Kapitel 41: Settling In

After his showing at the first duel of the year, the rest of Kir's day was extremely tame in comparison.

He ate lunch with Kordia, and nobody tried to sit with them, though some girls cast eyes at him that were curious instead of hostile.

Browsing through the menu was quite a chore, considering it was more like a small book. An entity similar to Host ran the kitchen with many clones of itself, and all a student had to do was request their meal and pay the price, which could range anywhere from a few coppers to a gold strip depending on how rare the ingredients were.

Most students just walked up and asked without even checking the menu.

According to Kordia, there was a real chef available for the administrators, but their kitchen was off-limits. She ordered a "bean jelly" steak, and Kir was surprised when she was presented with what was essentially a block of tofu with grill marks, some rice, and a deep dark sauce that sparked memories in Kir of sushi and don bowls. The whole thing cost her a copper strip, and Kir wondered if she was still being frugal or just liked the dish.

Kir was more than a little hungry after his match, so he ordered a salad with fried boar meat, paid a silver strip and three copper coins, and brought his meal to the table along with the menu.

After a few futile minutes, Kir decided to just browse the drinks section, which was surprisingly thin. A smile crossed his face as he realized that there were some items that simply didn't exist (yet), and none of the drinks on the menu had any particular properties except for the wide variety of medicinal teas.

Nothing on the menu was designed to keep people awake, and that's where Kir saw his opportunity as he closed the menu.

"You uh... must really like food..." Kordia said awkwardly, already halfway through her dish.

Kir started to mix his salad, "I was just exploring my options... And I'd like to try things that are different from what I had at home." His first bite of the crispy, breaded boar meat with the salad greens was heaven, even more so because of the balsamic vinaigrette.

From there, they talked a bit about classes. All the second years had to take the same three courses - four in the case of grade skippers like Kir - in magicology, artifact creation, and alchemy. Kir would also be taking a first-year history course since that was his weakest subject during the exam. Normally students had two classes before lunch. Most would wind up with a large block of free time either in the morning or before lunch every other day, but grade skippers wouldn't get that luxury.

Aside from those, students picked up to four classes to fill their afternoons, up to two for each day switching as with the required courses.

Kordia was so thorough that, by the time they got to orientation, Kir was already certain of the classes he wanted to pick by the time they left for their future homeroom together.

Geography and Herbology for after lunch. Monster Studies and Introductory Magic Combatives for mid to late afternoon.

The classrooms looked like something out of lecture halls that Kir remembered from his past. Three large, arced rows of conjoined desks occupied three-quarters of the space, growing smaller toward the bottom which allowed for seating six in the row. Massive windows towered at the back of the classroom, the room being one of four circles made in the main tower's upper floors - Floor 62 to be exact. For morning classes, all students had a homeroom and it was the professors who swapped, since most of the morning classes were required curriculum anyway.

Kordia only had to do Orientation with Kir up to the point of selecting her classes. They were going to have three classes together in the morning quarters - as they were called - and three classes together in the afternoon quarters. The two courses she didn't share with him were History and Magic Combatives.

"I think you'll do well in Magic Combatives," Kordia said as they sat together. "Judging by what you did to the harbor and how you handled yourself today, I think you could probably skip to the Advanced course. Oh, but they only offer that during the winter semester. Everyone's indoors most of the time anyway so the Arena becomes something of a show during those classes."

Her tail wagged, and there was a glint in her eyes that Kir thought was either excitement over being together in class or the thought of earning money on Kir in the arena.

It turned out to be neither.

"But..." Kordia blushed a bit "...I'm glad you'll be in the introductory course... Would it be alright... if I asked you... to look after my boyfriend?"

Kir felt as if his mind had just turned to shattering glass.

Boyfriend?! Why hadn't she mentioned this before? He blushed red from pure embarrassment. Had he been played, or was Kordia just shy and nice with everyone? He swore he could hear Stella cackling at him from above...

"S-sure..." Kir said, suddenly having to clear his throat to get his mind on track. The sound of Stella cackling in his head didn't stop, but it did seem to reduce to a suppressed chuckle.

Realizing that it wasn't just his imagination, Kir surprised himself by looking up and over Kordia's head and directly at Stella, who was hiding in the rafters of the classroom as a bat. He glared at her and the sound of suppressed laughter in his head got louder.

"Is something wrong?" Kordia asked, following his gaze. "Oh! It's your familiar."

Kir cleared his throat again. "Yeah, I don't really know what to do with her," Kir replied. "Maybe I should get a cage for her after all..."

"I know some third-years keep their familiars together on the same floor... Oh but we're not supposed to have familiars until then... maybe you could get a letter of exception?" Kordia's tail wagged as she made the suggestion.

Kir was discovering that clearing his throat was becoming a bit of a nervous habit. "I'll ask our homeroom teacher about it..." He sighed, deciding to work his way out of his attraction to Kordia while the wound was still fresh. "So... who's this boyfriend you want me to look after?" Kir bit his lower lip as he waited on her response. At least he might still have a chance with...

"Hi, Rain!" Kordia said. As if on cue, a big, hunky shadow appeared over them both, and Kordia's tail wagging increased.

Kir turned and looked up, his face going back to completely red.

"Heya sweet bean... sorry I'm late. Got a bit caught up in the shower..." Rain, Kir's roommate, looked at Kordia with love in his eyes.

In Kir's head, Stella burst out laughing once more.