Under the Starry Sky

Eirin was out of breath as she arrived in the dormitory's hallway, on the third floor, towards her room. It was surprising that those people didn't chase after her till the dormitories. It would have been too bothersome if they did. 

  'I don't know if I'll be able to stop myself from getting mad at them if they follow me here,' the teenage girl thought as she slammed her body on her bed the moment she arrived inside the room. 

It appeared that her roommate, Coleen, hadn't arrived in their room. "Where did she go, though?" Eirin stared at the ceiling while wondering. "Does she hate being with me that much?" Negative thoughts once again filled Eirin's head. These things didn't matter to her before because there was just one person she wanted to please, but now, it's coming back to eat her. 

 "This is so hard." 

Eirin closed her eyes for a moment, but the exhaustion caused her to fall asleep without realizing it. She learned too much information today, and she couldn't even follow the lessons about the world of Proprius. 

Everything was draining. The new surroundings, the indifference from some teachers, the interest of those random students towards her, and the hostility of her roommate. Eirin could not find any sort of solace in this new place. All of it was slowly suffocating her, and she had no idea how to deal with it. 

 "Ah!" Eirin screamed, causing her roommate Coleen, who was already doing her skincare routine and preparing to sleep startled. "I'm sorry," she apologized. She had just realized that she had fallen asleep without working on the homework one of their teachers told them to do. 

 'Was I too tired? I skipped dinner again!' 

Eirin groaned after looking at the time. It was already nearing 9 pm. She rushed to her table, putting every notebook she had on top of it. 

 "What are you doing?" 

 "Oh, I'm sorry but can I keep my lights on for a little while? I... forgot to do my homework." 

In her 16 years of existence, it was the first time Eirin Luxfield forgot to do her homework. 

Coleen did not bother to say anything and chose to mind her own business while Eirin sat on her chair and stared at her notes. 'I don't remember any of these,' she thought as she kept sighing. 

 "Why do you keep acting like a whimpering dog?" 

Eirin's eyes widened when she turned around and faced Coleen. 'Why does she sound like Shade Cromwell's girl version?' the teenage girl thought. "I just forgot about the lesson." Her amber eyes shivered in embarrassment as she had a sheepish smile on her face. 

 'I might still be able to eat dinner if I finish this quickly.'

 "Here." 

Eirin blinked lots of times as she stared at the notebook Coleen placed on her table. She kept shifting her gaze from the notebook to Coleen and back to the notebook. 

 "Use it." 

Coleen's ears were red as tomatoes, but her face bore no emotions. 

 "Thank you. I'll use it well." 

Coleen did not say anything and went back to her bed. It was an unexpected act of kindness from her roommate, so Eirin could not control her smile. 

 "Good night," Eirin said before turning back to her table. 

 "Good night." 

Those words made Eirin all giddy. Despite the wariness and hostility Coleen showed, she could not stop herself from being a kind person which makes Eirin feel bliss. Time flew faster and the only sound that filled Eirin's ears was the ticking of the clock. It didn't take long till she finished her homework about the history of Næra with the help of Coleen's notes. 

 'It's Ms. Hockenbury's class. I can't fail.' 

Eirin looked at the wall clock. It was already nearing 11 pm. She got up from her seat and started stretching her arms. Seeing how Coleen was already fast asleep, Eirin decided to tiptoe her way out of the room. The dark hallway lit by the moonlight greeted her. Her stomach grumbled, and due to distraction, she almost bumped into one of those bots roaming the dormitories. 

 "This place is unnecessarily huge," Eirin muttered. She could hear the subtle sounds of her footsteps despite trying her best not to create any sounds. "It's a weird custom to allow students to eat in the cafeteria till late at night. What if they get into trouble?" 

Eirin saw some students walking in the hallway like her, enjoying the midnight breeze. There were also remaining students in the cafeteria, eating while studying their books. 

 'They look like seniors. So even seniors in this academia get swamped with studying.' 

She sat on one of the seats after getting her food. The cafeteria was filled with nothing but the sound of the utensils grazing the plates as the few students ate their fill. 

 'Feels kind of... lonely.' 

The empty seats around her caused her to remember the years of spending time with her grandmother and her two best friends. Being alone in an unfamiliar place makes it unreal for the teenage girl. 

On the way back to the dormitory, Eirin felt the silence enveloping her. "It wouldn't hurt to take a little walk," she told herself. She took a midnight stroll towards the training grounds where the huge old oak tree stood in the middle. Her eyes roamed the whole training ground. There was nothing there but the huge space. The fighting scene of her and Shade Cromwell flashed into her mind causing her to grimace. 

