Sunlight filtered through the window, yet despite the warm weather and the bright sky outside Kwon Eunbi was holed up inside her room in the student’s dormitories. Buried underneath her bed covers, she looked at the clock for the eleventh time in the past five minutes while fidgeting nervously.

18:48, the clock marked.

She wasn’t there because she wanted to, not at all, but because her friends would most likely scold her if she went outside. She was recovering from a nasty accident that had transpired around a week ago, a broken arm product of her overconfidence and recklessness. Wounds like that weren’t abnormal in the school but she really had to thank Nako’s healing voice for at least mending the broken bone so she didn’t have to stay months with a cast on her right arm.

Luckily she wasn’t missing any classes, since the end of semester tournament was exactly the day before, which meant classes for the next week were cancelled as the alumni recovered from the event. She had missed it completely due to her resting but she heard something unreal had happened involving one of the academy’s new students.

She looked down at her hands, where a frail origami figured made out of glass rested. She had started practicing it to pass time on Chaewon’s recommendation given that after the first few days of reposing she was already beginning to feel bored out of her mind. It wasn’t hard, but it wasn’t particularly entertaining anymore.

She liked the one she had just made, a cute translucent bunny, so she left it on the nearby nightstand, reaching out to grab another glass mug in the process. She looked at it, briefly contemplating its glossy edges before closing her eyes, concentrating, as the crystal began losing its shape in her hands, melting and threatening to slip between her fingers and into the bed covers.

Then it began transforming into something akin to liquid as it coursed through her hands seamlessly, not even letting a drop fall, prior to converging into a single point at her fingertips.

She let out a chuckle, it always tickled the back of her head whenever she did that.

The glass started spreading again, following her wishes. It adopted the most traditional figure, that of a crane, and remained in place, floating a few centimeters above her hands as it began to harden.

When she opened her eyes the crane landed delicately on her palm, it looked just like all the others she had created before. She breathed a bored sigh, letting the glass return to its previous form before setting the mug aside.

Hyalokinesis, nothing too fancy or powerful, crystal was still something brittle and its uses for heroics were unpromising. They were weak, fragile, no matter what form they took they would end up breaking at the slightest pressure, just like her.

She was a C class just as she had always been since she enrolled, might as well be at the bottom for the barrel. A sickly girl that had no natural endurance or resistance whatsoever.

The fact that she could manipulate glass seemed downright fitting to her.

She couldn’t help but to clench her firsts. She was healed already, her arm moved with absolute freedom, there was no pain, not even a slightest discomfort.

Yet her friends won’t let her go out anyways.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

“Come in…”- She answered dully and immediately heard the click of the key turning.

“Hey, how are you holding up?”- Lee Chaeyeon, one of her best friends and her self-proclaimed guardian angel, entered through the now open door, locking it behind her after coming in.

They had known each other since young and they were neighbors to boot, both back at home and at the campus, so Chaeyeon often paid her visits, especially when Eunbi fell sick – which wasn’t that uncommon – and especially when Chaeyeon herself felt guilty.

Eunbi was certain the reason for this sudden visit was the latter.

…

“Come on, come on!”- Eunbi shouted at Chaeyeon, both of them currently inside a practice room, nigh unbreakable facilities the academy had to allow for a few unrestrained training sessions – “I’ve come up with a new technique! I know I can endure it”

“I’m not going to do it”- Chaeyeon deadpanned, shaking her head blandly - “Ugh Eunbi you were supposed to help me train, not… whatever this whining is…”

“Please, you don’t even have to transform, just your arm”- Eunbi tried again - “Punch me, it will be fine, I can take the hit”

Chaeyeon groaned, this hadn’t been the first time Eunbi had come up with another crazy idea. Chaeyeon had never indulged her, choosing instead to let time pass as Eunbi wasn’t the type to be stubborn enough to constantly pester people.

But something was different this time, she didn’t know if it was her steely gaze or her trembling hands, but she could tell Eunbi really wanted to prove something to her.

So she agreed.

“Alright…”- She finally conceded, obtaining a jolly fist pump out of Eunbi.

