I could call my day ruined already but to be fair, I had completely brought it upon myself to hate the last class, no matter how hard I tried to lie to myself I know that half of it was at least my fault that I hated the last class but there wasn''t anything to be done about it now.
There really wasn''t anything special about my next assigned class which was going to be the last for the day before I got dinner then free time. Unlike the last door this one was completely normal like every other room before then but I instinctively approached it a bit more carefully than I had for the classes before. The room was unfortunately like every generic sit and get lectured room so far but at least one of those had been somewhat fun while the other had been... well I still hadn''t forgiven that teacher.
One thing that people get wrong about having impeccable hearing is that just because I can hear something doesn''t mean I''m listening or paying attention. And one of the best ways for me to fail to pay attention is distracting myself with my own thoughts, and so there I was, standing right in front of the door blocking the other students behind me until finally one of them tapped me on the shoulder.
That''s all it took to make me realize what I was doing and before they could open their mouths, presumably again, I quickly ran as fast as possible to the back corner of the room to hide from the shame of it and to my relief no one pressed the issue further. The class itself was more of a wrap up for me, there wasn''t really anything else to choose besides specialization classes none of what really interested me. The class itself was "Contracts and Spirits" which was a popular class. I didn''t need a companion, or more accurately another one, my tail was already conscious enough on its own but since I already had one empty slot and I didn''t want to waste my parents'' money I decided to just pick something normal that others wouldn''t judge me for, at I hoped no one would.
I was here relatively early as I had somehow managed to not get lost or take a wrong turn for once. People often associate being early to class as being excited for class which I think I had disproven to myself as I seriously would have rather done nothing this period if not for the guilt of not doing as much as I could with my tuition. The room itself was relatively cold despite the time of day not that I minded too much but it was still uncomfortable, and I could hear some of the other students starting to complain amongst themselves.
I was lucky to be wearing something akin to a long sleeve shirt and pants, the school didn''t have a uniform to my relief, not out of thought but just because that was the first thing I''d found at the top of my luggage. There are a few things I''d never get and one of those was fashion, I didn''t understand the appeal of more frills on dresses, best colors, or more revealing cloths (I honestly thought everything the nobles wore was disgusting, maybe it just physically hurt my eyes) but it wasn''t my place to judge what the upper echelons of society wanted to do.
The class itself was a mix of all races and levels of society not that they interacted much with each other but it was nice that no drama had happened yet despite the diversity, my parents always told me that I should avoid rich or important people for that reason and they weren''t wrong from what I''ve seen, not that I was complaining that my ears weren''t getting assaulted as collateral at the moment. There wasn''t anyone that I recognized, ''big school'', I thought. It wasn''t that I really wanted to share the class with someone in specific but it felt kind of weird to only have one class together with only one dorm mate for some reason.
In a few moments after everyone had found their seats and mostly quieted down, some more than others (Front row, two left of my seat was still blabbering and I could hear everything he was saying), but otherwise everyone was ready, I think. It took another minute for the person in charge, I didn''t know to call them professor; instructor; or teacher, yet to finally get the last student to stop talking before he started the begin his "speech".
"Welcome to the class, I''m Mr. Noct, look around you, chances are none of you are going to have the same experience in this class as your fellow students. You don''t choose your spirit, partner, or whatever else you want to call the being you''re going to summon as your companion but they choose you. Just know that you can''t choose what becomes your partner or anything like that, congratulations, it''s magic. Well anyway I''m sure none of you are going to listen to me ramble on for another twenty minutes about what you should expect so here are the key points: You cannot change the identity of your companion, even if they die, you just in a sense ''recreate'' them, it''s the exact some living being, same soul and everything, you will regret mistreating it or them for this reason; You will be unable to separate them from yourself after summoning your companion; You''re companion can be whatever you want within reason, a pet, a partner ''in crime'', a friend, whatever within reason, otherwise you will be expelled if you do something outrageous, I can''t believe I have to even say that but you teenagers are idoits," Despite how serious his face was he still managed to convey that it was a bit to lighten the mood, "Do not attempt to harm other''s summons, that will be treated as if you assaulted the student themselves, you''ll explain yourself to the headmaster, believe it or not, he actually does his job most of the time; You''re summons, except on the first day, are expected to obey academy policy as well, the first day is given as a kind of vacation to learn how to control your new partners for life, none of you are going to walk up to me and go ''my summon blah blah blah'', I''ll tell you ''and my summon is telling me to tell you to go to the headmaster''s room''; There is no preferential treatment in my room, it probably won''t be the same once you leave my class but while you''re my student for this subject you will and should not be treated differently then the others for whatever the reason unless common sense dictates otherwise, I''ll give one example where someone would be treated differently real quick because otherwise some of you wouldn''t understand, I once had a student who his name was Paul, his name wasn''t actually Paul but I''m calling him Paul, Paul was as stupid as you can imagine, picture anything stupid and idoitic, Paul probably did that, Paul was kicked out of my classroom because he was a douchebag, that''s as far of a difference in treatment any of you should expect; And finally common sense, if you wouldn''t do it while no one is watching, or something that''s going to get you in trouble, don''t do it, it''s honestly all just common sense but it''s not like common sense ever stopped any one of you gremlins." After the entire, very passionate, speech, he took a exaggerated deep breath and sat back down in his own chair.
