New Years With Diasmonia

"I see..." Lilia nodded as he led her into the dorm, "Well, I'm sure Malleus wouldn't mind someone that isn't the supervisor. Anyway, you seem to have brought a lot of food..."

He gestured the heavy weight of the basket with a dry smile.

Lotus laughed, "If not because we have such a big eater in the dorm, I wouldn't have made so much!"

"Ah. You must be talking about that raccoon, unless it is the supervisor?" Lilia responded as he recalled the demonic cat, "Sounds like life in Ramshackle dorm is also very lively."

Lotus nodded her head, "Grim loves to eat. He's a foodie. It just so happened that New Years is an important date in my heritage and I was taught that making food and choosing which ingredients to use is very important during this day and it lasts for a week."

"A week of celebration?" Lilia looked to her in surprise, "I believe I've heard of that before..."

Lotus nodded her head, "The celebration usually follows an older form of calendar that follows the moon instead of the current calendar, but school is starting very soon, so I had to improvise before Grim ends up falling asleep from being too full. The Ice Box I've made for the ingredients can only make them last for a short while too. So, it's now or never."

Walking through the halls, Lilia looked to her curiously, "So, the ingredients were bought from before the winter break? It's a surprise to hear the word Ice Box coming from some one who isn't from the Valley of Thorns..."

Lotus looked to him in confusion, "Well, no. I got the headmaster's permission to let me go out of school grounds with the Octavinelle student to purchase some ingredients today. Mostly, the meat. And, actually, I came from the Valley of Thorns, but I wouldn't necessarily say that I'm naturally born there..."

"Oh?" Lilia looked to her with an expression of surprise, "You're also from the Valley of Thorns?"

Lotus shook her head with a small smile, "I wouldn't necessarily say I am, but I was raised near a town there. However, I'm not always around as I grew older. My family wanted me to still have some connection to the human society and let me go traveling to a lot of places, so that I don't lose contact with my own bloodline if I ever wanted to return. Yet, they kicked up a fuss when I said that I wanted to come to Night Raven College. Haha..."

"Interesting." Lilia pondered curiously, "I thought it was unusual how I never heard of another human in the country. So, you often leave the country to travel abroad?"

Lotus nodded, "I often traveled with my older brother. But, he's not very familiar with the people of other countries either, so I often had to help him look out for places and signs that would help. I mentioned about joining a tourist group, but he is a bit paranoid of those around us. If I wasn't always traveling around, I'd probably have been a bit more well known around town as one of the few humans living in the Valley of Thorns."

"That's true." Lilia nodded, "There are very few humans in the kingdom. I didn't think that you would also be from some place near the Valley of Thorns."

"Yeah, but I don't leave the house often either and the furthest I'd go would be the nearest town." Lotus sighed, "I've gone to the capital once when I was really small, but I ran into some trouble in some alleyway by chance. So, my mother didn't want me going near the capital again. To be honest, I didn't feel all that scared, but my mother's words were always considered final in the house."

"But, you must've gone to the capital a few times if you wanted to leave the kingdom."

"I did." Lotus smiled, "My older sibling and I would sneak over to the capital to prepare for trips and they we'd head over to the border so my parents wouldn't find out that I've gone to the capital. The distance is long and they knew I'd be hiding something, but they trust me enough to know I won't put myself into actual danger. I'm not really from the Valley of Thorns, but it is the closest kingdom near my home. Even if you don't want to travel to the capital, it's a necessary step to take if you want to leave the country, even temporarily."

"Looks like the two of us have something in common, then." Lilia laughed.

"So, you travel outside of the country often too?" Lotus looked to him curiously.

Lilia nodded, "Yes. A large part of them were for work, but I find today's era to be very interesting and fun."

Lotus nodded with a wide smile, "Yes. It's interesting how far today's society has changed once countries start to open up and people of different species start to connect. Perhaps if the people had been able to get along with one another much easier and sooner, there wouldn't have been as many lives and future placed in such difficult situations and circumstances as here..."

"Huh?" Lilia didn't expect to hear her say this as he looked to her in bewilderment, "Lotus... Could it be-"

"Lilia-sama!"

Hearing the familiar voice, Lotus looked up to see Sebek hurrying over to them before halting with a look of surprise, "Geh! You again?"

"That's no way to treat a guest, Sebek..." Lilia responded with a small sigh, "Didn't the two of you already made up too?"

"Well, that's..." The guy hesitated nervously.

"Yuu didn't come with you?"

Lotus looked up to find that it was Malleus sitting around a rather large table with rather disappointed look before he noticed her and he raised a brow in bewilderment.

"Lotus?"

"Ah, Malleus." Lilia wore a small dry smile, "It would seem that the Supervisor had already been taken for the New Years and accidentally left his student by himself in the dorm again."

Lotus shrugged, "I bet Grim was enticed by a feast held by another dorm and dragged Yuu with him again."

"Is that so?" Malleus responded, "That's too bad... Perhaps another time..."

Hearing this, Lotus noticed a tinge of disappointment in his voice. Could it be? Malleus has grown rather friendly with Yuu in just a few encounters?

Thinking about it for a bit, she thought that it would probably be better to have Yuu visit Malleus and the others sometime in the future. Truth be told, she had always thought that Yuu was probably lonely being the only other human in the dorm while she was often gone from their home. Grim was still a demonic cat by the end of the day and Yuu sometimes need a different person to talk out his worries and day's events with. In the past, she had been around to accompany him, but now she is rarely in the dorm. Malleus is someone of higher power, but, in school, he is just a powerful student. However, his power still pressures others with ease. If she didn't have her cultivation and practices, she would also be crushed under the pressure. Due to this, it is no wonder that he would get lonely so easily.

As an immortal, she can understand this feeling as well. She had some unusual circumstances, but the major problem had always been her power and status that would restrain her from doing as she pleases and interacting with others easily. Because of this, her only friends had always been those from nobility and royalty as well as Mo Li, whom she came across many years ago.

Thanks to this, Lotus felt that it might make it easier if she interacted with him a little since she can't be influenced so easily by his magic. It would make him a little uncomfortable around her, but she hopes that he could see her as someone he might be able to talk with as well in the future should they ever have the chance to. However, seeing that he's made friends with Yuu wasn't all that bad either.

Silver, who had been cleaning up his work from the table was now busy sorting out the placement of the food, noticed a pleasant smell and looked to the basket Lilia was holding in confusion, "Could it be... Lilia, did you bring more food?"

"Yup!" Lilia smiled, "Lotus had made a lot of food before she arrived, but, since the supervisor left early, there ended up being too much for the ghosts in the dorm. So, I thought it should be all right to bring the food here instead."

"I don't believe it's a cuisine that you would be all that familiar with. They're all based on eastern style." Lotus explained, "I made frozen desserts too, but I don't know if it's just enough or if I made too much food..."

She sighed and continued, "Grim is usually a glutton with a big appetite, so I usually make a lot, but, this time, it really backfired."

"We'll see about that." Lilia responded with a wide smile.

"Well," Lotus sighed, "I'll finish plating the meals together, then."

"Hm? It's not done?" Lilia looked to her in surprise as she took the basket and brought out the food.