Spring was now well and truly underway. The occasional snow had mostly ceased and a fragrant petrichor filled the air as snow melted, revealing moist soil underneath. It's been over a month since classes have started and I've pretty much settled into a routine.
Go to class; have lunch with Reina, Vera, and Petra; sometimes talk about strategies and situations with the help of Petra; go to class again; and then go home. There wasn't that much variety in my life.
Vera's and Reina's schedules, however, were much more varied than mine. They joined various clubs which took up some of their time outside classes.
Reina joined an unarmed combat club and was quickly rising in prominence in our year. She also joined the student council for the College of Combat in order to familiarize herself with administrative tasks.
Just like Reina, Vera joined two 'clubs'. One of which was the Magic Research Club under the advisory of Professor Ilmarë. The other club — well, not really a club — she joined was the student council together with Reina.
As students from Combat Class 1, it was basically a quick easy entry into the student council. As the College of Combat was, as its name implies, primarily focused on combat, it was natural for those that had strength to have an easier time joining the council. Of course, this didn't mean that they were exempted from every requirement.
With both of them being involved in extra-curricular activities, it was getting more and more common that I go home on my lonesome or with Petra. On the days where they had student council together, Reina usually came back with Vera.
As for myself, while I've thought about joining a club as well, there was nothing that seemed interesting to join. Maybe Mana Research Club? At least Vera and Ilmarë would be there. Administrative work for the student council also sounded like a hassle so that was a no go.
If anything, I'd probably join a non-academic club instead. Maybe a club centered around literature? It would be a fun time killer for when both Reina and Vera were busy with clubs.
Since they've gone out and joined clubs, they actually made some friends or something like that. Whenever I asked Vera about her time in her clubs, she really never mentioned people she got along with and she acted all evasive when asked if she befriended anyone.
Apparently, from what Reina told me, Vera still didn't really talk to anyone other than her. If she did, it was always brief and concise. Nothing more than necessary.
I wasn't much better however.... With my daily routine being so mundane, I didn't really have much chances to get to know people outside of classes. I guess the closest acquaintances I had was the members of Team Helf — previously known as Elfman. I couldn't really decide if their new team name was better or not, but they were definitely in the race for bottom place in regards to team name.
As bad as their sense for naming was, their combat capabilities was the complete opposite. While we did win for the first few weeks, they've recently started getting the better of us. In our very first bout, Reina and I had the freedom to basically ignore their rear guard; now that their rear guard had more magic up their sleeves, it got harder and harder to do so. If we couldn't split them up, the match was basically lost.
Fuck. I'm so fucking bored.
Really.
I was currently in Archery class lying down on the grass, just waiting for it to end after having done my required training session.
I took out a coin from my pocket and flipped it. If it's heads, I'm going home after class. If it's tails, I'll drop by the clubs and see if one actually interests me.
I didn't bother catching it.
Honestly I kinda just want to take a nap at this point. The cool and fresh middle of spring air combined with the smell of the grass was just so... comfortable?
The coin landed beside me, but with my head currently resting on my hands, I didn't really want to raise my head up just to take a peek at the coin's face. I yawned, closed my eyes, and expanded my senses, quickly falling into the temptation of taking a nap.
I woke up a few minutes later when I felt people leaving the field and heard the noise around me gradually coming to a halt. I stretched up and finally took a peep on the coin. Tails it is.
Since it was Wednesday today, I still had a class on Offensive Magic which I shared with Vera after Archery. Thankfully, offensive magic class wasn't really that far from where I was. The class was held near the boundary of the College of Combat and College of Mana which was basically just a hop away.
Sadly, the class was still just as much of a drag as Archery. The only good thing about it was the presence of Vera. I could at least just spend the class talking to Vera if — no, when — the instructor just drones on and on about useless information. It really only focused on theory without much of the practical.
I was really starting to think it was a bit of a waste of time when I was already learning directly from Ilmarë herself. Maybe I could ask her if I could somehow skip the class but still get full marks?
That's an interesting idea.
There was nothing to lose by asking.
I got to the lecture hall and took my seat in the row in the far back. Vera came in just a minute before the instructor and we pretty much just chatted throughout the entire class in hushed whispers.
I could feel the instructor's eyes occasionally going over us, but since Vera and I used magic to stop our voices being overhead, it seemed she was fine with letting it go. Or maybe Ilmarë told her about us. Either way, it made class much more bearable.
Vera bid me farewell as she headed to the student council office. I waved her goodbye and started walking around.
Let's see.
Since I want a non-academic club, anything involving combat or magic was no deal. That crossed out the clubs in the College of Mana, College of Combat, and College of Healing. That left the College of Engineering and College of Sciences. I could probably also cross out the College of Engineering?
College of Sciences it is then.
The College of Sciences was the south-western ray of the star-shaped academy. It was in the complete opposite side of the academy from where I currently was. The fastest way there would probably be to cross through the pentagon.
I walked to the center of the boundary between the pentagon and the College of Combat. There was a station for a moving walkway there that made college to pentagon transport easier. It basically cut a line into the center of the pentagon where a station was located. Moving walkways then connected the central station to each college.
I hopped on the walkway and started walking towards the central station. The walkway reduced a seven-minute walk to the center of the pentagon to a four-minute walk. All in all, it saved me a total of six minutes in my walk from the College of Combat to the College of Sciences.
It was my first time stepping foot into the College of Sciences. There was much more buildings around even when compared to the College of Mana. I guess since combat and magic required an abundance of clear space to effectively practice, it made sense that other colleges would have more buildings and thus more lecture halls.
I was completely unfamiliar with the place. I looked around in hopes of finding a friendly face who I could ask for help. Thankfully, it seemed like my confusion was evident for people to see since one person did actually come up to me.
"Hey there. You good?"
A brown-haired beastman of canine origin waved at me as he got off the walkway.
I gave him a smile as I waved right back.
"Honestly, nope. It's my first time here and I wanted to check out the clubs. I'm completely clueless and I don't know where to start."
"Oh? It's your first time here? That's rare. What college are you from?"
"Combat."
He did a double-take at my answer. "You are? That's so cool! What the hell!"
"Is it?"
"Yup! It's pretty rare to see someone from the College of Combat here to join a club. I thought you guys just join combat clubs or whatever. I could never handle myself in a fight."
He did an exaggerated shake. "Gives me the shivers just thinking about it." He chuckled.
"Right, right. The name's Pax. Yours?" He held out his hand.
I shook his hand as I replied. "Dina."
He suddenly tried to squeeze my hand tight. When that wasn't enough, he added his other hand into the equation trying his best to crush it.
"What the fuck? You can't feel this at all?"