When the train disappeared from our field of vision, a silence began between the four of us. Without Noru around, I had a feeling that something was incomplete, as if John, Hugo and she were thirds of a single entity. Hugo, in particular, was standing still, looking at the rails with an empty look. I think this is the first time he and his sister will stay away for so long. If so, I can understand his feelings, because I also felt that way five years ago, when John joined the Academy. In this case, it is better to leave him alone, so that he can reconcile his feelings calmly.

In two minutes, Hugo sighed and turned around, with his back to the tracks. He seemed to be ready to at least leave the station. Approaching John, Hugo put his hand on his shoulder, took his face closer to John's ear, and spoke discreetly:

“You will have a lot of work from tomorrow. Don't forget to rest for the rest of the day.”

“Don't worry, I will”, John touched his hand and smiled.

After saying goodbye to John, Hugo passed by Erina and me and told us:

“The same goes for the ladies. Things won't be easy for you both.”

We both swallowed dry.

“Hugo...”, John, who had noticed our reaction, murmured, as if he wanted to give a sermon on him.

Hugo, in turn, let out a slight laugh and smiled.

“Sorry. I'm sure you two will do well.”

With this, Hugo turned his back on us and continued his steps. Without Hugo's look, Erina and I were calmer, especially her, because as soon as her fears dissipated, she threw herself into John's direction and hugged his arm again.

“John, could you take us to the dorm?”, she asked sweetly.

Hugo, when he heard Erina's mellowed voice, turned around and came across my friend hugging John's arm, almost rubbing her face on him. Hugo stared at Erina with a certain intensity that seemed more disapproval and I felt chills with that look. I tried to say ‘Let him go’ with my lips, but Erina didn't even look at me.

“E-er, yes, I can, Miss Erina... Hum?”, John had noticed that Hugo was looking, “Something wrong?”

Hugo remained silent for a few more seconds, looking at the shameless Erina and the completely oblivious John, until he decided to speak.

“... No, nothing.”

And he was finally gone.

John kept watching him leaving, with a confused face.

“What got into him, huh?”, He murmured, scratching the back of his neck and looked at Erina and me, “anyway... let's go?”

………

The walk back to the dormitory had been quiet. It was the perfect opportunity for me to assimilate all the information I heard on the day. And it was thanks to this tranquility that I could remember something I should have done first thing in the morning: I should have delivered the letters I kept in my suitcase to John! I was supposed to give it to him as soon as I saw him, but the scene that Erina made by throwing herself into his arms the moment she saw him made me forget completely!

Therefore, as soon as John left Erina and I in the dorm, I asked him to wait a while and ran to my room. As I remembered which suitcase I had put the cards in, it didn't take long for me to return and deliver them to him. There were three letters of congratulations for the new job, one from Mom, one from Dad and one from Elbern.

Elbern was a family friend. A handsome traveling elf with salmon-coloured hair and water-green eyes who was very good of magic, but terrible of potions. That's why he went to my parents and asked to be their apprentice. I was three years old at the time. When I first saw him, I thought he was so beautiful that I took advantage of my age and nicknamed him "Pretty Elf". And the funny thing is that he turned red whenever I called him that, so I didn't stop. In addition, I would often invade his room to dig through his grimoires while he was learning potions with my parents. In my defence, he had books that I had never seen before, not even dead would I miss such an opportunity!

However, our relationship was not limited to just me teasing him and taking advantage of my age to get out unscathed. When I was 5 years old, Elbern was ready to leave our house and continue his journey of knowledge, but I begged him to stay to teach me magic. In fact, teach me and John. After much insistence, he gave in and stayed, this time not as the apprentice of Cyrus and Ninfa Phenis, but as a tutor of Amaris and John Phenis. He stayed with us until I was eight years old and ended up becoming a family friend.

When he received the three letters, John smiled happily for the attention he received, including from Elbern who, according to him, was closer to me than to him. Satisfied, John was ready to leave and, to say goodbye, I gave him a very tight hug. After the hug, John said goodbye and went to the employees' dormitory. I sighed, seeing him get further and further away. Starting tomorrow, we'll have to pretend we're not family, so we certainly couldn't hug each other for a long time.

“Oh, it's a shame that we'll have to pretend that we've never seen him in our lives”, Erina, who was behind me, sighed with her face resting on one hand, interrupting my thoughts, “If competition appears, I won't have an advantage!”

“Don't worry, just like you, your ‘Competition’ will have no chance.”

“Ouch, how sharp!”, She laughed in response.

Still laughing, Erina held my hand and took me to her room under the pretext of trying on the uniforms. Obviously, I had to go to my room first to get my uniform. When we entered her room, Erina took the small package in her suitcase and opened it, taking out of it the Avalon uniform and bringing it with her behind her folded screen to change clothes. I waited for her while she changed, listening to her giggles of excitement.

