[Status]
Location: Witch Academy of the Vast Sea City
Time: Friday
Friday arrived, and the brilliant sunlight was no longer as gentle as before.
Instead, it carried a hint of scorching heat as it spilled over the Witch Academy of the Vast Sea City, casting dazzling halos on the bluish-gray stone paths.
For Tunzuo, today was a special day.
She would be attending her first public practical class.
A public practical class, as the name suggested, involved combat simulations or field expeditions.
For the little witches, who were so energetic during the week that they could launch over a dozen fireballs into the sky every day without stopping, this was undoubtedly the most anticipated class of the week.
Yet Tunzuo couldn’t muster any excitement.
Besides finding it troublesome, the main reason was that a certain golden figure had been sticking to her like a persistent parasite, maintaining a subtle synchronicity with her.
“Tutu, what do you think today’s public practical class will be about? Will we fight monsters together? The super exciting kind?!”
Sally, carrying her schoolbag, hopped around in front of Tunzuo like an excited little sparrow, showing no sign of the frazzled state she’d been in last night, worried bald over choosing a school branch.
Huli, clutching her teddy bear plushie, followed nervously behind Sally, murmuring softly.
“Ugh… I hope we don’t run into anything too terrifying. Especially not the kind with fangs…”
“Don’t be scared, Huli. Lady Olivia is here! She’ll protect us!”
Sally waved her hand with boundless boldness, completely oblivious to Tunzuo’s face, which had darkened to the color of a pot bottom.
Sally’s offhand remark made Tunzuo’s eyebrows twitch.
Struggling to suppress the urge to have a meltdown on the spot, Tunzuo turned her head and shot a deeply complicated look at Olivia, who was walking calmly beside her.
“I gotta say.”
After holding it in for a while, Tunzuo couldn’t help herself.
She lowered her voice, her tone brimming with resentment and a hint of mockery.
“The esteemed heiress of the Golden Family, a top student from the Capital Academy, leaving your noble life in Saint Medea behind to come here and play this childish public practical class monster-killing game with us. Don’t you think it’s a waste of your talents? Or do you just enjoy wasting your gifts in places like this?”
Faced with Tunzuo’s ridicule, Olivia just shrugged.
Instead of getting angry, she tilted her head and looked at Tunzuo with a bright smile.
The dazzling grin was radiant, carrying a depth of affection that made Tunzuo’s scalp tingle.
“Wherever you are, there I am, my little ghost.”
Olivia leaned in slightly, close to Tunzuo, her voice as soft as if she were reciting a love poem.
“This isn’t about the class content. It’s only about you. As long as you’re by my side, even fighting slimes is a joy for me.”
“Ugh!”
Tunzuo felt thoroughly disgusted, goosebumps all over.
She didn’t hesitate to shoot Olivia a huge eye roll, cursing her mentally as a pervert.
But aside from the love talk being as oily and nauseating as ever, Tunzuo noticed that Olivia seemed a bit off today.
How to put it… It felt like she’d suddenly become… well-behaved?
From the dorm to now, Olivia had obediently stayed by Tunzuo’s side, though following her like a shadow.
Yet Olivia remained within a safe distance that Tunzuo could tolerate.
Throughout the walk, Olivia hadn’t tried to close the gap between them.
No forced clinginess, no verbal harassment.
Even her usually restless hands were now calmly clasped behind her back.
Just… very well-behaved, so much so that Tunzuo felt uneasy.
“Hmph, it must be because Teacher Sherry is walking ahead. That perverted golden dragon is too embarrassed to touch me.”
Tunzuo sneered inwardly, raising her guard.
She wasn’t naive enough to think that Olivia, this possessive, perverted golden dragon, had suddenly had a change of heart and turned over a new leaf.
That girl was definitely putting on an act of being a good student for Sherry!
“Alright, students. We’ve arrived at the classroom.”
Sherry, leading the group, stopped and turned around, adjusting the gold-rimmed glasses on her nose, cutting off Tunzuo’s thoughts.
At that, Tunzuo looked up and saw a towering spire before them.
