118: Worn Out

As non-participants in the race across the school, Nyssa and Celeste left the arena without much trouble once the guest race started. By this point, the vast majority of people had dispersed across campus, scurrying from checkpoint to checkpoint, leaving the arena a desolate ghost town.

“Why didn’t either of you two participate?” Alecto asked as she, Olivia, Ryker, and Electra walked along with them. “You’re both so young, why not live a little?”

“You all-... They all aren’t that much older than us,” Celeste stared at Alecto before pointing at Olivia, Electra, and Ryker. “Why don’t they participate?”

“Well, they’ve won before. Electra won in her first year, Olivia won with ~my~ lovely help in her second year. Ryker got second both times. Winners are automatically banned from participating in the next year, and Ryker got bored,” Alecto smiled, countering Celeste’s point with a smooth rebuttal.

“... Oh,” Celeste nodded, unfazed. “Makes sense.”

“So~?” Alecto prompted Celeste and Nyssa, “What’s the reason to skip such a fun event~”

“I’m not feeling too confident with my transformations right now,” Nyssa sighed, folding her fingers together while looking at her feet. “I think I just need some time before I start getting back to how fluid I was.”

“And I wanted to spend time with Nyssa,” Celeste nodded, hiding the smile blossoming across her lips.

“Same, same, I wanted to spend some more time with Celeste, since I wouldn’t do well in the race anyway,” Nyssa agreed, bobbing her head to match Celeste.

“I see~” Alecto’s eyes twinkled. She set aside Celeste and Nyssa’s lovey-dovey comments before transforming a set of wings into existence. Floating into the air, she spun before landing back onto her feet. “And I was looking forward to having a transformation battle with you, Nyssa~ What a shame, what a shame. In the future then, perhaps~”

“In the future, for sure,” Nyssa nodded as Alecto winked, saluted, and spun on her heel to wrap herself around her contractor. Olivia, in the middle of conversation with Ryker and Electra, reached over, stroking Alecto’s head a couple times without breaking her rhythm, and as a group, they all kept walking.

While they walked, they saw figures in the distance fighting. A figure dressed in all black leapt off a building, grabbing another flying student right out of the sky, and, together, they went crashing to the ground. A bright beacon-like laser beam shot into the sky from the other side of campus. The sound of metal weapons clashing filled the air. Tremors, at times, shook the ground as all-out brawls had become commonplace.

“Let’s go somewhere secluded...” Celeste leaned over, whispering into Nyssa’s ear. “I feel like just resting a bit before the next event, the... theatrical performances, right?”

“Yeah, the various art clubs are putting on their shows and performances next,” Nyssa let Celeste rest her head on her shoulder for a couple seconds. “If the students are still unhurt, that is... Also, yeah, let’s go then, I know a couple places that should be secluded.”

“Thank you,” Celeste let out a long sigh, closing her eyes for a brief moment before standing back upright. They walked along with the others for a little longer until Nyssa indicated their paths would split.

They took a right, and the others took a left. As they split, Nyssa and Celeste waved and bade them a “see you later,” before disappearing into the upper levels of the humanities building situated between Class One and Class Zero’s area.

---

After leading Celeste through a series of winding hallways and passing through a couple of “no trespassing” doors, Nyssa led Celeste to the roof of the humanities building. U-shaped, the humanities building had a grassy courtyard in the center where some institute workers had begun setting up a stage for the performances later in the day.

Wind tickled their necks as they sat down on the roof’s edge, dangling their feet in the open air. Celeste, closing her eyes, laid back onto the roof. Her hands wandered outward, grasping onto Nyssa’s before lacing their fingers together. “It’s a nice place... wow... The sky really is beautiful today.”

“It is,” Nyssa squeezed Celeste’s hand, tilting her head back to stare at the clouds. “We also don’t have to move from here, since the performances are going to be taking place just down there.”

“Good to know...” Celeste trailed off, squeezing Nyssa’s hand within her own. “Thanks for picking the place out.”

“Of course,” Nyssa laid back to join Celeste. “Are you doing okay? You seem more worn out than usual today. Usually I’m the one who’s half-asleep. I mean... I was earlier, but right now it’s you.”

“Just a little worn out I guess, and... hiding a little,” Celeste sighed. “I mean it’ll happen to both of us, but everyone in Class Zero is going to get swarmed with executives as the day goes on. Especially during the theater performances, since they don’t care much about this event. So they spend the time finding the people they want to talk to or make a connection with.”

“You mean like what we saw earlier with Electra, Ryker, and Olivia?” Nyssa asked, raising one hand towards the sky. She clenched her fist, as if trying to grab a cloud out of the sky. “Why us though?”

“Because we’re high quality goods,” Celeste coughed, half-snorting in the process. “I don’t know, it’s just always annoying for me, especially when people start leveraging their connections to my parents. My parents aren’t that special even, they’re just normal office workers in... decent positions. It’s not like my parents are nigh modern day aristocrats like some of our classmates...”

“I see...” Nyssa murmured a vague response. Her eyes wandered as her mind struggled to come up with a good response. “Is there a chance they’ll come up here then? I know some students climb up here when the performances start so it shouldn’t be too crowded still, but... I mean... yeah...”

“It should be okay, don’t worry,” Celeste rolled over, hugging Nyssa. “We can always just shoo them away, and they’ll be hard pressed to find us up here.”

“I’ll just mentally prepare for a couple still though...” Nyssa sighed. “Luckily they don’t know my background. I bet they’d be swarming me if they did.”

“True, true, you’re very under the radar right now, enjoy it while it lasts...” Celeste mumbled. “I shouldn’t have shown off so early. Though it did make life a lot easier in some regards, it definitely makes it more annoying in these ones...”

“No point in worrying about it now,” Nyssa shrugged, sitting back upright once Celeste let go of her. “You’re well known as being a high-potential young talent, there’s merit in that. And you deserve the benefits that come with it.”

“... True...”