Bell was pulled out of her reading by a few rapid knocks on her closed door. She knew that Mona was now ready to head to dinner.
She opened the door and greeted Mona with a simple, "Yo."
"Hi Bell!" Mona said with a cheery smile, Bell was getting used to the excessive cheeriness and smiles that Mona seemed to carry around her.
It was a bit charming, in a way.
Mona was wearing a pair of jeans and a band t-shirt with a flannel above it, her messy black hair was dry somehow, and she had it in a loose ponytail. In her hand was one of the many umbrellas that Bell had created today.
Speaking of Bell, the aching subsided a few minutes prior, sometime during her reading. Bell's hair dried as well, likely due to the half an hour or more of time spent drying in the wrapped towel.
In any case, the two nodded and left their room.
Bell remembered that she had a key somewhere in one of her pockets, one of the few things that she tossed between pairs of pants and shorts. Sometimes, if the key was small enough, or if it was more convenient, Bell would store it in her wallet.
However, the keys used in the dorms were strange, to say the least. They were rings, Bell found hers on her bed when they first arrived, and Bell never really put it on.
Usually, the door automatically unlocked and locked when Bell and Mona were near it. Now armed with a bit more knowledge, it was probably due to the proximity of Mona's ring.
In any case, Bell found the ring and put it on her left middle finger. The ring was of simple design and was very lightweight, the design was also simple, consisting of a silver band with a single line of copper or bronze running in the middle.
The door made a locking sound, and the two were on their way.
When nearing the door to the outside, Bell remembered that she hadn't created a new umbrella since their fight against Teacher Brutus. With a sigh, Bell activated Creation to conjure yet another umbrella, and the two opened the door.
The rain hadn't let up since they had entered the building, and Bell hadn't expected anything else. But when Bell created her new umbrella, she remembered something.
'Aw man, I forgot to do the experiment in the room...'
The matter wasn't a pressing issue, so Bell didn't mind, but it was a minor inconvenience. Bell's face fell slightly and was soon picked up into a neutral expression after the uncomfortable feeling of suffering a minor inconvenience passed through.
Bell and Mona didn't seem to have much to talk about, so they stayed mostly silent, for some reason, Bell felt as if she knew Mona for much longer than the five days that they spent together. It was a strange feeling, that was for sure, like they were adventuring friends who had been on a thousand journeys and had conquered all of the lands and seas.
But the feeling was nice, so Bell didn't question it, like the two didn't have anything to talk about simply by running out of topics to talk about. It didn't help that Bell also didn't read the news, so she couldn't talk about that.
'Hmm, maybe the Drain? Or Brother Bradley? Actually, I don't know much about Mona.' Bell realized as they walked in silence.
The rain lightly bounced against the two's umbrellas, and Bell considered just walking under Mona's for a short bit, but decided against it after a moment's thought. The umbrella that Bell conjured so many times today had a fairly simple design; a black background filled with neon blue butterflies flying around. Bell found it cute, and with enough practice, Bell felt comfortable opening and closing the mechanism of the umbrella.
Bell's umbrella from the morning felt slightly wobbly and disjointed, but the one that Bell used now felt as strong and as sturdy as any other umbrella that one would typically find in a supermarket.
'Actually...'
Bell then spoke above the rain, "Hey Mona."
"Yeah?" Mona asked as she turned her head to face Bell.
"Think you could give me that umbrella?" Bell asked, "You could stand under mine for a minute."
Mona shrugged and entered under Bell's as she closed her umbrella. After Mona handed her umbrella to Bell, the familiar gray flames danced around the shoddy umbrella, and was soon eradicated by black flames.
Mona was about to speak up before she saw that Bell had nearly instantaneously created a new one, a better one. It was the new umbrella that Bell created that soon rested in Mona's hands. For some unknown reason, however, Mona didn't leave the cover of Bell's umbrella, and the two were nearly shoulder to shoulder.
'Strange.' Bell thought as they neared the cafeteria's doors.
