14 2.5

Autumn break was a refreshing change of pace.

Ira spent the first few days holed up in his room, only leaving in order to eat or pick up a new book in the library. During this period, he checked in on his Host every other day to make sure she hadn't been in a fatal accident or something.

Because that would just be absolutely terrible. How would he ever be able to live with himself?

On the friday, the last day of autumn break that wasn't also the weekend, Ira left his room to go to the library as always. He was dressed in normal clothes because he couldn't be bothered to change and there were no classes he had to go to. He locked the door behind him as he left, ignored the growling of his stomach that said he was hungry and started walking with a bag full of books hanging on his shoulder. These were the books he would return.

He crossed over the school grounds, that despite the fact that it was fall, were still unnecessarily cheery. He grimaced when he walked past a fountain with a statue of a naked man peeing in it. He didn't understand why anyone would ever consider that beautiful.

It was a naked man peeing. Moreover, on more than one occasion, he had seen other students peeing in the fountain while he mentally searched for his Host.

And to think some people actually drank that water. Utter idiots, all of them.

The library was a large building, a full three floors high, and was filled with that nostalgic smell of old books. It was a shame that this world didn't have manga, and so Ira was forced to contend himself with these books. At least it was fun ridiculing them, although sometimes it could be very frustrating, to come across a book that made literally no sense at all.

Most of the people had left for the break so the library was almost empty to an eerie degree. It was completely quiet, and the chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and the candles on the wall could only do so much.

It was like Ira had stepped into his own room.

He stepped up the counter and greeted the librarian, engaging in the necessary smalltalk to maintain a simile of a friendship.

Once his bag was empty of all of the books he had been carting around, Ira waved goodbye to the kind librarian and made his way further into the library. He had kept to the first floor but now that he had made his way through all of the books on it (he could read very fast) he approached the stairway that lead to the next floor.

It was a grand staircase, made of stone.

Ira had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at the ridiculous level of extravagance that the whole school showcased like it was deliberately trying to shove the fact that it was goddamn rich into his face.

He didn't succeed.

He wandered off into the deep reaches of the second floor of the library and let his eyes take in everything. The high bookcases that reached high into the ceiling, the large wooden tables that were shoved in between the shelves and the couches that appeared here and there. There was a quiet now that he was sure spoke of bad things to come and Ira found himself looking forwards to it. He was the sort of person that embraced chaos.

Or, you know, pushed someone else into its unrelenting grasp.

Whichever worked best.

As he browsed through the available books, he heard the sound of people whispering. Curious, he walked deeper into the corner and glanced around it. He felt like he was in a spy movie.

He could look at them with no risk to himself in his mind, but where was the fun in that?

Around the corner, looking furious, was his magical theory teacher, Silas something. He was arguing with a man that Ira had never seen before in his life.

He sharpened his hearing and listened in closer.

The man he didn't know growled, "Don't think that things will always follow your tune! The Second Prince's support is strengthening every day. One day soon, he will sit on the throne and be your King!"

Silas gave a derisive laugh. "King? That brat? I'd be a miracle if he lasted a year on the throne, ignorant as he is. Do you know what his problem is? He cares too much. When he falls in love, he gives up everything for them. Including the throne. If he becomes king, he won't be ruling the country. His Queen will."

"And you think you can do a better job?"

To that, Silas offered no response.

The man gave a furious roar and punched a table, splitting it in half. He left Silas behind as he stalked off, utterly enraged. Silas stared after him with an amused smirk.

Silas tilted his head in Ira's direction. "So, Bran. How long are you going to stand there?"

Ah. He forgot to hide his presence. He wasn't used to spying on people in a human body. It was an understandable mistake.

Ira stepped out from his hiding place and faced his teacher. There was no worry that the man would kill him, he would just jump into another body if he did. Nor was there any worry that the man would try to silence him. Ira sat his collection of books that he had gathered in his bag on the table that wasn't destroyed and stared at his teacher.

He had no idea what he was supposed to say.

Apologize for eavesdropping? But he didn't feel sorry at all.

After staring at him for a long moment, Silas sighed and his eyes softened. "What am I supposed to do with you?"

Ira narrowed his eyes and wondered what that meant. Was he going to kill him? Hopefully it would be fast, Ira wasn't a fan of pain.

"I'm not going to kill you, Bran." the man seemed to read his thoughts as he continued with, "You need to be more careful. You can't go around putting yourself in danger like this. If it was anybody else, you would be dead already."

Ira rose an eyebrow. "I wasn't in any danger."

