4 The Maid and the Roommate

A few minutes later, Barbara arrived. She was with someone. A girl wearing the same uniform as the other girls, but with a maid headband.

"Noelle! Are you okay now?" she said as she ran over to the girl. However she stopped when we heard a stomach growl. It was Paimon's.

"Oh… we forgot to have breakfast…" said Amber. Oh, right. Amber took a 10-15 minute bath and after that she got ready and then we left. I completely forgot about breakfast. Well, not that I forgot, more like there wasn't really any food at the dorm room to begin with.

"I could cook something for us." I suggested.

"Wait, really?! Then, how about honey roast beef?" said Amber with excitement. Ah, I've already mastered that dish thanks to Paimon always pushing me to make it. We headed to the cafeteria and asked for permission to use the kitchen. It was still 5 AM, so we still have time to eat since classes starts at 7:30 AM.

I cooked the honey roast beef fairly quickly. I made enough for everyone. It was pretty nice seeing their smiles. I greeted the girl who was named Noelle.

"Nice to meet you, my name's Aether." I said as I smiled at her.

"Likewise. My name's Noelle," she said with a courtesy. I decided to tell Barbara about my past later since I don't want her to feel left out. Of course, I was also going to tell it to Noelle, but not now. We ate together until I noticed something. Noelle was sitting beside me with her head on my shoulder. I could feel her body heat. I placed the back of my hand on her forehead just to be sure and I was correct. She had a high fever.

"Noelle, shouldn't you go to the clinic? You're burning." I said with a worried voice. Her eyes were clouded and she wasn't eating at all. I told the others to go back first since I was going to take Noelle to the clinic.

Noelle was a bit wobbly when we were walking towards the clinic so I had to carry her like how I carried Amber yesterday.

"A-am I heavy?" asked Noelle in a shy voice. She wasn't really all that heavy so I just shook my head.

"There were two people absent yesterday. Since I know you were one of them, I wonder who was the other one." I said to Noelle.

"It was probably Mona. She probably woke up late again," said Noelle.

I asked her why this Mona girl couldn't just live in the dorms and she said that Mona thinks that you need to pay for the dorms. Mona is living with a friend so her expenses are only some of the food and bus fare. She was also an adventurer.

"She could live with me. I mean, the dorms are free, so my expenses are only food for two people. It would just be the same as where she is living now, only this time she doesn't need to use the bus anymore."

Noelle looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.

"Are you sure?" she asked. I nodded as we headed into the clinic. I placed her on the bed and sat beside her to put the thermometer on her. Well, I was about to put it on her until she took it from me with a flushed face. Oh, right.

"Well, just tell me when you're done. I'll take a look around the clinic." I said as I stood up. The door opened and Barbara came in. I wonder what she's here for. However, that question was answered when she spoke, probably seeing my confused expression.

"I help out here at the clinic. I mean, you did see that I can heal right?" said Barbara. "You could leave Noelle to me," she added. I nodded and started to walk to the door. I gave Barbara a pat on the head before leaving. I heard her make a little "Eek!" sound.

I walked down the hallway towards my classroom. I looked out the window to look at how the outside looks from here. It looks peaceful. However, this could be hell for me for all I know. I am stuck in this world after all. I continued on walking until I suddenly heard a voice.

"Watch out!" a girl yelled. She bumped into me and we both fell down with a thump. I looked beside me to look at the girl.

"Are you okay?" I asked as I stood up and held out my hand to her. It may have looked like the incident earlier was nothing, but I got a slight bruise on my left hand. Luckily I couldn't see any bruises on her.

"Y-yes… Thank you," she said as she reached out to my hand.

She had a curvy build, pale green eyes, long black hair and light skin. She looked at my left hand that I was hiding behind me.

"Are you hurt?" she asked with a worried expression. I said it was just nothing as I took out a handkerchief and wrapped it around my hand.

"You were hurt…"

"It was just a graze you know?" I said as I finished tying it up.

"Anyways, I'm Aether. Nice to meet you." I said with the usual smile. This routine of mine when introducing myself is a bit tiring.

"Oh, I'm Astrologist Mona Megistus." she said with a confident voice. Mona? The one who was absent yesterday?

"Are you in Class 1-A as well?" I asked Mona.

"Yes, why?"

"I'm the new student. I was actually headed there myself. Wanna walk there together?"

"My predictions didn't show me a new student…" she said.

She shook her head and agreed. We walked together to the classroom. We talked while we were walking together. Like how being an adventurer is like. How much was the pay and so on.

When we arrived at the classroom, it was a completely different scene than yesterday. Everyone, except Barbara and Noelle, was here. Fischl wasn't standing on her desk and Oz wasn't emitting electricity like yesterday.

"Oh, hi Aether," said Fischl in a casual voice. She listened to my advice. She was talking normally now. I'm glad.

"Hi Fischl," I said with the usual tiring smile. I should seriously stop this. I waved at the others as well with my left hand. I don't know why, but I've been using my left hand a lot lately even though I'm right handed.

'Wait, I think i get it.' I thought as I went back to my seat.

'I miss her so much. I miss Lumine…'

I was starting to reminisce about my life with my sister in the past. I really need to do my best to find her. However, with such little information, I won't get anywhere. That's right, my goal is to find information. This school has people from all over Teyvat. I might run into someone who saw Lumine.

Once again classes went on normally. Surprisingly, my seatmate was Mona. Later on, we discussed the matter of Mona living with me. After an hour of talking, we got through her and she finally agreed. Seriously, she was too stubborn sometimes.

Well, with that said, I was now heading home with Mona. Even the way she walks looks smug. Isn't she just being overconfident at this point?

"I wonder if you'll be like any other man and just take advantage of the situation-" she was about to say something rude about me so I quickly denied.

"No." I said with a monotone voice.

"Oh, that was quick."

I may be a man, but I never push myself to a woman. I want it to be natural. Wait, why did the subject change to that?

"What do you want for dinner?" I asked, trying to drift away from the previous subject.

"Anything is fine as long as it's delicious." Mona said with a glare of expectation directed at me.

I sighed and looked straight ahead. This is going to be hectic the first few days...