They entered the very small canopy just above the doors that provided a meter or two of cover from the rain. Bell closed her umbrella while Mona opened the doors, and the two were soon in the cafeteria.
The environment was somehow more chaotic and frenzied than earlier in the day during lunch. Not that it was a bad thing, to Bell, the various conversations and general noise level invited a feeling of comfort to her.
'Oh, hey.' Bell thought, casting her view towards the line. 'No line.'
Or lack thereof.
Bell smiled as she started gathering a few different types of meats, potatoes, and spices as well as a cup of strawberry milk.
'They simply do not miss with the strawberry milk.' Bell thought as she took a sip of the glass.
On her way to wander around the cafeteria, Bell picked up a few utensils as well. Bell didn't take long wandering to find her crowd, and that Mona had already found them as well. Bell took careful steps around chairs and tables to then sit down at one of the open spots at the round table.
She greeted the others, finding that Aramine, Torm, Jude, and Strella were missing from the table. Bell didn't question their missing states, seeing as how Bell felt that it was quite late during the dinner period.
After all, they had gotten out of class around thirty minutes late, Bell took a long shower, and Mona soon after. Not to mention the small downtimes in between the drawn-out actions. Bell guessed that it was around halfway through six.
The only reason she guessed that time was due to the shade of the clouds on their walk to the cafeteria a few minutes ago. During the peak hours of the day, which Bell assumed was around seven in the morning to about five in the afternoon, the sun would shine brightest. On the opposite side of the spectrum, all of the other hours in the day would have the small sun in the middle of The Heart to be covered by more and more layers of clouds.
Hence the slightly heavier rain on the two's short journey to the cafeteria, and the lighter rains between classes during school hours. Luckily, the rain didn't matter all too much, as the eternal storm didn't consist of wind, or at least winds that weren't strong enough to blow the rain underneath any umbrellas.
Bell slowly ate her meal as she eavesdropped into the few conversations around the table. As Bell listened in, she added her comments in whenever she felt that her input was required. However, the chances of the conversations needing any new ideas was rare.
Bell then pulled Mona's attention away from her conversation with the Eriksons to ask a question.
"I'm probably going to head to the Library after dinner, do you want to join?"
Mona smiled before saying, "Yeah! For sure!"
Bell smiled and then resumed eating her meal. Bell continued to eavesdrop on conversations on homework and classes for the next few minutes. As time passed, the amount of food on Bell's plate dwindled until she needed to excuse herself for a few moments.
Bell walked towards where some of the more hot and spicy foods were, picking out a few and filling up about half of her plate. As she was heading to another area to gather a few other types of food, Michael's voice rang out behind her.
"Hey Bell." He said, "You try this kraken stuff?"
Bell turned around with a smile and said, "Yeah. It's a bit mild, though, you should add some sauce to make it a bit spicier."
Bell then hurried off with a mischievous smile plastered on her face. Before adding more of some other foods to her plate, Bell refilled her cup of strawberry milk. Soon after, she found some buttered rolls to eat while filling up on the other, heavier parts of her plate.
Soon, Bell returned to her seat and began eating once more, and Michael close behind her. As Bell ate, she paid close attention to Michael, waiting for the extreme spice to settle in for him. The moment came soon after he took his first bite, and his entire face flushed red from the spice.
He looked to hold back a cough from the spices as he took another bite of the noodle-like remains of the mythical creature. Bell couldn't keep her smile from beaming in its entirety, and when Michael looked up, it was with tears in his eyes and a look of utter betrayal on his face.
Bell nearly laughed out loud from the prank, and Michael looked to be having none of it. The poor boy couldn't even drink water, because he probably knew that the spice would only get worse in the coming bites.
'Oh... I'll never do that again...' Bell thought with a smile of pity on her face.
Soon, she returned to eating the food on her plate, and conversations slowly died out in the group as the others finished their meals.
Then, the time came for them all to leave the cafeteria and return to their rooms.