The Melody Got a Letter

Dear Manus Erlbaugh,

You have been assigned F-class in the academy.

This decision was not an easy one to make, but instead one we thought long and hard about. Due to the suspicion of you having taken the powers of a God, as well as your recent actions during the capabilities test today, we thought it fitting to make you a resident of the F-class.

So, what does this mean to you?

This means you are subject to a soft expulsion. This makes it so that you're barred from every lecture our competent professors provide and barred from meeting with your bright-minded fellow students on campus grounds. Now, if students or professors are to seek you out at the Gargoyle Tower, which we so graciously allow to be off campus grounds, then a bit of mingling is permitted.

Besides that, your access to student facilities shall be limited. You are to never appear in the dining hall nor the student lounges, but you shall retain access to the library and training grounds. These limitations are not meant to diminish you Manus Erlbaugh, but instead a way to force you to grow.

We shall do a retest of your skills in a two-month time.

If you've improved by then, we will graciously accept you with open arms, but if not, then we must impose our strictest ruling – full-on expulsion.

We hope that you do not stray so far as to reach this path, but the rules are rules, and even we must follow them.

Sincerely, hoping your future becomes bright,

United Front's Administration.

__-***__*-_

"I must say," Manus taps the paper with the backs of two fingers, "They've got some skill at writing. Rather eloquent in its way of diminishing students and making it seem as though they're not playing a part in a future problem. Hah."

Manus, who'd been more than ready to rest for the day, dropped the letter and headed out, a slight pep in his step.

"My dear Πιάνο." Manus slid his way onto the piano bench, his fingers tickling the air above the keys, "What tune do you wish to play today?"

With an adagio beginning, Manus's face morphed into a smile for he had just started the Fantasie in C.

Manus played the rhapsodic and passionate first movement with his eyes wide open, watching as the figure of a woman formed beside the piano, dancing to the piece performed. This was the moment when Manus fell to the call of the grand piano that wished him to play with more fervor and more majesty.

In the time while his eyes were closed to fulfill the demands, the walls of the Gargoyle Tower started to shift, shaping and transforming into a statue of the greatest musician. As the statue fully formed, the walls were licked clean and then painted gold and sprinkled with stardust and its eyes radiated like the sun.

Nova, who was flying back sleepily after having gotten an earful from an old geezer for mistreating a student during the capabilities test, nearly fell to her death in surprise at seeing the Gargoyle Tower replaced with a bright-eyed giant golden, sparkling statue.

Now fully awake, Nova cracked her fists, ready to kill whoever had done this to her tower. Yet, she watched in confusion as the gold was stripped away from the statue, revealing a cold, grungy surface and she watched the light from the statue's eyes wane, almost as if life was being sucked from it. And as though it'd never been there, the statue was replaced by the Gargoyle Tower.

Knowing it had to be the work of her towermate, Nova blasted in through the still yet-to-be-repaired front door and towards the ballroom. While she flew there, Nova pondered what she'd seen. Nova knew that her towermate wasn't strong enough to cast influence on something at the scale of the Gargoyle Tower. In fact, no one except her could… not even the headmaster.

Perhaps he had another incident.

If that were the case, then Nova would have to clean the mess. She scowled at the thought.

Finally, after what felt like ages to her, Nova burst into the ballroom… only to find Manus sitting back on the piano stool, arms hanging by his sides, his forehead drenched with sweat, and his eyes releasing a few tears. Nova might have felt something seeing him like this if it weren't for the fact Manus looked like a sea slug.

"What did you do?" Nova's voice came out colder and softer than expected.

"I performed…" Manus took a long, deep, dramatic pause, "Perfection…"

Seeing the eyes of Manus, Nova realized he was too lost in his world. Ruminating on what to do, Nova concluded that she just shouldn't care. Everything seemed to be returned to its rightful place, so, why bother giving attention to someone so… human?

And just like that, the night came to an end, Manus blissfully unaware of what he'd done.

Manus went out the next morning, more than ready to improve upon himself, much like the old administrative codgers suggested, but he encountered an issue much earlier into the day than he expected.

Another student, with a lunchbox in hand, parading around his hunting grounds with a flock of animals following close behind. Questioning how innocent one would have to be to have wild animals trust them to this degree, Manus scowled at the intruder.

The intruder was a bright purple wavy-haired tall girl with an oval-shaped face that held bright, innocent teal eyes. She had small, perfect lips and excessively long eyelashes that seemed to shoot out stars every time she blinked.

Unluckily, the intruder noticed him, and called out "Hey!", causing all the animals to disperse in seconds.

Standing up out of a bush, Manus brushed his clothes, fixed his tie, and tried his best to fix his hair.

His movements seem to cause a misunderstanding with the girl though as she quickly bowed her head, "Sorry, but I can't go out with you!"

"…Pardon?" Manus wondered if the girl was right in the head.

"Oh, well, I just guessed, since you… but I was wrong, wasn't I?" Speaking faster than Manus thought possible, he watched the girl bow to him four times, "Sorry that I assumed."

Now Manus knew that this girl definitely wasn't right in the head, but Manus overlooked it since he was hungry and needed food.

