by Tj Dixon
“Sorry.”
“So how do you celebrate?”
“Generally there’s food. There were games too last week, but I’m not sure what the plan is today.”
“Well I suppose there’s only one way to find out.” Pippa sighs.
“Are you ready?”
“As ready as I’ll ever be.” Pippa says and ports. I port just outside the classroom. The door is open this time and Rin is standing in the door.
“So did you join us?” Rin asks Pippa who nods. “We decided to start with food today, so come in and help yourselves before it’s all gone. Some people are waiting, but most have started eating already.”
“I’m actually quite hungry, so food would be good.” Pippa smiles. Her reluctance seems gone, but from her nervous aura I get the impression she is just trying to sound and look confident. I don’t get the impression she is lying though. She then enters the room ahead of me and heads straight for the food.
Like last time the food is on tables around the edge of the room and we just help ourselves. Again it is really nice and easy to eat. There are drinks in large glass jugs on two of the tables this time. Last time the drinks were all on one table. One table has mostly brightly coloured drinks like last time, but the other appears to have water. Except that I detect a fairly strong magical enchantment on the water. I approach the water table and cautiously pour a small amount into a glass.
“Don’t worry, it isn’t poisoned.” Sherry tells me as she sees how cautious I am. “I just enchanted it with a relaxation charm. I learnt it in class this week.”
Embarrassed I pour more water in the glass and take a fairly large swig. It tastes just like water, but it does seem to relax me a little.
“It seems to work well.” I tell Sherry.
“Thanks.” Sherry grins. “By the way, Cherry is really looking forward to the end of the tournament. I hope you have some ideas of how to spend your date with her.”
“Date?” I ask confused. “What is a date?”
“It’s when you go out and have fun with a girl, like you promised to with Cherry.”
“Oh, ok. I didn’t know it had a name like that. I hadn’t made any plans. It sounded like Cherry had something she wanted to do with me. She did say she wanted to do something of her choice.”
“You can’t leave all the planning to Cherry. Tell you what, I’ll help you come up with some ideas.”
“Ok, but it will have to be after the tournament. I don’t want to lose because I’m distracted.”
“I wouldn’t want you to lose either. I’ll think of some ideas for now and we can discuss them once you win.”
“That sounds good. Now I’d better get some food before it’s all gone.”
“I recommend the little pots of mini sausages with the rainbow mash. Yusa made them and they really are delicious.”
“I’ll give them a try then. Everything Yusa makes tastes great. Maybe she should be training as a cook and not a mage.” I laugh.
“Of course she’s a good mage too.”
“True. The time with Dairon really helped her and she’s made great progress since. I still remember when she had real trouble with the basics. The teachers must have been stunned when she suddenly improved so much.”
“Apparently 3D’s teacher suggested to their class that they might want to consider joining our club. It didn’t go down well though. There were some rather rude comments by her students, directed not only at the teacher but also at Niji, Tomo and Tabi. Of course that was only when the teacher left the room. The rude comments stopped the next day though, when Midori challenged anyone from 3D who insults our club to fight a duel. You’d better grab one of those pots now, or they’ll all be gone. I’m going to get another one now too.” Sherry tells me.
“I will do, and thanks for telling me about that.” I say as we head to get our pots. After one mouthful I take a second and hold it in the air in front of me with wind magic, just like my drink. “These are divine.”
“I’m glad you like them.” Yusa tells me and I turn to see her holding a small dish filled with perfectly round green balls, each about an inch in diameter.
“What are those?” I ask.
“They’re enchanted fizzle balls. Cherry made these. They’re weird but really nice. You should try one, but not when you’re holding something up with wind magic.” Yusa says and takes three balls before putting the dish down. The expression on her face when she pops one in her mouth is really weird and twisted but after a moment it turns into a huge grin.
“When we’re a proper company we certainly aren’t going to go hungry.” I say happily.
“There aren’t many people in your year who can cook well though.” Yusa reminds me. “Maybe you should make that a new requirement for new recruits.”
“We’ll be fine.” I tell her, unable to explain that we’ll all be forming the company at the same time.
“You’re close to having enough recruits in your year but, even if you recruit Sor and Jade after you beat them, you still don’t have enough.” Yusa says sounding a bit worried.
