———Jeff———

  <12: 04 pm>

  “You know, I’m actually quite surprised you go all this way to organize this.” I said to Useph as we were standing in the overly fancy dining hall.

  “Like I always said, go all out for your friends.” He said with a small smirk on him. Guess the smaller meeting over the past few months irked him that badly. “Anyway, just enjoy the food and good vibes.”

  And there he goes. Probably hanging out with Orrel some more.

  …This pce is certainly anything but drab, that’s for sure. Bunch of cssy interior and a lot to look at, but especially the food.

  How long do we have here again? He just says that he rented this pce for ‘a long while’.

  “Hey, Jeff. How are you doing?” Someone walked over and greeted me.

  “Sup’, Gregori.” I said to the guy with his usual blue colr shirt and gray pants reaching to his shoe. “You’re usually not someone who arrives early.”

  “Come on now, that’s only the case because I was preoccupied. I’m not someone to keep things unchecked before making my way.” He said before looking around. “It seems like most of us aren’t here yet. Odd. I would’ve expected the prospect of a high-quality buffet to make them rush here.”

  “Cut them some sck will ya? Not everyone can be punctual, especially you.” I pointed out.

  “You’re still thinking about that? It’s been over a year at this point.” He said.

  “I’m not hung up over that anymore, don’t worry about that.” I replied. It’s just a small incident at the end of the day.

  “Whatever you say. I’ll go find a good spot for myself first and foremost.” He said before walking off. I guess I should go do that as well. Not that there’s much work to do, it’s just a few sets of big tables and chairs. I guess I might as well sit at the same table with the others who arrived early… Which is just us four, really.

  “Hey, Gregori. Good to see you, haven’t seen you in months.” Useph said with a slight… I don’t know the word, it’s not exactly anger, it’s very mild in tone.

  “It has been a while.” He casually replied, sitting quite far from us. “Guess we can go get our food now, right?”

  “Sure, I don’t see why you need to wait. Not like we’re going anywhere.” Useph said. So is Orrel gonna say anything? He sits to the right of Useph, remaining rather quiet once the two of us walked over.

  “By the way...” I said as I looked around and saw a certain someone joining us. “Did you ask Mreak to put on those long gloves?”

  “No?” Useph said as the cat guy joined us, wearing his bck tank top to go along with the color of his hair and fur.

  “Hi guys.” He said as he sat down with the long white gloves covering his arms and hands that are covered in bck fur. “And as to your question, I am doing this to be extra polite and courteous.”

  “Right…” I said as I looked at his rather bnk expression. Like with Orrel it looks like the transformation stopped midway, only affecting his ears and limbs. How all that work is still such an enigma to me. “Anyway, I’ll go get my food now…”

  ———Kenni———

  <1: 17 pm>

  “How did you come here te with those wings of yours?” Gregori asked as I came back with my food.

  “Because I feel like it.” I said before drinking my soda. Not because I’ve been flying around and exploring other pces and not realizing it’s past midnight. “Gonna stuff myself with food now, you all can talk amongst yourself.”

  “So who’s left again?” Mreak asked, continuing the earlier conversation.

  “Jass, Karra, Malk, Qyunda, and…” Jeff began recounting, probably checking around to make sure he’s not just missing anyone. “Yeah, just those four.”

  “Weird. They’re usually quite punctual.” Orrel mentioned. None of them have that kind of reputation, that’s for sure. If I were to guess, it’s because the couples like to move in pairs, but I can’t really say all that with food in my mouth.

  “Hope they have a good reason for it.” Useph said, not sounding too bothered. I think he’s quite content that almost everyone is here after the st few times where only a few showed up.

  It does sound quite pathetic to put it that way, but it’s not like others have a better time convincing many to join for a nice and long hangout. I think we have all been getting rather lonely and bored after interacting with the same people for months now, so this type of gathering is sorely needed for some.

  “Wait… We’re not st?” Suddenly someone chimed in and sat down with her partner beside her. “That’s crazy, actually.”

  “Maybe they really are slugging each other in the face right now.” Jass muttered as he looked around. “Anyway. Thanks for inviting everyone. I know it’s not cheap.”

