52 Social Week (1)

I welcomed the fifth day of my second year in middle school with Luke shaking me to wake up as usual.

"What time is it?" I moaned.

"Six. We're already late," Luke frowned as he got out a brush to detangle my hair.

I properly sat up on my bed as I rubbed my eyes. After Luke finished making my hair look somewhat presentable, I changed into my uniform.

"What about breakfast?" I asked when we passed by the cafeteria.

Luke passed me a familiar chocolate bar that he pulled out from his pocket as he didn't stop pulling me to the classroom.

'What was with him today?' I thought.

"Daniel mentioned to come to class early today since he had an important announcement to make," Luke answered on our way to the classroom.

'Was Daniel trying to kill me? Why couldn't he choose to make an announcement at the end of the day instead,' I cursed my homeroom teacher inside my heart.

"The school will be giving you another break for the holidays that will start on Monday!" Daniel announced once we entered the room.

Now that was really rare! They didn't give any breaks in kindergarten and elementary school. Meaning holidays like Easter and Christmas were non-existent. The volunteer week during the summer didn't count as it was an excuse to redecorate the mansions of the elites of the first district (not that I ended up doing that anyways).

I started to recall the glimmers of my adventurous spirit when occasionally I snuck out to meet Ellen and Shelly in the middle of the night. We would eat cake together in reminiscence of the holiday joy from my past life when I was younger. However, it was a shame that we couldn't bring candles as we would be found out immediately.

I ran back to my dorm room to pack up my stuff as soon as the day ended to get ready to go back my home in the third district. It was a while since I met my parents (well I've only met them a total of under ten times in this life), but they still were my parents.

I got my marble out to rent a car to send me back home tomorrow. I briefly stopped when I saw Luke standing by the entrance of our dorm room studying why all my belongings were scattered all over my bed.

"Why are you standing there?" I asked when Luke didn't move from his spot.

"You're packing?" Luke asked in confusion while his eyes narrowed.

Of course I was packing! I excitedly packed my favourite clothes as I dreamed of looking at light novel and manga paradise inside the library in the third district.

"Yea, I'm planning on going back home soon to spend the holiday with my family." I nonchalantly responded.

"I'm afraid, you have misunderstood what the teacher said," Luke tried to explain.

What was there to misunderstand? The school was clearly giving me a break and I was going to take it! I glared at Luke in suspicion, which meant him to continue the rubbish that he was going to say.

Luke, who got the cue, continued, "The reason the school is giving us a 'break' is so we can attend the social week in the first district, which is mandatory for everyone to attend in this school."

I dropped my marble in despair and started to put my stuff back into my closet. I knew this given vacation was too good to be true! I flopped onto my bed with gloom, burying my face into my blanket.

"Wait! Why is this mandatory anyways?" I voiced out my thoughts out loud while facing the white ceiling.

"It's because the school wants us to interact with people from other schools to expand our network," Luke answered as he fixed his tie.

"Then we're going live inside the school during this holiday? Is this even a break!" I whined.

"Well, normally everyone gets ready for social week in their own house because the middle and high school section of the school is closed to support the event," Luke hesitantly answered.

"Well, that's great!" I replied while stretching my arms.

I immediately got up from the bed to start packing my stuff again.

"I can go to the third district to get ready and then come back here whenever it's necessary!" I enthusiastically picked up my marble from the floor.

I scrolled down the menu as I tried to find the cheapest self-driving rental car that would bring me to the third district.

"Travelling between districts is banned during social week," Luke delivered the bad news to me when he saw the projection coming from my marble.

"Why?" I cried out as I dropped my marble again from the unexpected news.

"It's for security protocols."

I hung my head in despair as I knew the school was going to close soon while I couldn't go home to the third district. This meant in the worst case possible, I was going to stay in Luke's mansion during social week. I shook my head to get rid of negative thoughts as I planned to stay in either the mansions of Shelly or Ellen.

I sweetly smiled as I started to pack my stuff again, "Then I'll ask Shelly or Ellen if I could stay in their houses during social week."

