The Hidden World

12:30, Academy

 

Yuna was waiting in line of the dining hall to receive her meal. There were a multitude of lunches available to her and as she waited she deliberated on which on to get. When it was her time to pick, she grabbed a container of salad with buis berry sauce.

 

‘Need to stay healthy,’ she thought regretfully. ‘Though I really wanted that fried chicken.’

 

Her next mission was to locate where the human student was and attempt to befriend this person. The problem was that Yuna didn’t know where to start to find this person.

 

‘That human might not have even gotten a lunch here,’ she thought as she walked around the dining hall. ‘I don’t see her. Maybe she went outside?’

 

Yuna walked out of the dining hall and went to the Meadow, turning her head to find one face out of a hundred. Then she found it. The human was sitting under a tree near the Magic Hall munching on her lunch.

 

With a relieved smile, she began to walked toward the human whose name she still didn’t know.

 

‘Oh, she’s eating the same thing as me,’ Yuna observed. Then she sat down next to the human who glanced over at her but otherwise gave no reaction.

 

“Hello,” Yuna greeted. The human looked at her again and nodded in return, her mouth munching on lettuce.

 

Yuna opened her own salad and began to eat it. The two of them sat there under the shade of the tree as they ate their lunches in peace and quiet.

 

‘This is so awkward,’ Yuna complained in her mind. ‘I don’t know how to start conversations. No one ever taught me how!’

 

Calming herself, she decided to try once more to initiate a conversation.

 

“My name is Yuna,” she offered. The girl looked up from her lunch and stared at Yuna contemplatively.

 

“Yuki,” the human replied finally.

 

‘Yay! I started a conversation,’ Yuna cheered as she kept her face straight.

 

“No last name?” Yuna asked, wanting to keep the talk going.

 

“I could ask you the same,”  Yuki replied turning back to the salad.

 

Yuna opened then closed her mouth. What Yuki said was true, but Yuna had a reason for not saying her last name. It was because she didn’t know what it was.

 

“I don’t know my last name,” she said, looking down at her meal.

 

Yuki looked back up and stared at her with sharp grey eyes.

 

“Orphan?,” Yuki said in a tone that stated rather than asked. Yuna nodded in reply. “I see.”

 

“How about you? You have a last name right?” Yuna rushed, trying to switch topics.

 

“Yes. My name is Yuki Mayumi,” Yuki replied. “Also an orphan.”

 

Yuna’s mouth formed an O and she became quiet again. She unintentionally touched a heavy topic.

 

‘That’s not how conversations are supposed to start,’ she thought. ‘Why did I have to bring up the sad things?’

 

“Ah, do you know why our homeroom instructor didn’t tell us your gender?” Yuna asked suddenly. She was curious as she had noticed that Nataru avoided using pronouns when introducing Yuki.

 

“Probably because of the headmaster,” Yuki replied. “She put my gender as other.”

 

“Other? Then what gender are you?” Yuna said.

 

“I’m male but I’ve had to deal with confusion about my appearance for a while so I decided to put it as other.”

 

“Wait, you a guy?”

 

“This is why I put it as other,” Yuki repeated. Then he went back to his salad.

 

Yuna sat there with him under the tree and stared at her own salad. Now that she knew that Yuki was a guy, she began to feel slightly uncomfortable. She rarely ever talked to anyone her age and especially to boys.

 

‘Don’t boys oogle girls and only think perverted thoughts at this age?’ Yuna thought to herself. She peeked over at Yuki who finished his salad. ‘Though, he doesn’t seem to be even giving me any attention.’

 

But whatever Yuki might be thinking, Yuna still had to do her job and befriend him.

 

“So what class do you have next?” Yuna asked. She was trying to keep the conversation alive.

 

“Support mage classes in the Magic Hall,” Yuki replied as he laid back against the trunk of the tree.

 

“Oh, I have combat training next,” Yuna said. “My last lesson was my class related lesson. Swordsmanship.”

 

“I know,” Yuki replied.

 

“You’re a buffer right?” Yuna inquired.

 

Yuki looked at her for a split second, seemingly considering his answer.

 

“Yes,” he said.

 

“That’s great! We don’t have many buffers in the country,” Yuna said. Yuki nodded but gave no reply. The conversation died off again.

 

‘I don’t know what else to say,’ Yuna complained. ‘Why did you give this job to me, captain?’

 

Yuna reviewed over all the ways she can potentially revive a dead chat and came up with two options. Ask about Yuki’s hobbies or invite Yuki to do something with her so that they could do something together and have a conversation about that.

 

‘I don’t want to talk about hobbies,’ Yuna thought. ‘Plus he’s only been here for less than a week so what hobbies will he have? But what can I invite him to do? Shopping? But that’s a girly thing and I don’t think a guy would want to do that.’

 

Yuna decided to give it a shot and opened her mouth to speak again.

 

“Do you want to go shopping tomorrow?” she asked hesitantly.

 

Yuki stared at her in return.

 

“You don’t have to,” Yuna rushed to say. “Just if you are interested.”

 

Yuki continued to stare at Yuna. Then he nodded.

 

“Okay,” he replied. “But I don’t have any money.”

 

“Oh, you'll go?,” Yuna replied a bit surprised. “Then don't worry about money. I’ll pay for everything. Just meet me at the entrance of the Academy. What time is convenient for you?”

 

“Anytime is,” Yuki answered.

 

“Then let’s do tomorrow at 19:00 then,” Yuna decided. “That way we can get dinner then go shopping.”

 

“Alright,” Yuki said standing up and stretching lightly. “I have to go to class now.”

 

“Okay! See you later,” Yuna said with a small wave as he began to walk toward the entrance of the Magic Hall.

 

Yuki paused and turned back to look at her.

 

“Don’t you have class as well?” he asked her.

 

“Ah, right,” Yuna replied, her eyes widening slightly. She stood up as well and began to walk toward the Combat Hall.

 

“Also, Yuna-san,” Yuki called out to her.

 

She turned around and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.

 

“Thank you for the day before,” he said before turning around and walking away.

 

‘The day before?’ she wondered. Then understanding hit her. ‘Oh, the mugging in the market street.’

 

A fuzzy feeling filled her chest as she realized that Yuki was thanking her for her help that day and that he had started the conversation for the first time to do that.

 

‘I’ve never been thanked before,’ Yuna thought. ‘She—I mean he, is actually pretty nice. I think I can become friends with someone like that. Not that I really had a choice. Captain.’

 

Then she walked to her next class as Yuki probably did behind her.