"Starting from this year onwards you will be living at the school until you graduate with a roommate. You'll specifically be living in one of the rooms in the great apartment complex on the outskirts of the school, inside the envelope will be your room number and key card to let you in or out of your set rooms. By the way, the roommates are completely randomised however any perverted behaviour by anyone will result in immediate expulsion from the school. Do I make myself clear?" She said staring at the boys of the class specifically.
"Yes Miss." Everyone said simultaneously.
"Very good, take your envelope as you leave the class, and I will see you all tomorrow." She said before taking a bite out of an apple she pulled out her pocket. "Class dismissed."
I sat on my own in the lunch hall eating some rather delicious food which consisted of breaded chicken and chips with a variety of vegetables and pineapple juice in a carton for a drink.
Since when school food actually taste good. Maybe the next few years of my life here won't be as tedious as I first thought I mean if it's got good food, you can't say they're not treating you right. There's light at the end of the tunnel after all.
Perhaps I spoke too soon.
I saw Xander beginning to approach me as I was leaving the table. I pretended to not notice him and left the hall at a brisk pace to escape him.
Maybe he isn't a psycho and won't stalk me.
As I turned a corner in the school hallway, I just barely noticed him clearly following me.
This dude must crazy. Is he seriously that mad at me?
I continued along the school hallways, walking in the longest and most complex route I could think of that would lead to my destination, outside, and hopefully lose him in the process. Luckily the final stretch leading outside was very crowded and as soon as I entered it I ran as quickly as possible, running straight outside and speedily hid behind the outer wall of the building. I sneaked a peek to see Xander at the front of the entrance looking confused and scratching his head in frustration.
Now is the time I run to the apartment complex to move into my room.
As soon as I began walking away, Xander seemingly materialised in front me in a burst of blue smoke, stopping me in my tracks.
"Teleportation huh?" I said blankly, my eyes widening in surprise slightly. "A Hydra Rank attaining a Skill like that is impressive unless you're an Incarnation, but I doubt that."
A vein on Xander's forehead looked like it was about to burst as his face turned bright red.
"As you know," He snarled. "Killing isn't really punished here unless its needless murder but even then, the punishment wouldn't be any more than a couple months suspension."
He then got into a fighting stance as small chunks of the ground rose up into the air and turned into blades.
"You're a Mage?" I said dropping my bag.
"So, because punishment is so tame" He continued as the blades began to rotate in the air.
He can't be serious.
"I'm going to kill you right here and now!" Xander yelled and lunged forward in attack.
"Room 215." I muttered to myself as I looked at the note and key card from the envelope with my name on it. I looked up at the door which had the same numbers on it. "Yep, this the place."
Please let my roommate be someone either who will be nice or ignore me. I don't care which.
As I reached over to swipe my key card to unlock the door I noticed something. Something on my hand. It looked like some kind of stain as if something had splashed on my hand and dried there. It wasn't very noticeable but it was there, flecks of the stain tainting my knuckles and the tips of my fingers like someone had been flicking a maroon coloured paint at me. I quickly licked the fingers of my other hand and rubbed them against my knuckles for a few moments before the stain disappeared, only tiny specks left that could only be seen if someone was looking for them. I finished swiping my key card and opened the door before then stepping inside, closing it behind me.
"This is um… bigger than I expected." I mumbled to myself slightly in awe.
The room seemed to be as big as a house with a massive window for a wall that showed a beautiful view of the school way up from the two hundred floors in the air. There was kitchen and a living room with a TV seemingly in one area with a staircase that presumably led to the two bedrooms.
"You know what," I said dropping my bag and jumping onto the sofa, sinking in its soft embrace. "This ain't so bad after all."
To my right a door opened. It became very clear it led to the bathroom for outstepped a person along with a huge amount of steam. The person had towel wrapped over their chest, covering their naked body. It was very clear that this person was a girl. The towel was just managing to cover her supermodel figure. She had a pair of very familiar looking gradient red eyes and strikingly long dark blue hair that was even darker now after being soaked in hot water. It was very clear that the person standing in front of me was none other than Shion.
Oh shit.