 'What an embarrassment.' 

She gazed up to the sky. The starry dark sky made her amber eyes glow and her heart thumped with the sense of peace and tranquillity that she could not attain for the past few days. 

A melodic sound coming from somewhere caused Eirin to look around. No other people could be seen in the vicinity. When Eirin closed her eyes to listen closely, she could feel the gentle breeze caressing her face, and making it seem like it was the one bringing the music into Eirin's ears. 

 'It feels like it's been so long,' Eirin thought while staring at her feet before removing her slippers. 'Just for a little.' 

Eirin's body slowly moved along with the music, gracefully and beautifully. The white swan that was almost forgotten danced alone below the starry night sky. Like a swan who hadn't found its home, she danced and danced. She closed her eyes and felt the rhythm of her body. It was evident. The hard work and passion she had for ballet. 

Eirin stopped and opened her eyes upon hearing footsteps getting nearer. A frown immediately formed on her face. 

 "Tsk." 

Eirin rolled her eyes and thought, 'I should be the one clicking my tongue,' after seeing Shade Cromwell arrive at the training ground. She silently backed away and picked up her slippers. 

 "You looked like a struggling dog." 

Eirin raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?" She could not believe what she just heard. It was the first time someone insulted her dance like that. "Why are you picking a fight with me?" 

 "I said what I saw." 

 'This rude jackass!' Eirin forced a smile. "Well, no thanks for your unwanted opinion." She turned around and started walking away, mumbling about how annoying Shade Cromwell was. 

 "It's not an opinion if it's true." 

 "What the hell is your problem?" 

The teenage girl could not suppress her anger as she turned around and faced Shade once again. She could accept any sort of insult about her, but not when it comes to her dancing. Eirin took pride in it, and she couldn't just let such remarks go. 

 "You're weak," Shade said with his black deep eyes staring right at Eirin. There were no emotions, and he had no facial expressions. "You don't belong here," he added with that condescending tone. 

 "Did I want to come here? Didn't you guys force me to go here?" 

Silence followed that as Shade walked towards the oak tree, touching its trunk with his hand still covered with black gloves. 

 'Why does he keep wearing those?' 

 "You cannot survive in this place. Just like how I could easily kill you right now, others could do it too." Shade turned to Eirin, and a smirk formed on his face. "No one will be able to help you. 

Eirin backed away. "It's unfair! If you want to fight fair and square, you shouldn't use your powers! I haven't even discovered mine yet," she said. "Also, just to inform you, I'm quite good with martial arts." 

 "Is that so? Let's see if you could still say that after sparring with me." 

Eirin gulped and started stretching too. "You shouldn't do a surprise attack on me like you did the other day," she said, but Shade did not respond. 

 "Are you done chitchatting?" 

Eirin frowned and threw her slippers, but before she could say a word, Shade charged right at her, making Eirin flinch, but she quickly dodged before she got punched in the face. If it was the usual Eirin, she would have walked away from all these troubles, but something about Shade Cromwell just rubs her off the wrong way. 

Despite the ability to dodge, Shade quickly punched Eirin in the gut causing her to fall on her knees. "If you call yourself good at martial arts, you should have seen that petty trick." 

 "Y-You asshole." 

Shade laughed after hearing Eirin cuss. He raised his fist and tried to land a punch on Eirin's face, but the teenage girl dodged and did an axe kick landing on Shade's shoulder causing him to fall on his knees this time. Shade did not expect such force from Eirin. 

 "You little shit." 

Shade swept Eirin's feet, but Eirin saw it coming as she did a backflip away from Shade. He rushed and grabbed Eirin's arm with his fist landing on Eirin's cheek. The teenage girl didn't let the chance get away despite the pain she was feeling. She punched Shade right through his nose, making it bleed. 

Shade's eyes widened as he held onto his nose. Eirin saw this as another chance, so she quickly threw a punch which this time landed on Shade's cheek, making his lower lip bleed. 

 "Shit." 

The angered guy pulled the teenage girl's legs, making her fall flat on her back to the ground and he ceased any of her movements by sitting on top of her. 

 "You can never beat me." Shade wiped the blood coming out of his nose while looking down at Eirin. "You look better when you're under me." 

 "Get off!" Eirin struggled, but Shade pinned both of her arms on the ground. 

 "Wow." Both flinched upon hearing someone else's voice. "What a sight."