"I'm sorry, Professor Noble. I can explain! I just wanted to talk. But then I tripped a sensor a-and the alarm sounded— and everything got out of hand!"
"Do you know him?" Lovia raised an amused eyebrow. She poked the sticky figure with her trident.
Lovia's confusion was nothing compared to the frustration boiling in Noble's chest. She lifted her communicator and called the security office. Mori answered immediately.
"You can stop the alarm and call off the guards. The threat has been neutralized." Noble told him calmly.
"Oh! What was it?" Mori's silver eyes glittered. "No, wait! Let me guess. By your tone, it wasn't a Nightmare Creature. Was it a UMO?!"
The professor frowned. "A UMO?"
Noble glanced at the woman with her, but Lovia shrugged.
"An unidentified magical object. A UMO!" Mori leaned closer to the screen.
Noble wondered if this was a common security term or Mori's own lingo, but she decided against asking.
"It's not a UMO. It's more of a UM B-O-Y…"
"What? Oh!" Mori blinked, "How did that even happen?"
"He's got an Aspect and makes him virtually undetectable."
"He can become invisible?" Mori's voice mixed with the droning announcement.
"No, you can see him, he just…" Noble shook her head. "You know what, I'll put it all in my report. Please turn off the alarm and remove the lockdown. Lovia and I will wrap things up here."
Mori clicked keys in front of him so that the voice on the loudspeaker ceased. The outer doors unlocked, causing the young man to look toward the exit.
"Ha, don't even think about it," Lovia chuckled.
He didn't. The boy was cornered, and he knew it.
"I think that's about it. I will send out a final all clear to the residents when you are ready." Mori gave a modified salute.
"Give us five minutes. Then you should be good to go. Thanks for your help."
"Just doing my job, ma'am! Though if you ever hear of Lady Nephis looking for another Fire Keeper, I would love a recommendation!"
Mori cut the connection before Noble could answer. That was just as well. The professor had never spoken to Changing Star. She had no connection to her whatsoever!
Shaking off the strange request, Noble turned back to the task at hand. She had five minutes to get things wrapped up here. She should not waste it.
Lovia stopped emitting smoke, allowing what was already created to dissipate. The sticky coating on the boy disappeared, revealing the lanky intruder still curled up in a ball.
He looked up at the women but refused to meet their eyes.
"In answer to your question, yes, I know him, Lovia. Ray was a student in my class earlier today. I realized quickly that he was infatuated with one of the other students, but I didn't think he would resort to stalking." Noble dismissed her Zenith.
In his current position, Ray posed about as much threat as a mouse. While she couldn't feel his fear, she could see it written all over his face.
Only her last words garnered any reaction from the boy.
"Stalker? I'm not a stalker! I was going to knock on her door. If she turned me away, I would have let things go. I just…wanted to let her know how I feel!"
Ray wasn't lying—his body language was enough to convince Noble of that fact—but that didn't make what he had done acceptable.
Lovia agreed. Her disarming smile did nothing to take the edge out of her question.
"What about the notice outside? Males are not allowed in here."
"Oh, I thought that was more of a…guideline?" Ray winced.
"So you made sure no one could sense you when you entered? Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in?! A security force was dispatched. If not for Lovia and me finding you first, you could be dead right now!"
Noble hoisted the boy up by his collar.
"Following a girl to her room without her permission is wrong!"
Ray held up his hands in surrender. "I didn't realize she was heading to her room until it was too late. I just wanted to..."
"Wanted to bother a Legacy who didn't want to speak with you. You cannot pine after a woman you have barely met. That's just crazy. If you had gotten to her, she might have asked you to be expelled! Or worse, she might have beaten you herself!"
Noble pictured Tamar's reaction to Ray's sudden appearance. The girl did not seem fond of surprises, and an admirer at her door might end with her skewering him where he stood if she didn't like what he had to say.
"I know we don't know each other well, but she does know me. I know as soon as she realizes my name is Ray and not Roy, she'll remember. I-I had no idea she was a Legacy!"
The boy looked utterly devastated.
"Did she call you the wrong name? That's not a good sign," Lovia's trident finally lowered. She was becoming quite interested in this tragic tale.
Ray nodded. "I was mumbling, so that didn't help."
Noble held up her hand. Something wasn't right.
"I was there. Tamar didn't say your name at all."
Ray tilted his head.
"Why would it matter if Lady Tamar said my name?"
"Because you are obsessed with her, aren't you?" The professor had felt his ardent desire. There was no mistaking it.
"What? I don't know anything about her! I hadn't met her before this afternoon." Ray's shoulders straightened at the accusation.
Noble rubbed her forehead. Only one other girl had been with Noble that morning and had also been part of the fateful conversation with Ray. That girl was the one who had called Ray the wrong name.
"You like Fleur." Noble sighed.
A shy smile crept onto the boy's face. "I think she's pretty wonderful."
"Aw," Lovia's pleasant expression turned genuine.
"Lovia, focus!" Noble snapped in front of the other woman's face. "Explain how you know Fleur, but she doesn't know you."
Ray stared at the ground. "We rode on the same boat to get to the continent. I was with my family, and I looked…different when we met. She was so kind, and I spent the rest of the trip trying to talk to her again. It didn't work out. So when I saw her walking with you this morning, I thought I had gotten a second chance…"
As Ray continued to stumble through his story, Noble saw the events surrounding the boy in a new light. He had come to her classroom that morning not for a class, but to seek out Fleur.
"If I could just speak to her, really speak to her, I won't fight any punishment I get for causing all this trouble." Ray's clasped hands spoke of his sincerity.
Noble looked at Lovia. What did she think of all this drama?
The other teacher was intrigued. It was hard not to be.
'This boy is an idiot. There is only one way to fix this once and for all.' Coming to a decision, Noble walked three doors from the end of the hall and knocked on one of the alloy doors.
"Sleeper Fleur? It's Professor Noble. There's a situation that needs your attention."