Ailsa watched this, forgetting her orange and the little girl next to her. It was weird having the authority standing in the middle of the crowd, one acting like some ravenous animal after a kill and the other just being strange.

"Ha ha, but then you sunburn," Nagia looked up flippantly before looking around the room, "Back to lunch," she barked, continuing on her way.

Ailsa and Rya also continued on their way, but theirs was less than merry: they were heading off to a class about to be taught by Mia.

The silence between the two girls was a tense one to say the least. Both of them knew that Mia did not like them, that she was a partial red head and had the temper to boot, and that she taught the class with the heartthrob of a teacher, Sage Date.

They arrived in the lecture hall with only a few minutes to spare, and as usual, took a seat by Matt, who looked quite comfortable in his spot. Apparently, Kento hadn’t held him behind too much longer.

Ailsa grinned as she scooted toward the aisle, waiting and joining the rest of the female factor of the room in salivating over the young man standing up front. He was leaning on the desk, the pose unintentionally appealing to the girls. His face was emotionless, but one could not tell with it being directed to the floor. The class waited...and waited... until fifteen minutes later, the other teacher walked in, only then did everyone see Sage's face.

He was scowling, and his hatred for just about every female in the room was obvious. Matt shivered at the look of sullen hatred on the instructor's face.

"He does look kind of evil," Rya whispered to Ailsa, and Matt nodded his agreement.

Frankly, he would hate to have a 'training session' with Sage.

Then something happened that was not supposed to. Sage stopped in the aisle, right next to them and bent down to whisper in Matt's ear. "I'd hate to have a training session with me too."

Matt was flabbergasted, to say the least.

Sage then returned to his podium, and stated in a clear voice, "In case you didn’t know, I am an empath. That means that through feelings and bits and pieces of thoughts, I can gauge what you are thinking or your current situation. Please think quietly around me."

"It's been a long day…" Mia cleared her throat and tossed a smile to the class, the first one that most of them had ever seen on her face. "Good evening," she said, almost happily. "Today's lesson is on character romance and where it belongs."

Ailsa almost groaned— this was where she would die, she knew it.

Sage winced, earning a concerned glance from Mia.

"Sage, what is it," she asked quietly, a concerned tone slipping into her voice.

The blond man only smiled to reassure her. "It seems that some of you definitely need this class."

No one dared argue.

The lesson was actually interesting, despite being school, and Sage didn’t assign many of the girls to training sessions (which would end with them battered and bruised— terribly).

They assigned only Ailsa and when she reported to the training room, she was not surprised to see Mia there either. Her mouth settled into a flat line as she approached the instructors.

"You know why you're here, do you not?" Mia said, acid in her soft voice.

Ailsa just looked at her blankly. It was obvious why she was there, she never wrote the right pairings and they knew it.

"Answer, please." Sage’s soft voice came from the shadows.

At this, Ailsa bristled but complied. "Yes." Short, sweet, to the point, and she prayed that they did not ask anymore of her.

Sage landed the first punch. It hurt more than she’d thought it would. He spun around for a swift kick to her chest, and then slammed her down on the mat.

"Do you yield?" He asked, his pitch lower than it had been in class.

"Yield!" She squeaked.

"Good." He pushed himself off and tossed a wooden weapon at her.

"You’ve heard of an Arc Edge?" he asked upon seeing her blank look.

"No."

"First, learn to use it. Then, play Threads of Fate."

Ailsa shook her head to ward off the lightheadedness that she felt when she clambered to her feet. Her body protested as she dared to defy him. "Never played it," she growled, lifting the weapon into a stance that she presumed was correct, but not really caring if it was or not.

A honey-blond eyebrow went up at this although his voice remained the same lethal monotone. "What pairings do you normally torture?"

"Torture?" She echoed hollowly.

He swept his wooden Arc Edge at her ankles; she fell to the mat again.

"Torture as in cruelly use," said Mia, who then pushed herself off the wall where she had been leaning.

"None of them, I don't think," she panted, barely avoiding her opponent’s slice.

Mia did not respond. Instead, she slashed into Ailsa’s back with a boomerang.

