The maid smirked at me. For some reason, I sensed slight hostility from her, but who am I to tell? Maybe it was her eyes.
"Ah, Senpai! I was going to take the food but Yoshita-san said that you took it."
Anastasia walked over to us, addressing her senpai. Faith turned and set her arm out toward us, signalling Anastasia to sit down.
The girl sat next to Emika.
Kuro dug into her parfait.
"Move up, Sasaki."
Faith said, whipping her hand out.
I moved up reluctantly; Kuro moved while focusing on her food.
As she sat down, she gave a gentle 'Thank you,' under her breath.
I too started to eat my tonkatsu. Grabbing my chopsticks, I split them and started eating. The rice was warm and just right, while the tonkatsu was crunchy and juicy. The flavours meshed with my taste buds, pleasing them with no end.
"Liking what you're eating?"
Faith asked.
Swallowing my food, I answered.
"Yeah. They don't serve tonkatsu like this at school."
"Right... It's the best tonkatsu you've tasted in your life, right?"
"No."
My answer was instant, shocking the maid. She crossed her arms and legs, tapping her finger on her forearm. Faith looked disappointed.
"May I ask what restaurant cooks better than me?"
"Oh, no, it's not a restaurant. It's my stepsister."
"S-stepsister..."
Faith sunk into depression.
As she did so, I glanced at Anastasia.
"Faith-senpai takes a lot of pride in her cooking."
She chuckled.
Speaking of cooking, Yuki-nee's cooking was the best. Man, I miss home so much now. Yuki-nee was the best big sister. Her cooking, attention, and everything about her. I can see now see why Ai-nee said they're opposites.
Unlike Yuki-nee, Ai-nee can't cook, wash dishes, clean clothes or give her younger siblings gentle attention. She's a lost cause.
Then there's Kei-chan. I don't know anything about her even if I have lived with her most of my life. Whenever I tried to talk to her, she'd either ignore me, insult me, or hit me. At first, I thought she had insecurity about men, but she seems to talk to Dad fine. I wonder what's wrong with me...
"Eh..."
Before I realised it, everything on my plate was gone. I ate it all.
Gazing across at Emika, she had also finished her beef stew. I could see the quizzical look on her face.
The amazing thing is that she hadn't started eating before I was lost in my train of thought and memories.
"That's how incredible Senpai's cooking is. You finish it quick and you don't even realise it. She exclusively made your meals for you two."
Anastasia smiled.
"I want to be a great cook, just like Senpai one day!"
"Maybe if you work hard enough, but you're a waitress for now."
The woman retorted while Anastasia pouted. They seemed like that typical senpai and kouhai duo you see in anime and manga.
Faith reached into her pocket, for a notebook and pen, she wrote down something on her sheet and then passed it across the table. Emika was the first to read it.
She grimaced as she picked it up.
"This... is the bill?"
"Yup. For your two meals and the parfait."
I could see Emika twitch.
"What's the price?"
"35,000 CRD..."
I stayed silent and looked between Kuro, Anastasia and Emika.
"So... Who's paying for this one?"
--
"Kuro, I'm going out."
"Ngh... Okay..."
I closed the door behind me.
After yesterday, we went straight to the dorms and slept. On the way, we met Ai-nee.
She told me to meet her at 11 in the morning. It's 11:10 am now.
She'll definitely be mad.
Strangely enough, she didn't tell me to meet in the faculty room or anything but...
"She told me to meet here."
Around a 5 minute walk from the dorms and into Altria was a derelict building.
I'm having second thoughts now, but she did tell me, 'the bashed-up looking building in the western district.'
I scanned the area; no one was around. This was probably an abandoned part of town.
Swallowing my worries, I walked into the building. The first thing I noticed wasn't the rats or the messy place, but the smell of cigars.
At this point, it was something that I was used to because of my Dad. He smokes in the house all the time.
I shook as I kicked a piece of glass, causing it to skid across the floor like a pebble on water.
"What? You're finally here."
Turning the next corner, I peeked across.
Ai-nee spoke as she lit the cigarette in her mouth with her finger.
"So you're trying to die early too?"
I mocked, sauntering closer.
Ai-nee exhaled smoke as she took the cigar out of her mouth.
"It's a stress reliever."
Cigarettes are medicine to stress now, huh?
"What caused the stress?"
She hesitated.
"A student of mine. The strongest student in the school."
Strongest student?
"You mean Edward Kou Sabre Reishville?"
"No."
Ai-nee replied as if I said something inconceivable.
"My student is stronger than him. Anyway, she started blaming me for a couple of stuff and now... I found myself agreeing with her. I lost a great student and friend..."
My sister continued smoking.
"Could you tell me why you call me here? To this..."
I kicked a broken doll at my feet.
"Shack..."
"Training."
She spoke briefly.
"Uh, but I thought you said that'd be after Golden Week. It's May the 1st, meaning it's still Golden Week."
"Sure, but with the upcoming event, I'd like you to at least be able to defend yourself."
"Valhalla..."
I whispered, realising what she meant.
The teacher tossed her cigar onto the ground and stubbed it with her foot.
"Look, don't expect yourself to be powerful in 2 days. All I'm teaching you is how to utilise your best points. Usually, I'd focus on your physical body, but we don't have that kind of precious time. So, instead, I'll be teaching you more about mana and spells. Be warned, I won't be as easygoing as I am in a lesson."
This is all going too fast. She'll teach me more about magic. That's fine, as long as I can defend myself or someone when the time comes.
I think... I'm ready. I'm ready to get stronger.
"It's not like you're ever easygoing on me."
She smirked.
"Well, said. Now, let's get started! There's no time better than the present!"
I'll finally be able to get stronger. Even if it's only a little... I just need to.