  “Doesn’t take a genius to know that.” Useph replied. “Guess it’s just those two left. What were you saying?”

  “Nothing important. Just that they have been hanging out a bit more nowadays. They are probably in a shouting match or something.” Jass dismissively replied.

  “It is rather weird to think about, weren’t they rivals?” Orrel chimed in.

  “Isn’t that all the more reason they’re sticking to each other?” Gregori quickly interjected. “How can they be rivals if they’re not at each other’s throat. Wouldn’t make sense otherwise.”

  “I mean. I wasn’t really aware of that. I thought Useph was always closer to him at P.E. stuff, right?” Jeff said, sounding as clueless as ever.

  “In all other categories, those two were much more even…” Useph said to give a clearer picture. “And even then, Qyunda and I exchanged second and third pce a lot when it comes to sports. It’s just that she slips up during sports day, kinda unlucky on that front.”

  “...She had snatched first pce from him a few times as well, right?” Karra chimed in.

  “Of course. That is what makes them a pair of rivals. It’s hard to call something a rivalry when one person always wins.” Gregori answered.

  These foods are real nice. Get plenty of cuisines to choose from, and the quantity is obviously as much as I want.

  Have to wonder what the other table is talking about. I can’t quite make out what Jenn and the rest are saying when everyone is talking on top of each other.

  “So what have you guys been doing these days? Couldn’t be anything too exciting, I hope. Would’ve felt kinda left out.” Useph suddenly asked.

  “I don’t think most of us have been secretive about what we’ve been doing, right? We’re still contacting each other in the group chat.” I said while taking a gnce at Karra and Jass.

  “We didn’t really talk that much, let’s be real.” Useph said, not entertaining my contrarian viewpoint. Fine, fine. Let’s get to the point.

  “I’ve been staying at home and doing some smaller streams. After the… global bans on anything dungeon or magic reted, it basically means I have to resort to… Just random game streams and chatting. Can’t even really talk about the supernatural crap, since telling is so much more boring than showing.” Karra said, showing her frustration very clearly. She has definitely not been having a good time with her streaming career.

  “Did anything even come up about that? It’s been a long while now.” Orrel asked.

  “Beats me. They just do what they always do. Ban something and start a witch hunt because it’s something they don’t understand.” Karra said, making her frustration clear enough. No need to eborate further on that. “Let’s move on from that. What about the rest of you? This isn’t my pity parade.”

  “I have been focusing on my hobbies, that’s about it.” Gregori said. So that would be programming and general tinkering with machines. “Unlike most of you I didn’t focus hard on magic. Those don’t really help with my passion, you know?”

  “I am focusing on that. Running a marathon never sted longer until now.” Mreak said, not exactly making his enthusiasm clear with his dry tone.

  “It definitely feels like everything has gotten faster when you are getting stronger.” Jeff remarked, not giving much to the conversation. “Haa… Hot!”

  “...Did you just eat a fully intact chili pepper in one bite?” Jass said, looking very bewildered.

  “I wasn’t paying attention, okay!? Where’s the- Get me more water!” Now he’s really making a fool out of himself. Guess that’s a little bit of entertainment until the big news came up.

  “Sorry, turned up ter than I thought.” Ah, now Malk and Qyunda are here.

  “Guess who was stalling me.” Qyunda quickly tried to shift the bme.

  “Stop that. We were… Nevermind. Let’s just go get a seat, we’ve been talking more than enough.” Malk said, sounding rather defeated before going over to the other table with the rest of the css.

  “Sure sounds tired.” I commented, seeing the slightly strange sight. “He’ll have time to rest and pig out like the rest of us, so nothing to really worry about.”

  Now that everyone is here, I bet Useph would probably have us do a group photo or something. It’s basically mandatory if he goes this far, but it seems for now he’s letting everyone get their fill and catching up.

  <3: 27 pm>

  *Snap*

  “There we go… Perfect.” Useph said as he walked towards the camera and looked at the result. “Sorry if that takes a bit longer than you all wanted. Alright guys, go back to eating and chatting.”

