Dazzling lights, the shades of blue blatantly covering the sparse reddish colors, the violet violently slapping the spectators' irises, and the pink fighting with the blue.

Smells of salty sweat, sickly sweet perfume, and cigarettes combined with the acid of alcoholic beverages.

The endless conversation was subdued by mesmerizing music that began to play, bewitching any listener to sway their body involuntarily. When the first beat played, the lights, each with their harmony, decided to talk to each other and then follow the rhythm of the loud melody.

The audience turned towards the stage, where the curtains slowly opened, revealing the night's dancer.

The dancer went to the middle of the stage, following the curves that the notes made in the invisible score. She wore a sensual and stunning bunny costume and when the crowd saw the artist, claps, screams, whistles and swear words mixed with the loud music.

She was remarkable.

Dancing and cheerfully following the music, she made people shiver with bold moves, stretching her legs and bending her back in provocative positions. Her sweat ran down her face and body.

The night star was not shy and its brightness was brighter than the sun.

She loved the stage and gave her blood, sweat and tears.

"You were perfect today!" an elf clapped hands, followed by more girls that cheered joyfully the person who had just entered the room.

"Right?! Oh, Mr. could you teach us how to bend like that?!" a woman with blue hair brightened her eyes.

"Shush Meeva," the taller girl wearing a pink latex costume said. "You were good. We need to recognize it."

The dancer took off the wig that seemed to tear off her scalp and smiled casually. “Thanks, Talia,” and she placed the wig on the table. "It's a shame it might be my last year here."

Even though her grayish-green hair was inside the protection, it was as sweaty as the wig. Her cheeks were also as flushed as the pink of her costume, and even her lipstick seemed to have seen better applications.

"It's a pity, 'cause you're doin' good," Talia leaned on the nearest chair. "You snatch most of the boys at sex services, so we'll have more work from now on- and, hey, before you go, teach us your charm,"

"Enough, Mrs. Talia," Younri chuckled and opened his fan. "Finish cleaning yourself Mine, then let's talk," he smiled.

Talia laughed and patted Mine's head before going to finish her makeup. Younri, in turn, went to monitor the rest of the prostitutes, especially the younger ones who had recently arrived - like Meeva.

The dressing room was quite roomy, featuring a foldable bed and three cushioned sofas. The vanity chairs were occupied by labeled makeup cases, all impeccably tidy. Behind the door, about six backpacks were on the floor. On the walls there were six cupboards (the old high school style), crammed with the personal belongings of the prostitutes who worked there.

Mine had just wiped his face with makeup remover on tissues, and his boss approached with a glass of water in hand and a serene smile on his face.

"Thanks, Younri," Mine smiled and drank the water his boss brought him. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"That you should be careful with thirsty people, one almost took you by force today," Younri worried. "Also, you need to rest! Now!"

"Ok, boss…” Mine chuckled and stood up. “Ah, I won't work extra today, don't worry."

But before Mine could explain more details, Younri slapped his butt.

"You better don't!" Younri huffed and opened his fan dramatically. "Well, once the girls don't need me... I'll go to the bar," he smiled and patted Mine's head.

"Let's go, Vanessa," the red-haired, stunning girl sighed and called her partner, which came as fast as she could. "See you guys~"

"Take care and good job!" Mine and Younri cheered.

"Let's go home girls," Talia called the rest of the group. "Mine, the hot girl will come today, won't she?"

"Yes, she must be on her way," Mine quickly checked on his phone.

"That's fine. If anything happens, call us to make extra money," Talia winked, and the group left the boy alone in the spacious room.

Mine released his hair from the cap and massaged his scalp, already tired from the pressure of the wig. Tiresome started making its way all over his body: numbing his legs and arms, but he needed to stay firm! Soon, he heard a loud noise outside as if someone stumbled many times and almost fell, and then, the person opened the door.

"MINE! AM I LATE?!" the woman asked, covered in sweat.

"You're in time, Lydia," Mine chuckled and offered her a seat. "Come here. I'll help you with your makeup."

"I almost screwed up today!" Lydia slumped on the offered chair. "I was dead-sleeping after class when Mr. Younri called me. I only had time to take a bath."

“My friend, your show is a little bit later today, so don't worry," Mine took a wet tissue. "Are you going to do sex business earlier?" and he slid the tissue over Lydia's face, wiping away the sweat.

"Nah, I'm ok. It's too tiring," complained and drank water from the bottle. "You better don't too. You've been with too much work recently," and ahw slapped Mine's butt.

Even though Mine grumbled, Lydia was right.

