111: Couple Festivities

Kaiser, though the headmaster, helped the staff put away chairs at the end of Roxanne’s question and answer session. They cleared the temporary stage, and, from afar, he watched as his eldest daughter got swarmed by the students.

A tad more personable than her younger brother, Slade, Roxanne proved to be the more popular guest as the hustle and bustle of people jostling each other and clamoring for their own moment with Roxanne began filling the stadium. Even Roxanne’s team members, who had been sitting on the stage behind her—contributing some answers of their own for relevant questions—felt themselves pulled in by the tide of human bodies.

“Calm down, calm down, everyone!” Roxanne spoke into the still active microphone in her hand. “I, along with all my guildmates, will be heading to the festival as well. Feel free to talk to us there while we’re all enjoying the fun, but please, make some space so that we can all head over to the festival area.”

Following her words, a flash of green emanated from the center of the stadium’s pitch. A transparent-green dragon appeared in the sky, swooping downward and scooping up Roxanne and her guildmates. Before the crowd could even react, they soared into the distance, leaping off the dragon as it passed over the festival booths set up along the institute’s main area.

The crowd, coming to its senses a couple seconds later, fell into a brief period of silence. One breath. Two breaths. As if everyone had been connected to the same slow internet line, they all reacted at the same time, with the same action: rushing towards the exit.

Having headed towards the exit from the beginning, Nyssa and Celeste’s faces paled as they watched a wave of students approach them from behind. With the aggressive shouting already filling their ears, they looked at each other before running forward in step with each other.

“Where do we go?” Celeste asked as they increased their pace to pull away from the encroaching wave. “You’ve been here longer than me.”

“But you’ve been a student for longer than me, how am I supposed to know where to go, I always slept through the festivals in a secluded corner of campus...” Nyssa answered, turning back to check on the people behind them. “Well, I guess I could direct you to where no one goes during the festival. I know where all the couples go, because they used to invade my napping spots.”

“I mean, maybe later,” Celeste slid, turning the corner with a light kick off the wall. “Let’s visit the festival at least.”

“Then you decide,” Nyssa followed behind, frowning as Celeste pulled a couple steps ahead. Pushing down the urge to transform, she grit her teeth and ran a little harder to close the gap to Celeste, grabbing onto her hand as they approached the festival booths. Out of breath, she squeezed Celeste’s hand, ignoring the sweatiness present on both of their hands. “Let’s just... walk from here.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Celeste reached over with her free hand, brushing Nyssa’s hair back with a gentle smile. “You should run more though. We didn’t even run for that long and you’re already out of breath.”

“It’s not my fault... I lost some of my cardiovascular fitness by laying in bed... unconscious...” Nyssa grumbled, batting away Celeste’s hand even as a faint smile tugged at the corners of her lips.

“Alright, alright,” Celeste turned away, hiding the smile blossoming on her face as Nyssa tugged her forward. “Any particular booth you want to visit first among the ones we see right now?”

“I don’t know... I want to stay kinda far from my sister though,” Nyssa trailed off, turning to face left as she noticed Roxanne and Angelica in the distance on their right side.

“Then let’s play this cork shooting game,” Celeste pointed to the booth right in front of them. The prizes didn’t amount to much, but she did notice the food tickets redeemable at the food booths. “We can take care of our lunch if we do well.”

“No power usage though...” Nyssa sighed as the girl running the booth waved them over, prepping two cork guns as they walked over. “I’m so bad at these games without using my powers.”

---

As for the duo who had been avoided earlier, Angelica and Roxanne, they strolled through the festival area with a gentle silence between them. Angelica wrapped her arm around Roxanne’s waist as they walked away from the stadium area, trying to buy themselves just a couple more minutes before getting swarmed again.

“Are you sure you’re doing alright? I can get you some food, or a drink? You didn’t even sleep last night...” Angelica leaned closer to Roxanne, whispering as Roxanne yawned.

“It’s... fine,” Roxanne patted her cheeks, a light slapping sound filling the air around them as she woke herself up. “It's not like we were... you know, doing something. I was just doing administrative work for the guild. That’s not super draining energy-wise.”

“I don’t know about that...” Angelica pulled Roxanne closer. As Angelica placed a couple gentle kisses onto Roxanne’s face, trailing down from the edge of her eye down to her lips, they force fed all the nearby booth owners with mouthful after mouthful of dog food. “Every time I’ve had to call the administrative offices about anything related to... well, anything, it's been draining.”

“Well, I’m fine,” Roxanne shook her head. “There’s no need for you to do anything just... keep me company. I’m sure the students will end up asking you questions too.”

“Fine by me,” Angelica smiled. “I’m happy to spend any amount of time with you.”

---

On another side of campus, far from the festival, Olivia sat sipping a drink while staring off into space. Alecto sat across from her, propping her chin up by setting her elbows on the small round table sitting between them.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go to the festival?” Alecto asked, biting the straw of her own drink as she intertwined her legs with Olivia’s under the table.

“... No... I’m fine just sitting here, I like the quiet anyway,” Olivia sighed, turning to look back at Alecto. Her eyes softened as Alecto reached over and grabbed her hands. “I’ve been to the festival enough times to know that I won’t enjoy it that much. Especially with how much swarming is going to go on, there are guests this time after all.”

“Well, I’m happy to keep you company~” Alecto sang, reaching over and nabbing Olivia’s drink. She took a couple sips before returning it with a wink. “I’ve added a little bit of love~ infusion~.”

“Thank you...” Olivia mumbled, a couple coughs escaping her as she opened and closed her mouth a few times. “Yeah, and in past years, we weren’t... you know. But now, I’d really just rather spend time with you...”

“Awww, I love you too,” Alecto smiled, delighting in the faint pinkness appearing on Olivia’s ears. “There’s no one I’d rather spend my time with~.”