Already having sat down on a chair that resided on one of the 2 long tables within this classroom on the main building's second floor, he began to browse his tablet, attempting to grasp all its features.
There were many different icons on it. There was the Pocket Dimension icon that he was told about by the teacher that gave him it, a feature that worked as an ID card, which he thought was sort of weird due to the terminal's size, and many others that seemed interesting.
This classroom was the catalyst construction classroom, and like Kaede's magic runes classroom, it was also like a regular school's science lab.
Every other student in this class was either talking to their fellow friends, already studying material from whichever other classes they'd already taken, or simply just sitting alone, thinking of a plethora of different things. Sure, Shu himself also had certain things on his mind. One of those was of course the event that happened not too long ago in the cafeteria. It happened to be such a fun event that he just couldn't forget about it. The other thought within his mind was a comment Kaede had told him about.
The conversation that took place between them replayed in his head, himself still browsing the terminal.
"Have you seen other male students wearing this uniform?"
"Actually, I've seen both guys and girls wearing that uniform. There aren't many though; I think I saw around 6 or so…"
The irritating part was that of course, the fight was so intriguing that both siblings seemed to forget about this discussion.
"That's just great…" muttering to himself, he pinched his nose's bridge out of annoyance.
As this happened, the classroom's door slid open, a familiar voice being heard.
"Oh, Shu, you're in this class with me?"
He stopped using his terminal and looked up at the person that spoke and surely enough, it was his maid in training, Sasha.
"Oh hey, Sasha! Yeah, I suppose so, right?"
As he saw him smile, Sasha noticed the desk next to his was vacant; of course, she decided to claim it.
"I hope you don't mind me sitting next to you, Mas- I-I mean Shu. I feel that I could be a better maid to you than I've been so far…" she said with a deprecating face, putting her clenched right hand over the left side of her chest.
She mentioned this a bit too loud that the other students turned to look. Some had weird faces, and others looked weirded out. But there was a certain one that seemed to have a different type of face. She looked as if she was…jealous? Envious? It was hard to tell. For Shu, at least.
He also noticed everyone else looking at the two of them, and he became flustered due to the embarrassment.
"D-don't say things like that so loud! Keep it low." He was so embarrassed that his tone sounded slightly harsher than usual.
"Right! I apologize!"
Sasha bowed down once again, basically accidentally going against what Shu had just said. She really didn't mean it. She was the type of person who their embarrassment got the best of them.
"I-it's okay. Just be careful next time."
As the seconds passed, their classmates stopped caring about what'd just happened. On the outside at least.
2 in the front row were whispering so low that no one else could hear them.
"Did she say "maid"? What's going on between those two?"
"I don't know, but what if it's some kinky shit or something?"
"Don't tell me they…" their conversation continued without anyone batting an eye.
Something important to note is that the classes in Rose Academy are slightly peculiar. You won't be with the exact same students in every class. Instead, in every class, you will have a different group of classmates for the most part. Sure, it's possible to have the same classes with someone, but the chances of such an event happening weren't the highest. However, they weren't exactly the lowest either. There were around 20,000 students in the entire academy, and the school taught students from 6-12th grades, which meant that there was an approximate of 2,860 students in each class, albeit some obviously had either way less or way more students.
After things were cleared up between Shu and Sasha, she noticed that the desk next to him was vacant, and so she decided to claim it.
"Hey, Shu, is something else wrong? I truly apologize for what I did, but I get the feeling that there's something else that's bothering you…"
She couldn't be any more right. There was indeed something bothering him: the unfinished conversation his sister and himself had earlier.
"Yeah, it's just that…Kaede and I were talking about something, but we got interrupted by you know what."
"What do you mean- ohhh, I see."
"Yeah…"
"What were you and Kaede talking about, though?"
"Oh, it was simply about my-"
"Oh my, sorry I'm late, everyone! I had a few things to take care of!" a female voice spoke out of nowhere. Assuming that it was who he thought, he spoke to Sasha:
"I'll tell you later."
Assuming that this figure was who she also thought it was, Sasha responded:
"Alright."
Both their assumptions were indeed correct: they were interrupted by the teacher who'd apparently come in late. Practically everyone had lost track of time, so they didn't really mind that she was late.
Even though it was admittedly a bit creepy, most of the male students couldn't stop staring at the teacher. Her beautiful pinkish hair with streaks of blue, gorgeous blue eyes, skin as white as a doll's, and her alluring cherry red lips…these were her most outstanding features. As for her height, she was slightly taller than average for a girl her age.
She also wore a white lab coat, which made her cooler, for whatever reason.
"Once again, I'm very sorry for being late! I was called to the faculty office over some paperwork I didn't fill out or something. I'm sorry!" As she talked, she clasped her hands together and wore a degrading smile, eyes closed and everything.
She was relatively young, maybe around 23-25, the students guessed.
"Oh my, I should probably introduce myself. My full name is Emily Entreat, and as your schedule says, I will be your catalyst construction teacher for this year."
As she talked and moved about the classroom, the boys couldn't stop looking at her, and some of the girls were ultimately jealous of her. It was hard not to for them; she was too beautiful.
