The Bunny

Aside from that, the group of three was silent until the class ended. They all got up and headed to the cafeteria to eat lunch. It was Leo's first time there yesterday and Faust's first time that day. Luke guided them and they quickly got their food and sat down. It wasn't any special but had all the nutrients needed.

They ate their food in silence as Leo read a timeworn book for the duration of lunch and Faust didn't want to disturb him. Luke watched Leo read at a lightning pace that slightly shocked him.

He asked Faust with a whisper, "Do you know what he's reading, there's nothing on the cover."

"Nope, why don't you ask him?" Faust responded with a whisper.

Luke glared at Faust. The reason why he didn't ask was because Leo seemed completely absorbed in his book and when that was disturbed, he looked upset before reading again. After getting clobbered by Leo, they both decided to sit in silence rather than incurring his wrath again.

And so, lunch quickly ended with only whispers around Leo. In that time Luke slightly opened up from his shell around the two, despite being knocked out by one of them just earlier in the day.

It was the first time Leo went to his last class which was Combat Tactics and Theory, in the class they learned what to do in fights. The class itself was incredibly boring and the teacher was quite literally duller than a wall of bricks. Leo honestly thought so, the teacher just read from a textbook and had no personality.

According to the teacher, they were just a permanent sub until they found someone suitable as the last teacher literally lost their head. They were shot in the face whilst out on a mission. It gave many of the students a reality check, but most would forget this in less than a week's time.

After the class finished Leo got up and went to his dorm. Inside was just the royal he hit earlier. Leo went to the bed he previously sat in a week prior and laid down. Their squads hadn't been assigned yet, but Leo imagined they would be once they delved into soul realms.

"Why'd you stop the fight?" The royal asked, not looking up from their tablet.

"Because it could've ended much earlier." Leo answered, not looking up from his book.

"…"

"…"

The room got quiet once more and Leo closed his book. He opened his backpack taking out his art supplies. He pulled out paint and some brushes, his sketchbook, a very paint-stained cup, and an old mechanical pencil.

He flipped to a new page and started scribbling away, afterwards he got up and filled the cup with water. Eventually he started painting on top of the sketch. After a few hours his hand was getting tired, so he put the brush down and left the book open to let the paint dry.

Leo got out of his bed and stretched. The royal looked at him and ask with a genuine curiosity, "Why do you enjoy that stuff?"

"Painting?"

"Yeah."

"Helps me calm down, although I admit sometimes it just makes me angrier."

"Is that the only reason? Why don't you just play a game or something?" He tilted his tablet towards Leo revealing a platforming game.

"Different strokes for different folks I guess."

"I see…"

"Oh, is there a third here or is it just us two?"

"Just us."

"Hmm… Alright."

Leo didn't bother asking their name, just as the royal didn't bother asking for his, although the royal already caught it in Ethan's class on the first day.

Leo decided to get some fresh air and so he left the dorm. As he left the royal got up to use the bathroom. As he passed by Leo's bed, he looked at what Leo had painted. He was decently surprised as it was the area outside and the painting was flooded with crows. The royal looked through the window next to Leo's bed and noticed it matched up pretty well with his art. There was an exception with that though as outside he only noticed two or three crows pecking at the ground. The royal thought the painting was uncanny and slightly shuddered as he finally left to the bathroom.

Outside the dorm Leo walked around peacefully taking in the fresh air and the atmosphere of the forest surrounding him. The sun was setting so it gave the area around Leo a pleasant warm vibe. He saw a crow fly by, and he decided to follow it, he didn't really have anything better to do. He didn't use his phone for much, instead just using it to talk with John when necessary.

Eventually he reached the forest's edge, and it was practically like looking into a void as it was covered by the shadows. The trees to his right and left helped develop Leo's perception of it being a void. The trees had thick ivy and moss covering them funneling Leo's focus to the center, where he stood, where there was a strange lack of vegetation besides the large trees that surrounded the entrance.

