A bit over a week had passed since the first day of training for the Training Club members in the training grounds.
All of the members except Rose and Alice chose to train at the training grounds every day after classes ended. Rose had Student Council work to prioritize, so the rest of the members were understanding.
However, they were unsure where Alice was when she did not show up occasionally. She never offered them any sort of information why she was sometimes not there. Even Cecily, her sister, had no idea where she could be. Everyone left it alone, as it's not required for her to be there, and everyone has their own private life anyways. But still, that didn't mean some of them were still a little bit curious, as Alice was a quiet enough person as is.
As for today, it was just Allen, Thomas, Cecily, and Stephen. Allen and Cecily trained together, while Thomas and Stephen trained together. When Stephen and Thomas trained together, it was like they were starting to form this bond between each other. Allen thought it was both weird and interesting, but let it be. Least everyone was getting along.
Once their training was over, they all said their goodbyes and left the training grounds. They decided to end their training early today, since everyone was not here and it was finally the weekend.
Everyone headed out aside from Allen, who was the last to leave. He didn't leave right away, as he was thinking to himself how he could get better at using his magic.
"Perhaps if I utilize my mana more efficiently…," he mumbled to himself.
When he finally looked up, he realized everyone had already left. He decided to finally head out himself, and locked the entrance behind him with the key.
While heading back to his dorm room, he noticed that there were a few more students wandering the hallways than usual. He then reminded himself that they finished early today, so that was probably why there were still students around when usually there weren't that many.
He turned a corner to find a group of students blocking the hallway. It was a fairly large group, and their attention was focused on whatever was in front of them.
Was there something bad going on?, Allen thought to himself.
His worries were quickly removed when it seemed the crowd of students were all cheering or happy with whatever they saw ahead.
Was it some sort of fanclub?, Allen thought to himself. Stephen just left not long ago, maybe he really wasn't lying when he said he was considered popular?
As he approached the crowd, he noticed most of them were guys, and most of the students wore the earth uniform.
Some sort of Earth magic event going on here?, he thought. As he got closer, it just kept getting weirder and weirder.
Once he finally reached the crowd, he tried to navigate around them to see what was going on. He might as well find out what was going on, as this was something blocking his way back to his dorm room.
Did everyone else manage to get through before this happened?, he thought to himself. He left only minutes after everyone else, unless he thought wrong?
As he got closer to the front of the crowd, he overheard the students talking and cheering.
"You're so beautiful Sarah!"
"Can I get your autograph?"
"Can you please go out with me Sarah?"
"I wish I was her, she's so gorgeous!"
Allen could only be really confused and weirded out about what he overheard. It sounded like they were excited for some girl. Was it really some sort of fanclub? He decided to focus on his only objective: figure out the source of this commotion, and then finally get back to his room. He was tired from training, after all.
As he got to the front of the crowd, he finally noticed who was causing all this commotion. The strange girl he overheard everyone talking about.
"Thank you everyone! Love you all!," the strange girl smiled as she did various cute poses.
"We love you Sarah!" the crowd almost simultaneously said.
Seriously, Allen thought. This was the girl causing the commotion?
He finally got a better look at her. She wore an earth uniform, and wore a "2B" pin, which indicated she was a second year, rank B student. She had brown hair that went down to her shoulders, and brown colored eyes. Her hair and eye color almost seemed to match Thomas'. Was she a Terrastone?
There was something else about her that Allen couldn't quite place. Something about her seemed so familiar. He was almost absolutely certain this was the first time he saw this girl, as he was sure he would remember her if he saw her before. Even so, there was that sense of familiarity. He stood there for a moment, watching her and thinking to himself.
"I'm glad all of my fans are glad to see me today!," she excitedly said, as she continued doing her cute poses.
The crowd seemed to cheer even more than it did before. Allen almost got the full force of the noise, as he was right at the front of the crowd. How could this girl stand to hear all of these people, all at once?
