(Un)usual Class (1)

I entered class together with Noel. Seeing Prune, her silver hair and fluffy ears, I felt a pang of guilt inside me. The last time I hinted that I would help her get closer to Noel, is that correct?

Somehow it feels as if my plans to bring them together was an impossible feat to begin with. Was it because I no longer want them together? Or was it because of this world's culture? Prune obviously harbours feelings for Noel but I'm the one ensnaring him, not allowing their feelings to bloom for each other. I was aware that Noel fancied Prune before.

What should I do?

"Liliath?"

Noel, who had placed his bag down on his seat, turned to me who still stood at the entrance of the class in a daze.

"N-Nothing," I shook this feeling away and walked to my seat.

"Liliath has become really weird hasn't she?" I heard Prune ask Noel.

"Quite," was his reply.

I wanted to retort-- finding such a 'want' to be weird to begin with? Why does it matter what they say? I don't know.. I just wanted to retort.

"Liliath, how are you? Are you feeling better?" Saria's voice resounded and I turned to look at her.

"Yes. Much better. I apologize for yesterday," saying that with a sunshine smile I ran my gaze across the class.

I found myself shaking at the many stares directed at me. Though neither were hostile, they were still aversive. Curiosity dwelled in some of them.

"You don't seem alright to me? If you don't mind, can you tell me what's troubling you?" Saria asked in an innocent manner.

"I'm fine, Saria. I merely lost myself yesterday, that's all."

With a weak laugh, I tried to brush the matter off..

But.

Yesterday's matter. It was rather serious wasn't it? I misunderstood, my feelings went out of control, forced Noel onto myself, and was confused the entire day.

It's now obvious what I did wrong.

It became obvious?

I tilted my head subconsciously.

"That's really serious. What happened? Did someone say something rude to you?"

"No that's not it. It was just a misunderstanding… I got myself into a mess because of how it reminded me of my past."

I shivered at the word. Forget it. It doesn't matter anymore. This is a new life.

Which reminds me. Noel knows of my past doesn't he? And how is Bleu related to all that? I should ask him about it but why do I feel reluctant to do so?

"Ah. Noel, Liliath had a tragic past didn't she?" Saria asked. And tracing her gaze towards Noel, I saw him grimace.

He knows. But to what degree? How much does he know?

Could the dream I had last night be a premonition to something?

"It's best if you don't dig too deep about it," Noel answered.

"That means you've told Noel about your troubles. That's fortunate. It's important that you let loose your emotions at times and not just keep it all to yourself. Otherwise you would just end up like yesterday."

It seems Saria has misunderstood Noel. She must have thought that I told Noel about those painful experiences.

"But it is because of this feeling of wanting to express my emotions that it happened!"

"That's the point."

I covered my mouth with my hands. Did I just yell?

My hands started to tremble.

"It's alright, It's alright. There's nothing to worry about."

Noel placed his hands on my head and started to caress my hair, calming me down.

"I-I'm sorry," I apologized to Saria.

"Don't be. I think I like you better this way. You're more honest.. and less weird. You've changed a lot from yesterday." Saria smiled.

I couldn't help but avert my eyes, feeling ashamed.

How queer.

Noel's hand parted. The sounds of seats reshuffling resounded throughout the class. I raised my head to realize that Teacher Glib had entered class.

Standing up, the class gave our usual morning greeting to the teacher, Saria scuttled back to her seat the moment after.

"Liliath," teacher Glib called out.

"Yes,"

At her words, I came to the front of the class where the teacher was. Scanning the room and the students who were looking at me in confusion. Noel gave me a nod and I bowed.

"I apologize for my misconduct yesterday."

Before Noel and I took our leave from the counselling room, it was decided that I would apologize to the whole class as my mistake had caused some accidents the day prior.

"Hopefully the class can get along with her despite what happened yesterday, understood," teacher Glib supplemented.

The class had a myriad of responses. Some students were seen nodding, others started whispering to each other-- though fortunately the contents weren't anything too negative. There were also those who gave an indifferent attitude and those who were looking embarrassed. There was one that however, stood out from the rest-- interest.

Kai.

Holding back this unease, I bowed once again before returning to my seat.

"You did great," Noel said to console me.

I merely smiled.

English class proceeded as normal.

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Have you ever wondered what we study during history class?