Ailsa fell to her knees, her back bleeding.

"YIELD." Sage said in an icy voice.

"I yield." Ailsa replied lightheadedly.

"WHO AM I IN LOVE WITH?"

"…Mia…" She whimpered.

"WHO IS RYO IN LOVE WITH?"

"Mia," Ailsa said, gaining confidence.

"LUNA. RYO IS IN LOVE WITH LUNA. WHO IS KENTO IN LOVE WITH?"

"I don’t know— Mia?"

"Damn. She wants a love polygon. Kento is not in love with anyone mentioned in Canon." Mia spoke softly. "Who is Cye in love with?"

"No one in Canon?"

"Good. Who is Rowan in love with?"

"…" She knew better than to answer— maybe if she got one wrong, they would start the training session again.

"Kayura." Sage supplied easily. He had seen the looks Rowan sometimes shot at her.

At this information, Ailsa nodded, finally remembering all of the episodes that she had watched. However, her thinking cost her— Sage smacked her in the side, sending the girl plummeting to the mat.

"Oh, another thing," he went to help her up, something that was dramatically uncharacteristic of him. "Love is between Man and Woman, and two people. There is only so much of us to go around."

True enough, Ailsa reflected, and smiled at the thought of Sage cutting pieces of himself and giving them to blathering fangirls.

"I’ve never seen one smile at taking a beating," Mia said quietly.

"Nagia did, but she smiled at everything that was potentially painful for her. Damn Naiad." Seiji replied, and shot a nasty look at his gi, which had shrunk.

At this, Mia smiled knowingly. "You know the punishments Seiji, why would you insult the headmistress."

An ice cold glare was shot at her, at he retaliated on the recovering Ailsa, who managed to dodge him, her smile quickly disappearing. "Only because one of them lets me get away with it." He answered softly.

However, Mia was distracted from the fight by a manicured claw tapping on her shoulder. She whirled around and humbly bowed. "Headmistress Nagia, it's a training session."

"I was quite aware of that, dear. I’m not fool…" Nagia replied. "I merely wanted to point out that it is eight forty-five o’clock, and that young Ailsa-Ko has fifteen minutes before the Youja cry ‘lights out’ and the doors lock. And I sense a storm coming tonight."

At this, the Naiad spread her hands to indicate the outdoor arena and then became a puddle, which ran through one of the ever-present floor drains Ailsa had wondered about.

Sage and Mia nodded and Mia even helped Ailsa up and dismissed her with a single word: "'Run."

Ailsa ran for all she was worth back to her dorm, ignoring her body until she reached her door.

As soon as the girl disappeared from their sights, they set their eyes on each other, only to be interrupted by a harsh voice. "I thought that relationship issues were meant to be avoided."

The Naiad resurfaced from the drain. Apparently, voices carried.

"Kayura, would you like to ‘spend the rest of your life’ with Whiteblaze? I’ve read something where that happened." Nagia replied, equally harshly.

"But what right have we to interfere? We can’t send them all out into the world with the right pairings!" Kayura argued, her voice becoming shrill on the word ‘right’.

"But we can send them out with the knowledge that they must make what isn’t real into something real! If it’s not the right pairing, it must at least look right in that context!" Nagia replied.

At this, the rest of the instructors heartily nodded. However, during Kayura's harangue, they failed to notice that the other headmistress has joined the ranks, usual smirk in place.

"No matter how much I hate to admit, this to anyone. You are about to get soaked, and Kayura," Max turned toward the others, minus the Naiad, to move toward the shelter of the overhangs, while addressing the Priestess., "Keep in mind who runs this establishment, and keep it that way. "

Kayura nodded mutely and watched as rain began to pour from the heavens.

Nagia remained where she was, until the rain pelted her form into the drain.

Not a word was said as the rest of the group lingered under the overhang, the curfew did not apply to them so they could retire whenever they wanted, but chose not to.

"One of these days," Max said softly, "I'll find out just how many drains that naiad installed in here. Everyone, have a good night." Blacks leather swished softly around her as she turned, disappearing into the shadows.

Sage was the first one of the remaining three to follow her example, pulling Mia along behind him.