It was the same old boring routine like every other day.Get up, brush your teeth, have breakfast in the dorm canteen downstairs and head to school. M.T.S is such a popular school because of its discipline. And now, I, who used to punch rules and regulations in the a.s.s... have to endure this.
Everyday, every single freaking day, I had to study, gossip with the girls, not talk in cla.s.s, pay attention to the teacher"s lectures and attend (surprise) tests once or twice a week. The evenings were also dedicated to studying.
I"m being haunted by a nerd ghost, I"m sure of it. Study this, study that. How is this even a fantasy world supposedly different from Earth, if all I do is be immersed in books all my life?!
Furthermore, the rules of the school stated that unless a student was in his/her 4th year, they were not allowed to go out into town, like, at all. All that"s left was... to study. Oh, how lovely.
To me, however, it was worse. I mean, the most they taught at the first three years were multiplications, divisions and stuff of 3rd graders from Earth in maths. Language is not even available until 4th Year... and oh, don"t get me started with the science and technology here. I just don"t get what type of science they do on this planet!
The subjects of magic did interest me, but i had to keep a low profile. Especially because of how a single mistake gave Secretary Jo Lin the chance to punish me.
"Its all their fault!" I mumbled whenever I got bored, "Why did my parents have to listen to Charles anyway?! I thought M.T.S was a great school... it IS interesting, but what"s the point, if I"m not even allowed to willingly do anything! I"m so bored, here!"
"What are you mumbling to yourself?" Lucy asked, slightly annoyed.
"How can you still read when all we do is the same thing every single day?" I asked, feeling a boiling rage from within me.
"Reading stories and textbooks are different." Lucy curtly replied.
"Besides," she paused for a bit and then continued, "shouldn"t you be worried about the upcoming mana test? It"s due soon."
My mind went blank.
In the midst of all this headache, a.n.a.lise came rushing in. The first thing she did was shout the moment she entered.
"Hey you guys!" her voice echoed in my ears, "You won"t believe this!"
She hooked her gaze upon me and handed a burnt piece of paper.
"Read this." she said.
I stared at it for a while, but in the end, succ.u.mbed to her wish and opened it carefully. It looked so bad and so burnt that had I been sloppy, it would"ve disintegrated on impact.
"Hahaha," I laughed sarcastically, not knowing what to think.
"Trouble reading?" Lucy asked, eager to know more about this mysterious fragile sheet.
"It"s a letter addressed me." I said, staring down at it.
"I saw Secretary Jo Lin trying to burn some letters and fortunately I managed to grab this one while she was busy scolding another student." a.n.a.lise exclaimed, still pale, "It was a close call. But the other letters burnt away. This one just dropped onto the ground and I s.n.a.t.c.hed it away."
"a.n.a.lise, what did we say about minding people"s privacy?" Lucy exclaimed, slightly angry.
"Hey! I didn"t read the letter!!" a.n.a.lise defended herself, "I just peeked a little, into it and saw Gloria"s name. I folded it gently and ran here."
"What"s it say?" Lucy became more and more immersed.
"Why do you have that creepy smile?" I questioned her, knowing full well how much she enjoyed this.
"I just love it when you get into trouble without reason. You"re like a walking story book." Lucy"s eyes sparkled with delight, completely contrast to her empty and distant outlook from before.
"You"re..." I paused, but just sighed instead.
"Its nothing special. Just family stuff." I casually commented and slipped the letter under my pillow.
"You have to tell the princ.i.p.al!" a.n.a.lise suggested, full of vigor.
"I agree." Lucy added, thoughtful for a moment, "Sabotaging and/or restraining student"s personal property is strictly prohibited in school. Besides, maybe this one is just a normal letter, who says that an emergency letter can"t arrive? What if she destroyed that too?"
"Emergency letters?" I asked, suddenly a little cautious of Lucy.