For a moment, it seemed the girl noticed Allen at the front. She seemed to give Allen a little smile, and then went back to looking around the crowd, doing her cute poses again.
Did she look at me?, Allen thought. Maybe that was just my imagination. Either way, the familiar feeling he got when he looked at her didn't go away the more he watched her.
He finally snapped out of his thoughts, and realized he still needed to get through. But before he could make his way through, the crowd's excitement building up made them continuously move around, pushing Allen around. He tried to keep moving, but was always stopped by some force before he could.
"Alright everyone, it's time I have to leave!," the girl announced, coincidentally when Allen finally tried to leave.
"No please don't leave us Sarah!," some people from the crowd pleaded.
"I'm sorry everyone, but even I have things to do!," she said with a cute smile and her tongue sticking out. She really knew how to activate the emotions of the male students.
"Don't forget about us Sarah!," a few people pleaded as everyone began to disperse. Allen was surprised that despite their love of this strange girl, they seemed to almost obey her every word. He made a mental note to be careful around this girl anytime he was near her.
"I would never forget about my fans!," she gave them a cute wave as everyone left, either moving forward or going back the way Allen came.
In almost an instant, everyone was gone, and it was just Allen and this supposed girl named Sarah in the hallway. Allen realized he could finally get moving, and started to head down the hallway past the girl.
"Nuh uh! You aren't leaving quite yet!," she said as she tugged on the collar of Allen's uniform.
"Wha-," Allen said as he was quickly caught off guard, turning back around to look at the girl.
She let go of his collar once he turned around. They were finally both maintaining eye contact. She gave him a weird, but friendly smile.
"Allen Fleming, was it? I've heard so much about you!," she said with a finger on her lips.
"Umm yeah, how did you know?," he asked, still a bit confused and shaken up.
"Oh don't play dumb! Of course I would know who you are!," she said with a slight giggle.
"You would?," he asked, still a bit shaken up. Even though he wanted to leave, he still couldn't help but feel weird around her. What was it about her that made him feel this way?
"Everyone's talking about you it seems like!," she said as she smiled at him. "Regarded as The Weakest Mage, someone who put up quite a fight against Nathaniel Rivertide, and even won against Stephen Windblade! Aren't those quite some achievements!"
"I suppose so," he shrugged, looking away from her in embarrassment. He still couldn't figure out why he kept feeling this way.
"I must say, it would be an exaggeration to say I am simply interested in you," she said, putting her finger on her lips again, leaning in towards Allen.
"Umm, interested?," Allen said, leaning his head back, his face red.
"Oh, that's right," she suddenly remembered as she finally leaned back. "I haven't introduced myself yet, have I?"
"No, I don't think so"
"Well then, allow me to introduce myself! I am Sarah Childe, one of the four divas of the academy! Pleased to meet you, Allen!," she gave him a wide grin.
"Four divas?," Allen asked, getting more confused as their conversation went on.
"Hmm, tell you what," she said, while intensely looking at Allen."Why don't you visit London with me?"
"Me? Visit London? With you?," he asked, still really confused and unsure what to say.
"Why? You don't want to go with me?," she seemed to deliberately give him a sad look, almost like a face she crafted to purposely get others to feel what she wanted.
"No, uh, it's not that, it's just…," he scratched the back of his head.
"Just what, hmm?," she asked, giving him a curious look.
"Wouldn't you go with… one of your… fans?," he said, not sure if he was asking a question, or saying a statement.
"Oh, my fans? Don't worry about them," she reassured him with a smile. She quickly walked up to him, linking her arm with his. "C'mon let's go!"
"Wha-," Allen suddenly said, caught completely off guard once again.
"To London on our date!," she grinned with excitement, pulling Allen along.
Somebody please help me now, Allen pleaded in his thoughts. I have a bad feeling about this.
Just what seemed like minutes later, they had finally exited the academy and made their way towards the main streets of London. Sarah kept dragging him along, humming as they kept moving.
