Deception

Eirin kept calling Coleen's name after she fell to the floor unconscious. She screamed for help, but the other students were already gone, and the librarian was also not present then. The teenage girl panicked, but she knew that she could not just leave Coleen lying on the ground with her nose still bleeding. 

The teenage girl struggled to pick up Coleen's heavy body and carried her on her back. Just pulling an unconscious person up from the floor already gave her a hard time. Eirin rushed out of the library, her legs were trembling as she endured the heaviness she could feel on her body. 

 "S-Someone, help us!" 

The blood coming out of Coleen's nose continued to drip on Eirin's white uniform. She tried her hardest to garner attention, but the students around only looked at them. Avoiding them as if they were the plague. This left Eirin in confusion. How could these people not do anything despite the scene they were seeing? Fear slowly crept into Eirin's legs and her heart. She was not strong enough to keep moving forward.

 "What's going on?" 

Eirin turned around and saw a familiar face. She almost lost strength in her knees due to relief, but Pierre immediately caught the two girls. Seeing Cali reminds Eirin of her abilities. The thought of Cali being able to heal Coleen encircled her mind as she explained the dire situation. 

Cali immediately checked Coleen's condition as they lay her on the cold and hard ground. Pierre was helping support Coleen's head and stop her nose from bleeding any further while Cali used her ability to keep Coleen from having further injuries. 

 "What happened?" Cali's calm and cold demeanor comforted Eirin. Her heart was restless, but she was starting to relax with the help of the two. 

Eirin explained what happened, but she didn't know what could have caused Coleen's nosebleed either. Despite the situation, the other students kept murmuring as if seeing someone unconscious on the floor did not bother them at all. Hearing all this made Eirin's head feel dizzy. She could not believe that no one was willing to help. NO ONE. 

The murmurs started getting louder after Cali suggested bringing Coleen to the infirmary. Pierre carried her like a princess, and it received hateful comments from the bystanders, leaving Eirin in disbelief. She followed Cali and Pierre, trying to ignore the words she was hearing from the bystanders. 

The hallway felt so long, and Eirin's feet struggled to keep moving forward as the jest and mockery filled her ears. When would they stop? How could they treat a person with such coldness and indifference? Those were the questions that kept repeating inside her head. As if a reminder of how strange this place was, she once again felt like an outsider. 

As they arrived in the infirmary, Cali immediately sought assistance from the school nurse. Mr. Arthur Blade appeared coming out of one of the beds with sleepy eyes. They could tell that he had just woken up due to his bed hair and the way he kept yawning. 

 "Miss, my sister lost consciousness and her nose wouldn't stop bleeding. I applied first aid healing in the meantime, but I don't think it would suffice," Cali ignored the male teacher and focused on what she needed to do. 

The school nurse checked Coleen's pulse. They could all see how pale Coleen's face had become and she had faint breathing. However, those thoughts were hindered inside Eirin's head as she froze. 

 'Did she just say, sister?' 

Eirin blinked a lot of times while staring at Calixta who was helping the school nurse. They all helped put Coleen on one of the beds, leaving Eirin staring at the shaken Calixta Winters. 

 "For now, I shall do some checkups. Leave the student here and—" 

 "No!" 

Everyone was startled by how Cali raised her voice. Her winter gray eyes glowed as she held Coleen's arm tightly, unwilling to let go. 

 "We must bring her to the hospital immediately. There's something deeply wrong with my sister. I can see it," the way Cali desperately said causing the nurse to look at Mr. Arthur. They all know something that Eirin does not. 

The nurse and Mr. Arthur decided to listen to Calixta, and they immediately left the academy, bringing Coleen to the hospital. Leaving Pierre and Eirin outside of the infirmary with nothing else to do. 

The anxiety was eating Eirin, she could not stop biting her fingernails as she stood frozen still outside the infirmary despite being told to go back to class. Why was Cali's reaction so dire? What was making her worry so much? 

Her lips trembled. It was all too familiar. Everything was normal that day too, but it quickly flipped like a coin. There was no way she could be followed there too. Those monsters were gone, and they could not get into the academy without being noticed. 

 'Or would they?' 

The fear of repeating what happened swallowed Eirin up. There was no way she could not notice the same pale face, faint breathing, and nosebleed. It was too close. 

 "Hey," 

Eirin flinched after Pierre touched her shoulder. 

 "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you like that," the young man immediately apologized and backed away. "You don't have to worry so much. Calixta won't leave her sister alone. She'll be fine." 

Pierre could see the anxiety and nervousness in Eirin's eyes, and it pains him to see how her fingernails had become. "For now, we must go back to our class and continue moving forward." 

The young man started walking, but he glanced back to Eirin as if saying that he was waiting for her to follow him. Eirin did not want to trouble him so she followed him to the hallway where all the curious students were starting to stare at them as if they were a kind of entertainment they could feast on. 

 "I-I didn't know they were sisters." 

Pierre smiled and looked at Eirin. "Why? Do they not resemble each other?" 

 "I-It's not that. It's just... anyway, does everybody know they're sisters?" 