“We’re much closer than we were when we started the year. Don’t worry, if we don’t have enough people by the end of this year we’ll work something out next year.” I tell Yusa. It is of course a lie, but since I can’t tell her the truth I need to explain why we’re not going to be desperately trying to recruit more Year 2s. Yusa still looks worried but it can’t be helped.
“Hi Peter.”
“Hi Midori.” I respond as I turn to face her. I then eat another sausage.
“I heard that you agreed to go on a date with Cherry, because of some wind magic challenge you did together. I want a chance to take the challenge too.” Midori tells me. She hides it well but her aura shows that she is feeling a bit hurt. She’s a good wind mage so it might be good training for her, though I doubt she’ll win the challenge.
“You can, but the same rules apply.”
“Can anyone take the challenge?” Niji asks hopefully. I turn and see she is standing there eating a pot of the same sausages and mash that I am. Her long wavy rainbow hair goes rather well with the rainbow mash.
“Yes, but Cherry only just managed it and there is a punishment if you take the challenge and fail it.” I tell her.
“I’ll pass. If Cherry only just did it, there’s no way I’ll manage it.” Niji says shaking her head.
“What’s the punishment?” Yusa asks.
“You only find that out when you fail.” I answer.
“I’ll do it.” Midori says eagerly.
“Do what?” Rin asks.
“Peter’s challenge.” Midori tells her.
“What challenge?” Rin asks.
“It’s basically a flying chase where you have to hit my shield with attacks three times in one training session. Like I did with Cherry.”
“Sounds fun.” Rin says dubiously and takes the last pot of sausages and mash.
“Hey, I wanted that!” Niji complains as she has just finished her previous pot.
“This is my first.” Rin tells her with a glare. I put my own first pot back now it is empty and start on my second before anyone can ask for it or complain that I’m having two.
“So Rin, what did you make for today?” I ask. Rin blushes.
“It didn’t work out too well, so I didn’t bring it.” Rin tells me, sounding really embarrassed.
“Oh, sorry.” I say with a slight wince.
“You should try mine.” Niji says and points at five dishes with red balls slightly smaller and less even than the ones Yusa was eating earlier.
“Sure.” I say and take one. I put it in my mouth and it feels like my mouth is on fire. I pour water into my mouth using my wind magic, because it is quicker than using my hands. Having emptied my glass my mouth has cooled down a bit. I look at Niji and ask. “What are they?”
“Flaming spice balls. There’s a small fire enchantment and some really powerful spices. They’re a specialty of my ances
tors, so I decided to try them. I think they’re too mild.”
“If they were any less mild I’d need Lucy to heal me.” I tell Niji.
“Humans have such weak taste buds.” Niji shrugs.
“Aren’t you human?” I ask surprised.
“Humans don’t have blue skin or rainbow hair, do they?” Niji laughs.
“I suppose it isn’t common, but I assumed it was just rare.” I admit and Niji laughs even harder.
“I’m a half human.” Niji tells me.
“What’s your other half?” I ask in surprise.
“That’s a secret.” Niji tells me seriously.
“Why tell me you’re not human then?” I ask confused.
“Because it’s so obvious that the whole academy already knows.” Niji laughs.
“I suppose that makes sense.” I sigh and turn to Rin who is also laughing at me. “Rin, have a flaming spice ball.”
“No thanks.” Rin answers and quickly walks to the drinks table.
“I’ll have one.” Midori says and puts one in her mouth. Her short green hair sticks up and her purple eyes go wide. She drinks a whole glass of water that was sitting on the table. “I thought I was going to die. Sorry, whoever’s water this was, but it was a matter of life and death.”
“I put the water there.” Niji says. “I thought it might be a bit spicy for humans.”
“How about putting them on the drinks table?” I suggest.
“Good idea.” Midori tells me.
“Ok.” Niji sighs and takes the spicy balls to the drinks table. Aventurine takes one as she passes Niji on her way towards us. As Aventurine has a drink in her hand I don’t warn her. The moment Aventurine has popped the spicy ball in her mouth she brings her glass up and drinks it in one go. Then she rushes to the drinks table to get another one.
“I guess Aventurine doesn’t handle spicy well.” Yusa laughs.
“Why don’t you try one?” I suggest. Yusa shakes her head emphatically.
“Try a fizzle ball.” Yusa suggests.
“They’re not spicy, right?” I ask.
