Opening the door, on the other side was Kathryn.
Hm? What's she doing here?
"Morning!"
"Morning."
"Can I come in?"
"...Sure?"
Kathryn marched straight in and looked around before sitting on the bed.
"Woah, so this is your room, honestly, unexpected."
I sat back at my chair and looked towards her.
"I figured you'd just have the basic room with no improvements, haha. But I guess I was wrong, there's books everywhere and-"
She grabbed some pillows and blankets
"Woah! These are comfy! What'd you ask to get these? What material are they?"
Material? I've no clue...
"I just put 'Comfy Blanket and Pillows' on the sheet and that's what they gave me."
"Really? I'll have to ask your teacher what material these are made from then, you're in Class C, right?"
"Yeah."
She looked at some books that were on my nightstand before opening one of them and it looked like she was reading it.
What'd she even come here for?
I was confused, but I decided to look back at the blank piece of paper. These lyrics weren't gonna write themselves.
…
A few minutes later I had written nothing and looked back at Kathryn who was still reading.
Did she come just to hangout or something?
She suddenly looked up at me.
"Oh! Shoot! Sorry! I was so engrossed in this book that I forgot why I came here. Could I borrow this?"
"Sure?"
"Sweet! Thanks! Okay, anyways, I came here to ask you about today."
"Hm?"
"First of all, here you go, this is the payment for singing and playing piano later today."
She put 5 gold coins on my nightstand.
Holy hell is she generous. I'd have only asked for 20 silvers, but I won't refuse gold.
But... I really feel like I don't know my own characters, the Kathryn I remember writing was a ruthless businesswoman. But the Kathryn in front of me just seems like a generous friend... Maybe I should throw away most of what I originally thought of them... It's clear that there's so much different things happening than what I wrote.
Wait... I just realized... If she's giving me 5 gold for this, which is clearly overpriced, does that mean I'm about to do something really unreasonable? Shit, did I fuck up?
"Second, could you start with the piano? And instead of the classical like you'd do for a ball, could you make it good?"
Huh? Was that it? I'd be getting 5 gold just to play the piano? I was expecting way worse.
"Sure."
"Sweet! Thanks!"
Did she just imply she hates classical music? I figured all nobles would love it or something, but I guess not.
I turned back towards the piece of paper, and Kathryn stayed sitting on the bed and started to read the book again.
Hm... I guess I don't need to write any lyrics right now. If I'll just be playing the piano, then I just gotta focus on which song I should try to copy. But the real question is, how do I even play a piano?
I know that last time I tried, it just came naturally. Hm... Is this how Rio feels? Now that I think about it, isn't his 'Weapon Master' talent and my 'Music' talent similar? Just instead of me being gifted with all weapons, I'm just gifted with instruments.
Eh... I guess I can think about it when a piano is in front of me. I don't know exactly how my talent works, but it'll probably work out.
I decided to just lean back in my chair and read a book as well. It didn't seem like Kathryn was leaving anytime soon, so I couldn't lay down.
…
A few minutes later, I heard a knock at my door.
Opening the door, I was greeted by Rio.
"I'm back!"
"Welcome back?"
"I gave Mr. Mispholfo my requests!" Rio said as he walked in.
I scratched the back of my head as I closed the door.
I don't have enough seats in here...
"Eh!? Kathryn's here?"
"Oh, morning Rio." Kathryn said with a soft smile as she continued reading the book.
"Good morning! Did you come to hangout as well?"
"Not originally, but it just kinda happened."
I yawned as I sat back in my chair.
Man, I'm tired...
I could hear Rio and Kathryn talking as I rested my cheek on my hand.
A few dozen seconds later I could hear my name and could see Rio at the side of the desk.
"Leo!"
"Hm?"
"Could you recommend me a book to read?"
"Sure."
I got up and looked at my bookshelf.
Hm... I mean, he'd probably like this dragon-slayer one, right?
"Here."
"Red-Eyes?"
"Yeah, I think you'd like it."
"Okay! Thank you!"
He took the book happily and sat on the opposite side of the bed from Kathryn and began to read.
Is this a book-club or something? They could be reading these in their own rooms...
I sat back down at the desk and put my head down.
---
I woke up sometime later, when I looked back at my bed, they were both still there, just reading.
They're still here? What time even is it?
1:50?
10 more minutes...
I got up and stretched my arms wide.
Haah, I yawned.
"Should I just meet you two at the school gate or?" I asked
They were both so engrossed in reading, that my sudden words startled them.
"Huh?"
"There's 10 minutes until we're supposed to meet at the gate."
"W-H-Huh? 10 minutes?" Kathryn stuttered.
"Yeah, its 1:50... No, 1:52."
"Ah! What!? I got to go! I'll see you two at the gate! Also, I'll be back for this book!"
Kathryn quickly left in a hurry.
Why didn't you just take the book with you? I said you could borrow it...
"Haah, are you ready, Rio?"
"Oh... Yup! Should we start heading to the gate now?"
"Eh, I think we could wait a few minutes."
"Okay!"
A few minutes later Rio had closed the book and we began to head to the gate.