Chapter 21

Kit made his way through the Academy's twisting hallways packed full of students. It was the first day back from the holidays, the beginning of a new school year, and everywhere, people were catching up with one another on what they'd been up to during vacation. There was a chilliness in the morning air, and Kit wrapped his scarf closer around himself. As he was trying to navigate the sea of people to get to his first class, he heard someone calling out to him from farther up the hallway.

"Hey, Kit," Baz waved at him, lounging next to some lockers with Vince.

He felt something close to a smile spreading across his face. It had been almost a full month since he'd last seen Baz. Somehow or another, he had grown to enjoy his company, and during the time they hadn't seen each other, he had also come to miss it.

Kit started walking a bit faster, pushing past the places where the concentration of people was higher.

When Kit reached them, Vince greeted him, "Hey."

Kit nodded at him in acknowledgement, "Hi."

Baz just reached out to pat Kit's head, ruffling his hair. "Ah, you dyed your hair?"

The action caused a few strands to come loose and fall across his eyes. "Mhm." Kit rearranged his hair, pushing the strands back from his forehead.

"What happened to the blue hair?" Baz playfully asked.

"I wanted to try something else," Kit answered, retying his hair into the low ponytail he kept it in. He had first dyed his hair blue somewhere around the middle of his first year and had kept it that way until recently, but he had grown tired of it during the first week of vacation. He had decided to change it. Not so drastically that it would be a shock, but enough that it was noticeable. Which is why he had decided on black, since the shade of blue before was pretty dark.

"Hm… Well, it suits you." Baz patted his head again, this time more gently.

Kit felt a warm feeling in his chest blooming at those words.

~~~

Three months into the first term, Kit was sitting alone at the cafeteria. He'd gotten out early for lunch period, and having arrived early he was one of the first in the food line and was already eating while most people were still in the queue or just arriving.

As he scooped up a portion of white rice to bring to his mouth, a shadow fell across him.

"What are you doing today after school?"

Kit looked up from his plate of food to see Baz standing there. "I'm helping out the theatre club," he answered calmly.

"Ah, damnit," he cursed under his breath, "Can't you skip?" Baz pressed his palms together in a supplicating gesture. "Just one day? Please? I really need your help with something."

"I promised I would help them," he said, "and I wouldn't want to just ditch. Opening night is in a few weeks and they're a bit short-staffed." He wasn't in any art related clubs, but the student in charge of props and backdrops was in his same art class. Because his parents had made him take a few art classes when he was younger, Kit was actually pretty decent in this department, and his classmate had taken notice of it. He had asked if Kit could help with painting a few things here and there. Just for a few days, he said, or at least until they weren't so behind schedule. Since it hadn't interfered with swimming practice, he had accepted, and now if he were to just back out he would feel like an asshole. "Besides, why can't you ask someone else?"

"...Because no one else wants to help me out," Baz muttered.

Oh no. He knew what that meant coming from Baz. "Don't you think there's a reason why they refused to help you?" Kit narrowed his eyes at him in wariness.

"Ah, don't tell me you're also going to desert me," Baz plopped down on the chair across from Kit. "And here I was thinking you were my only friend left…" he sighed deeply.

"...."

"But I guess…" he sighed again, "the theatre club's more important."

Nope. Not this time. It wasn't going to work.

"It's fine, I get it," he started getting up from the table. "I'll just have to-"

"Wait." Kit reached out to grab him by the arm. Baz arched an eyebrow. "...I- I'll hear you out, okay?"

Baz gave in suspiciously quick. "I knew I could count on you," he grinned, taking a seat once again.

"I haven't agreed to help you yet. I just said I would hear you out." They both knew that was a lie. He had basically given in already.

"You know the swamp behind Queen's Mall? Where all those frogs live?"

"I don't think I like where this is going…"

"It's nothing bad, I promise," Baz placated him. "...Not too bad."

"Coming from you, that isn't comforting at all."

"Don't worry. We're just going to go catch some frogs," he grinned, his eyes curving into slits.

Even though Baz had made it sound simple, it proved to be a lot harder in reality. The frogs were slippery little creatures, and if just finding them between all the vegetation and swampy water was already hard, actually catching them was even harder. As soon as Kit would try to approach them, they would sense his presence and jump away. Even when he did manage to catch one, it would just slip from between his fingers and he would end up empty-handed again.

By the time they were finished, they were both covered head to toe in mud, and all they had between the two of them was a measly three frogs.

"What did you even need the frogs for?" Kit tried to wipe the mud from his face, but it was useless; he only managed to smear more mud.

"Ah, that…" Baz scratched the back of his neck. "I wanted to put them in Professor Sommers' desk."

"Aren't they terrified of them?"

"Ahem. Exactly."