She kneeled, touching the metallic ground below her, and felt her hand growing heavier and heavier as metal consumed flesh, replacing it. She stopped abruptly, deeming it to be enough once her arms started to feel excessively bulky, there was no way she was going to fully transform against Eunbi.

“Ready?”- She could barely lift her own arm up anymore.

 “Hmm!”- Eunbi hummed in approval and Chaeyeon got into an appropriate stance.

“At the count of three…”- She proclaimed, and Eunbi jumped into actions.

Nearby window panes flew out of their sills, stopping before Eunbi as they melded into an amorphous ball of… something Chaeyeon wasn’t quite sure what it was.

“3...”

Chaeyeon could see Eunbi frown from behind the glass.

“2…”

The crystal started to form a wall between them, expanding rapidly as it subsequently toughened and thickened.

“1…”- Chaeyeon lifted her arm, ready to launch her arm forward.

A smirk grew on Eunbi’s face and Chaeyeon lunged forward, her arm flying onwards like it had just been fired out of a rocket. The metal fist crashed against the crystalline wall in less than a second.

Then everything that could go wrong went absolutely wrong.

The glass cracked, showing some pale signs of resisting the impact before it crumbled to dust under the pressure. Chaeyeon’s eyes widened as she tried to unsuccessfully halt her own momentum, however, her arm was too heavy for her to stop and it was unwillingly carrying her forward.

Then, after breaking through the glass, Eunbi was next in line.

Both collided and the brunette was launched all the way from the center of the practice room to one of the walls, landing on it with a sickly crunch that made Chaeyeon’s blood freeze and her toes curl.

“Eunbi…!”- she screamed, letting her arm return to normal as she dashed towards her friend, diving to the ground as soon as she was at an arm’s length.

But there was no answer, the girl was completely passed out.

…

“The very definition of Murphy’s law.”- Eunbi thought.

Chaeyeon had been visiting almost every day ever since that happened, and it wasn’t like Eunbi hated the extra attention she was being given.

It just wasn’t the same as before.

Not only Chaeyeon, but most of her friends, they constantly regarded her as a dying flower, everyone always seemed to think she’d just wither away any day if they weren’t careful around her.

She hated it, loathed it with passion.

She didn’t even remember when was the last time she had hugged Chaeyeon, and her friend’s paranoia after the incident hadn’t helped things in any way. She was fearful, scared that she’d hurt her again and Eunbi could see it. They were lifelong friends and yet Chaeyeon was always treating her like she was about to break, it was frustrating to not even be able spend time together without Chaeyeon worrying over every little possible problem.

She heaved a sigh.

“I’m alright.” – She answered with a yawn– “It’s been a boring week.”

“I can tell”- Chaeyeon mumbled, sitting down on the bed beside her and looking at the many origami figures neatly laid near Eunbi’s bed. – “They are cute.”

“Here, you can hold them if you like.”- Eunbi grabbed a few of the figurines, extending her previously broken arm towards Chaeyeon’s before the girl visibly recoiled away from Eunbi’s hand.

“No… no, I’m good, thank you.”- Her friend, as expected given her reaction, rejected her offer. Eunbi couldn’t help but to feel awful about it.

 “I’d like to go outside for once, I’ve spent a lot of time here already”- Eunbi stated, biting her lip as she looked away, she didn’t want to think about that...

“I don’t think that’s a good idea”- Chaeyeon’s face hardened at the suggestion - “Nako and the teachers said you should rest for two weeks before attempting anything else”

“I’m alright, Chaeyeon, I told you”- Eunbi couldn’t help but to roll her eyes - “I’m not going to hurt myself again”

To Eunbi, Chaeyeon greatest trait was also her most insufferable flaw.

She tended to put other before her a lot, worrying over the smallest things, and after that accident she had become even more protective of her, but in a completely bad sense. Chaeyeon withdrew whenever misfortunes like that happen, hiding within herself to the point their friendship strained.

Yeah, they kept talking almost every single day anyways, but it felt weird nonetheless.

She became less touchy, more concerned in everything Eunbi did or didn’t do, they hadn’t had a real, emotional talk ever since Eunbi got injured. Talking to Chaeyeon was like talking to a brick wall ever since, no emotions, just worries.

