morning, I assume you are the two guest students?"

"Exactly," Miko is already holding out the school's letter to me. I take it, mouthing a silent thank you, and pass it on to the gatekeeper.

"Welcome to the Loewenstadt Academy of Magic. We wish you a wonderful time. The parking lot is behind the first turn on the right. From there, it's a ten-minute walk to the main building. It is clearly waymarked."

He gives the note back and signals to the other person, who starts to open the gate for us. The first obstacle is cleared and we also miraculously find the parking lot straight away.

"Lucky us," Miko says.

"Why?"

"Because there's so much parking space, so you can relax."

"I think when these four weeks are over, I'll leave you here."

"Oh, come on, that was just a joke."

"Yep, so was mine."

I grin at her as stupidly as I can, only to have her flick a finger against my arm.

"Hey, that hurt."

"It better did."

"Do we want to lug everything with us or go and have a look first?"

Good question, I take a quick look at my watch.

"We still have twenty minutes until we meet with the student representative. I think we should just go like this."

"Right."

Well, waymarked, he said. Miko and I might look a little suspicious to outsiders as we walk across the parking lot, looking for the way to the school building.

"Wait!"

"Huh?"

"Maybe we need to get back to the road?"

"Oh!"

Driven and motivated by this brilliant idea, we start jogging.

"There it is," Miko poses proudly for the second time today and points to the sign we had been looking for in vain. How could we have guessed that we would have to cross a road on foot? However, the closer we get to the building, the more turn-offs there are to different parts of the campus.

"Even an indoor swimming pool, amazing."

"Did you bring swimwear?"

"Of course not."

"Sad."

"For whom?" I ask, smirking.

No matter how lovely it would be to see Miko in a bikini, I am not allowed to imagine it right now. She's just waiting for it.

Okay, back to reality. All the places indicated by the signs alone make me want to explore everything, but all in good time. For nature lovers, this school is probably a wet dream. Personally, I start to worry about the mosquitoes and get a slightly uneasy feeling.

The ground beneath our feet, meanwhile, changes from an earth trail to a paved one, and I can see the first buildings in the distance. It's a little eerie that we haven't seen a single person yet. Lectures and lessons are probably taking place, but it is still unusual, right?

Miko touches my hand briefly. I look at her and follow her eyes. On a large meadow, several students are sitting in a circle around someone who seems to be explaining something. I don't know if we're allowed to watch, so I turn my gaze away again and look ahead. Strangely enough, I feel a little reassured to have finally seen other people.

However, once we see the first students, the forest gradually disappears, and a spacious, well-maintained campus opens up before us.

"Impressive," Miko says, expressing what I just thought. Any excitement has just vanished. I just want to admire the whole place.

"That looks like the entrance," and a lone student stands right in front of it. The moment I look at her, she raises her slightly lowered head and faces me with a friendly smile. She has beautiful long brown hair tied into a ponytail and shining green eyes. The last time I was so impressed by someone's presence was when I met Lilith and Miko for the first time.

"Stop staring. I'm the only one who can bear that."

"Jealous?"

"Shut up, she's coming towards us."

Up close, the school uniform looks relatively simple, a black shirt and socks paired with a red skirt. But it definitely suits her very well.

"You must be Kayla and Miko. Nice to meet you. My name is Hannah. I'm the president of the student council."

She bows slightly and smiles at us expectantly. Miko doesn't seem to want to say anything, so I take over.

"Thank you very much. We're very happy to be allowed to visit this school."

"Good, what do we do now? Shall we have a look at your room? Or do you want to see the main building first? For the next one or two hours, I'll be entirely yours."

What a relief that Hannah is so relaxed. I don't know why, but I imagined her to be a bit stricter and more organized.

"I'm open to both, but while we're standing in front of it, maybe the main building first?"

"Good idea. You're Kayla, aren't you?"

"Exactly."

"Awesome." She's such a bubbly girl. It makes me feel happy just talking to her.

And so, our voyage of discovery begins. The entrance area is vast, with an endless number of stairs leading up and down. There are more doors than I can count at first glance and a surprising number of seating options.

"By the way, Miko, you're actually quite well known here. We have both students and teachers who have already worked with you."