  “Quite a grand get together you all are having.” Suddenly someone intruded on the scene before everyone could scatter back to their seats.

  “Huh!?” Jeff quickly lets out a loud yell in surprise as that person walks towards us, somehow getting in here despite the pce being rented out for the day. Meanwhile the others don’t really emit any loud grunts, more of surprised sighs than anything.

  “Come on now. You can all act a bit more surprised.” Wiina said while taking a small gnce at me. Useph then walked over to us with the camera in hand.

  “W-Why are you here?” Qyunda asked, finding it hard to believe that this enigmatic figure who hasn’t really been sighted for a long while is now standing in front of them.

  After the fiasco surrounding the Antarctic expedition and other incidents where she’s involved in, she has really become quite the myth since then, if still somewhat obscure in the grander scope.

  Though for us, we all know full well she is a big shot through and through.

  “Better yet, how did you get in here? There are securities everywhere.” Useph said, making it clear he’s not happy about being upstaged despite being the organizer. “Actually, how did you even know we were here? And like she said, why?”

  “Hmph. I’m sure all of you have many questions on your mind.” She said as she put her hand up to her head-level, making a one finger gesture. “But I am here mainly for one thing and one thing alone. I’m here to make an announcement. A bearer of quite the fortunate news.”

  “Out with it already. What’s with all the suspense?” Gregori said, clearly finding all of this way too dragged out already.

  “What is a better way to keep your retention than keeping you on your toes? But I digress.” She’s definitely pying it up right now, but they don’t need to know that. “Say. Isn’t it getting close to the next school year? Those institutions are starting to reopen and letting students back in again, however, all of you lose your school, and everything in retion to it.”

  “Care to tell us why you’re rubbing it in?” Malk asked with some apprehension.

  “To get to the point quickly. I know all of you are close friends who all get along. Academically, you are all quite excellent, and even in this new era, your potential as warriors and mages are top-notch.” She began the monologue. “The Perfect Css, the As, and a bunch of other names thrown around. Quite a few gossip of a conspiracy to bundle all the best performers in the same cssroom. Certainly many creative minds go to work for what is a simple group of friends.”

  “Why do you even know all of that?” Orrel asked while looking rather concerned. It does come up as a bit stalkerish since she doesn’t really have any contact with any aside from Karra and I… technically.

  “I have the data of the school’s previous iteration. Lest you forget, I was involved in making you all schoolless in the first pce.” She said with quite a cheeky smile. “My boss… Or rather, the new school’s owner is looking for students. While those buildings are massive and tacky, it still functions as a school. You have seen it already, didn’t you, Karra.”

  “...Obviously.” She nervously said as everyone shifted their attention to her. “But you never talk to me about how applications will work, or any logistics for that matter.”

  “Of course I wouldn’t. All NDAs, basically.” She casually replied. “Back to the main point. Here’s my announcement on the behalf of the school’s owner. Students of the te Weldseni School may apply to enter the new school in its pce, The Grand SK Institute, for a quarter of the tuition course of normal applicants… But for all of you here…”

  *Snap* *Ding*

  Suddenly with a snap of her finger, suddenly we all get a notification on our phone, though some did leave them at the table, so they scramble to get theirs.

  “Free if everyone here… join?” Jass muttered quite loudly, making the message very clear to the rest.

  “Have a good talk with your friends and parents. If all of you decided to unanimously join the institute together, you will all be put in the same css, and none of you have to pay anything.” Wiina said. It feels like a desperate bid to keep all of us glued together. If I didn’t know any better I would’ve thought there is a massive conspiracy going on, maybe some sort of grand destiny. “Remember, it will stay that way until all of you get your degrees, so you all will have quite the long road ahead.”

  “What the hell is that offer?” Useph can’t help but ask, due to how ridiculous of a condition that is. Not due to it being difficult to persuade, but that it’s even a thing.

  “The admission starts at about the same time as other mundane schools, a month from now, so I hope you came with a decision soon, or better yet, right now.” Wiina said, and her tone at the end is quite demanding.

  I think it’s already clear what’s going to happen. There’s really no other option at this point.