*Knock Knock*

?: “As I sai-- Hm? Strange. Students should all have their Restorative runes… ENTER.”

Mr. Reeds: “Hohoho~ hello old friend-”

?: “Hmph! So it’s you. Sit down and tell me your troubles this time – but DON’T go overboard with time! I also have my – oh...oh! Why, look at what we have here! Oh… Baby girl, what happened to your knees?! Sit down – Sit down first!”

Ophelia: “I-”

?: “I said to SIT DOWN! Sit first, talk later. understood?”

Ophelia: “*Nods* Sorry ma’am. I’ll sit.”

??: “...That’s a baby girl to you?”

*Pah!*

??: “Ow!”

?: “Yes she is, do you have a problem with that?! Because I don’t have to treat you.”

??: “...No, I don’t. Sorry girl.”

Ophelia: “I-”

?: “Shh. Don’t bother to answer him baby girl. Focus on my finger. That’s right~”

Her index finger moved in a rhythmic motion: Back. Forth. Back and Forth. Back. Forth. Back and Forth. Suddenly, Ophelia’s back shown and a massive symbol appeared. It began to wriggle, before finally settling down, and fading out. As it did so, a thin stream of egg-white energy poured from the doting nurse’s fingertip.

Viscous and very fluid: it appeared eerily similar to water in its consistency. The stream of watery light bathed Ophelia’s knees, For a brief moment she let out a yelp in surprise. It hurt! Really bad!!

It looks so calm and gentle, but feels surprisingly venomous and painful!

Ophelia: “Aah! That hurts!”

Mr. Reeds: “Bear with it Ophelia. This old bag o’ bones here is named Mrs. Daisy… Oh! I’m sorry, she goes by Ms. daisy these days… Hohoho~”

Ms. Daisy: “Hmhmph! That old codger can go swim in that lake he loves so much. He completely ignored me again! I hope the fish eat him one day.”

Mr. Reeds: “Don’t say that! Hoho, he loves you dearly. You know the truth – he has that intense rivalry going on with the ‘shapeshifter of the lake.’

Ian: “Shapeshifter? As in… A human who can turn into a fish?!”

Mr. Reeds: “I’m afraid not.”

Ms. Daisy: “It’s a fish that lived long enough and somehow learned how to shapeshift. Everybody at Lake Visage named it Mormon, and the local fisherman have all been embarrassed by him. My BIG, STRONG and POWERFUL man in muscles challenged it after his friends went crying on his drunk shoulder. But...Heeheehee… Eeheehee! Even with his super-strength at grade S he got dragged around by that fish! Eheeheeheehee! Ahahaha!! I heard he was screaming like a little girl and dragged through the lake like a rag-doll!

Ever since then, everybody’s tried to beat it in a match of strength, but failed. My husband considered it a huge blow to his pride, and snuck away down there yesterday morning. He’s been going every Sunday lately.”

Ian: “Ooh~ So so… i-it’s a fish that learned how to turn into a HUMAN?! That’s even MORE incredibly rare!! SO much so – that I’ve barely ever heard of any animals able to shapeshift, let alone a fish!!

To be capable of shapeshifting into a human...how incredible…”

Ms. Daisy: “Hm? Ah no, no! You misunderstand. That fish, Mormon, can’t transform into a human.”

Ian: “Huh?? Then--”

Ms. Daisy: “He just becomes a larger fish.”

Ian: “...”

Ms. Daisy: “Goodness we’ve gone off topic haven’t we? Darlin’ This old man right here called you Ophelia – may I call you that too?”

Ophelia: “Sure, I don’t mind. It’s my name anyways.”

Ms. Daisy: “Alright, Ophelia. Dear, what happened to these knees of yours?”

Ophelia: “Well, they--!”

She looked down to check on the wounds she received this morning from that gang of forgettable thugs who Noel beat up… only to find them completely healed!

It wasn’t just the injuries themselves that disappeared, but the surrounding crusted blood beginning to stick onto her skin as well! All traces of injuries to the skin vanished without anyone the wiser.

Ophelia: “I-I can’t believe it – it’s healed! They’re completely healed! What did that burning stuff do??”

Ms. Daisy, Hehehee, that’s a trade secret~ and judging by you’re reaction speed-- WOAH haha, try not to kick me when you swing those things! Judging by your body’s natural reaction to my liquid...it seems you could have healed much faster if ‘something’ wasn’t blocking your regenerative powers.”

Ophelia: “…”

Ms. Daisy: “Well, I won’t pry, but I can tell from your uniform that you ain’t a Sidekick or Superhero. Is this what those new non-combatants are wearing?”