The spire was built entirely of gray-white stone, its surface covered with the marks of age and moss, exuding an ancient and mysterious aura.
Sherry chanted a soft spell, opening the spire’s door, and led Tunzuo and the others inside.
The interior of the spire was a vast circular space, with a high domed ceiling.
Countless faintly glowing crystals were embedded in the surrounding walls.
The center of the floor was empty, save for complex magical array patterns etched into the stone.
Sherry stood in the center, clapping her hands to signal her four students to line up in a row.
“Wait a moment. This public practical class will be combined with another class. They haven’t arrived yet, so let’s wait a bit.”
Sherry glanced around, speaking in a calm tone.
Hearing this, Tunzuo felt a flicker of hope and anticipation.
A combined class?
That meant more witches would be joining?
Tunzuo silently prayed that the more witches, the better—preferably bold, easygoing types.
That way, during the simulation, she’d have more options to find a reliable partner to work with, avoiding being forced to team up with that perverted golden dragon by her side.
Teaming up with Olivia? Tunzuo found the idea utterly awkward.
“Teacher Sherry, which class is combining with us?”
Sally’s curiosity was boundless.
She blinked her big eyes, leaning close to Sherry, asking with a gossipy expression.
“Is it the class next door full of cat witches? Or the one that specializes in fire magic? Maybe I know some of the witches in there!”
Faced with Sally’s barrage of questions, Sherry’s expression turned awkward and hesitant.
She opened her mouth as if unsure what to say, her gaze darting elsewhere before she finally spoke softly.
“Well… actually, that class only has one student.”
“Huh? Only one?”
Sally and Huli were both stunned, their faces full of question marks.
Even Tunzuo was surprised.
Did such a peculiar class exist in the academy?
“And that student…”
Sherry paused, her eyes sweeping over Tunzuo, Sally, and Huli, finally landing on Olivia, her tone full of helplessness.
“Except for Olivia, you all should know her.”
“Except for Olivia, we all know her?”
Tunzuo frowned.
She didn’t recall anyone that famous in the Witch Academy of the Vast Sea City.
Just as the witches were all guessing, a soft sound of footsteps echoed from the spire’s entrance.
The witches turned to look as a black-haired witch in a black scholar’s robe slowly entered the spire.
The witch was tall and slender, with a delicate face, though she looked somewhat haggard.
She had a pair of black ear feathers atop her head, but unlike Sherry’s lively, fluttering ones, these drooped lifelessly beside her face, looking listless.
The witch’s appearance was a mess.
Her normally smooth black hair was tangled, with leaves and twigs caught in it, as if a bird’s nest had just fallen on her.
Her scholar’s robe was even worse, covered in various stains and spots as if splashed with sewage, and the edges of her sleeves had obvious scorch marks from fire.
“Lena! You’re here! Everything okay on the way?”
Seeing the newcomer, Sherry’s face lit up with a warm smile as she stepped forward to greet her.
Tunzuo watched Lena enter the spire, feeling a bit puzzled.
Normally, witch academy teachers were very dignified in appearance.
Why did this one look so… slovenly?
“Ah, don’t even mention it, Sherry.”
Lena sighed, her voice hoarse, as if she had just come out of a disaster.
She raised a hand to tidy her messy hair, only to find it covered in dirt, and had to lower it in resignation.
“I… I’m fine. Just ran into a little trouble on the way.”
Lena forced a smile, though it looked bitter.
Just as Tunzuo wondered why this teacher’s appearance was so disheveled, a faint blue figure appeared behind Lena.
The blue was so pale it seemed it could vanish into the air at any moment.
But as the blue figure drew closer, Tunzuo felt her breath catch, a strange chill creeping up her spine to the top of her head.
Pale blue hair, pupil-less azure eyes, and a neat but distant-looking dress.
“H-Hai Lanyue?!”
Tunzuo, Sally, and Huli all gasped sharply, their faces turning pale.
They staggered backward, wishing they could sprout wings and fly out of the spire.
The figure behind Lena was none other than the campus legend of the Witch Academy of the Vast Sea City—the immortal jellyfish witch who brought endless bad luck to those around her, the same one they’d encountered in the cafeteria: Hai Lanyue!
