Nous Chapter 04
Chapter 04
Leliel again felt strangely distracted getting ready since his mind refused to move away from the strange dream he had. He was now convinced that it couldn’t be real. Sure, he had seen the campus and had felt the wind and solid ground under his feet but it was just too impossible. He had already established that he technically couldn’t leave. It must have just been a very convincing illusion.
He got ready for class without a word to his roommate, but Ipos was never very talkative during the morning hours so it didn’t make the other student suspicious.
Only Asha noticed the difference in Leliel’s mood. He lived in the next dorm down from theirs but he always managed to run in as another student was leaving so he could sit in the lobby area to wait for his friend. He was even more of a morning person that Asha and, for some reason, he always got up at least by six thirty in the morning for ‘practice’. He frowned toward Leliel as they walked to class.
“Hey, you need to listen. Stop just staring off into space like that. This is important…”
He was getting tired of Asha’s mood to the point where even Leliel was certain he’d end up blowing up at his friend sooner rather than later.
“What is it? We’re on the way to class. Can’t you stop talking about that Club for two minutes. It’s been giving me the strangest dreams…”
His friend cocked his head curiously to the side but Leliel refused to elaborate. Asha sighed and moved in front of Leliel so that he couldn’t go further without altering his path. The young man pulled out a card from his pocket and held it toward to him.
“I got this after I said bye to you at the dorm yesterday. You’re officially in. This is your contact card so you can get in touch with the Principal Player responsible for your Suite.”
Leliel sighed, unable to really fathom why Asha wanted to torture him like this. If he made such vague statements he was intentionally piquing Leleil’s curiosity so that he had no other choice but to ask.
“Suites?”
“Just look at the card before asking any more questions.”
He took the item from Asha. The card was silver-white and not made of paper, but something more like metal. There was the image of a sword and script text with King of Swords Suite written in larger print. The letters directly under the large title read Duelist 2 of Swords.
“King of Swords? You mean like the card?”
“I knew you’d get it right away. It’s tradition. From the start they split the Duelists up into Suites. They’re numbered, like the cards from 2 to 10 and the leaders all bear the actual titles. Pretty neat, huh?”
Leliel put the card in his pocket and his hand immediately went to the pin on his collar. He hadn’t gone to the trouble of taking it off his jacket that morning and he felt even if he had tried, he wouldn’t have been able to get the will up to do so. It had a supernatural hold over him.
“I guess that makes sense…but aren’t there Kings, Queens and Jacks for all the suites?”
“In cards, yeah. But that would require them to have way too many Principal Players so they keep it to one per suite.”
“So where do you belong?”
“Heh. I’m glad you asked.”
Asha pulled out a similar card from his pocket but his was red and felt almost like cloth under Leliel’s fingers. The font was the same as his own but the sign at the top was a rose with a shape that vaguely resembled a heart.
“Queen of Hearts Suite…Duelist 5 of Hearts.”
“Awesome, right?”
“Seems a little girly.”
Asha puffed his cheeks in disapproval of his friend’s opinion.
“You only say that cuz you don’t know who’s in charge of the Hearts Suite. All the guys want to be in Neme’s Suite.”
He started, taken completely surprised by the particular young woman Asha named.
“You mean Neme Estros? Of class 3?”
He smiled arrogantly. “You bet. She’s the Queen of Hearts and quite a capable duelist.”
His words rendered Leliel temporarily speechless. There were a few famous students from any of the three classes and Neme Estros was one of the top five. She was involved not only in student activities but she also assisted several teachers in Alighieri. Leliel wanted to ask more but the bells started ringing then, leaving the two students to run to class.
Leliel’s first period was the only class that he really liked, philosophy. It was also one of only two classes he had with Karta Jensen. Asha teased his friend endlessly about her but Leliel wasn’t quite sure how he felt. He knew he liked her, he was just unsure if it was a strange sort of admiration or love. She was quite popular among their class and very cute, physically. She was petite, about an inch shorter than Asha, and had long crimson hair that was in lovely contrast to her pale skin and dark eyes.
