Chapter 9 - Rain

"Now that I think of it, Omisha," James glanced at Omisha, looking up from his book, "Why did you go into the spiritology field?"

He and Omisha were sitting in a booth in the corner of the cafe that sat on the same grounds of the school, the same one that she had gotten a free cake from Adryen in. The two were studying for the upcoming midterm exams, speaking from time to time. Scattered across their table were books and supplies, with a couple of papers laying about.

Omisha froze slightly, "Ah, uh, I went into it because... it was interesting!" she replied.

"Hm, I see."

"What did you go into James?" she asked, taking a sip out of her coffee.

"I went into forensics," he replied, looking back down at his book.

"Forensics? That's supposed to be… uh…" Omisha held her chin in her hands as she looked away, trying to remember.

James chuckled, "It's a science field that works with law enforcement to solve crimes."

"Yeah! That was it!," Omisha brightened. She leaned back into the seat, taking another sip of her coffee, "What about the others, by the way? Well- other than Tyler."

James glanced up and looked up, contemplating, "Hm, Phoenix is majoring in cosmetology, Ash is majoring in creative writing, and-"

"Wait, Ash is majoring in creative writing?" Omisha interrupted, sitting up straight in surprise.

James laughed, "Surprising right? He doesn't seem like the type to do creative writing at all."

"I never thought he had enough brains for that-" Omisha spoke before slapping a hand over her mouth, "Woops."

"Heh, although he doesn't look like the type, he's still rather creative and the stories he makes are quite good."

"Hello, you two!" Katherine suddenly appeared, umbrella in one hand and a book in the other, before Omisha could reply.

"Oh, Katherine, hey!" Omisha smiled as she scooted herself and her stuff over, making room for Katherine, and James nodded as a greeting,

"Sorry I was late, the professor for my last class wanted me to help them with something," She smiled apologetically and sat down beside Omisha.

"Let me guess, professor Dolan," James smiled apologetically as he crossed his arms.

Katherine sighed, "Yep… he wanted me to help with his...plants"

Omisha looked between them, "Why is that a bad thing?"

They both sighed and James explained, "He's been picking up random students to help him take care of his carnivorous plants… I helped him a couple of months ago… I almost lost my hand," he shivered at the memory.

Katherine gave an exasperated smile, "He… tries to make sure that we don't get hurt… But he's not very good at it…"

Omisha glanced at them incredulously, "Isn't that technically illegal?"

"For human schools probably but not for supernatural schools," James informed her.

"Ah…" Omisha smiled awkwardly, As expected, schools for supernaturals are way too different, she thought to herself.

Katherine then brightened as she thought of something. Apparently, she and Phoenix had talked about what their parents did for a living. Once explaining the situation, she asked, "So what are your parents' professions?"

Omisha froze and before she could speak, James spoke first, "My father works as a diplomat."

Omisha quickly snapped out of it and forced a smile, "Huh, he must be pretty important then…"

"...I suppose he is," James finished, taking a sip of his cup filled with blood.

...I still get chills whenever I see him drinking blood, even if it isn't human blood… Omisha thought to herself, glancing at his cup.

James then turned to her, "What about you, Omisha?"

"Ah...My dad's a doctor while my mom works at a bakery," Omisha smiled. Sweat went down her back as she hoped that they wouldn't go deeper.

"Oh! I would like to try your mother's baked sweets sometime!" Katherine clasped her hands together with a smile and James nodded.

Omisha inwardly sighed and smiled, "I'll ask her to send some then." she then glanced at the umbrella Katherine held as she put it down before looking out the window they sat next to. "It's still raining out there?"

"Yes, it's not quite bad right now but I think it's supposed to turn into a storm later tonight."

"A storm, huh?" Omisha repeated and closed her eyes, listening to the gentle pitter-patter of the rain.

James nodded, glancing out the window as well, "I suppose we should leave before sunset then."

"What time is it?" Omisha asked, snapping out of her daze and glancing at him.

Katherine pulled out her phone, reading the large digital numbers on the screen, "It's 3 right now, the sun usually sets around 6 PM."

James leaned back into the cushions of the booth and glanced at his book, "Then we should get back to studying while we're here."

"James, can you help me~?" Omisha sighed, laying her head on a small stack of paper in front of her.

"Hm? What do you need help with?"

"This…" Omisha passed the paper on top of the small stack, discussing with him the problem she was facing.

Omisha glanced out the window of the flat. The pitter-patter of the rain had changed to drumming against the window and occasional loud rumbles of thunder accompanied by strikes of lightning started to happen.

She was sitting on the sofa of the living room with Katherine and James. They had decided to continue their studying in the flat when the rain had begun to pick up.

"It kinda feels like something's bad about to happen with this weather…" Omisha mumbled, leaning her cheek against her palm.

