A couple of hours later, soft moonlight replaced the bright sunlight that engulfed the school during the afternoon.
When I realized what time it was, I begrudgingly got out of my warm bed and started going through my drawers for a map of the school.
As even though I’ve been here for about a month now, I still didn’t really know where everything was located.
Mostly because no one forced me to commit the layout of the school to memory or gave me much incentive to.
Well, other than Lucia I guess, but really all that did was give me more reason not to do anything about my lack of spatial awareness.
After a bit of searching, I found a crumpled map of the entire campus crammed deep inside one of the drawers next to most of the other stuff I got on my first day here, things like folders with the school's mascot plastered on them and torn fliers for clubs I never joined.
The moment I got my hands on the map, I quickly scanned through it for the shortest routes to the two places that I needed to drop by tonight.
Then I started heading toward the school’s post office.
Luckily for me, the path leading toward the post office was well-lit and didn’t have much grime to trudge through.
And since it was pretty late at night, I didn’t have to deal with the humid heat that plagued the campus during the day.
When I got to the post office, it was almost completely empty which made it pretty easy to locate Lucia’s package.
Unfortunately, while I didn’t have much trouble finding the parcel, I had a pretty tough time trying to get a good grip on it.
Come to think of it, didn’t Lucia say that there were just letters in the package?
Did her parents write these letters with ink made of steel or something?
After struggling with and whining about the weight of the package for a few more seconds, I gave up on trying to carry the thing and just dragged it toward the stairs that led to Lucia’s dorm room.
Unlike most staircases in the school, the staircase leading up to Lucia’s dorm was in the shape of a spiral and uneven for whatever reason.
Which made it quite hard for me to get the behemoth of a package up to her room.
Whoever designed this building needs to get a pay reduction for constructing this death trap.
A couple failed attempts at traversing the staircase later, I got to Lucia’s dorm room, slightly sweatier than I was before.
Not even a second after I knocked on the door, it swung open and I was greeted with an impatient Lucia.
Before I could even say anything Lucia quickly pulled me into her room and toward the window on the left side of the dorm.
And as a result, I ended up dropping her box of letters somewhere near the entrance of her dorm.
“What’s got you so antsy-”
“Just shut up for a second alright?”
She interjected, before pointing to the window.
In response, my eyes instinctively gravitated towards the glass frame.
Beyond it laid a dazzling array of colorful lights forming the shape of a diamond.
It was more picturesque than a meteor shower and brighter than the northern lights.
Which made me start to question whether or not I was hallucinating.
I mean, it's not like I have been sleeping that much recently, so my senses weren't the most reliable sources of information right now.
Moreover, I hadn't seen anything remotely close to that on my way here.
Well regardless of whether or not what I saw was just a trick of the mind, it was still a sight to behold.
A few moments later, Lucia snapped me out of my stupor.
“So, what do you think?”
Lucia said with a bit of interest in her voice.
“Almost worth the hike that I took to get here. What even is that anyway?”
I replied while still being transfixed on the light show.
“It’s the Youmi lights phenomenon. It happens once every few years because of some magical imbalance occurring somewhere in space. I’ve always wanted to see it with somebody.”
Ah so that’s why she insisted on me getting her package tonight as opposed to the next morning.
“There’s magic in space?”
I asked.
“Well yeah, there’s magic everywhere in this world Otto.”
“Everywhere?”
There was a hint of disbelief in my voice.
“Okay fine not everywhere but you get what I mean.”
Lucia replied, slightly irritated.
“Thought as much.”
“You can be such a stickler for details sometimes.”
“This coming from the girl who stopped reading a novel just because there was a minor spelling error in one of the chapters.”
I said while narrowing my eyes a little.
“You know just as well as I do that spelling errors ruin immersion.”
“There were literally no spelling errors in that book aside from that one.”
“Look at it this way, whether you kill one or five people, you’d still be considered a murderer right? So why should it be any different when it comes to syntax errors?”
“You can't seriously be comparing making a spelling mistake to committing a murder.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“So let me get this straight, you’re telling me that you consider murder to be a petty crime and a spelling error to be an offense worthy of a life sentence?”
I replied.
“Of course not, idiot!”
After arguing with Lucia for a few more minutes, I got tuckered out and just conceded.
“What, admitting defeat already?”
Lucia remarked, incredulously.
“It's getting a bit late. I don’t want to hear you complain about not getting enough sleep tomorrow morning.”
“You never just go down quietly do you?”
“It’s more fun not to... anyway I’ll be off now.”
I replied before heading toward the doorway.
However before I could make it there, I felt a small tug on the back of my shirt.
"Ah wait, hang on a sec."
“Hmm? Did you need something Lucia?”
I said, before turning around to face her.
“No uh... I just wanted to say thank you for today.”
Lucia said while fidgeting with her fingers.
“Well that’s out of character for you, did you catch a cold or something?”
I replied, slightly worried.
"No, I'm perfectly fine, dumbass."
“If you say so.”
I said, with a hint of suspicion in my voice.
“Anyway, erm I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Lucia said quickly before ushering me out of her room and shutting the door.
It seems as if the more time I spend with Lucia, the more confusing she becomes.
