"Brother. I. Am. Beat." Percival let out a long groan, rubbing his cheek with his hand.
Sévir facepalmed. "You've fought Minerva millions of times, right? Why won't you take the hint?"
Percival stared at Sévir, they stared at each for what felt like forever. "Do you not know how cool clone magic is!?" He suddenly stood up, one foot on the bench. "HELL, IT'S EVEN WAY COOLER THAN WATER MAGIC!!!" He exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah. Okay. Stop making a scene." Sévir waved him downwards, 'sit down', basically.
Percival nodded and sat down. "Still, it's rare for you to hang out with me or any student other than Minerva. Is there something going on between you guys?" He leaned forward, raising his eyebrows two times.
"Nothing is going on between us, she just approaches me every now and then."
"Ohhh maaaaan, that's what they all say! 'NoThinG is GoIng oN beTwEEn Us!!!'! And she approaches you every now and then? That's some load of bullcra-"
Sévir clenched his fist and showed it to Percival. "Do you want me to make your bruise even worse?" He glared at Percival, his glare piercing through his eyes, down to his soul.
He shrieked. "EEK! OKAY, OKAY!" He said with the girliest voice possible.
Sévir raised an eyebrow, Percival covered his mouth in embarrassment. "Y- You didn't hear anything." He looked away, his whole head burning up.
When he looked back, Sévir was 10 meters away from him.
"Uh, hey!? Why are you so far away!?" He exclaimed.
"Your girliness might spread to me if I stay close to you." He covered his mouth, coughing. "Actually, I think it has already spread to me." He said with the most blank face possible.
"Ah, screw you!"
Sévir walked back to the bench, sitting down.
They sat in silence for a while, Percival cleared his throat. "It's interesting."
He looked at Percival. "What's interesting?"
"How nobody's realized you and Zephyr are siblings."
"..." Sévir sat there in silence.
"..." Percival sat there in silence.
Sévir quickly unsheathed his dagger with his left hand, pointing it at Percival's neck.
He glared at him again. "Is there something you want from me?" Percival shook his head. "What's your goal? How did you find out that me and Zephyr are siblings?" Percival stayed silent. "Tell me."
He rolled his eyes and sighed. "It doesn't take a genius to find out you guys are siblings, I'll tell you. Also, quit pointing your dagger at me!" He nudged the dagger away.
"You guys both have white, silver, metallic? Hair colors, on top of that, yellow eyes. Your name is Sévir van Doren, but she never told anybody her surname, nobody knows her surname and only knows her as 'Zephyr', and when it's lunch time, you and Zephyr are usually missing, you guys are together."
"That doesn't mean we're together."
"Yeah yeah, for all I know, you could just be spending your time making out with Minerva or Sanguinex, I don't know. But the evidence makes me strongly believe that you and Zephyr are siblings. No doubt." He crossed his arms.
Sévir resheathed his knife and sighed.
"Calm down brother, your secret's safe with me. Just be my friend then my mouth is completely sealed, 101%."
"What a way to ask to be friends. I accept. But why do you want to be friends with me?"
"You see.. I don't want to believe the rumors about you, I want to see it for myself."
Sévir remembered. "In other words, I don't believe those rumors, I'll see them by myself."
"And.. Well.." He scratched his cheek with one finger, looking away as he gets slightly embarrassed. "I, uh.. Took a liking to you."
"Percival.." He called his name gently.
Percival looked at Sévir, who was 20 meters away this time. "WHAT THE HELL!?"
"Percival.. Are you into men..?" He asked with concern.
"God dammit Sévir, I'M NOT!"
"Okay, don't worry, I'm not.. Against your decision. Just don't be open to others." Sévir turned around and walked away.
"No- NO- SÉVIR VAN DOREEEEEEEEENNNNNN!!!!!!!!"
...
Water slowly formed as Minerva unsheathed her cutlass.
"Globus Ahi!" Eileen aimed her hand at Minerva the moment she saw her move her hand to her cutlass.
"Globus Ahi!" Sanguinex aimed her wand somewhere along the tracks of Eileen's fireball.
Minerva swung her sword up and formed a wall of water, dashing to the left as she spotted Percival moving. The two fireballs met and blew up upon contact. Looks like I'll have to deal with Eileen! Don't fail me. Gros-whatever-your-name-is!
