Ail

This was my first night at this school.

Is what I thought, waking up the following morning.

And it wasn't that bad, either.

However, my glee would end after the harshness of reality hit me...

Gah, I forgot... I slept on the floor...

As I tried to move, I started to feel throbbing pain in my back.

"Are you alright, Ail?" Said a voice from above. Still not fully awake yet, it took me a while to figure out who it was.

"Tear...?"

"Does your back hurt? I'm sorry you had to sleep there..."

"Bed stealer." I said, glaring at him.

"I-I'm really sorry!"

"Relax, I'm kidding." I got up, adjusting my spine. "I'm the one who offered my bed to you, after all."

"Right. But still, I'm sorry..."

"Enough. I'm sick of you apologizing all the time."

"S-sorry."

I sighed. "Jeez..."

--

Fortunately, my back pain went away pretty quickly. It made it hard to concentrate in class when it still lingered, though.

"Alright, class dismissed." Ms. Reachet said, after the class finally ended. "Make sure to get to your next class right away. No loitering in the halls."

"Okay, my next class is... music. I think." As I tried to leave, I was stopped (along with Tear and chef boy) by Ms. Reachet.

"Hold on. There's something I need to discuss with you all."

"What?"

Ms. Reachet pulled apart the classroom's whiteboard, revealing a hidden passageway.

When did that get there?!

"Follow me."

We followed her into the strange tunnel. Although it was really long and narrow, it was well lit. I had a feeling we would end up in...

... That weird room again. I knew it.

"This is the same room as before." Stated chef boy, like it wasn't already obvious.

"No, really? I never would have guessed."

"Still your tongue. The Master Chef is not pleased with that comment."

I'm not pleased with your idiocy, but you don't see me complaining.

"Let's make this quick." Ms. Reachet declared in a slightly less monotone voice. "There is a monster nearby. Be on your guard, since this will be your first time fighting one."

"A-already?!" Tear shouted.

"Yes, already. They can be very unpredictable, so be extremely vigilant."

"Right."

"U-uh huh..."

"The Master Chef will be careful."

"Would you stop that?!" I said angrily.

"Stop what?"

"Alright, you are all dismissed. Go to your classes before you're tardy."

We all tried to leave, but she stopped us again.

"One more thing. Ail and Barry..." She paused for a second, then changed her tone of voice. "If you don't get along with each other, you'll both die before you defeat even one monster! Understood!?"

"Yes, ma'am..."

--

"Well, this will be interesting!" chef boy exclaimed, after we had all left the classroom.

"What's the matter with you?!"

"What do you mean?"

"This whole thing doesn't bother you at all?"

"Not really; the Master Chef always tries to stay positive. It is a key element in beco-... e-er, staying a Master Chef."

"Whatever..."

"Well then, since cooking class is next, the Master Chef will begin his preparations for tomorrow!"

"Why? What's going on tomorrow?"

"That's none of your business." Chef boy scowled, then walked away like a superior official or something.

Fine. Be that way, you imbecile.

"I-I'm going to go too. See you later, Ail." Tear left as well.

Well, time to go to the next class. Finally...

--

When I made it to the music room, I tried to sneak in quietly so no one would notice me walk in. I really didn't want to be late on the first day...

"You're late, Ail~ey." Chelsea said, walking towards me.

Oh, just great.

"Already starting to come to class late, huh? Bad boy!"

"What about you?"

"It's not my fault; I had to go to the bathroom!"

I have a valid reason to be late too, y'know.

"Jeez, why's Ms. Reachet gotta be so strict? I hate having to wait until her boring lecture is over just to take a leak!"

"Hey, don't take it out on me." And that's not something you should be saying openly like that... "But if you haven't been in class since her lecture ended, you must've been in the bathroom for a while. Why did you take so long?"

"Naughty boy! You shouldn't ask a lady about those kind of things!" She told me, suddenly getting mad at me for some reason. "Girls have, y'know... needs, okay?"

I don't really get it, but whatever...

"Anyway...." Chelsea's expression changed from angry to happy in an instant. "This is going to be your first music class here, right?"

"Yes, that's right."

"I remember you told me before that you're good at playing instruments. I can't wait to see you play!"

"If that's the case, then could you two please get in here already?" Said Mr. Musico, who had apparently opened the door a while ago.

"Sorry, Mr. M~!"

So much for not trying to embarrass myself...

--

"So, Ail." Mr. Musico commented as soon as I'd taken a seat in the music room. "I've heard you've got some musical talent under your belt."

"I-I guess... Well, I do have an interest in music."

"That is wonderful. What is it you like to play the most?"

"You mean instruments? I don't have a particular favorite, really."

"What about that?" Mr. M pointed to a piano in one of the corners of the room. "Would you care to play it?"

"Right now? Sure, okay."

I sat down and started playing. I played a simple piece, but everyone seemed to enjoy it.

"That was marvelous!" Mr. Musico exclaimed.

"N-not really..."

"Don't be so modest; you did very well. I don't even know if I'm going to be able to teach you anything."

"Nah, don--"

"That was so cool, Ail!" Chelsea cut in. "Can you play the guitar? I want to see you play that next!"

