35 Saturday Morning

Nova was walking on his way to the cafeteria on this bright Saturday morning.

「Man.. I really don't get any rest, do I?」[Nova]

「Of course not. But if you train even while you sleep and train to eat more, you stand to become stronger than Sarena in half a year.」[Reischneid]

「How much do I have to eat before I can reach her?」[Nova]

「Hmm… triple the amount of food from the Frey's dinner!」[Reischneid]

「Oh, dear lord.」[Nova]

「Yeah! Actually, you'll be feeling stuffed all day on from now! No more starving!」[Reischneid]

「...Fine. I'll probably just order more food next time I'm starving though. I can't believe Mage's Meals completely slipped my mind!」[Nova]

「Well, whatever. What's the plan for today?」[Reischneid]

「Maybe go on a date with Freyana?」[Nova]

「Oh? Why not? That sounds fun. Maybe I'll sleep for a bit then. Have fun.」[Reischneid]

「Alright. Have a good rest.」[Nova]

「Yeah. Good night.」[Reischneid]

「...It's the middle of the morning.」[Nova]

-----

Nova arrived at the cafeteria, which was much more empty than on the other days.

『Oh! Nova! Good morning!』[???]

Nova turned to his left to find Thomas and the rest of his class (except Anastasia) waving at him.

『Woah. What are you all doing here?』[Nova]

『Well, we wanted to get to know each other better, so we're planning on having a meal together. We were gonna invite you, but we forgot to add your ID.』[Jenny]

『Oh, alright.』[Nova]

He quickly pulled out his ID and got their contact information.

『Alright! Now that you're here, do you want to join us?!』[Marn]

『Yeah, sure. Should I call Anastasia?』[Nova]

『..You have her contact information?』[Katherin]

『Why not?』[Nova]

『Well, if you think you can.. 』[Katherin]

Nova sent her a message, and she shortly appeared afterward.

『Good morning.���[Anastasia]

Katherin and Marn sat there with a shocked face.

『..?!』[Marn]

『...She actually showed up?!』[Katherin]

『...I was invited.』[Anastasia]

『Then.. Let's go get some food?』[Nova]

Anastasia faintly nodded.

『..Yes.』[Anastasia]

They walked over to the line, then Anastasia ordered her food first.

Unexpectedly, she ordered a large pile of food.

「Oh, right. She DID have a large pool of mana, didn't she.」[Nova]

『I can't decide, so give me a bit to order. You should go back to the table and talk to them!』[Nova]

『..Okay. Thank you.』[Anastasia]

She walked back to the table and sat herself down next to them.

Once Nova found the coast to be clear, he quietly whispered over through the window.

『Freyana! Did you want to go on a date later?』[Nova]

『...』[Freyana]

A tray of food came out with a specially made eggs benedict with a heart drawn in hollandaise sauce.

『...Okay! Shall I meet you at the statue?』[Nova]

A small muffin floated onto Nova's tray.

「..Where does she get all of these foods?」[Nova]

『..Alright! I'll see you there!』[Nova]

Nova came back to sit at the table, to find an uncomfortable silence hung over all of them.

『..What's wrong?』[Nova]

『Well.. You know! Anastasia was called the "Immortal Cold Lily" since middle school! It's hard to imagine her talking to others.』[Marn]

『Hey! That's rude. She's a pretty sociable person.』[Nova]

『...No, I don't have much experience with friends.』[Anastasia]

Everyone was taken aback by Anastasia's talking.

『...』

『..Still.. I want to be friends with all of you.』[Anastasia]

She looked at them and looked a bit disheartened.

『Is that.. Not okay?』[Anastasia]

『... I can't say no. Anastasia is too cute!』[Jenny]

Marn's cheeks were dyed bright pink.

『...You know, maybe the rumors were wrong.』[Marn]

Katherin pinched Marn's thigh.

『Ouch! What was that for, Katherin?!』[Marn]

『I felt like your thoughts were impure.』[Katherin]

『...』[Marn]

The entire table stared at Marn.

『...Dude, really?』[Thomas]

『What? You too, Thomas?!』[Marn]

Marn looked at Thomas, to find that he was looking straight at Nova's tray.

