———Orrel———

  <4: 31 pm>

  “Hmm…” Looking back on it, I didn’t make the best use of her presence. She has shown up in front of us a few times by now, and yet I never get to ask her a few questions of my own. I would like to know what that incident where she was sighted was all about.

  The city was taken over by a gang of violent criminals who all know how to use magic to some extent, and all have access to firearms. Many escaped convicts who really should never have been given freedom came together and formed such a terrible gang, and veers on being some sort of evil organization if their numbers grow bigger.

  Then she showed up and dismantled it in only a few hours with no life losses on either side.

  It was so sudden, but it is a great fortune that she shows up and helps those who live in fear of this new reality. She even has a way of remedying the conundrum everyone in the w enforcement has been smashing their head against the wall for answer. How can we control magic users without crossing the line?

  Intentionally starving or working them to the bone are not popur methods, for very clear reasons. Any way that doesn’t need such an inhumane act would be greatly appreciated, though no one could replicate what she did, at least at the present time.

  A colr was put on all of the gang members that would regurly siphoned their mana and shock them when a spike in reading occurred, or in another word, when they started casting a spell or reinforced their body with mana.

  I don’t think those can be removed by anyone except Wiina herself, who basically has said nothing about taking those off. For all we know they are all effectively reduced to muggles for the foreseeable future.

  It was a massive shock when the entire incident was reyed to the whole world, and it built a lot more mystique around her. Having the power, and the power to take away others. Certainly a dreadful prospect for anyone who could possibly earn her ire.

  No one knows why she was there and did what she did. What she did was a good thing, of course, but that doesn’t curb the urge for information.

  Karra, the one person who has more contact with her than the rest of us, said she doesn’t know why Wiina was there. She said she would feel a bit guilty asking her directly, since that act saved an online friend of hers. She doesn’t want to come off as ungrateful.

  Certainly a strange character, but not a malevolent one. Enigmatic and hard to discern, as well as hard to track. She has that vanishing act of hers that we still don’t know how it works.

  “I’m still confused though, why would she be there specifically?” Useph remarked. That much is, of course, uncertain. “It kinda makes people wonder if it’s even possible to have any sort of clue of where she’s even active.”

  “I can at least answer a part of it.” It’s not something others have really discussed, be it news sites or online denizens. “She is not from that area where the incident took pce. It has been two days since the takeover, a lot of blood was spilled and the casualties on both sides were not pretty to look at. If she actually was based there, all of that wouldn’t have happened in the first pce.”

  “Huh. I guess that makes sense.” Useph replied. “Guess that’s why we’re still assuming she lives here?”

  “Indeed. The amount of incidents, let alone a rge-scale one, is very little. She has also been spotted here more than anywhere else. There is simply nowhere else she could take residence in.” It’s the easiest and simplest conclusion, and therefore the most likely one. “In a way, her presence here is why we can live free of the constant terror.”

  “But that’s not the end of it, right?” Useph pointed out. Indeed, it’s not actually that simple.

  “There are more parties at work, that much is certain.” I spelled out what we all thought, before taking a sip of the hot chocote.

  “It really is a big rabbit hole…” He said, clearly finding the idea of digging through all these mysteries to be a massive chore. Certainly not wrong to think that way, it’s not for everyone. “There’s so much to think about, but there’s no lead, is there?”

  “I doubt there’s literally nothing, but the trail is so faint it might as well be useless.” Simply put, we’re still in the dark, filled with the terror of the unknown.

  …Perhaps ‘terror’ is too strong of a word, but I don’t think people are that comfortable knowing that powerful beings exist, but we don’t know who or what they really are, not to mention the inciting incident. We still have no idea what the Mythical Eclipse even is.

  “...How about we talk about something else a little less existential?” He suggested. “Got any school rumors or whatever? Gossips? What have our cssmates been doing? We’ve been contacting less through the group chat since we just met up at the school.”

  “I guess we could do that.” We don’t need to take every moment of our lives seriously, it’s actually a pretty bad thing to do, to be so on edge and think about every possibility. You need to have a healthy mindset, and that ain’t it. “I have been mostly just looking through the content of the library. I haven’t been chatting much with our cssmates, let alone other people.”

  “Always lost in your books…” He snarked as his head hung low. “Well. One thing that doesn’t change is that Malk and Qyunda are as popur as ever. They’ve always been the two most popur in our css… or most well-liked, however you wanna see it.”

  “I’m surprised she still is once she was forced out of the closet.” I know that kind of prejudice isn’t tolerated inside the school, and that policy hasn’t changed, but it is still a change that also alters her appeal to others.

