Chapter 43: Tinnitus

"Apologize to Annie right now, or I will fail you on your very first day!"

With Instructor Ken's voice resounding through the entire laboratory and enough to seep out into the hallways, the students could really only let out their sighs quietly. Instructor Ken has always been passionate when it comes to Alchemy — in fact, even during the breaks, that was all they could hear him talk about.

He was what the world calls a Pill Geek.

And right now, their new classmate might as well have insulted his ancestors with how livid and angry he was.

"You dare to say that the pill is shit!?" Instructor Ken quickly approached the workbench, even pushing Lucian to the side as he quickly grabbed the pill away, "You think all of this is a joke, huh? That's right, I know who you are — you're the student who caused that pervert to accidentally unlock his lith because he couldn't beat you…

…you fighting maniacs are all the same, you think alchemy is a fucking joke!"

"Instructor Ken, what are you doing?" Emilia quickly moved in front of Lucian as she glared at the instructor.

"And you too," Instructor Ken pointed at Emilia, "You're barely even in class, and when you are, you're not even listening. You might be the daughter of the principal and one of the top students of this Academy — but don't think that I won't fail you for underachieving in my class."

"Maybe you should relax, Instructor," Emilia's eyebrows lowered as she did not budge at all even as Instructor Ken was releasing the lith of a Spirit Elder, "You said it yourself, it's his first day."

"And that's not an excuse to monkey around!" Instructor Ken clicked his tongue before glancing at his phone, "I'm really sorry about this, Annie. I'll make him apologize and—"

[No.]

"No, no. It's alright, he should apologize for—]

[I mean no, he's… right.]

"...What?" Instructor Ken blinked a couple of times as he looked back at the phone before just looking at the projector in front of the laboratory, "What… do you mean by that?"

[There… are traces of stool in the pill.] And perhaps even more so than Instructor Ken, or any of the other students, it was Annie who had the most confused expression as she even grabbed her phone; her face, now just completely filling the entire screen,

[How… did you know that?]

"I guessed, Ms. Video Lady," Lucian just shrugged his shoulders.

[You… guessed?]

"Wait, Annie… are you serious?" Instructor Ken grabbed his phone, "The pill actually contains samples of stool?"

[Not… just a trace,] Annie shook her head, [It's…

…the main active ingredient of the pill.]

"What…!?"

[Yes, but it's a stool that doesn't seem to exist anywhere,] Annie explained as her breaths started to turn heavy, as evident from all the static and noise they were hearing.

"Are you saying that—"

[Shut up, Ken,] Annie did not let Instructor Ken finish his words, [Where's the student who guessed that!? Why am I only seeing your face!?]

"That…" Instructor Ken did not really have any choice as he returned the phone to the workbench in front of Lucian, who just quickly looked away.

[How did you know…?] Annie repeated her question.

"I have already said it," and Lucian also just repeated his answer, "I guessed it."

[So, you just happen to have guessed that sugar was being used to coat the pill, and that its main active ingredient is feces from an unknown creature or monster?] Annie squinted her eyes as she leaned even closer to the screen, 

[...What did you say your name was again?]

"His name is—"

[Everyone, please gather in the Assembly Hall immediately. This is an emergency.]

And before Instructor Ken could say Lucian's name, a loud announcement filled the entire Academy.

"What's… going on?"

"That's the first time I'm actually hearing the speakers go off."

[Ken? What's—]

"I'll call you again later," Instructor Ken immediately grabbed his phone, "They say it's an emergency and they're calling everyone. I'll call you later!"

[Wait, what's the—]

"Okay, everyone!" Instructor Ken cut the call as he carefully returned the pill and his phone back to his bag, "Calmly exit the… right."

Before he could even look at his students, however, all of them were already gone — the only ones who were left were Emilia and Lucian, and they too, were already stepping out the door.

"What do you think is happening, Mr. Lucian?" Emilia let out a small breath as she saw everyone heading to the Assembly Hall.

"I do not know, Ms. Emilia," Lucian shook his head, "You would know more about this than me since you are the daughter of the principal."

"Forget that," Emilia shook her head and sighed, "That's all everyone's been saying about me and it's been hurting my ears since day 1."

"Perhaps you should get it checked for tinnitus, Ms. Emilia."

"...I don't mean it literally," Emilia softly chuckled as she glanced at Lucian before walking very close to him, "You know, Mr. Lucian…"

"You're very funny for an old man, bro. Pft, tinnitus."

"What the—!?" Emilia quickly stepped to the side as she heard a familiar voice breathing down her neck, only to see Harvey just walking behind them with a weird, wide smile on his face, "Where did you even come from!?"

"My class, duh?" Harvey scoffed.

"...This is the 4th-year's floor," Emilia blinked a couple of times as she looked at Harvey from head to toe.

"Yeah, I mean — I decided to come up so that we could all go to the Assembly Hall together," Harvey shrugged, "Seeing as the three of us don't really have any friends, no?"

"I… I have friends," Emilia cleared her throat.

"Oh, really? Where are they?" Harvey started looking around, "Girl, stop it. I know about you being called the Ice Queen or something — honestly, I can't see it. How are you even a queen?"

"I don't like that title," Emilia just shook her head, "It's nonsense. Anyway, have you heard why they were telling us to gather at the Assembly?"

"Oh, you haven't heard…?" Harvey then moved in between the two, gesturing to Lucian and Emilia to lean closer to him as he lowered his voice, "Apparently…

…one of our fellow students didn't go home yesterday."

"Didn't go home…? They're gathering us just for that?" Emilia raised an eyebrow, "Wait…

…you mean someone's missing?"