59 A Little Thing Called "Narcissism"

Lydis shut the door behind her as Bianca continued to fluff Valfafer.

Breathing out loudly, she noticed a white uniform next to her. Looking down at the small child Lydis couldn't recall her name. Although based on the uniform it was a member of the Horoscopes, she didn't strike Lydis as very important. Big brown eyes were cupped by soft amber hair, the only striking feature being the slight golden hue in their eyes.

"U-umm… I-is miss, Breavux inside…?"

The small child fumbled with the edges of their cloak. Unlike Lydis's jacket, the child wore a short cloak that covered the upper half of her body. White coat and trousers sticking out from it.

Lydis stared at the child and shrugged.

"I don't really know a 'Miss Breavux'."

"Ah…" The child caught her words and stopped trying to talk to Lydis. "T-then could you tell her t-that Minerva was looking for her?"

Lydis scoffed at the boldness of the child in front of her.

"Me? A messenger for someone I don't know, about someone I don't know or care about? Sorry but I'm not looking to become like you."

"A-and what does t-that mean!?" The child looked flustered. Lydis shrugged her shoulders again.

"Exactly what I said. If you don't even understand that then how did you even become one of the Horoscopes?"

Flinching back, the child's eyes looked like they were about to burst into tears but, miraculously, the tears stayed in, lining the bottom of their eyes with thick lines of water.

"Y-you're being mean!"

Lydis was amused by how childish the girl was. She had been surrounded by too many abnormal people that her depiction of what 'normal' was, became distorted.

"Go on now. Wouldn't want your tears staining the area near my room. It would make me feel disgusting."

"Meanie!"

Shouting her last word, the girl turned around and ran away from Lydis. Surprisingly, the child stopped four doors down from Lydis before entering the room, not even checking to see if she was being watched or followed.

Lydis pulled out her class schedule and found that the first day of school was only for students to get familiar with the academy, their classes and to their new life. Basically, a whole day for pointless wandering around.

"U-umm, miss Lydis?"

Lydis shifted her eyes from the pamphlet to a somewhat familiar face. Although she did find it troublesome that so many people were bothering her, Lydis put on her social face and met the girl's eyes.

"Hello, do I know you? You look, familiar…" Upon hearing this the girl blushed and hid her face behind her hair.

"I-it's Theda…" Lydis's face twitched a bit in surprise as she began to see the similarities yet, the differences were too big!

After Theda had cleaned herself and dressed in the normal grey colors of the school uniform, she almost looked unrecognizable. Her messy hair had been trimmed and tied into two small braids that stuck out from her head. Now that there wasn't any dirt on her face, Theda's tanned skin revealed spots of reddish freckles. Her grubby hands had been softened by lotion and she smelled heavily of peaches.

"Theda? Is that really you? It looks like you've become someone else!"

Blushing once again, Theda hid her face further into her hair, nodding her head slightly.

"Crill wanted to meet you again…" Theda's voice trailed off as she averted her eyes from Lydis's.

"What does he want from me already? I've barely gotten here and now he wants to talk again?"

Theda shirked away from Lydis slightly, her closely fitting clothes revealing how small and malnourished she was. Without the baggy rags as a cloak, Theda turned out to be mostly skin and bones.

"He said it couldn't wait until tomorrow, and that 'Lydis would miss a really fun and entertaining event either way'. I don't know what he's talking about but Crill must have his reasons. I'm sure."

Lydis pondered Theda's message for a moment when the door to her room began to open.

In a happy voice, Bianca called out to Lydis.

"Ly~dis! Are you still out here?"

Without thinking, Lydis picked up Theda's hand and sprinted around the corner. Her heart almost bursting from her chest as Bianca's head popped into the hallway.

"Ly~dis? Hmm, guess she already left. Oh well, I just wanted to know this creature's name but I'll have to ask another time!" Bianca's happy voice quickly disappeared back into the room as Bianca resumed her tor-… petting, of Valfafer.

Pressed up against Lydis, Theda used all her willpower to stop herself from taking in big whiffs of Lydis's smell. One that was both sweet and faint, it reminded her of the fields ripe with harvests.

Lydis noticed the rapid heartbeats of Theda and quickly let go when she was sure Bianca had retreated back into the room.

"My apologies for startling you like that."

Theda's mind was too full to even register Lydis's words. All she could muster was a nod.

