Joshua squatted on the earthen mound, clutching a piece of foxtail grass he had halfway pulled up, his gaze fixed on a nonexistent point on the ground.
...
“Percy.”
He didn't react.
“Percy!”
A wooden stick whacked the back of his head with considerable force. Joshua snapped back to his senses and looked up to see Glion standing before him, the stick still hovering in mid-air, his eyebrows arched high.
“If you mistake that training dummy for your white-haired friend one more time, I’ll tie you to the post and chop you instead!”
Several students from the Advanced Class in the training grounds stifled their laughter. Patrick leaned against the railing, his ribs still not fully healed, but his mouth hadn't stopped moving as he winked and smirked at Joshua. Joshua’s face turned red as he stood up and picked his wooden sword up off the ground.
“I’m sorry, Professor.”
“Think about how many times you’ve apologized to me today.” Glion pointed the wooden stick toward the rest area beside the mound. “Get over there and sit down! Don't come back until your vision stops blurring!”
Joshua didn't argue. He returned the wooden sword to the weapon rack and walked to the edge of the mound to sit. From this position, he could see the entire training grounds, as well as the small path outside the railing that led to the Magic Department. He stared at that path for a long time, watching people come and go, but not a single one was white-haired.
He hadn't seen Margarita for a week.
On the first day, he hadn't thought much of it. She was probably just angry and needed time to cool down. He planned to apologize once she wasn't as upset—about scouting outside the East Gate without permission, about keeping things from her, and about making her worry. He had worked out his phrasing and even practiced it twice against his dormitory wall.
On the second day, he went to the cafeteria and waited for an entire lunch hour at the window seat where she usually sat. She didn't show up. Lovell sat down across from him with her tray and asked what was wrong; he said it was nothing. After Lovell finished her meal, she asked if he had a stiff neck.
On the third day, he went to the Student Council office. Constance said Margarita hadn't been there. He went to the Magic Department building to look for her, but Irene, whom he passed in the hall, told him that all of Margarita’s classes were held in Instructor Clara’s office and he wouldn't find her in the public classrooms.
On the fourth day, he went to Clara’s office. The door was closed, and when he knocked, Clara’s voice came from inside: “Mister Joshua, Margarita isn't here today; she’s gone to practice.” Her tone was gentle, but she clearly had no intention of opening the door. He stood at the door and waited for fifteen minutes before finally leaving.
On the fifth day, he ran into Irene again at the cafeteria. Seeing him, Irene hesitated before walking over and whispering, “Your sister looked terrible when she left that day. I asked Instructor Clara later, and the Instructor said she missed her classes the next morning and spent the whole day in the dormitory.”
On the sixth day, even Lovell seemed off. She was quieter than usual during training, and she struck harder during their sparring sessions, nearly knocking the wooden sword out of her partner's hand at one point. Joshua asked her what was wrong, but she just said it was nothing and walked away.
On the seventh day—today—he finally couldn't take it anymore.
“Well, if it isn't Percy.”
Joshua looked up. Valen was standing at the base of the mound, his black Advanced Class training vest soaked with sweat. His short brown hair was stuck to his forehead, and a towel was draped over his neck. Two other Advanced Class students followed behind him.
“Kicked out by Professor Glion?” Valen tilted his head, his tone incredibly casual. “Makes sense. You’ve been looking like you’ve lost your soul on the field these past few days. The Professor is being generous for not tying you to a post and whipping you.”
Joshua didn't respond.
Valen took a few steps up the mound, looking down at him. “I heard your white-haired sister hasn't been coming to the training grounds to wait for you lately.”
Joshua’s fingers stilled.
“What? Did she finally realize how boring it is to follow a dullard like you?” Valen laughed. “I told you, a girl with those looks only needs to wave her hand in the Magic Department and a crowd will swarm her. I’m surprised she hovered around a country bumpkin like you for so long in the first place.”
Joshua stood up. He was half a head shorter than Valen, but when he stood straight and met the other boy's gaze, his aura actually overwhelmed Valen’s.
“Are you finished?”
Valen looked at him, the smile fading from his face. After losing the duel to Joshua last time, he had indeed been quiet for a while. But he still hadn't swallowed that resentment. Especially every time he saw Joshua sitting next to that white-haired girl in the cafeteria, seeing the natural rapport between them—it was like a thorn in his side.
“I’m finished.” Valen turned to leave, but stopped after two steps and looked back. “By the way, if that sister of yours ever decides to stop following you, tell her to come find me in the Advanced Class. Tell her I’m much more interesting than the dullard at her side.”
