Jingle~! Jingle~!

  “Alright, everyone! Breaktime’s over!”

  Ms. Handley rang a bell and confirmed the end of break with speech. Hearing this, the children erupted in a harmony of aw’s and disappointed groans.

  “Now now, we didn’t only come here to chat and play. This is a place of learning, and learning we must do!”

  “Yes, Ms. Handley!”

  Reaching under her desk, Ms. Handley bent down, pulled out a board from it, and placed it on the desk to face to the children. As it was placed to face the kids, a circle separated into four sections was revealed.

  In the first section was a three-leafed clover that had each of its leaves as a different colour, them being Yellow, red, and blue.

  The next section of the circle had three numbers on it, 1,2, and 3. The preceding one had letters on it: A, B, and C.

  The last section of the circle had the form of three shapes on it, a Circle, a triangle, and a Square.

  removing her hand from the board, allowing it to stand on its own, and walking around to the front of the desk and in front of the board. She pointed to the board and gave a warm smile as she spoke.

  “I wonder what will be our first class of the day.”

  Saying that, she placed her hand on the circle on the board and spun it. It spun and spun and spun until it eventually stopped on one of the sections.

  “Oh! It seems we will be learning about letters today.”

  She pulled out a chart and placed it on the blackboard on the wall beside her desk. The chart had the letters of the alphabet and pictures to associate with them. Picking up a stick and pointing to the first letter on the chart, she spoke:

  “Everyone! This is the letter ‘A’. Say it with me, This is—”

  *

  Aries walked over to his cubby and took up his bag, which had been placed here long before and returned the book he had taken out of it, then placed the bag back.

  He looked over to his side and saw Alice, who was doing the same as him.

  ‘Should I?’

  He mumbled to himself as he contemplated whether he should go to lunch with her or find someone else to go with. Since he had spent a week with her nonstop, he was most familiar with her. Noel chould work as well, as he and the past Aries spent time together from time to time.

  Clack. Clack. Clack—

  Suddenly, the noise of shoes hitting the ground brought him from his thoughts. He turned his head to the other side, where the noise was coming from. His gaze landed on Roanna, who had happily skipped over to him.

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  Seeing her, he made his decision. He would spend time with as many people as possible so he could better understand the human mind and be able to emulate more emotions, and with more accuracy.

  Eventually, she stopped before him, and without wasting any time, she clasped his hands.

  “Lets have lunch together!”

  “Mm.”

  He nodded in agreement.

  For a brief moment, his gaze landed on Alice, who was walking past him and headed towards Noel, who was with Nina. They exchanged a few words and then began walking out of the class.

  He too, began leaving as he was practically being dragged along by Roanna.

  ‘Looks like she took the first option.’

  He had previously told Alice that after their week together, they would part ways. She could either stay apart from him and learn on her own or follow him and learn by watching him, and she chose to stay apart.

  ‘A sensible choice.’

  If she had chosen to stay with him, she would have been too preoccupied with watching and following him to learn to her full potential, as he would not care to keep her with him and would focus on himself.

  By herself, she could fully focus on training and research, and with the help of the book she had, she would be able to quickly rise in power and knowledge. It was the best choice as long as he didn’t change his mind and actively kept her as his companion.

  ‘Maybe we could meet again in the future as powerful figures and be allies then.’

  Realizing he didn’t feel himself being pulled anymore, he looked down to see that he was holding a tray with the school-provided lunch on it. His gaze shifted toward Roanna, whose hands were empty.

  “Look for seats for us. I’ll be right back. I forgot to bring my lunch.”

  Giving him no chance to reply, Roanna skipped away.

  “...”

  Aries stared at the departing figure of the brown-haired girl for a moment before turning around to the large cafeteria that held a large number of students, some from his class, some from others, and some from higher grades.

  ‘...’

  He glanced around the room, looking for empty seats, and he found some. They were completely empty tables, but they were at the back, so he looked at the closer seats.

  There were two tables with one person, three tables with three and one really close by with two seats free.

  One of the tables with one person was where Emmet from his class was sitting. The other was someone he didn’t know.

  The first table with three people had some boys from his class, but their table was messy and disgusting, so it was off the list. The next one had some of the girls who surrounded him before class started. The last table was of three higher-grade students.

  The last table— the closest one— was where Alice and Noel were sitting. They sat with Nina and three others from their class, but Aries didn’t remember them.

  His gaze lingered on the table for a few seconds before he made his choice and walked over to one of the tables.

  Clack—

  Aries placed his tray on the table and sat directly before the boy with black hair whose bangs covered his eyes.

  “Huh?”

  Looking up from his tray, which he was sluggishly eating from, Emmet saw Aries sitting in front of him. Seeing this, Emmet’s thoughts spiralled as he began to overthink.

  What is he doing?

  Is he sitting with me?

  Why?

  Is he going to pick on me?

  He’s going to make fun of how gloomy I am, isn’t he?

  …

  ..

  .

  .

  Many thoughts such as this filled Emmet’s mind as Aries sat at his table unlike the other kids who stayed away from him because of his gloominess.

  Clack.

  Bringing him from his thoughts was Roanna with her own lunch— A pre-prepared box of food brought from her home. Before he had time to spiral again though, Roanna opened her food and turned to Aries her voice cutting though the silence of the table.

  “Do you want some? There is a lot.”

  Aries turned to her with his smile that never once fell, only lessening and growing depending on the situation. Though he didn’t answer, he didn’t give any sign of refusal so she took it as him agreeing.

  With that, Roanna happily shared her lunch with Aries who never once refused though out lunchtime, along with Emmet who flinched and spiralled at their every movement and word.

  Eventually, lunch came to an end and they returned to class.

  That too came to an end after some time, leaving the children with one last task: Going home.