She noticed Leliel at the oddest times and that morning was one of them. He sat diagonally behind her and the moment he ducked into his seat, under the disapproving eye of their teacher, she immediately turned and gave him a smile. He felt his stomach drop a bit as he noticed, oddly for the first time, that she had a butterfly pin on her ribbon.
“I wanted to unofficially welcome you to the Game.”
He took her words in stride, “thanks. I had no idea you were a Duelist too…”
“No one seems to notice until they get the pin. I’ve heard it’s some sort of clever illusion.”
That would make sense. Nothing surprised Leliel any longer after the day he had just had.
“I guess…”
“So when is your introductory meeting?”
“Meeting?”
Karta messed with the end of her hair and gave Asha, who sat right at the front, a rather tired look.
“He was supposed to tell you about that. Since you’re new you need to meet the Principal Players, especially the one in charge of your Suite. Your initial contact is supposed to set it up…which would be…”
“Ashavan. He’s been an airhead all week so I wouldn’t be surprised if he just forgot,” Leliel said.
“That’s too bad. If you get challenged the there could be trouble.”
That piqued Leliel’s interest. Their teacher had already started the lesson but, for the first time in awhile, his mind was too distracted to focus in. The man at the board didn’t seem to notice Karta. Or perhaps he just didn’t care.
“Do you think I’m likely to get-“
“Mr. Demir.”
Or maybe he had noticed after all.
“Uh...yes sir?” Leliel asked, startled.
“What’s that look for? I just asked you to pick up the assignments. Do not have yours?”
He got to his feet as though his chair had given him an electric shock. Leliel shook his head and managed a smile and he fished his finished paper out of his bag. He glanced toward Karta again as he passed her desk and took her paper but she was stubbornly fixed to her notes after that and didn’t look at him again for the rest of the period. Leliel figured that was her own personal decision, not any sort of paranoia about getting in trouble with the teacher. He really hadn’t noticed them talking after all. Even Asha was strangely quiet about some of this Dueling stuff, even though Leliel was technically a part of it now. It was just the nature of the thing.
At the end of the period, though, as she was getting up to exit the classroom through the back doors, Karta stopped beside Leliel’s seat and she put her hand on his shoulder. The student felt her nails acutely, digging into his shoulder as she squeezed it and gave him a bright smile.
“I’m glad you’ve joined though. I’ll look forward to seeing you around more.”
He smiled back, feeling better now that she had acknowledged his existence again, but it was short lived as he suddenly felt someone’s eyes on him. Leliel glanced around toward the source but there were too many students getting up to leave, blocking his sight from the area of concern. He sighed, pulling at his hair compulsively at the end to straighten it, and he threw his books into his bag.
“Asha,” Leliel called just as his friend went out the front door without him. His behavior really was getting erratic. He exited the room and turned left to see where his friend had gone but he must have moved fast because Asha wasn’t in sight by the time Leliel looked.
“Hey! Leliel Demir!”
“What now?” Leliel muttered, turning to the right. He stepped immediately back as the person who had hailed him was suddenly right in his personal space, standing only about two inches away.
The stranger smiled. He was Leliel’s own height but there was something about him that made him seem about fifteen feet taller. He wore his uniform with his shirt unzipped right at the top and his jacket’s collar was have bent around the back. The young man also wore a red and black bandanna over his spiked back, bright green hair, defying uniform regulations. Naturally, he had a humorously mischievous expression on his face.
“Leliel Demir?”
“…Yeah…”
“Great. Come with me.”
Without further conversation, the young man grabbed Leliel’s arm at the wrist and he proceeded to drag him along. Leliel was initially shocked but then struggled toget his arm free of this unknown student’s grip. He knew it was about Dueling, but he didn’t like being dragged around like an unwilling dog either.
“Hey! Hold it a minute. Who the hell are you?” Leliel demanded.
“Me? Don’t you go to the soccer games? I’m the goalie.”
“Uh…”
“Think soccer’s boring? Gee. Way to boost a guy’s confidence…”
“I..uh…never said that.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Look, I didn’t even know we HAD a soccer team…”
“We don’t. Well, not technically. There are no other schools to compete with but…we have our own games.”
“…”
“Oh. But you wanted to know who I am. Here.”
