To Gavin’s credit, he allowed Blythe to haul him out of the water. He peered at her, staying put in her hands. She marvelled at how solid and warm his body felt in her hands, but he was also strangely heavy. She was going to blame that on her low strength stat. The lifeguard hunched over at them, and she finally registered what he was saying.

  “Mr. Hollis,” he was calling out while staring hard in Titus’ direction. Blythe turned her head to check. “Please remove your beast from the premises this instant.”

  Titus was already swimming over at a rapid pace, making it to Blythe’s side before she could attempt to place Gavin back onto the poolside floor. Blythe allowed herself a half-second to gaze at him, taking in the new sight of his damp pink hair clinging to his face as water trickled down his chin. With his hair all flat from the water, Titus looked more intimidating than his usual laidback front.

  “My apologies for the hassle,” Titus said, holding out his hands to Gavin, who was already wriggling out of Blythe’s hold in favor of his tamer’s. “Gavin, come here.”

  “No problem.”

  Potential pool water contamination aside, Blythe was thrilled to get up close and personal with an adorable and docile animal like Gavin.

  “Please,” the lifeguard said in a pained voice, “do not let him touch the water again.”

  Blythe made sure to lift Gavin a little higher, her underarms already beginning to ache from keeping her arms in the air, as she handed him over to Titus.

  Once he got ahold of his raccoon, Titus set Gavin down on his head and ordered, “Hold tight.”

  Then he heaved himself out of the pool, extracting his legs from the water as he moved to stand up. Gavin climbed back down to his shoulder.

  The lifeguard was shaking his head. “I’m afraid I have to ask you to take your beast out of the premises, Mr. Hollis. This is the second time you were unable to keep it from entering the pool. I regret to inform you that I will have to issue you a warning. Please wait here for a moment.”

  As the lifeguard turned around and walked away, Titus pulled Gavin off him and held him up a few inches away from his face to give him a menacing stare.

  “What did you promise me? I finally let you come to the pool with me after five months, and this is what you do? Did you make all those promises just so you could play with water?”

  Gavin whined pitifully, and Titus rolled his eyes.

  “I don’t want to hear your excuses.” He suddenly crouched down, making eye contact with Blythe who was watching their interaction with great enthralment. “I owe you my thanks for catching him so quickly, Blythe. My pool privileges could’ve been revoked for two weeks if Michael had to take him out of the water himself.”

  She assumed that was the name of the lifeguard. Michael was back at his lifeguard chair, digging something out of a pouch on it.

  Blythe smiled back. “You’re welcome. It wasn’t much trouble, anyway. I was right here when I saw Gavin start to run for the pool.”

  Green light.

  Something like a grimace crossed his face, and he promptly smoothed it over. “I knew he wasn’t ready for this.”

  “Did he promise you he wouldn’t enter the pool?”

  The subtle squabbling between him and Gavin was too interesting not to ask about. While everyone around her took it in stride whenever beast tamers had a full-on conversation with their beast, Blythe wasn’t used to it. She just wanted to know what the animals were saying.

  “Swore on two weeks’ worth of treats, in fact,” Titus replied, narrowing his amber eyes at Gavin, who somehow managed to look appropriately shamed. “I’m sure he’s beginning to regret that decision now. That was a whole lot of big talk for nothing, wasn’t it, Gavin?”

  Blythe was suddenly aware of Daisy’s presence next to her. She must have drawn closer at some point during the whole fuss. A quick glance told her that Daisy was more interested in staring at Michael, who was returning with something in his hand.

  Smiling helplessly at the cute raccoon who was now being cradled to Titus’ chest, Blythe said, “I guess he likes the water too much.”

  Titus looked most unimpressed. “Then he should’ve been aware of his limits and waited in my room instead of earning me a warning. Well, I’d better go before Michael throws another fit about Gavin’s presence. Have a good day, and thank you again.”

  Before rising to his feet, he graced Blythe with a smile. Michael met him halfway, holding out a white slab that Titus touched with his hand. After it glowed red, Titus nodded at Michael and strolled out of the door.

  “He’s the only person I’ve seen receive a warning for rule violations in the pool so far,” Daisy said, wincing. “The lifeguards are usually quite lenient, but I’ve also never seen a beast actually enter the pool like just now.”

  “Have you seen Gavin here before?” Did Gavin used to tag along with Titus to the pool? The Michael did say it was the second time it had entered the pool.

  “Gavin is that raccoon’s name, right? It used to come with Titus from earlier in the mornings last year. It always sat quietly on one of the deck chairs while waiting for his tamer. Michael said that today was the second time, so I wasn’t there when Gavin went into the pool for the first time. I know that after a while, I stopped seeing Gavin even though Titus still came to swim.”

