Encore

The sickle in Eric's hand shook violently. No matter how hard the boy tried, it seemed he couldn't suck in a breath. Slowly his gaze travelled down his body until he saw the pommel of Raishun's Caligula being driven into his solar plexus. He let out a weak wheeze and collapsed to the floor, unconscious just as the referee called the fight.

Laura smiled and turned her back on the ring. She could faintly hear Raishun roar in victory through the loud cheering of the crowd. [It's hard to believe I didn't want to come at first. I've always disliked those who picked fights. But being able to see someone grow from an imbecile to a fighter… it was worth bending my morals this one time.]

Even with her dexterity, Laura was having little luck pushing past the surging crowd. It seemed everyone was desperate to get a close look at the idol and the victor.

[Such a fuss over a silly idol.] Pressing a hand against her chest, she activated her semblance. With an annoyed click of her tongue, she levitated herself above the crowd and into the rafters above.

Once she was standing on one of the steel beams, her semblance deactivated. The weightlessness in her body disappeared in an instant, and she had to lean on a rafter to regain her balance. Just as her sense of balance was restored, she felt it. A warm sticky feeling seemed to ooze over her shoulder and down her arm.

Pulling away from the steel beam, Laura inspected her shoulder and felt all colour drain from her face. Covering her shoulder and sleeve was blood.

Panic quickly took hold, and she unsheathed both her swords with a practiced flourish. She knew looking around was useless. It was too dark to see more than a few feet in front of her. Swallowing her fear, she took a cautious step into the darkness.

"Who's there! I'm a Huntress in training, so you'd best show yourself!" Heartbeat hammering through her chest, she took another step forward. She tightened her grip on her swords; odds were her foe would notice her white trench coat before she noticed them. In this arena, she was at a disadvantage.

"This is your final warning. Show yourself, or I'll use the full extent of-"

There was a loud screech of metal being split, followed by a large black figure dashing past Laura.

"STOP!" Laura swung her palm around, semblance activated and ready to crush her opponent. But the figure was too agile, quickly jumping from beam to beam with ease. As fast as they'd appeared, the figure had already vanished into the darkness of night.

"They were so fast…." Sheathing her weapons, Laura could only stare at the darkness in worry. "I should go report to the headmaster. He'll know what to do – ah!" Her foot caught on something, nearly sending her tumbling off the beam. For a moment, she worried she'd fall, but thankfully, she regained her footing. Casting an annoyed look at the object, her features contorted in horror.

"ALISA!"

Laura crouched beside the body of her fallen comrade and gathered Alisa in her arms. Right as terror was beginning to cloud her judgement, a sudden calm spread throughout her body.

"First, check for a heartbeat." She instructed herself as she pressed an ear to Alisa's ample chest. Tears began to trickle down her cheeks when she heard the faint beating of Alisa's heart. "You're alive! Don't worry, you're going to be alright!"

With the knowledge that her teammate was still alive, Laura began inspecting the pink-haired girls' body for wounds. Her uniform was more red than green now, but there were no tears in the cloth. Her arms and legs didn't have any wounds on them either.

[There's nothing. So what caused the pool of blood?] As much as she wanted to mull the thought over, Alisa's life came first. Opening her scroll with surprising ease, Laura lifted the device to her ear as it began to ring.

After the second ring, the line came to life with the tired yawn of an older woman.

"Doctor Hazel here. How can I help-"

"I'm at the arena where Beat just performed! Please send help. My teammate was attacked!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Evading the ensuing stampede that resulted from Beat's singing was the second hardest thing Raishun had done that night. A task made more challenging by the aching of his wounds and tired muscles, not that it would stop him. Yet the light from the moon above guided his way, leading him to the person he wanted to see more than anyone else.

With bated breath, he arrived in the school's flower garden. Roses, Tulips, Hydrangeas, and poppies were all meticulously trimmed into solid lines. The garden centre was an open-air gazebo with two sets of ornate chairs and tables. But instead of admiring the furniture, his eyes were drawn to Carmila.

He had caught glimpses of her in the crowd, but only now was he able to see her clearly. In place of her form-fitting black and brown Huntress outfit, she wore a loose long-sleeved white shirt. A pair of brown shorts peeked out from beneath the hem of her shirt. Her fluffy hair was dotted with small golden trinkets and was styled, so one of her crimson eyes was obscured.

Carmila's eye locked with his, and she quickly ran forward to embrace him.

