"Co to think of it, what are you doing out here this early in the morning?" with the sun just barely peeking beyond the horizon, dea couldn’t help but ask as she stared at the young man, the freshman student walking right beside her.
It was an odd encounter for her, after all, she spends every single day of her life conditioning her body for the day of schoolwork by walking before the sun rises, and this was the first ti that she had ever encountered him during her morning walks.
"Change of pace," Novus replies as the two of then continues to walk down the path leading outside the main academy grounds, feeling the cool morning breeze touching his skin, he couldn’t help but feel like life had never been this peaceful before.
Albeit his peace being invaded by the lady walking with him, that is.
"Hm~? This could beco a habit, you know? Walking around, taking in the first rays of the sun, it feels great~~."
Clearly not wanting to have a silent, awkward walk between the two of them, dea continues to speak while allowing her eyes to roam around their surroundings, the trees on the roadside making her recall how fast the two of them hid themselves as soon as they heard another person approaching their path last night.
"That’s true." recalling last night’s sudden encounter between the two of them as well, Novus replies, wondering why it is that she continues to stick with him even right now.
He’s not dull, and he knows that the only reason as to why she is acting like this is that there is sothing that she wants from him; however, he is also not smart enough to figure out what the sothing is, hence why he just allows her to join his walk, albeit being a bit confused.
"Hey, aren’t your answers way too bland?" starting to get a bit frustrated with his few words of reply every ti she says sothing, dea asked in a slightly louder tone, enough for it to pull attention towards them, had it been any other ti of the day, where the population in the path is more than just the two of them.
"Is it?" Hearing the tinge of frustration in her voice, Novus replied with genuine curiosity, wondering what exactly in his answer made dea tick, especially when he felt like answering like that to her question was nothing wrong at all.
"Yes! You know, right now, I am doing all the heavy lifting in this conversation!" the thing is, more often than not, two different people will have brains wired in two different ways, hence why what he thought of as sothing not a problem at all, the lady beside him thought of as so sort of chore for her to do, and if anything, she extrely detests chores.
"Because you’re strong, Senior dea." hearing the word ’heavy lifting’ as he finally understood where she was coming from, he joked, a faint smile on his face as he looked towards the lady as well, who he caught was also looking at him with slight annoyance in her eyes.
"That... that doesn’t justify it!! You know a man has the responsibility to make sure a lady he’s accompanying feels this... bland!!" hearing his humor, she couldn’t help but pause for a while before feeling all the more annoyed for reasons even she herself doesn’t know.
"I see, I’ll try to work my best on that when talking with other ladies." hearing the faint annoyance in her voice now dissolved into a more entertained tone, he then proceeds to retort to her remarks, forcing the two of them back to how they so casually spoke between the two of them the last night.
"Other ladies?? Why not work on it right now??" still sporting that amused smile on her beautiful face, she asked, his reply ticking her just a little bit that she couldn’t help but raise her tone a little, reaching the end of her question.
"Because it is as comfortable as it can get talking with you like this, Senior dea." anwhile, feeling that he can let the guard in his mind down a little when he’s with this person, thoughts in Novus mind smoothly slipped out of his lips, the words carried to her ears as she continues to watch him as he speaks, that ever so faint, yet genuine smile on his face making her pause in her track.
"Senior dea, sothing wrong?" feeling her movent lagging behind him, Novus turned around and asked, seeing her figure just standing there staring at him with a confused gaze, his words snapping her out of her reverie as she dismissed the reason as to why she froze like that.
"N-nothing, Junior Novus, now, now, let’s continue with the walk, there might already be so other people, so we’d better be quick" she pointed out, thinking that he would rather not be seen with her, as it might, no, it will just create more issues than he already has to deal with.
"I you don’t mind, I don’t really mind either." he answers as the two of them gradually start picking up their pace, the words not really just courtesy, but rather the genuine thoughts in his mind.
The fact that the two of them start picking up the pace is not because of this, but rather because of not wanting to be seen walking together, but rather because the two of them felt like they had already ward up enough to start pushing their bodies further bit by bit.
"I-is that so?" hearing his thoughts, she asked, stuttering just a little bit as this is one of the few tis that soone is this honest, this at ease when talking with her, to the point that such ease and confidence caught her off-guard.
"Mhm." he nods as the two of them accelerate even more, air beginning to part ways as the two of them move faster, their legs warming up as they do so.
"Then I guess I won’t mind your attitude for now" she replied as she heard his confirmation, a small, satisfied, or rather, proud smile on her face while they shifted from a brisk to a jogging pace.
Eventually, they break into a full run racing along the expanse of the Regia Floating Islands, outside of the main academy grounds, and they roam the open streets where shops and stalls are just beginning to start setting up for the day.
It was also when she noticed it, his pace, still relaxed and unhindered yet, fast, faster than her current pace, even when she is already exerting her physical body quite harder than she usually does every day.
"Wait, hey, you damn cheater!! You’re breaking the rules!! Do not use mana to reinforce your body! This isn’t a fair race at all!!" this leads her to a single conclusion, and that is the fact that right now, he is utilizing magic, more than likely what she assud as the Argenta Family’s magic, to reinforce his physical prowess.
"There is not any established rule like that, Senior dea, besides, this isn’t a race at all." He replied as he decided to slow down before halting into a complete stop, waiting for the lady to catch up with him.
"The mont you matched my pace, it already is a race!!" she pointed out as she slips those words between soft pants, not only her legs, but also her entire body is starting to warm up as she pushes herself to catch up with him.
"I’m not using mana at all though?"
That simple, dismissive remark from him shocked her, making her pause for a second as she just stared at this monster, before denying the chance of him truly saying the truth right now and attributing his words to him playing around with her again.
"What?? You liar, forget it, this lady orders you to slow down!!"
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