|11| Ridiculous Accusations and Obstacle Races

Naomi could be considered a petite human girl, with her slim stature and barely average height. She appeared to be East Asian, having their unique eyes and straight dark hair, which was worn in shoulder-length bangs. Instead of MARC's conventional checked khaki skirt, she had on the trouser version. Fiona wondered how she managed that. The white T-shirt under her vest was left untucked. Her legs spread apart, she stood confidently, hands on her waist.

 "Thank you for chasing that guy off." Fiona said, forcing a thin smile.

 "Don't mention it. He's a jerk."

 "I'm Fiona." She offered her hand for a handshake.

The girl didn't take it. Rather, she covered her mouth and giggled. "I know who you are, silly. Everyone is talking about you. First, you tell Rinissa off and survive. Then you sit beside Dominic and he doesn't fling you away. You're a miracle baby."

 "Uh-h-h-h" Fiona did not know how to reply to that. If only the girl knew. Dominic hadn't flung her, but he'd done something far worse. He'd treated her as a COVID-19 patient.

Naomi stroke a pose, folding her arms and tilting her hips. "Oh don't worry about it. I'm not even Silver Masks. And besides, Rinissa had it coming. She can be so arrogant, a times." She rolled her eyes.

Nodding, Fiona became aware that other fraternities may have found her actions funny, unlike Borri who wanted to pound her head in. That reduced her anxiety greatly. At least she only had one group of people to worry about. As for the dark elf—

 "Why wasn't Dominic in Mana Management class?"

 "Him? He doesn't have any therapy sessions with the rest of us. His problem is wa-y-y-y-y too big, they attend to him privately. Talk about VIP treatment." Naomi answered, giggling again.

 "Oh." Fiona replied blandly. She couldn't understand why her heart was being weighed down by disappointment.

An eyebrow raised on Naomi's face. She had noticed Fiona's downcast expression. Realization hitting her, she grinned, her eyes widening in pure delight. 

 "Oh My God! You're into him!" She squealed.

Fiona's eyes followed to widen, but in pure horror. Yes. She was into Dominic, but not in the way Naomi was suggesting. Her interest was mere curiosity, nothing more.

 "No. I'm. NOT!" She objected.

Giggling, Naomi concurred, "Whatever you say, girl. Whatever you say.", in a way that proved she didn't buy the denial one bit.

A groan escaped Fiona. No doubt, a new rumor would spread, claiming she was madly in love with the loner dark elf. That was the last type of attention she needed. By now, the girl's titters had turned into guffaws. She was really enjoying poking fun at Fiona. Fiona got that it was all good humor, but she starting to get embarrassed. She covered her face with her palm, her teeth gnashing.

 "I'm sorry. I'm sorry." Naomi apologized when she had calmed down enough to speak. "It's just... You seem so shy about your crush. There's nothing to be ashamed of; I completely understand. Dark, mysterious men do have their appeal." She said the last part dreamily.

 "I do not have a crush on Dominic!" Fiona all but screamed.

 "Fine. I believe ya. Chill." Naomi raised her hand in surrender, putting on a mock serious face.

Thank God, Fiona thought to herself, that awkward line of conversation was finally over. Naomi stood akimbo, her smiling eyes regarding Fiona.

 "Wanna walk with me?" She asked.

Fiona shrugged. "Sure."

The two set off down the stairs. They were on the fourth floor of a six-storey building. As they made their way down, Naomi blabbed. She was a very energetic person, either swinging her hands as they walked or talking nonstop. Thanks to her, Fiona now knew the story behind every furniture and thingamabob they had passed.

On the second floor, they paused at a window overlooking a small field. Below, structures had been erected to resemble some sort of complex obstacle race. Students stood in a corner, while a male sphinx teacher (not Edward) conversed with a pale brunette girl who Fiona immediately recognized. Rinissa nodded from time to time as he spoke, as though she was paying rapt attention to what he was saying. He then left, while she strolled to the starting point of the race.

Shimmying, her lower half gradually morphed into the abdomen of a gigantic spider. Eight huge insect legs sprouted on each side of her new body part. Six smaller replicas of her black and white eyes appeared on her forehead, lined parallel to the larger original ones. Fiona squinted just to be sure, but she already knew just from observation —Rinissa was an arachne (a spider monster with the ability to shapeshift into human form).

Back on Earth, Fiona had heard of the formidable creatures, but had never gotten around to meeting one. Now that she had, she could testify the pictures in the books did not come close to describing their magnificence. 

As graceful as a ballerina, Rinissa climbed unto an elevated bar. Next, she swiftly weaved her way through the obstacles, careful not to push down a single one. Her execution was flawless and her time, unbeatable. However, when the point came to effortlessly crawl past the finish line, she froze. She looked like she was about to have a severe seizure, but was struggling to contain it. This was the first time Fiona had ever seen her not so confident, but in fact, scared.

 "Encephalopathic explosive disorder." Naomi solemnly explained before Fiona could ask. "Most of the monsters here suffer from it. Whenever they try to use their full power —puff— they go gaga. Like full-out-Incredible-Hulk crazy. Rinissa has one of the worst recorded cases of it."

Below, the teacher clapped, impressed by Rinissa's performance. She had reverted to her usual elegant self, and walked away for another monster to have his turn. Her story reminded Fiona that no one's life was perfect, no matter what it seemed from the outside.

The gloomy air that had formed due to the grim topic of mental illnesses instantly disappeared when Naomi chirped, "So, what do you want to hear next?"