"What floor and room is Cory in again?"
"Oh, I know that. He's right below us."
Yvnes nodded at Swanhaden's words saying that was great. Swanhaden and Yvnes decided to head into Cory and Hylli's room through the window. If we headed down through the halls, we would definitely get caught.
"But with you wrapped up in the blanket with just your face out, you kind of look like a caterpillar."
Yves laughed softly as he pulled my sleeping mask up. My bangs went up with it. When my vision came back, Yves' face was right there.
Yves spread his hands and gently pulled all of my hair back into the blankets.
"Wait…..what are you doing?"
My eyes shook with my voice.
When my bangs and side hair were all shoved into the blankets, the only thing you could see of me was my bare face. Like when all of your hair was pulled back away from your face with a hair band, my face was completely smooth. If that was the only thing you could see of me, it was definitely not a sight for the faint of heart.
"….no, hold on. A mirror….. No, put my hair back out."
I suddenly became embarrassed. I imagined my face in the cross-section of a hard-boiled egg. That was probably how it looked. I kicked around the blanket to try and escape it. I could feel shame crawling up my body, starting from my toes.
But Swanhaden suddenly cast a spell on me to prevent me from escaping. It was a spell that made the body feel extremely, extremely comfortable.
"...uuugh."
Moreover, the position Swan was holding me in was so comfortable that I couldn't move. It felt like being in a warm blanket in the dead of winter and enjoying a nice mandarin orange. I didn't want to get away. I felt lazy and relaxed.
White magic was really quite strange. I liked how cuddly it felt. It made my tense body feel like a limp noodle. Wait. No, I couldn't give up like this. It was comfortable, but it was also kind of shameful. Aaaaaaaah.
I decided to wait a few more moments. Swan didn't seem like he was planning on putting me down anytime soon either.
I counted to ten in my head. I was going to ask him to put me down when I finished counting to ten.
A full sixty seconds later, I looked to Swan and began to speak.
"Can you start putting me down now?"
"You're hurt. Get some rest."
"Okay."
I tried my hardest to resist the comfort. My will was immediately shut down at his words. I decided to put my face back on his back and relaxed again.
Aaaaa, what did you do? It's too comfortable. I don't want to move. I feel so relaxed.
When I stayed still, Swanhaden carried my cocoon-self on his back once more. I didn't even have my arms out for this. He put me on his back by tying me to him with a long piece of fabric. Then, he cast a spell to make sure I didn't fall off of his back. I basically got stuck to him like glue.
…..what is this. It's so embarrassing.
Yves kept touching the corner of his mouth as he looked at me. Then, he looked at me stuck to Swan and spoke.
"….hand Shushu over to me, Swan."
"Okay."
Swan told Yves that he understood as he threw my magic broom towards him. Yves snatched the broom and looked back at him, confused.
As Swan headed to the veranda to go down, I saw my reflection in the window.
How do I say it. How I looked, it was very….
"…..pathetic...…"
When I tried to thrash out of my cocoon, Swanhaden once again put that spell on me. Oh…..oh no.....I'm…..so comfortable.....I can't moooove...….I want to stay like this….forever…..
I decided to not care about how I looked and instead chose comfort. I relaxed and let my body feel like a giant slime.
I could see the back of Swan's head right in front of me. The weather wasn't too hot or too cold, but his ears were so red that it was actually incredible.
Swanhaden moved nimbly. He grasped the railing and gave himself a big shove and landed on the downstairs veranda. He was moving like this with me still on his back. Incredible. This definitely wasn't the first time he'd done something like this.
Swanhaden knocked on Hylli and Cory's dorm veranda window a few times.
When there wasn't any kind of reaction from within the room, Swan just broke the window in front of him. The window broke with a loud crash as a new entrance appeared. I couldn't do anything but laugh at Swanhaden's aggressiveness.
"Swan, if you make such a ruckus, won't the teacher be able to hear?"
"The second floor teacher is too lazy to come to the room. He only did roll calls for all of his three years."
Swanhaden explained as he headed into the room. Yvnes, who had also arrived after Swan, looked at Swan with a scowl on his face.
"Swanhaden, what's with your wording? It's too kind."
"Shut up."
Swanhaden paused immediately after telling Yves to shut up and muttered, Oh no, I have to be careful about what I say. to himself.
When we entered Cory and Hylli's dorm room, the two of them were sleeping peacefully.
I felt kind of bad, having to wake up the two of them because of me. I told the other two that I would get back on my own, but Swan and Yves refused to listen.
Cory and Hylli's room was very different from Swan and Yves' room. Swan and Yves' room was extremely clean, but Cory and Hylli's room was just messy enough.
It wasn't too messy. It was cleaner than your average teenage boy's room. It just felt extremely lived-in.
