Chapter 76: Midnight Maiden, Part Seven

{Friday}

"So, who's up first, today?" Cara asked.

Hearing that, Rin walked up, raising her hand. Behind her, Varyn, Alea, and Sara followed. Eli's class, which had been turned into a class for practicing fighting as a team until their mission arrived, had just gotten underway, and all of the students were gathered at the obstacle course.

"Okay," Cara nodded when she saw them. "Rin's team. Let's do this."

[Um, please don't call it my team,] Rin thought. [I really don't need that kind of pressure.]

As she heard that, however, Rin took up a fighting stance. Sara took out her sword as well, while Varyn and Alea got ready to cast spells from behind them.

"Same rules as last time," Cara let them know before she unsheathed her greatsword. "Begin."

As soon as she said that, Rin and Sara both ran forward. Stomping along the dirt, Rin went for Cara's left while Sara flanked the teacher from the right. As Sara approached, she swung over her head with her sword, and Cara side-stepped the attack, avoiding it. Rin kept running until she was behind her, as Varyn and Alea both began casting spells, and when Rin saw Cara making an effort to dodge them, she charged in.

[She's open!] Rin thought, pulling back a fist.

"Hmph," she heard Cara scoff. Then, the teacher leaned out of the way of a [Fireball] that struck Rin's chest.

"MMM!" With her lips closed, Rin felt the flame burn her nipples and she went down, falling to her knees.

[Holy crap,] she thought as she bit down on the insides of her cheeks. [I might cry, holy shit.]

Alea was running toward Rin then, as Sara and Varyn kept Cara distracted. The mage drew a quick spellsign and Rin felt relief enter her body soon as Alea's hands hovered over her.

"T-Thanks..." Rin smiled up at her, grateful.

"..." Alea didn't say anything as she looked back at Rin. Instead, she huffed, and turned away, standing up and looking toward their teacher. Rin did the same, taking a deep breath.

"Okay, guess I'm-"

"Wait," Alea said, putting a hand on Rin's shoulder. "Not yet."

"Uh, why?" Rin asked.

"What, are you dumb? You have to wait for an opening. An actual opening this time," Alea said, and Rin sighed.

"Fine."

Sara swung her sword quickly from one side to another, showing no signs of slowing down, all while Cara maneuvered around her effortlessly. Varyn would try to launch a couple of spells here and there, but all of them would fly right over the woman's head, without exception.

Eventually, Cara stopped Sara by grabbing onto her wrist as she went for an attack.

"Now!" Alea said behind Rin, and the adventurer's eyes widened.

"R-Right!"

She ran forward, as fast as she could. The Rank A adventurer quickly noticed, and threw Sara to the ground, to prepare to dodge Rin's incoming attack. However, Sara went with the momentum, rolled, and then went for a slash at Cara's waist. The adventurer blocked the attack with the flat of her blade before kicking Sara away, and at that moment, Varyn and Alea both launched a pair of [Fireballs] at her.

Cara ducked under them, just as Rin was arriving at her spot.

[Come on!]

Rin lunched forward and tackled Cara to the ground.

Or, rather, she tried to.

Cara took the hit, and it felt like Rin had run straight into a wall instead.

"AGH-"

She slid to the ground then, falling on her back as Cara smirked over her.

"Alright, I'll count it. Good job."

[Uh, yay!] Rin thought, trying to brush the pain off.

---

"Okay," Rin said, as she and her group sat at the cafeteria. "Where do we start?"

"Sara," Varyn quickly said, turning toward the stoic girl. "It's good that you're so fast, but you need to take your teammates into consideration before you go in like that. Rin was in no position to help when you started the fight, and that made it easier for Cara to take you both on one at a time. If you do that in front of a group of kobolds, for example, you're just putting a target on your back."

"..." Sara heard that nodded, and then took a sip from her cup of water, calmly.

"Well, alright then," Varyn muttered.

After the earlier session, Varyn managed to convince everyone that it would be a good idea to go over what they'd done. He wanted to further solidify the team's weaknesses and strengths before they went out on Monday, which was just a few days away. From Rin's point of view, she had high hopes for them, but some concern still managed to sink under her skin.

At the same time that she heard Varyn speak, Rin wondered what she was going to do after this.

[Wait, today's Friday!] She quickly remembered. [I have to go meet up with Iris later,] she realized.

"Rin," Varyn said, with his arms crossed.

"Y-Yeah?" Rin answered as she was taken out of her thoughts.

"On your end... How do I put this?" Varyn asked himself, looking away. "It's like... You're bad at responding to unexpected things if that makes sense. I mean, from what I could see, anyway. You need to learn to roll with punches more, you understand?"

"Kinda?" Rin replied.

"Eh, try not to freak out so much, is probably the better way to say it."

"Oh. Um, okay, I'll try."

