The days following their encounter with Sunny and the cloaked woman passed at a snail’s pace. They found themselves doing things on their own around the academy, only meeting each other by chance when their patrol schedules matched or when they just happened to be in their dorm room at the same time.

Yuri had taken on full-day patrol shifts and was rarely in their dorm room except to take showers or to get a change of clothes for the evening shift.

Jessica had the room mostly to herself after her trips from the library, her bedside table now home to stacks of books that she had checked out.

Yoona spent most of her time with Sooyoung just so she could mooch off of the latter’s supply of snacks. Sweets, in particular, gave her a sense of comfort. Hyoyeon kept a close eye on them in case she needed to referee during a food fight.

Taeyeon and Seohyun had been inseparable since after the fight in the underground tunnel, and they had been called several times by Professor BoA to report to the faculty room. No one knew why and no one bothered to ask.

+

It was time to switch patrol shifts with the upperclassmen when Krystal and Yoona decided to check on Jessica in the library. They had been assigned to the western wing which was just a short walk away from their destination.

“She’s been here every day for the past three days. Did the professors resume classes and I just didn’t know about it?” Krystal scratched the back of her neck, genuinely worried that she didn’t get the memo.

“We haven’t had formal classes in over a year now. I doubt the professors have time to lecture when they’re flying in and out of here on missions. Sica unnie is a bookworm, isn’t she? Maybe she just wanted to catch up on some reading.”

Krystal raised an eyebrow. “While there are Grimm everywhere? How can she even relax enough to read?”

Yoona shrugged. She had seen the piles of books in their dorm room but she didn’t pay much attention to them. She hadn’t been sleeping there often anyway. “You can just ask her when we get there.”

It was no surprise that when they got to the library, it was pretty much empty. Everyone used to do their homework here. That or play board games in the restricted section where, for some reason, loud noises didn’t escape to reach the librarian. They spotted Jessica at a computer terminal looking through a list of results.

“Unnie!” Krystal hugged her sister from behind and the latter leaned back into the embrace. “What are you doing?”

“Research,” Jessica replied. She wriggled out of Krystal’s hold a few seconds afterwards. She looked through the results on the screen again, uploaded them to her scroll then stood up. “Sorry but I have to get this done soon. I’ll catch up with you guys later, okay?”

Krystal was about to reply but her sister had gone off to the second floor without a word. She turned to Yoona and blinked. “Huh. I was expecting her to be with Yuri unnie. Looks like she isn’t here though. Where is she?”

“I dunno. Definitely not here.” Yoona ran her eyes along the rows of shelves and the big, glass windows. “She’s too noisy for this place.”

“Yeah but so are you and you’re still here.”

“Shut up.”

After they left the library, Krystal was about to excuse herself when Yoona grabbed her arm and flashed a smile. “Hey, wanna get some sweets with me?”

Krystal had heard about Yoona bingeing on desserts lately and she couldn’t help but feel that there was something more to it than Yoona being hungry. “Okay, sure.”

“Sweet. Uh, no pun intended.”

Yoona laughed at her own joke as she linked arms with Krystal and they made their way to the cafeteria. The silence that came afterwards was stifling. Krystal had never felt more awkward. So she blurted out the first thing that came to mind: “So what’s going on with those two?”

“Two? Who?”

“Sica unnie and Yuri unnie.”

“Ah.” Yoona swirled her spoon around the sundae cup and stared at it for a second. “Man, why is everyone asking me? I don’t know anything. And why is everyone so interested in what’s going on with them anyway?”

“Gee, chill. I was just asking.”

Yoona took a spoonful of the chocolate syrup into .

“So what about you and Seohyun?”

The chocolate syrup almost came out through Yoona’s nose. “WHAT?”

“I mean, have you two talked recently.”

Yoona turned away to let out a few coughs. She swore that she felt the chocolate syrup get into her brain. “No, we haven’t talked yet. She left with Taeyeon unnie early this morning. Maybe the professor sent them on a mission. She hasn’t told me anything though.”

“I see. I wonder when I’ll be sent to go on a mission.”

“For your sake, I hope that you never have to go.”

Yoona got back to her snack while Krystal tapped her fingers against the table, obviously thinking about something. The sundae didn’t offer Yoona as much comfort as she expected and she found it unfair. Everything has been unfair as of late, she thought. If she could spare even just one person from having to feel this way then that would be enough for her. If only Seohyun was here, I could ask her what she thinks about that.

+

Despite the Grimm invasion, the librarian still stuck to her job and was still strict about the check-out procedure. It took Jessica another hour just to get an extension for the books she had already borrowed. The librarian agreed that she could hold on to them but only if she limited herself to three books for today.

“Ugh. Fine, fine!”

“Sssh! Quiet in the library.”

This is ridiculous, she remembered thinking before she went on her way. She clutched the books to her chest as she walked and came to a halt when she was stopped by a familiar face.

“Oh hey. What do you have there, Sica?”

Yuri appeared to be on patrol. It took Jessica a few seconds to realize that her partner was talking to her, admittedly having almost forgotten what her partner looked like due to her long absences. She showed Yuri the books she was holding. “I’ve been doing some research on your semblance.”

“Sica, you really don’t have to do that.”

“I want to. We have some time now since there aren’t any missions for us yet so it’s not too much of a bother. Speaking of your semblance, have you been thinking about what I said? About me helping you train?”

“I have.” Yuri lowered her gaze as she placed her hand on the back of her neck. “I still don’t have an answer. Sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. We’re not doing this for me. We’re doing this for you.”

“It still seems like a pretty big favor. You don’t have to take responsibility for my mistakes, you know?”

Jessica’s brows met and she shook her head. “I’m not taking responsibility for anything. Except maybe being a partner who’s worthy of you.”

