As soon as the door shut behind her, Veil lifted Flow and carried her over to the bed.
Her breathing hitched in anticipation...
But instead of doing what she expected, he lay down, using her breasts as pillows.
Flow blinked up at the ceiling, then awkwardly began stroking his head.
"... If you want to get to know more about me, we'll talk later tonight. So there's not a time limit," he offered suddenly.
He sounded so sweet and vulnerable that her hands froze for a brief moment.
"I understand," she answered. Veil then sat up and began unbuckling his belt.
"Wait! What are you doing?" she shrieked, while covering her eyes.
"...Why else would I invite you to my room?"
Flow got overheated from embarrassment.
"You know... you really let me get away with too much," Veil murmured sweetly, leaving his pants alone to remove her hands from her face. "It's my favorite thing about you," he added with a mischievous grin. As she looked up at him with wide eyes, trying to understand what he meant, he pulled his zipper down.
She squeaked and immediately hid behind her hands again.
Mirror bounced on Caster's bed as she recounted details from her novel.
"—that's when the dragon swooped in, like WHAM, and slammed into the dark knight!" she rambled animatedly.
He watched her fondly from his desk.
"So the protagonist was saved?" he inquired. She smirked as she replied,
"Not only that! But get this! The dragon was really the princess from before! The one he saved at the lake!"
"No way," Caster muttered in astonishment. She flopped back onto the bed and then said,
"I'm completely for real!"
"I'd like to read it when you're done," he commented. She rolled over and smiled brightly.
"But then I can't tell you about it," she argued. Caster got up from his seat, and then he sat down next to her on the bed.
"We could just discuss the book together," he murmured, placing his hand under her chin and brushing his thumb against her bottom lip.
She huffed with a faint blush gracing her cheeks.
"I guess so..." Mirror agreed reluctantly. Caster bent down and rested his forehead against hers.
"I wish... we had a longer break," he confessed softly.
"Me too!" Mirror agreed.
Her energy made him laugh, and the sound of that laughter made her heart swell.
She then tilted her head upward to meet his lips. Caster's eyes flutter closed.
When their lips parted, he sat upright and said,
"What should we do with the rest of our break?"
Mirror's face flushed, and she gazed up at him longingly.
"No... we don't have time for that," he refuted while putting a pillow over her face.
"But it's been days!" she complained.
"Only two," he argued back. Mirror tossed the pillow to the floor, folded her arms, and faced the wall.
"Fine."
He gently poked her cheek, and she huffed.
"How about this... let's ask each other questions. Ask me anything, and I promise to answer."
With Caster's offer, she rolled back over to face him.
"You promise?"
He became slightly apprehensive but nodded regardless.
"Okay," Mirror began, "So... back at the academy, why did you ask me to tutor you?"
Caster blushed, and it quickly spread to his ears and neck.
"Ask something else," he reasoned.
"You said anything, and it's been three years! I deserve to know at this point."
Caster sighed in defeat, then he shifted his gaze to the floor before answering,
"You were reading..."
Mirror was dumbfounded. She then squinted at him and said,
"What?"
His blushing worsened.
"All my other classmates were fighting for my attention... it was overwhelming and exhausting, but you never did that. In fact... You spent all your free time reading or hanging out with your sister. You never gave me a second glance," he muttered.
Her mouth hung ajar, and he picked the pillow up off the floor and put it back over her eyes.
"Stop judging me," he demanded. Mirror put her arms up to block his weapon of choice and shouted,
"I'm not!"
He allowed her to push the pillow aside, then he turned his back to her as she sat up.
After a few seconds of silence, Mirror twirled a lock of hair around her finger and said,
"I was just kinda, sorta hoping it was because I was so beautiful or something."
His gaze drifted back over to her, and when their eyes met, he laughed heartily.
At first, Mirror was startled, but as the chuckles kept coming, she glared and shoved his back with her foot.
"Get out!" she commanded.