A couple of hours later, soft moonlight replaced the bright sunlight that engulfed the school during the afternoon.
When I realized what time it was, I begrudgingly got out of my warm bed and started going through my drawers for a map of the school.
As even though I’ve been here for about a month now, I still didn’t really know where everything was located.
Mostly because no one forced me to commit the layout of the school to memory or gave me much incentive to.
Well, other than Lucia I guess, but really all that did was give me more reason not to do anything about my lack of spatial awareness.
After a bit of searching, I found a crumpled map of the entire campus crammed deep inside one of the drawers next to most of the other stuff I got on my first day here, things like folders with the school's mascot plastered on them and torn fliers for clubs I never joined.
The moment I got my hands on the map, I quickly scanned through it for the shortest routes to the two places that I needed to drop by tonight.
Then I started heading toward the school’s post office.
Luckily for me, the path leading toward the post office was well-lit and didn’t have much grime to trudge through.
And since it was pretty late at night, I didn’t have to deal with the humid heat that plagued the campus during the day.
When I got to the post office, it was almost completely empty which made it pretty easy to locate Lucia’s package.
Unfortunately, while I didn’t have much trouble finding the parcel, I had a pretty tough time trying to get a good grip on it.
Come to think of it, didn’t Lucia say that there were just letters in the package?
Did her parents write these letters with ink made of steel or something?
After struggling with and whining about the weight of the package for a few more seconds, I gave up on trying to carry the thing and just dragged it toward the stairs that led to Lucia’s dorm room.
Unlike most staircases in the school, the staircase leading up to Lucia’s dorm was in the shape of a spiral and uneven for whatever reason.
Which made it quite hard for me to get the behemoth of a package up to her room.
Whoever designed this building needs to get a pay reduction for constructing this death trap.
A couple failed attempts at traversing the staircase later, I got to Lucia’s dorm room, slightly sweatier than I was before.
Not even a second after I knocked on the door, it swung open and I was greeted with an impatient Lucia.
Before I could even say anything Lucia quickly pulled me into her room and toward the window on the left side of the dorm.
And as a result, I ended up dropping her box of letters somewhere near the entrance of her dorm.
“What’s got you so antsy-”
“Just shut up for a second alright?”
She interjected, before pointing to the window.
In response, my eyes instinctively gravitated towards the glass frame.
Beyond it laid a dazzling array of colorful lights forming the shape of a diamond.
It was more picturesque than a meteor shower and brighter than the northern lights.
Which made me start to question whether or not I was hallucinating.
I mean, it's not like I have been sleeping that much recently, so my senses weren't the most reliable sources of information right now.
Moreover, I hadn't seen anything remotely close to that on my way here.
Well regardless of whether or not what I saw was just a trick of the mind, it was still a sight to behold.
A few moments later, Lucia snapped me out of my stupor.
“So, what do you think?”
Lucia said with a bit of interest in her voice.
“Almost worth the hike that I took to get here. What even is that anyway?”
I replied while still being transfixed on the light show.
“It’s the Youmi lights phenomenon. It happens once every few years because of some magical imbalance occurring somewhere in space. I’ve always wanted to see it with somebody.”
Ah so that’s why she insisted on me getting her package tonight as opposed to the next morning.
“There’s magic in space?”
I asked.
“Well yeah, there’s magic everywhere in this world Otto.”
“Everywhere?”
There was a hint of disbelief in my voice.
“Okay fine not everywhere but you get what I mean.”
Lucia replied, slightly irritated.
“Thought as much.”
“You can be such a stickler for details sometimes.”
“This coming from the girl who stopped reading a novel just because there was a minor spelling error in one of the chapters.”
I said while narrowing my eyes a little.
“You know just as well as I do that spelling errors ruin immersion.”
“There were literally no spelling errors in that book aside from that one.”
“Look at it this way, whether you kill one or five people, you’d still be considered a murderer right? So why should it be any different when it comes to syntax errors?”
“You can't seriously be comparing making a spelling mistake to committing a murder.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“So let me get this straight, you’re telling me that you consider murder to be a petty crime and a spelling error to be an offense worthy of a life sentence?”
I replied.
“Of course not, idiot!”
After arguing with Lucia for a few more minutes, I got tuckered out and just conceded.
“What, admitting defeat already?”
Lucia remarked, incredulously.
“It's getting a bit late. I don’t want to hear you complain about not getting enough sleep tomorrow morning.”
“You never just go down quietly do you?”
“It’s more fun not to... anyway I’ll be off now.”
I replied before heading toward the doorway.
However before I could make it there, I felt a small tug on the back of my shirt.
"Ah wait, hang on a sec."
“Hmm? Did you need something Lucia?”
I said, before turning around to face her.
“No uh... I just wanted to say thank you for today.”
Lucia said while fidgeting with her fingers.
“Well that’s out of character for you, did you catch a cold or something?”
I replied, slightly worried.
"No, I'm perfectly fine, dumbass."
“If you say so.”
I said, with a hint of suspicion in my voice.
“Anyway, erm I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Lucia said quickly before ushering me out of her room and shutting the door.
It seems as if the more time I spend with Lucia, the more confusing she becomes.
