Rina observed the boy in front of her.
They could have guessed he was demon kin ever so easily.
There are just far too many telling points.
His skin never tans. His hair is too black. He covered up his forehead with bangs, but Rina could see traces of two black spots, in the position where the horns are supposed to be.
His finger nails are tapered, so are his toes.
Sure, he cut the nails off to make it look normal, but Rina could see, unlike humans whose finger nails are wide and keep growing wide, Edam's are getting curled into themselves ready to become claws.
On top of that, she remembered Edam always went to the flower field in the morning, despite being punished many times.
It's a demon trait of being unable to resist the temptations.
No matter what, since she is not the person whom he had a crush on, it's impossible for her to control this guy.
So, she just had to make him her accomplice.
After all, in a school, if there's only one person rejecting the admission of the royal academy, which comes with a stipend, it's not going to look good.
Rina has never been good at talking.
So, she went straight to the point.
" If I tell you that you are going to face a great disaster when the magic test is through, will you believe me ? " Rina asked Edam.
Edam stared straight at Rina.
" Will I have a disaster when the awakening is through ? " he asked.
" Yes. " Rina answered.
Edam still looked doubtful, and kept staring at her.
" I believe you. " he whispered after some time.
" I have a plan to avert this disaster. However, there is no free lunch in the world. If you choose this route, you will lose something of equal value. Do you want in ? " Rina asked.
Edam nodded.
"Then, follow me. " Rina said, as she directed him to the assembly hall 2.
" I will distract the lecturer, you should grab two of those admission forms there, get it ? " Rina asked.
Edam nodded again.
His wounds already healed. He had accelerated healing as the demon-kin, on top of that, their school healer is pretty skilled. So, he had no trouble sneaking around with Rina.
" Don't forget to grab two quills too. " Rina reminded him, as she went towards the proctor.
" Sir, They are serving breakfast in the staffroom. There are sweet pastries. " Rina told the proctor.
She has heard this man complain more than once that they always inform him late, for he would hog all the sweet pastries with no consideration for his colleagues.
" I heard there are even custard cream buns from Fab-Gello in there. " Rina told him.
He looked tortured as he looked at the forms.
Rina waited.
If she were a child, she would have immediately offered to look after the forms.
However, she was not.
If nothing else, her previous job taught her patience to the extreme.
" Song Rina ! Do you wanna do a teacher a small favor ? " he asked.
" Sure, Sir! " Rina answered.
" You keep watch on these forms. When a student takes a form, you place a tick against their name. Teacher will be right back, you wait here for me. " the foodie teacher said.
Rina nodded like a good student.
The teacher looked back to Rina in doubt after five steps.
Rina smiled at him innocently, with her hand pressed against the forms tightly, and the quill against the roster.
The teacher gained confidence, and left the room.
Just as Edam was about to approach her, the teacher leaned back from behind the door to check on Rina.
Seems there's a reason the other staff sent him here.
With his cautious and upright personality, the forms would never get into student's hands before the awakening.
Rina handed two worms to Edam, along with two quills, then, on the roster, she put two checks against their names.
Fortunately, both their names fall a bit in the middle, so, unless someone deliberately looks for the names, they would not notice it.
Rina closed the pages, kept watch on the door for the teacher diligently.
After some time, the teacher came back, with bread crumbs all over his mouth, and building cheeks.
" Run Along, Song Rina. It's time for the awakening for the second batch of students. " the teacher sent her along.
Rina ran along as fast as she could, and hid in the garden, squatting in the bushes to avoid being found.
Edam followed her despite his doubts.
He squatted along with her, his expression very innocent, like a child following what an adult is doing. In this situation, it looked like a three foot petite girl ran and squatted in the bushes. a five foot tall and thin man follows her, to squat in bushes like a child while waiting on her orders.
It is such a pity no one saw this picture. It was quite funny to watch.
" What do we do now ? " Edam asked, his voice full of pre-pubescent childishness.
Edam had been extremely late to puberty.
That's half the reason he is bullied. His voice is surprisingly sweet and almost all the girls liked his voice, including Elora, his crush.
Rina never quite understood it, given that they are almost seventeen.
However, if he is half a demon, this all makes sense.
Demons come to their juvenile period late, running from twenty five years to more, depending on how long the certain species lives.
Most common demons become juveniles at thirty five years. Thus, even if it's a bit accelerated because Edam had been a human, it won't be any time before twenty.
" Now we fill our forms, rejecting admission to the royal academy. " Rina told him.
Edam looked at her sharply.
He wanted to go to the royal academy. It's his only way to make any sort of income, in order to look after his mother.
He has no hope of living in this village, if not for his magic. His magic measurement had always been high, and it is his only hope to get out of this village.
Now, to let go of such an opportunity, just because Rina says it ? he is not very willing to believe her.
" Is it really to my benefit ? " he asked.
" Yes. " Rina answered.
" The benefit of listening to you and not listening is the difference between heaven and earth?" Edam asked her again.
" Yes. " Rina answered.
" You are willing to die if it were false ? " he asked with gritted teeth.
" Yes. " Rina answered without hesitation.
Edam frowned after listening to her, then started writing with the quill.
That quill was a blood quill. It's used only to sign the documents, yet, Edam was writing with it so easily.
Rina retrieved her own, and started writing with hiss. She kept moaning in pain as she wrote. However, unlike Edam, she only signed her non consent. For the rest, she just used ink.
They both dried and tied up their forms, then went to attend the awakening as usual.
" Song Rina ! Edam Forest ! You two must be quite happy to tarry around outside. How about I decline your awakening on the count of being undisciplined ? Ah ? Ah ? " The teacher who was guiding the students to awakening poked their foreheads in utter anger.
" Sorry teacher. We just wanted to know what awakening feels like. We stopped by to talk with the first batch. Please let us attend awakening. " Rina begged.
Edam looked at her disgustedly.
Despite not going through puberty, he is still a boy with a rebellious spirit.
On top of it, Rina is a bit of a teacher's pet on the usual days.
As any persecuted student should, he hated the teacher's pet to an adequate degree.
If he was not busy running away from his bully's every day, Edam was sure to put bugs in her bag every day.
" So, what did you hear ? " The teacher asked with a somewhat softened attitude.
Edam turned around to look at the teacher in betrayal this time.
Rina pouted.
" They won't tell me. " she answered.
The teacher felt sufficiently vindicated, given the class is under clear orders to not reveal what an awakening feels like.
" Get in. Don't make any noise. Wait for your name to be called. " The teacher advised.
Rina walked back in to the class.
Unlike Edam, she was not bullied.
There's a very simple reason for this. She is a good student with top marks.
So, the only sort of bullying she faces is isolation. Which never quite affected her the way the bullies hoped it would, for Rina is tired of human interaction after all the 'looking after siblings. '.
She sat in her seat happily, looking around and figuring out all her classmates once more.
Like her, most of her classmates are mediocre in the amount of magic they have. If they have ten or one wont make a difference when every spell needs fifteen to work.
Thus, even if they go to the royal academy, they can't do a thing to change their future. They toil in the field as citizens now.
They will toil as slaves to the nobility or die hunting in dungeons based on unreliable information.