Scarlet

Turned out that he’d already called for Belle as well, so when I reach the gate, they’re both there. Then we quickly make our way back to the base where we spend over an hour going over documentation and paperwork.

Eventually we finish it all before he sends us away to go sign up for our classes.

I decide to go to the cafeteria to eat one last time here before I fully move into my new suite, and it looks like the others had the same idea.

“Scarlet, Belle,” Michael says with a smile as I walk over to their table with Belle after ordering food. “Nice of you two to come join us!”

Kind of surprising that everyone from our team is here.

I sit down next to Emily with Belle sitting on the other side of me before asking, “Did we all just decide to eat here instead of on campus today?”

“Well, actually, I sent out an email to them to invite them,” he says, sounding slightly sheepish, “but I didn’t have either of your contacts, so I couldn’t get in touch with you. Not without contacting Sage to ask, and I wasn’t going to do that.”

Oh. Right.

I open my terminal before sharing with the three my contact ID, and Belle quickly does the same. We all then simply chat as we wait for our food to arrive. And once it does, I immediately start digging into it.

“So how do you think campus life will go?” Michael asks, and Belle is the one to answer him as she says, “It should be fine. How different can it be from a regular university?”

Even without lifting my head from my food, I can tell the others are giving her a strange look just from the silence that ensues before Denise says, “There’s a lot different between the two. Specifically the classes you take.”

I raise my head at this before Michael takes up the explaining from her, “There are quite a few classes you can take, and all of the required courses – not all of the electives, mind you – involve your status as a Guardian. Whether they’re magic classes, classes over the System, classes over Guardian laws, how society treats Guardians compared to normal people, combat classes, demonology, and so on.”

Huh. That’s… interesting.

“It’ll certainly help you become less reckless if you know more about what you’re doing,” Tar says with a huff in my head.

I ignore him to continue eating.

“Huh,” Belle mutters, repeating what I had thought in my head in response to it, “that’s very different from the curriculum at a regular university.”

“Yep,” Michael says before grabbing a fork and skewering some spaghetti. “It’s because Guardians aren’t expected to go into the workforce. We’re expected to go fight demons and be celebrities. So why would they teach us things like math, science, sports, or other stuff like that unless we specifically want to learn that stuff through elective courses?”

“Good point,” I mutter after finishing chewing the spaghetti I’m eating. Then grabbing more and chewing again.

Belle seems to feel conflicted about that for a bit, only to suddenly make a one-eighty and start grinning like an insane person.

“What is it?” Denise asks, clearly having noticed the shift as well. And I see Emily scooting forward in her chair slightly at the question, seemingly interested herself.

“Weeelll,” Belle says, drawing it out, “I think it just settled in that I’ll never have to go into electrical engineering like I was planning to do. Never have to go into the corporate world in general since I can just work as a Guardian now. And that made me very happy.” She glances at me and adds, “Also, I won’t have to worry about this one asking to look at my textbooks anymore now that we’re going to the same university.”

I blush a little at that, and the others begin laughing, only making it worse.

After I finish chewing and swallow my food, I mutter amidst the laughing, “Yeah, yeah, laugh it up…” Which only makes them laugh harder.

But for some reason, despite my embarrassment, I feel myself smiling ever so slightly.

Not sure why.

And a warmth enters my chest.

“You’re having fun with your friends, dummy,” I hear Tar say, making my smile grow wider.

Yeah. I am.

Out of the corner of my eye, I find Belle wiping a tear from her own eye as she smiles a rather large smile at me, likely having seen my smile.

“Oh come on, it’s not that rare to see me smile,” I complain, and she just raises a brow. “Okay, maybe it is a little rare.”

The others just break out into even louder laughter at this. Then for some reason, the waiter comes by with what looks like wine.

I raise a brow at Michael who quickly motions towards each of us before the waiter proceeds to place glasses in front of us. The man then pours the red wine into the glasses, bows once, and walks away again.

“So why exactly did you order wine?” Denise asks, sounding vaguely amused.

Michael just stands up and grabs his glass with a chuckle before saying, “To have a group toast with my team!”

I share a glance with Emily and Denise, then Belle, only to shrug and stand up as well, along with the others.

Honestly, I’ve always avoided medication and anything that can mentally inhibit me. Not to mention that the legal drinking age is twenty, and I’m not that old yet, so I wasn’t legally allowed to drink.

But as a Guardian, there is no legal drinking age. Meaning all Guardians are allowed to drink.

Mostly since the poison in the alcohol doesn’t affect us as much. And at the higher levels, at all.

This is a special moment though, and since it won’t really affect me much, I might as well.

Besides. It’s just a single glass.

I grab the drink along with the others before raising it up.

“To our team, and our time at Lion’s Heart,” Michael says. “And to an amazing semester!”

“To an amazing semester!” we all repeat before clinking our glasses and taking a drink.

This year is bound to be the most interesting year of my life, that’s for sure.

Right Tar?

“Right, Scar,” Tar says, calling me by a nickname or something.

Scar, huh? Alright.

Let’s see just how tough these Guardian University classes really are then.