We stood completely still, staring at each other, quite surprised as neither of us were expecting to be roommates nor expecting that I would ever see Shion just barely covered up by a towel, basically butt naked. After a long while it was as if Shion registered what was happening as her face transformed into one of horror while it turned beet red. I immediately felt a murderous intent and aura coming from her.
"In my defence," I said raising a finger. "You were the one who was careless enough to take a bath and run the risk of meeting your roommate in this look of yours. The roommate also having an equal risk of being a boy."
I probably shouldn't have said that as she raised her hand and aimed it right in front of me. The room got notably hotter as what looked like a mini sun the size of a tennis ball formed in her hand.
She's a Mage that can use Solar Magic? Looks skilled as well.
"SUNLIGHT BURST!" Shion yelled and fired the blast at me.
I quickly leapt behind the sofa, the blast missing and slamming straight into the wall below the staircase. Somehow the wall did not blow up in an explosion of splinters and was only left charred a little bit.
"You know, trying to burn your roommate to ash isn't the best first impression." I called behind the sofa.
I looked up and saw another mini sun hovering in the air above my head.
"You have got to be kidding me."
I jumped out the way before the sun crashed into the ground before then sprinting behind Shion at a speed that from her perceptive would seem almost instantaneous.
"Look let's talk about this!" I muttered behind her.
Shion whipped round but I grabbed her hand.
"Look it was a simple accident, calm down, I was not spying on you and we are roommates." I said blankly. "If you don't believe me, you can check the note from my envelope next to my bag on the sofa."
Shion seemed to calm down as she saw the note lying next to my bag exactly where I said it was. The rage and embarrassment disappearing from her eyes.
"Ok I've calmed down; you can let go of my hand now." She said looking down at her feet as I released her.
"I'm going upstairs to get changed, we'll talk after."
I watched her turn round and walk up the stairs and into through the door first door on the landing before closing it behind her. I breathed a heavy sigh before falling onto the armchair beside the sofa.
First that Xander guy and now Shion. Why is everything I want happening in the exact opposite way?
After a couple of minutes Shion came back downstairs wearing some casual clothes and went into the kitchen area of the room.
"How are you with coffee?" She called from it.
"Coffee is fine with me, don't mind what kind it is either."
"Black coffee it is." I heard her mumble to herself.
After waiting another few minutes or so she returned holding two cups of coffee, handing me one before sitting on the sofa next to me.
"Think of this as my apology." She said, getting comfortable before taking a sip. She looked very professional.
"A hot drink apology for a nearly hot death. Sounds about right." I said taking a sip of my own.
"You're an Assassin Class, aren't you?"
I nearly spat out all the coffee in my mouth.
"How'd you know that?" I asked, recovering my composure.
"I didn't." She said rather smugly. "It was a suspicion that you've now confirmed."
"Got me there. How did you get that suspicion then?"
"Your speed." She said glancing at my legs.
"The Assassin Class is designed for stealth and speed in order to make quick kills with as little trouble as possible. If you had a knife and we where fighting to the death just then."
She stared directly into my eyes.
"You could have slit my throat before I even blinked."
I laid back into the armchair before placing my drink on the side table, ignoring the morbidity of the comment she just said.
"I've met many Assassin Class Ethereals in my life and you're definitely the second fastest I've seen."
"The fastest being The Beast King, Vide Blackstone, I'm assuming."
"Correct you are." She said taking another sip from her cup.
"You said you've met many Assassin Classes before. I'm guessing you either have a lot of connections or are quite well known, maybe even both." I said.
It was Shion's turn to nearly spit out her coffee before then turning to look at me surprised.
"You don't know me!?"
She seemed quite exasperated.
"Does the nickname The Phantom Mage ring a bell?" She asked.
"Should it?" I replied raising an eyebrow. If I did why would I have asked for your name at the bus?"
"That's a fair point. I'm one of the Top Dragon Ranked Mage Class Ethereals in the world and have been given the nickname The Phantom Mage because of the lack of people to land even a single attack on me."
"Scary." I said causing Shion to roll her eyes.
"I'm the Incarnation of the Lernaean Hydra which allows to me regenerate from most injuries ranging up to lost limbs. I also have one of the Seven Deadly Sin Skills, Gluttony which is an Active Skill that allows the user to absorb the power of any non-physical attack that is below the user's rank and temporarily stores/stacks it onto the user's own power, plus I have my Unique Skill Spectre."