  “Oh, so you know Titus’ name. Are you familiar with him?” He hadn’t quite acknowledged her earlier, though.

  Daisy quickly shook her head. “We’ve been in a few classes before, but we aren’t personally acquainted. Since he’s quite popular, it was easy to learn his name.”

  That made sense. The player had ample opportunities throughout the school year to take the Patisserie Arts elective if they wanted to unlock Titus as a romanceable character, so there were plenty of chances for Daisy to get to know him down the road.

  “But,” Daisy continued, her eyes darting to the pool facility entrance, “you know, it’s rare for tamers to bring their beasts here. A lot of them become curious about the water or enjoy swimming and end up almost violating the rule even if they’re told they can’t. He must really trust his beast, especially since raccoons like water so much.”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “How do you know a lot of them would enter the water if given the chance? I thought he was the first person you’ve seen get issued a warning.”

  “The ones whom I’ve seen bring their beasts here always stop them before they can get into the water. It’s always a mad dash out of the water. They can’t really swim in peace, of course, so they won’t bring them a second time.”

  “You must have seen a lot of interesting things here.” She should come to the pool more often.

  Daisy chuckled. “I suppose you could say that.”

  Now that the commotion had died down, Blythe and Daisy went back to swimming. Blythe attempted a lap and got winded halfway through, standing in the water to catch her breath. Unlike her, Daisy moved around easily in the water, doing lap after lap with effortless grace.

  Finally, forty minutes of on-and-off swimming later, Blythe was ready to leave. Daisy thanked her for the company, and they got out of the pool together. While Blythe went to the locker room to shower, Daisy moved to the competition pool to continue her morning workout.

  Because of her aching arm muscles, Blythe’s shower was a quick and sluggish one. She didn’t want to work out anymore after this.

  She paid the training hall a visit anyway, ignoring the strange looks from others—there were only boys present—who were there. Exhausted at the mere thought of running, Blythe decided to use a small, unoccupied corner to work on her resistance training instead. As expected, she couldn’t complete her usual number of sets. Her legs were sore as well, but it was her arms that were begging for the torture to stop.

  Allowing herself to coddle her crying arms, Blythe abandoned her current push-up and flopped down onto the floor.

  She’d done her best. It was time for breakfast.

  The dining hall was surprisingly quiet compared to the crowd at lunch and dinner yesterday. Several students left with small paper bags in their hands, presumably containing some type of sandwich or breakfast pastry. Not many of the tables were occupied.

  Blythe got herself some toast, eggs and sausages. She made a beeline for the nearest vacant table, ready to plop herself down onto a chair, when she suddenly heard a vaguely familiar voice call her name.

  “Blythe?”

  Jacqueline was sitting two tables away with three other girls, looking at her with some inquisitiveness. Inwardly, Blythe yelled at herself for not watching where she was going. She’d been looking forward to eating breakfast alone and stewing in her thoughts. Whether it was her mind, body or soul, it was absolutely spent.

  “Why are you here?” Jacqueline asked as Blythe approached their table. “Did you become a boarder?”

  Forcing a smile onto her face, Blythe said, “Hey, Jacqueline. Good morning, everyone. Yes, I moved in yesterday.”

  She recognized Yvette and Beatrice from PE, but the last girl was someone she hadn’t met yet. From her profile information, Blythe learned that her name was Ava, and that she was a ‘commoner’. They all greeted her.

  “Are you alone?” Jacqueline craned her neck, looking around. “Jessica and Sophie usually go home on the weekends, don’t they?”

  “They’re here this week, but they’re probably still sleeping.” They hadn’t sounded like they were ready to wake up when they replied to her VocAvis message earlier. In fact, she felt kind of guilty for inadvertently waking them up.

  Beatrice nodded, stirring her teaspoon in her cup of tea. “They do like to sleep in. They rarely eat breakfast even if they’re staying at Novalbus for the weekend.”

  “Why don’t you join us, then?” Jacqueline offered, gesturing to the empty chairs at the table. “It’s boring to eat alone, isn’t it?”

  The fear of slipping up and saying something she shouldn’t nagged at her, but Jacqueline seemed like one of the more genuine, if slightly frank, classmates she’d come across so far. Blythe wouldn’t mind getting to know her better. Of course, she would’ve preferred it if this opportunity had presented itself when she wasn’t so tired.

  “It’s nice to have quality time with myself sometimes,” Blythe said, pulling out the chair next to her. “But I’ll take you up on the offer.”