He had seen the crow fly somewhere in that void but quickly lost track of him. Leo stared at the strange area and decided to wait to see if the crow came back out. The trees were so large and so packed that a thick canopy was constructed that even birds would struggle to fly out of. So, Leo reckoned that the bird would either come back this way or go to find another way out. Either way it didn't matter much to Leo, he had a lot of free time on his hands, so he decided to lay in the grass.

While lying there he found it strange that there weren't any bugs annoying him. His eyes slightly squeezed as he tried to recall a place without bugs. It is a magical world after all, maybe they had put a spell up for the convenience for the students. Leo rolled his eyes at that thought, babying soldiers in training is a good way to get them killed. Eventually he just settled on it being a magic spell and found himself falling asleep.

As he started to lose consciousness, he thought to himself, "Maybe I shouldn't have thought of something so boring."

Hearing the crack of a stick Leo's upper body shot up. The first thing he noticed was darkness, it seemed like he had fallen asleep for a couple of hours. The second thing was a pair of eyes staring at him from that strange void, now ever darker. The eyes were unflinching and unblinking, they didn't move even after nearly a minute.

But then they got closer, and closer, and closer, until eventually Leo could make out a figure. It was the strange woman from before who wore the bunny mask. Even now she wore it, as well as the suit. She walked out from the woods and stood in front of Leo who had yet to get up from the grass.

"It would be wise to sleep indoors next time." Her tone was strict, and she quickly turned around to head back into the forest, "As a reminder, students aren't allowed to leave the premises, the woods are off limits."

With that she disappeared into the darkness as quickly as she came.

Leo got up from the grass and his back was slightly sore from the sturdy ground. With a sigh he turned and started heading back to the dorm. As he made it towards the dormitory, he saw two figures in the dirt training area. He watched them for a moment before recognizing them as the blonde girl and red hair guy from Ethan's class.

The two seemed to be sparring with wooden swords and the girl was winning by far. As the guy landed on the dirt from being hit, he noticed Leo standing ominously just outside the light from the dormitory.

"E-Evelyn I think there's a teacher over there."

The blonde girl, apparently named Evelyn, turned around and saw Leo as well. She waved at him and yelled, "Hey teach! We're just sparring!"

Hearing this Leo slightly frowned, it must've been around midnight, maybe even later, and he felt bad for any students who were light sleepers. He walked over to the two out of curiosity more than anything else.

"Oh, it's not a teacher." The blonde-haired girl remarked before sticking out her hand at Leo, "Evelyn Castille. This bag of rocks here is Kyle Stout."

"Mathias Doe." Leo replied, returning the handshake, "What're you two doing out so late, besides causing a ruckus?"

"Oh! I'm sorry, did we wake you."

"No, I accidently fell asleep over by the woods, I was just returning to my dorm. I was more so referring to your shouting."

"Ah, I see."

"Why are you sparring anyway, that's what the teachers are for."

"Well, I grew up sword fighting. Us Castille's are famed for it and Kyle here got the dealer class, but he doesn't know the first thing about swords." Evelyn said with a slight frown.

"Ah, Castille, you're a part of a royal family, right?" Leo asked.

"Yep! We're pretty low on the food chain and we don't really care about all that royal stuff though. Any other family and I'd be horrified to head back home, I ended up getting the grim class and not the dealer class. But my family doesn't really care."

"That's nice. But," Leo looked at Kyle, "letting your body rest at appropriate times is also an important part of training."

Evelyn snapped her fingers and said, "I forgot about that." She looked at the ground with a slightly upset face.

Leo helped Kyle back up and comforted Evelyn a bit before finally headed back towards his dorm, leaving the two of them alone. Upon reaching his room he silently opened the door and walked inside. He saw the royal jolt up from his bed holding what looked like a gun and flipping on the light next to him.

"Who is it?!"

Upon noticing it was Leo, he froze. His face went slightly red, and he turned off his light as quickly as possible. He coughed slightly and mumbled as he hid himself under his bedsheets, "First that Castille girl wakes me up and now this. Ugh."

Leo blinked in confusion before quietly and quickly brushing his teeth. He then hopped in bed and quickly entered the sea of dreams.