The two students behind him laughed. Joshua stood on the mound, watching Valen’s back as he walked away.
“Percy.” Patrick hobbled over from the railing and sat down next to Joshua, jerking his chin in the direction Valen had gone. “That guy looking for trouble again?”
“Not exactly looking for trouble,” Joshua said.
Patrick scoffed. “You really are gifted with the sword, but you’re a total blockhead when it comes to everything else.”
“...”
Patrick pulled a small cloth bag from his vest. “There’s half a bag left of those hemostatic herbs your friend used on me. Give them back to her for me.” He shoved the bag into Joshua’s hand. “She’s not at the cafeteria, not at the Magic Department, and not at the library. Where exactly is your friend hiding?”
“...Patrick.”
“Yeah?”
“Why do you think... she won't see me?”
Patrick looked at him for a moment and sighed. “She was squatting behind the bushes that day, watching as you were nearly gutted by a demon’s claw. Then you just stood up, brushed off the dust like nothing happened, and didn't even look back at her once.”
“I did look back.”
“By the time you looked back, she was already gone.” Patrick stood up and hobbled back toward the training grounds. “And now you can't even find her.”
Joshua clutched the small bag, sitting on the mound. He looked down at the bow tied on the bag. The mouth of his birthday gift had been tied exactly like that.
Valen said that a girl with those looks only had to wave her hand in the Magic Department for people to swarm her.
Joshua stood up, tucked the bag into his vest, and headed out of the training grounds.
“Percy, where do you think you’re going?” Glion shouted from behind.
“To find someone. I’ll make up for the training when I get back!”
He walked out of the training grounds and stood at the crossroads. Then, he saw Lovell.
The red-haired rogue was walking from the direction of the academy's side gate, carrying a bulging cloth bag. She was wearing her dark, short-sleeved outfit for night hunting. When she saw Joshua, her pace faltered.
“Joshua? What are you doing standing there?”
“Have you seen Margarita?”
Lovell tried to hide the bag behind her back. Joshua’s gaze fell on the bag; the bottom was stained with dark blotches—not mud, but what looked like dried blood.
“You went night hunting last night,” Joshua said.
Lovell’s expression stiffened for a second before she resumed her usual playful grin. “What's it to you...”
“Margarita went with you.”
Lovell’s smile vanished. She stared at Joshua for a long time.
“She didn't want you to know,” Lovell said.
“I know,” Joshua said. “But I want to see her.”
Lovell sighed and swung the bag over her shoulder. “Follow me.”
She led Joshua through the academy’s side gate and turned into a narrow alley. At the end was an inconspicuous wooden door. Lovell pushed it open to reveal a very small courtyard enclosed by low walls on three sides, with a well and a stone table in the center.
The courtyard was empty.
A book was spread out on the stone table, an empty medicine bottle sat beside it, and a Magic Department coat was draped over a stone bench. Lovell blinked, looking around the area.
“She was just here...”
Joshua walked into the courtyard and stood by the stone table. He looked down at the book; it was Clara’s Introduction to Soul Magic, with a single white hair tucked between the pages. The coat was still warm to the touch. The medicine bottle was empty, but a trace of pale pink residue remained at the bottom.
He turned, his gaze scanning every corner of the courtyard—the low walls, the well, and under the stone table. Nothing.
But he could feel it.
Joshua stared at the air next to the low wall on the left for a long time.
“Margarita,” he said.
The only sound in the quiet courtyard was the wind blowing over the low walls.
“I know you’re there. I’m sorry.”
A small sigh came from the wall.
“Sorry for what?” Margarita’s figure slowly emerged from the void.
She was sitting against the low wall with her knees pulled to her chest and her white hair scattered over her shoulders. Her Magic Department uniform was wrinkled as she tilted her head to look at Joshua.
“Everything,” Joshua said. “What happened outside the East Gate, keeping things from you, making you worry, and...”
“Joshua,” she interrupted. “I wasn't angry.”
“Then why...”
“Because I was truly exhausted.” She looked at him, the light of the setting sun reflected in her blue eyes. “So much has happened lately; I felt like I couldn't catch my breath.”
She paused for a moment.
“But I wasn't angry. Going to scout outside the East Gate alone, reporting the dried-up well to Constance, fighting for your life against the demons there—those were all your decisions. You are Joshua Percy, not my subordinate. You don't need to wait for my orders before taking action.”
Joshua was stunned.
“But you turned and left that day...”
“Because I couldn't hold on anymore,” Margarita said with a trace of self-deprecating humor. “I intended to just watch from the bushes and then go back, but first I had to catch Patrick with a spell, and then you almost had your chest ripped open. I followed you all that way, and I was in agony here.”