“No, they’re really sweet.” Yusa tells me.
“Ok, I’ll have one now then.” I say and put down my now empty second mini pot of sausage and mash. I take the green fizzle ball and pop it in my mouth where it dissolves in moments. It is sweet but more importantly I feel like my mouth is full of bubbles. I keep my mouth tightly shut and my face probably looks very much like Yusa’s did. “A bit too sweet for me.”
“Cherry would be disappointed if she heard that.” Sherry tells me.
“You’ve got to try what I made.” Midori tells me.
“What did you make?” I ask cautiously.
“Bite size mushroom omelettes.” Midori tells me. It reminds me of Nirvali where fungi was one of the more common foods. It sounds nice though.
“I’ll try one then.” I say and to my surprise Midori flies one straight to me from a table on the other side of the room. I pick it up with wind magic and eat it in one bite. “That is actually really nice. Good job on these Midori. I think I might head over there and have some more.”
“Thanks. Glad you like them.” Midori says and follows me. Sherry follows us too. I have quite a few of Midori’s omelettes before moving onto the next snack. There is plenty of food left when Rin stands in the centre of the room and announces that it is time for the next stage.
“When it’s not your turn please stand back and remain quiet.” Rin tells us and we gather in a crowd. Once we are all standing quietly Rin speaks again, sounding a little bitter. “Now, thanks to everyone’s kind votes, I have to go first.”
“Good luck, Rin!” Yusa calls out cheerfully. Rin glares at Yusa and then sighs.
“Just so you know, but I’m useless at singing. So I’m going to start with a simple children’s rhyme.” Rin tells us and then closes her eyes. She begins singing and doesn’t sound too bad, but isn’t exactly great. It isn’t a long song and soon it comes to an end. “As we agreed we each get to choose who sings after us, so next is Sherry.”
“Thanks Rin.” Sherry says sounding genuine, but a bit nervous. She walks to the front and Rin walks to the back of the crowd.
“The sword of stone, that swings alone,
And the words of hope, that bring us home,
And at hell’s gate, now do await,
Ranks of demons, and the damned as well,
The dead their numbers, soon shall swell,
Now the angels who, in heaven dwell,
Fight the angels who, from heaven fell…”
And so Sherry’s song continues for some time, getting darker and darker as it continues. She sings it well, but I’m not so sure about her choice of songs. It tells the tale of a mage who tried to rescue her sister from hell whilst the demons were distracted by the war between angels, demons and gods. In the end they both end up trapped in hell to be tortured for all eternity by the Maou who has just lost his son and daughter in the war against the gods.
When Sherry finishes she calls Cherry up. Cherry seems even more nervous than Sherry, but she looks me directly in the eye and begins to sing. Her song is a much brighter and happier one than her sister’s and sung directly after such a dark song it seems even brighter. Like Sherry she has a beautiful singing voice. Perhaps I should have Dairon teach her song magic.
“She sings as well as an elf.” Yusa says with a sigh.
“Don’t be ridiculous.” Sakura says with a huff. “She was alright for a human, but elves are much better. Even I could sing better than that.” Everyone is shocked by her words, but nobody more so than Cherry.
“That was a beautiful song Cherry. You sang it really well.” I tell her and she smiles cheerfully again.
“I’ll show you how that song is meant to be sung.” Sakura says with a huff and for the first time she becomes visible in front of the whole club.
“So pretty.” Lilian says and there are quite a few whispered agreements.
“Human compliments are meaningless.” Sakura sighs and floats to the front. Then she begins to sing, and although the words are mostly the same, the way she sings takes my breath away, and not just mine. Everyone is stunned by the beauty of her song.
When she finishes she is greeted with a stunned silence, but before we recover to congratulate her she has begun to sing Sherry’s song too. Her version of it anyway, because she replaces the human mage that Sherry sung about with an elven mage. Not only does she sing it majestically, but the words fit better this way. It makes me wonder which the original version was.
“How can anyone sing after that? There’s no way we could do better.” Felicity complains. Sakura smirks and disappears.
“How about we just get Sakura to sing for us?” Helski suggests.
“Good idea!” Felicity agrees instantly.
“Am I the only one who has to humiliate herself today?” Rin asks.
“Yes.” Emma replies before Rin can say anything else. “Sakura, could you sing for us again?”
