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"Wha-?" Rhaplanca gasped when he blew her off. "All right, but don't say I didn't warn you! Half-breeds are no good, especially not the F.P.D. Class! She's just an an accident waiting to happen," she called after him.


Hikari heard the commotion and turned around, confused to see Gannon following after her. "Um, I thought the School Rep, Rhaplanca was going to help you," she said in confusion. "Besides, it's probably not good for you to be seen too much with me. People will start talking." She looked away. "Purebloods just don't associate with us lower Class students. We're only half-breeds, anyway and will never amount to anything. It's a miracle that I was accepted into Pallieu, anyway." She shrugged. "Half-breeds here are rare, so I have to work really, really hard to stay. Well, class is starting. I'm in the basement with the F.P.D. Class. I think the Teru Class is on this level."


"Hey! It's the new guy!" One of the students from the crowd ran over and pushed past Hikari as if he didn't see her. "Hiya! I'm Ishira! I was told you'd be in my class today, so I'll show ya around." He turned, noticing Hikari for the first time. "Hey, you're not supposed to be here. If you stay here you'll get in trouble." He pointed to the stairs. "Go."

"Y-yeah... you're right," Hikari replied dully. "Um, well, I hope I was able to help you. My name's Hikari Seles, by the way. If I don't see you again, good luck."

"I'm sure he doesn't care about your name, Hikari. Get to class, or should I remind you that you're this close from being expelled?" Rhaplanca put her thumb and forefinger together to demonstrate. "They still haven't forgiven you for what you did to the Principal. No one has."

"I remember, Miss Rhaplanca. Sorry." She rushed over to the end of the hall and disappeared down the stairs.

"Ugh, I swear those F.P.D. types are not very bright. This is supposed to be an Academy for the gifted!" She shook her head. "Well, Ishira, take care of our newcomer, okay? I'm off to ß Class!"

"Well, come on, man. Let's sit down now." Ishira led him into the classroom and sat down, gesturing for Gannon to sit down in the seat next to him.


"All right, class, settle down! As you all know, we have a new student. So if everyone will just be quiet, then he can introduce himself. Come on up here." She smiled warmly at him. "Don't be shy, I'm Ms. Naomi. Please, introduce yourself to the class."


"What, back so soon?" The scantily dressed Hikari appeared next to Gannon and leaned over to whisper next to him. "What's with the urgency?" She asked with a raised eyebrow. "Oh, and you might wanna wait to answer until the teacher isn't paying attention to you or you'll look kinda funny talking to yourself." She waved her hand in front of another student, gaining no response to prove her point that Gannon was the only one able to see her.

When Gannon had finished, Hikari sat quietly and waited for the teacher to divert her attention. She waited for the teacher to begin the lesson and finally until she left them to independent study. "I think it's safe now," she whispered to Gannon. "Of course, unless you'd rather continue studying the history of the Grathnode Inferia." She smirked at him.

"Hymmnos?" Hikari raised an eyebrow at him and smirked. "Wee yea ra yor cexm mea iem. [I'm happy you visited me now.]" She smiled slightly. "Everything's just fine in here, though, Gannon. You don't have to worry. No signs of trouble, other than this," she gestured to everything around them. "But this, well, it's all in Hikari's head. It's a problem that she can't sort out by herself, I'm afraid, and a reflection of how she really feels. None of these people are the real ones, but are merely different creations of Hikari's own subconscious mind. I think you knew that, though. So, my question for you is, if all these people are representations from Hikari's mind, how does she feel about herself?" Hikari stood. "That's about all I can tell you. You need to figure the rest out for yourself, 'cuz..." The bell rang and Hikari beamed brightly. "'Cuz it's lunchtime and they're serving crepes!" She chuckled to herself and skipped out of the room. "Hikari'll probably be down there too. Have fuuun~!" She called back to Gannon.


"Yeah, lunch time! Let's go!" Ishira announced and led the rest of the class down to the cafeteria.


Hikari had made her way up to the cafeteria but instead of grabbing anything to eat, she sat down in the corner of the cafeteria and buried her nose in a Wave Theory book once again. She did this every day. It was the only way she could hope to keep up and keep her crafting skills on par with the ß Class.


"Hikari, Hikari, breaking rules again? You know you're not allowed to craft Songs anymore. You can't handle them," Rhaplanca said, taking away the book. "The Principal would be really angry if he found out."

"B-but if I can't learn crafting, I won't be allowed to stay!" Hikari cried out. "I've worked so hard to get to Pallieu... No! I refuse!" She grabbed a piece of cake and threw it at Rhaplanca.

"What!? Why you little..." She picked up some ice cream and threw it back.

"FOOD FIGHT!" Someone shouted, and then the entire cafeteria erupted into a battleground with food as the projectiles.

Hikari had to supress a laugh at seeing the sight of the strawberries nailing Rhaplanca in the back.

The ruckus died down in the cafeteria to reveal mixed food splattered all over the place.

RED MAGIC CRAFTED: FOOD FIGHT!


By this time, Rhaplanca herself was laughing when she saw the entire mess of food covering Hikari. "All right, all right. Fine. Even though I'm not sure why I'm saying this, I'll tell you anyway. You know that patch of forest that you burned down? Well, the school is organizing a contest to see who can craft the best restorative magic to save it. Who knows? It could be your chance to atone for your mistakes. I'll even convince the Principal to allow you entrance myself." Rhaplanca shrugged. "But I don't think you'll be able to outcraft any other ß, much less me. No matter how gifted you are, you're still only an F.P.D. Class. But at least now you can have a fighting chance to stay in Pallieu, right?" Without another word, Rhaplanca left, flinging leftover spaghetti noodles off her wrist as she exited the room.