"Now, now, that's enough for today. Let's continue with the lesson, shall we?"

--

After classes ended, I went to my room. I wanted to rest on my bed, but unfortunately for me, I had given it to Tear.

Man, why do I have to be so nice sometimes?

When I walked to my room, I saw Tear peering out of it.

"What are you doing?"

"Ail, guess what!?" Tear said, with a smile on his face for once.

"You seem happy, which is rare for you. It must be really good news then. What is it?"

"Come in and see."

I entered the room to see what he was so happy about. What I saw was honestly the last thing I expected.

"A-a bed?! They actually got us one? I can't believe it!"

"So am I getting that bed?"

"... Why not?"

"W-well, I was just wondering, since I was using your bed last night..."

"So? Just use this one now."

"I-I have a hard time getting used to beds. But I was fine with yours last night for some reason..."

"Alright, then I'll use the new one, then."

"R-really? You don't mind?"

"Not really. A bed's a bed."

"I just thought you'd think it was weird..."

"It's fine, don't worry about it. Everyone's got a few quirks."

"Thank you, Ail."

"Don't mention it. It's not really a big deal."

"EEK!" A girl ran down the hall in a panic. "Some weird thing's in the cooking room!"

"Well, that was random. I wonder what that was about?"

"C-could it be the monster Ms. Reachet was talking about?!"

"Probably. Let's go see!"

We went out into the hall and kept on running until I realized...

"Hey Tear, are we even running the right way to the cooking room?"

"W-what?! I-I was just following you..."

That's just great, what now? I have no idea where we're going!

"Aaack!" Someone had run into me from behind. It was chef boy, and he didn't seem too happy.

"I-it's terrible! My... er, the Master Chef's creation came to life and ate one of the girls! I-I tried to stop it, but nothing worked... The Master Chef is at a loss..."

Wow, it's so bad that he's messing up his "Master Chef"s? This situation's even worse than I thought!

"Show us where the cooking room is."

"Sure, but the Master Chef doesn't know if you'll be able to stop it..."

--

He brought us to the cooking room. It was closer to the dorms than I thought; we could've easily found it ourselves in a few minutes if we knew where to go.

"W-what is that thing?!" There was a yellowish, slimy thing moving around. There were holes at the top of its "head", which I'm guessing were supposed to be its eyes.

"There, you see? The Master Chef's creation has come to life to attack its own creator!"

"Y'know, I never believed in karma... until now."

"What do you mean? The Master Chef thought food likes to be eaten!"

"T-that's not what I meant..." I sighed. "Anyway, I'm guessing this is supposed to be that monster Ms. Reachet wants us to take care of. But a food monster of all things?"

"The Master Chef guesses it couldn't resist his masterpiece."

"Or it was probably so sick of your pompous attitude that it wanted to kill you with your own food..."

"Nah, the Master Chef is sure his opinion is the right one."

"ROOAARR!!!" The monster moved towards us.

"Did that food monster just roar at us...?"

"W-what are we going to do, guys?!" Tear asked in fright.

"I got this! Treble!" I took out my sword, and slashed off its head. "Heh, piece of cake!"

"U-um, Ail..."

"What?"

Its head started to move, and quickly re-attached itself to its body.

"... t-that."

"ROOAARR!!!"

"What the?!"

"The Master Chef already attempted that! Didn't you listen before?!"

"Man, what are supposed to do then?"

"L-let me try! Paint!" Tear took out his paintbrush. "Purple Paint!" Paint shot out of the paintbrush, towards the monster. The monster ate the paint, and somehow got electrocuted.

"How did you do that?"

"My paints apparently have certain magical abilities... My purple paint makes lightning."

"Wow, I had no idea you could use your weapon like that..."

"ROOAARR!!!"

"Alright, let's try one of my own tricks!" I ran toward the monster, and swung my sword at it. I turned my sword to its side, and sent sound waves through its body.

"The Master Chef asks, what is that awful noise?!"

"My sword can create sound waves."

"So, you did not receive just a cliché sword after all... The Master Chef is impressed... a bit."

"RROOOAAARRR!!!"

"D-did it work?"

The monster stopped moving, and exploded into bits and pieces. They started flying around the room, and... well, I'm pretty sure you could guess what happened.

"Yuck..." I uttered, wiping goopy food off of my face.

"BETTY!!!" Chef boy ran over to a girl that was in the place where the monster was.

"Master Chef, you saved me!"

"Indeed, it was all the Master Chef's doing!"

"Oh, come on! Tear and I did all the work!"

"Okay, the Master Chef had a little help..."

Ah, forget it...

--

So, Tear and I had defeated our first monster... but we still had to clean up afterwards (no thanks to chef boy...). As gruesome as it was, doesn't mean this was the worst to come...

I hope these battles won't always be this messy...

End of Chapter 3

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Writer's Comments:

Finally got this chapter done... It was a pain mainly because I don't like this chapter very much. It got easier to write at the end, though. However, there's something I must mention now...

I AM HORRIBLE AT WRITING FIGHT SCENES.

So yeah, can't wait to write the next one (which in contrast to this, is one of my favorites :3).

- CS-Masyet