They have had their fair share of conflict in the past, but it had never been this bad. Chaeyeon possessed an innate strength that was superior to the average human and that had driven her to become too self-conscious about it.

They didn’t even hold hands anymore.

It was annoying, infuriating, yet Eunbi was even more irritated at herself than at Chaeyeon.

“If only I had stopped that punch…”- She thought bitterly - “Maybe she wouldn’t be like this…”

So she had had an idea recently, if she couldn’t get stronger by herself, then maybe she could still get stronger with someone’s help.

But of course Chaeyeon wouldn’t approve of that.

“…”- Chaeyeon didn’t seem to buy her words even for a second - “Anyways, I’ve spoken to teacher Soyou and she…”

“Sian should be here to pick me up in a few moments”- Eunbi confessed, stopping Chaeyeon from diverting the subject. She hoped she sounded believable enough. - “I’m going to watch her as she trains for a while, to kill this boredom”

“Absolutely not”- Chaeyeon eyed Eunbi from top to bottom, the girl was not only recently injured, she was wearing nothing but a tank top and some skinny jeans, hardly an appropriate or comfortable training outfit even in spite of how warm it was outside - “Why do you even hang out with that girl?”

“Come on, she’s not that bad, she’s just… a little intimidating and misunderstood”- Eunbi chuckled, intimidating isn’t the exact word she’d use to define Lee Sian, but she didn’t want Chaeyeon to grow more agitated.

Chaeyeon wasn’t even sure how a sweet girl like Eunbi befriended that ruffian.

“I told you, she and her friends are a bad influence, bullies, troublemakers, she’s a…”- Chaeyeon rambled, expressing her palpable distaste for Eunbi’s choice of company.

“Keep going blockhead”- The door to Eunbi’s room opened swiftly, revealing a rather tall girl behind it to Chaeyeon’s utter astonishment - “What? Cat got your tongue? I’m interested in what you were about to say…”

“I could swear I locked that door after I came in…”- Chaeyeon muttered under her breath, locking eyes with the newcomer.

“How is it going?”- Eunbi asked nonchalantly, getting up from her resting position on her bed as she walked up to Sian, high-fiving her.

“Cool, I hope I wasn’t interrupting anything…”- Sian said, voice full of mischief as her -eating grin was seconds away of making Chaeyeon’s blood boil.

“Wipe that smirk off your lips Lee…”- The A class student growled, which was met with an amused look from her fellow student.

“Is that a challenge, Rocky?”

The atmosphere turned tense and silence befell the room as sparks flew back and forth between the two girls’ gazes, both refusing to break eye contact for even a second. Chaeyeon wondered if Eunbi could feel the stiffness in the air, because said girl was now too busy looking at her own cellphone, probably texting someone else.

“Whenever you want…”- Chaeyeon snapped back silently, making Sian chuckle another time.

“Play nice you two…”- Eunbi finally spoke, defusing the situation as she pocketed her phone. She then turned to Sian, who greeted her with an innocent smile, pretending nothing had happened at all - “Come on, let’s go, I’m dying to get out of here.”

Sian nodded solemnly, standing aside to let Eunbi pass through the door.

“Hey but what about the teacher’s…!”- Chaeyeon began voicing her concerns before Eunbi interrupted her, sending a flying kiss her way.

“I’ll catch you late Chaeyeon!”

Chaeyeon released a disgruntled groan, she had wanted to spend some time with Eunbi. She leaned back on Eunbi’s bed for a few moments, enjoying the comfort for a while before she noticed the glass figurines again.

She took one from the nightstand, a little translucent bunny.

“Can you believe this, friend?”- She stared at the bunny and the eyeless bunny stared back, impassive. Chaeyeon couldn’t help but notice that it had a tinge of the perfume Eunbi constantly wears. - “Yeah, me neither…”

She just hoped Eunbi wouldn’t get herself injured again…

Bah… maybe she was worrying too much…

Maybe…

Chaeyeon closed her eyes, letting sleep take her, she was sure Eunbi wouldn’t mind if she fell asleep near her crystalline rabbit friend.

********************************************