"So... What now?" Rayce asked, looking at the elegantly dressed Zael.
Both had already dessed up and were heading towards the student council room to meet her brother.
"I don't know," Zael whispered, feeling uneasy about the whole thing.
Just like her, Rayce appeared nervous but was a bit too bewildered at the thought of stills being unsafe.
He thought that everything wpuld be fine, but where did this forced event come from?
To add oil to fire, there were bits of awkwardness between the two of them, for obvious reasons.
But what worsened it was her ear tips were red as they could hear the not-so-low murmurs of students around them.
"Yo... Look at them, I heard they were..."
"Hah! To think the innocent and pure looking girl were just that..."
"What honor student? He's a pervert as well..."
"At least they look good together..."
"Hmph! Anyone with her looks would prefer better men!"
These fuckers...
As most of the chats were about insulting and demeaning them, Rayce had to do well to hide his anger and rage at these imbeciles.
Meanwhile, Zael was blushing due to the word of them looking good together, it seemed the effect of the last night's memories hadn't faded yet.
Luckily, no one really stopped them or stood in their path, much to Rayce's relief.
He expected a typical Young Master confrontation, but was saved from such a faceslapping event.
Obviously, being unable to use magic and getting challenged to a duel or something would be the end of him.
It would be one matter to hide his cunning self and act naive, but it was impossible to cast magic and prove himself.
I just hope there's no problems with her brother...
Thinking so, he sneaked a glance of the beautiful girl next to him from the corner of his eyes.
He wasn't being obvious about it due to their evident awkwardness and her unresponsiveness.
After Zael's brother left, they didn't have any conversations as she seemed to have been horrified about the upcoming meeting.
Thankfully, her clothes from last night were in wearable condition, allowing her to return to her room, take a shower and get dressed.
But ever since they met again, Rayce had been trying to strike up a conversation but failing hard at it.
Is this the curse for being single all my life?
Blaming it on his previous life, which he wanted to know more about.
He was keen to know why he was inside a new different world.
But survival comes first.
And the first step was to get past the hurdle known as Zael's brother.
*Knock knock*
Zephyr Celestia, the heir of the Celestia Magic Family, and elder brother of Zarael Celestia.
He was the student council president and also about 3 years older than the two of them.
While they were nearly 19, he was already 22, being in the fourth year of the five-year Magic Course.
"Come in."
Getting the permission from him, Rayce opened the door but noticed Zael not following behind.
"Zael," he called out softly, but it made her finch as she nervously strutted behind.
Even if she was somewhat happy to be with Rayce, seeing her brother after that embarassing scene felt... rather shameless.
She was having a great deal of anxiety just to meet gaze with Rayce, let alone her own brother.
Although they were close and he was aware of her feelings, she didn't know about it, making her anxious about the whole thing.
Unfortunately, it was not like the two had any other choice than going in and having to meet him.
At least there's no one else.
Inside the room, there was a single mahogany table, inlaid with some strange archaic designs which eluded the two of them.
At one end sat Zephyr with two chairs placed for the two of them.
"Sit down," he commanded without even lifting his head, going through some papers of great importance.
Despite being a fourth year student, he was also the student council president, putting him under a lot of work and pressure, but he mamaged to stay with the top 3 of his batch ever since his freshmen year.
Zephyr was an example of the ideal Mage and Rayce too had idealized him, even met him a few times for guidance.
Yet Rayce was shuffling hands due to the nervousness gnawing at his very senses, unable to guess what would come next, given the current situation.
*Schrick schrick*
The two sat in an uncomfortable silence, waiting for the dreaded talk to begin while Zephyr kept flipping through the pages and writing something on them.
Finally, he stopped after a five whole minutes, "So... what was that?"
His question took Rayce by surprise and Zarael panicked, "B-brother w-what do y-you–"
"Not you." Zephyr cut her off, using a wind magic spell to silence her.
Well, not really.
All he did was make sure that the vibrations produced by her vocal chords, that were supposed to travel through the air then other mediums to reach them, to get isolated.
So, what happened?
Anything she says would only be heard by her, and no one else, making any attempts to salvage the situation as useless.
Now what...? If he did that with me, I won't even know how to fix that...
Unlike Rayce, Zael knew what was what, but still didn't fight against it, knowing the academy's rules.
If she used mana without good reason, she'd be punished: sent to detention, cleaning duel arenas, her resources being confiscated, or even her hard earned academy points...
"Uhm... you know... how do I say it...?" Rayce finally answered, with a great deal of hesitation in his tone, all of it being an act he put up.
"You can g-guess, right?" He added, sneaking glances at Zephyr to see if his expression changed and would help him gauge the situation.
Why's it still the same!? Is he a brick or something?!
Rayce cursed inwardly, finding the situation absurd as Zephyr wasn't even looking at either of them.
But he finally looked up, directly into Rayce's eyes, making the latter flinch, as he said, "So, you mean what I think you mean?"