Aries stared at the abnormally acting Alice with an impassive look. After his gaze lingered for a few moments, he turned away and focused on the teacher who had just entered the class.
Despite what Alice was saying, Aries could tell that she wasn't okay, but since it was her problem, he chose to ignore it, as it was none of his business, and let her handle it on her own. This was especially so as he had a feeling that he would soon have a fair share of problems of his own.
Nevertheless, as nothing had happened yet, he planned on practicing his swordsmanship and Abilities.
Once he got home, he would practice swordsmanship, then, later in the evening, he would practice his abilities. He chose to do it like this so no one would find out he could use 'Magic'. Though he did not know the full picture, he could tell that something was suppressing stronger mystical happenings. Due to this, he would rather no one find out that he had supernatural abilities until he was sure of himself and his knowledge.
"Alright Class!"
Mrs. Handley clapped her hands together, capturing Aries's attention, as well as the attention of every other student in the classroom.
"Today we will be learning—"
*
Later. Breaktime.
"Waahh!"
After it was called for breaktime, Roannna intertwined her fingers and stretched, then plopped down on her desk. This was a habit she caught from her mother.
Resting her head on the desk for a few seconds, Roanna got up and pulled her chair and desk closer to Aries's, as did the other girls from last time. They each took out a small snack to eat as they did.
Aries also did the same. He took out a sandwich and a juice box from a paper bag. He turned to Roanna, who ate her snack jovially.
"..."
Hesitating for a moment, Aries eventually spoke:
"Roanna…"
Hearing her name called, Roanna's ears perked up.
"Hmm?"
"I wanted to ask…"
"Ask what?"
She tilted her head slightly, waiting for him to say what he wanted to ask.
Aries paused for a moment. Then he said:
"Would it be possible for me to meet your brother?"
Hearing his question, Roanna stood still. She was like a statue, rigid and unmoving. Her mouth opened, preparing to answer the question, but as she did, another voice chimed in.
"I would like to meet him too."
The voice was high-pitched and chirpy. It was one of the girls who sat with them. She had dark hair and blue eyes. She was the one who sat closest to Aries, besides Roanna, of course. The other girls also agreed, wanting to meet the mage brother they had spoken about.
Roanna's body trembled in fury, or what seemed like it at least. This was something Aries was not quite adept in. Either way, she seemed like she would explode at any moment. The other children didn't seem to realize this, so Aries took it upon himself to smooth over this situation.
Clearing his throat, Aries reached out his hand and softened his voice as he spoke.
"Roanna, if you don't want to, you don't—"
Roanna shot forward, cutting off his sentence. He could almost hear it, Roanna cursing him out for even daring to ask to meet her precious brother.
Contrary to his belief, Roanna grasped the hand that he had reached out and looked into his eyes. She was inches from his face, a wide, excited grin curling on her face, her eyes even seemed to sparkle.
"You mean it!? You want to meet my brother?!"
"Uuuh… Oh! Um… Yes!"
Aries was completely caught off guard by Roanna's reaction. He had expected anger, or at the least dismissal. Never did he expect excitement from her, which was strange. While expecting a rejection was a reasonable assumption, it was weird that he just assumed that she would get angry, and the fact that she might get excited didn't even cross his mind.
Still, Aries didn't let this bother him, as he knew that he was bad at reading and understanding emotions, so it was understandable that he would not think of this.
"That's wonderful! I'll ask him as soon as I get home!"
Aries gave a crooked smile and nodded.
Following this, Roanna leaned back, letting go of his hand in the process.
Aries looked around him— At the girls who sat around him. They all held a stunned expression, shocked by Roanna's outburst. Turning back to Roanna, who, judging by her expression, realized what she did. Aries could visibly see her blushing. It was to the point where he could almost see steam escaping from her ears.
She began fidgeting with her fingers, as if trying to distract herself from the embarrassment.
"U-um… I-i'm sorry about that. I… get really excited about my brother."
She held her head down, allowing her bangs to hide her face, and she continued fidgeting with her fingers.
Aries looked at the girls again, each of them having an expression that each said the same thing. Then, one of the girls, the same black-haired and blue-eyed one from before said what all of them wanted to say.
"It's fine, we were just surprised. We realize how much you love your brother. You don't have to say sorry."
"Thanks…"
Roanna said as she lifted her head, one stopped fidgeting with her fingers.
Following this, they all went on to finish up their snacks that they had been eating, chatting in the process.
Unlike yesterday, however, Aries was completely quiet the whole way through. This was due to them talking about girl stuff, among other things, things Aries wasn't interested in at all, so he ended up tuning them out.
After a while, though, breaktime came to an end.
Ring Ring!~
Mrs. Handley rang the bell and announced the end of break. After giving the children some time to pack up, she began to teach the class once more.
This, too, eventually came to an end, and so began Lunch Time.