The murmurs were getting louder, and if stares could kill, Eirin might have already been on her deathbed by now. 

 "I don't know. Calixta wasn't trying to hide it, but Coleen doesn't seem fond of their relationship." 

Eirin could not ignore the other students anymore, "I'm sorry." She thought that it was all her fault that they must go through such treatment. It's because she's new, and Pierre Blouin is the school's Prince and Idol. 

Pierre tilted his head. "What for? I should be the one apologizing. Shade might misunderstand if he hears the rumors about today, wouldn't he?" 

Eirin's forehead creased and halted. She cannot believe that even Pierre Blouin misunderstood her relationship with Shade Cromwell. The teenage girl was so tired of the rumors that she didn't even bother to explain anything. After they reached her room, she bid Pierre goodbye without anything else. 

As Eirin entered the room, she expected loud noises from her classmates like usual, but it was different. Most of her classmates were looking down on their notes, some were trying their best not to fall asleep. 

 "I'm feeling worse than earlier, pres." 

Eirin heard one of their classmates talk to Sapphire his eyes looking empty and his face as pale as snow. 

 "What's up with you guys?" 

Sapphire looked around and noticed that the whole class was acting odd. Most of them were lethargic and it was unusual. They were all energetic earlier, but they all suddenly changed as if something happened. Only Sapphire and Eirin were acting normally. 

The guy that approached Sapphire suddenly fell flat on the floor and lost consciousness, causing such shock to Eirin and Sapphire. 

 "Hey! What's happening to you?" 

Eirin tried to look at Link's chair, searching for him but he had his head down on the desk and wouldn't respond. She nudged Link's arm, causing him to wake and look up. 

 "Hey," Link said while grunting. His usually pink lips turned violet, and his eyes were half-open. "Where's Coco?" He asked and his voice sounded hoarse. 

 "Are you alright?" 

Link yawned. "I've been feeling lethargic these past few days. After the two of you left, we've been feeling weird. Even Kara who had too much energy earlier was sleepy," he said. "It feels like something's draining my mana." 

 'What's with that?' 

 "I've been here the whole time with you guys, but I don't feel weird at all," Sapphire said after hearing their conversation. The atmosphere in the class turned grim and gloomy in an instant. 

 "Me neither. I feel normal," Eirin said. 

Link yawned and looked at the two. "Must be great to be healthy." 

 "I'm sure it'll pass. Maybe it's because of the cold weather. Now, if you'll excuse me. I'll bring this guy to the infirmary." 

Sapphire pulled the unconscious guy out of the classroom as if it were the most normal thing to do. 

The thing they thought would pass by soon affected the whole classroom and even reached the ears of the Queen. It resulted in class being suspended to prevent students from contact with Eirin's classmates, afraid it might have been a plague haunting the academia. An unknown disease that has struck them. 

To stop this unknown disease from spreading, students were forced to stay in their dormitories and weren't allowed to go out until they got confirmation that they did not bear any sort of disease from the academy doctors. 

Due to the unexpected incident, Eirin hasn't seen Coleen for almost a week. She stayed all alone in her room, studying the lessons Coleen taught her while patiently waiting for her to come back. No news ever came for the past few days. 

Eirin spent her days in the room alone with no one to talk to. Even when her teacher, Mr. Arthur, brought her food, she couldn't talk to him and ask him what the situation was outside because he seemed busy. 

 "This is suffocating." 

Just waiting for the time to pass by with nothing else to do, it was indeed suffocating. As Eirin lay herself on her soft and comfy bed, she stared at the moving clouds design on her ceiling, making it look like she was staring at real clouds outside. 

All sorts of questions filled her head. What could be the reason? Why did her classmates suffer through all of that and not her? Why does she feel fine? Was it because her body does not bear any mana at all? 

Eirin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Only the ticking sound of the clock and her breathing filled her ears. How many days has it been? 

While lost in thought, Eirin heard a knock on the door and quickly got up from her bed. 

 "Eirin? I have come with the doctor to check your condition." 

It was Mr. Arthur's voice, and so Eirin let them inside. The doctor started having a conversation with her. She did not catch any of the sicknesses and her constitution reminds the doctor of some ligmas due to how healthy she is. That was the only time she could interact with other people, and after that, alone again. 

She doesn't even have her phone with her, and nothing else to do but stare at the ceiling. 

 "Let's just sleep." 

Tick tock. 

The clicking sound of the clock resonated through the whole room while Eirin tossed and turned on her bed. She kept her eyes closed, but she couldn't fall into deep slumber. She grunted as she started kicking the pillows near her legs due to frustration. Eirin then opened her eyes and stared at the wall clock that kept ticking, causing her more annoyance. 

Eirin took a deep breath. "Let's calm down. I won't be able to fall asleep if I keep being angry," she told herself as she stood and walked towards the window. 

Peeking outside, the moonlight shone at the oak tree in the middle of the training grounds, and it was still like a photo. There was no movement through the leaves and no wind. Eirin cupped her chin as she stared at the huge oak tree. She wondered why it was the only tree on the training grounds. 

However, her thoughts were cut off after seeing something strange. 

 "What is that?"