73 Midnight Maiden, Part Four

As Rin returned to her room, she wondered how this next mission would go. The main issue was that she hadn't paid much attention to her specific teammates over the course of her studies here, so although she heard them say what they could do at the cafeteria, Rin still wasn't sure how they'd all mix together when the mission inevitably came.

For now, though, she pushed those thoughts out of her mind as she arrived back at her room. And, before she even opened the door, she could hear two familiar voices coming from inside.

"... yes, I believe so," Xhez told Elisa, as Rin walked inside.

"Oh, hey roomie," Elisa greeted her as Xhez smiled brightly when she saw Rin. The raven-haired adventurer, however, raised a brow when she saw Elisa sitting on her bed, next to Xhez. The sprite still had her notebook and her pencil in her hands.

Rin kicked her shoes off then, stretched her arms, and walked over to her bed, where she joined the two of them, sitting down at Xhez's left side, and the sprite was practically sandwiched between both women.

"Did your meeting go well?" Xhez asked.

"Meh," Rin shrugged. "We'll probably be alright though."

"Oh, are you talking about the team mission?" Elisa asked.

"Yeah. Have you talked to your teammates?"

"Eh, I already know Dylan from the training we've all been doing. Haven't spoken too much with Carla though, so I'll probably try to get to know her just a little bit before we head out."

"Sounds good."

"Anyway," Elisa waved a hand, "Xhez, over here, told me she's been trying to learn how to write."

"O-Oh..."

[Crap, if Elisa wasn't suspicious before, that probably did it.]

Gulping, Rin tried to just go along with it.

"Y-Yeah, she's always had trouble."

At that, the sprite nodded with a wide smile as she looked back at Rin.

"There were several things I have been wanting to say but, could not find the right words for."

"And, well, me being the generous person that I am, I decided to help out with that~" Elisa said.

Rin raised a brow.

"Like what?" She asked Xhez.

"Like this!" Xhez replied, pushing her notebook in front of Rin.

The adventurer looked down at it and slowly read the crooked words Xhez had written down.

"I want to..." Rin said, before stopping when she encounter the next verb in that sentence. "Elisa," she said.

"Mhm?"

"... Try not to teach her stuff like that."

"Why not? She wanted to know," Elisa laughed. "She told me this was how she felt."

[Seriously?] Rin asked in her mind.

"Is there a problem?" Xhez asked innocently as Rin put the notebook back in her hands.

"No, no, just... I'll explain later."

"I dunno," Elisa shrugged, "it seems to me like Xhez is trying to experiment with new things. I just figured I'd show her the ropes."

When Rin heard that, she gave Elisa a look that must have been frightening to see because Elisa raised her hands up.

"Kidding, kidding," the blonde chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm not gonna corrupt your sister. Even I have boundaries."

Hearing that, Rin let out a deep breath. For some reason, the thought of Elisa trying to seduce Xhez somehow made Rin feel... weird.

[Though,] she thought, [with what happened between Xhez and June, chances are that Xhez might end up getting herself to that point all on her own.]

"Rin," Xhez said then, leaning forward. "Can you teach me how to write the letter now?"

"Huh? Oh, right, uh, sure."

Rin went and ripped out a sheet of paper from the notebook that they'd use to send the letter. Elisa went back to her own bed then, turning on her radio after asking Rin if she didn't mind. With the blank sheet in front of them, Rin began to give Xhez some instructions.

"So, first things first, you say 'hello', and her name, and then, underneath that, you just write whatever you want to tell her."

"Ohhh. I see!"

With those short guidelines to get her going, Rin sat by, looking down at the notebook as Xhez went to work. The more words Rin saw the sprite write out, the more she noticed something.

[That's my handwriting,] she realized. [Did she pick it up from me showing her how to write letters individually earlier? If she did, then, yeah, she can learn physical things super quick too.]

Rin grew more impressed by the day with this girl.