World history-- obviously. But let's talk about something unrelated but mentioned by the history teacher today.

What do you call a citizen of Gilgamesh? For those in America, it's american. In India, Indian. Korea, korean. Germany, german. China, chinese.

How about Gilgamesh?

--Gilgan.

It's in fact, very interesting when you realize that you're living in one of the newest countries in the world. Four seasons, occasional typhoon storms, and rare tsunamis.

It's funny how our country deals with these natural disasters. Asides architecture and infrastructure to mitigate the effects, since there are limits to what these could do, the country has no choice but to hire some of the more potent TALENTS to nib the disasters at the bud. Just imagine the scene where one girl holds out her hands to the sea and the tsunamI just disappears at her command.

Yeah. Literally. It isn't part of history YET but our teacher likes to throw in these wild modern to-be history stories to make class less boring. Her name was well known all around the world-- Tsu, a water manipulation or disaster control specialist. The hell is up with the correlation between her name and TALENT? Even myself don't get it.

Tsu is fortunately a citizen here and is probably 20-something this year? Sounds all powerful and well--- but her powerful TALENT comes with its own set of issues. She gets hired by numerous nations throughout the year and it is not fun. Disputes break out between countries because of her, so it's inevitable that she gets caught up in some messy situations at times.

Then there's also this issue of 'what will happen when she passes?'. Let's just hope somewhere out there in the world there would be someone with a TALENT to command the seas just like her.

Another point to note was that Tsu, with the power to stop an entire tsunamI graduated from this very school, MondaI High, boggling everyone including me. To dramatise it even further, the teacher told us that the table and chairs she used before had been auctioned away due to its value so there's absolutely no chance for us to sit at that legendary seat.

Um.. what?

Anyway, we are currently tasked to complete a presentation. The group members being Liliath, Saria, Voux, Wake and me. And the topic is regarding the plane crash and survival. A good and interesting topic to work on.

The number of people who survived the crash totalled 189. During the first two days when they boarded off the sinking plane-- floating out at sea, a few of them died due to well-- you know, the usual death-at-sea-kinda things.

Jaws.

Just kidding. Most of the deaths were derived from the missing people that got separated from the main group 11 in total. Those who remained survived in the end.

On the third day, Gigamesh, who had but a simple but extreme TALENT of manipulated mass earth decided to put it to use out of desperation. Food and water stocks they pulled off the plane were running short and people were losing hope.

He unwittingly got to know someone with an amplification TALENT. And with the guy's help, managed to raise a small chunk of land the size of a boat after a whole day of work. That said-- the silt was an issue but with the help of another person's TALENT, they managed to remove it.

The week ended with Gigamesh successfully raising enough land mass from the ocean floor to pull everyone out from sea. An hierarchy was established with everyone supporting each other with their TALENTS. Those who could generate water, others that could heal the wounds caused by the sun and sea salt. Others who were able to mold earth and harden rocks built shelters. Those who knew how to dive or could control marine life brought food to the table. And those who have TALENTS to assist in cooking would support those who knew how to cook. Those with knife skills managed to create Michelin star grade blue whale sashimi for the people..

Wonders of humans when they are pushed to the brink of death huh? One month later, a rescue helicopter found them and the victims were saved. The conclusion was that cooperation between humans was what led to this country today. An epic survival story that borne the nation.

Speaking of history, this was entirely different from Liliath's past.. ugh..

"Um, Noel?" Liliath narrowed her eyes at me.

"Are you sure this last one is accurate? Michelin star sashimi during a life and death situation? Where did they get the knife from?" Voux questioned.

"It's abridged. But think about it, it's totally possible right?"

Someone could compress rock into the shape of a knife, moreover, the fish they ate back then was fresh from the ocean, freshest as can be. So it's possible right? But heck, even Liliath finds my opinion suspicious.

"Right.."

Voux, who was in charge of transferring the notes down on a bigger piece of paper, promptly crossed that point out with a marker. Awh.. what.. why..

The roles were like this. Liliath and I were responsible for searching the key points in the textbook, the other three are to be in charge of transferring those points on paper.

Well.. there aren't all that many points to begin with since Saria looked pretty free sitting there doodling sashimI and whales all over her paper.

She raised her head and met my eyes.

"Ah, speaking of which, Noel, did something happen yesterday?"