For the third time, Leliel held another of the Dueling cards. This one was black, felt unmistakably like plastic, and held the words: Jack of Spades. There was a spade illustrated though it was rather modern and sharp-looking to Leliel’s eyes.
“Muriel Auer. The Jack of Spades.”
“So you’re one of those Principal Players?”
Muriel gave him a phony salute, putting his hand briefly toward his bandanna and then turning to exit the building.
“You’ve got it. One of three...well…more like three of three.”
“But there are four suites in playing cards.”
He merely shrugged. “Ace’s absent right now.”
Muriel was clearly getting a bit fed up with their slow pace as he grabbed Leliel again and started jogging toward the center of campus. They stopped in front of the faculty building, where they apparently had most of their offices. Normal students were allowed inside but only with a pass by their designated teacher. That was why Leliel was somewhat surprised when the guard just waved them both in after seeing Muriel.
“We have our headquarters in this building. It’s easier since normal students aren’t allowed in. So FYI, if you’re not with one of us then they won’t let you in even if you are a Duelist.”
Leliel attempted to take his arm back since they were inside but Muriel merely pulled him harder, nearly dislocating his arm at one point as he mumbled something about people not being grateful for his escort. They went up about five flights of stairs, which was much harder than it had to be with Muriel’s attempt to take them three at a time, and then made a frightening number of rights and lefts before he finally settled on a door.
“We’ve arrived,” Muriel yelled, sliding his id card in the holder and then opening the door. Leliel’s jaw dropped open the moment he got a look inside.
The room was huge, about as a big as a ballroom yet there was barely any furniture inside, just a set of chairs, a couch, and a table near the balcony. The building had tall ceilings so even the third floor felt rather high up off the ground. He could see over the top of the nearest building from where he stood, glancing at the grand windows. There was a girl inside, sitting at the table drinking tea with a book in front of her.
She was beautiful. It was a simple word but seemingly not enough to describe her. Neme’s soft blonde hair was straight and not the least bit out of place, framing her refined face. She had curious pink eyes and red lips as well, making her the perfect picture for ‘Queen of Hearts’.
The young woman looked up the moment they entered with a frown and she put down her tea cup before taking another sip.
“Honestly, Muriel, do you have to yell every time you’re coming in. I think that you’re presence is more or less inevitable since I can hear the door opening…and you coming down the hall…and in the stairs…just about anywhere really.”
Muriel took her criticism in stride and the door shut behind them as he pushed Leliel out of the doorway and into the room. He stumbled a few steps and then caught his balance, straightening easily.
“Whatever. I brought Pinky and that’s what you wanted so at least give me a little credit, Nemesis,” he said.
Neme reddened, “DON’T call me by my full name.”
“Did you just call me Pinky?” Leliel interrupted.
Muriel chuckled and he rested his hands behind his head, stretching them lazily.
“Yeah. You have pink hair. I noticed that about you before I had any cause to know who you are. It’s natural, right?”
Leliel’s eye twitched, “of course it’s natural. You think I’d willingly look like this? And I don’t prefer to call it ‘pink’ but an alternate shade of white…”
“Yeah. With some red in it. Y’know what white and red make? Pink.”
“Urrrgh…”
“Muriel, don’t hassle our new member. You’re going to make him quit before he’s even had a chance to start.”
The student Leliel guessed was the King of Swords entered the room from the balcony area. He had been hidden by the inner wall before so his entrance was rather effective, drawing the eyes of both Leliel and Muriel in his direction.
Eligos Laine was famous like Neme, and he was also conspicuously good looking. Leliel wondered what it was about people he was meeting lately and their height, because he was also far above average. He had a handsome face, short but stylish grey hair, and ice blue eyes behind narrow-framed glasses. He looked ridiculously good in them, unlike just about any other bespectacled student on campus. He was famous in music. Specifically, for being one of the best violinists in the nation.
“Eligos Laine. I can’t say I’m surprised,” Leliel said.
Eligos smiled but it seemed almost sterile. “Really? I find it amusing that a simple musician receives so much attention. This is a private school but still…”
The silence stretched out between them as Eligos finished crossing the floor. Neme got to her feet too and she slowly smoothed out the folds of her dress and waited by the end of the table.