Hikari made her way over to Gannon. "Um, thanks. That was pretty funny," she giggled a bit more. Then, she sighed. "Rhaplanca wants to challenge me to a fair crafting competition." The Reyvateil said nervously. "She's a Pureblood. I'm a half-breed." Hikari hung her head. "There's no way I can craft better than Rhaplanca. I'm so sorry Gannon, for bringing you into this. I think I'm going home now. I give up. No matter how hard I try, she's going to beat me. She's so powerful and talented. I'm weak, and I always mess things up." She bolted out the door.

Rhaplanca's Cosmosphere
LVL 3

Upper Cosmosphere Music

Ishira

Ishira's vision focused into a similar world from the last time, only this time the castle in the distance was accessible, "There doesn't seem to be anything out of the ordinary in this level.." he frowned, wondering if the virus' rampage would be obvious. This world was just as bright and cheery as last.


"Congratulations on making it this far, I honestly thought you would have been booted by now," Soichii's expression was bitter.

Ishira jumped at Soichii's caustic attitude, "Whoa, what's up with you today?" Ishira asked defensively, noticing that Soichii looked absolutely fatigued. Could the virus be affecting Soichii?

Soichii took on an ill pallor, "I am very busy, excuse me if I can't babysit you night and day while you fool around with Rhaplanca," he snapped and disappeared.

"Soichii, wait! I need you're help with- dammit!" Ishira kicked a piece of rubble that was the paradigm altar, Fool around with? Really?" He hung his head as he headed off to his best option in finding Rhaplanca, the high school. His guess was right, Rhaplanca was pacing near the gates looking rather concerned, Rhaplanca!" he called over, waving his arm.


Rhaplanca's fatigued eyes lit up faintly as they registered Ishira, "Good morning," Her voice was barely audible she gingerly waves back to Ishira.

Maybe this is the level that the virus infiltrated.... Ishira approached cautiously, "You okay? You look a little tired,"

Rhaplanca yawned, "Very, but it's no biggie. I've just been so very busy with work and school lately, but it'll even out soon." she smiled slightly, "Come on, we'd better get to class," Rhaplanca grabbed Ishira's hand and they walked to class together.

Ishira felt his cheeks grow hot, but Soichii's previous word's quickly sobered him. He spent the class keeping an eye on the exhausted Rhaplanca. Still nothing out of the ordinary. The bell rang and the class room emptied except for the too. Rhaplanca was still a bit sluggish.

"It's gym class next... I wish I could skip," she groaned as she stood.

"But that's our last class, then we can relax," Ishira was determined to get to the bottom of this virus thing, and he couldn't do that within the school it seemed.

Rhaplanca seemed to cherish the thought of relaxing, "I will have a little time before I have to go to work actually," she smiled as she got her second wind. She led Ishira off to the track field outside.

"Hmm... yeah, you're right. She is quite a headcase," Hikari appeared beside Gannon, nodding her head in agreement. "Oh, sorry, didn't mean to eavesdrop on your thoughts." The woman shrugged. "It's bound to happen, I suppose. After all, like this, our minds are connected. I guess I should've warned you about that, hmm?" She grinned devilishly. "If you think Hikari is bad on this level... Maybe you should stop now. It only goes downhill from here. The person you're diving into doesn't just have issues, she has subscriptions." The stand-in Mind Guardian laughed. "Ah, hahahaha... I crack myself up!" Just then, grass rustling behind them made Hikari fall silent. "Oh, someone's here. I'll just go make myself scarce for awhile." With that, she disappeared.


"Hikari? Hikari! Oh, where did that girl go?" Naomi was calling out as she approached Gannon. "Oh, it's you, Gannon! You're out looking for her as well?" The red head sighed. "I just heard. I can understand Hikari's hesitation to craft magic, though. It's always been difficult for the poor girl, being a Third-Generation and an F.P.D. no less, but it worsened last year. You see, she participated in an event such as this one then." The instructor shook her head. "The man who's our principal now had arranged the event. He was in charge of the downloads into all of the contestants. The principal back then, Nelia, came to watch. Everyone that day crafted such wonderful Song Magic! But then it came to be Hikari's turn... and everything went wrong. She had somehow downloaded the Calamity Song, a Song that only our most advanced students should be downloading, and she lost control, burning down that forest, also striking down our Beloved Principal Nelia in the process. For that, no one in the school has forgiven Hikari, I'm afraid. But I know that it wasn't her fault... He was responsible. He wanted the job of principal, and so he took Nelia out using Hikari to do it and she's taken the blame ever since. I've tried explaining her case to everyone here, but they're convinced that she is at fault, because she is an F.P.D." Naomi fell silent for a moment, contemplating.

Then she gasped. "Oh, no, I've spent too much time talking. I should continue looking for her. Please, let me know if you find her, all right, Gannon?" The woman waved to him and rushed off.


In the meantime, Hikari had managed to trudge back to her dorm room, leaving the trail of melted sundae behind her. She quickly changed into clean clothes, before packing her things. "Mom... I guess I'll never see you again. My only hope of reuniting with you was going to Pallieu Academy, but I just can't seem to fit in, no matter how much I try. I'm sorry..." She picked up a completely worn and faded photograph of a woman and sank down on the bed staring at it.

Hikari jumped, startled, and the photograph slipped from her hands and to the floor. Momentarily forgetting the photo, she approached the door. "H-hold on..." She reached out, unlocked it and opened it, revealing Gannon. "Oh... I'm glad you came. I was just packing my things. Now, at least I can say goodbye, and good luck." She smiled, though one could see the sadness through it.