Chapter 19. Trust Issues: A Neighbor’s Invitation

Friday always hits differently.

Weekends are coming and it was nothing but good news to students. Sad thing was, Dawn was absent. Dawn sent a message earlier this morning that she wasn't feeling well and she just wanted to rest her mind. Although Raii Shin didn't want her to be cooped up in her own room because of what happened yesterday, she also didn't want to force her friend to come to school if that was her state.

Raii Shin could only read her friend's text with her moonlight spirit being stirred. It was just a feeling of resentment at first until it grew into lingering anger, especially when her social media personality Harana walked past her with her earphones.

"Fighting against a giant is stupid," she sang. The context of the song was meant to be for the dying breed of communists who were still trying to sow hatred against the government. It was composed by a famous singer named Gillyasha, a staunch young critic of the leftists who are trying to use the youth for their revolutionary agenda. The lyrics were meant to stump the evil people and not to belittle those who were being demoralized by the one with power. Although Harana didn't look at her, it was obvious she meant to make Raii Shin as a laughing stock because Harana's friends that followed after her snickered and whispered in each other's ears. And thanks to her being a moonmage, Raii Shin heard every word that they said.

"Dawn actually had the guts to go against our president's decision."

"And Raii Shin supported her."

"Who do they think they are?"

"Lol, they have to at least be on par with him first."

It was why Raii Shin was distracted in her classes. She wanted to blast some moon power into Arko's senses for him to realize who he was messing with but she knew she had to be civil if she wanted to stand by her friend and save both of their reputation. This was purely a human problem and she was going to face it as Raii Shin, not as Regina.

It was one of the basics that she learned. There was no solid rule stating that they weren't allowed to use their power outside their duty but it was an ethical thing to respect the boundary of the Earthlings and the Moonlings. She learned it the hard way when she summoned power on her fingertips to secretly poke a bully in their classroom before when she was in her last year of high school. She was proud of it because she felt like a protector of the weak and a strong opposer of the bad guys. But when Amethyst heard of it, she gave Raii Shin a good scolding like she was some kindergarten student who didn't know what was right or wrong. 

"If it really was an emergency where your powers are badly needed, it is understandable but to think that you used it for satisfaction, that is not what a moonmage does. You might have thought that you just protected the weak but if that was really your intention, there was no need to use your powers. We are not some group of prideful people who think that we can do whatever we want with magic. We are just blessed with the power of the moon and we have a responsibility to use our powers wisely," Amethyst said.

But at the moment, it was taking all of Raii Shin's willpower to not give Arko and her Harana's goons a good example. Then again, it was not wise to act according to her feelings only or else she might fall into the dark side of being a moonmage. 

"By the way, before the bell rings, there will be an important announcement from Arko Redanda, our SC president. We were told to make sure everyone hears it so please cooperate," their professor in Musical Theories.

At the mention of Arko's name, some heads turned to her direction while whispering again. When the intercom of their classroom finally beeped, the room quieted.

"Good afternoon, fellow students of JADE. I am Arko Redanda, your SC president. This will be a long announcement so please bear with me."

Raii Shin wanted to put on her earphones and just snore. His voice was bad music to her health as she could feel herself puking. To think that such a man was their SC president, a supposed-to-be model of what a youth should like when in reality, he was just a cruel and emotionless perfectionist. 

"In celebration of the upcoming 25th friendship anniversary of JADE and JEWELS, our school has decided to host a festival, commemorating the camaraderie of both schools. It is likened to a silver celebration so the League of Leaders has decided to upgrade the event this time. The event will take place next week from Monday to Wednesday with the last night to be a formal evening party."

"This may be sudden but rest assured, we have done all necessary preparations. There will be sports competitions, an art fair, rows of different kinds of booths, and other fun and colorful things. The complete list will be posted on our bulletins and platforms so please do check your student portals. It will be an interesting event because students from JEWELS will come here to mingle with us. That's all and we will see you next week."

The room burst into excitement. It felt like highschool days.

Well, if it is for the betterment of the school, then I guess it will be a good thing, Raii Shin thought.

***

Three kilometers away, the red bricks of Jazel East-West Law School shone under the setting sun. It was one of the pride of Jazel as JEWELS was the largest law school as well as it sported a university that offers the relevant courses that were best for law. It is one of the unique features of JEWELS. The school steadily produced lawyers that were world-class, one of the reasons why JADE's SC president was interested in their policies.

Unlike JADE, the school was quiet when it heard of the announcement about the upcoming joint festival. Some were just as excited as the JADE students, but most, especially the law students, were counting their spare time of sleeping hours next week as they knew they will just spend their time reading their books.

In one particular office, a group of students seated in a round table were extremely quiet. Kamra Liss, a member of JEWELS' Student Council, had just finished reading the full details of the event.

"And this was approved by the other deans?" one of them asked.

Kamra nodded grimly and gripped the letter of approval in her hands. "We have no choice but to attend. It will be a shame if we will turn them down," she said. Like most of them, she shared the same sentiments of doubt, not towards JADE as a whole, but only against their famous SC president who seemed so eager to show the world how good JADE was.

"That president of theirs just finished his school tour here, right? Honestly, it's quite intimidating when I was with him since I was assigned to tour him. Everything that I said about JEWELS, he was weighing it too much like everything was JEWELS versus JADE. And then he suddenly throws a friendship festival with them as the host without even consulting with us if we would like it? That feels so wrong," Kamra said.

No one was able to respond. They were gloomy.

Outside the student council room, Minus was chilling on their open hallway. He was looking towards the north direction where JADE was. 

He sighed and said, "Arko Redanda, what are you planning?"