At that, Silas looked stunned. Ira didn't understand why, obviously he wasn't in danger. Death wasn't a problem for a being like him. At most, it was an inconvenience. And if it was too painful, he could always turn off his ability to feel pain.

Really, there was no reason to look so surprised.

Silas smiled and said. "I am glad that you trust me, but you really should take better care of yourself."

When had Ira ever mentioned trust?

Ira rolled his eyes. "It's none of your business."

Silas crossed the distance between them and put his hand on Ira's shoulder. "Don't mention what you heard to anyone, please?"

"Of course not." Why would Ira tell anyone? There was no entertainment in that.

The man's hand squeezed Ira's shoulder tighter and Silas smirked at Ira's confused face. "Good." he said and let go. To Ira's continued confusion, his hand lingered a little by Ira's hair.

Ira shrugged and removed himself from a weird situation by grabbing his bag and walking away. Why were humans always so damn weird?

He heard a laugh behind him as he left, but he didn't bother to look. He didn't wish to encourage any strange behavior.

Later that day, he was sitting on a bench outside, as he had gotten waylaid by his Host the moment he left the library. And he was just beginning to hope she had forgotten he even existed. Instead, he was sitting right next to her.

Talk about a crushing disappointment.

"Well?" he snapped at her impatiently.

Eliza swallowed nervously and stared down at her hands. "The prince isn't in love with me. According to the plot, he should already love me, right? So why doesn't he? I don't understand."

Ira stared at her, stunned. "Have you ever had a conversation with him where neither of you insulted the other?"

She didn't respond, just looked at her lap.

"Exactly how do you think love works?" asked Ira, horrified.

"It just happens."

Ira's eyes widened to an almost painful degree. It just happens was the stupidest thing he had ever heard. He stared at her, trying to think of some way to respond, but truly, how could you answer that? he shook his head and let his eyes drift to the bright blue sky. Sighing, he wondered if this was what work meant now.

"Just tell me what you want." Ira told his Host without sympathy.

She nodded and looked up at him. "Tell me how to make the Second Prince fall in love with me."

How was supposed to answer that?

Ira glanced around, uncomfortable. "There are a ton of love stories in the library. Read them and do research. The answer is there."

On what not to do.

She frowned. "But I can't enter the library."

Ira smirked. "You should have thought of that before you pissed of Mrs March."

"Who?"

"The librarian. Just... I can't magically make someone fall in love with you. You'll have to figure it out on your own." Ira said tiredly and stood up to leave.

She stood up as well. "But you're my system. Aren't you suppose to help me?"

"Helping you and doing all your work for you are two different things."

He left her behind, troubled and deep in thought, in order to finally make his way back to his room. Unfortunately, as he was walking, his stomach grumbled, reminding him once again, that he hadn't eaten yet. It was such a pain, having to keep up with regular — three times a day — feedings.

He carted his new books with him to the cafeteria.

The food at this school was of surprisingly high quality, something he always made sure to tell the chefs. He could see the way they beamed at when he said his rightfully earned praise, which made him feel curiously proud of himself. He was totally mastering this whole being social thing.

He grabbed a tray and filled it with food. Along the way, he picked up something to drink and then he made his way between the many tables that littered the huge space.

The entire school was unrepentantly fancy.

Ira sat himself down at his table and started eating without any consideration for the person already sitting there. He found that he was starving, he had apparently denied this body the food it needed for too long, and so he had no idea of who he had disturbed. Still, he ate the food with elegance and class, because he wasn't a barbarian.

Once he was finished, he pushed the tray away from him and grabbed a book from his bag. He opened it and started reading from the very start. Hopefully, it wouldn't make him want to burn it.

For several minutes, he was completely entranced in it.

Then a very rude person laughed and brought him out from his exile.

Ira narrowed his and was on the edge of cursing when he looked up to see who the rude person was. But the words got caught in his throat when he met the blue eyes of his magical theory teacher, the leech that he was.

He snapped out, "What?"

Silas just laughed more. "You know, you're very beautiful when you get caught up in reading."

"And you're delusional, so what?"

The man gathered his things and stood up. Smiling, he looked down at Ira. "One day, Bran, you're going to marry me."

Ira furrowed his brow in confusion as the man left, waving at the chefs. What was that supposed to mean? Ira wasn't going to ever marry anyone, because he was a system and one scheming man wasn't going to change it. He reminded him of that demon protagonist from his last mission that didn't know how to let things go.

Hmm, now that he thought about it, didn't that man say something about being together forever? Or was he remembering things wrong?

Well, whatever.

It was none of his business.