She tapped her forehead.
“So I left, because if I had been any slower, I would have collapsed at the city gate and had to be carried back to school.”
Joshua looked at her. The setting sun dyed her loose white hair in warm hues. As she sat there, she lacked the carefully maintained gentleness and composure she usually wore. Her shoulders were slightly slumped, making her look smaller than usual.
He suddenly realized something. While he had been looking for her this week, while Lovell was training, Clara was busy, and Constance was leading teams on missions, everyone was living their lives. Meanwhile, Margarita had been lying alone in her dormitory, in so much pain she couldn't even attend class, with no one to accompany her.
“Why didn't you let someone tell me?” he asked, his voice a bit raspy.
“What would telling you do?” Margarita tilted her head. “Could you make the pain go away?”
Joshua opened his mouth.
“No,” Margarita answered for him. “You would only stand there worrying fruitlessly, blaming yourself, getting distracted during training, and being sent to the mound by Professor Glion.”
Lovell couldn't help but burst into a laugh nearby; Joshua really had been kicked out today.
“Besides,” Margarita continued, “I didn't want you to see me like that. I finally had a chance to stop pretending, and then you just had to come prying. I’m the one losing out here.”
Joshua looked at her, not knowing what to say. She stood there with her hair loose, without a smile, speaking in a lazy tone and looking completely drained of energy. But in this state, she seemed more real than ever before.
Margarita then turned her gaze to Lovell, who was enjoying the show.
“You said you wouldn't tell him.”
“I never said that.” Lovell raised her hands. “He ran into me himself, and the blood on the bag wasn't even dry. You think he's blind?”
And so, dinner tonight was on Miss Reed.
...
The cafeteria was bustling with noise, but the window seat remained empty. Joshua sat down, placing his bag on the chair beside him. Lovell went to the counter to get food and returned with three servings of stew and a large plate of bread. Margarita said she had to report back to Clara to cancel her leave first.
“Did you save some for her?” Joshua asked.
“I did.” Lovell placed a serving of stew on the empty seat. “If she doesn't come back, I’ll just eat two.”
“You’ll burst if you eat two.”
“That’s fine. I’ll die happy having eaten Little Mari’s portion too.”
Joshua lowered his head to chew on some bread. The setting sun shone through the window, casting a warm orange glow across the table. He reached out to touch the pendant around his neck, his fingertip grazing the crack. That sharp, stinging sensation was still there.
He thought about what Margarita had just said.
“You are Joshua Percy, not my subordinate.”
He looked down at the stew in his bowl. Steam rose from the meat and broth, blurring his vision.
Footsteps sounded from the cafeteria entrance. Joshua looked up. Margarita walked over carrying a tray with a bowl of hot soup and a few pieces of bread. She had already taken off her coat and draped it over her arm, revealing her deep blue uniform skirt. Her white hair was loosely tied into a low ponytail with a scrap of cloth she had found.
“Instructor Clara said I can resume classes tomorrow.” She sat in the empty seat next to Joshua and set her tray down. “She also said if I end up bedridden like that one more time, she’ll make me drink medicine every day.”
“Are you going to drink it?” Joshua asked.
Margarita stared at him.
“Guess.”
Joshua shut his mouth. Lovell, beside them, laughed so hard she nearly choked on her stew.
Margarita took a sip of the hot soup, then picked up a piece of bread from her tray and tore it in half, handing one still-warm half to Joshua.
He took a bite. The sun had completely sunk below the horizon outside, and the magical lamps in the cafeteria flickered on one by one. The warm yellow light shone on the three of them, casting their shadows onto the table where they overlapped.
Margarita leaned against the back of her chair, looking a bit more relaxed than before. She didn't smile; she just sat there eating her bread, occasionally reaching over to swipe a piece of meat from Lovell’s plate.
Joshua swallowed his bread.
“Tomorrow after training,” he started, “I’ll come find you at the Magic Department.”
Margarita glanced at him sideways.
“For what?”
“Nothing in particular,” Joshua said. “I’m just going to find you.”
Margarita looked at him for a moment. Then she turned back and continued drinking her soup.
“Fine,” she said, her voice a bit muffled by the steam from the soup bowl. “Whatever you want.”
Lovell bit her spoon, her eyes darting between the two of them as a smile slowly tugged at the corners of her mouth.
The clamor of the cafeteria and the clinking of dishes blended together as the lights in the academy square outside lit up one after another. Joshua lowered his head to eat his bread, his ears turning red, but he couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from curling up.
He had found her. She was right here.
Rate on N.U.