"Raishun! That fight was amazing!" Hugging him tightly, her eyes looked at him with admiration and joy. "No matter how difficult things got, you always looked in control! It was almost like seeing Castor fight!"

Raishun blushed at the compliments and patted her back in appreciation. "Aw, thanks. I couldn't have done it without your tough love. Plus, you came all the way to see me. I couldn't put on a bad show."

The two pulled away from each other. The light from the ruined moon illuminated Carmila's features in a flattering light. Raishun did his best to quell the quickening beat of his heart as he prepared to reveal the second reason he'd invited her.

"Hey. Remember how I promised to take you out to the city?" He said and continued when Carmila nodded expectantly. "Once I'm done helping clean up the stage, I have the day off so we can go into the city. The academy's preparing for the Vytal festival too, so I hear the place is going to be a lot livelier than usual!"

Carmila's eyes lit up at the idea. "You remembered!" She took his hands in hers and squeezed them with a giggle that made Raishun's heart skip a beat. "I was afraid you'd be so busy at Beacon that you'd forget."

"Come on, there's no way I'd forget a promise to you!" He retorted, a bit wounded by her comment. "You and everyone in Dadabarunga mean the world to me. Even with school, a day hasn't passed where I haven't thought of you all."

She blinked in response to his outburst, her hands slipping away as she stepped back. The two stared at each other in silence, making Raishun worry that he had taken his jokes too far. Right as he was about to apologize, Carmila let out a giggle. She looked around to make sure no one was near before stepping closer to Raishun to whisper in his ear.

"I missed having you in the village Raishun." He could feel her fingertips brush up against his arm. Each slight touch sent shocks down his spine. "But I'm happy you're doing okay. You don't look like you're struggling to take care of yourself, and…" With a fluid movement, her hand slid a tuft of stray hair behind his ear. "You don't have leaves in your hair for once."

"W-well, it's hard to train when you live on the fourth floor." He squeaked, secretly praying that his cheeks weren't as red as they felt. "And I've missed having you around too. It's weird waking up and not seeing you or being able to talk with you in person at night."

A sudden thought popped into his head. With some concern, he carefully worded out his thoughts to keep them from sounding creepy. "Where are you spending the night? I don't think there are any hotels on campus, and the nearest hotel's all the way in the city."

"I ran into a pink-haired girl before the concert who sold me a key to one of the empty dorm rooms on campus." Reaching into her pocket, she produced a silver keycard, not unlike the ones carried by students. The only difference between the two being the pink-coloured crosshair painted on the front, which he recognized as Alisa's symbol.

"It's exciting being able to see what the dorms here are like." Carmila stowed the keycard and stared at the floor bashfully. "Once you started going here, I only wanted to see them more… it looks like I got my wish."

Raishun was about to offer to walk her to the dorms when he heard several people calling for him. It would seem the stagehands had finally noticed his absence. With a silent curse, he shot Carmila an apologetic look.

"Damn, looks like they finally realized I gave them the slip." Sighing in defeat, he smiled at Carmila, "I've gotta go. Don't forget about our little rendezvous tomorrow, you hear?"

He hadn't taken more than two steps away when he felt a pair of hands grasp his arm. Before he could react, Carmila had pulled him back to her. Their faces were inches apart, and he could see the heavy blush on her cheeks.

"Once you're done… Would you like to spend the night in my room?" She asked in a voice barely higher than a whisper. "I heard about the 4-man teams here, so the dorms have more than one bed. Right?"

"Huh?" Raishun felt his face flush crimson. The two of them indeed shared a house, but he'd usually slept in the living room while she took one of the rooms. Something about the way she described the action made his heart race faster.

[Don't even think about!] Raishun winced in pain as Serah's voice sounded loud through his head. [The only one who gets to enjoy you is me. You got that?]

[The hell are you on about? What are we a married couple?] He shot back, [Shoo, stop trying to ruin the moment! I wasn't gonna do anything anyways!]

Summoning all his mental fortitude, he was able to forcibly separate his consciousness from Serah's. The last thing he heard was an upset cry before his mind was at peace once more.

"I'll have to pass. I'm still a guy, remember." He poked his chest with a half-hearted laugh. The voices calling him were getting louder now. There just wasn't any time. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay? Bye, Carmila!"

Raishun took off running towards the sound of the voices at full speed. He wanted desperately to look back, but he knew if he did, he probably wouldn't be able to refuse her a second time. Despite his conviction, he couldn't stop the reading beating of his heart and the warm feeling that filled his cheeks. He could only hope the stagehands wouldn't notice how red his face was.