“I officially welcome you to the Dueling Game, Leliel Demir.” Eligos said, shaking the other student’s hand. He kept contact as short a time as possible and then moved across the room toward the table where Neme waited. Muriel yawned and made a shooing motion at Leliel, telling him to follow.
The new Duelist casually made his way across the floor where Neme held her hand out to him. He almost felt like it was more appropriate to get down on knee and kiss it but the look on her face clearly spoke her opinion about men catering to women. He elected to shake her hand instead and his reward was a half-smile of amusement.
“Nice to meet you. Would you prefer me to call you Leliel or Demir?” she asked.
“Leliel’s fine.”
“Then you may call me Neme.”
He almost said ‘not Nemesis?’ just for effect but a part of Leliel was actually a bit frightened of her when she was angry. He sat down at the chair next to Neme and looked over at Eligos, who was pouring tea for himself.
“You’d best settle in, Leliel. We’ve got quite a number of topics to cover so that you’re fairly in the know about the Dueling Game,” he started.
“That’s great but…uh, may I ask something first?” Leliel asked.
That puzzled Eligos a bit. He raised an eyebrow and set his cup gently down on its plate.
“…Go ahead.”
“Is there a…well…memorable guy with long black hair in the Dueling Game?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Uh…it’s hard to explain but I saw someone else up there…”
Neme shook her head. “Did you get a name?”
“No. It’s stupid, really, but I saw him in the…uh arena…he said he comes at night.”
There was a long silence. Leliel could almost hear the ‘he’s crazy’ running through both of their heads. Eligor finally spoke up.
“It’s impossible. I don’t know where you might have heard that…or how really. But the clocktower’s elevator doesn’t function after eight pm. It’s impossible for someone to get up there.”
“And while your description was vague, no particular Duelist comes to mind,” Neme added.
“Sorry. Forget I asked,” Leliel said, glancing down at the table to avoid meeting their eyes while the mutually awkward moment passed. So it was a dream after all since, if anyone, these two would know the man he saw the night before.
“Anyway, let us discuss what we actually brought you here for…”
13,612 / 50,000
(27.2%)
Leliel again felt strangely distracted getting ready since his mind refused to move away from the strange dream he had. He was now convinced that it couldn’t be real. Sure, he had seen the campus and had felt the wind and solid ground under his feet but it was just too impossible. He had already established that he technically couldn’t leave. It must have just been a very convincing illusion.
He got ready for class without a word to his roommate, but Ipos was never very talkative during the morning hours so it didn’t make the other student suspicious.
Only Asha noticed the difference in Leliel’s mood. He lived in the next dorm down from theirs but he always managed to run in as another student was leaving so he could sit in the lobby area to wait for his friend. He was even more of a morning person that Asha and, for some reason, he always got up at least by six thirty in the morning for ‘practice’. He frowned toward Leliel as they walked to class.
“Hey, you need to listen. Stop just staring off into space like that. This is important…”
He was getting tired of Asha’s mood to the point where even Leliel was certain he’d end up blowing up at his friend sooner rather than later.
“What is it? We’re on the way to class. Can’t you stop talking about that Club for two minutes. It’s been giving me the strangest dreams…”
His friend cocked his head curiously to the side but Leliel refused to elaborate. Asha sighed and moved in front of Leliel so that he couldn’t go further without altering his path. The young man pulled out a card from his pocket and held it toward to him.
“I got this after I said bye to you at the dorm yesterday. You’re officially in. This is your contact card so you can get in touch with the Principal Player responsible for your Suite.”
Leliel sighed, unable to really fathom why Asha wanted to torture him like this. If he made such vague statements he was intentionally piquing Leleil’s curiosity so that he had no other choice but to ask.
“Suites?”
“Just look at the card before asking any more questions.”
He took the item from Asha. The card was silver-white and not made of paper, but something more like metal. There was the image of a sword and script text with King of Swords Suite written in larger print. The letters directly under the large title read Duelist 2 of Swords.
“King of Swords? You mean like the card?”
“I knew you’d get it right away. It’s tradition. From the start they split the Duelists up into Suites. They’re numbered, like the cards from 2 to 10 and the leaders all bear the actual titles. Pretty neat, huh?”
