Chapter Text
With an exasperated sigh, Zarina dropped her school bag on the floor of her bedroom and collapsed into her desk chair.
The first week of Level 6 had just ended, and it felt like Zarina’s Mentors had a personal vendetta against her with the amount of homework they were assigning. She had a feeling that there would not be time for anything else besides working on homework this weekend—not even sleeping or eating, if she wanted to finish everything on time.
Luckily though, in the past two years, her parents had warmed up significantly to Lyrei. They were allowing the two friends to have a weekend-long sleepover at Lyrei’s house on the condition that they mostly worked on homework together.
Technically, Lyrei shouldn’t have been in Level 6. Despite her best efforts, Lyrei had never managed to manifest and was now considered Talentless. However, since Lyrei was such an amazing student and had practically perfect grades in everything except for ability detecting, the Council had allowed Lyrei to stay at Foxfire until the end of Level 6. That was the last level before the elite levels; a prerequisite to be in the elite levels was to have a special ability.
Her Imparter flashed with a message from Lyrei: You ready?
Not yet, Zarina replied. I still need to pack up a few things and have a bit of time to relax before coming over. Give me like 30 minutes.
Ending the conversation, she did exactly what she’d said she would. Zarina got out the bag she’d bought specifically for the purposes of sleepovers and stuffed in a few last-minute clothing items as well as her school bag full of the homework she’d be working on.
Finishing up her packing only took about five minutes or so. That gave her 25 minutes to herself, which she decided she’d spend laying on her bed with her eyes closed.
After all, school these days felt like the equivalent of constantly sprinting up a cliff for the entire day with no break. Her Mentors were harsher than ever, and one of the only things they ever seemed to care about was, “when you’re in the elite levels…” It was stifling and excruciating to sit through for eight hours a day, and then having to come home and bear the same exact thing with her parents made it even worse.
That was why when Lyrei asked if she wanted to sleep over, she’d jumped at the chance.
Soon enough, however, her 25 minutes of relaxation were up and she was standing in front of the Leapmaster.
“Maplebranch!” she called, smiling as she watched the crystal for her best friend’s house move towards her. It was nearly identical to all of the other crystals on her family’s Leapmaster. Even so, Zarina could always discern which one led to Maplebranch from the amount of times she’d stared at it before leaping to Lyrei’s house.
Zarina stepped into the light, letting it carry her away to her destination. She had to concentrate harder than usual, because she’d gotten her Nexus off, meaning that there wouldn’t be any protection measures in place if she lost concentration.
As she had been many times before, Rei was waiting for Rina when she arrived at Maplebranch and opened her eyes.
She raced to where Rei was standing, grinning the entire time. Once she’d greeted her friend, the two of them started heading towards Maplebranch, talking and laughing the entire time. It took a while, since Maplebranch was about 75% grounds and 25% house, and even then the house was relatively large.
Inside, Rei’s parents greeted Rina warmly, welcoming her into their home as they had done so many times before.
Rina greeted them back before following Rei into the latter’s bedroom.
“What do you want to do first?” Rei asked her, sitting on her bed to watch as Rina set up her sleeping bag right next to the bed.
“I don’t know.” Rina shrugged. “I guess we should probably start with doing homework, since that’s the main reason that my mom is allowing me to be here in the first place. Is that fine with you?”
“Yeah, you’re probably right.”
For the next hour or so, Rei’s bedroom was relatively silent, except for the occasional question or bout of conversation.
However, Rina couldn’t stop herself from looking at her best friend every few minutes. Every time she did, something tugged in her chest and she felt her cheeks flaming up. Something about Rei lately made Rina want to be around her friend more often. She couldn’t explain why. It most definitely did not have anything to do with the realizations she’d made about herself a while ago, though, right?
No, definitely not.
As she lifted her pen from the end of the essay she’d been working on, she looked at Rei again. Rei’s head was bent over her paper in concentration, but seemingly as soon as Rina looked at her, Rei snapped her head up.
Blushing, Rina looked away quickly so Rei didn’t suspect anything.
“I think dinner is ready,” Rei said casually, not seeming to have noticed anything. Rina breathed a sigh of relief and stood up to follow her friend into the dining room.
“Thank you so much for making dinner,” Rina said politely as she, Rei, and Rei’s parents sat down to plates which were already set out and piled high with food. Lord and Lady Torven both smiled at her.
“Of course,” Lady Torven replied. Then, she added, “How has Level 6 been for you so far, girls?”
Rei and Rina shared a glance with each other. Rina blushed as their eyes made contact.
“It’s been okay, as good as school can be,” Rei replied when Rina hesitated. “Our teachers seem to have a death wish or something with all of the homework they’ve been assigning lately, though.”
Lady Torven laughed. “I think I had almost the exact same thoughts when I was your age. It’ll get better as the year goes on, I’m sure of it.”
I’m not so sure, Rina thought to herself, but she held her tongue. Based on her facial expression, Rei seemed to be thinking the exact same thing.
The rest of dinner was fairly similar to this, and afterwards Rei and Rina escaped back up to Rei’s bedroom to do more homework. This was what became a cycle throughout the weekend: homework, eat, homework, sleep, even more homework.
Finally, it was Sunday afternoon and Rei and Rina had more or less completed all of their assignments. To celebrate, they ran outside towards their favorite maple tree and climbed upwards until the branches could no longer support their weight. Then they sat together on adjacent branches and talked, doing everything they could to not think about school.
“See you at school tomorrow,” Rei whispered in her ear as they hugged goodbye. Rina had already packed up their things and was leaving due to a message from her mother urging her to come home.
“Thank you,” Rina replied, “I had a great time. Even if most of that time was spent on schoolwork.”
They smiled at each other as they separated, and then Rei began the long walk back to her house as Rina held her home crystal up to the light.