Hylli's side didn't have too many things that caught my eye. He had textbooks on his bookshelf, and on his desk was some half-done homework. There were also a few books about swordsmanship, but those were stacked on his desk and looke dwell-loved.
Hylli liked swords, so next to the bed were daggers, rapiers, a parring knife, and etc. swords were on display. Unlike Swanhaden's display, which seemed more for easy reaching than display, this definitely seemed like it was for show.
Honestly, the first thing that caught my eye was Cory's side of the room.
Oh, Cory. I muttered to myself.
Cory's side was a bit messier. If I picked out each and every part of his side, it sounded neat, but all of the items were definitely not where they were supposed to be. It looked messy because of that.
Near Cory's bed and desk were doodles of magic circles that he seemed to have drawn. On the floor was a failed circle and some burn marks. On the furniture were items that Cory had created during his time in the academy hanging on them. Most of them were created using his own magic stones, so it was shining a bright gold, the color of his magic.
Cory had all of his 'Today's Magic' magazines all stacked up next to his bed. All of the articles mentioning Shunivalen in 'Today's Magic' were neatly cut out and pasted onto the walls next to the circles.
Cory was asleep surrounded by other items. He was deep asleep under his cabbage blanket until a cold gust of wind woke him up.
"I'm cooooold...."
Cory covered his face with his hands as he stood up. He wrapped himself with his blanket as he squinted towards the window. When he saw that the window was broken, he just stared dumbly at the window, mouth wide open. He looked at Swan and Yves with sleepy eyes before tilting his head in confusion.
"...….what?"
Cory yawned as he crawled around the bed and stood up. He rubbed his eyes open and approached Swan.
Hylli also woke up after feeling a few extra presences in his room. His black hair was an absolute mess. Hylli stared briefly at the broken window before going, "Oh, it's a dream." He tried to go back to sleep. But before he did, his eyes met Swan's and he stood ramrod straight.
Hylli seemed to have woken up completely now. His eyes were sparkling with recognition.
Hylli stood up and helped Cory find his glasses. He was scowling as he touched the floor and his bed for it.
Cory's glasses were on the floor. If it wasn't for Hylli, he would've stepped on his own shoes.
With his eyes still refusing to completely open, Cory thanked Hylli before wearing his glasses upside down. He frowned, uncomfortable, before putting it back on properly. But even that was crooked.
Cory and Hylli seemed flabbergasted at Swanhaden and Yvnes and the cocoon they came in with, but they seemed resigned to their fate after seeing Swanhaden.
Cory trudged towards us with his body still wrapped with his blanket. He frowned as he stared at Swanhaden's back.
"What's that caterpillar behind you?"
Cory's voice cracked. His voice was already husky, but it sounded dry now.
I stayed on Swan's back, too embarrassed to show my face.
When Cory didn't recognize me, I uncovered my face to him.
"...…it's me."
Cory's eyes grew wide as he saw my round face popping out of the bundle of blankets.
He probably just thought it was blankets. It wasn't a surprise for him to be taken aback by a face suddenly popping out of it. But it wasn't something that should've warranted him gaping his mouth out of surprise like that.
Cory and Hylli burst out into loud laughter.
Hylli held onto his stomach as he laughed loudly. Cory turned around and collapsed onto the floor. His body was shaking slightly.
I watched the two of them basically die of laughter and smiled bitterly. The shame I had forgotten in the face of comfort began to crawl up my body once more. Wa…..was it that bad? I remembered how I had looked in the reflection. Damn.
"Do I look that funny?"
"No, you're pretty."
I scowled and asked Swan, who just turned his head to look at me before responding.
I looked at my reflection at his words. I saw a caterpillar with a human face. That particular face looked mean and had some dead eyes to boot. Was he using sarcasm to hurt others' feelings now?
I could feel my face getting warm, so I hid my face from others. My face was probably incredibly red right now.
Then now I probably looked like a red caterpillar. No, an orangutan? Could they laugh any louder? I was getting ready to start kicking again, but I was still way too comfortable to move. This definitely was one of Swan's new bullying methods. Whenever I tried to leave, I became too relaxed to leave.
Cory shook as he approached me again.
"Hey, caterpillar, can you look my way one more time?"
Without looking, I sighed and turned my face to look away from Cory. I could see Cory who was definitely awake as he squatted on the floor, laughing. Hylli was slamming his fist on the bed as he laughed.
Cory grasped onto Swan's shoulder as he shook, still laughing. I wondered if he was going to pass out because of it.
"Oh, what do I do. It's too cute."
....I don't want to be cute because of how pathetic I look. No thanks.
I sighed and scowled when I heard Cory's words. When I squinted towards him, Cory apologized as he burst into laughter again. He raised his arms to touch my head, but lowered them when he saw how annoyed I looked.
"....stop laughing and fix this please."
Cory seemed to hesitate for a moment at my words before nodding as he tried to remove the spell Swan had cast on me.