~~~

They were sitting on the balcony of Baz's house. Well, not his house; his aunt's house. Even though he could have stayed at the Academy's dorms, which is what most students from outside the capital did, his parents had insisted he stay with his mother's older sister. The apartment she owned was spacious, three rooms and two bathrooms, and since she lived on her own, there was more than enough space to host an extra person.

The balcony looked out across a small lake at the centre of the municipal park. The setting sun reflected on the water's surface, and as the summer months approached, more people could be seen walking around the park.

They had been simply lounging on the chairs outside, a melted popsicle lying on the small round table between them.

"Say, Kit," Baz started talking, but stopped abruptly.

Kit opened one eye to look at him. "What is it?"

"Nothing. It's just…" he hesitated again. "Do you know Kat from the gardening club?"

"Maybe?" Kit sat up straighter in his chair. "Describe her to me? Perhaps then I'll be able to tell you."

"Average build, a bit on the short side. She has short, black hair, reaching around her chin?" he moved his hand in a back and forth motion horizontally. "Also wears glasses?"

"I've seen her around. What about her, though?"

"What do you think about her?" He sounded almost nervous.

"Um. I don't know? Isn't she in your year? Why are you asking me about her?"

"Well, she's in my history class this year, and we had to work on an assignment together a few months ago… So we started talking and…"

Kit felt something akin to dread building up in the pit of his stomach.

"I don't know. She's cool. I-" Baz stared intently ahead. "I think I really like her."

He felt like his stomach dropped. "...Is that so?" He didn't know why he suddenly felt like his throat was closing up.

"Yeah," Baz rubbed his neck sheepishly, the glow of the setting sun not managing to completely hide his blush. "I think I want to ask her out. But I wanted to tell you first, since you're my best friend-"

Kit doesn't manage to catch the rest of that sentence, because suddenly there's a loud buzzing in his ears. He can see Baz's mouth moving, but he can't make out the words. Maybe because the cicadas' chirping had suddenly grown louder. Or maybe it was a sudden rush of blood to his ears. Or maybe he just didn't want to hear the rest of that sentence.

~~~

It turned out, Kat was the vice president from the gardening club. She was assertive, and loud, and she somehow always managed to make people do what she wanted.

So in a way, pretty similar to Baz.

But not only was she the vice president of the gardening club, she was also at the top ten of her class and in the student council.

So, in another way, nothing like Baz.

But she did have that something about her that made people gravitate towards her and want to be close to her. Which made it really hard for Kit to dislike her.

When Baz first introduced them, Kit had been ready to dislike her, or at least be indifferent. But it hadn't been like that.

"Ah, so you're Kit?" her eyes had lit up, and she had enthusiastically shaken his hand.

Kit dazedly shook her hand back. So formal, Kit thought. Was she really seventeen? She acted like an old person. And so forceful… Did she really have to be so enthusiastic about a greeting? He had wanted to shrink away from her.

Kat sensed his discomfort and immediately backed away. "It's nice to finally put a face to the name," she gave a more subdued smile, "because Baz mentions you quite a lot, but I didn't know what you looked like." She noticed the colour of his uniform tie. In the Academy, students from different grades would wear different colour ties. First years wore green, second year yellow, third years orange, fourth years red, and fifth year purple. "You're a third year?"

"Yes…" He wanted to make up an excuse to leave.

"That would explain why I didn't know who you were. But you do look kinda familiar… Are you in any clubs?"

"He's on the swimming team," Baz answered for him.

"Ah…" she nods, as if suddenly remembering. "Then I must have seen you at some competition. My brother's also on the team. Do you know Heath? Fifth year?"

"Sort of…" He did in fact know him quite well. He was probably the one other person aside from Baz who he talked to the most. But he would never have imagined he was related to Kat. Even if when he thought about it the physical resemblance was definitely there, their personalities were so far apart it was hard to imagine they would share anything other than their last name. Where Kat was outgoing and sociable, Heath was taciturn and kept to himself. In fact, the only reason why Kit got along so well with him was because of his quiet personality. When he had joined the team in his first year, it had been Heath who took him "under his wing" and showed him around.

"But you're not in any clubs," she turned to Baz, "so how did you two meet?"

"That's actually a long story…" Baz laughed awkwardly.

"Um," Kit spoke up, "I actually have to go now…"

"Really? But it's Wednesday, you don't have practice," they both said at the same time.

"No, it's not that…" he hurried to come up with a convincing lie on the spot, "I… promised my mother I would take care of dinner today…" He hoped it didn't come out as hesitant as he felt.

Baz was about to raise a question, but Kat talked before he could.

"Ah! Of course," Kat seemed understanding, even giving him a sympathetic nod. "It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise," he managed that last word before he felt his vocal cords shutting off. Even if he tried, he doubted he could get out another word. One of the doctors his mother had taken him to had said that was probably a coping mechanism his body had when faced with uncomfortable situations or big amounts of stress.

"We'll see you around then," Baz said.

He gave a small nod, before he hurried away. He hoped it didn't look like he was running away that much (even if that was what he was doing).

