A few hours later, Aries woke up.

She sat dazedly on the bed for a moment. "What time is it?", Aries looked at the digital clock on the wall.

[06:30]

Almost 7 o'clock. Aries stretched and yawned wearily. She slipped on her shoes and walked out the door.

Aries opened the door and looked around. No one was there. She looked towards the corner of the wall, not seeing the white-haired girl from yesterday.

"Ah... that girl..."

Aries startled, she looked behind the door. A brown-haired girl was looking at her, her black eyes sparkling with gratitude and anxiety.

"Sorry, who are you?"

Aries was confused.

"Ah, I'm the white-haired person who sat in the corner last night."

The girl said softly. Aries blinked, she looked towards the corner of the wall and then at the girl in front of her. 'What? The same person?', Aries frowned, looking disbelieving.

"I used illusion magic, so my hair was white back then."

The girl explained and pointed to her brown hair. Aries was surprised.

"What level are you?"

"I'm level 3, and you?"

"..."

Looks can be deceiving. Aries felt a little humiliated, and chuckled awkwardly.

"Well... I'm one level lower than you..."

"So you're level 2, no wonder you don't know about illusion abilities."

"Don't say it so bluntly, and don't use that tone, what if you're older than me?"

"It's okay, I'm only 18 years old."

The same age. And already level 3, she must have trained a lot to level up so quickly. Aries stepped out and closed the door.

She glanced around, finding it unusually quiet.

"My real name is Maika, but please call me Vanessa."

"Why?"

"I have my own reasons, and what's your name?"

"Aries."

"That's a strange name..."

Maika whispered. Aries slightly curved her lips into a smile. She didn't know how many times she had heard this from other people because of her 'unique' name. Who names their child after a constellation...

"You can call me whatever you want."

Aries shrugged.

"Then... can I call you Ari?"

"Sure."

'Ari' actually sounds like a name.

Aries looked at Maika, or 'Vanessa', her alias. Brown hair tied in a ponytail, sparkling black eyes. Quite an ordinary and common appearance.

Before, Aries had met girls with all sorts of hair colors. Blue, red, green, pink,... Every color imaginable. Even if it was their natural hair color, perhaps it was because Aries was more used to seeing dark hair.

"Everyone went to the 9th floor for breakfast."

Maika's soft voice brought Aries back to her senses.

"Is the 9th floor the cafeteria?"

"Probably, I only heard it from other people, so I don't know."

"We'll know once we go up there."

Aries went first and Maika followed behind. They took the elevator to the 9th floor. During the entire time in the elevator, they didn't say a word to each other.

"Ari."

"Hmm?"

"Are you religious?"

Aries glanced at Maika, who looked flustered.

"What makes you think that?"

"Ah no... it's just that I saw you wearing a necklace with a cross, so I asked."

Maika immediately waved her hands and stammered. Aries looked down at her chest. A necklace with a small black silver cross.

"It's personal."

"Ah, I see..."

Maika's expression softened a little, but she still looked a little anxious. Aries frowned, looking at Maika for a moment. Because Maika was a little shorter than her, she could see the top of Maika's head.

Suddenly, Aries reached out and gently rubbed Maika's head, making her hair a little ruffled. Maika startled, she looked at Aries with surprise.

"I'm not going to make things difficult for you or anything, I'm easy-going, if there's anything just say it."

"Ah... I thought you would be annoyed if I asked..."

"It depends, there are exceptions, I'm not like that with everyone."

Aries' eyes looked into Maika's eyes. Sparkling black eyes...

Aries withdrew her hand.

"I'm sorry, I got carried away..."

"It's okay, I'm not angry."

"I haven't even asked for permission..."

"I'm not angry, so you don't have to worry."

Aries glanced at Maika, who was smoothing out the ruffled part of her hair.

'Beautiful eyes, soft hair too...', Aries thought to herself, then she stopped. That sounds too perverted, Maika would definitely avoid her if she knew.

Aries looked at the number on the elevator. 7th floor, almost there. Going from the 4th floor to the 9th floor was quite fast.

Ting!