Chapter 10

"God damn it!" Arek ran full-speed down the paved cobblestone roads, people moving out of the way as he approached them as if this was a daily occurrence, which it kind of was. "Why can't the sun rise later?"

Arek Kuir, "a commoner with some stupid luck," he referred to himself as. He had enrolled in the Imperial Capital's "High" Academy, a place usually reserved to those of noble blood, out of complete luck after cheating off of one of said nobles on their Second Tier Exams and somehow not getting caught. Now, in his first year out of 4 in the Third Educational Tier, he has to survive courses designed specifically for those who stand so far above him, he couldn't even imagine seeing the soles of their feet.

And with this transition comes also the transition to waking up as early as those from noble families, which just so happened to be the hardest task to accomplish, especially when lacking a maid.

The "High" Academy was at the direct center of the Imperial Capital, right by the Emperor's castle and the nobles' mansions, meaning that someone coming from the "outer ring" of the city would have needed to wake up extra early just to run the whole way there.

Arek raced past shops, taverns, inns, and cafes. The regulars around each place had already moved out of the way to make a path for him.

"Thief! Someone catch that thief!" A voice in the crowd interrupted Arek's frantic making up of excuses for his tardiness in his head. A man broke out of the line of regulars who had made way for Arek's daily sprint to the High Academy, and Arek barreled straight into him. An expensive-looking leather purse decorated with a gold trim and gemstones flew from the man's hands and dropped to the floor with a small "clink."

"Huh?!" Arek was rolled to the side, and the man took off running again, disappearing into the crowd of people.

The crowd closed in around Arek, offering him so many hands at once that he was in danger of getting pushed back over. He managed to grab onto someone's hand, and once the crowd of oddly caring people made sure he was alright, he was allowed to stand back up and collect himself and any belongings that fell.

"Ahem." Arek felt someone pull on his hand, and he realized that he was still holding onto the person who helped him up.

"Ah, thank you." Arek let go and looked up. Before him stood a light blue-haired girl wearing the High Academy's uniform, a white jacket, a white skirt with gold trim, and boots over knee-high socks. Pinned on her arm was the crest of nobles familiar to all residents of the city.

Arek jumped back and dropped to his knees. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to speak so... so..."

He was at a loss for words. Before him stood the daughter of one of the four noble families of the Empire, and he had spoken to her as if she was another commoner like him, and even touched her hand.

But that was strange. He hadn't seen anybody with blue hair at the school before...

"V- Vincent?!" Arek accidentally blurted the name of the most noble of noble families, the one said to have been allowed to address the Emperor casually, and even oppose his rulings, without any repercussions. He tried to scoot back even further, his forehead pressed against the rough cobblestone of the street.

The girl grabbed Arek by the arm and pulled him back to his feet. Arek wanted to run away, but was afraid that breaking out of a noble's grasp could be taken badly.

"Ah, you should take better care of yourself. Here-" She took a handkerchief out of her jacket and pressed it against Arek's bleeding forehead.

"Wh- wh-" Arek was flushed bright red, and the sound of his heart beating so fast that individual beats could no longer be distinguished filled his ears. "Y- you don't have to do that, uh... uh..!"

"Juni. Juni Jule Aures." The girl introduced herself, excluding the curtsy that usually came with noble introductions. "Vincent is the name of my Uncle's family."

"Oh, I see..." Arek breathed a sigh of relief before catching himself. "Wait! That's not any be- please excuse my rudeness!"

Juni giggled. "Don't worry about formalities. You saved my purse, didn't you?"

Arek's eyes drifted to the purse lying on its side on the road, and a feeling of dread came over him. He had thought that it belonged to some rich old lady because of its design, but he'd let a noble's daughter's purse sit on the road, which was covered with dirt, dust, and who knows what else?

"Ah!" Arek rushed over and picked the purse up, wiping the dirt off of it with his sleeve while maintaining minimum contact with it, and handed it to Juni. "I'm sorry for touching your property, please forgi-"

Juni flicked Arek on his scratched-up forehead, causing him to wince.

"I already said to stop that. Geez..." Juni took her purse and didn't bother to inspect it for any excess dirt, dust, or commoner germs. "I don't like it when people act like that because of my family."

"Al-alright."

"Let's try this again." Juni took a deep breath. "You can call me Juni. I don't need any formalities from my classmate."

Arek blinked a couple of times.

Juni tapped Arek's jacket, which held the High Academy's mark, a silver-haired girl with three pairs of multicolored wings in an upside-down prism. Unlike her, he had no crest on his shoulder.

"But I've never seen-"

"I was called at the beginning of the year to take care of something in Azira." Juni leaned forward and whispered into Arek's ear. "Apparently, my cousin had disappeared."

"Oh... Did you find him?"

"Nope!" Juni said cheerfully. "I was sent back so that I wouldn't get too behind in my studies. Of course, I'd been sent many letters about the strange commoner who had gotten into the High Academy."

The word "commoner" did not have the same punch as it did when Juni said it than any time a noble had referred to Arek as one before, and that happened so often that he thought he'd at least be used to it. There was none of that disgust in her eyes, no sharp, condescending undertone to her words, it was as if she was just another commoner, talking to a friend.

Arek suddenly realized an important detail of this conversation.

"Ah! We're going to be late!"

Juni grabbed his arm as he turned to run. "That's unavoidable, isn't it? If we're going to be late anyway, let's just walk there together. We'll at least have eachother to talk to."

"But the time..."

"What, don't want to ruin your perfect attendance?" Juni joked. "My friends write very detailed letters, you know?"

"Ah... Right..."

With a smug look on her face, Juni took Arek by the arm and started cheerfully skipping down the road, which was still filled with people. Arek directed his eyes towards the ground as she dragged him along, embarrassed to meet the strange looks and laughs directed at him.

Once they got past all the shops and people, and were on the now nearly empty road, Juni let go and slowed down, giving Arek time to shake off his embarrassment. She took one look at his flushed face and burst out laughing, something a normal noble definitely would not be doing.

"Come on, Arek! Don't act so weirdly, it'll attract attention!" She continued skipping away from Arek.

"You're the weird one here. What the hell kind of noble acts like that?" Arek muttered, and began walking normally.

He took another look at her, light blue hair dancing as she skipped along as if it had a life of its own, and felt the blood rush to his face once again. He instinctively looked towards the ground.

"Well, it's a welcome change, I guess."

---

"How's the boy doing, Eld?" A woman with brown hair, clad in a black cloak that seemed to melt into the shadows she just stepped out of, asked.

"It doesn't seem like he'll remember anything." Eld, a bald, almost-too-well-built middle-aged man with a scar down the back of his head, replied in a gruff voice. "You sure he'll be all we need?"

"I could see it clearly. That kid's got a soul different from anything we've ever seen before."

"I..."

"Do you doubt me?"

"No, I'll have faith in your words. I can't prove you wrong, anyway."

"Good." The corners of the woman's mouth curved upwards. "Before he wakes up, do something about that hair of his."

"What's there to do?" Eld was confused. Did she want him to play hairdresser?

"Just make it some color other than blue." The woman turned back around and walked back into the shadows in the corner of the room. "I'll have faith in your abilities to do so."