~ Guest of the Hour - 3 ~

Sora and Jeha left the mess hall soon and a loud chattering roar erupted in the premise behind their backs. Everyone had a gossip to share about the president and everyone was attentive to the thoughts they had about the president.

While the students were excited, Sora was feeling rather low, almost as if his feet were refusing to step any further inside their lair.

Since his hair was always neatly combed back into a loose tail, he couldn't even hide his dismayed eyes behind his fringes. What a difficult situation he was in.

Sighing with remorse, he guided his eyes to observe the scenery, which was back to cold grey walls and blue fire torches hanging from the cornices right below the ceiling.

A movement from Jeha caught his attention as well, and Sora watched transfixed, as Jeha's muscular back moved within his black cloak as he rolled his shoulders in an instinctual manner, a move which those who had just participated in physical activity would do. And since his lower back looked drenched, Sora concluded that he must have done some exercising or practiced whatever art demons practiced these days.

Jeha wasn't very burly, his height was only slightly taller than him, but the arrogance and leisure pace he attained while walking, was slightly daunting.

If Sora had practiced the art of masking his self with grace and composure, than Jeha must have been thrice his age to practice the level of fine poise he had today.

"The lounge is at the sixth floor, where my dwelling is," Jeha didn't mind making the small talk, "you can always knock on my door if you face any crisis. We demons are efficient."

"Right."

"You don't believe so?" he asked while turning back slightly to have a look at Sora's face, and the other cursed himself mentally to have slipped in his conduct.

He quickly refuted, "You are wrong, I believe you, but why would you help me, a stranger?"

"You aren't a stranger, Mr. President, I have a heard a lot about you."

"Like what?"

"Like you are proficient in what you do, your work is always outstanding, and you get top score during exam periods. They say you are honest and straight forward."

"So... you want to make friends?" Sora asked dryly.

Jeha laughed when he heard the retort, "You can say I am very... hospitable to young naive little presidents." The shallow dip of his pitch made Sora shiver, it felt odd to hear a man flirt with him. He wasn't stupid enough to not know what was going on.

'So he thinks I am naive? Being friendly puts me in his naive dictionary?' Sora felt ridiculed.

"If I am trying to be approachable and cordial, that doesn't means I am naive," he pressed, "so I am definitely not naive."

Jeha only chuckled in response, which made Sora annoyed, he had never talked to Jeha before and now that he had some conversation with him, he felt that the man deserved to be alienated.

When they reached an intersection again, where this time three corridors met with some sort of dome shaped structure resting directly above the meeting point, Sora realized that the corridors were darker here, with almost no light.

But being an enchanter had its own perks, as he whispered a spell and suddenly could see every little detail of the surrounding elements. Even the small traces of damp moss on the crevices of the walls were visible to him.

He absently wondered why Block 4 lacked maintenance when it was clear that it was in urgent need of one.

"You should call for maintenance, this place needs it."

Jeha nodded when he heard Sora's deduction, "Well, indeed you are right, but we have called for maintenance many times and even after service the result was the same."

Sora frowned, "You mean there is something wrong with the maintenance team?" As a president, he felt it was necessary to know the issues.

Jeha shook his head, "Not at all, they are good with their job, but you should know that the amount of dark energy that accumulates around a night creature is excessive, so because of strong wavelengths, the materials we come in contact with start to rot."

Sora understood, the night creatures ran on dark energy that resided in their core, while people like enchanters, mages and others, they supported white energy cores. Every energy impacted its surrounding, and since dark energy was too concentrated in mass, it was easier for the holder of that type of energy to influence his surrounding.

"Do we have to climb?" he asked when Jeha took him towards the stairs, a few traces of faint rays lighting up the flight.

"Yes, our dorm doesn't support escalators and lifts like the modern day structures do, so you will have to adjust."

Sora felt like he was getting trolled again, since every dorm had the same facilities and he knew that their were no lifts around here. Yes he asked the question without much thought, since he was lost in his own world of thoughts, but hearing the mockery, he felt disgruntled.

~~

It wasn't after a few severe minutes, that they reached the top floor and Jeha introduced Sora to the beautiful huge entrance hall, the area packed with rich carpet, wooden furnishings, huge chandeliers and expensive sofas. A round fire hearth sat in the center, heating up the entire space.

"The private lounges are aligned by the left corridor, we are going in the one which is right next to my room. Others don't use it."

The meaning wasn't lost on Sora, he found it amusing how Jeha was quick to showcase his power and hold over the place. He had been doing it since Sora saw him in the mess hall.

He had heard how well known and respected he was among his peers, that they listened to his will. Yet the situation was worse than the rumors, they actually behaved as if he was their king.

They reached the lounge Jeha was so fond of right away, the distance was shorter to travel and with less talking, the time taken also reduced.

A huge silver door barricaded the lounge, with carved ancient letters marking the edges. Two tall vases were kept by the sides, each holding a single long reed with white tips.

Jeha pushed the door open and Sora's eyes widened as he took in the interior of the lounge.

It was an old styled cozy layout with carpeted floor and wooden interior. The intricate detail which went into the carvings on walls and furniture was genuine, Sora thought it was a lot of hard work for one little space.

"Do you like it?" Jeha asked, having been watching the admiration in the other's eyes.

Sora was sincerely honest when he nodded, but quickly schooled his features again, "Why asking, will you be buying this for me?"

"Do you want me too?"

The question made the situation awkward very quickly, since Sora had been joking obviously, and Jeha... wasn't.

"Shall we?" the dark haired one asked, quickly handling back the situation with a graceful smile. And Sora took the hint, striding in with his head held high.