“I'm ready!”

She announced, coming out of the screen with her clothing.

The uniform was a set composed of the following pieces: a white blouse with a wine-red tie; a dark blue blazer with the Academy coat embroidered on the chest and with the edges of the sleeves and the collar beiges; a dark graphite-coloured skirt that was just above the knees; socks were the student's choice and Erina chose white socks that were just below the knee; and brown short boots.

“How do I look?”, Erina asked me, making a twirl.

“Wonderful!”

Erina smiled and went to the mirror she had in her room. She was experimenting several poses to analyze the uniform from various angles. Having liked the result, she started to touch her golden hair.

“How should I style my hair?”, She pondered, “Of course I'll have to tie my hair in practical classes, but it won't be all the time, so I have to choose the best hairstyle for everyday life!”, a smile full of ulterior motives formed on her lips, “After all, now I have Mr. Reignia to impress too!”

I almost choked on her bold statement.

“H-him too?!”

“A powerful protagonist and the Modern Imperial Dragon...”, Erina murmured ambitiously, “Yes, yes, they both have to get into my harem!”

I sighed and went after Erina, gluing my hands on her shoulders, ready to throw some truths at her.

“If I were you, I wouldn’t have such high hopes, because, at the station, when you threw yourself at John, Mr. Reignia looked at you with a very distasted face!”

Erina, however, misrepresented my speech and took her hands to her cheeks like a lady in love.

“I wonder if Mr. Reignia felt jealous that I was clinging to John?”

“I'm pretty sure he found your behaviour inappropriate for an Avalon student!”, I replied.

Erina laughed at my reaction and continued to touch her hair, still thinking about the ideal hairstyle.

“Hmmmmm...”, she murmured, “I'm thinking of leaving my hair loose and wearing a red tiara... What do you think?”, she turned to me.

This time she was asking sincerely. This went beyond simply looking for boys for her harem, she was thinking about her image in front of the public.

In this case, it's not bad for me to answer honestly.

“I think you're going to look beautiful!”

“Perfect! It's decided!”, She joined her hands satisfied and turned to me, “Now it's your turn!”, She held my shoulders with her above-average strength and began to push me back, towards the folded screen, “You have to change too! Go there, go!”

Without any effort, Erina took me behind the screen and left me there. There was no reason for me to refuse to change my clothes, so I took off my dress and put on my uniform. I was wearing the same clothes as Erina, but the difference is that I had chosen long black socks. It was evident that the fabric was of good quality, because its feeling against my skin was very comfortable. Being properly dressed, I came out from behind the screen and went to the mirror, being enchanted by my own reflection. Never in my previous life have I worn a uniform as beautiful as this one and look that I had already studied in a private school at that time!

“Wow...”, I sighed involuntarily.

“I know, girl! You look beautiful!”, Erina exclaimed, holding my arm and shaking me, “And with your hair braided like this, you look so cute!”

She spent a good few minutes talking about how beautiful we look and how elegant the uniform was. And I felt the same excitement as her. Being in this dormitory and wearing this uniform created me a sense of optimism that was very contagious and engaging.

There were still a few hours left before we had to worry about dinner, so after fantasizing for a few more minutes, we put on our previous clothes and decided that we would start tidying up our rooms. Before I left for my room, Erina whimpered, saying that she brought too many clothes and that she didn't know if they would all fit in the closet. She would have to decide which ones she would wear the most - which would be difficult, because she would wear the uniform almost daily - and leave the ones that would be used less in the suitcase. On the other hand, when I went to my room, I didn't have the same problem. I had considered that I would wear the uniform often and that I would probably find new clothes that I would like to buy, so I took the minimum of casual and formal clothes - whether for the heat or cold -, shoes, boots, slippers and pajamas. Because of my selection, all the clothes fit in the closet, next to the hat that John had bought for me today.

After I finished with the clothes, I went to take care of the books. I opened the bags and started picking them up, one by one, and organizing them on the shelves. Textbooks, mystery, romance, adventure and horror novels and, of course, grimoires. Finally, I got my favourite book: the Grimoire for Support Magic. It is a thick book with a leather cover with golden details on its edges. Its pages are made of a very resistant parchment, made to last countless decades, and in them contained spells of healing, protection, buffs and even debuffs, from the simplest to the most elaborate. It's basically the sweetheart of any fan of support mages. This precious grimoire had been a gift from Elbern to me, which made it more special.

I started flipping through the grimoire, remembering the knowledge I learned and thinking about the ones I will learn. When I opened a random page, I almost dropped the grimoire of fright. A rectangle of paper had fallen from him. I lowered myself to get the rectangle and realized that it was actually an envelope and on it was written ‘To: Amaris, From: Elbern’