She watched as Xhez strung together a few adorable sentences, mostly just talking about how excited she was to keep singing with the woman, and that she wanted to see her again as soon as possible, but, the last thing she wrote made Rin stop.

["I also want to f..." Okay, no.]

"Uh, Xhez, you probably shouldn't say that," Rin told her.

"Hm?"

"That last part, I mean."

"Oh? Why?"

"Trust me on this one, okay?" Rin said, giving an awkward chuckle. "It's, um, a bit direct."

"... Well, alright," Xhez shrugged. "If you say so."

"Heh," Elisa giggled a little across the room, as she watched them. "Oh, by the way, Rin, there was something I wanted to ask you."

"Yeah?" The adventurer tilted her head.

"A friend is having her Rose Party soon. I was told I could bring two guests. Do you want to be one of them?"

At that proposition, Rin's brows shot up.

"Me?"

"Yeah," Elisa smiled warmly at her, laying on her side now. "I think it's kinda ironic that we're roommates but we've barely managed to spend much time together. Alone, I mean. So, how about it?"

A part of Rin was undeniably ecstatic. After all, that crush she had still hadn't faded yet, even despite the slight disillusion that had occurred shortly after the two of them met.

"What's a Rose Party?" Rin wanted to know first before she answered.

"Uh..." At that, a rare embarrassed look came over Elisa. "Let me explain something first. Virginity is kind of valuable among noblewomen. It's sort of viewed as this thing you give to the person you love. No one actually does, of course. I mean, pretty much every girl I know spread her legs for the first dude they could as soon as they could, but it's still this idea that people like. So, a Rose Party is this thing you do when you get engaged where you pretty much announce to everyone that the guy you're engaged with took your virginity," Elisa explained. "Again, the vast majority of the time it's bullshit, but it's a nice sentiment though."

"Oh, uh, okay. I think I get it."

One thought immediately came to Rin's mind, however.

[So, is she going to have one of those?]

Knowing Elisa herself was engaged, from that one conversation between her and her aunt that Rin had overheard, she wondered about this.

Pushing that aside, however, Rin said:

"What's it gonna be like?"

"Eh, just a bunch of hot, rich girls dancing and gossiping for a few hours. But, there are probably going to be enough drinks to turn things into an *actual* party later on though," Elisa said, with a wink.

"..." As soon as Rin heard that, her entire perception of the conversation shifted.

Suddenly, another part of her entered the conversation. One that wanted to learn as much as she could about this higher class of society, just to see if she could squeeze out a few varols from them.

"Yeah," Rin decided then. "I'll go. When is it?"

"Saturday," Elisa replied. "Probably going to cut just a little into our time preparing for the next mission, but, it's just one night though. Shouldn't be too bad."

Nodding, Xhez put her paper in front of Rin.

"Like this?"

"Yeah," Rin quickly replied as her eyes took the letter in. "Okay, let's send this thing."

---

On Wednesday morning, Rin and the other students were going about their classes, just before midday arrived. They went to the obstacle course, intending to do their usual working out, but they found something strange.

The teachers, with the exception of Carliah, were all there.

Cara was standing with her back pressed against the academy's wall, and one knee raised as she saw them approach. Maria and Harriton were both down here, standing next to Eli with their hands behind their backs and smiles on their faces as they watched them draw closer.

[Huh?] Rin asked in her mind. Maria hadn't told her about anything like this.

"Welcome," Maria said, bowing to them.

"What's going on?" Eve asked, flying up.

"Today, and Friday," Eli announced to them, "we're not gonna be working out. Instead, we're going to do some team fighting simulations."

"What does that mean?" The fairy asked.

"It means," Maria elaborated, "that each of the selected teams will be taking turns fighting us. You are to do so as a means to develop a sense of how each of you will be operating on your mission."

Cara then pushed herself off the wall and unsheathed her greatsword, stabbing it into the dirt as she stood in front of the students.

"So," Cara said. "Who's up first?"