Scarlet
I sit in the corner of the cafeteria with quite the number of people staring at me as I wolf down the large volumes of food in front of me. And despite their attempts to stay quiet, I hear plenty of the conversations around me.
“How does she stay so thin despite eating that much?!” “Is she a bottomless pit or something?” “Was she starving for days?”
I ignore the comments at first, but then some more join in, answering the question for the others.
“I heard she uses blood magic.” “Oh, if that’s the case then it makes sense.” “Yeah.”
That’s all the convincing it took? Is that really why I’ve been so hungry since becoming a Guardian?
“Part of it at least. It’s also because you’re half blood lycan,” Tar answers my question. “Some blood magic spells use the users blood in the process, so the users end up needing to eat a lot. And lycans in general have a fast metabolism.”
Oh. Okay.
Kind of annoying though, since I’m not much of a fan of eating in general.
“Oh really? Why is that?” Tar asks as I continue eating, thankful that the people around me aren’t talking about me much anymore. Except the new arrivals that is.
It’s because it’s a waste of time. Instead of eating, I could be working on something. But nope. I have to spend time from my days eating.
“But you wasted time showering and even going outside to stare at the moo-” Tar begins, only to be cut off by my thoughts.
No. That’s not wasting time. That’s what I want to do. So it’s not a waste. But eating isn’t something I want to do, so it’s a waste.
Tar goes quiet as I feel waves of confusion running through whatever strange bond we have going on.
Don’t try too hard to think about it. Belle, Allen, and Arthur all gave up long ago on trying to figure me out.
My internal conversation with the tanuki is interrupted when I hear someone approaching me through my wolf ears, making me turn to find Michael, Denise, and Emily approaching me with trays of food. And they each look surprised when they find me turning towards them, likely not having expected me to know of their approach or something.
“Would it be alright if we sat with you?” Michael asks politely while indicating the other seats on this circular table.
I just shrug with a “Sure,” and return to eating my food with gusto.
They each sit down, with the two siblings sitting next to each other and Denise sitting on my left with Michael on my right. And I quickly spot them sending a strange glance towards my food only to ignore it as they begin eating their own much smaller assortments of food.
None of us talk for several minutes, but after I finally move on to my last dish, Michael speaks up.
“I heard you were accepted into Lion’s Heart?”
I glance at him before looking at my food again as I answer, “Yes.”
More like they were rushing to get me in though.
The guy watches me eat for several seconds – which is just weird – before I eventually ask, “Why?”
I noticed that they’re all still wearing their uniforms despite not needing to according to the vice-headmaster. Which is quite odd, but to each their own.
And Denise is still strangely quiet, which I also find very strange considering her first reaction towards me. To the point that it feels a little creepy somehow.
“And why are you so quiet? I originally pegged you as a talkative and energetic person,” I ask rather bluntly towards Denise, startling her in the process.
She hurriedly looks between me and the others before eventually focusing on the food in front of her with a vaguely sad look on her face as she says, “Well, I thought you didn’t like me and would prefer for me to be quiet. It’s what I deserve after what I did to you when we first met…”
I blink in surprise.
She felt guilty? Incredibly guilty by the sounds of it… but why would she think I disliked her?
When I ask her that, she just looks confused and says, “You said not to touch you again…”
I stare at her in silence for a few seconds.
“Why would that translate to me disliking you?” I ask, not really understanding that jump in logic. “I don’t even like my own best friend or father figure touching me in any way, much less someone I just met.”
This time she stares at me for several seconds in silence.
Then a blush emerges on her face, and she looks down again while muttering, “I... I thought you were only saying that to get me to stop…”
I raise an eyebrow.
“Why would I do that?” I ask, a frown stretching across my own face.
“Well, some people just make up excuses to politely tell someone not to do something!” she says as if defending herself before gaining a sad frown. “Sorry.”
Yeah, I’m not really the type to do that.
“Don’t apologize. Just stop being so mopey and quiet. It really doesn’t suit you,” I tell her, muttering the last part a little quieter than the rest.
Her head shoots up with a surprised expression on it, but I return to eating my food before she can say anything. I do glance up while eating to look at the siblings though, just to find them both with expressions showing a mixture of surprise and amusement on their faces. Then I focus on my food again until I finish the very last dish.
Right when I stand up from my seat, about to excuse myself to head to a training hall, I hear Michael ask, “Hey, Scarlet, can I ask you something?”
I glance at him before simply saying, “You just did.”
He grimaces at that for a second, only to then grin as he repeats himself, “Can I ask you two more somethings?”
I stare at him for a second before grinning myself and crossing my arms. “Go ahead.”
Without any hesitation, he immediately gets to the point, “I would like to ask if you’d join our team for the interschool tournaments.”