"Duplex Kloon!" Another Percival formed out of Percival, stopping in their tracks as Minerva appeared in front of them.
They both cracked their knuckles. "It's been a while since we last fought!"
She pointed her cutlass between them. "I'll give you a chance to surrender like I always do!"
They smirked. "Then I'll refuse like I always do!" They shouted with confidence. Percival 1 ran straight to Minerva, Percival 2 ran to the side at full sprint.
She frowned.
...
"That's what happened. So kid, the bottomline is–if Minerva frowns in a battle, that's where you're done for." Percival crossed his arms.
Zephyr listened with astonishment in her face. "She really is amazing!" She wrote down everything he said in a paper quickly.
"Huh, this kid is hella fast in writing! What did you do to her, Sévir?" He looked at Sévir.
He shrugged. "Didn't do anything. More importantly.." He walked to the vacant seat beside Zephyr. "How's your training with Minerva?"
She smiled. "It's going great! I feel like I can win with her guidance!"
He patted her head. "That's good. How about we get Minerva a gift as a thank you?"
She nodded. "That's a good idea. Let's go now!"
"Wait- Now?" He was caught off-guard.
"Yes! Ms. Minerva will be finishing her duties later than usual, it's only mid-noon, so we have a lot of time."
Sévir sighed. "Okay, okay." He stood up, looking at Percival. "You're coming with us."
Percival coughed, surprised, "Huh? Why do I have to???"
"You've known Minerva the longest out of anybody here in this room, so you most likely have an idea on what she likes."
He stood up and turned to the door. "Actually, I have Undefeated Octet duties! Soo..-" As he took a step forward, Sévir grabbed him by the collar.
"Jackass, you're not even in the Undefeated Octet. Come with us."
He dragged Percival out. "H- Hey!" What's with his strength!? I'm struggling to get his hand off my collar!
...
Sévir tapped Zephyr's shoulder. "Go search for gifts you think she'd like, I got this in the bag." He showed his coin bag, smiling with a wink.
She saluted. "Yes, sir!" She walked away in search for something she could buy as a gift.
He turned to Percival. "So? Get your bruised cheeks outta here and search with her." He said so nonchalantly.
"Jeez, the treatment difference is so obvious, I'm being discriminated against!"
"Quit your whining and..." He grabbed Percival by the arms, carrying him. "Go to... ZEPHYYYYRRRR!!!!!" He throws him as far as he can, nearly losing his balance..
"AAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!" He screamed as he flew past everyone.
"The weight difference between him and Sanguinex is all too clear." He walked and sat on the edge of the fountain nearby.
"Have you found anything?" Percival asked.
She shook her head. "Not yet.. Let's go there!" She pointed at a place with less people.
"Uh, sure." They walked to the area, looking around for what they could buy.
Minutes pass by, they keep searching and searching.. Yet, there's nothing.
He groaned. "Man, why out of all times, there's nothing we could get in the market!?"
"I wonder. But isn't it starting to get less lively here..?" They looked around, and there were little to no people near them.
"Huh. Yeah, I didn't notice. Let's go back."
She nodded. As they turned around, they heard a scream from a distance.
"Woah, what was that!?" He exclaimed.
Without any hesitation, she ran towards the scream, catching Percival off-guard. "H- Hey kid! Wait!-" He caught up.
As they peeked around the corner, they saw a man grabbing onto a woman, who seemed to be struggling. "LET GO OF ME! DAMMIT!"
Zephyr and Percival nodded the moment they looked at each other.
"Come on.. JUST GIVE ME THE NECKLACES-"
"Mai Pilka!" A ball of water, around the size of a head formed in her hands, speeding towards the mysterious man.
The man dodged it by just moving his head backwards. "Really? I got caught?" He tossed the woman away, facing Zephyr and Percival. "You guys got guts, trying to interrupt my lovely time with this woman." He unsheathed his sword.
Zephyr couldn't help but raise an eyebrow to the sight of the sword–a sword curved from the middle to the top, like some sort of sickle. It's the first time she's seen it.
"Be careful, that's a khopesh. It's known for its great slashing ability." Percival whispered to her ear, she nodded.
"I believe that's enough chatting, I gave you time to form a plan. I wish you the best if you guys didn't form one!" He charged at them.