"All is forgiven." Manus waves his hand, signaling for her to stop her incessant bowing.

Nodding her head and giving a small hum of thanks, the girl gave him a bright smile that refused to fade. Falling into a realm of discomfort from the positivity radiating off the girl for longer than fifteen seconds, Manus gave up on his venture to possibly extract food from this girl and started walking away.

Yet, no matter where or how far Manus walked, the girl followed close behind him. She didn't ever say anything, but anytime Manus looked back to check if she was there, the girl would give him the same radiating smile.

When Manus had finally had enough, he turned around, fell to his knees, clasped his hands above his head, and begged, "Please, my fair lady, leave me be…"

"Wait! Am I imposing on you?" The girl seemed to realize it for the first time, "Oh no… that's my bad… I completely forgot to respect your personal space… but I was just super curious about what you're doing, especially with a bow on your back. No one ever comes to these woods after all, so finding another student is definitely a surp--"

"Hunting."

Manus broke free of his begging stance, whipped the bow free from his back, loaded the only arrow he had, and fired it off into the distance, straight into the unsuspecting neck of a rabbit that'd grown curious of the girl that exuded innocence. The girl jumped up, covering her mouth and gasping in surprise.

"Wha-- Wha--" The girl was genuinely shocked, "Why'd you do that?!"

"I require sustenance my dear feeble-minded stranger. For you see, I've been limited by those with greater power preventing me from receiving this academy's offered grub."

"Y-you needed food?" Manus nodded his head causing the girl to hold out her basket in response, "I could've given you food then… All you had to do was ask."

Manus sighs, "I considered such… I really did. But if I were to pull on your innocence – on your kindness – then I would become a leech seeking to suck you dry of all you have. I'm sure you have enough leeches already that adding one more might tip the balance the wrong way."

This leaves the girl momentarily stunned before she collects herself enough to retort, "They're not leeches, they're my friends!"

"One does not hold as much innocence as you do…" Manus pulls his arrow from the neck of the rabbit, "Without first leaving themselves oblivious to the woes of the world."

Walking back past her, Manus gave a sly smirk, "And if you're unable to come to terms with the world, then I'd suggest avoiding this forest from now on. I don't want your pretty eyes to catch sight of any more corpses."

Finally able to ditch her at last, Manus prepared his scrumptious meal.

Meanwhile, though, the girl who Manus probably scarred, ran away from the forest, ran away from her 'friends' that called out to her, ran away from the thoughts that bubbled into her head, and hid in her room, hid from the world. Yet, no matter how hard she tried, thoughts of her childhood friend surfaced.

---**____

"Aila… Aila… I want it…"

And there Aila was, sitting in one of her family's flower pavilions, a rag doll in her hands, as her childhood friend pointed at it. Aila didn't want to give it, she loved the doll, and who knew what her friend would do with it. Yet her friend pursued, reaching out for it and nabbing one of its legs, lightly tugging on it.

"Aila… I want it… I wanna play with it…"

Aila was scared. Aila was too scared to shake her head and tell her friend no, but she held tight to the doll.

"Hey, Aila, I just wanna play with it… can't you let go?"

Her friend pulled a little bit harder than before and the sound of the blood pumping in Aila's ears was deafening as she tried to wrestle back control.

Nevertheless, her friend kept on yanking it until she yanked a little too hard, pulling the leg free of the doll and letting the expensive cotton spill out onto the ground. Aila had tears well up in her eyes, but she was never given the chance to shed them as her friend began to wail.

Aila felt her heart clench up and it became hard to breathe, much less cry. Her friend's wailing had attracted both of their mothers. While her friend's mother dealt with her there, Aila felt herself dragged away from the scene and brought behind closed doors.

Her mother then sat her down and bent down in front of her. Aila had been expecting the look of care and tenderness, but she instead got a look that made her jump and turn away in fear.

"My little flower~" Aila's mother traced her nails along Aila's face, "What am I ever going to do with you…"

Grabbing Aila by the chin, Aila's mother turned Aila to face her.

"When someone asks you for something… you give it… when someone asks for help… you help them… and when you're asked to behave… you behave." Aila was shivering under her mother's glare, "You're supposed to portray the image of innocence and kindness and most importantly – obliviousness – my little flower… not whatever this is. So, don't cause another incident… If you do…"

Aila's mother's smile was enough of a warning, and with that, Aila's mother left, leaving Aila to tremble where she sat before, she curled up into a ball and cried her heart out.

***--___-**

It was the same thing she was doing now under her sheets in the academy. Even so, Aila thought about her current friends, believing them real.

But now that the gate had been opened, Aila could see every friendship for what it was… just a way to abuse her kindness. Whether it be the student body head who used her to do paperwork they could have easily done or the librarian's assistant who used her to sort books or Aila's classmates who cheated off her answers to easily pass classes or...

Aila's list kept going until she could do nothing but cover her ears and scream, hoping to drown out her thoughts. She wanted to escape, she wanted to become free, she wanted—

"ЩӨЦᄂD YӨЦ ᄂIKΣ MY ΉΣᄂP?"