Chapter 61: ~Chapter 19~ Part 2

Once our small group arrived at school I tried to avoid the prying eyes of the others, to no avail, and it still lead to some headaches in the form of Josh complaining about my horrid womanizing ways. At this point I couldn't care less, so I shrugged him (and his insistent challenges to a gentlemanly duel) off. He was probably getting lonely, I surmised, so I might or might not have given him some vague and in no way specific promises to whoop his ass so bad he would need half of the arctic ice-sheet to treat the burn. Or something like that.

Nothing particularly noteworthy happened until lunch break, when I finally managed to pull the class rep aside. She looked a little haggard, so I felt a little bad about troubling her with my problems as well, but since the guys at the Celestial Hub told me I should ask a Magi about my Faun problem, and she was the only Magi I knew, I more or less had to go to her.

"I'm listening," she told me after we arrived at a fairly deserted part of the courtyard. Once again, the placeholders seemed to have a sixth sense that told them to avoid places where we were talking about meaningful stuff, like the supernatural or my relationship tribulations. Since this was the former, the number of idlers seemed even lower than usual, which was a good thing, as it meant we wouldn't have to keep our voices down.

"I have a problem."

"With Judy or with Elly?" she asked back with a stern look.

"Neither!" I retorted. "I mean a real problem, the supernatural kind."

"Oh," she crossed her arms in front of her chest before glancing around, then gestured for me to continue.

"I am stalked by a Faun," I told her straight up.

This time her eyebrows shot up, drawing even more attention to the circles under her eyes, and she hurriedly asked, "Are you all right? Did you get attacked?"

"I'm fine, and no, I didn't get attacked... Or at least I don't think so."

"Please tell me exactly what happened," she requested, and I complied. After my quick description of the two times I met with my would-be-assassin (speaking of which, I naturally didn't tell her about me witnessing Crowey ordering the hit on me, as then I would've had to explain my Far Sight, and that would've drawn things out even more), she let out a pent up breath and shook her head. "So there was no actual attack?" I nodded in response and she clicked her tongue. "That's a problem."

"How so? I thought it would be a good thing."

"That's not what I mean," she explained in a hurry. "If you were attacked, I could report that to the School, and we could get some seniors to investigate, but since the Faun only spooked you in the dark, we can't do anything."

"So you need them to actually do something before you can kick down Crowey's door?"

"Yes."

"That's..." I wanted to say 'surprisingly rational, almost like real law enforcement', but then the class rep told me:

"Sorry, our rules can tie us up sometimes." She paused, then raised a finger to her chin and added, "Though if you can provoke him to attack you, and then survive, we could actually start an investigation."

"Wouldn't that be entrapment?"

Instead of answering she just shrugged her shoulder. I never knew she had a side like this to her, but I was too disappointed about her answer to try and argue about 'due process' and stuff.

"Well, at least I know my options. Or lack thereof. I'll try and do something about him myself."

She gave me a strange look and then said, "Why don't you just talk to Neige?" There was a short pause, during which her brows furrowed into a frown. "Speaking of which, do you know what she is doing?"

The question honestly took me aback for a moment.

"You mean right now or in general?"

"Yes."

I scratched my chin to hide the fact that I was peeking with my Far Sight, and I found Snowy on the sports field. She was still in her gym clothes, so I figured they had PE class, and she was dourly walking around the field. There was a bit of a glow about her, but that happened to everyone nowadays, and the only immediate thing I got out of the observation was that I wanted to pat her on the head and cheer her up.

I returned my attention to the class rep and shrugged.

"Sorry, I know you were doing a thing there, but I still don't get it."

She momentarily deflated, but then she crossed her arms in front of her chest again and told me, "She's been acting strange lately. Aloof, distant, secretive... does that ring any bells?"

I thought about it for a moment and shrugged again.

"Maybe. I don't think it's particularly unusual."

"It is. She barely talks with any of us and she looks like she isn't getting enough sleep. Then we have this whole Faun business. It is way too suspicious for my liking." She paused here, as if trying to get her feelings to coalesce into words, and finally muttered, "I am not saying I am suspicious of her, I'm just... worried about her. A little."

I almost chuckled, but I held it down and nodded instead. It was a little funny seeing the person with the greatest reservations about Snowy reaching a 180 turn so quickly, but her sentiment rang true, and laughing at her because of it would've been wrong. I took a deep breath and nodded in agreement.

"So you want me to go and talk to her?"

"Yes. You are her patron."

"That is a needlessly fancy way to say it."

"But it's true. She should also be able to help you with the Faun where I couldn't."

Once again, since I saw Crowey give the order, and knowing their relationship, I was fairly sure Snowy couldn't really tell me anything new about my ram-headed shadow, but the rest of the class rep's concerns sounded legitimate enough for me to say, "All right. I'll go and see what this is all about."

As such, I turned down any pending lunch invitations and headed for the sports field. I didn't expect her to still be there, yet there she was, walking around the perimeter of the field with the same dejected look on her face while softly glowing. I was reaching the point where I was unconsciously tuning out such ambient glows, but hers was prominent enough to see even under direct sunlight.

By the time I reached her side she was in the far corner of the field and tapping her feet as if she was getting impatient over something. She was so immersed in her thoughts that she didn't notice me even though I was standing only a couple of steps away from her. I waited for her for a while, but I ran out of patience fairly soon and so I cleared my throat to get her attention.

She visibly shuddered and glanced around like she was being caught doing a prank, and even then it took her several seconds to notice me. We stared each other in the eye, during which she gave me a classic ‘deer in the headlights' expression, right until I compeltely lost my patience and called out to her.

"So, what are you doing?"

