There was no one out, not even a soul. The wind blew past like we were in the Wild West or something. 

Elsa grabbed my sleeve. “It wasn’t like this before, right?”

It was ten minutes past ten, meaning the curfew had started. All this time I thought no one cared about it, but it looks like people did care, no doubt.

We kept walking.

“You two, what are you doing here?” A student approached me. He was wearing a white cap. Maybe a prefect?

“Oh, we’re-“

“Oh yeah, the captain did mention something about a freshman and his young sister.” He signaled another prefect. Actually, now that I looked carefully, there were quite a few of them spaced at least a hundred meters apart. 

Even at this hour. The school was pretty much lit up, not like day but definitely lit up.

“Since the captain already deemed you two innocent, I won’t say too much. But boy,” The newly arrived guy put a hand on my shoulder. He was definitely a lot older than me. “You should pick your fights more wisely. That’ guy isn’t something you should mess with. His strength is one thing, but his family is the worst.”

A bad family, huh?

Yeah, I wasn’t the least bit concerned. 

“I’ll keep that in mind.” I didn’t let his words bother me. 

He smirked. “Mike, go with them.”  The new guy told the other guy to accompany us. I guess it was to avoid other possible hindrances. 

Without any more delay, we headed for the dorms.

“Is it always like this?” Elsa whispered.

I was pretty new myself so I had no idea. 

“Not really. The new captain- captain Rose is taking a lot of actions this year: last year it was pretty lax when Dick was in charge.” And the guy even heard it.

But really, that dick, I mean Dickville was in charge? 

“dick?” Elsa pondered.

I sighed and just ruffled through her hair. She didn’t need to worry about these things anyway.

I didn’t usually have a reason to stay out past ten, so I didn’t let all this bother me. But what happened today could very well happen any other day. “Say, what’s the punishment for being out past curfew?”

“A day in detention, not much.”

“But why do all this? I mean, it’s-” It wasn’t something so severe, that’s what I wanted to say.

He looked at me and then at Elsa. My sister was young but she knew things, things which she wasn’t supposed to know.

“Go on,” I gave him my permission as I covered Elsa’s ears.  Of course, she wasn’t pleased but she didn’t make a fuss either.

“A lot of reasons really. Students who stay up late usually do a lot of bad things. Illegal sexual activities are just one of them. Theft, abduction, drugs, torture and sometimes…even murder: a lot happens when you’re dealing with the brightest in the world.” He sighed.

I almost wanted to grimace. The brightest in the country? More like the darkest. All sorts of criminals gathered here in this academy to learn. ‘Why the hell did I bother coming here?’

“Everywhere is the same….” I mumbled. I released Elsa, more like she jerked my hands off. Hopefully, she didn’t hear anything.

Humanity as a whole is pretty screwed up. There are all sorts of people everywhere. Some are mere bystanders while others, just criminals. Yes, there are good people, but everyone has a goal and everyone has desires. No one is perfect and no one is also pure evil. 

Because of that, society wasn’t that different from this school either. There were crimes and there were people trying to prevent that. We were just stuck in the middle.

We’d arrived by the dorm gates. “Alright, I believe the dorm manager already knows. Though I think you might need to convince her a bit too much if you want your sister to stay in the dorms for tonight.” The guy left. 

I didn’t thank him, I didn’t get to. 

***

“No means no!” When I did go inside the dorm, the dorm manager gave me hell. 

I hadn’t met her before so I didn’t know what she was like. But honestly, I wish I hadn’t.

A round, middle-aged lady, with a lot of attitudes: that’s what she was. 

“First you arrive late and now you want a young girl to stay in the dens of hyenas like you!”

“I’m her brother I’ll have you know.” It hurt to be called a hyena in front of your sister. Besides, she’d live with me, not the other students.

“I don’t care!” She glared fiercely at me but her expression softened when she looked at Elsa. “Why don’t you stay with me, dear?” Talk about injustice!

But maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. 

Elsa grabbed onto me tighter than usual. She always did have an issue with strangers. 

I sighed. “How about I drop her at the girls’ dorm? I know a-“

“No! I’m not letting a hyena like you go to the girls’ dorm! And besides, they’re already-“

“Would you stop with the hyena thing!” I shouted a little more than intended. “And I don’t have any interests in those girls!”

Both the dorm manager and Elsa put a hand over their mouths. They were shocked and pretty much in sync. “You don’t swing the other way, right?” The dorm manager said. 

  Elsa also looked at me with pleading eyes. Wait, how the hell did she know about these things?

“NO! I want to focus on my studies. I don’t have time for relationships!” How the hell did they misunderstand my intentions?

The dorm manager cleared her throat. She looked redder than I thought. Maybe I angered her? “I didn’t know you had such hobbies.” She didn’t look me in the eyes. “Well then, you’re free to go. I’ll mail the other manager.” She had a wavering smile. I did not like that smile. And somehow it still felt like there was some sort of fundamental misunderstanding here. Were we really on the same page?

At least Elsa had a genuine smile. She did cling to me tighter though.

***

Once out of the building shivers went down my spine as I received glares from the prefects. 

“I don’t like this school…” Elsa whimpered. 

She did have a pretty bad experience, so I couldn’t really fault her.

And yes, I didn’t like this place either. 

“By the way, you’re okay with staying with Marg right?” Maybe it was a little late to ask that, but we didn’t really have a choice anymore. Besides, she only knew Marg, so they weren’t complete strangers I guess.

