“Your roommates want you to move out.”

The air in the office, though it had been comfortingly warm just a moment ago, went cold on Terra Beste’s hands. Under her long sleeves and tall collar, a sweat broke out. Normally, this would have her panicking and rushing to leave the room (and maybe finding somewhere to hide), but the words that had just left Dr. Akiona’s mouth had frozen her in place.

“…Oh,” she could only dumbly mutter.

The headmaster gave her a sad smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m sorry, sweetheart. I know it’s only been a week, but I saw how much you liked them any time I saw you girls around campus. This can’t be an easy thing to hear.”

Terra attempted to swallow the lump in her throat and turned her stinging eyes down to look at her skirt. She fiddled with the hem as she tried to think of anything to say.

Luckily, Dr. Akiona didn’t let the silence linger too long.

“The good news is, you don’t have to wait to get to your new cabin,” she informed with a smile. “We have another team that’s… Well, let’s just say they’ve had some issues.” Her office chair creaked as she leaned back. “We had to make the decision to remove one of their members, and conveniently, we think she’ll be a good fit with your former team. And you know what? I think you’ll be the perfect new member of yours.”

Terra sucked in a quick breath through her nose (it was not a sniffle, thank you very much) and peered up at her over the rim of her glasses. “Why…?”

She wasn’t really sure if it was “Why do I fit?” or “Why did they kick me out?” or even “Why was she kicked out?”. The question fell out of her lips without even really passing through her brain. But now that it was out, she wanted any answer Dr. Akiona had.

The shrug she received had her heart plummeting into her stomach, but her calm voice rose it up again, if only a little bit.

“Sometimes, fate has a funny way of working” she said. “Maybe your old team had something you wanted, but this new one might have something you need. It’s like… When you’re playing in the river and you have to pull a leech off of yourself.”

Terra thought she schooled her reaction to that twist well, but Dr. Akiona’s laugh proved otherwise. She held up a hand and got up, rounding her desk to lean back on it while still looking at her student.

“No, no, don’t look at me like I’m crazy yet!” she laughed. “You’ll have plenty of time to realize that at your time at Schesi Academy!”

“I-I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to!”

Dr. Akiona simply waved her off before continuing. “Look, you’ve played in a creek before, right? So you’ll know what I mean. The leeches cling onto you because they’re hungry, for blood or diseases or whatever. But human meat’s not good for them. Probably not Thirio meat, either, unless they’re a bug Thirio or something. Do leeches even… What do leeches eat…?”

She frowned and looked up at the ceiling in thought; Terra could only watch and wait, unsure of what she was supposed to do.

After a moment, Dr. Akiona shook her head as if physically shaking the thought away and reached behind her to grab her can of cola. “Ah, doesn’t matter right now. The point is, you need to get it off of you because it’ll only hurt you both, even though it hurts. But when you put it back in the water, it finds the bugs or whatever it is it eats. It finds what it needs, even though it clung to what it wanted. Do you understand what I mean?”

Terra’s head was, in all honesty, spinning. Part of her was trying to process the wall of advice she’d just been given. Another part was wondering what leeches did eat. But… She supposed she sort of got it. She’d never played in any kind of water, but she’d definitely clung to things she couldn’t have before. They’d never turned out for the better, though…

Regardless, she nodded. Dr. Akiona beamed and clapped her hands together, sending a startling sound through the room that Terra suppressed a flinch from.

“Great! I’m actually kind of surprised, I don’t usually nail metaphors on the first try… You know, I’ve been the headmaster here since long before your parents were probably born, and I still stumble sometimes. Pumped out thousands of warriors from our training academy, and even some celebrities like Team Byrd, but I’m still learning something new and getting better every day. That’s the great thing about life, isn’t it? That we can always learn and grow.”

She smiled at Terra with an extra sparkle in her eye, like she was trying to imply something, but her mind was blank when she tried to figure out what.

Dr. Akiona cleared her throat. “Anyway, let’s take a look at your new team, shall we?”

She swung back around and sat at her chair at lightning speed, immediately typing just as fast on her keyboard.

“Let’s see… You were on Team Slayers, now switching to Team Prevail… Beacon Cabin… Aha!”

Dr. Akiona spun the monitor around to show Terra a file with four ID photos; she used her hand to cover the first one before she could even properly look.

“Don’t mind that one; she’s the one moving out,” she said. “But these three here, they’re your new teammates.”

Their faces were a bit familiar already. Terra had seen them around in classes, and in all honesty, they didn’t exactly blend in. The girl with the big dragon wings that had a loud voice, the girl with arm crutches that doubled as her main weapon, and the girl with three long scars on her cheek that seemed to be good at everything. Even if they hadn’t been physically noticeable on their own, they’d definitely made themselves known this week as the only team constantly and loudly arguing with their…

Wait.

“U-Um, Dr. Akiona…?”

“You can just call me Dr. Lani, dear, no need for such formalities. What’s your question?”

“Is their leader being kicked out?”

She gave a wry smile and leaned back. “Yeah… Unfortunately, sometimes we make bad calls when assigning team leaders. Usually, things work themselves out, whether they grow into the role or someone steps into it for them. But every few years, things get… Explosive. This girl really did not fit the part, so we’re having her step down.”

“But…” Terra frowned. “Who’s going to be Team Prevail’s leader now?”

A giddy grin slowly grew across Dr. Lani’s face as she looked back at her. It made Terra’s stomach turn a bit. She leaned forward onto her desk and clasped her hands together.

“Terra Beste of Frelip Town,” she heartily announced, “I’d like to be the first to congratulate you on your new role as Leader of Team Prevail.”