"Hmm? Well yeah." Lucy casually replied, seemingly a little confused, "A senior once received an emergency letter from home one evening, a few days before you arrived. And she-"
"She used to stay here "cause all the other rooms were preoccupied!" a.n.a.lise interrupted.
"That too. But, seriously, she never returned. We were later informed that her family went bankrupt and so she had to leave." Lucy"s voice sounded strict and serious now, "So it"s important to receive letters at least once a week from back home. Has no one ever told you this before?"
"..."
We both stared at a.n.a.lise, the queen of gossip.
"Well..." a.n.a.lise averted our eyes, "My mistake?"
"I relied on an idiot." I heard Lucy whisper.
"That"s fine and all, but how are we going to get past the Secretary to complain about the Secretary to the princ.i.p.al?" I pointed towards the obvious.
"That"s easy," a.n.a.lise exclaimed with a tiny devilish smirk, "leave that to me!"
_______
___
< secretary="" jo="" lin"s="" pov="">
These stacks of papers all need to be signed and I have no time to lose... but alas, this idiotic student had to fall sick in front of me.
"If I ever fell sick in front of my elders, I"d be gravely punished. Kids these days lack mannerisms and the proper rules of etiquette. That"s precisely why they are...!" I grunted out all of my frustrations into this poor bed-ridden brat.
"Ms. Lin," the nurse took me aside while the student was moaned, "Are there any exams held today? Perhaps a marathon?"
"No, not as far as I"m notified." I shrugged, confused.
"Then is it perhaps homesickness?" the nurse proclaimed.
"Hmm..." something was not adding up, "wait, is this first year girl not sick?"
Typical of a kid, lazy and inaccurate. Such a headache.
"I can"t say for sure. But most probably it"s just an excuse." the nurse went on rambling, "Her pulse is normal, she has no temperature and even her mana readings are fine... but just in case it could still be a form of some severe disease we are unaware of, or hadn"t been notified early on by the parents... I cannot let her go."
"Students and their parents these days..." I sighed, taking off my gla.s.ses and rubbing my eyelids.
"Would you mind re-checking this student"s records?"
"Are you perhaps indicating that I"m at fault?" I questioned the 1st year"s nurse with an intimidating aura.
"No, no, not at all! I was just asking so that if the parents had forgotten to write anything in her medical records, you could call and ask them directly, Ms. Lin." the nurse tensed up, fidgeting still.
"Very well." I had to agree. "Please wait on stand-by in case this does end up being a severe case..."
Now my other (rather important) works will definitely be delayed. How will I explain to the princ.i.p.al if I end up submitting the files later than usual?
Kids are definitely frustrating and obnoxious. Not one person have I ever seen in my entire life who matched him.
...
With a heavy heart I opened the door to my office.
What stood before me... was an unexpected scenario waiting to happen. A scheme to ruin my dignity by that tribal outsider!
< gloria"s="" pov="">
"I beg your pardon Miss Princ.i.p.al, but is something the matter?" Secretary Jo Lin curiously asked.
"Is she trying to test the waters?" I couldn"t help but feel unpleasant.
Without any word the princ.i.p.al thrusted a plastic bag in front of the Secretary. She instantly froze in her tracks.
"We shouldn"t only use this paper as the evidence Gloria. It is very fragile and crumpled up. Instead I"ll take this photo and put it in the plastic bag. This way the physical evidence won"t be destroyed... got it? So do not let it be revealed." the princ.i.p.al had warned me beforehand, so I pretended to play along.
"Secretary Jo Lin, what do you have to say about yourself?" Miss princ.i.p.al demanded.
"What ever do you mean princ.i.p.al?" the Secretary cleared her throat and calmly answered back with a question.
"There is evidence that you have been burning away authorized student letters. Furthermore, there is no rules in MY school, that might allow a teacher, if any, to do so!" the princ.i.p.al yelled loudly.
"What a deafening voice..." I thought to myself.
Even her expression was complicated, unlike how I"d always seen her before. Nothing mild about it... just scary, instead.