『What's up with all this food, Nova? It looks so… good.』[Thomas]

『Huh?! Hmm… I'm in a relationship with the spirit of the kitchen?』[Nova]

Thomas immediately broke into laughter, along with most of the table.

『Pfft. That's a great joke! Hahaha!』[Thomas]

『Hahaha...』[Nova]

He began to dig into the eggs benedict before they noticed the yellow heart.

『Woah! Is that an eggs benedict?! Where did you get that?』[Marn]

『Then, is it really true that you beat the first day's challenge?!』[Jade]

Nova promptly swallowed the bite that he was eating before answering.

『Huh? Yeah. I'm the one who did that.』[Nova]

『That's amazing! Nobody knows the last time someone managed to..』[Jade]

Nova continued eating at a rate that made her stop speaking.

『Wow.. He.. really can eat.』[Jade]

Before long, she realized Anastasia was doing the exact same thing.

『WOW! Do all the strong mages need to eat like that?』[Jade]

Nova swallowed what he was currently eating before answering.

『Yup! I've been practicing that constant circulation thing that Reagan was telling me to do.』[Nova]

『Oh! Can you do it yet?』[Marn]

『Yeah. I'm doing it right now! Sleeping is kind of impossible though.』[Nova]

『Well, yeah. It sounds impossible to do it while sleeping.』[Katherin]

『Oh, not that. I mean when you go to sleep, your body becomes semi-conscious. You end up just in a lucid dream. Controlling your mana at a smooth rate is the secret. 』[Nova]

『Then.. Have you slept while circulating mana already?』[Jenny]

『Yeah. I kept waking up though. I managed to finish that impossible assignment..』[Nova]

『Man! Please teach me! I need to maintain circulation for an hour!』[Marn]

『Me too! Please!』[Jenny]

『..Aren't we missing someone, by the way?』[Nova]

Now that Nova realized it, Sophia wasn't present in the lunchroom.

『Oh.. Her. I actually just forgot about her.』[Jenny]

『...Man. That's a bit harsh, isn't it?』[Nova]

『...Yes. I think so too.』[Anastasia]

『....』

They finished up breakfast and all went separate ways to spend their weekends differently.

------

Nova was walking back to his room when he heard someone call his name.

『Nova!』[???]

He saw Thean walking towards him.

『..What do you want now?』[Nova]

『I want to say.. That I haven't lost yet!』[Thean]

『Mhmm.. And what does this have to do with me?』[Nova]

『I.. Want a rematch, once we're stronger!』[Thean]

『And, if I decline?』[Nova]

His face grew red.

『...』[Thean]

He couldn't think of any reason why Nova couldn't decline, so he began to storm off in the opposite direction.

『...Always a pain.』[Nova]

Nova kept walking back to his room.

-----

As Nova was about to enter his room, a door swung open on his left side.

『Yo! Nova! Let's hang out!』[Leo]

『...Yeah. Sure! I don't mind.』[Nova]

They walked to each other until they were right in front of Rai's room.

『So, who's in charge of it this time?』[Leo]

『I'll handle it.』[Nova]

He flexed his hand and closed it, before widening his hand again.

『Area.』[Nova]

A moment later, a large thump was heard from Rai's room.

『...NOVAAAAA!』[Rai]

Moments later, Rai slammed the door open and hit Leo in the nose.

『What the hell was that for?!』[Rai]

『You want to hang out?』[Nova]

He took a deep breath, then calmed down a bit.

『...Yeah. Sure.』[Rai]

A deep voice came from down the hallway.

『Don't forget about me, guys!』

Standing there was Andrew, who was walking towards the group.

『Alright! How about Jack?』[Rai]

『..I actually saw him on the way here. He said today was a "mental health day", and said he was going to spend it alone.』[Andrew]

『...Must be a rough week for him.』[Nova]

『...Yeah.』[Rai]

『Then! Let's go-WOAH.』[Andrew]

『Huh?! What?』[Rai]

『I think.. You killed Leo.』[Andrew]

Rai pulled the door back, only to find Leo on the floor with a bloody nose.

『Nova! Quick! Heal him!』[Rai]

『Huh?! Oh! Okay!』[Nova]

They got him healed up before heading into town...