"You'll be staying in my mansion." Luke immediately dismissed what I said.

'Why was this going towards the worst case possible?' I thought.

"It would be rude to impose on other households for such a long period of time." Luke frowned as he continued.

"What about you?" I asked in suspicion.

"Well that's different! You're my partner, meaning you're going to become a part of my household later on." Luke sternly answered.

When I was in elementary school, I thought I was 'engaged' to Luke for schooling purposes.

"Luke keeps on nagging me to act accordingly as the future lady of the Roselia house!" I whined to Shelly and Ellen.

"It's not like we're going to get married to each other!" I complained.

"That's probably not possible," Ellen nonchalantly ordered another piece of strawberry shortcake to console me.

"Stop joking," I cringed from the thought of having to marry Luke.

Although Luke did look very handsome, his personality completely broke the delusion of the typical ikemen boy in shoujo mangas that I read in my past life.

"Wait. You really don't know Rika?" Ellen asked me looking surprised.

"What?"

"The partner system is there to determine who you're going to marry in the future and its integration into the school system is to try to get the partners closer to each other before marriage." Shelly explained.

"That's why it's a mix of difficult politics and the amount of mana a person possess," Ellen added.

No wonder Luke acted like I was already a part of the 'Roselia family'!

"Can't I just not marry Luke after I graduate?"

"There's never been such a case like this before," Shelly replied while contemplating.

When I stopped blanking out from my sudden daydream of my elementary school days, I found myself standing in front of the gates of Luke's mansion.

"How... Why?" I asked Luke as he carried my suitcase that I didn't finish packing.

"We have to hurry up and get ready for social week," Luke ignored my question.

I guessed I had to abandon my initial plans of staying at either the mansions of Shelly or Ellen. I shivered as I thought of what would become of me as I hated being inside this house. More like any place where Luke lived was scary from my memories.

The grand mansion towered upon me with its usual glorious exterior. The maids bowed down and the butler escorted me to the room I typically stayed in inside this house.

My room in Luke's mansion resembled a fancier version of the room in the dorm at school. It was equipped extravagantly with its own bedroom, bathroom, closet and study room. Just like my room in Luke's villa in the vacation area in the first district.

I fell onto the bed as I noticed the heavy red velvet curtains were perfectly restored. I recalled tearing them apart last time to make them into ropes to escape Luke's mansion.

I yawned as I was exhausted from all the classes that seemed longer than usual today. I got up from my bed to lazily walk towards my closet to change into my pyjamas provided by one of Luke's maid as Luke suddenly stormed into my room.

"What now?" I complained.

"We have to get ready soon for the social event that's next morning." Luke answered.

"Why next morning? Isn't it supposed to start on Monday?"

"Although it's called social week, the events start tomorrow." Luke sighed while explaining.

It was already 11PM, meaning all the stores were probably closed by now anyways. I stared back at Luke in confusion as he suddenly dragged me to another room. The room had tons of flowing fabric and a scanning machine in the shape of a tall cylinder as if it was meant to fit human beings.

"Why am I here?" I asked while knowing the answer.

"We're here to choose what you're going to wear starting from tomorrow."

"I already have clothes that we bought last time from the boutique." I showed the diamonds inside the inventory section of my marble.

"Those are work clothes. You need formal clothes for social events."

"What about you?"

"I already have my clothes prepared."

Of course, Luke would be prepare everything beforehand without letting me know. Without any other option, I followed Luke as he showed me the rolls of fabric inside the room to choose from to make seven dresses.

"What about my measurements?" I inquired while looking at countless rolls of fabric.

Luke turned to the scanning machine as I abandoned the countless rolls of silk and went into the machine.

The machine beeped as it instantly captured all my measurements. If everything was this simple, did I really have to be here when I didn't care what I wore to these stupid events!

"Can't you just pick for me? You have my measurements, the designs on your tablet, and the fabrics!" I complained.

I just wanted to go to sleep and my body was really tired from attending all those classes today.

"Are you sure?" Luke responded while looking a little surprised.