He had Uni and the Pub's works to deal with, and even if he liked the shows, it gave him leg cramps the following day, no matter how much he exercised or stretched. In worst cases, he would suddenly pass out.

He loved the stage and needed the cash. Despite the feeling of freedom, Mine always remembered that he still had chains that held him back, which cannot be said here yet, as he almost applied the wrong shadow to Lydia's eyes. Focus, he needed focus.

“Hey Mine, do you remember when we first met here?” Lydia felt nostalgic as she looked at the paintings in the dressing room.

Mine laughed and tapped the makeup sponge on Lydia's cheeks, evening out the foundation. “Of course I remember, you tried to run away from me at university!”

"So~ Ms. Lydia will only do pole, right?" Younri came and asked, bringing some snacks.

"Yes!" Lydia beamed and went after the snacks, and so did Mine. "Thanks, boss, this is awesome!" awed, and he smiled.

"You two are something" Younri chuckled and took his cell phone to check for some appointments. "I'll head back to the bar. If y'all need anything, call me~" he waved and closed the door.

The night went through while pole dancing raged outside.

Mine was still resting in the dressing room. He took some minutes napping after a bath while Lydia was on the stage, sweating her soul out! Soon, he woke up with messages buzzing on his phone. The moment he took to check it, Mine rolled to the side of the bed when he saw that the person typing was nobody else...

... than Addai.

Yup. Him again.

Mine wisely decided to ignore it, but oh… curiosity corrodes the human being... and it corroded him, but he refused to see the message.

... but a quick peek at the notification bar doesn't hurt, right?

“/Do you have free time tomorrow? I'd like to have a friendly duel with you/” Addai wrote.

"What? Weren’t the targets enough?" Mine grumbled and sat.

One more message popped up. “/If you don’t want it’s ok, but if you win, I will buy you a dessert/” was sent with a smirk emoji.

In the weak point.

That was cowardice.

Mine buried his head in the pillow and sighed deeply before looking at the messages. He was going to ignore it a little longer but...

“/Sure. Book it./” Mine replied.

“/Nice~ see you tomorrow then/” Addai sent with a smiling emoji.

Mine had promised not to lengthen the conversation.

He had-

“/What are you doing awake at this time?/” Mine sent curious.

“/I’m just dealing with work. Studying some stuff before going to sleep/” Addai replied and sent a photo of his table: full of books, papers, and Addai's eyeglasses resting on the top of a book pile.

Mine zoomed in on the photo to see your newbie’s ENVIABLE handwriting before responding. “/You’re very diligent for a snake/” and sent a snake emoji.

“/I think ‘fox’ fits better for me/” Addai replied, sending a winking emoji.

Mine snorted and thought for a few seconds. Yes, fox really suited him better. “He’s so…”

"… hottie," Lydia completed, and Mine startled, almost dropping his phone. "AHAH! SCAREDY CAT!" she laughed all sweat, and Mine grumbled, slapping her thigh.

"That's not funny!" Mine grumbled, with flushed cheeks and his cell phone on the floor.

"Man… I'm beat… and you're talking to the hottie at this time of the night?" Lydia smirked.

"It's not what you're thinking," his cheeks turned a little bit redder. “Now go wash up!" Mine angrily argued, and she took her boots off and went for a shower in the bathroom, laughing.

“Ok~”

"Lydia, I'll stop by your house again, ok? I'm too tired and..." Mine fidgeted.

Lydia fondly smiled in return and approached. "Yeah, sweetie," she held his hand.

The next day, both friends were like crap.

Mine felt a terrible pain in the back - specifically in the lower back because I got some pole dance poses wrong - and Lydia struggled to stay awake. 

Luckily for the Herbology teacher, she didn't have classes that terrible day, but she still had to take care of some plants that surprisingly arrived that morning at the Herbology Center. The Light Mana teacher, however, had two more classes after the duel, but his fatigue was so heavy that he was starting to feel like he was in a Jack Stauber music video or something.

Everything sometimes spun and sometimes became blurry.

Between stumbles and well-spaced blinks, Mine walked into the central square. Despite his tiredness, his pride spoke louder for him to win that duel at any cost.

The day was calm and windy, messing his loose hair and clothes while he walked around the plaza between the Light Mana department and the arena. 

He was way too... tired… 

Feeling a heaviness in the eyes, he slowly blinked and somehow was teleported to the teacher’s common room the Main Administration building. 

"Huh?" Mine voiced, looking around and very confused.

