-in a high-class society-
The day I wasn't thinking about before was the day that I had to go to real school. The school was full of people like the Stygian family. The uniform I had seen on Eric, Elena, and Medora now was on me. The white long-sleeve shirt and dark navy blue vest on top, the black skirt that long covered my shin, and the black Mary Jane with a bit of height. I had my hair half up and half down with a black ribbon that was almost my hair length, which was almost at my thigh. It was done by the maid. She said nothing but admired her work on my hair without asking me what I would like.
I looked at myself in the mirror, the ribbon that flew in front of me was black, very black that it contrasted my hair clearly. I was always proud that my hair was the same colour as my mother's except at the tip of my hair. It was the same colour as the ribbon, black as hell.
"It's time, Miss Zephyra."
The maid.
"Thank you"
I said back and left the room with my bag.
Before I was about to leave the mansion, I saw the black car leaving. I could guess it was the three of them: Eric, Elena, and Medora. I went to school separately, which was good because I had my own ride. The school where I was heading was the best and the oldest, and it was called Grande Wister Academy—the high-class institution from generation to generation, child to grandchild. Every child from a high-class family in Sovereign City was sent to learn and study at this academy, and kids who were from this city were only allowed unless the family was well-known and had high status in society. Even if your kids were the most intelligent in the world, but you didn't have enough money in your hands, then your kids wouldn't even be considered by the director. It's cruel just like that.
In my opinion, my father planned to prepare me to be an ordinary, high-class princess girl before he sent me to school. But for the head lady, she wouldn't think that way. I think she didn't want to send me to this school at all, not because I lacked skills or was not ready for her privileged world, but because she didn't want me to go to the same school as her kids. Attending school as a new student was like introducing a girl or a boy to society and being ready to be watched and get attention. And who the hell would the attention fall to other kids, right?
The academy is located in the North area of the Center. The Stygian mansion is almost in the South, and the Flower House is located in the South-East area. The Stygians called that side the 'Spring area' because it's full of wildflowers of all different types and kinds.
It took about 30 minutes before I arrived at the academy. I took a deep, hard breath and breathed the air out of my mouth.
And stepped inside.
"There's a new student. Please come in, Miss."
"..."
The eyes were on me, but my eyes looked at blank faces that almost looked the same.
"This is Zephyra Stygian."
"What?"
Suddenly, the sound began in the classroom, and the blank faces turned their heads to the golden-haired girl in the middle of class and the golden-haired boy at the back of the room. The turning heads made me look in the same direction. It was Eric and Elena.
Ah, we were in the same class. Fun fact about them: they are twins.
"Please greatly welcome our new student."
A classroom teacher introduced me and told other students to be nice to me.
"And if you want any help with the classes or the way around the academy, you can come to me or ask Eric or Elena."
"..."
I said nothing and only nodded.
"Then you can sit over there."
The teacher pointed to the empty table in front of the class next to the window.
Seeing people other than the family members was quite a blur to my eyes. The sound softly whispered behind and in front of me while passing by was expected since I had experienced that in my own house. So, the experiences were just the same; the difference was the mass background of people.
My ignorance frustrated some groups of people, and my careless behaviour toward the bullies was also quite upsetting. My eyes and brain were only focusing on learning and getting good grades, gathering ideas, and researching knowledge so I could graduate with higher education and leave this academy, especially them.
The lessons were similar to what I had learned before. The new lessons or subjects most likely were the activities outside the classroom, such as Waltz, Ballet, Cello, and other musical instrument classes. There was Polo, the traditional ball game, and field hockey. Moreover, Clubs were very important, just like the different classes. Clubs were for gathering the same type of students with the same interests—more like finding our kind.
One year passed by, but everything was the same, even the seasons, sunny days, storms of the rainy months, The wet white snow at the end of the year, and the flowers blooming and falling as they were forced to. Only my appearance had changed: my hair was longer, white and bright purple shone through, and the tip of my hair was blacker than ever. The red in my eyes was more bloody than before. The skills were improving, gaining some strength. The last change was my mother's body, which was thinner and thicker throughout the year—no tears left of her that were running down, only the smiles on her face, always. I had been sneaking out to the Flower House after school almost every day.
And one more thing: the first-born son of the Stygians was invited to be a substitute teacher for Latin and Spanish classes at the beginning of this year.
Yeah, Achlys, that one.
"Good morning, Professor Stygian."
"Good morning. Here, give all the paper to your friends."
He put his bag on the desk, brought out the empty paper to the student in front of the class, and ordered her.
Achlys Stygian was very popular among female students. He was quite handsome, tall, and fit, with dark hair and light grey eyes. His calm and quiet personality made him more attractive not just to young girls but also to women his age. He was five years older than me.
And then each empty paper was on every desk.
"Remember the book that I gave you guys to read last weekend?.. Please write what you think and the opinions of each chapter, and then conclude the overall What you have received from the book, what did you feel?"
"May I ask if we should write in Spanish?"
One of the students asked.
"Yes, of course."
He answered.
"We have to write all of that in one day?"
Another student asked.
"If you can."
"Waah."
The students made the sound.
"Heh."
He chuckled in his throat.
"Just write what you can. This will continue until the end of this week, so take your time."
He explained.