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She twitched again and looked around as if she was expecting that I was talking to someone else. When it became clear there was no one hiding behind her back she sheepishly raised her hand and pointed a questioning finger at herself.

"Yes, I mean you. Do you see anyone else loafing around all alone out here?" She honest to goodness thought about that entirely rhetorical question for a second before she pointed at me. I smiled and shook my head. "That doesn't work. I am not alone here, now am I?"

"No, you are not..." she muttered uncertainly as she did a weird, complicated motion with her fingers and the glow suffusing the air around her dissipated. "What... are you doing here?"

I pondered whether I should tell her I was sent by the class rep to check up on her, but I figured there must've been a reason why she didn't want her to know she was worried about her (otherwise she could've done this herself), so I only smiled and told her, "I saw you wandering around with a long face and I decided to check up on you."

"I... see..." she mumbled with a nod.

I waited a few seconds for her to continue, but when she remained silent I decided to simply walk up to her and pat her on the head. She twitched a little, but then she gave me another confused deer-in-headlights stare that made me wonder if I have overstepped my boundaries. Well, she didn't reel back and ran away, so I figured I probably didn't offend her that much, so I finished rubbing her head and pointed at a nearby bench. She followed after me meekly and we sat down next to each other.

I was already prepared for this part of the conversation, so I reached into my pocket and pulled out two soda cans I picked up on my way there. I handed one over to her and she accepted it without a word. We sat in silence for a few minutes as we emptied our cans and I waited for her to get calm and comfortable enough to finally open up and tell me what was bothering her. It apparently didn't work, for she stayed silent for several minutes after we both finished drinking. As such, I once again had to be the one to speak up.

"So," I turned to her with a jovial smile. "What's eating you?"

She swiftly averted her eyes, but then she took a deep breath and faced me again.

"Leo... I would like to thank you for all you have done for me."

Now that came out of the left field.

"You're welcome, I guess? What's this about?"

"I..." She glanced away yet again before she absent-mindedly tugged at her choker and said. "We are moving."

"By ‘we', you mean you and your brother?" She nodded. "And by ‘moving', do you mean another town or back to the Abyss?"

She hesitated a bit before she answered this one.

"The political situation at home is... difficult. We are needed back there."

"When?"

"Soon."

"I see," I nodded solemnly. "I suppose you didn't tell about it to anyone else."

She shook her head surprisingly hard.

"I can't. It's supposed to be a secret. My brother says it's important I wouldn't tell anyone."

"But you are telling me."

Unexpectedly enough, she smiled a little and told me, "You are a special case."

"Thanks, I guess."

We sat in silence for a few minutes more as I digested the news. I would certainly miss her; there was no question about that. I was fairly sure she would be back sooner rather than later. She was a ‘main heroine', so I doubted she would be gone for good, but still. I was starting to think of her as something of an awkward little sister, and I was sad to see her go even if only for a while.

I was just about to share the sentiment with her when she reached out and took my hand into hers.

"Leo," She spoke softly, but with an unusual conviction in her voice as her fingers squeezed mine for emphasis. "Promise me you look after yourself. Don't go out after dark and make sure that Amelia or Eleanor is around you even during the day. Promise me that."

"Sure, I promise, but..." I agreed by reflex, but then I finally realized what she was referring to and I couldn't help but grin. "Ah, I get it now! You are warning me about that Faun guy!"

She was genuinely shocked by my words and it took her a second or five to ask, "You know?"

"Yeah, I met the guy already. Big, hairy fellow with ram's horns? We ran into each other twice already, and he was a good enough sport not to try and bash my head in when he had the chance. Please tell him I appreciated that the next time he wakes you up in the morning."

Snowy studied me for a while, no doubt trying to figure out whether I was serious or not, and in the end she surprised me again when she began to giggle, then chuckle, and finally outright laugh as the tension visibly drained from her shoulders. I let her get it all out of her system, though I would be lying if I said I wasn't mildly perplexed by her behavior. At last, she returned to a demure smile and told me, in an impossibly soft voice; "Sorry, I was getting worked up over nothing. I keep forgetting that you are amazing."

"Oh come on now," I chided her awkwardly as I reflexively patted her on the head. "You are just trying to butter me up at this point." It was then that I remembered her previous reaction to my patting, so I gave her a questioning look to seek her approval. Instead of words, she leaned against my hand, so I smiled and continued rubbing the crown of her head. I honestly wouldn't have been surprised if she started purring. She didn't, but it would've been funny.

We stayed like that for a short while, but then my growling stomach reminded me that it was lunch break and I still didn't eat anything. I removed my hand and used my thumb to point at the dining hall.

"I think we should get going, or we won't have time to eat. You have to change too."

She looked over herself and nodded, and I noted with relief that color had finally returned to her face. We stood up and headed for the cafeteria, but after a few steps, she tugged on my sleeve to get my attention.

"Yes?"

"Um... Please don't tell anyone I'm moving."

"... Sure, it will be our secret." I was getting ready to wink like the rapscallion I was, but then instead I paused and added, "Actually, I think you should tell Josh. At least the day before you leave. He will miss you too." After some hesitation Snowy gave in and nodded, her cheeks flushed with just a hint of red. I had a feeling she would get depressed again if I ended our discussion on that note, so I grinned at her and said, "All right, let's go and get lunch. What would you like? My treat."

As expected, her eyes immediately sparked up, and I didn't even have to hear it to know her answer.

"Apple pie," we said in unison. She gave me a surprised look and then giggled as she dashed ahead to change out of her gym clothes. Yeah, that was much better. Smiling suited her way more than moping, and I was dedicated to keeping her smiling until the day she left. I guess it was my duty as her ‘patron'.

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