Lucia and I ended up snuggling until it was about 2:55 in the afternoon, at which point, we left my cozy dorm room and went to one of the many food bins lying around campus.
As by then, both of us were feeling a bit peckish and didn’t really want to continue snuggling with thoughts of soft bread and savory ham clouding our minds.
Which baffled me a little, as usually, I can go for days without any motivation to eat something.
Maybe my thought processes are becoming more frazzled the more time I spend in this world.
As it’s not like this world has no effect on me whatsoever, my hair color is a prime example of that.
…Or perhaps it’s just that Lucia is rubbing off on me, she does have a tendency to stick to her routines, after all.
“Uh, earth to Otto. Are you there? You’ve just been silently staring at the ceiling for the past 5 minutes.”
Lucia said before tapping me on the head with one of the wrapped ham sandwiches she had grabbed from the food bin.
“Hmm? Yeah, I’m here.”
“You’ve really gotta stop spacing out like that. What if your mind goes blank while you're crossing the road or something?”
Lucia said before handing me the ham sandwich that she tapped my head with.
“Yeah yeah.”
I said dismissively after unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite out of it.
It tasted far better compared to the one I had a few weeks ago, mostly because there weren’t any wood chips inside it.
“Hmm… that’s surprisingly good, especially considering that it’s cold.”
“Yeah, it’s actually not that bad for something that’s made to last for fuckin decades.”
“Sorry, what?”
“You didn’t know? The sandwiches that are in the food bins around the school were made with the expressed purpose to last forever.”
“Why though?”
“I dunno, probably so the school can skimp on costs.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
“And speaking of strange culinary decisions, what did you end up picking as the pastry that you and Samantha have to bake tomorrow?”
Lucia asked curiously.
“I decided to go with a flourless biscuit.”
“I didn’t even know that was possible in the first place… what exactly compelled you to pick something like that?”
Lucia remarked before tilting her head a bit to the left.
“I found the recipe in the footnotes of a historical novel I was skimming through while you were sleeping.”
“So basically, you’re letting this whole thing ride on something that was shoved in a book just to fill extra space?”
“Not really, since my plan doesn’t rely on the pastry that me and Samantha are baking.”
“…You keep going on about this scheme that you have and yet you haven’t even given me a hint about what it actually entails.”
“Wait, I haven’t given you any details yet?”
“Nope, aside from the fact that I’m apparently somehow integral to the plan.”
“I see… well then, do you want me to just give you the details now?”
“Sure I guess, though I can’t say I’ll retain most of the information given, since I’m still pretty sleepy right now.”
Lucia remarked, before yawning a little.
“In that case, would you prefer it if I just gave you the details in the morning?”
“Honestly, I highly doubt that would make much of a difference. After all, I can barely understand the rationale for most of your plans even when I’m fully awake.”
Lucia said before lightly tapping me on the shoulder and taking a bite out of her sandwich.
“In that case… I’ll just brief you on what I’ve been planning now then.”
I remarked before taking a deep breath.
“The plan is as follows, we treat the whole thing as if it’s a regular old baking competition until a few minutes before the competition ends. At which point I’m gonna need you to covertly overheat my oven and Samantha’s oven using one of your spells.”
“But isn’t that against the rules?”
“I mean I never said that I couldn’t have magical assistance during the match.”
“You never said that you could either.”
“Well, that’s why the plan calls for you to cast the spell covertly. To avoid inconvenient conversations like this one.”
“And how exactly would I do something like that?”
“You mentioned the other day that you can delay the effects of spells right?”
“Yeah, but what does that have to do with… oh I think I see where you’re going with this now.”
“Yup, all you’d have to do in order to stealthily cast your spell is delay the effects of the spell by a couple minutes and make sure that you’re using a fire spell that’s easily construed as being the result of some sort of malfunction. And considering who you are, I’m pretty sure that won’t be much of a problem for you.”
“Still, wouldn’t Samantha get a bit suspicious of the fact that her oven just happened to overheat at the worst possible time?”
“Yeah that’s why I’m gunna need you to overheat my oven as well, to alleviate any suspicion. Of course, since I’ll know exactly what time to take the pastry out of the oven in order to not have it ruined, I won’t be as affected by this compared to Samantha.”
I said before shrugging my arms a little.
In turn Lucia just stared at me for a couple seconds and then sighed.
“Hey Otto, do everyone a favor and never get into politics. I don’t think the world is ready for someone like you to become a diplomat.”
Lucia said before interlocking her fingers with my own.
“Why would I even consider choosing that career path? Those people almost never have a day off.”
“Figures.”
“Anyway, now that we’ve gotten lunch and discussed the plan for tomorrow, is there anything else you’d like to do for the time being?”
“I kinda just want to go back to your room and check out some of the novels that you had, a couple of them looked pretty interesting.”
“Sure, I’m fine with that.”
“Great, then let’s get going then.”
“Fine by me.”
I remarked after shrugging a bit.
In turn, Lucia just nodded before increasing her grip on my hand.
Then she started to lead me back in the direction of my dorm room.
And the entire time while we were walking, I couldn’t help but catch quick glimpses of her.