"Bekuparwa!" Blades of ice rushed towards the man, which he just dodged and blocked in such a close range, catching Zephyr off-guard.
He stopped in his tracks as Percival stood in front of him.
Percival's eyes darted around his khopesh and him. Dammit, I'm getting nervous.. This is my first time facing a khopesh, and in a limited space!
This kid is getting nervous.. Alright.
"Bekuallpa!" Ice speeded towards Percival and the man, Percival jumped and dodged it at the last moment. The man could not move in time, his legs suddenly get trapped in ice.
While doing so, Percival punched him in the face as he landed, he punched him in the guts and grabbed his khopesh, tossing it away.
As the man looks back up, Percival lands a kick to his liver, the ice breaks and he falls to the ground, his hands over the kicked area.
He bit his lip as hard as he could as he tried bearing the unstoppable pain in his liver. He looked up, Percival was in front of him yet again.
"Good night, don't forget to wake up tomorrow!" He kicked his head, knocking him out.
She ran towards Percival. "Mr. Percival! Are you okay!?" She grabbed him by his arm.
He turned to her, his cheeks slightly burned for a moment. "Y- Yeah. Uhm, let's check on the woman."
She looked at the woman and ran up to her. "Ma'am! Are you okay!?" She helped her up.
The woman's legs started shaking less, alongside her hands. "Y- Yes, I'm fine.."
"Thank God.. What are you doing here, Ma'am?"
"Well.. I just randomly walked to places up to here because he kept following me, so I lost track of where I was going."
"I see.. Please take care next time!"
She smiled. "..I will, thank you.."
She grabbed a set of necklaces from her bag. "Here.. Take these!"
"W- Wait, I can't accept these-" She shook her head.
"Please do, it's my thank you gift! I made these too, so it would make me happy if you accept my effort."
Zephyr sighed. "Alright. Thank you Ma'am. Would you like us to assist you back to the market?" She asked as she slowly took the necklaces from the woman.
"That would be nice."
By the time they return, they've already said their farewells to the woman, walking back to Sévir.
"Brother!! We got a gift!!" She exclaimed.
Her calling out to him made him stand up almost instantly. "Oh hey, you finally got a gift?
"Yes! Look!" She showed the gift. It's a necklace with a dark blue water drop, which seems to be a gem, it has a thin golden outline surrounding it too.
He smiled. "That's nice.. Let's go and give it to her then."
She nodded.
"Hey man, you better pay me for basically being her watchdog!" Percival pouted.
"Yeah yeah, I will."
...
It's around 6 PM when they returned, right before they entered, they saw Minerva standing by a bench.
"Hey, there she is!" Percival pointed at her.
They walked towards her which she took notice of. "Oh, hey..-" She looked at Sévir and Percival. "..Since when did you guys ever go together?"
"Long story. Anyways, Zephyr has something for you." He patted her shoulder.
Her eyes turned to Zephyr. "Hmm? What is it?"
"Umm.." Zephyr's cheeks suddenly started to burn out of embarrassment. "Well.. I want to thank you for everything you've done for me so far and.." She slowly grabbed the necklace from her jacket pocket. "I always see you working hard, whether it's studies or your duties as the Second Undefeated."
She showed the necklace. "Here is my thanks." She smiled, her blush went away. "For being my teacher and for being my brother's friend."
Damn, how'd I get involved? He scratched his head.
She took the necklace and wore it. "Thank you so much. This makes me really happy, Zephyr." She couldn't help but flash a big smile. She may not exclaim it, but from the cool tone of her voice, they can all tell that she's happy.
She looked at Sévir and Percival. "Don't you guys have any gifts for me?" She winked.
"I was just her watchdog. Count me out." He turned around and walked away."
"Tsk. As if I'd have a gift for you." He crossed his arms as he looked away.
She chuckled. "Okay. How about we go get dinner? I'm quite hungry right now."
"Same here, all that gift-hunting made me hungry!" Zephyr turned around and ran to the cafeteria.
As Sévir looked back, he only saw Minerva looking at him with a smile, this went on for around 13 seconds until..
"H- Hey.. Can you quit staring at me now!?" He turned his head away as he got flustered.
She shook her head. "Okay. Let's go." She walked inside.
He clicked his tongue as he tugged his collar. "What's with her??"