The next few days were akin to one another; in the morning, Midnight would greet me before urging me to get to class, I would converse with Boingo for most of the day while also working on the things that we were assigned. More towards the evening, Mr. Grey would activate his time-slowing spells to get me to learn faster. I saw a significant improvement, with the number of spells that I was learning each day increasing from three to four, then eventually five. I also had a growing suspicion that the teacher was holding time at a standstill for longer lengths each time, something that I consistently refrained from asking. It was clear that he simply wanted me to defend myself using whatever means were available to him.
Before I knew it, Visiting Day had arrived; in addition to a day off of school, our parents would also be brought in for a tour conducted by Midnight in conjunction with a few other teachers that I hadn't met yet. At the start of the semester, I had simply put the date off, thinking that it was too far away to start looking forward to. I was startled to hear the news before retreating into my room the night before.
Boingo made haste in the morning; after informing me of the holiday inside of the labyrinth, he showed up at my door mere minutes after we all woke up. He had a glistening look in his eyes, almost as if he'd waited his entire life for the day to arrive.
"I'll get to see my parents! And yours too!" He bounced a few feet into the air with every springing action he took.
I stood at the door, not even out of my pyjamas yet. "Yeah. Just hang on while I get ready." I closed the door swiftly and turned away from it.
Throughout my routine, I could hear Boingo's muffled voice from behind the door. It constantly urged me to be quicker in my actions: to eat faster, to dress faster, to brush my teeth faster. This had little effect on my speed, however; I knew that the actual event would not start until every student was awake. Still, the small alien made it seem as if we were already late by a substantial amount.
"Finally," Boingo sighed the instant the door creaked open. "Come on, we gotta go!"
"Yes." I fixed my shirt by wiping it briefly. Throughout the night, it had accumulated a small amount of dust. "It should start in about half an hour. Still, our parents might not arrive until later, then we'll most likely have to find them inside of a large crowd..."
Boingo's excitement inverted into worry. "That's what happens most of the time, yeah." Both the corners of his mouth and the tip of his stringy tail drooped. "It's worse for me because mine are so small."
I felt a pang of sympathy for Boingo. "I just hope my own parents aren't too overwhelmed. They've always been a tad sociable, but this might give them some trouble."
We then began to walk through the hallways of the school, which were starting to gather the usual packs of moving students. However, today we all seemed to be heading towards one particular place: out the front gates and into the field.