Suddenly, Lena’s disheveled state and the class with only one student all made perfect sense.
“Ahem, well…”
Seeing that all the students had arrived, Sherry cleared her throat awkwardly, breaking the deathly silence.
“Um, students. Since everyone’s here, let’s get ready for class.”
“Try to get along, no fighting. Be united and friendly. After all, we’re all classmates.”
Sherry and Lena chimed in, one after the other.
Rather than giving instructions, it felt like they were calming the frightened nerves of Tunzuo and the others.
After saying this, Sherry dragged Lena off to start the simulation program for the public practical class, heartlessly leaving Tunzuo and the others to face Hai Lanyue alone.
The two teachers mounted their broomsticks and flew like startled birds toward the top of the spire, vanishing in an instant.
With the teachers gone, the empty spire was left with five young witches staring at each other, the atmosphere tense and awkward.
Hai Lanyue dutifully walked to the edge of the area, choosing the most inconspicuous shadowy corner.
She stood there, lowering her head to fiddle with her fingers.
Her pupil-less azure eyes showed no trace of emotion, as if everything around her was irrelevant.
But Tunzuo could clearly see Hai Lanyue’s shoulders trembling slightly.
“Tutu, let’s get out of here.”
Sally’s face crumpled as she tugged at Tunzuo’s sleeve, her voice full of fear.
“The farther away from that disaster, the better! Otherwise, we’ll have bad luck! Really bad luck!”
Huli nodded frantically beside her, her hands shaking as she held the teddy bear.
“Yeah, yeah, Tutu! I heard some witch accidentally stepped on Hai Lanyue’s shadow, and on the way back to the dorm, she broke her leg! Let’s go!”
The two little ones chattered, pulling Tunzuo toward the farthest diagonal corner from Hai Lanyue.
Tunzuo stumbled a few steps, glancing back at Hai Lanyue standing in the shadow.
Hai Lanyue stood alone in the corner’s shadow, her small figure appearing especially thin and helpless against the vast empty space.
Around her was nothing but emptiness; no other witch would approach her.
She just kept her head down, as if abandoned by the whole world.
In that moment, a pang of bitterness surged in Tunzuo’s heart.
Hai Lanyue’s situation felt all too familiar.
Tunzuo saw in her the version of herself who had been bullied and isolated by classmates in the past.
Back then, Tunzuo had been like Hai Lanyue, always sitting alone in a shadowy corner, watching others laugh and chat while she was like an invisible person.
Tunzuo often thought that if someone had come to keep her company back then, even just to say a word or two of concern, would her fate have changed?
Would she not have become so dark, so desperate for love, so… cowardly?
“Tutu? What’s wrong?”
Sally, noticing she couldn’t pull Tunzuo along, turned around, looking at her with confusion.
In Sally and Huli’s terrified gazes, Tunzuo freed herself from their grip.
Without a word, she took a deep breath, turned around, and walked toward where Hai Lanyue stood.
One step, two steps, three steps.
Her footsteps were light, but in the silent space, they were unmistakably clear.
Olivia stood in place, watching Tunzuo’s back as she walked toward Hai Lanyue.
She frowned but didn’t stop her, just quietly observing Tunzuo’s choice.
Meanwhile, Hai Lanyue was staring blankly at her fingers, her mind empty.
She was used to it.
Used to being isolated, used to being avoided, used to this feeling of being alone.
Hai Lanyue had assumed today would be like any other—spending the practical class in solitude, then leaving silently with her teacher afterward.
Just as she was thinking this, a shadow fell over her.
Hai Lanyue froze, slowly looking up.
A black-haired witch with emerald-green eyes stood before her.
The witch’s shadow covered Hai Lanyue, like a soft blanket, offering warmth and protection.
The witch’s smile was radiant, beautiful like a blooming rose, seared into Hai Lanyue’s mind.
The witch reached out her hand toward Hai Lanyue, her voice crisp and pleasant, like the tinkling of wind chimes.
“Hello. My name is Tunzuo.”