When he tried to get up, he noticed that someone's coat was covering him completely. It was heavy, soft, and smelled like Ylang Ylang mixed with a touch of Musk and- he didn't have time for that. Mine started looking around and kept wondering how a simple blink of an eye could make such a change.

He brought a hand to his forehead and felt a sharp pain and swelling that appeared out of nowhere!

"You woke up," an annoyed deep voice said and approached him, examining Mine's head. 

Mine could feel that same pleasant scent from the robes coming from that person.

"Tsk,” clicked his tongue. “Lay down. I'll wake you up in one hour," the person made him lay down, covering him with the robe.

Addai. That guy again.

Could it be that there was only that one boy in the entire university?

However... Mine, somehow, felt an inexplicable tranquility with the proximity of that guy who, even though he was mumbling, finished rubbing a cold piece of cotton wool on his forehead, soaked in something that burned.

"I'm returning the favor," Addai grumbled and tossed the cotton ball in the trash. "Besides, no littering on the floor, right?" he teased, and Mine pretended to not listen to the last sentence.

"... You're a sly fox," Mine closed his eyes, feeling the tiresome invading him like a tsunami, but the throbbing forehead made it hard to sleep.

"Geez, your big ego wasn't affected by the fall. But your head was," Addai grumbled again and held out his hand.

His hand was warm and surprisingly gentle, contrasting with the indelicacy of his acidic words. In fact, all of Addai's actions were quite different from usual. Not that Mine was complaining, of course not, but... this was, to say the least, quite intriguing.

"Why are you doing this?" Mine asked, looking at Addai with sleepy eyes.

“...I already told you why.”

Mine lightly raised his hand to touch Addai's and, already delirious with sleep, placed it on his cheek.

“Thank you,” and he boarded the dreamland train.

Soon, Mine felt a drool roll over his cheek, and a cloth wiped it off, making him gasp and wake up all confused.

"Better?" Addai asked, wiping Mine's face with a wet tissue - to wake him up.

"I'm fine…" Mine said, a bit annoyed by being awake that way.

"Good," placed the wet tissue aside. "My class is about to start, and I treated your head wound. You should not feel any more pain today," Addai took his backpack.

"How about our match?"

"Nah, forget it," Addai repiled. "There's something for you in the fridge."

Before Mine could even ask what it was, Addai had already closed the door. Then, he got up and carefully folded the coat that covered him, placing it on the table with a small origami star on top.

Though Addai's behavior seemed slightly peculiar, Mine chose not to dwell on it and instead headed towards the refrigerator. Upon opening it, he discovered a slice of strawberry cake that he simply couldn't resist. 

Accepting his colleague's gentleness, Mine sat down and savored every bite of the perfectly crafted dessert.

Everything that had happened was weird... was he still dreaming?

**Earlier**

"You're a pain. Did you know that?" Addai placed the passed-out Mine on the sofa as if he was a heavy bag of potatoes. "I'm leaving," he turned the doorknob.

“Hm… no… don’t steal my… pudding," Mine whined in his sleep. 

Addai held his laugh, and didn't notice that a shadow approached the sleeping boy. When he saw that, he closed the door again.

"Umbra..." Addai called the figure that turned into a black cat with long, fluffy hair. "You're as stubborn as he is," he grumbled and sat next to the cat and Mine.

Facing the sleeping Mine, Addai poked the boy's cheek and leaned to check if he was sleeping, and Mine was, indeed, fast asleep. Umbra climbed the green-haired teacher, nuzzled on his chest, laying down right after, and started purring.

"Wait. You liked him?!"

"Meow," and she kneaded Mine's chest as if he was a pillow.

Her owner put his hand over his face and sighed deeply. Who knew his cat would force him to treat Mine's injuries? Okay, Addai couldn't stop Mine from collapsing on the floor and making a “thud” with his head on the floor. He saw the size of the bump that remained and the small commotion around it and, when he was about to disappear, a student pulled him to help Mine.

First the student, and now Umbra?

“Why did you do such a reckless thing?” Addai poked Mine's cheek, who snored. "Pffff... ok... lemme check your forehead."

Addai chuckled softly and Umbra jumped onto his shoulder, incorporating himself into her owner's shadow as he brushed aside Mine's bangs to see the purple bump. He also rubbed his thumb across Mine's cheek, feeling the peach-soft skin, and as he stroked the bump, Mine nuzzled into Addai's hand, sharing a little more warmth.

"!" Addai blushed, his eyes widened in surprise. "Tsk, nonsense," he frowned and backed away a little, ignoring how fast his heartbeat was.