The Garden & Its Gardener (1)

"Alisa! Here." Called Mary as soon as she saw her friend getting on the bus home. Heka actually offered to take Alisa to the dorm with Arin and Zen, but Alisa refused because she had already promised to meet Mary again on the bus home.

Though unlike before, it turned out that the atmosphere on the bus was rather quiet because it didn't have as many people as a few hours ago."Are there actually a lot of students who can fly?" Alisa said.

"Well, some. The rest just ride with them." Mary replied bitterly. Seemed like she still felt annoyed that she couldn't use flying magic despite being able to use a lot of other magic. "So how was your division? Oh right, do you want a donut? There were lots of free donuts there." Babbled Mary again.

"Free? How nice." Alisa replied, who then took the donut.

At first Mary waited until Alisa swallowed her first bite. But because Alisa continued to take her second bite instead without saying anything, she had to ask again. "So? Is your division fun?"

"But how was the Council building? Is the building really nice?"

"Omg, you really should try going there tomorrow!" Mary replied, instantly excited again. "The building was so big, weird, and almost looked like a castle. It even has a bit of an urban feel to it—Wait, did you just change the subject now? I didn't know you could do it." Mary said.

"Not really." Alisa replied with a chuckle. "Just, I'm not sure how to answer it."

"Why? Are your seniors scary or something?"

"He was… Very grumpy." Alisa finally answered. "There were other seniors too who were nice, but they're not exactly the members."

"I was really surprised earlier, you know. Because it turns out I only have one senior there. His name is Hazel." Alisa added. "With me, my division only has two members!"

"Really? Is that enough?"

"I don't know. But he said we're mostly jobless, so maybe?" Said Alisa, unsure too. "Not today though. Because two people with magic problems came earlier."

"Ooh! Tell me!" Said Mary excitedly.

While arranging sentences in her head, Alisa slowly chewed her donut again. "Well, the first one had some kind of body-strengthening magic. But because it's too strong, he said he often breaks things by accident."

"So ordinary." Mary commented flatly. "What about the other one?"

"The other one seemed to be able to see magic energy. But it smokes her vision, so she can't see things clearly."

"Magic energy, huh… Is that the same as aura or something? That she can see people's ability or something?"

"I don't think so?" Alisa answered unsurely. "Magic energy is more like air, whereas people's aura is supposed to be a processed product of that. Rather than smoke, aura looked more like a light. And she didn't say anything about that."

"...I have no idea what that means, but your senior sounds so smart knowing all that." Said Mary.

"Haha…" Realizing her clumsiness again, Alisa could only chuckle weirdly. Those were actually her aunt's words, but of course she couldn't say that.

"And? How did you heal them?" Asked Mary again. "You don't just tell them to meditate or anything like that, right?"

"Right! About that…" Said Alisa excitedly as if she just remembered that too. "They use magic potions. Did you know that there are magic potions in this school?"

"Of course." Mary answered quickly. "Medicines in the infirmary also have some magic potions, you know." She added. Alisa pouted a little disappointed. Because she had never been to the infirmary, she never realized it.

"But your division has potions too? Seems like the garden really makes all kinds of potions all over the school."

"...Garden? What garden?"

"Hahaha!" But before Mary could answer, they suddenly heard someone laughing from the front seat. "Damn, Mary. Is your friend really a council member? How could she not know about the garden?" Said some boy. He even got up from his seat just to laugh at Alisa.

"Don't bother her, Gin." Mary said as she threw the donut paper in his face. "Alisa is a nice girl, so she doesn't like to gossip."

"But you don't have to join a gossip group just to know about the Council's garden, you know. Everyone should know about it, even normal students." Said the boy again who is now looking straight to Alisa.

"You seriously don't know?" He asked and Alisa could only pout. She didn't like being laughed at by that boy, so she racked her brain a bit.

The gardens on the school map are just flower gardens, fruit and vegetable gardens. But if they weren't talking about that…

'Since we were talking about magic potions…'

"Don't tell me, you mean a garden with magic plants…?"

"There you go." Gin said.

"Really? Wow..." Alisa exclaimed in awe. Even her aunt didn't have that kind of garden and had to always order from somewhere else if she wanted to make certain potions. But this school has it?! Maybe the ones who got polluted in this school are not just humans after all.

"Where is it?" Asked Alisa.

"Behind the council building." Mary answered. "But really, really far. I'm not even sure if it's visible from the rooftop."

"Have you ever been there? Don't tell me everyone toured there today??" Alisa asked again, started to feel jealous.

Even though it turned out that Mary also put on a disappointed face. "Of course not. That place is the most forbidden area in our school." She said. "Not even the council members are allowed to go there."

Surprised, Alisa paused and blinked her eyes. "Council members can't either?" She repeated. "Then who can? The teachers?"

"Teacher, she said." Mocked Gin who started laughing again. "Of course Vip members, you dumb."

Alisa was silent for a moment, but then Mary added too. "But I heard Fio isn't allowed to go there either though. Like, for obvious reasons." She said while laughing sourly. "And Hana wasn't a fan of it either. Maybe that place is actually scary?"

Processing all that information, Alisa talked again. "So it's only the council president? That Rei you talked about?"

"And Ruri, of course. She's the gardener." Gin replied.

"...Wait, who?"

Seeing Alisa widen her eyes surprisedly, Mary immediately added. "Ah, that's the… You know the one I talked about, when I said that there is still one more Vip member?" She tried to explain.

"It turns out that her name is Ruri. She is the one who takes care of the garden. The gardener!" She continued. "And you know what? Most people even said that her position is actually more important than Hana or even the president. Because our school relies a lot on her potions."

"But she's really never been seen anywhere, has she?" Gin added again. "Have you ever seen her?" Gin asked, but Mary also shook her head.

While on the other hand Alisa was still doubting her ears. "Wait, who again?"