Yuri lifted her gaze and placed both hands on Jessica’s shoulders. “Of course you’re worthy of being my partner! You always have been. Ever since my eyes chose to meet yours.” She remembered initiation day vividly. And Jessica’s eyes all the more. She noticed that they were behind Jessica’s glasses today. “It’s funny how different you look with those on.”

Jessica’s eyes widened. “Huh? Different? Like in a bad way?”

Yuri took a closer look, blinking as she examined the spectacles resting on the bridge of Jessica’s nose, framing her face in just the right angle. She couldn’t help but smile. “Definitely in a good way. Come here you!” She pinched Jessica’s cheek on impulse. “You’re so cute I could just kiss you! Wuu wuu Sica-poo.”

Jessica blinked. And that was all she could do. Yuri’s fingers had already left her cheek but a trace of warmth remained. She was blushing, she realized. She wondered if this is what being frozen felt like – being warm one second then completely paralyzed in the next. She had to say something somehow. “Ugh… Baby talk. You sounded like Yoona just now!”

Yuri let out a giggle, her toothy grin making another appearance. “Well, we know who she gets that from.”

Almost instantly, silence befell them. They had avoided talking about Sunny for days now but she still seemed to seep through the cracks in their memory. Yuri and Jessica stared at their feet, unsure of what to say.

A group of students passed them by.

“Uh, I better get back to my patrol. It’s not gonna end any time soon.”

“Right. I’ll try to read some of these then. Later.”

+

The sun had risen in full now, floating steadily among the clouds as an airship hovered closely below them. A few minutes more and it would be past noon.

Seohyun shifted on her seat and looked out the window. She spied a wide stretch of brownish grass. “I think we’re nearby, unnie.”

Taeyeon was seated next to her partner with her feet up on the chair, hugging her knees. “Good. I’ve forgotten how much I dislike flying long distances. I get so dizzy!” She buried her face in between knees and groaned.

“Isn’t it the same as teleporting though?”

“No way!” went Taeyeon’s muffled reply. “That lasts for a few seconds. Flying doesn’t.”

Seohyun’s laugh made it out through her pursed lips, failing to hold it in. “Reminds me of how much you hated initiation day. You tried to get out of that one, didn’t you?”

“It’s a stupid way of choosing partners!”

“Noooo! You just hated the idea of being launched into the air from a spring-board. But that’s okay. Since I knew you were going to be throwing up somewhere, I found you quickly with no problems at all.”

Taeyeon lifted her head, her chin now resting on her knees. She minded the warmth rising to her chest and smiled. “You’ve always been the smarter one, Seohyun.”

Seohyun smiled back. She leaned to her side until her head rested on Taeyeon’s shoulder and ended up almost lying on top of her. “And you’ve always been the shorter one.”

“Hey!!”

They had been neighbors for as long as they could remember. Their houses were a block away from each other and their families weren’t particularly close, but they ended up being friends anyway. Admittedly, they had nothing in common. Taeyeon had always dreamt of going to a combat school while Seohyun spent most of her time developing an ear for music.

Seohyun cried the first time Taeyeon tried to teach her how to fight. “But I don’t need to fight, do I?” she said, her hand trembling as she gripped one of Taeyeon’s daggers.

“Sometimes you do,” Taeyeon answered. Having grown up in a household of huntsmen and huntresses, she was very well aware of this fact. She knew that Seohyun’s parents were aware of it too but they loved their daughter far too much to force her into the family trade. “But maybe daggers aren’t for you. That’s okay, too!”

Seohyun’s semblance came to light before Taeyeon discovered hers and the latter was admittedly jealous of such a development. She avoided Seohyun for a few days and that sparked rumors among the other children that they weren’t really friends.

“Taeyeon is popular. Seohyun’s probably just hanging out with her so she can be popular too!”

“Well, Seohyun’s smart. Maybe Taeyeon’s just forcing her to do homework for her.”

It didn’t take long for Seohyun and Taeyeon to find out what other people had been saying about them, forcing them to confront each other about it.

“Unnie, is that how you really feel about me?” Seohyun was obviously crying before she met Taeyeon at her house.

“Of course not!” Taeyeon had cried about the issue too and, even worse, she started a fight with some of the children who started the rumors. She didn’t bother to hide her bruised cheek. “I don’t even ask you to do my homework! Sure, I ask for help once in a while but I don’t actually force you to do it.”

“So why have you been avoiding me? Do you hate me?”

“I don’t hate you, Seohyun. I was just a bit jealous, that’s all. I’m the one who wants to be a huntress but I still don’t know what my semblance is. You want to be a pianist someday but here you are shooting energy out of nowhere. It’s amazing. I wish I was as smart as you are. Maybe then I’ll figure out what my semblance is.”

It was awkward at first but they hugged it out and everything slowly went back to the way it was. People still had something to say about them being an odd pair but they agreed never to let that get in between them again.

“Seriously though,” Taeyeon touched the side of her head to the top of her dongsaeng’s, “you really are the smarter one.”

“And you’re the more popular one,” Seohyun replied.

“Hey, remember that time when we had those coloring books and I wanted to color the ocean pink?”

“And I said there no pink oceans because they’re all blue?”

“Yeah, and I still wanted to color it pink and you almost broke my crayon just to stop me!”

“Well, I did explain the science behind oceans being blue, didn’t I?”

“Ugh. How could I forget? Are you sure you’re younger than I am?”

Seohyun straightened up, her head leaving Taeyeon’s shoulder. “Yes! It’s just that you’re short!”

“YAH!!”

The pilot announced their arrival, and not a second too soon because Taeyeon was about to throw up after her outburst.