[ 15th June, 4PM, Ilsa ]
The final bell rang.
I was already packing my bag, ready to leave, ready to walk home, ready to escape the noise of normal students living normal lives.
The chaos of the hallway awaited—laughter and shouting and the beautiful, irritating sound of people who had nothing to fear.
Then a hand grabbed my arm.
"Come on. Library. Studying."
Vjaret. Grinning like he'd just won something. Like dragging me somewhere was an achievement.
"I don't need—"
"Yes you do."
He was already pulling me toward the stairs, his grip surprisingly strong for someone who looked like he'd never held a weapon in his life.
"Exams are coming. Mini exams, but still exams. We're both failing if we don't study."
Failing.
The word bounced around my head.
In Aventic, failing meant death. Failing meant your team got wiped. Failing meant Dumans breached the perimeter and people died. Failing meant you didn't come home.
Here, failing just means... embarrassment? Lower grades? Disappointed parents?
I'll take embarrassment.
I'll take any of it.
Give me a world where failing just means a bad grade.
"Vjaret."
I tried to pull my arm back. "
I can study alone."
"Nope."
He didn't even slow down.
"Study buddies are more effective. It's science."
Science.
Right.
Because everything is science when you don't have to worry about survival.
When did we become that good friends?
He kept dragging. I let him.
Why am I letting him?
I don't know.
But here we are.
The library was huge.
I'd seen it before—walked past it, glanced inside—but never really looked at it.
Rows and rows of books stretched toward the ceiling, endless spines in every color.
Tables everywhere, most of them full. Students hunched over notes, whispering to each other, highlighting passages, stressing over things that didn't matter.
Things that didn't matter.
That's the whole point, isn't it?
Here, nothing matters enough to die over.
And that's beautiful.
The quiet was different here. Not like Aventic's silence—that tense, waiting quiet before a mission. That silence was alive. Predatory. The kind that meant something was about to go wrong.
This was focused. Productive. The kind of quiet that came from people choosing to concentrate instead of being forced to hide.
We found a corner table near the back. Away from most of the crowd. Vjaret dropped his bag with a thud, pulled out books, spread them across the surface like he was building a fortress of knowledge.
"Okay."
He sat down heavily.
"Let's do this."
I sat across from him.
Pulled out my own materials.
History. Geography. Literature. Subjects I'd barely paid attention to in Aventic because there was always something more important to learn—like which angle to swing a blade to decapitate a Star Class Duman, or how to identify a Demon Class by the pattern of its horns, or which organs to stab for maximum effect with minimal effort.
He didn't study.
He talked.
"Did I ever tell you about the time I set the chemistry lab on fire?"
I looked up from my book.
"You set the lab on fire?"
"Accidentally."
He paused.
"Mostly."
"How do you 'mostly accidentally' set something on fire?"
He grinned. That same grin from our first meeting. Easy. Confident. Completely unbothered by the chaos he apparently created.
"Long story. Involves a crush, a failed experiment, and a very angry teacher."
"A crush?"
"Yeah. The girl I liked. She was in my chemistry group. I wanted to impress her."
"By setting things on fire?"
"By making a cool reaction! Something with pretty colors and smoke. It was supposed to be controlled."
Controlled.
Famous last words.
"What happened?"
"The reaction wasn't controlled. At all. Suddenly there were flames everywhere. The teacher had to use the emergency extinguisher. The whole class had to evacuate."
I stared at him.
"And the girl?"
"She transferred schools."
He shrugged.
"Didn't work out."
Crush. Experiment. Fire. Evacuation. Transfer.
Only here.
Only in a world where consequences don't include death.
I shook my head.
But I was smiling.
Twenty minutes passed.
We'd covered maybe two pages of material.
He'd told me four stories.
I'd laughed at two of them.
Productive.
"Okay."
He leaned back. Stretched his arms over his head.
"This is working."
"We've studied almost nothing."
"Studying is overrated."
He waved a hand dismissively.
"Bonding is important. Building friendship. Trust. Camaraderie."
Camaraderie.
That word hit harder than it should have.
I haven't heard that since Aventic.
Since Marcus.
Since before the jungle.
Since before everything went wrong.
Marcus used to talk about camaraderie. About how the team was family. About how we'd all have each other's backs no matter what.
Then the jungle happened.
Then the thing wearing his face started walking around.
Then camaraderie became just another word for lie.
"Nams?"
I blinked. Came back to the present.
Vjaret was watching me. His expression had shifted—less playful, more curious. Concerned, maybe.
"You spaced out again."
"Sorry."
"Don't be."
He shrugged.
"Happens. I do it too. Usually when Vkerna sir is talking about history. But yours seems... deeper."
Deeper.
That's one word for it.
"Just thinking."
"About?"
I hesitated. Thought about Marcus. About the thing wearing his face. About the girl with red eyes and the jungle full of death. About Angy's tears and Shenhe's silent watching and the cat named Mochi who'd apparently adopted us.
"Stuff," I said finally. "Complicated stuff."
He nodded. Didn't push.
"Okay. Stuff. I get it."
He doesn't get it.
He can't get it.
He's never seen a Duman. Never lost someone to something that shouldn't exist. Never had to wonder if the people around him are real.
But he was trying.
That was more than most people ever did.
"Hey, Vjaret?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"For what?"
"For not asking more."
He grinned.
"That's what friends are for. Sitting in silence. Not asking hard questions. Eating snacks."
He reached into his bag and pulled out a bag of something crunchy. Some kind of chips I'd never seen before. He ripped it open and offered it to me.
I took some.
We sat in silence, eating chips, surrounded by books we weren't reading.
Friends.
Is that what we are?
Is that what this feels like?
I thought about it. Really thought.
Maybe.
Maybe this is what friends do.
Sit together. Eat snacks. Not ask questions.
Just... exist together.
The chips were good. Salty. Crunchy. Nothing like the ration bars I'd eaten in Aventic.
"Nams?"
"Hmm?"
"Tomorrow. Same time. Same place. We're actually going to study."
"Sure."
"You're just saying that."
"Probably."
He laughed. Actually laughed. Loud enough that a girl at the next table shushed us.
He lowered his voice to a whisper.
"This is the start of something beautiful, Nams. I can feel it."
He can feel it.
Beautiful.
Or ridiculous.
Hard to tell anymore.
But I was smiling.
And for the first time in a long time—
It felt real.
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