"I'm assuming most of you know what a catalyst is, but for those of you who don't…"
From her coat's side pocket, she took out the same small remote a few of the other teachers had used and clicked it. The same magical presentation appeared on where the board would usually be in your standard school.
Then, as she stood in front of the board to the side so everyone could see it (currently, there was an image of a sort of black wand being projected with text that explained the main concept of a catalyst), she officially began her class:
"A catalyst is basically a magic weapon…or item you can use to either better control your magic or to make it stronger. You can also use them to make your magic weaker, which I don't know why you would ever do that, but anyway. In this class, we'll be learning about how to actually make a catalyst, as the name of the class states. However, for the first few months, we'll be focusing more on the overall concept of what a catalyst is and then we'll focus on creating one ourselves. If I had to make a guess, I'd say that…around October, is when we'd begin creating them."
She clicked a button on the remote, making the slide change.
"There are many kinds of catalysts. They have different names depending on who you ask, although I like to prefer to them by extremely basic names, personally."
She put her free hand in her coat's pocket. "There are weapon catalysts, which as the name suggests, take the forms of weapons, whether they're a sword, a wand, or maybe even something more unorthodox."
A random student sitting in the front row of the classroom raised his hand. "I have a question."
Mrs. Entreat turned to look at him when she heard her. "Hm? Yes, go ahead."
"Is it possible to make your catalyst something like a group of weapons? For example, is it possible to make it a group of let's say…shurikens, or something of the sort?"
"That's both an interesting and good question! Even though it's more complicated than the usual, yes, it absolutely is!"
"Okay! Thank you."
"Any other questions?" Mrs. Entreat asked with a smile.
No one else raised their hand. "In that case, let's continue!"
She changed the slide once again. "Next, there's the second type of catalysts: the item catalysts. Usually, these are used to control specific concepts about your type of magic. For example, making a necklace to make yourself shoots energy balls at a faster rate."
She then kept explaining a handful or other examples of this kind of catalyst and answering more questions the students had, regarding both kinds of catalysts.
Of course, though, Shu didn't have any questions about this subject, and neither did Sasha, surprisingly.
Even though she wasn't as knowledgeable about magic as the Makahoushi siblings, she still knew a very diverse amount of the concept, especially about her own kind of magic. The magic that made the siblings' family take interest in them…
As time passed, the 2 of them were still listening. Interestingly enough, at some point, Sasha had taken out a notebook and pencil and started both taking notes of a few things she felt she might forget and doodling out of the boredom she felt every once in a while.
Shu, however, wasn't really bored; sleepy would've been the correct word in this case. All he wanted to do was ask his sister about the other students he'd seen with his peculiar, albeit still cool, uniform.
As the time went on, the sleepier he felt. He was so close to dozing off that he had to use his hand as support for his head. As he felt even sleepier with every passing second, his eyes closed more and more until finally…
A thud was heard in the classroom. Even though it normally would've been disrespectful to fall asleep during class, the teacher didn't pay mind to it; not because she didn't care, but she assumed that maybe he already knew about the topic currently being discussed.
Sasha turned and stare at him, smiling.
* * *
He opened his eyes. Now, in place of what was once a full classroom, was instead an empty one. He felt like he'd just waken up from an 8-hour sleep.
"How long was I asleep for…?" he muttered, rubbing his eyes as he stood.
"You were asleep for 30 ish minutes, Shu."
"AAH!"
He was startled by the sudden voice. But he knew exactly who it was. He turned around to see Sasha, gracefully standing there as if she was waiting for him.
"Why are you still here? Don't you have your next class?"
"Of course, I do. But it's my priority to wait for my master."
Shu heaved a sigh. He still thought this whole master-servant thing was a bit awkward, but he let it slide anyway.
"I already knew what they were discussing, but just to be 100% sure…what did I miss?"
"Oh you missed a lot, but I can fill you in after school!"
"Sure, that sounds good." He made a smile as he said that.
And just like that, they started their way to their next class.
Why do I feel like I forgot something…? Oh well, it's probably nothing.
Shu thought this as he walked because he had this feeling that something was forgotten by him.
It wasn't the conversation he was yearning to have, nor was it his uniform. So, what was it, then?
In the end, he decided to let this go, forgetting about it.
As he walked down the hallway for his next class, a group of students walked past him, and even though he was tired from sleeping still, something in the corner of his eye caught his attention immediately.
"Huh? Wait a second…"
He turned around extremely fast to confirm what he saw, and he was correct: one of the students that passed by was wearing the same uniform as Shu's, the only difference being that instead of pants, they wore a skirt, so it was a girl instead, obviously.
Still his tired self, Shu walked to her instead of his intended class, and called out to her: "Um, excuse me!"
The girl then turned around, but she turned back to her original position so fast that he couldn't make out her face. And then, out of nowhere, the girl started to run.
"Hey, wait!" he extended his hand as if he was trying to catch her, but it was no use. The students close to him looked at him as if he was strange.
Sure, Shu could've gone after her, but he didn't want to make a stranger feel uncomfortable, and he didn't want to miss his next class.
With his terminal's bag hanging off his shoulder, he turned around and made his way towards his next class once again.