What puzzled me was how awfully calm the Secretary was. Her eyes trickled to the corner... uh-oh, it"s me. Isn"t it?
"Is that rat- ah, I mean, student... causing problems again?" She asked, ignoring the infuriated person beside me.
She clearly said rat and I heard it. Should I call her a well-bred actress? No, I don"t want to insult people of this profession. Though, I must admit how disgustingly talented Secretary Jo Lin is at acting.
I turned my face away for a moment and then, voiced out, "The princ.i.p.al obviously asked you a question, Secretary Jo Lin, so why not answer her first? As I see it, it is the polite thing to do."
I planted an angelic smile on my face.
Two can play at this game. Fire vs. Fire! Bring it on!
"I will give you a chance Miss Lin," the princ.i.p.al, who was seething with rage, exclaimed, trying to calm her nerves, "however if you do not have any further explanation to justify yourself in whatsoever way, then no need to drag anything anymore."
"As you said Miss princ.i.p.al, there is no real physical evidence that goes against me in particular. A mere photograph can delude you, so there is no way you will believe me. Therefore, if there are no further questions, I"ll will excuse myself and await your punishment." Miss Lin replied, stone-faced.
"What...!?" I thought to myself, "She will just accept whatever? What is going on?!"
__________
___
It took about 3 days to settle everything. I just needed to appear once before all the teachers to say that the paper that was burnt was indeed mine.
The Secretary was given a few months of suspension. Even I wasn"t told how long it would be though. Meanwhile, another teacher was a.s.signed to student mails. I think he was a 3rd year teacher.
It was only after she was suspended that I finally understood why Secretary Jo Lin behaved the way she did. Had she been foolish and argued even further or try to explain herself, then she would be been downright fired then and there.
"Secretary Lin is much smarter than you think, Gloria." Lucy reminded me, "That"s what makes her who she is. Dreadful."
"Yeah..."
Now all that"s left is the horrifying Mana Test...
Although Fred"s gift has helped me for a long time and kept my powers a secret, but now it seems to be coming to an end. What to do?!
"1st year students will be going on these three crystal orbs, first. The second years will wait until the 1st years finish and like so, will be followed by the third years... all the way until the 7th year"s. I hope the seniors are well aware of this school"s long-term traditional system?" the princ.i.p.al announced.
It was ironic to see her speaking in front of a mic, but the microphone itself did nothing. Instead, she had to waste her powers for additional sound effects...
Perhaps I should do something later on to improve the "science" of this world... I pity them, honestly.
I couldn"t help but be nervous and restless at the same time. My nerves clutched into a tight grip. Should I fake some kind of illness? But there are so many teachers here! What if I get caught? Using my powers will also be risky... this d.a.m.n collar!
"Gloria..." a tiny voice disturbed my thoughts, so I decided to ignore it.
"Gloria... Gloria... Gloria?" It kept on repeating.
"GLORIA!" Someone"s shouting distracted me back to realityl.
"E-eh?!" stuttering a little, I realized where I was standing.
Oh no.
"Are you awake?"
"Ye-yeah! Hahaha..." I chuckled as a.n.a.lise gave me a very suspicious stare.
"Just touch the orb, here-"
"No, wai-"
Before I had the chance to withdraw, my hand had already touched the orb.
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"When did I get on the measure meter?!" I was shocked to say the least. "More importantly, what now?"
A heated sensation flowed all over my body. I felt it... I knew it... it"s all over once I"m discovered.
The orb showed a bright golden glow in the beginning. Yes, attention drew from all over. As if by a second"s difference, it changed to a pearl white glow and the crystal orb shattered into pieces.
Usually, the orb turns green if someone has averagely high mana. Blue is a normal mana colour. So most people have it. Yellow is unusual and orange glow is extremely special... after which comes golden glow (rumoured legendary) and the phenomenal white.
"Uh-Oh." I thought to myself, "I"m screwed...!"
"The measure meter!" I gasped, glancing upwards.
What the heck... it"s going up and down simultaneously...!?