"Must have been bad if they're here now."

"Maybe," Hannah shrugs her shoulders with amusement as she heads towards a room on the second floor.

"This is the Student Council room. Let's see if anyone's inside."

Without further warning, she opens the door and storms in. Miko and I trot in after her somewhat reluctantly.

"Too bad, only Elliot is here."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

A young man with white hair is sitting at a long table with a laptop in front of him. Our eyes meet briefly before Miko appears next to me. He suddenly loses all the color in his face.

"Hey, the child soldier has become a woman after all."

His words come across as a bad attempt at provocation, which has lost a lot of weight due to his shaky presentation.

"Did you suck so hard that they sent you back to school?"

If every acquaintance of Miko's jumps into such a lively exchange with her, I'm unlikely to have any problems recognizing them.

"It's nice that you already know each other. You haven't told me anything about it, Elliot."

"Why should I?"

"So I could have beaten that rude behavior out of you! You shameless piece of work." Wow, Hannah is brutal. I think I like the atmosphere here.

"You're still such a gentleman, I can see how well you get on with women. Is that why you went to school again? Hoping the young girls are stupid enough to fall for you?" Miko says, covering her mouth with one hand.

Now it's getting nasty.

"Hey, that's enough, isn't it?" I ask with a nervous laugh. Miko sighs and shows me a pouty face.

"Sorry."

Not a heartfelt apology, as everyone knows, but at least she quits fighting. Elliot also makes no sign that he wants to continue arguing. And why does Hannah look so proud, like she had anything to do with this?

Elliot gets up from his chair and grins. "Somehow, I've missed this."

Yeah, well, there are supposed to be people like that. He stops in front of me. Quite a tall guy and there's definitely a well-built body underneath that school uniform. It's not like I pay any particular attention to it. His defined chest and broad shoulders just catch the eye.

"My name is Elliot. It's nice to meet you, Kayla."

"Nice to meet you, too."

"You're here to learn a bit and use our training facilities, right?"

"You could say that."

"If there's anything I can do to help you, just let me know. As the semester has only started, I still have plenty of spare time."

"I'd like to offer the same, but I'm taking care of some freshmen and giving lectures in medicine and healing magic," Hannah explains and puts her hands together apologetically.

"Sounds exhausting."

"It is, but the fun outweighs the stress. You're welcome to come and assist me."

"I'll think about it." I won't.

"Thank you!"

Ahh, I really don't want to, but she just looked so happy right now that I feel like it would be a crime not to help her in some way.

"Okay, shall we continue? Just for your information, you can usually find us from the Student Council in this room. Besides Elliot and me, there's also Nada and Alex, but they seem to be busy somewhere else. I'm sure you'll get to know each other over the next few days."

I eye Miko to see if she reacts to one of the names, but I get nothing more from her than the usual annoyed aversion to my gaze.

"The entire corridor here leads to classrooms and auditoriums. Our school is a mixture of high school and college. There is the opportunity to learn in a more rigid system, which is very similar to the typical school experience. But there is also the opportunity to choose your own subjects and study autonomously."

"How do you do it?"

"I started general education here when I was twelve and did this for three years. For the last four years, I've been specializing in medicine and magic healing. My goal is to obtain a doctorate in the future."

Wait, if she's been here for seven years, she's only nineteen. Why is everyone younger than me? And if she can use healing magic like I can, surely all options in the world of magic would be open to her, and yet she's still studying medicine on the side? The very idea makes me feel sick.

"Watch out."

A tug on my arm saves me from running into a pillar.

"I'd like to show you the cafeteria and then take you to your rooms." Thank you, Hannah, for not mentioning my almost accident.

"We have to go back to the parking lot to get our luggage." Miko is right. Even if it was only a fifteen-minute walk in this hot weather, that was almost fatal for me. I'm like one of those rare, endangered animals that die at the slightest change in temperature.

"We could take a portal. There's one that kicks us out near the parking lot."

Portal?

"Let's do it." Miko agrees, great… but what kind of portal? Teleportation? Sounds impressive and scary at the same time.

"Ever used one?" Hannah asks, and they both look at me intently.

"Nope."

"Haha, that is great."

"Why?"