~~~

"So did you ever see those blue apples?" Dee's voice breaks Kit out of his recollection.

He hadn't even noticed he'd taken a trip down memory lane until Dee had asked him a question. "Huh?"

"The blue apples. Did you see them?" Dee looked at him expectantly.

"Nah. Either they weren't real in the first place, or we killed them," Baz replies.

"So you burned down the greenhouse for nothing, then?" Dee still seems to expect something more to come out of that story.

"Well, technically we didn't burn down-" Kit begins to explain but Baz cuts him off.

"Yes, we," he signals between both him and Kit, "burned down that greenhouse for nothing. Together. Because it was both our fault." He gives Kit a pointed stare.

"You were the ones that burned it down?"

The three of them jump at the sound of that voice. Kit thinks Baz chokes a little on his spit.

"K-Kat," Baz tries to put on a smile, "how much did you hear."

She fixes him with a glare. "Enough," she crosses her arms across her chest.

Baz makes another strangled noise. "Hahaha… Well, you said it yourself, no? It was more than ten years ago… We should let bygones be bygones, hm?"

Kat sighs. "It's nice to see you will never change, Baz. I think we can call each other even now."

"So no hard feelings?" Baz extends a hand towards her.

Kat takes it, exasperated. "Sure." She takes the seat between him and Dee. "Ah, by the way, since we're clearing the air, I don't hold you responsible for the greenhouse incident, Kit. It was all his fault," she jabs Baz in the shoulder.

"Thank you?" Kit feels conflicted. Was he expecting that from Kat? No. But he didn't realise he'd been holding his breath until she said that, so maybe a part of him wanted that validation. (What did that say about him?)

Kat now turns her attention to Dee, "You're the shapeshifter, right?"

"Maybe." Dee upturns her nose. "Why do you want to know?"

"No reason."

"Then why do you ask?" they sneer.

To her credit, Kat's expression doesn't even twitch. "Trying to make conversation."

"Hmph!" they cross their arms.

"Say," Kat pulls out something from their coat's front pocket, hiding it in her closed fist, "do you think you could leave us alone for a little while? I need to talk to these two about something. Just a few minutes?" She extends her hand with whatever she pulled out from her coat towards Dee.

Dee sniffs the air once, and her expression immediately lights up. "If I leave… then I can have what you're holding?"

"Of course." Kat lets the object drop on the middle of the table. It's a banana flavoured soft candy.

Dee quickly snachtes it up, and happily leaves the room.

"Continue with the eraser," Kit calls out after them. He hopes they hear him, and follow his instructions.

Kat waits a few moments even after Dee has left and closed the door to the common room before she starts talking. "You were both on the mission, so you both know why headquarters sent me, right?"

Baz and Kit turn to look at each other.

"It's because of the demonic creature, no?" Baz says. "But Aster killed it and we managed to seal it away."

"No, not that demon," Kit's voice sounds hollow to his ears, "she's talking about the demon that summoned it and altered it. That barrier… That was set up by someone."

"...What?!" Baz's face goes pale. "What do you mean there's another demon? And you… Are you really implying…"

Kat gives a sombre nod. "If it was a demon who summoned that creature, then yes. It means exactly what you're thinking. That demon…"

"...it knows magic," Kit finishes the sentence.

A deep silence falls over the room.