Mr. Reeds: “Hohoh, that’s right. It was nothing short of an interesting choice. Especially considering my current class, Hoho.”

Ms. Daisy: “The black and white color scheme oddly reminds me of a referee.”

??: “Hmm? Ah, you’re right! She’d make a fine replacement referee!!”

Ms: Daisy: “Now hold on there, Dome, I never said any of that. What I said was-”

Dome: “Yeah, yeah. I heard you – Say, tall lass~ Would you mind doing this injured soul a favor? I promise to make it worth your class’s while later in the future!”

Ophelia: “...Depends on what the favor is.”

Dome: “No problem, no problem! You see, My memory is a bit fuzzy, but suddenly, I found myself in bed here and with a broken wrist. And I’m the referee in charge of the rest of today’s matches. Ms. Daisy, here, said that she could fix me right up...but that will take an entire hour. What do you think? Could you ref for the next few matches for me? I only need you to cover about 1 or 2!”

Ophelia: “I--”

Ian: “WAIT!! You… what exactly does she get out of it? Why should we trust that you’ll keep your word? I’m warning you – if you try and take advantage of her somehow… I’ll – I’ll… I’ll tell the Principal!”

Ophelia: “...Than-”

Dome: “Listen runt, if I said I’m gonna make it worth her while then I mean it! ‘Sides the deal is for her to decide. If she says no, then I’ll just limp my way out there with this broken wittle hand o’ mine. Ooh~

The pain~

The agony~ Uwu…”

Ian: That is so unbelievably fake-”

Mr. Reeds: “Enough Ian. If Dome says he’ll make it worth her while then I can vouch for him that it’s true. Refereeing is one of your job positions anyway. Besides, this lass, here, was thinking about volunteering as a referee, in case one gets injured. Dome can teach her, now that she’s free from injuries.”

Ian: “But YOU said she wouldn’t get picked if she volunteered!”

For a brief moment, Mr. Reeds simply stared at Aria, who was twiddling her thumbs in nervousness due to the unpredictable twist of events.

Mr. Reeds: “Hohoh, I said probably...”

…

Fast-forward to the present:

Dome’s words rung sharply in Ophelia’s mind: ‘Remember! The paper I handed to you contains everything you need to know about this job! Study it well, since it’s so short – and do NOT be late! Now go! It starts in 30 minutes.’

But Ophelia was in such a rush after Ian used a strange machine to remove the remnant blood stains from her skirt, that she wound up breaking the floor in a full speed dash...

...towards a random direction. Thus she got herself lost.

5 minutes passed. And she regretted abandoning Ian and his map. They would have almost definitely saved her right about now!

10 minutes passed, and she started to panic. Uneasiness for winding up lost, rage at her own recklessness, embarrassment towards her mistakes, and despair for not being able to get herself out of this.

Yes, a flood of negative emotions… followed by resignation. It was what some might see as the pinnacle of despair: pure resignation to your awaited fate. Why bother? What are the odds of making it there on time? Why even try? What can she do in a situation like this?

…Nothing, right?

Then why bother? Why bother...trying...?

…

…

…

At 15 minutes… she simply stopped thinking.

*Boom!*

She kept pressing her ear towards the wall and listening for noise. If she didn’t hear anything – smash through it and move on!

Screw giving in – Fuck giving up!

Which direction?

Well, the direct path before her when she decided to stop thinking!

It wasn’t until 25 minutes had gone by that…

Ophelia heard voices! For the first time!!

Absolutely ecstatic upon her discovery… she punched through the final wall on her left-most side rather than straight ahead, discovering…!

Two buff men standing on a wide, ever-expanding platform.

And thousands, upon thousands of people staring at her in silence.

*Gulp*

For some reason...she agreed to do this. For some reason….

Ophelia: “WHY DID I AGREE TO DO THIS?!)”

But still, she felt… strangely calm. It was nerve-wracking, sure, but… also, not as scary as she imagined it to be.

She began to walk forward, towards the two contenders.

Random student #4: “Eeek! Look! She’s breaking walls down and charging at Harvey like an ANIMAL!”

Ophelia: “...But I’m just walking.”

Random student #1: “Hey, get out of here! You’re just all muscles and ugliness! Nothing you can do will-”

Random Spectator #1: “Yeah – Yeah! Y-*cough* *cough* -You--”

…

Ophelia: “Ignore them. Just ignore them. He doesn’t think that way, and I shouldn’t either.

Just ignore them… ignore them all…”

---