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In my opinion he was the kind of guy who you couldn''t tell was sane pretending to be insane, insane pretending to be sane, nor insane thinking he was sane pretending to be insane and honestly it was kind of refreshing. He seemed to have already formed some kinds of relationships with the other students as he "intently" stared at some of the others during his Speech. I hadn''t really been paying attention to him before the speech but I could see a small bird like creature perched on his desk that at I had initially thought was a kind of ornament but was now clearly alive in some way.
I had all but forgotten about my attempt to stay angry earlier as I had secretly found his speech very entertaining although I didn''t show it.
"Oh by the way that''s the entire class today, I know right? So short and sweet, I wonder why the other instructors don''t just do this as well." Mr. Noct joked a bit more before leaning forward and focusing on some paper on his desk. I couldn''t see the paper itself not because I couldn''t focus on it but because of the angle, turns out having the eyes of a fox makes your eyesight really good, not as good as a bird but still better than a human''s or even an elf''s. Although I wasn''t able to actually see the paper and I no matter what I wasn''t going to be able to do so, I wouldn''t stop trying while still trying my best to be as subtle about it as possible, I didn''t know why I felt like doing so, just that I did but I ended up giving up after a while.
I really didn''t have anything to do during the time after his speech until the period was over so I just ended up fidgeting with my ears, tail, and hair while occasionally looking around to make sure no one was paying attention to my general vicinity. I tried my best to give courtesy to the other students by ignoring their conversations as I knew that they weren''t actually being that loud for what they were used to but I would sometimes end up focusing on a few words before realizing what I was doing an snapping out of it.
It felt surprisingly short for the remaining time despite the fact I wasn''t really entertained but I quickly made my way back to my room, not for any particular reason, its just that I didn''t really have anywhere else to go, my dinner time was the tail end in contrast to my early lunch schedule so I just ended up relaxing on my bed for the entire duration until I heard the door open. I shifted my head and neck a bit to see who entered recognizing it as Sandra and Elisa, ''the jerk'' which was a note I had some point unconsciously attached to her mentally, they weren''t talking with each other as they both awkwardly shuffled into the room while Sylv was no where to be found.
It was a relief that neither of them seemed to want to engage in talking as they both quickly moved over to their respective corners and started organizing whatever, not that I paid any attention to what they were doing after I confirmed it didn''t involve me. It wasn''t that I was no longer concerned, I was always worrying about how others felt about me, it''s just that in this case I didn''t have the energy to do anything at all as I just laid on my stomach and buried my face into the pillow. It was awkward but I was used to awkward situations before so I didn''t mind but I didn''t know about the other two as I could feel my tail slowly swishing behind me fanning the back of my neck, that''s why its always been my best partner, it knows what I want when I don''t even know what I want.
Sadly I had judged incorrectly when I thought the other two girls would speak as Sandra ended up trying to start small talk with me.
"Hey Lilith, so how was your first day?" She sounded natural and I was a bit jealous because I could never be so unworried in my own questions and at the same time I was too scared to seem like a jerk to not respond either and so I defaulted to my natural response.
"Tired..." That''s all I could manage to say and I felt quite satisfied to end the conversation there before realizing that it wasn''t even a proper answer to the question. I ended up holding my breath hoping that she would either not notice or just gloss over my response and let me be free but I wasn''t going to be let off the hook that easily.
"Yeah must be rough, physical education was rough for you wasn''t it?" She tried her best to continue a conversation and I began to realize I wouldn''t be able to dig myself out of this one but I still tried by not responding.
"Hey I know it might be rude to ask, but what do those ears feel like?" I knew she was just being nice and that I normally wouldn''t care about that question anymore than "how are you?" or "how you feeling?" but I couldn''t help but start to scheme a bit about how I could use it to end her attempts at conversation before I felt an incredible wave of guilt shutting that thought process down.
"Oh yeah... they''re really sensitive..." Which was about all I could muster to say to be polite.
Sandra sensing that the conversation wasn''t going to go anywhere decided to stop pushing as I heard a sigh before I heard the thump of someone flopping onto their bed. Elisa had been quiet the entire time which I was content with, I didn''t have the energy to check on why though.
After what felt like not enough time, I looked at the clock and decided it was time to head over to the cafeteria. Sandra had left earlier trying to ask me if I wanted to go with her, but after a few words she gave up and left with Elisa, who had silently accepted the invitation. This caused me to reconsider my thoughts on slightly her. Elisa hadn''t shut the door on her way out which I had only noticed when I sat up which made me panic as I quickly shut it and prayed that no one saw my embarrassing in which I had some point ended up balling myself up like how an actual fox would sleep, it was a guilty pleasure for me, and honestly I shouldn''t even feel guilty by doing so but I always had that internal anxiety. I stretched a bit after sitting up, slowly stood up, and headed to the door.