Three weeks later…

It was currently the first day of the weekend, Tundrus, which is one of the two days where students don’t have class. Many take this as a chance to relax from the stresses of their studies and either rest or go have some fun in the city. Some of the more diligent students take this opportunity to review what they have learned, study in advance, and/or do some practical training.

For a certain green haired girl, the last few weeks have been hectic, and especially more so on the weekends.

Lance, Aria, and Ciel are currently in a private study room of the library reserved for the top student in the entrance exam, Aria, in the entrance exam. It was a medium-sized room that had a window facing the door that leads directly to the library. 

Inside was a work desk near the window, a sofa in the middle of a room with a table in between, placed on top of a black carpet, with shelves on one side and a cupboard on the other with an attached table for preparing tea.

The work desk has a column of neatly organized books stacked on top of one another. Another book was put on one one of the stacks by Luciela, who had just finished reading it.

“I can’t see straight...” Luciela groaned.

“Don’t worry, that was the last of them,” Lance said as he put a tray carrying a tea set and some cookies on the table. 

Aria, who was sitting on one of the sofas, lowered the novel she was reading as she took a cookie.

“Take a break. You’ve earned it Ciel,” Aria said as Lance poured some tea in the cups and placed one in front of her.

“Ciel?” Luciela asked as she moved to sit beside Aria as the latter took a sip from her cup.

“A nickname. You don’t mind if I call you that, right?”

“Of course not!” Luciela, or rather Ciel, beamed a smile. “I was just a bit surprised, that’s all!”

“Mhmmm…”

“Someone’s embarrassed,” Lance said teasingly as he sat beside Aria.

“That’s just your imagination.”

“Still, thank you for letting me use your private room,” Ciel said. “It really helped a lot.”

Lance felt a tug on his sleeve and noticed that Aria was lightly pulling on it. She was hiding her face behind her book.

Is she a little embarrassed to answer? Lance chuckled a little inside.

“Aria doesn’t really use this room all too much, so feel free to use it, Ciel,”  he said. “Can I also call you that?”

“Yes!” Ciel showed a bright smile. 

It has been a few weeks since Luciela, or Ciel, entered the academy and has been able to adjust to her new environment thanks to Lance and Aria. She has also gotten closer to the two in that span of time and has become more relaxed around them.

Ciel was a fast learner, as Lance and Aria found out, but she didn’t have any formal lessons on Magic prior so they spent a lot of time making sure she caught up with the lessons. Her performance has now improved to the point that she’d be part of the top 10….

“How are you faring on the practical side of things?” Lance asked.

Ciel, who was happily talking with Aria about the novel she was reading, froze, before she looked at him. 

Her face looked like it was about to cry. 

“I can do Alchemy just fine but...my spells still explode most of the time…”

...If it weren’t for her atrocious practical performance.

“You just started to learn about magic, so having some difficulties at the beginning is pretty normal.

Ciel’s control over her mana is bad, which was to be expected from someone new to magic such as her. Normally, inexperienced mages would use a wand, staff or other similar items as a focus to help them use magic.

In fact, many of their classmates use one, and it’s a common practice for mages to use one as a precaution against spell overcharge. Normally, a mage forgoing the use of a magical focus signifies good magic control.

Normally.

Ciel slumped her shoulders. 

“If only I can use a focus…”

Ciel is unable to use them due to her having an abundance of mana in her body, as she destroyed a couple of Rose’s wands and even cracked the crystal of a Magic Tool used to measure one’s mana due to mana overload when she was being tested for magic. As a consequence, she’s forced to learn magic the old way without the assistance of such apparatus.

“As long as you improve on your control of Magic, you will be able to reliably cast magic.”

“I really hope so...” Ciel slumped forward.

Lance looked away for a second, and the next thing he knew, Aria was already at Ciel’s side patting her head.

“Lance. Bad.” 

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring you down…” Lance said. “Tell you what, let’s leave the campus and visit the city. I’ll treat you two to some food.”

“I haven’t really done anything to return the favor for you helping me, so I don’t want to impose-”

“We’re going.” Aria quickly cut in.

“Um, but…I also want to return the favor to you guys,” Ciel said. “You and Aria already helped me a lot these past few weeks so…”

“Hmmm….If it really bothers you…” Lance put his hand on his chin. “You can test the magic tools that I’ll develop in the future.”

“Don’t do it.” Aria warned Ciel with a grave tone. “Lance is scary when he’s experimenting.”

“Eh? What do you—”

“Aria, do you want cheesecake or strawberry cake?”

“Strawberry,” she quickly answered as she grabbed the confused Ciel’s hand. 

“Wait, what were you—Aria?” Ciel asked.

“Let’s go.”

“Wait, don’t drag me~!”

Lance chuckled while shaking his head as Aria and Ciel left the room.

He turned around to see the two already halfway across the large library. While trying to catch up, Lance passed by Rose. 

“Oh, going on a date?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’re—wait, no! We’re just going out as friends-” Rose put a finger on his lips as she smiled.

“Don’t forget where we are~”

Lance made a resigned smile as he said, “We’re heading to the city.”

“Alright then. Stay safe~!”

The three were currently sitting on one of the circular tables of an open air pastry shop. Aria and Ciel are sitting across from each other.

Each of them ordered something different, with Ciel ordering a cheesecake.

“So delicious~! So this is what the city’s cake is like!” Ciel exclaimed while Aria was nodding in agreement.

“You two really like sweet food huh…” Lance said, cutting a small portion of his blueberry pie with his fork and putting it in his mouth. I prefer salty food, but this isn’t so bad once in a while.

Lance just finished cutting another piece when he noticed Aria staring at his pie.

“Want to try it?” Lance extended his fork, offering a small piece of pie.

Aria did not hesitate as she ate the pie. Immediately her face glowed in bliss.

“...” Ciel, on the other hand, blushed a little as she witnessed this scene. I know they aren’t dating, but I can see why there are rumors between these two…

 Ciel gave a quick look at their surroundings, and as expected, quite a few other people, including fellow students, saw the scene taking place. One of them includes an infuriated red-haired girl.

Wait, isn’t that…

“Ciel, do you want some too?” Lance’s voice brought her attention back to him as he had his fork slightly extended to her direction.

“Eh? Ah, um…” She looked at Aria.

Aria took this to mean that she also wanted to taste her strawberry cake and did the same thing as Lance.

That’s not it!!!

In the end, Ciel was unable to refuse and accepted food being offered to her, starting with Aria’s strawberry cake before savoring it.

She did the same with Lance’s pie, but took a bit longer as she struggled to hold back a blush.

After she finished both…

“It’s delicious…” While blushing in embarrassment.

She turned her gaze back to the crowd.

She’s gone… Ciel thought in disappointment.