She looked around and after a while looked into my eyes. “If you say so.”

We continued walking.

Better than nothing. 

“What happened, why are you two out again?” I was approached by the same prefect. I guess the guy was fed up with us at this point.

“I actually received permission from the dorm manager to head over to the girls’ dorm.”

“She didn’t permit her to stay in there, did she? But strange, how come she gave permission for you to enter? If I recall correctly, she really hates men, and yet she still manages the boys’ dorm. Kind of ironic.” He chuckled.

“Ye-yeah. Let’s not get into the permission thing. Anyway, it’s getting pretty late, so we’ll just go.” It was close to eleven and I had classes tomorrow. I couldn’t necessarily worry too much about all this.

“I’m pretty sure the guys won’t bother you anymore but if anyone says anything say you’re friends with Micheal, they’ll understand, well, probably.” He turned around and walked.

“Jintel!” I yelled my name.

He just lifted up his arm a little and gave me a sign. He really was a good dude.

“For the last time, use Helio. Don’t you have any manners?” Meanwhile, Elsa glared at me with dull eyes.

“Yeah, yeah.” I had no intention of using this name either but I sure wasn’t going to say that to her, no sir.

*** 

“You shall not pass!” Our fake wizard was back at it again and currently obstructing our path. She did have a rather serious look this time around. 

“Yeah sure, Sandalf. Can you move? I have business with the dorm manager.”

“No!” Eve was by the door and she was very determined. “It’s forbidden by rules that no boys would enter the dorm after six.”

There were other girls glaring at me too with those ‘you’re not welcome’ eyes. 

I guess she took this stuff seriously. But why her? “Don’t you have anything better to do? Besides, I only want a word with the manager. That’s it.”

“Even so-” She didn’t look convinced. Why were people so obsessed with security anyway? Did I look like that much of a criminal?

“Then can you bring Marg here for me? Oh and this is my sister. She’ll be staying here for the night. I got permission from our dorm manager.” I wanted to make her understand that I didn’t have an interest in anything other than to secure a place to stay for my sister.

“Sister?” She looked at Elsa. “How come you two don’t look alike?”

I sighed. “I’ve been told that a lot, but I assure you, she’s my little sister. As much as I hate to admit it…” The last part was barely a whisper. 

“I heard that!” Elsa hissed and bit my arm. 

It hurt but I couldn’t really do anything about it. She really was a devil, a devil with supernatural hearing. “Besides, I can say the same about you and Marg,” I managed.

“I can’t actually help you with calling her. But your sister needs accommodation? I’d be willing to share my room if you’d like.” Eve was being awfully frank and friendly: and I might have forgotten that these two sisters were on bad terms. My bad. 

After that incident last night, she didn’t try anything but that also didn’t mean she had any reason to help me either. But it was a good offer.

“Why would I trust you?” It came out blunter than I thought. 

“Think of it this way, there are a lot of girls present here. If somehow your sister gets harmed while she’s with me, my reputation will plummet. I come from a noble family, so reputation has a lot of value to me than let’s say, revenge. Besides, I have no reason to help her, and you-” She smiled. “Have no choice. It’s either this place or outside, your choice.”

My chocolate God, this woman was evil. 

“This is Elsa. That’s Eve.” I sighed. “Eve’s my senior. So I think you can go in with her if you want.”

After the stuff she said, I really had to agree. Eve was right, I didn’t have a choice. 

“No….” Elsa’s voice was low but it was almost as if she was intimidated. 

“Why?” Eve looked awfully confused. 

“She’s not very good with strangers.”

“Then what about Marg? She should be-” Eve wasn’t convinced. 

  “Marg’s our cousin.” Elsa looked fiercely at Eve. I really wish she hadn’t. 

‘I can’t believe you actually believed mom.’

My sister was more stupid than I gave her credit for.

“Wait, what?” Eve looked at me, awfully confused.

My eyes twitched a little: my cheeks followed suit. I didn’t have any means to explain this whole fiasco and from the looks of it, Eve knew that. She giggled but held it in when she saw my expression. It was not just frustrating but also infuriating.

“Well, I’m Marg’s older sister. So that makes me your cousin too, right?” She was awfully witty too.

Elsa looked at me as if to ask whether this was alright or not. 

“Well, she isn’t lying….” Even I wasn’t sure anymore. 

“Don’t worry I’ll take good care of her. You have my word.” Eve smiled. “If anything should happen to her, I’ll gladly offer you my head.”

“I don’t need your head. Just make sure nothing happens to her.” I still didn’t buy all this, but I didn’t have a choice. “I’ll trust you but… Never mind.” 

Eve smiled and I pushed Elsa to go forward. She did look back but she went inside with Eve. I didn’t trust Eve, not one bit. But that was also why I felt leaving Elsa with her was the best choice. 

With the situation, I couldn’t get into the dorm without making a commotion, and without a Holo, I couldn’t contact Marg either: I really had to buy myself one as soon as I got money. And lastly, Eve was my senior and she treated me with caution. The possibility of her pulling something on my sister which could jeopardize her standing was non-existent. At least from a logical perspective. 

But the human part was also involved. And that was why it felt a bit weird.

Then again technically my sister was pretty strong as strong. I didn’t know why something like this happened today, but there were a lot of incidents regarding her and injured students before. 

Meaning, I didn’t have to worry too much about her- I sure didn’t hope so.