31 Chapter 28: A Few Weeks

It has been a few weeks since Ramen and I started magic school, 5.5 months since we arrived. In this time; the butler has defeated the Dark & Light Kings and then destroyed their kingdoms, Harold has finished becoming my personal guard, Ariko & Harold have come out about dating each-other, Ramen has broken through to God rank in darkness and Pinnacle in Fire and Water, and I have yet to make any progress in magic. I have also started inviting friends over to the castle regularly.

Today is the day that many are celebrating their graduation! So there are no classes, just the grand ceremony taking place in a magic auditorium in the middle building. The auditorium is a 20' * 20' * 10' room from the outside, but a 500' * 500' * 250' room from the inside, and has a 20' * 20' stage in the middle with ascending seats surrounding it. Today is also a half day, so we do the ceremony, eat lunch, then go home.

In the auditorium there are names on every seat that will be used by any student or staff, seats for guests will be taken on a 'first come, first served' basis.

I learn that the seats meant for the students are arranged by homeroom, so I try to find my classmates. After searching for a while I see Harold and Ariko. I head for them then quickly find that I'm seated in front of Harold and Carmen is seated in front of Ariko.

Turning around to face him "Harold, I've heard that this is a `must-see` ceremony but can you give me a little of whit I can expect to see?" (Dawson)

"Well, from your father told me, the only difference from Hudson's Bay's graduation is we end it with a competition of the valedictorian's choice 'tween them and Shi." (Ariko)

"Is there any restrictions on what the student can choose the match to be?" (Carmen)

"Well... nothing of or pertaining to sex or death, and it must be a competition whereas there is a clear winner and looser." (Harold)

Jokingly, "Aww, so Ariko can't challenge her to a fight to the death?" (Dawson)

We all start laughing after that one.

"Who says she will be the valedictorian? Maybe that will be me." (Ariko)

"Maybe, I don't even know if I'd be good enough to be such." (Carmen)

"Trust me, Ramen, you will be the valedictorian of our class." (Dawson)

"I'll take that as a challenge." (Ariko)

"Wait... do I have a say in this?" (Carmen)

Said simultaneously "No." (Dawson & Ariko)

"Hah, I didn't see that one coming." (Harold)

Carmen sits there pouting whilst the rest of us are laughing. We then quiet down do to hearing a commotion on the stage. She is standing on the stage tapping a magical microphone.

"Attention students... ATTENTION!!!" (Shi)

The rest of the students, staff, family, and friends quickly quiet down.

"Thank you... as most of you know, I am the Principal of this school, Shi. As such, it is my pleasure to begin this graduation ceremony... so without further ado, I present the Valedictorian and Master of Ceremonies, Plam Bartimus!" (Shi)

"Thank you Ms. Shi, I am Plam, and as you can see I am a rare Anthro that has no gender... However, I prefer to be referred by the feminine pronouns." she pauses for effect, "Anyway, it is my honor to hand the diplomas to our graduates, now this will be in alphabetical order by personal name, but I will say your full name in the way it was given to you." (Plam)

She then lists around 270 names, each of them walking onto the stage to grab their diploma then walking off.

"Now that we are done with that, it's time for what we've all been waiting for, my challenge for Shi. Most of us know how this works, but for those who don't, I choose a Competition whereas there will be a clear winner and compete with Shi. If I win I get to choose of 3 prizes, being a teacher in this school, being given the attribute of my choice, or making any one reasonable command to be done by Shi. Most choose the 3rd prize to make her do something silly, but I will be different, I'll choose the 3rd prize for a different purpose but you will only find out if I win. Now, my challenge is a game little-known in this land, but our prince, whom I know is here, would possibly know. It is called Twister." (Plam)

Carmen and I stifle a laugh whilst looking around at all the confused looks. Plam continues by explaining the rules. Once she is done a hand-crafted twister mat is brought out and placed on the stage. The spinner is done by a large magical spinner that will be more random than a normal spinner.

They start playing, getting into many awkward and sometimes disturbing positions. The looser actually ends up being Shi, who tries to reach her left arm under her whilst doing the splits and having her right hand far in front. They both get up and Plam takes the mic.

"Okay, as was plain for all to see, I won. So as for my request, I give Shi two choices. Truth or Dare?" (Plam)

"I don't tend to like what people ask me to do, and though I don't normally divulge my personal life, I have nothing to hide, so truth." (Shi)

"What is the name of the man of which you are in love with... and don't bother trying to lie, we all know you are bound by this competition." (Plam)

"Like I said, I have nothing to hide... Though I would have preferred to say this under different circumstances, the man who has my heart is none other than the king of this country, Dawson Earnest Boulders." (Shi)

The entire auditorium bursts into chaos due to that one statement. Well, not physically, but sound & speech wise. It takes a good 30 minutes for it to quiet down enough for Plam to talk again.

"Well, I would love to say that I didn't expect that, but honestly, I already knew. I mean, Shi has muttered to herself under her breath about such things whilst wondering around the halls, so I'm surprised that so much chaos happened because of that announcement." (Plam)

"It's because muttering to myself and publicly announcing it officially are two completely different things. I can mutter it to myself all I want and it changes nothing other than who may know about it, but publicly announcing it means I am willing to move forward in a relationship. And though that's been true for a while, I planned to wait to announce any such thing until I saw it as likely that the King would also be likely to be interested in a relationship." (Shi)

"Now, another point... I hope you have the integrity to either treat the king's children no differently than any other student or have them moved to another school?" (Plam)

"I don't, nor do I have any intention to, treat them any differently than any other student at this school." (Shi)

"Good, well, you have answered my question, so I have received my prize." (Plam)

"Well, that means that this graduation ceremony is now over, so all students may go home or to their off-campus boarding rooms... staff remember we have a meeting after this... the rest of you, may do as you wish within reason and our rules." (Shi)

After that, the four of us headed to the castle, riding with father and the butler.