"The name of that Unique Skill does seem familiar." I said looking up, stroking my chin in thought.
"At least you know of something that I own." Shion said with a sigh. "It's a Skill that makes me intangible, basically anything will pass right through me as if I was made of air."
"What's the time limit?"
"Hm?" Shion raised an eyebrow.
"A Skill like that is very complex and would use up a substantial amount of Ethos meaning it would have time limit and presumably a cool down period which would be of similar length as the time limit itself." I explained.
Shion smiled.
"Let's say what you said is correct, I wouldn't tell you anyway." She said. "An Ethereal should always keep their special cards close to their chest."
I raised my eyebrows for a second as a sense of nostalgia entered my mind before I wished it away immediately while shrugging my shoulders.
"Can't disagree with you there. It's a smart thing to do however didn't you just tell me some of your other Skills?" I replied.
"I'm not so arrogant to think that I'm the only Ethereal to have the Skill Gluttony. I'm sure there are many others who have the Skill as well, plus there are other regenerative and self-healing Skills out there." She said bluntly, standing up and walking towards the wall of a window and looking out at the evening sky which now started to turn orange. "Note that I didn't tell any of the weaknesses of the Skills either."
"Also, true." I responded, taking another sip from my coffee.
"By the way," Shion said, turning around.
"How powerful are you exactly?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Tomorrow we'll be taking part in duels."
"That should be obvious if you look at my shoulder." I said.
Shion was suddenly an inch away from my face, her red eyes I could feel trying to seemingly peer into my very soul, reading me for anything she could latch onto. I stared straight back with my own blue eyes, not flinching, and continued to drink my coffee.
"Don't be smart with me Lion Rank." Shion said in a deadly voice. "You've got a secret. You are labelled a Lion Rank yet you're in the top class of the school. That doesn't just happen."
"Your right, it doesn't. But I'm pretty sure teach explained why I am in that class though."
"I don't buy that." She said, her face completely blank. "Why are you really in that class?"
There was a long silence as we did nothing but stare into each other's eyes.
"Fine ok I'll tell you." I said putting my cup of coffee down. "Could you move back a bit? A girl being this close to a girl could very well lead to certain activities."
Shion blushed slightly as she realised just how close she was to my face and put some distance between us.
"Teach wasn't lying with what she said." I explained. "That is completely true however there is a second one, that being that I'm from Valhalla."
Shion raised an eyebrow at that.
"You transferred from Valhalla huh?"
"Yes. And the principle of G.E. High essentially wants me to compare the top students of this Ethation School to the top students from the Ethation Schools in Valhalla."
"I see. Ethation Schools from Valhalla are usually much better and house more powerful Ethereals than the schools in this world. If you can claim that your school produces stronger Ethereals than the schools in Valhalla, then you get more students wanting to come to this school and in turn make more profit."
Shion said this while pacing back and forth like a concerned mother.
"I'm a spy basically."
Shion looked at me for a few more seconds before nodding in satisfaction.
"That clears things up. One more question though." She said as she walked up the stairs before pausing halfway up.
"You seem to never run out of them." I said with a forced giggle.
"You don't have any limiters on, do you? I swear you were stronger in class than you are currently."
I narrowed my eyes.
"No. I don't possess such a thing." I said bluntly. "You were imagining things likely because of your suspicions of me which are now cleared up."
"Yeah, your probably right." Shion said as she started walking up the stairs again. "It'd be pointless for a Lion Rank to have something that restricts their dead average power. Only Dragon Ranked Ethereals or higher would need something like that."
She closed the door of her room behind her, leaving me alone, sitting on the armchair with the evening sky in now full form.
Shion Marble, you sure are interesting. I'll need to keep an eye on you.
The topic of the duels tomorrow suddenly popped into my head.
That could be trouble. I hate losing
I looked up at the ceiling and closed my eyes.
Why does my highest priority contradict the one below it? I'm gonna have to think of some excuse to not take part in the duels.
I looked at the bright orange sky before taking one more sip of coffee before walking up the stairs to my room.