"So bored...." Glynne muttered as he watched his classmates exchanged some light blows. The afternoon classes in St. Freya academy were allotted for practical lessons and training. It was as such that the students were given free rein to do whatever they wanted to do at this time of day.

However, once a week, the students were tasked to pit against one another in order for the instructors to see their progress. Such was the situation right now.

"Haah!" He watched the girl with a ponytail swing her sword in a powerful downward slash. It was a devastating attack but due to its long windup and predictable trajectory, her opponent was able to jump away to dodge.

Her opponent then closed the distance and brandished her two daggers. Unable to recover in time, the sword girl had no other choice but to be on defensive. Her opponent seized this opportunity to chain multiple slashes in order to keep her in check.

Glynne lost interest as the fight looked quite plain in his eyes. He moved his gaze to the other students and noticed that they too seemed to be distracted to watch the fight as they just chat with their friends or busy with their phones.

Glynne couldn't help but sigh deeply. With nothing much else to do and no one to talk to, he was understandably bored. As the tapped his foot in frustration, he tried to hold back his urge to join in the matches.

Unfortunately, he was exempted not because this was his first day but because he simply doesn't have any sparring partner. He can't just pair up with the Valkyries since it felt like it would be unfair.

As we wondered what he should do to pass the time, his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket. He brought it out and look what was it, only to smile when he noticed it was a message from someone with a yellow teddy bear as a profile.

[Heyya! How's first day of school?]

Glynne furrowed his eyebrows and he thought what to reply to her.

[So far so good, nothing much happened.]

After sending his message, a reply comes in after waiting for a few seconds.

[You messed up, didn't you?]

Glynne paused; he didn't thought that he would get found out so easily.

[... How did you know?]

[Ah, so I was right!]

It was then he realized that he got baited. He couldn't help but scratch his head for falling such an obvious trap. He got silent for a while but his phone kept on vibrating with the constant flood of messages.

[Hey, what happened?]

[Tell me! Tell me!]

[Come on now, don't be shy!]

[Geez, it's too late having secrets now]

[*Gasp* Did you bump into some twin-tailed girl while running late for class?]

Glynne massaged his temple as he wondered what to do with this situation. Human curiosity was one hard thing to handle especially with this friend of his. In the end, he opted for that certain strategy.

[Ah, teacher is calling for me.]

Another reply came immediately.

[Ah, don't try to run away!]

[Grrr, fine I'll stop asking for now but you better tell me later!]

His friend then send a pouting yellow stuffed bear.

[I'll keep it in mind.]

He cheered a bit inside his head for successfully putting the topic off for later. Now the only step left was to play ignorant later.

"Hey, you!" As Glynne was busy with his phone, he heard someone in front of him. He looked up to see a strawberry-blonde haired girl as she glared at him with her sharp crimson eyes. That said, Glynne got more distracted with her hair that was styled in a way that looks like a croissant he saw in the bakery this morning. He quickly snapped himself out before a drool could come out of his mouth.

"Can I help you with something?" Glynne asked while carefully observing her.

"How did you get in?" The girl said while crossing her arms.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Glynne tilted his head. "I just walked in."

"Do you think I am joking!" the girl exclaimed. "St. Freya Academy is a prestigious school for Valkyries. I do not see any reason for a man like you to be admitted here."

"Ah, you mean that." Glynne hit his palm in realization. "Well I got a recommendation."

"Heh, nice try." The girl scoffed. "Who in the right mind would give you a recommendation?"

"I know, right?" Glynne responded. "I said the same thing to Theresa but she still did it anyway."

The girl then opened her eyes widely as she did a double take if she heard it right. "B-by Theresa, y-you mean..."

"Ah right, I guess I should properly address her as Principal Theresa when I'm in this school." Glynne muttered. He then shifted his focus back to the girl with a croissant hair and noticed her angry expression.

"H-how extremely shameless!" The girl shouted. "Not only did you tell an obvious lie but to use the name of the principal, there is a limit to how shameless you can be!"

Faced with such an angry girl, Glynne seemed quite calm. Rather, he seemed to be quite amused by the display. "What I said is the truth though."

"YOU—"

"Ah, there you are!" As the croissant girl was in the verge of exploding, a sudden voice interrupted her. They look to where the voice came from to see Kiana approaching. "I've been looking everywhere for— Geh, Elena."

When Kiana saw who the person in front of Glynne was, she can't help but quickly go in a defensive stance. Reason being was the armband pinned on the girl's sleeve that read public morals committee. Kiana doesn't really mix well with the people belonging to the public morals committee, that was especially so with the person in front of her.

"Kaslana, huh." The girl with croissant hair, Elena, muttered in disdain. However, she didn't have the time and patience right now to deal with her so she shifted her attention back to Glynne and pointed at him. "Listen here scoundrel, do not get too comfortable. If I ever caught you doing something dubious, I swear on my name that I will personally kick you out!"

"I keep that in mind." Glynne replied casually as he seemed to be not taking her threat seriously. This just further ticked Elena off but decided to not fall for his provocations and just left with a harrumph.

"Geez, what's with her?" With Elena gone, Kiana expressed her dissatisfaction and move closer to Glynne.

"Not sure either." Glynne shrugged his shoulders. "By the way, why are you looking for me?"

"Hm?" Kiana look at him for a second but quickly remembered what her main purpose before the presence of Elena distracted her. "Ah, right! It's about yesterday's talk."