Lucia and I ended up snuggling until it was about 2:55 in the afternoon, at which point, we left my cozy dorm room and went to one of the many food bins lying around campus.
As by then, both of us were feeling a bit peckish and didn’t really want to continue snuggling with thoughts of soft bread and savory ham clouding our minds.
Which baffled me a little, as usually, I can go for days without any motivation to eat something.
Maybe my thought processes are becoming more frazzled the more time I spend in this world.
As it’s not like this world has no effect on me whatsoever, my hair color is a prime example of that.
…Or perhaps it’s just that Lucia is rubbing off on me, she does have a tendency to stick to her routines, after all.
“Uh, earth to Otto. Are you there? You’ve just been silently staring at the ceiling for the past 5 minutes.”
Lucia said before tapping me on the head with one of the wrapped ham sandwiches she had grabbed from the food bin.
“Hmm? Yeah, I’m here.”
“You’ve really gotta stop spacing out like that. What if your mind goes blank while you're crossing the road or something?”
Lucia said before handing me the ham sandwich that she tapped my head with.
“Yeah yeah.”
I said dismissively after unwrapping the sandwich and taking a bite out of it.
It tasted far better compared to the one I had a few weeks ago, mostly because there weren’t any wood chips inside it.
“Hmm… that’s surprisingly good, especially considering that it’s cold.”
“Yeah, it’s actually not that bad for something that’s made to last for fuckin decades.”
“Sorry, what?”
“You didn’t know? The sandwiches that are in the food bins around the school were made with the expressed purpose to last forever.”
“Why though?”
“I dunno, probably so the school can skimp on costs.”
“I guess that makes sense.”
“And speaking of strange culinary decisions, what did you end up picking as the pastry that you and Samantha have to bake tomorrow?”
Lucia asked curiously.
“I decided to go with a flourless biscuit.”
“I didn’t even know that was possible in the first place… what exactly compelled you to pick something like that?”
Lucia remarked before tilting her head a bit to the left.
“I found the recipe in the footnotes of a historical novel I was skimming through while you were sleeping.”
“So basically, you’re letting this whole thing ride on something that was shoved in a book just to fill extra space?”
“Not really, since my plan doesn’t rely on the pastry that me and Samantha are baking.”
“…You keep going on about this scheme that you have and yet you haven’t even given me a hint about what it actually entails.”
“Wait, I haven’t given you any details yet?”
“Nope, aside from the fact that I’m apparently somehow integral to the plan.”
“I see… well then, do you want me to just give you the details now?”
“Sure I guess, though I can’t say I’ll retain most of the information given, since I’m still pretty sleepy right now.”
Lucia remarked, before yawning a little.
“In that case, would you prefer it if I just gave you the details in the morning?”
“Honestly, I highly doubt that would make much of a difference. After all, I can barely understand the rationale for most of your plans even when I’m fully awake.”
Lucia said before lightly tapping me on the shoulder and taking a bite out of her sandwich.
“In that case… I’ll just brief you on what I’ve been planning now then.”
I remarked before taking a deep breath.
“The plan is as follows, we treat the whole thing as if it’s a regular old baking competition until a few minutes before the competition ends. At which point I’m gonna need you to covertly overheat my oven and Samantha’s oven using one of your spells.”
“But isn’t that against the rules?”
“I mean I never said that I couldn’t have magical assistance during the match.”
“You never said that you could either.”
“Well, that’s why the plan calls for you to cast the spell covertly. To avoid inconvenient conversations like this one.”
“And how exactly would I do something like that?”
“You mentioned the other day that you can delay the effects of spells right?”
“Yeah, but what does that have to do with… oh I think I see where you’re going with this now.”
“Yup, all you’d have to do in order to stealthily cast your spell is delay the effects of the spell by a couple minutes and make sure that you’re using a fire spell that’s easily construed as being the result of some sort of malfunction. And considering who you are, I’m pretty sure that won’t be much of a problem for you.”
“Still, wouldn’t Samantha get a bit suspicious of the fact that her oven just happened to overheat at the worst possible time?”
“Yeah that’s why I’m gunna need you to overheat my oven as well, to alleviate any suspicion. Of course, since I’ll know exactly what time to take the pastry out of the oven in order to not have it ruined, I won’t be as affected by this compared to Samantha.”
I said before shrugging my arms a little.
In turn Lucia just stared at me for a couple seconds and then sighed.
“Hey Otto, do everyone a favor and never get into politics. I don’t think the world is ready for someone like you to become a diplomat.”
Lucia said before interlocking her fingers with my own.
“Why would I even consider choosing that career path? Those people almost never have a day off.”
“Figures.”
“Anyway, now that we’ve gotten lunch and discussed the plan for tomorrow, is there anything else you’d like to do for the time being?”
“I kinda just want to go back to your room and check out some of the novels that you had, a couple of them looked pretty interesting.”
“Sure, I’m fine with that.”
“Great, then let’s get going then.”
“Fine by me.”
I remarked after shrugging a bit.
In turn, Lucia just nodded before increasing her grip on my hand.
Then she started to lead me back in the direction of my dorm room.
And the entire time while we were walking, I couldn’t help but catch quick glimpses of her.