Leliel put the card in his pocket and his hand immediately went to the pin on his collar. He hadn’t gone to the trouble of taking it off his jacket that morning and he felt even if he had tried, he wouldn’t have been able to get the will up to do so. It had a supernatural hold over him.
“I guess that makes sense…but aren’t there Kings, Queens and Jacks for all the suites?”
“In cards, yeah. But that would require them to have way too many Principal Players so they keep it to one per suite.”
“So where do you belong?”
“Heh. I’m glad you asked.”
Asha pulled out a similar card from his pocket but his was red and felt almost like cloth under Leliel’s fingers. The font was the same as his own but the sign at the top was a rose with a shape that vaguely resembled a heart.
“Queen of Hearts Suite…Duelist 5 of Hearts.”
“Awesome, right?”
“Seems a little girly.”
Asha puffed his cheeks in disapproval of his friend’s opinion.
“You only say that cuz you don’t know who’s in charge of the Hearts Suite. All the guys want to be in Neme’s Suite.”
He started, taken completely surprised by the particular young woman Asha named.
“You mean Neme Estros? Of class 3?”
He smiled arrogantly. “You bet. She’s the Queen of Hearts and quite a capable duelist.”
His words rendered Leliel temporarily speechless. There were a few famous students from any of the three classes and Neme Estros was one of the top five. She was involved not only in student activities but she also assisted several teachers in Alighieri. Leliel wanted to ask more but the bells started ringing then, leaving the two students to run to class.
Leliel’s first period was the only class that he really liked, philosophy. It was also one of only two classes he had with Karta Jensen. Asha teased his friend endlessly about her but Leliel wasn’t quite sure how he felt. He knew he liked her, he was just unsure if it was a strange sort of admiration or love. She was quite popular among their class and very cute, physically. She was petite, about an inch shorter than Asha, and had long crimson hair that was in lovely contrast to her pale skin and dark eyes.
She noticed Leliel at the oddest times and that morning was one of them. He sat diagonally behind her and the moment he ducked into his seat, under the disapproving eye of their teacher, she immediately turned and gave him a smile. He felt his stomach drop a bit as he noticed, oddly for the first time, that she had a butterfly pin on her ribbon.
“I wanted to unofficially welcome you to the Game.”
He took her words in stride, “thanks. I had no idea you were a Duelist too…”
“No one seems to notice until they get the pin. I’ve heard it’s some sort of clever illusion.”
That would make sense. Nothing surprised Leliel any longer after the day he had just had.
“I guess…”
“So when is your introductory meeting?”
“Meeting?”
Karta messed with the end of her hair and gave Asha, who sat right at the front, a rather tired look.
“He was supposed to tell you about that. Since you’re new you need to meet the Principal Players, especially the one in charge of your Suite. Your initial contact is supposed to set it up…which would be…”
“Ashavan. He’s been an airhead all week so I wouldn’t be surprised if he just forgot,” Leliel said.
“That’s too bad. If you get challenged the there could be trouble.”
That piqued Leliel’s interest. Their teacher had already started the lesson but, for the first time in awhile, his mind was too distracted to focus in. The man at the board didn’t seem to notice Karta. Or perhaps he just didn’t care.
“Do you think I’m likely to get-“
“Mr. Demir.”
Or maybe he had noticed after all.
“Uh...yes sir?” Leliel asked, startled.
“What’s that look for? I just asked you to pick up the assignments. Do not have yours?”
He got to his feet as though his chair had given him an electric shock. Leliel shook his head and managed a smile and he fished his finished paper out of his bag. He glanced toward Karta again as he passed her desk and took her paper but she was stubbornly fixed to her notes after that and didn’t look at him again for the rest of the period. Leliel figured that was her own personal decision, not any sort of paranoia about getting in trouble with the teacher. He really hadn’t noticed them talking after all. Even Asha was strangely quiet about some of this Dueling stuff, even though Leliel was technically a part of it now. It was just the nature of the thing.
At the end of the period, though, as she was getting up to exit the classroom through the back doors, Karta stopped beside Leliel’s seat and she put her hand on his shoulder. The student felt her nails acutely, digging into his shoulder as she squeezed it and gave him a bright smile.