All my classmates brought out the book and read it while they tried to write. Instead of grabbing the book in my bag, I looked out the window and tried to remember. I knew this book I had read when I was trying to sleep at night after my mother and I were forced to be separated before he gave the assignment. And then I read again last week because of him.
"..."
Then I turned my face to the blackboard in front of the class and noticed the black suit body instead.
I didn't even want to look up, so I started to write while ignoring him. He put his right hand on top of my head and pulled my face up softly.
"Where's your book?"
He asked.
"In my bag, sir."
I answered.
"..."
He didn't say anything, only his smirk. And I could feel all eyes were on me without turning my face to see.
I hadn't seen him physically touch other people in this academy even though there were a lot of professors, students, and people from different departments who worked in this place; they would love to surround him very often, but he distanced himself from other people. I could see it, and others could see it as well. Unfortunately for me, I was an exception. I didn't know why. He was probably teasing me, but in all probability, it was a tiny chance to be that. I had no idea. It didn't give me any hard time from other jealous young girl students but from his action itself. It's annoying.
Importantly, my usual situation was sometimes interrupted by Elena and her group of friends when they were bored and had nothing to do with their lives. But it was our unexpected day because Achlys also interrupted Elena's day.
"Hello, Miss Perfect."
The girl's voice intruded my walk to the Sword Club.
"..."
I ignored the annoying voice in front of me and walked ahead. And she decided to walk beside me on the right side.
"Where are you going?"
And there was another girl's voice from the girl on the left side.
"..."
Just fuck off.
"Snobby as always."
The girl from the right side said.
"Why are you so arrogant, Zephyra? Aren't you from the lower class, like in the mountain village or something?"
The girl from the left side played along.
"Yeah, that was what I heard from Elena."
Another girl on the right side answered.
"I asked you."
Then, the girl from the right side pulled my braid aggressively, so I was startled, and my body stopped.
"..."
I turned my face to the right side without showing emotion.
"Get off."
I said softly, trying to calm myself.
"Heh, no."
Then she pulled my hair harder.
"So, in a high-class society, Do people behave like this?"
I glared at her.
"You!"
She shouted.
"..."
Before she was going to raise her palm, she paused. I didn't blink at all, just staring at her hard. Her eyes looked a bit shaking.
She was scared.
And then she was about to lower her hand. Suddenly, the tall, significant, and fit body with a black suit came in. Not again.
"Mr. Achlys!!"
Both of them said his name. His glance was at my hair, and then the girl let my braid be free.
"*Sigh."
I sighed out loud and then walked away like nothing had happened, just letting them clear things out.
Finally, I was at The Sword Club. I was invited to join the club three months after I came here to learn. It was not like fencing; it was a
But to step in here, the students needed to respect the way of learning about sword fighting and the style of using the katana sword. The Kenjutsu style was taught by the oldest
"What happened to your hair?"
"Ah...nothing."
I answered while touching my hair and pulling the rubber out to let my messy braid loose.
"I'm going to change. I'll be back, senior."
I said and bowed a little.
"Ah…yes."
He was looking at me and answered.
I changed my student uniform to a training outfit and put my hair in a low ponytail instead. When I stepped my bare feet on the training floor, the mentor glanced at me while teaching other members, so I bowed almost 90 degrees to him.
"I'll be with you in a second."
He said with a smile.
"I'll do it."
The senior who greeted me before came to the floor and said loudly.
"I'll give you 5 minutes."
The mentor teased him or me.
"I'll finish in 2 minutes."
He answered.
"Yeah, you'll be finished in 2 minutes."
The mentor teased him. I chuckled.
"Ready, Zephyra?"
The senior asked.
"Are you ready, senior?"
I asked back while bringing up the wooden sword.
"If I can take you down on the floor...you stop calling me senior."
"..?"
I tilted my head a little with confusion.
In a second, his body was closer, and his wooden sword was in front of me. I raised my wooden sword 45 degrees against his sword. He pushed his fight against me again and again. He seemed serious about the quest then. Nice. I would love to fight this aggressively, like my fight with the mentor. I smiled a little and started to fight back and move my body more.
You call me Kento."
He said to me.
So he would like to be called by his name.
"Take me down then."
I provoked him.
We were fighting and moving our bodies around the mat floor, and the members started to watch us, as well as the mentor. The sound of the wooden swords against each other was loud and clear in this room. I'd never fought him like this before. He was always humbled, more like let me lead the dance.
"Stop."
And then, the mentor spoke out loud.
"!!"
My sword was at his neck, and his sword was at the side of my stomach.
"It's more than 2 minutes."
The mentor reminded us.
"Ha...Ha..."
He was panting and looked at me.
"Damn, Zephyra, you are tough as hell."
The senior said.
"Did you use your full energy?"
I asked him.
"What do you think?"
He asked back.
I barely doubt that, but he seemed a bit tired.
"Well, well."
The mentor did the voice.
"How about my turn?"
The mentor turned his face to me.
What?
"Don't tell me you're tired now? It's only 2 minutes."
He was teasing me instead.
"..."
I said nothing and walked back to the position.
He smiled pleasingly and stood in his position. Then, we both bowed to each other. I twisted my right wrist to stretch the muscle, and I ran into him this time.