Chapter 105- Big Sister Returns And Something Brewing In The Shadows
Rin and Elise walked in complete silence back to the cafeteria. For its huge size, it was more of a lunch area than an actual cafeteria but for the sake of convenience, students called it a cafeteria. The place was huge in size, capable of accommodating hundreds of students all at once.
Students can use their bracelets to order a variety of food from all the places around the world and the workers there will serve it for them in record time. The service was simply impeccable.
But, Rin and Elis didn't go there for the sake of ordering like everyone else but to get a good place to eat. Now, for normal students, they can sit on normal tables and chairs while surrounded by their peers. For others with the power of money, they could get special seats that are quiet, far from the noise, and near a beautiful garden with a huge lake right behind the cafeteria building.
Rin and Elise are more or less filthy rich by this world's standards so they had no problem getting these seats. But, for others, this was a luxury they could never dream of. The only way they could get that treatment other than having huge sums of money is through a monetary system inside the academy. When a student reaches a certain threshold in the ranking points, many perks, and special services will be unlocked for them. The more points they have, the more extra things they could enjoy over their peers.
One of those perks is these special and comfy seats.
"Wow, this place is amazing…" Rin said as he looked around the small room they were in. He expected two comfy seats but not an actual full room with a huge glass window that views the garden under them.
Elise merely looked around once and sat down.
"Something wrong?" Rin asked when he noticed her weird behavior.
"Who were you searching for that felt 'familliar'?" She asked.
"It's not rea-"
"You reek of women's perfume." She cut him off sharply as she looked through the menu casually.
'You can't hide anything from her, huh?' Rin thought as he sighed and then told her the whole story of how he met Evelyn before while hiding some parts such as the first kiss and the intimate interaction they had a while ago.
"Hmm, I see… So there is a woman after you?" She asked.
"More or less?"
"How convenient."
"It's not my fault, though. I don't even know what she wants from me. All I know is that she wants something."
"Is she a threat?" Elise asked coldly.
"I am not quite sure. But, I can say that she most likely isn't going to be a huge hindrance. She frankly could've killed both of us if she wanted."
"I see…" Murmuring, Elise fell into her own thoughts.
Rin felt the awkward atmosphere intensify in the room for no apparent reason. He felt as if Elise was deliberately making the room feel as uncomfortable as possible for him.
'I'm starting to feel guilty.' He thought in his head.
"Mmm, are you really not angry?" He decided to ask.
"Angry? For what reason should I be angry?"
"I mean…"
"Hmm?" Pressuring him with her strong gaze like that of an eagle, Rin found himself turning more and more speechless the more he tried to say something.
"Forget about it, it's nothing."
'When is the fucking waiter coming?! It's been almost 15 minutes of waiting!!' Rin wanted to start eating in hopes of defusing the heavy atmosphere.
Then, the door to the small cabinet they were in knocked.
'Finally!' He thought in his head. He then stood up and opened the door. But, instead of seeing a familiar waitress with two servings of food, he was welcomed by the sight of two huge and soft melons covering his face.
"Rin!!!" Aria screeched as she jumped on Rin and hugged him tightly in a huge bear hug.
"Oh, Aria?" Rin was surprised as he tried to release his face from her breasts before he suffocates.
"I missed you so much! Why didn't you contact me in the past week?! Did you forget about me?" She asked a series of questions successively.
"How can I contact you when I don't have any means to contact you?" He asked as he rubbed her back gently.
"But, but, you even forgot about me. You will make your big sister sad, you know?" She said as she tried to hold in the tears from spilling out.
"I'm sorry, ok? I was really busy and you were also busy, we didn't have the time."
"I know. But, I missed you so much, Rin!"
"I know, I know, I missed you too."
Rin had to keep rubbing her back and her hair until she calmed down. After that, he made her sit down next to him.
"It's been a while, Aria," Elise said as she took a bite from her food that just came a few moments ago. She had ordered a meat soup and a salad as a side dish. It was a simple yet nutritious lunch.
"You too, your highness," Aria said distantly then quickly turned around to Rin.
"What are you waiting for? Tell me everything that happened."
"Can't I at least eat before doing that? I'm starving."
"Tell me while you eat. I must know everything." Aria said with an eager look.
Just like that, one hour out of the 3-hour break passed quickly. Normally, students have a one-and-a-half-hour break but since this was the first day and most of their classes would only start after a few days, they had more free time than usual.
Rin had to tell Aria everything that happened in boring detail, from the test to coming to the academy and everything that happened with Emilia. Even Rin was surprised at how much could happen in 9 days.
Aria's expression changed throughout the whole story from shock to delight and then sadness. She was like an open book to both Elise and Rin. After ending the story, Aria sighed and said.
"You went through a lot, little brother."
"I di- No, we did." He said as he glanced at Elise for a moment.
Aria then went silent for a few moments as if she was contemplating saying something before she shook her head. Instead, she changed her tone a little bit to a more serious one.
"Did you two see anything weird during the test?" She asked.
"Something weird? You mean the Hybrid demon's attack?"
"No, something else. For example, the reason for the hybrid demon's attack in the first place?"
"Wasn't it just a small mistake from the professor's subordinates?"
Hearing his reply, Aria picked up a cup of water and drank it all in one gulp before putting it down.
"Sigh, you two, listen to me carefully as this is a very important matter. It's also something that neither one of you should know of. In fact, The only people that got access to this information are the top 100-Rankers and some professors from the higher floors."
"Huh? What's going on, Aria?" Rin had a bad hunch about this.
He knew Aria well so the fact that she looked this serious made him assume the worst.
"It's still not confirmed or even verified. It's just what the floor supervisors and some other high authorities within the academy discussed and they gave us a brief idea of it. During the test, the hybrid demon didn't slip inside the test domain by mistake. It was the deed of someone."
"What?"
"Let me explain first. The subordinates that should be patrolling the area were mysteriously drugged or maybe put under some kind of spell that made them lose consciousness. Beside them, they found an ownerless shadow… Just like the one found in the king's room on the day of this death."
"Huh?" Rin and Elise looked at each other with clear confusion.
'Another shadow?'
"At first, the shadow was examined thoroughly but it didn't match any of the subordinates that were present there or anyone closely related to the test. However, barely more than 3 months ago, there was a case of disappearance that shook the whole academy. One of the top 100 Rankers vanished mysteriously and was never seen again. The case was extremely weird as not only was the victim's room completely normal looking, there was not even a single sign of resistance or of a fight that may indicate kidnapping or even killing. The event was a hot topic for a while after that as the academy tried to find the student by all means possible, even searching around the whole world and major cities. However, they couldn't even trace a single thing about him. As if he vanished into thin air. Or, swallowed by something."
Rin looked down as he rubbed his chin trying to digest all of this information. However, he soon came to the realization of something.
"Wait, don't tell me…" Elise also realized it and quickly asked.
Aria unfortunately nodded her head seriously.
"When they examined the shadow, it indeed belonged to this missing student."
(A//N: The plot is thickening :3)
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