If she were to attack me, I could squash her, but there’s not much I can do if she just stares.
Ah.
“I have an idea,” I said, raising my hand.
“What might that be?” the third prince responded on behalf of the other boys.
“Since we’re receiving a rather unpleasant look, could we perhaps set up a sight-blocking barrier?”
“Hmm? Ah.” Glancing at Darnir, he seemed to understand. Then he asked the other two, “Are you fine with that?”
“I think it’s a fine idea.”
“It might improve our concentration.”
“There you have it, Miss Lowell. Of course, you have my vote as well.”
Woo!
I probably wasn’t the only one bothered by the way we were being stared at. I wasted no time putting up a gray barrier around the four of us. While I was at it, I made it block incoming noise as well. I thought it’d be easier to concentrate without any outside chatter.
“Well then.”
“Oh my.”
The two aides-in-training were surprised, but not in a bad way, so I kept the barrier up. Our prince approved as well.
“So this is how it feels to be in your own bubble.”
Now we could concentrate on our own tunes without the interference of outside noise. Resuming practice, it was much easier to review our work now that we had our own little space. Thanks to that, we improved our part a lot. Except we were still just making nostalgic beep boop sounds.
Once practice was over, I lowered the barrier to see...everyone looking at us. Stomping toward us, flunkies in tow, was, of course, Ribbons.
“One moment, you! What do you think you’re doing by placing something like that in a classroom?!”
“And by ‘something like that’...”
“It was just there a second ago!”
Oh, the barrier? That thing we had to put up because of you? Take a good look at my team behind me. They’re all recoiling.
Too bad Ribbons didn’t seem to notice.
“To hide inside something like that with those boys is nothing short of scandalous!”
“How so?”
“How? B-Because by hiding like that, who knows what you might be doing inside?!”
Might be doing? We were practicing. What else could we be doing?
I couldn’t even manage a look of anything but complete exasperation.
“Forgive my intrusion,” the third prince interjected, “but you’re saying that we neglected our practice in favor of doing unscrupulous things, correct?”
“Wha? N-No, I’m not trying to suggest that Your Highness would ever do such a thing...”
“Then what are you suggesting? I’ll have you know, being insulated from sights and sounds made that barrier an excellent practice environment. I’d suggest you all give it a try for yourselves.”
That endorsement piqued the other teams’ curiosity. We hadn’t done any barriers in class yet, but Bear had said we would start next year. Generally speaking, use of magic was prohibited on academy grounds, but we were in the general magic classroom, one place where magic wasn’t so restricted. In other words, barriers should be fair game here.
Some of these students regularly spent their afternoons practicing alongside older students, so that might be their chance at a headstart. While several of them inquired about the specifics of the barrier spells, Ribbon’s earlier complaints drifted off into the ether. Fine by me, since she was just trying to start something.
Making a barrier smaller would mean it would have to intercept less, thus making it easier to cast. I bring this up because from that day onward, everyone in the general magic room was practicing inside a barrier. Of course, hiding the interiors invited unsavory suspicions, so we switched to barriers that could be seen into, but not out of. After all, we mostly just wanted to avoid noticing any untoward looks.
“This is great!”
“We’re making more progress this way.”
“Maybe we could use this in study hall. If we can get permission, of course.”
“And we got to know some people from the other grades this way.”
The barriers were a big hit, with just one exception. That exception was at the edge of the room, stomping her feet.
Your uniform already looks bulky with all those ornaments. Now you look like a miorc.
A miorc, by the way, was a smaller orc. They grew to be around one hundred and forty centimeters tall, but otherwise looked like your typical orc. They also tasted good. Perhaps because of their size, they were timid and would run if they heard or smelled a human. Normally you could leave a creature like that alone, but their tasty meat painted a target on their back.
I could go for some miorc. It’s been too long.
Soon enough, we transitioned from practicing as individual teams to practicing as a class.
“You! You’re still falling behind!”
The student in charge was pointing at—you guessed it—Ribbons. After repeatedly skipping practice, claiming that it was dreary and boring, her team couldn’t even handle their own part of the song. So now they were constantly getting yelled at. Ribbons was staring at her feet, fists trembling, her limit probably not far off.
We were putting on a medley of the best parts of the songs we had picked. As I expected, it started with the dragon one. Rendered in nostalgic beep boops! Our timing was still a bit out of sync, but that could be fixed.
Playing together as a class gave the music some real impact. It gave it layers, you might say. I toyed with the idea of searching for songs from a certain crystal game. Something told me it would be out there somewhere.
Our rehearsal was continuing smoothly when a shattering sound rang out from the back.
What’s that?
“I’m done! I can’t take this anymore!”
It was Ribbons. Apparently one of the older students besides our conductor had been correcting her mistakes. She threw in the towel sooner than I would have thought. The next moment, she dashed out of the room, her flunkies following obediently behind. That was some real work ethic they had.
Her outburst had brought us to a halt, but the conductor grabbed our attention with a clap of his hands. “An obstacle has cleared itself for us, nothing more. Make sure to stay focused! They won’t be the only ones! Anyone who doesn’t want to put in the effort will get cut loose!”
“Yes, sir!”
I thought that was kind of harsh for a school event, but I couldn’t deny that anyone unwilling to cooperate would just drag us down.
Once practice was over, I headed to the dorm, where someone called to me on the staircase.
“Wait right there!”
Recognizing the voice, I turned around begrudgingly. There was Ribbons. And her gang.
“Need something?”
“Like you don’t know! You asked them to let me return, didn’t you?!”
“What?”
What are you talking about? Of course I didn’t do that. I mean, you’re the one who said you couldn’t take it anymore before walking out.
If she didn’t want to participate, she didn’t have to. Did she walk out thinking someone would stop her? Honestly, what a drama queen.
“You’re not seriously going to tell me you didn’t do it, are you?” she asked, placing a haughty hand on her hips.
“Of course I didn’t.”
“Why in the world didn’t you?!”
Oh shut up already. There’s no reason I should pave the road for you. Do you think I’m stupid? Actually, don’t answer that if you don’t want to get hit.
Let’s just make this as clear as possible.
“I have no obligation to do anything of the sort. If you want to return to practice, then work hard on your own part so the older students forgive you.”
“I don’t want to do that! That’s why I’m talking to you!”
“There are no shortcuts or backdoors here.”
She really didn’t understand that the honest path was the only way forward here. With my piece said, I was about to head up the stairs when she grabbed my arm.
Careful there. I could’ve lost my balance and fallen.
“Wait right there! We’re not done talking!”
Then there’s that tone of voice. Can you blame me if I snap?
“Would you quit it already?” I growled.
For a moment, she didn’t know how to respond. I guess she thought she could do whatever she wanted and I would just take it.
As it just so happened, this staircase was the farthest from the dorm’s entrance, so not many people used it. That’s why, back when I’d entered the academy, it was full of stray, distorted thoughts, putting it a step away from becoming legitimately haunted.
With nobody around, I saw no reason to hold back. Grabbing Ribbons by the collar, I slammed her up against the wall. With a simple buff spell, I could lift her feet off the ground no problem. I applied just a bit of pressure.