Katherine giggled, overhearing her throw-away comment, "It really does."

James glanced up, "I doubt anything bad will happen. The worst that can happen is that the lights will probably cut out-" as he spoke, everything suddenly turned dark.

Although Omisha couldn't see very well, she turned to where she thought James was, "You jinxed it, James!" she yelled.

James sighed, putting up his hands, "Sorry, sorry." The couch made a creaking noise as he stood up.

"Hm? Are you going somewhere, James?" Katherine asked, "Er...wait, was that you Omisha?"

"That was James, I think," Omisha replied.

"Yeah, I'm going to get candles." His steps grew quieter as he walked further from Katherine and Omisha.

Omisha sighed, "anyways, what happened to the others?"

"Hm," Katherine contemplated, tapping her chin with her index finger, "I think they're staying over at their friend's flats."

"So they ditched us to go have fun…" Omisha muttered, resting her chin on the back of her hand.

"Pretty much," James commented as he walked back to them. He placed a glass object down on the table in front of them and lit up a match, lighting the candle.

The candle didn't do much in lighting up the room, but everyone could see a bit better. Omisha glanced at James and noticed that he held a small bundle of candles against his chest.

"Let me help," Katherine stood up and held out her hand.

"Thanks," he nodded to her and handed her a couple of candles.

Omisha glanced back out the window, watching the sky as lightning strikes flashed by. "Do you guys know when this rain is going to pass?"

"Hm, I'm not sure, but I think it'll pass by morning," James said as he lit up another candle.

Omisha sighed, "So the lights probably won't turn back on until then," she commented.

He gave a small smile, "It seems so."

"..." Omisha looked up at the ceiling, leaning against the cushions, "...Ugh, can I take a break...?"

Katherine smiled gently as she lit her last candle, "We have been at it for a while now, I think it's fair to take a break."

"Sure," James nodded as he sat back down, relaxing his posture, and Katherine sat down by him.

Omisha glanced at them, "...By the way, what are your home countries like?"

Katherine looked at her in surprise but contemplated the question, "Hm...well the FairFolk empire is mostly beautiful woods and forests with only a couple of cities here and there. Then again there's probably some secret cities that only certain supernaturals can access," she explained, "me and my family are part of the people that live in the rural areas since those areas are the best places to grow herbs."

"Ah, I've heard that some of the tourist places in the nation have ranked pretty high in beautiful scenery," James added on and Katherine nodded with a smile.

"Ehhh is that so...I'd like to see it at some point…"

"If you ever come by, then I'm more than willing to show you some of my favorite places," Katherine offered.

Omisha smiled, "I'll take you up on that offer," she glanced at James, "What about your home country? Francia, right?"

James chuckled, "Frauce," He contemplated for a few seconds, "Hmm...well the nation is pretty fancy and I suppose you could say it's the place for the rich…"

"...so, is that supposed to be good, or bad?" Omisha deadpanned with an exasperated smile.

James chuckled, "Who knows. Anyways, Frauce is a country that emphasizes the arts. I'm pretty sure that some of the notable revolutions about art happened in Frauce as well."

"Hm, I'm guessing that there's a bunch of museums in an area of a city then," Omisha joked.

James sighed, looking to the side, and didn't answer. Omisha and Katherine stared at him in surprise before attempting to muffle their laughs as James sulked. He eventually confessed, "There are too many." After a couple of seconds, he recomposed himself, "Anyways, me and my family lived in the capital since my father had his work nearby."

"You said he was a diplomat, right?" Katherine looked at him and he nodded.

"Yeah, he normally works in the government buildings nearby but he takes nearly 5 trips to different countries almost every year..." James muttered and sighed, his eyes trained on the candle in front of him.

Does he not like his dad…? Omisha questioned internally, taking note of his tone. Before she could say anything though, there was a sudden loud burst of thunder and a nearby window suddenly slammed open. The open window let in a strong gust of wind and rain, blowing out all the candles in the room. Omisha quickly took out her phone as the couch creaked, notifying them that someone had stood up.

"I'll get it," James's voice resonated through the room as Omisha turned on the flashlight.

"Thanks," Omisha smiled before noticing that the rain pelting against the glass was significantly harder now, "It looks like the storm's getting stronger."

James walked up to the open window and attempted to close it. The howling wind was strong, causing him to use more strength before shutting it close. He leaned against it and turned the lock with a sigh, "It really is."

Katherine giggled as she stood up as well, "Well let's light the candles again."

"Right," Omisha nodded and leaned her phone against the cushion, keeping the flashlight on as she joined Katherine.

After a couple of minutes, all the candles were lit again and the group found themselves talking deep into the night, enjoying themselves as the storm brewed on.