“I’m glad you’ve joined though. I’ll look forward to seeing you around more.”
He smiled back, feeling better now that she had acknowledged his existence again, but it was short lived as he suddenly felt someone’s eyes on him. Leliel glanced around toward the source but there were too many students getting up to leave, blocking his sight from the area of concern. He sighed, pulling at his hair compulsively at the end to straighten it, and he threw his books into his bag.
“Asha,” Leliel called just as his friend went out the front door without him. His behavior really was getting erratic. He exited the room and turned left to see where his friend had gone but he must have moved fast because Asha wasn’t in sight by the time Leliel looked.
“Hey! Leliel Demir!”
“What now?” Leliel muttered, turning to the right. He stepped immediately back as the person who had hailed him was suddenly right in his personal space, standing only about two inches away.
The stranger smiled. He was Leliel’s own height but there was something about him that made him seem about fifteen feet taller. He wore his uniform with his shirt unzipped right at the top and his jacket’s collar was have bent around the back. The young man also wore a red and black bandanna over his spiked back, bright green hair, defying uniform regulations. Naturally, he had a humorously mischievous expression on his face.
“Leliel Demir?”
“…Yeah…”
“Great. Come with me.”
Without further conversation, the young man grabbed Leliel’s arm at the wrist and he proceeded to drag him along. Leliel was initially shocked but then struggled toget his arm free of this unknown student’s grip. He knew it was about Dueling, but he didn’t like being dragged around like an unwilling dog either.
“Hey! Hold it a minute. Who the hell are you?” Leliel demanded.
“Me? Don’t you go to the soccer games? I’m the goalie.”
“Uh…”
“Think soccer’s boring? Gee. Way to boost a guy’s confidence…”
“I..uh…never said that.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Look, I didn’t even know we HAD a soccer team…”
“We don’t. Well, not technically. There are no other schools to compete with but…we have our own games.”
“…”
“Oh. But you wanted to know who I am. Here.”
For the third time, Leliel held another of the Dueling cards. This one was black, felt unmistakably like plastic, and held the words: Jack of Spades. There was a spade illustrated though it was rather modern and sharp-looking to Leliel’s eyes.
“Muriel Auer. The Jack of Spades.”
“So you’re one of those Principal Players?”
Muriel gave him a phony salute, putting his hand briefly toward his bandanna and then turning to exit the building.
“You’ve got it. One of three...well…more like three of three.”
“But there are four suites in playing cards.”
He merely shrugged. “Ace’s absent right now.”
Muriel was clearly getting a bit fed up with their slow pace as he grabbed Leliel again and started jogging toward the center of campus. They stopped in front of the faculty building, where they apparently had most of their offices. Normal students were allowed inside but only with a pass by their designated teacher. That was why Leliel was somewhat surprised when the guard just waved them both in after seeing Muriel.
“We have our headquarters in this building. It’s easier since normal students aren’t allowed in. So FYI, if you’re not with one of us then they won’t let you in even if you are a Duelist.”
Leliel attempted to take his arm back since they were inside but Muriel merely pulled him harder, nearly dislocating his arm at one point as he mumbled something about people not being grateful for his escort. They went up about five flights of stairs, which was much harder than it had to be with Muriel’s attempt to take them three at a time, and then made a frightening number of rights and lefts before he finally settled on a door.
“We’ve arrived,” Muriel yelled, sliding his id card in the holder and then opening the door. Leliel’s jaw dropped open the moment he got a look inside.
The room was huge, about as a big as a ballroom yet there was barely any furniture inside, just a set of chairs, a couch, and a table near the balcony. The building had tall ceilings so even the third floor felt rather high up off the ground. He could see over the top of the nearest building from where he stood, glancing at the grand windows. There was a girl inside, sitting at the table drinking tea with a book in front of her.
She was beautiful. It was a simple word but seemingly not enough to describe her. Neme’s soft blonde hair was straight and not the least bit out of place, framing her refined face. She had curious pink eyes and red lips as well, making her the perfect picture for ‘Queen of Hearts’.
The young woman looked up the moment they entered with a frown and she put down her tea cup before taking another sip.
