Impressive as always, I thought. Ms. Paula was a warrior, and the kitchen was her battleground. She looked so cool cooking a bunch of different foods all at the same time.
It took her another three minutes to finish preparing dinner, and once she’d turned off the stove, she joined us at the table.
“Phew, sorry for the wait. So what brings you here today?” Ms. Paula asked.
“Well, actually—,” I began, intending to give her the rundown of what we were doing, but she held out a strong arm to stop me.
“No, wait. Lemme guess!”
“O-okay…”
“I’ve been obsessed with detective fiction lately. I’m spending all my time between chores reading.”
“Oh, that’s cool.”
I followed her gaze and saw a bunch of mystery novels on the middle shelf of a bookcase.
“Hmm… Hmmmm… Today is March 30. There’s only a couple days left of spring break. You brought friends with you, which is a first. You’re all carrying a lot of luggage, too… Oh, I’ve got it! You’re going to Goza Village!” Ms. Paula declared.
“That’s right,” I said.
“Hmm-hmm, my powers of observation are second to none!”
She crossed her arms and laughed.
“I haven’t been able to make it home in a while, so I thought I’d take this opportunity and visit. I also wanted to drop in to see you, since this place is on the way,” I told her.
“Oh, that makes me so happy!” Ms. Paula said, smiling and scratching her head. “Your timing’s not the best, though, unfortunately.”
“What do you mean?”
“Daria took Ol’ Bamboo and the rest of Goza Village to Drestia to sell their freshly harvested crops. See all those vegetables over there?” Ms. Paula pointed to stacks of cardboard boxes that were crammed with spring vegetables including onions, cabbage, and bamboo shoots. “They were kind enough to leave them when they passed by.”
“Ahh… I should’ve known.” It had completely slipped my mind until now, but it was that time of year.
“That’s too bad. We must’ve just missed them,” commiserated Lia.
“I’m not surprised. Drestia is the Merchant’s Town, so there’s no better place to sell goods,” commented Rose.
They were trying to make me feel better, but I was still shocked at myself. After everything that’s happened recently, I completely forgot… I should’ve sent a letter first. I sighed softly, and Ms. Paula clapped me on the back to cheer me up.
“Gah…!”
A shock ran through my body, so strong I thought I’d broken my spine, and I nearly fainted.
“Hey, don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s not like you’ll never see her again. You can visit her over summer break if you want,” said Ms. Paula.
“Th-thank…you…,” I grunted, just barely holding myself back from saying she should learn how to be gentler.
“Plus, Daria said she was gonna stop by again on the way back. I’ll tell her you’re doing well and that you brought two cute girlfriends with you.”
“Wh-what do you mean…girlfriends?!”
I blushed, and Ms. Paula grinned teasingly.
“Oh, what sort of ideas are you jumping to? They’re girls who are your friends, hence girlfriends.”
“You were clearly implying more!”
“Oh, boys your age…”
“Ms. Paula!”
Lia and Rose both seemed to be enjoying this.
“Ah-ha-ha,” laughed Lia. “You look just like a regular schoolkid, Allen.”
“Hah, this is a new side to you,” said Rose, giggling.
“All right, that’s enough joking around… What are y’all gonna do now?” Ms. Paula asked.
“Uh, good question…” If Mom, Ol’ Bamboo, and the rest of the villagers had gone to sell their crops, there was no point in going to Goza Village. Hmm, what should we do…?
“If you don’t have any other plans, how about you stay here?” Ms. Paula offered.
“Huh? You don’t mind?” I asked.
“Of course not! This place has been quiet as a cornfield lately, but it’s still a dorm. There are more empty rooms than I know what to do with.”
That sounded like a great idea to me.
“Lia, Rose, what do you think?” I asked.
“I’m all for it!” exclaimed Lia. “Let’s take her up on the offer.”
“I’d hate to let Ms. Paula’s hospitality go to waste,” said Rose.
That settled it.
“Then we’ll stay, Ms. Paula. It’ll be just like old times,” I told her.
“Thank you for having us,” said Lia.
“Yeah, thank you,” chimed in Rose.
“You’re very welcome!” boomed Ms. Paula. “I enjoy the company!”
And so we ended up staying at Ms. Paula’s dorm.
We each went to the rooms that Ms. Paula prepared for us.
“This takes me back… It looks exactly the same,” I said to myself.
I had been given the room I’d stayed in during my three years in middle school. The shelves, bed, desk, and everything else were exactly as I’d left them; it felt like I’d traveled back in time.
I used to do push-ups in here every day… Most of my days at Grand Swordcraft Academy had followed the same pattern: I’d spend school hours training alone on campus, perform practice swings outside the dorm in the evening, then work out in my room at night. It had been tough…but I was glad I’d persevered.
“Whoops, this isn’t the time to get sentimental.”
I left my luggage on the bed and joined up with Lia and Rose in the hall.
“Okay… What should we do now?” I asked.
“I want to do something we can only do here,” Lia said.
“Me too,” agreed Rose. “It’s not often I go this far out into the countryside. I want to experience nature.”
They both wanted to do something outdoorsy.
“Hmm… How about we go fishing?” I suggested. “That way, we can enjoy nature, and we get to eat.”
“That sounds great! I’m in!” said Lia.
“Nice idea. No objections here,” added Rose.
Once we’d decided on our plans, I got right to work.
“Ms. Paula, do you still have the fishing rods I made?”
“Yeah, they’re in the shed. Take however many you want.”
“Thank you.”
I led Lia and Rose to the shed.
“Here we go,” I said, opening the large iron doors to reveal the sprawling interior of the shed. It was filled with strange paintings, dignified stone sculptures, thick old books, and more. I was always amazed by the variety of stuff Ms. Paula kept in here.
“What the…?” gasped Lia. “This looks like a museum.”
“I don’t know much about archaeology, but there are a lot of things in here that look like they’d have historical value,” said Rose.
I looked around as they both gawked at Ms. Paula’s collection.
“Now, where’s the fishing stuff…? Ah, there it is.” I spotted the rods leaning against a large bookshelf straight ahead.
I had carved all the fishing rods out of wood by hand. Ms. Paula would often get overexcited and break her rod when we fished together, so I made a lot of spares.
“I’ll take this one, this one, and…this one,” I said, taking three fishing rods, extra fishing hooks, and a small wooden chair for each of us. As I did, a picture fluttered down from the top of the shelf. “Hmm? What’s this?”
It was a picture of a slender, pretty girl, and it looked to have been taken at the entrance to this dorm.
“Wow, she’s beautiful,” Lia said, peeking over my shoulder.
“Was she a student who lived here?” Rose asked, also taking a look.
“Hmm… I don’t know, but staring at a stranger’s picture feels kinda rude. We should put it back.”
I put the picture back on the shelf, and we exited the shed.
“Let’s see, what do we need next…?” I was going through the list in my head when I suddenly heard Ms. Paula call out to me.
“Allen, come here a sec.”
“Sure. What is it?” I asked.