"Ahem, honey, you're mistaking someone again…" said a male voice with a slightly awkward cough, before a middle-aged man appeared behind the lady. This middle-aged man had white hair, and besides the glasses he was wearing, he was also wearing a purple robe. As he arrived, he kissed the lady on the right cheek.
"Umm … My apologies … I was mistaking you for someone else… You really have a striking resemblance to someone we know … rather … someone we knew", apologized the lady.
Eskaria was confused, as all gazes fell on her. All gazes except Reeve's, which was now on the middle-aged man. The reason why he was now staring at the middle-aged man, was because he saw the same halo as the one on Eskaria's head! Well, they were slightly different in colors, but then again, potato tomato, the same thing!
'Am I going crazy or what? What are these funny things which only I can see?' he thought.
The middle-aged man sensed his gaze, and he frowned before saying, "Good evening. Is there anything we can help you with? You people don't look like students here."
"Well, we're trying to enroll to become students. Can we ask where we can do it?" asked Rizaneth, trying to sound polite. If Will Valdis was here, he would have coughed up blood.
The middle-aged man walked forward and then extended his hand, before saying, "My name is Rokkai, and I'm a teacher at the school."
Reeve shook the hand offered to him, and replied, "My name is Reeve. I hope to study magic at this school."
Soren, Riza and Eskaria introduced themselves, and when Eskaria finished her introduction, Reeve noticed that the middle-aged woman frowned deeply.
'What's wrong with everyone? This Rokkai person and Eskaria have halos, which only I can see. That lady has a golden crown, which I'm sure only I can see as well. Am I the weird one, or is everyone else weird and I'm the normal one?' he thought.
"I would suggest you come back tomorrow morning, since the school is about to get closed. When you come back, be sure to ask for the principal's office, okay? Kyrra, let's go!" said Rokkai, as he walked past the group. The middle-aged lady, called Kyrra, stumbled to follow Rokkai, without even bidding farewells to the group. Reeve could swear that she looked quite flustered.
When they were a safe distance from the group, Lady Kyrra finally asked, "Are you sure this is a wise idea?"
Rokkai kept walking, before sighing. He replied, "Well, it's her choice to make, as it has always been."
"B-but her memories--"
"What about them?" he interrupted her.
"Doesn't this nullify her reason for sealing them?"
"So? Like I said earlier, it's her decision, as it has always been. Besides, it looks like she's happy."
"I'm not so sure about that. Did you see her injuries??"
"Those are minor issues. If she unsealed her memories, then we may have more to worry about… Right now, we should be worried about the disappearing students."
"Oh, right, speaking about that, did you manage to figure out something?" she asked with genuine concern.
"I have my suspicions. Right now, there are too many problems to deal with", as he said this, he was getting into his office. The office was luxurious, and at the door, the sign read, 'PRINCIPAL'.
After Rokkai and Kyrra had left, Reeve suddenly asked, "Does anyone else think something is off about this school?"
"What do you mean? It looks perfect", replied Soren.
"That teacher said that the school was closing for the day, but the number of students going inside is much more than the number of students leaving!"
"You're overthinking things! Right now, we should be worried about where we're going to sleep. Also, you have a promise to keep!" spoke Rizaneth. She looked at Eskaria before continuing, "By the way, have you met that woman before?"
"No! But both of them look familiar", Eskaria replied, while staring at the door, where the two had gone.
"So, where are we going to sleep?" asked Soren.
"We could look for an inn, but I'm sure the prices are nothing to scoff at", Riza shrugged her shoulders.
"It doesn't look like we have much of an option, do we?" asked Reeve.
Without wasting any more time, they went around looking for a cheaper inn. The keyword there was 'cheaper', and to be honest, they might have had more luck looking for a needle in a haystack. Among the inns that weren't overbooked, there was none which fitted their search criteria.
In short, they were all very expensive. After Riza begrudgingly agreed to pay, they ended up staying at an inn which was still expensive, but less expensive than the rest. In terms of structure, it was even worse than the one they had slept in previously. Unlike the previous one, however, this one had bugs.
Reeve woke up in the middle of the night when Eskaria screamed. He and Soren rushed to Riza and Eskaria's room, only to find that Eskaria had screamed because she saw a spider. Rizaneth laughed loudly, before going back to bed. Soren and Reeve had to return to their room with ugly expressions plastered on their faces.
Less than an hour later, Eskaria screamed again. As usual, Soren and Reeve rushed over again. Their eyelids were heavy, but they managed to endure, until they found out that she had screamed because she thought she had seen a rat.
Riza laughed so hard tears started rolling on her cheeks. Eskaria didn't find this situation amusing, and neither did Reeve. Soren was so sleepy, that he simply returned to the room without causing a raucous. Reeve wasn't so easygoing; he yelled at her for more than thirty minutes, before returning to their room.
Unfortunately, that shouting didn't seem to have helped, because she screamed again. This time, no one went out to check on the situation. However, that didn't mean no one was awake. Reeve tried to cover his head with a hard pillow, but the scream still penetrated his ears. Left with no other option, he went to the room to check what the problem was. As usual, it turned out she had seen a cockroach crawling on the dresser beside her.
Reeve facepalmed himself before returning to his room. He didn't have any more strength to yell at her.