“Honestly, Muriel, do you have to yell every time you’re coming in. I think that you’re presence is more or less inevitable since I can hear the door opening…and you coming down the hall…and in the stairs…just about anywhere really.”
Muriel took her criticism in stride and the door shut behind them as he pushed Leliel out of the doorway and into the room. He stumbled a few steps and then caught his balance, straightening easily.
“Whatever. I brought Pinky and that’s what you wanted so at least give me a little credit, Nemesis,” he said.
Neme reddened, “DON’T call me by my full name.”
“Did you just call me Pinky?” Leliel interrupted.
Muriel chuckled and he rested his hands behind his head, stretching them lazily.
“Yeah. You have pink hair. I noticed that about you before I had any cause to know who you are. It’s natural, right?”
Leliel’s eye twitched, “of course it’s natural. You think I’d willingly look like this? And I don’t prefer to call it ‘pink’ but an alternate shade of white…”
“Yeah. With some red in it. Y’know what white and red make? Pink.”
“Urrrgh…”
“Muriel, don’t hassle our new member. You’re going to make him quit before he’s even had a chance to start.”
The student Leliel guessed was the King of Swords entered the room from the balcony area. He had been hidden by the inner wall before so his entrance was rather effective, drawing the eyes of both Leliel and Muriel in his direction.
Eligos Laine was famous like Neme, and he was also conspicuously good looking. Leliel wondered what it was about people he was meeting lately and their height, because he was also far above average. He had a handsome face, short but stylish grey hair, and ice blue eyes behind narrow-framed glasses. He looked ridiculously good in them, unlike just about any other bespectacled student on campus. He was famous in music. Specifically, for being one of the best violinists in the nation.
“Eligos Laine. I can’t say I’m surprised,” Leliel said.
Eligos smiled but it seemed almost sterile. “Really? I find it amusing that a simple musician receives so much attention. This is a private school but still…”
The silence stretched out between them as Eligos finished crossing the floor. Neme got to her feet too and she slowly smoothed out the folds of her dress and waited by the end of the table.
“I officially welcome you to the Dueling Game, Leliel Demir.” Eligos said, shaking the other student’s hand. He kept contact as short a time as possible and then moved across the room toward the table where Neme waited. Muriel yawned and made a shooing motion at Leliel, telling him to follow.
The new Duelist casually made his way across the floor where Neme held her hand out to him. He almost felt like it was more appropriate to get down on knee and kiss it but the look on her face clearly spoke her opinion about men catering to women. He elected to shake her hand instead and his reward was a half-smile of amusement.
“Nice to meet you. Would you prefer me to call you Leliel or Demir?” she asked.
“Leliel’s fine.”
“Then you may call me Neme.”
He almost said ‘not Nemesis?’ just for effect but a part of Leliel was actually a bit frightened of her when she was angry. He sat down at the chair next to Neme and looked over at Eligos, who was pouring tea for himself.
“You’d best settle in, Leliel. We’ve got quite a number of topics to cover so that you’re fairly in the know about the Dueling Game,” he started.
“That’s great but…uh, may I ask something first?” Leliel asked.
That puzzled Eligos a bit. He raised an eyebrow and set his cup gently down on its plate.
“…Go ahead.”
“Is there a…well…memorable guy with long black hair in the Dueling Game?”
“…What do you mean?”
“Uh…it’s hard to explain but I saw someone else up there…”
Neme shook her head. “Did you get a name?”
“No. It’s stupid, really, but I saw him in the…uh arena…he said he comes at night.”
There was a long silence. Leliel could almost hear the ‘he’s crazy’ running through both of their heads. Eligor finally spoke up.
“It’s impossible. I don’t know where you might have heard that…or how really. But the clocktower’s elevator doesn’t function after eight pm. It’s impossible for someone to get up there.”
“And while your description was vague, no particular Duelist comes to mind,” Neme added.
“Sorry. Forget I asked,” Leliel said, glancing down at the table to avoid meeting their eyes while the mutually awkward moment passed. So it was a dream after all since, if anyone, these two would know the man he saw the night before.
“Anyway, let us discuss what we actually brought you here for…”
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