"As for me and Alea, I feel like we have the same issue. It's pretty damn hard to find moments to use our spells without hitting the two of you in the back," he stated. "But, we can probably work on it over these next few days."

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"Sounds good," Rin replied.

A silence fell over them. No one said anything, as Sara just watched each of them emotionlessly, and Alea kept a permanent pout on her face as she rested her head on her hand.

"... Well, shit, in that case, I guess the meeting's over."

---

Several hours later, Rin was putting her white hair into a ponytail, as she got ready to go back out. She and Xhez, who had just cast her color-changing Illusion spell on her, were alone in Rin's room. The sprite held an excited smile. One that, unfortunately, Rin was going to have to dampen a bit.

"Uh, sorry," Rin said. "We can't do anything tonight, I have someone I need to go talk to."

"Oh..." Xhez's disappointment was clear to see.

"Tomorrow, though," Rin smiled at her, "we've got the morning and the early evening to ourselves. At night, I need to go to that party Elisa had talked about."

"Ohhh, I see," Xhez nodded. "I am looking forward to it!"

"... This might end up happening more and more, every now and then, by the way," Rin let her know as she finished up and walked closer to Xhez, her black heels tapping against the floor. "I'll always make some time for you whenever I can find it, but, yeah."

"That... does sadden me a little."

"I know, but, I promise," Rin said. "I'm never gonna leave you in here for longer than I have to. We're partners, we gotta stick together."

"In that case," Xhez smiled up at her. "I can hold my eagerness back a little, while you handle your stuff."

Nodding a little, enough fondness for the sprite built up inside of Rin, at that moment, to where she found herself leaning in and placing a quick kiss on Xhez's cheek. She simply felt like it.

"You're the best," she said. "I'll see you later, then."

"Good luck," Xhez replied before she jumped back into her bag, and Rin closed it up.

Then, she took a deep breath and turned somewhat serious.

[Time to go out, and see what happens, I guess.]

And, with that, after taking a sip from her body-changing potion to make her boobs pop out a little, she walked out of her room, wearing a black dress and the necklace her mother had given to her before.

As she walked down the halls, every student she ran into, all of them being second and third years that Rin didn't know, gave her a weird look which made Rin aware of just how out of place she currently looked. She ignored them, however, as she exited the Academy's grounds and made a beeline for the bar.

She and Iris hadn't settled on any sort of time, but she figured she'd likely go back at around the same point she and RIn had met.

As the adventurer moved through the streets, a couple of cars driving past her, she went over one particular dilemma in her mind.

[So, how am I going to make money off of this?] She asked herself. [I mean, if I play my cards right, maybe I can end up with a sugar momma or something? I guess that would be a victory?] She chuckled a little to herself, as she continued on her way.

Eventually, she arrived at the bar, and she found Iris standing outside.

However, she was alone this time, unlike before when she had all of those other middle-aged women with her, and there was a small, cleaned-up, and polished, car in front of her.

[Hm?]

As Rin approached, the brown-haired elegant woman turned toward her and smiled warmly, though Rin could clearly see that she was also fairly nervous.

"Hey," Rin greeted her, letting her voice drop a couple of octaves. As she approached, other far more average-looking people watched as Rin gave the woman a kiss on the cheek that was far longer, and softer than the one she'd given Xhez earlier.

"Hello," Iris took a deep breath. "Good evening," she bowed. "I trust your day is going well?"

[Hmph,] Rin nearly laughed. [She sounds almost as awkward as I usually do.]

"Better, now that I'm with you," Rin replied. "So, is this thing yours?"

Rin pointed at the car, and the woman nodded.

"Y-Yes, I was, well, I had hoped to lead into it a little more, but, since you're asking, I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to the northern side of Libera. N-Not that I don't appreciate..." She looked around with barely hidden disgust. "Everything around here, but I wanted to take you around. Show you a little of my world tonight."

Rin smiled.

"Sounds like fun."

"Perfect," Iris replied, before walking around the vehicle and getting into the driver's seat. She unlocked the door, and Rin had to hide a grin as she entered.

[Holy crap, holy crap, holy crap, I'm actually in a car!]

It might have been immature of her to feel this giddy, but as someone who had only ever been in cars a handful of times throughout the entirety of the twenty years of her life, she was excited.

"Put your seatbelt on, please," Iris said.

"R-Right."

Rin let her seductive act drop for just a second as she did that. Then, she turned toward Iris and asked:

"Where we headin'?"

"Well, we have a couple of options. A restaurant, or a music lounge, where some friends are, currently. Which would you prefer?"

"..." Rin considered those options.

[I'm not really too hungry right now, and, if I get to meet those friends I could learn a little more about the rich people here. So...]

"How about the lounge?"

"Alright then," Iris replied and the car began moving.

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