  “She lost some fangirls but did gain some fanboys. You win some and you lose some, that’s about it.” …Now that I think about it, how much of their school cred came from their looks or their accomplishments? I think they’re both attractive, but that is partially influenced by my bias as a friend. They are definitely respected for their athletic performance, crushing the school events involving sports.

  “...Can’t say I know how that all works out.” I admitted, mainly due to the ck of all the context. “By the way, was there any incident involving rowdy students? One that looks like someone might get hurt?”

  “Hmm… Oh! I remember something Jeff told me. I think it was…” He started recalling a certain incident I wasn’t aware of. “Right, a quiet kid was getting harassed by a few bullies and they started shoving him around. Coach Wana came in to save the kid, and it was a big fight where they all got stomped.”

  “The coach…” Seems like she still did her job just as well as ever. Then again, there were rumors that the css she teaches right now was being terrorized by her, whatever that cim actually means. She has always been quite a weirdo, but a competent one. That is probably what they meant, but I do wonder… “How many of them were there?”

  “It was like six, from what Jeff told me.” …Now that is quite a feat, considering the overall increase in strength of an average person. I would’ve imagined that she is also stronger than ever, and she always easily manhandled a misfit or two. She must’ve been quick to adapt.

  “...Speaking of which, how strong were the average students? You’ve been using the training room and the simutor, I believe.” We all know at this point that there is a way of connecting to the user of another training room or the simutor. It’s like looking for a match in a game, picked at random… At least that’s what we all think, who can really be certain?

  “You mean… like the numbers or just the general feel?” He asked for crification. I guess that is something we can measure now, no matter how nebulous those numbers are.

  “Let’s go by comparison then. How are they in comparison to yourself?” He might not be either of those two sports junkies, but he is a close third… Scratch that, in terms of sporting events, he is a close third, but in terms of combat he is… top half of the css. Not very impressive sounding.

  “Pretty weak. I can beat them up in about the same… close to the same amount of time as Kenni if I wanted to. Doesn’t even need ten seconds.” He confidently stated. From the sounds of it he does let the fight dragged out for the sake of the sport, unlike what Kenni did which is bulldozing through everything just to mess with people.

  I think a lot of people were still bitter about that, even if the number of victims is ‘only’ about two dozen. From the way some students were talking about her from the little bit of gossip I’ve eavesdropped on, you would’ve thought she went around beating everyone up indiscriminately out in the open. There is always a risk of pairing with someone way stronger than you, so that point can’t be quite put against her, at least not as much as others would like to compin about.

  “So what do you think about the coach then?” I might as well ask. Though Jeff would’ve had a better estimate, since he’s the one who witnessed it.

  “Eh. No idea.” Guess that’s one more thing to put in the waiting pile. “I’ve seen her around, but never saw her in action until Jeff told me about it. Had to wonder if there are other incidents with her we haven’t seen…”

  It was almost like an attraction, seeing her dealing with troublemakers who would cause chaos, be it in or out of csses. With how big this pce is by comparison, it also means everyone is much more spread out, so those kinds of things are much harder to come by and witness.

  “It’s very likely that there are more, but unless we patrol everywhere for it, chances are we might never witness something like that again.” With newcomers who aren’t aware of the stricter anti-bully policy and punishment, there will definitely be more incidents.

  “Yeah. Definitely not doing that.” He echoed my sentiment. Probably best for me to just continue with reading and not worry about random events happening in the school itself. There is still more knowledge to consume. “So have you not been keeping up with all the school gossip? There are quite a lot.”

  “No. Like I said, I have been reading more than ever.” It’s just what I’ve always done, it’s just that right now, the environment is more accommodating, and the content is more fascinating. “Did you know that there is a beverage dispenser in the library?”

  “...There is?” He said in bewilderment. “Seems kinda… Weird, isn’t it? Aren’t they worried about the books getting soggy from an accident?”

  “That is not something I can comment on, but it is nice that there are choices. I make a liberal use of the coffee machine.” Can’t be going sleepy in the middle of reading.

  “...You’re not chugging multiple cups, right?” He said with a lot of concern in his voice. Come on now, he should have more faith in me.

  “Not to worry, I’m not someone to repeat mistakes.” I said to calm him down. It’s not like that incident was that life-threatening anyway. I was just getting disoriented, for the most part.

  “Hmm…” He looks at me with some skepticism.

  “If you want to be extra certain of my cims, you can go ask Gregori about it. He frequents the library just like I do. Usually even reading on the same table.” That should be a good way to convince him.

  “I’ll hold onto that.” He replied with less scrutiny shown. “So what have you been reading about recently?”

  “Mostly just the extension of what we’ve talked about st time. Nothing relevant to really share at the moment.” While I do find a few things interesting and worth talking about in the future, right now they won’t hold much weight for anyone.

  …Ah. I’m out of hot chocote.