"Where is Crill?"

This time Theda snapped back to reality and pointed to the boys hallway across from theirs.

"He's on the first floor, last room to the right."

"Thank you. Are you coming?" Lydis reached out her hand but Theda quickly covered her face with her hair again, her braids caught up in the abrupt action.

"I-I need to memorize my classes for tomorrow. I would really, really love to go with you but I can't…"

"It's alright, I understand. And, don't add 'miss' when you call my name. It makes me sound too important." Lydis reached one hand out and rubbed Theda on the head. Her fingers careful to not snag or pull out hairs from the braids on Theda's head.

*Mmhmm!*

Theda enjoyed a few more moments of bliss before pulling her head away.

"I have to go now mi-, uh, Lydis…"

Smiling softly, Lydis waved at Theda as she ran in the opposite direction from the boy's hall. All at once her expression changed. Lydis was no longer smiling but staring coldly at the boy's hall. Feeling a bit of dread and anticipation, Lydis trudged to Crill's room.

Eyes wide, the stares of multiple children followed Lydis as she made her way through the lounge towards the boy's hall. A few murmurs rose as children recognized her black uniform to be part of the Zodiacs.

Arriving at the last room to the right on the first floor, Lydis had passed multiple slum kids dressed in the academy's uniform, each keeping an eye on her while doing something else.

Knocking on the door twice Lydis heard someone moving up against the door on the other side. After a short pause the door slid open and a boy dressed in white almost fell on Lydis. Dodging the falling boy, Lydis sidestepped the doorway and saw Crill's smirking face in the room.

Obviously flustered, the falling boy caught himself on the doorway.

"Y-You! How dare you do that to me? Don't you know who I am?!"

Crill noticed Lydis out of the corner of his eye and grinned. The boy in whit hadn't noticed Lydis yet so he continued to rant.

"What's with that look?! Are you mocking me? Me?!" The boy in white stood up and Lydis saw that the boy in white was a few inches taller than Crill.

"Oh, I would never~ it's just that a fly was on you face so I wanted to help you out~…" Crill's innocent tone just annoyed the boy even more.

"Fly? What fly! Look, you've caused harm to this beautiful face of mine!"

Lydis had to refocus her attention to the other boy to make sure she hadn't misheard. Crill seemed just as surprised but he handled it smoothly.

"So what if you have an above average face? It doe-?"

"No, you just wouldn't understand. For someone as beautiful as me, to even be talking to you is a blessing! But, I guess it's understandable that those in the dark would want to harm the light, me being the light itself," *sigh* "It's not easy being this handsome…" The boy in white struck a pose and pretended to brush dirt off from his shoulder.

"Uhh… I think you're the one misunderstanding this. I-" The boy in white cut off Crill once again.

"No no, shhh.. You're at a loss for words aren't you? Really, the struggles of this beautiful face… Fine, I shall allow you say your apologies. Hurry up."

This time, Crill really was at a loss for words. Lydis stifled a laugh as she saw the numerous theories, plans, and actions race inside of Crill's head. She found joy in seeing his brain slow down as the boy in white revealed his clothes from under his overcoat.

The boy slid his white overcoat down his arms, his bare shoulders popped out against the sleeveless crop top. The crop top had buttons going down one side with a longer neck sleeve that reached the middle of the boy's neck. Covering that, there was a long muffler that had both ends on the front. The crop top showed his stomach. His white trousers were covered by knee high boots that had a few inches of heel to them. Behind the boy's sky-blue shoulder length hair was a single long braid that reached his waist. At the end of the braid was a small bell that jingled whenever he moved.

Crill's mind went blank before finally reaching some form of conclusion.

"You're a girl?"

The boy in white seemed baffled.

"In what way do I look like a girl? Do you not see my toned body? This chiseled chin? How about my perfect face?"

Crill looked skeptical but the boy in white pulled out his student ID and sure enough, it listed him as a male.

"Tuen is the name, you better not forget it." Flashing a pose, Tuen winked and seemed to forget his previous conflict with Crill.

At this moment Lydis couldn't hold in herself back anymore.

Bursting into laughter, Lydis shocked both Crill and Tuen. The first to respond was Tuen.

"W-who are you?"

Managing to regain her composure a bit, Lydis replied in between breaths.

"Lydis Fawn."