"It's my room," Caster shot back, covering his mouth to stifle the laughter.
Mirror's scowl deepened. As his amusement softened, Caster got on his knees and crawled over to her.
He then cupped her cheeks, looking deep into her eyes, saying,
"You are so beautiful,"
Her cheeks tingled, but she did her best to maintain a glare.
"You're lovely, irresistible..." he complimented while giving tender kisses, working his way down to her neck.
"Okay, okay, I get it!" she replied, balling her fists and squeezing her eyes closed.
"But more than that... you're refreshing and comfortable. I never get sick of being around you," he added finally, while letting her cheeks go.
"... You're so unfair... turning me on after refusing me earlier," Mirror grumbled.
"I was relieved that you were so good at math. It gave me the perfect excuse to approach you."
Mirror gasped loudly then pointed at Caster and yelled,
"I knew it! You were pretending to have bad grades, so I'd tutor you!"
He shrugged.
"Isn't that pretty obvious at this point?" he remarked with a deadpan stare.
...
Mirror sat silently at first, then she pounced on him, catching him in a playful headlock.
"Don't get smart with me!" she shouted. He chuckled while trying to pull free.
He managed to duck out of her hold and then pin her to the bed by her shoulders.
"I had to do something; you actively avoided me. What did you expect?"
Mirror couldn't stay composed while looking at his face, so she turned away to maintain her pout.
"Well, excuse me for having social anxiety," she muttered.
He rested on his elbows and said,
"I'm grateful you did," as he kissed her again.
Panther got up for a bottle of water and chugged the whole thing in one gulp. She then wiped her mouth on the back of her hand and said,
"Why are you so damn good at singing?"
Shade stared at her sympathetically.
"Why are you so bad at it?"
She threw the bottle in the trash, then walked over and jabbed her finger against his forehead.
"What's with that look? Are you looking down on me? Huh?!" she grumbled.
"Ow, you're hurting me," he mumbled sarcastically, as he swiped her hand away.
"Singing is a useless skill anyway," Panther huffed as she sat next to him.
"You sound butthurt," he remarked. She growled at him, then took a deep breath to calm down. "So..." he began, "Do you plan to finish your trial soon?"
"No screw that, I'm going last if I can," she replied while crossing her legs and folding her arms.
"Why is that?" Shade inquired.
"Because we had to do all that stupid running, I'm gonna relax as long as possible."
As she answered, he put the microphones away.
"Yeah, that makes sense. We should hurry back."
"By the way, do you have a crush on Aura?"
Shade's heart stuttered, and he glared down at Panther as he fired back,
"Do you have a crush on Fenix?"
She gulped loudly, then avoided his eyes while getting up from her seat.
"You're right, we should hurry back," she muttered awkwardly as she speed walked out the door.
He made sure that everything was put back where it belonged before leaving after her.
There was an announcement over the intercom:
"Break time is now over, everyone. Please head back to the training room."
Cantarella's frustrated groans could be heard all the way down the corridor.
Everyone assembled back in the training room. Flow and Veil arrived last, with her staggering behind him.
"Alright, who wishes to go next?" Pierce asked after they were all seated. Caster raised his hand, not missing a beat. Pierce nodded in his direction and said,
"Okay, then get into position."
As Caster strolled onto the field, Pierce glanced down at Veil, who grinned back in response.
"Can I speak to you for a second?"
"Rather not," Veil replied quickly. This made Pierce frown, but he didn't press. Instead, he walked over to the keypad to enter the code combination for Caster.
"From what I read, you shine during long-term combat. So this simulation will spawn enemies until you reach your limit." Pierce announced.
The computer voice corroborated with his explanation, and Veil glared at the arena, muttering,
"No fair."
Caster hopped on the balls of his feet excitedly as multiple enemies materialized into the area around him.
He then exhaled and muttered,
"10%" just before the computerized voice declared,
"Begin!"