Aena immediately thanked Cassidy again after going inside the dorms and headed straight for her room. She shrugged off her blazer and flopped down on her bed, still dressed in the Academy uniform. It had been a taxing day, and she didn't have the energy to do anything else. All the adrenaline from earlier had faded, and her fatigue hit like a truck. With sleepiness pressing down on her eyelids, she fell into a deep sleep.
…
The next morning.
Aena woke up to the sunlight streaming through the windows. She groaned and turned away from the light, burrowing her face into her pillow. She let out a small sigh of contentment and stayed wrapped in her blankets like a sausage roll for five more minutes. She blinked through the morning brightness and checked the time. 6:47. She sighed. She usually got up around 6:30, so she was already lagging behind schedule.
She dragged herself out of bed and pulled on some athletic wear. Even though she was technically injured, just a light jog wouldn't exacerbate the injury. She applied a new cold compress to the area and headed out of her room.
She had headed down the stairs and entered the lobby when she noticed something atypical: on one of the normally empty plush couches in the lobby, a violet head peeked out from behind the backrest.
Cassidy was sitting there straight-backed, staring off into space. When Aena entered, Cassidy's head snapped around and she flashed a smile.
"Morning."
"... Morning?" Aena replied, halting her steps.
Cassidy walked over and gave Aena a once-over, then nodded, heading for the exit.
"Let's go."
Aena's brain cells ran at top speed as she tried to decipher Cassidy's words. 'Go somewhere? Where? What for? Is this some important date that I forgot?' She had no idea what was going on.
"Go where?"
Cassidy stopped and looked back, giving her a strange look.
"Going to the training center, where else?" She said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
"Um… but…" Aena wanted to get more clarification but then decided to drop it and quickly caught up with Cassidy, moving to her side. She could always ask on the way as she was going there anyway.
The two girls exited the automatic doors and into the fresh morning air. The Rosengard dormitories were situated toward the outskirts, so there wasn't too much activity around the area; however, that also meant there wasn't too much noise either.
There were a few dorms clustered at each corner of the campus, but the Rosengard dorms stood separate, located by itself.
They jogged along the paved pathway and Aena loosened her muscles in the slightly frigid morning air. She could definitely feel her wound ache with each step, but she still maintained good running form.
Aena thought that she would have to acclimatize to the pain, but to her surprise, Cassidy slowed down in consideration, and they jogged together at a rather slow pace.
"So any reason we're going together?" Aena asked, turning her head to the side. Cassidy usually went ahead much earlier than her.
"To protect you."
Oh. So it was still about that. Cassidy really was vehement about that last night, and apparently today too. Aena thought that she would have at least backed off after having a night's rest. She lifted her hand up to her brow and looked around exaggeratedly with her eyes open wide.
"I don't see anyone you need to protect me from. I'll be fine. You know you're quite stubborn, aren't you?"
Cassidy shot her a glare.
"Say any more and you might need protecting from me."
Aena was stunned. Was that a threat? Wait, no. Seeing the rising smile on Cassidy's lips, she had second thoughts. No… could it be? Was that a joke?
She shivered.
"I'm good."
"Good girl."
Er, when was Aena Cassidy's pet? She was slightly miffed but didn't want to be… assaulted by Cassidy, so she remained silent.
They jogged for a few more minutes before entering the massive training facility. Since it was no longer the start of the semester and many students were beginning to take their education seriously, there were about a dozen or so students currently utilizing the various pieces of equipment.
Aena didn't see anyone she knew since most of her classmates belonged to a different dorm, and therefore had a different training facility that was closer.
Everyone had a sort of tacit understanding that was present in all gyms. They all ignored each other and trained quietly on their own. The air was filled with nothing but the sound of gym equipment and labored breathing.
Aena and Cassidy ran a few laps before Aena had to take a short rest. She was already sweating, and she stumbled to the nearest bench and plopped down. She was doing much worse than usual, no surprise.
She leaned back and closed her eyes, trying to calm her raging heart. She breathed in and out at a steady pace when she felt a tap on her forehead. She opened her eyes to find a water bottle in her face. She grabbed it and took a deep swig, the refreshing cold water rushing down her throat.
"That's the stuff." Nothing beat a cold water after some tiring exercise.
Aena finally looked back to Cassidy when she sat down next to her, holding her own water.
"Thanks."
"Yeah." Cassidy inclined her head.
They relaxed a bit more on the bench.
"You don't have to help me or anything, you know? I thought that you said you were just protecting me." Aeba held up her water. "I can do everything else on my own."
Cassidy frowned slightly like she was going to refuse, but then tilted her head, thinking of a better response. She fiddled with the water bottle in her hands.
"It's part of the package," she finally said.
"Package."
"Just think of it as part of the job description."
Job description? Was Cassidy Aena's caretaker or something? She was pretty sure that it was a favor to Instructor Willowsage since they seemed to be acquainted, but wasn't Cassidy getting pretty into the "job?"
"Did Instructor Willowsage say that?"
"No," Cassidy stated flatly without elaborating.
"Then…" Aena searched for the right words to say, "who's your employer?"
"Myself."
So Cassidy was her own boss, and she created her job, but her job was to help Aena. Wait. Didn't that just mean Cassidy wanted to help her?
"So you just want to take care of me, is that it?"
Cassidy stared hard at her. "No." She looked away and tilted her water bottle back.
No way. Was this girl copying what she did last night? She was trying to avoid talking. 'Alright then,' Aena thought, 'if that's how you want to be.'
"Then what if I want you to take care of me?" Aena said boldly, lifting her chin up.
Cassidy stared back.
"Really?"
Her voice was deep and her gaze pressuring.
"Um," Aena faltered. She laughed awkwardly, "Just kidding! It's a joke! A joke!"
Who knew what Cassidy would take that as? She got up and threw the water bottle away, starting another lap. Cassidy slowly got up behind her and followed her. Aena rolled the thoughts of their conversation over in her mind.
The pair jogged a while more before deciding to head back to the dorms. At that point, Aena was again too tired to think about anything else, any thoughts evaporated. As usual, Aena went to take a shower, but this time Cassidy stood right behind her.
"Hey." Aena made an irked face. "Mind giving me some space?"