Not too long after, they made their way to the main square, where the fountain Allen met one of the magical knights, Philip, at.
"Ooh Allen, let's go over there!," she pointed towards the magical artifact stalls.
"Uh, sure," he said, letting her take the lead.
Just how long is this supposed "date" going to go on for?, he thought to himself. Rose is going to kill me for this. Wait, why would she again?
They visited various stalls, with the vendors showcasing their items. Sarah seemed to be interested in every little thing they sold, pointing towards each one for Allen to look at.
"Ooh, do you like this one Allen?," she asked him, putting it towards his face.
"Considering that's a water magical artifact, it wouldn't give me any use"
"I know, but do you at least like it?"
"Uh, I guess?"
"Well then, moving on!," she said, unfortunately tugging him to the next stall.
"Well now, aren't you the luckiest guy right now!," the shopkeeper at the next stall told Allen. "You should be lucky to be with such a cute lady such as her!
"Aww, you're too kind!," Sarah gave him a smile.
"You better treat her right," he gave Allen a grin.
"Umm, thank you?," Allen slightly mumbled, not sure what to say.
"Anything for you two today?," he asked them both.
"Hmm, probably not, we're just browsing for today!," she said.
"No problem, feel free to stop by anytime!," he grinned.
"Thank you!," she grinned back, already leading Allen to the next stall.
"Good luck, champ!," the shopkeeper gave Allen a thumbs up and a toothy grin.
Someone please kill me now, Allen was practically about to shut his mind down if it wasn't already.
After about an hour of wandering around, it was already approaching sundown.
"Umm, can I ask you something?," Allen asked, while Sarah was preoccupied looking at a ring.
"Hmm? What is it?," she looked up at him, the ring still in her hand.
"Why were you so interested in me? Why did you want to take me here?," he asked.
"Shh, it's a secret," she gave him a smile and went back to looking at the ring.
Well, hopefully she'll give me an answer soon, he thought, as he went back to looking at the rings himself.
Despite how at first he was completely caught off guard by her, he couldn't help but enjoy the time he was in London with her. Although this was the first day he met her (as far as he is aware), she was very kind and outgoing, which made it easy to talk to her. Sure, she was a little weird, but she definitely was different from the stuck up students of the academy.
As the sun drew closer to finishing its sunset, their time together was drawing to a close.
"Well Allen, it sadly appears our date has to end here," she gave him a sad look.
"Yeah, we have to head back to the academy before sundown," Allen added.
"Well, it's been really fun! I hope you enjoyed our date together!," she gave him a big smile.
"Umm yeah, I enjoyed it too," he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.
"Well, I thank you for your time Allen. It's been real fun!," she gave him another smile as she finally let go of him. Allen could almost breathe again, like he wasn't able to before.
"Yeah, same," he gave her an awkward smile.
"It's time I leave now! I'll see you later!," she said as she started to head back to the academy.
"You don't want me to take you back?," he asked.
"Aww, aren't you sweet!," she giggled. "No, don't worry about it, I've tortured you long enough!"
"Alright, then see you later," he gave her an awkward wave as she started to head back.
"I see now," she mumbled to herself, before turning back around.
"What was that?," Allen barely heard what she said.
"Nothing! Bye Allen!," she said as she practically rushed off.
What a strange girl, Allen thought to himself. Despite how strange she was, Allen couldn't help but be curious about her. Also, he still wondered why he felt so weird around her and he couldn't explain why.
He finally decided to make his way back to the academy, shortly after she left. He arrived at his dorm room right on time, as if he had been just a few minutes late, he would've been having to deal with security.
As he laid on his bed, ready to fall asleep and continue his weekend, he couldn't help but keep thinking about Sarah. What about her kept her in his mind? Why did she seem so familiar, yet so new?
"Maybe it's… no, it can't be," he mumbled to himself, before finally falling asleep.