Now, as you know, I am a socially awkward person. Me hanging out with Leena shouldn’t impact much because from what I saw; she is quite an energetic person. However, since the Vice-Principal Keeper scolded her, she was feeling very down. The result, you could imagine, was a temporary, very awkward silence between an introvert and a depressed extrovert. 

“Hey… you want to grab a bite to eat at the cafe?”, I suddenly asked, not confident in what I was saying.

If Justin wants us to talk, it must be for something important. Despite needing to work on his harsh phrasing, he is not a stupid person. 

“Sure, why not?” Leena said while smiling at me. However, her smile this time seemed fake. How could I tell? It was just a good feeling that she was trying to recover from it. She probably feels overshadowed by her brother, I thought to myself as we started walking down the steps to head toward the cafe.

From what I remember of my past, I have no siblings. The feeling of not being good enough and not being able to be the best version of yourself, I understood a lot. The feeling of seeing someone else close to you that always seems better than you could hurt your self-esteem a lot.

Even though I did not know Leena too much, I still wanted her to feel okay. 

We arrived at the cafe and ordered some food. Since I ordered first, I could grab a table first. As I sat down, I noticed a familiar person on the other side of the cafe sitting down with some people. It was not Ivy, sadly. Instead, it was former water prodigy Colin West who turned away when he saw me.

I say former because, well; I beat him. 

Leena sat down across from me with two trays of food. Without me knowing, Leena picked up my order for me, which was very nice. Sometimes my awareness is not great if I am hyper-focused on something. In this case, I was hyper-focused on seeing Colin’s face because I wanted to know if I had humbled him or not. 

“Hey, are you okay dude?”, Leena asked me to snap me out of my focus on Colin.

“Yeah, I am alright. I could-”. I was about to say I could ask you the same thing, but then I realized how much of a dumb move that would be.

Instead, I said: “I mean, you didn’t seem okay back there. I am sorry he treated you like that. Are you alright? Don’t feel pressured to say much if you don’t want to be.”, I say to her as I put my full focus on her. 

Of course, things don’t go my way. She started yapping. Though I understood why she started talking to me.  

“You want the truth? Lately, I haven’t been doing so great. I am sorry if this sounds like a lot, but like, it seems like you understand a bit. I have always lived in my brother’s shadow. Since birth, my brother was always given priority because he was going to be the next head of the house.

He is truly amazing, though. I may be of a prodigy in terms of being given so much mana, but I do not know how to control it. My brother is the exact opposite. He does still have a significant amount of mana but he can control it to perfection.”, Leena says right before she aggressively takes a sip of soda. 

“It’s just not fair! Of course, he gets all the praise and fans. He was even able to get placed into the noble class without doing the exam because he got sponsored. The Keepers love him because he seems perfect in their vision.

All they see in me is wasted potential,” Leena said aggressively as she started eating her food voraciously like Kirby, which was impressive honestly. 

“I understand that... I wish people would look upon me in a better light. Not as an outcast or as a weakling, but as just a normal human being. When people see me, all they think of is look at that freak. It is like I am famous in this academy for all the wrong reasons.”, I said, while I stuffed my face with food. 

There was a good solid ten seconds of just us stuffing our faces with food, which would have been funny if it hadn’t been for the fact we were doing it to cope with our negative feelings. 

Leena paused being Kirby and took a long sip from her soda. After she was finished, taking a sip, she said, “Since I admitted how much of a goody two shoes my brother is to everyone. I might as well admit about the other reason my life hasn’t exactly been great.” 

I didn’t know the right words to say back, so I just nodded for her to continue speaking. 

“This isn’t a secret anyway, but everyone here knows besides you, as you are a newbie, that the family I am a part of is disgraced nobility. The House of Grey used to be the most renowned noble family known for its grace and fire magic. Our father was a famous Duke who was loved by the people. Once the Keepers took over the Kingdom, nobles had to choose between fighting against them or joining them.

Our father resisted the Keepers, and as a result, lost his noble status. Our father, named Aurelius Grey, surrendered to the King and begged for forgiveness. 

By sheer luck, he was allowed to survive. My older brother, ever since he was a kid, has been training extremely hard. Yes, he is a genius and yes; I am sad that he overshadows me a lot, but sometimes, he has that right. That is because his dedication is so fierce to becoming like our father before the Keepers took over: powerful and respected.

My brother, named Ignis, is the sole reason the House of Grey may return to nobility and attend Keeper Academy in Tarondar. His actions and reputation are restoring the family’s status.”, Leena told me. 

“I do not know what his true motivations are at all. All I know is that by graduating from Keeper Academy, it will open up more opportunities for myself. I know the Keepers are renowned for their light magic. Some people welcome them into the kingdom, some hate them, and there are even some cults around them, the most famous one being The Cult of Light.”, Leena said while making a disgusted look. 

“I will tell you more about that stuff later if you want to learn about it. Everyone here hates me as well, just not as much. Some of the current nobles want the House of Grey to perish, so I fear for my brother’s safety. I know he is more than capable of handling himself, but will you look out for him for me, please?”, Leena said unexpectedly while reaching out and grabbing my arm, surprising me. 

I had no idea Leena could be this serious or this emotional. I thought she was a very optimistic trigger happy type of person.

“Yeah ….. sure. I will do my best. Just don’t expect me to always be there for him or do it successfully because I don’t think I am that powerful enough to stop the Keepers.”, I say to her in response. 

Leena widened her eyes and, for the first time since we left Justus’s office, she smiled at me. It made me feel good to see her happy again.

Leena stood up from the table and said, “Yay! Then it’s settled. I have my full trust in you. Even though others were hating on you, I overheard people say you kicked that guy named Dustin’s butt off right before the entrance ceremony!”  

I laughed in response as I stood up as well. “It was nice having lunch with you. Go easy on me at the duel tomorrow okay?”, I said to her as we got set to part ways. 

“It was nice talking to ya, too! Thank you for listening to my problems. I can’t guarantee I will go easy!”, Leena winked at me and said before walking out of the cafe. I waved goodbye to her as I saw her figure disappear behind the corner. 

I sighed and started walking back to my dorm. For the rest of the day, I read my copy of Magic and Emotions and studied it hard. I also thought about how it was interesting to listen to Leena and understand her better. I can tell why she acts the way she does to rebel against her brother and be different from others.

Leena, the other students, and I all wanted validation, whether that was in popularity or just having a few close friends. If I want to build close friendships with my peers, I need to survive the duel first. 

I shut my book with a soft thud and head to sleep. Tomorrow was a true test of my ability.