  The moment she sat down, her vision was hit with blue light.

  What the—?

  “Being fine with being alone is a good thing,” Jacqueline said sagely. “What made you change your mind? I was under the impression that you were very content to stay as a day student.”

  Pretending that she wasn’t flustered by the random stat change, Blythe speared her fork through a sausage and bit off a sizable chunk. “My commute from home to school was becoming a little inconvenient. Staying here on weekdays will save me a lot of time. I’ll still be going home on the weekends.”

  “What about your breakfast dates with His Highness Prince Magnus?” Beatrice asked, lowering her teacup to its saucer. “If I remember correctly, that was the most important factor in your decision.”

  Yvette made soft noises of agreement.

  “You’ve enjoyed those so much that it’s become something of a common topic during your tea parties,” Jacqueline said.

  Blythe took her frustration out on an egg by stabbing its yolk open and ripping it in half to pair with her toast. Feeling Jacqueline’s stare boring into her head, she tried to keep a straight face and not cringe.

  “It was truly generous and kind of Magnus to have obliged me on that front for so long,” she began, desperately piecing together whatever words she could think of to form a coherent enough sentence that wouldn’t make them question her. “However, I’ve given it some thought and realized how inefficient and inconvenient it is for him. I’d like to show him the same consideration he has given me, so we have agreed to shelve these … breakfast dates for now.”

  “That’s,” Jacqueline said, pausing for a second, “thoughtful of you.”

  Her eyebrows were raised as she stared at Blythe. The other girls murmured their agreement.

  “Thanks,” she said, eager to change the subject. “Do you all usually stay at school on weekends?”

  It felt like a safe question to ask; the original Blythe hadn’t seemed too close to them. Since she was only a day student and wasn’t here on weekends, it probably wasn’t a question she should know the answer to.

  As they turned their attention to her question, the sense of focus on Blythe faded away.

  “I return home every three weeks,” Jacqueline said. “Like you said, it’s more convenient to stay in the dorms. Anyway, I don’t get homesick, so it’s no skin off my back.”

  “I usually go home on the weekends.” Beatrice sipped some tea. “This week was an exception because I had some supplementary lessons to attend.”

  Yvette let out a light cough, and Ava grinned.

  Beatrice glared at them, but it had no effect on them. Jacqueline snickered as well before turning to Blythe, who was trying to mask her confusion.

  Was that code for some kind of secret rendezvous?

  “Don’t mind them,” Jacqueline said. “They’re just being silly.”

  “It’s okay.” Blythe tried her best to look neutral. “It’s none of my business whatever you’re doing, even if it’s, uh—”

  “What are you thinking?” Beatrice nearly screeched. “There’s nothing untoward going on. Yvette, if you cause some strange rumor to spread because of this—”

  “Me? All I did was cough,” Yvette said, batting her eyes innocently. “I had something in my throat.”

  She spooned some oatmeal into her mouth.

  “I, uh, really won’t say a word to anyone—”

  “There’s nothing to keep secret about,” Beatrice interrupted Blythe’s attempt at reassurance, rubbing her temples. “I had to take a make-up test, and the professor offered to let me do it on a weekend if I didn’t want to have it on a weekday. That’s all.”

  “Sorry, what does that have to do with the supplementary lessons?“

  Beatrice glared down at her teacup. “There were no supplementary lessons. I didn’t want people to know I had to take a make-up test.”

  “Oh.”

  She was embarrassed about having failed a test. That was significantly less scandalous than the silly stuff Blythe was imagining.

  “She’s been telling everyone who’s asking her why she’s staying this weekend she has supplementary lessons,” Jacqueline said. “I keep telling her it’s not a big deal, but she doesn’t believe me. I’ve had to take make-up tests before. At least they let me take them, you know? They don’t always allow that.”

  “For what it’s worth, I understand,” Blythe offered. “It’s nobody’s business whether or not you had to take a make-up test.”

  Beatrice’s taut shoulders went slack. She raised her eyes to Blythe’s, an uncertain smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

  “Thank you, Blythe.”

  She received two system notifications.

  All the other girls smiled appreciatively at Blythe as well.

  With the ice at the table officially broken, the atmosphere grew warmer and they all talked about more banal topics like their school subjects and professors. Yvette and Ava became chattier as Blythe listened to them, expressing their opinions about their current classes. Jacqueline asked Blythe when she would host her next garden tea party, to which Blythe hedged her way out of giving a real answer. It seemed that all the girls at the table, except for Ava, had been to her tea parties before.

  She would check the journal later to hopefully get a better grasp of these tea parties.