"Unlike dungeon gates, these portals are a bit more intense in sensation."

"What kind of sensation?"

"You'll see in a minute."

I just start to feel nauseous in advance. The delicious smell coming from the cafeteria makes it even worse.

"As you can see, you can enjoy freshly cooked food here, but there are also countless vending machines with all kinds of ready-made snacks."

Stop talking about food! I'm suffering here! Miko and Hannah occasionally look at each other and start giggling randomly. It's nice that the two of them get on so well when it comes to seeing me suffer.

We stay on the lower floor and, in my opinion, walk far too quickly. Are they afraid I'll run away? They're not wrong, but they're making it too obvious.

"Here we are."

The portal room looks less spectacular than I expected. In the end, it's just a reasonably empty room with a stone floor. There are five open cubicles, which are decorated from floor to ceiling with writing in a language I don't recognize. A sign hangs above each of the booths, indicating the destination.

"We take the portal to the swimming hall. It's the closest."

Hannah walks ahead, and Miko grabs me by the hand, pulling me after her. There's room for two or three more people in the cabin, so I could volunteer to make room if anyone else wants to come along. But without a warning, Hannah puts her hand on the wall, and the runes start to glow in a bright blue light. The next moment my stomach tingles as if I'm in free fall. It takes a while for my brain to realize that we are already in a completely different place than before.

"How was it?" Miko is the one who grins at me excitedly.

"Not as bad as I thought."

One step is enough to make me aware of my dizziness, and I stumble forward slightly before I feel Miko's hand on my waist. Although I am a little queasy right now, this firm grip she has on my body is doing certain things to me. Only her stupid, smug face ruins the whole experience a little.

I managed to walk to the parking lot on my own without assistance. Packed with my bags, I am already occupied with a new suffering. Just now, I remember that we probably have to go through this portal again. I sigh a little dejectedly but resign myself to my fate.

"It's okay, we'll walk. Do you want me to carry your bag?"

I think that was the first time today that Miko had paid any attention to my feelings. If her voice didn't have an undertone of pity in it, I might even shed a tear of joy.

"That was the plan anyway. It's quicker to walk to the dormitories from here." Ah, thanks for the info, Hannah. But it's alright. This mental battering should set me up nicely for the next weeks.

The dormitory in which, according to Hannah, three-quarters of all students live, is just as significant and magnificent as the school building itself. The interior is very reminiscent of a hotel, and there is also a canteen where you can have breakfast and dinner. The cafeteria in the school is mainly for lunch. Don't ask me why I'm so focused on food. It might be because I haven't had anything today.

There are several areas on the first floor where you can hang out and study. All in all, there are a lot more people around here than I have seen on the school grounds earlier.

Most people actually look at us with a slightly critical expression. Hannah assures us that it's more because we're traveling with her, but it's difficult to shake off the negative feeling. Even Miko seems slightly annoyed by all the unwanted attention.

"Here's your room. Mine is on the same corridor. Maybe we can have a girls' night together sometime."

"Maybe," Miko is bad at concealing her disinterest, although I have subtle doubts that she even tried to hide it.

Hannah gives us each a key card. Now I really feel like I'm in a hotel. At first glance, the room seems quite small, probably because it is. Right next to the entrance on the right-hand side is the bathroom with a large shower.

If you go straight ahead, you come directly into the sleeping/living area with a large double bed, a closet, a bedside table on each side, and a TV on the opposite wall. Under the TV, there is a small sideboard with an electric kettle, a microwave, and a mini fridge.

As I happily put my bag down on the bed and sit down, I notice the skeptical look on Miko's face.

"What's wrong?"

"The bed."

"What's wrong with it? It's not our first time together."

"Last time I was drunk, I can see a small but subtle difference here."

"Oh, come on, what's so bad about sharing a bed with me? With this weather, I'll be the one suffering, thanks to your stupidly hot body!"

"I think I'll leave you two alone for now. You know where to find me."

Hannah bursts out of the room with suspicious haste.

Somehow, I think she interpreted my comment about Miko's body heat as an attempt at flirting and wanted to provide us some privacy. While I really didn't have a single horny thought in mind… yet.

"The right side is mine."

I bow my head in submission. "All right, princess."