"Ah, about that huh." Glynne said as he recalled what happened yesterday.

"What? Did you forget already?" Kiana asked while narrowing her eyes.

"Not really?" Glynne replied. "Just that I thought it would be after class, that's all."

"Well, I unexpectedly got the confirmation after all." Kiana commented as Glynne look at her with curiosity.

"Confirmation?" The boy asked as Kiana nodded her head.

"I thought that a spar might be a bit unfair, you know." Kiana remarked. "That's why I thought why not compete in a shooting contest to make it fair, but then I thought that shooting stationary object might be a bit boring."

"Oh" Glynne seemed to be impressed by her consideration as the corner of his lips curved upwards. Although he disliked being underestimated, not like he could do anything about it right now.

"That's why I thought of using the simulation room and consulted Himeko about it." Kiana continued. "Unexpectedly, she gave the permission right away and said that we could use right now. The rest is as you can see."

"I see..." Glynne nodded with Kiana explanation. However, he couldn't help but think of the reason why Himeko would immediately give a permission to use a special room. However, he quickly shook his head to dispel his thoughts. Whatever her reason might be, he's sure that she did't mean to cause any harm.

"Shall we go then?" Kiana asked.

"Well, not like I have anything else to do here." Glynne said as he stood up.

The two of them proceed to the area where the simulation room was located.

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

"Hm?" As Mei was done with her training and was about to go to rest, she noticed a crowd in front of the simulation room. She remembered that there were no scheduled classes for it today so she approached it curiously.

"Ah, Big sister Mei, here." Mei got spotted by a silvered hair girl and beckoned for her.

"What's happening here, Bronya?" Mei asked while looking around.

"Kiana-idiotka decided to harass the new kid."

"That isn't like that at all!" As Bronya explained what's happening to Mei, she immediately got retorted by Kiana who happened to be passing by.

"Is this true, Kiana?" Mei questioned the white-haired girl.

"No, it's a lie!" Kiana immediately replied. "This is simply a friendly competition, that's all."

"But according to intel Bronya had gathered, the loser of the competition has to obey one of winner's request as punishment." Bronya's remark immediately made Mei look at Kiana with disappointment.

"W-wait, please hear me out first!" Kiana got flustered as she immediately tried to explain the situation. "I only suggested that for encouragement. Even if I win, I would only ask of him to treat me for lunch!"

"Kiana..." However, Kiana's excuse made not only Mei but also Bronya looked at her with further disappointment. As her friends, the two knew Kiana's eating habits. It is to say, such simple request will turn into a nightmare.

"Urk..." Being pressured by her friend's heavy gazes, Kiana can't help but groan. "T-then, how about this. I'll just ask him to do a hundred push-ups?"

"Then it wouldn't be a punishment." A sudden voice joined in as they look to see Glynne approaching. The boy just can't keep quiet after he overheard the girl's conversation. "If you plan to go easy on me, then beating you wouldn't be very satisfying."

"Huh?!" Kiana was visibly ticked off from Glynne's confident comment. "You talk like you have the chance to beat me!"

"Well, the chances aren't zero." Glynne said with a smirk.

"Uhm Glynne, I think you should stop pr—"

"You're on then!" When Mei tried to give an advice to Glynne, she got interrupted by Kiana's declaration. "Don't you ever regret it if you lose."

"Good, that's what I'm looking for." Glynne nodded in satisfaction. "Anyways, Himeko has been calling for you. She said that the simulation room is ready."

"Ah, I forgot... I'll be going now, Mei. Please, cheer on me!" Kiana said as she quickly left, leaving Glynne with her friends.

"Uhm, Glynne..." As Glynne as about to follow, he was suddenly called by Mei. "Uhmmm... I know that you don't plan to lose but well... uhhh..."

Seeing her trying to find her words, Glynne couldn't help but soften his expressions. "I appreciate your concern Mei, but let me tell you one thing. Just watch."

"That's...," Mei was speechless with the black-haired boy's confidence but strangely, she felt like it wasn't unfounded.

"Mn, go and beat Kiana-idiotka." Bronya cheered and raised her fist. Although, Glynne found it quite strange that she's cheering for the opposite team rather than her friend. That said, he can't help but chuckle.

"Thanks..." he said and put his hand over Bronya's head. The gesture made Bronya flinched as Glynne noticed his mistake and quickly retracted his hand. "Ah, sorry... It just for some reason I felt like I just had to."

Bronya shook her head. "Mhn, Bronya does not mind."

"I-I see." Though the girl said that she didn't mind it, Glynne still thought that it wasn't right. "Anyways, I also had to go now."

Glynne bid farewell to the two and followed where Kiana went. As he left, Bronya didn't remove her gaze at his back.

=========================

Claire: Hm? You are quite in a good mood today?

Really, what made you think so?

Claire: Well there's the fact that you posted today despite you saying you plan to post after doing like 5 chapters first. Seriously, is today your special day or something?

Ah, well I guess you could say it like that.

Claire: Eh?....... Eh?! Wait, why didn't you tell me! I could've prepared a gift!

Well... You didn't ask.

Claire: That.... Uhm... But, you could have told me.

To be honest, I also forgot. My friends just reminded me.

Claire: Seriously... Sigh~ forget it... Well anyways, Thanks for reading!

Oh that, thanks for reading!

Claire: Perhaps I should do that later....