Everyone was ready to see Akirion and Elina leave, but emotions were still flooding their hearts.
It didn’t matter how many deep breaths they took or how many tis they wiped their eyes; none of them were ready to let them go just like that. So rubbed their noses repeatedly, and so pressed their fingertips against their eyes, trying not to break down again.
They all wanted to cry, wanted to scream "Don’t go!", and wanted to run to the stage and hold the two in place, but deep down they knew that trying to stop them wouldn’t work.
Akirion and Elina started to move away from the stage, the sa stage where teachers normally made announcents during an assembly. But this wasn’t a normal assembly. It felt like sothing bigger, like the end of sothing and the start of sothing else entirely. It also felt like there was a burial. The air was heavy, as if the whole school shared one long, trembling breath.
Suddenly, two different but almost similar voices echoed above the sniffles and shaky breaths of everyone who was crying. "WAIT!"
The voices ca at the sa ti, loud enough to stop Akirion and Elina mid-step. The crowd’s eyes widened instantly as they searched for the caller, eyes rolling around the place. Even the ones who were still wiping tears froze with their hands halfway up their faces. Nobody expected voices to cut through the air like that.
Akirion and Elina slowly looked back, and then they saw them. The two girls who had collapsed earlier were now kneeling, their heads low, but their eyes sharp with desperation. They stayed like that for a second before lifting their faces up again. Their cheeks were still wet from crying.
The two girls blinked at each other, surprised by their own synchronization. "I... I’m sorry for stopping you!" they said at the sa ti again while glaring at Akirion.
The timing was so perfect it almost looked rehearsed, but their shocked, annoyed expressions told otherwise. They glared at each other again, this ti with eyebrows lowered like they were about to start a silent staring contest.
Akirion’s left eyebrow quirked as he thought. ’Are they for real? Speaking at the sa ti again? That’s just nuts... Or it’s just plotted. Maybe they are trying to stop , but that won’t work, so they shouldn’t bother themselves. And what’s up with similar looks?’
He shook his head slowly, still trying to figure out the strangeness.
Elina only stood there staring at them, her mind blank. She didn’t know whether this mont was part of her plan or if she was dreaming while standing since her mind was racing about what Akirion did. Her plan was simple; Akirion would disagree, shout, argue, and make his heart harder than stone. But instead he agreed too easily to go with her.
That alone shocked her to the point she almost forgot how to blink.
As for the two kneeling girls, they ignored each other completely and focused on Akirion and Elina again. The whole school watched them in total silence.
"I... I’d love to join your team," they said again at the sa ti.
This ti, the impact hit everyone like a punch. A few people’s mouths dropped open. The professor raised an eyebrow.
So students gasped so loudly it echoed.
Then, at the exact sa mont:
"HEY! Stop talking my lines!" "Those are my lines!"
They yelled together again, voices overlapping perfectly like twins, even though they clearly weren’t twins. The argunt exploded instantly.
"Hey, that’s MY line!" "They are MINE!" "No, they’re mine!" "You just want attention!" "Shut.....!"
Their voices clashed like two swords, sharp and loud enough to snap the stunned silence in half. They didn’t know each other at all, yet sohow they talked like rivals who had been fighting for years.
Everyone watched with confused expressions.
Akirion finally snapped and interrupted the argunt. "Hey you two, stop it! What are you even up to anyway?" He stepped forward, glaring at them harshly. "It was already hard to agree to letting Elina go with . Dre... monsters are dangerous. Extrely dangerous. I’m sure you can’t survive their attacks if you’re not trained!"
One of them opened her mouth. "Yes, but..." They both spoke again at the sa ti, then snapped their faces toward each other with frustration. "Hey, would you mind? Let talk!"
They continued, but still in ssy synchronization: "I wanted to ask for training lessons from you. I didn’t know you were going away so soon. So now... my point is to train under you. I want to learn combat. Monsters can be beaten if soone knows what they’re doing. I want to walk in your shoes too," one of them finally spoke alone.
Gasps scattered everywhere. People leaned forward, hungry for Akirion’s response.
Akirion shook his head. "No. You can’t leave school because of !"
One girl lifted her chin stubbornly. "I was actually thinking of leaving school to train. I wanted soone to teach sothing like swordsmanship or anything useful!"
The other snapped, "Hey, that was MY line!"
"What? You didn’t say it fast enough, Emma!"
"You’re too fast, Emily! You don’t even think before you speak too!"
The two girls finally stood up. Now that they were standing, their differences beca clear. Emma had long black hair that reached her waist, her eyes soft and calm even when she was mad. Emily had short brown hair, ssy, almost chaotic, matching her loud personality.
They both had blue eyes, the sa face shape, and the sa smile lines, almost like long-lost sisters, but their personalities were complete opposites.
Emma was quiet and gentle, the type who would talk softly even when she was angry. Emily was bold and loud, the type who could start a conversation with a wall if she had to.
Right now, both of them had tears running down their cheeks like streams of water rushing down a mountain.
Akirion rubbed his forehead. "Would you mind stopping your ga, you guys? We’re leaving. It’s your choice what you want to do. But I’m leaving."
He lifted his hand and waved to everyone.
"Goodbye, everyone. See you around."
He walked down the stage slowly, Elina following behind him. The students parted like a sea, making a path for the two. Every step the pair made forced more emotions from the crowd; so cried again, so hugged their friends, and so blew their noses loudly.
Before they reached the gate, a male voice echoed:
"Hey, Akirion!"
Akirion turned. "Professor?" Akirion asked.
The professor approached with sothing wrapped in cloth.
"You almost forgot sothing." He unwrapped it slightly.
Akirion’s eyes widened. "My sword? Thank you very much!"
"You’re welco. And make sure you won’t lose it."
"Sure, I’ll keep it in a safe place... where only the air would find it."
The professor chuckled. "Good. It’s valuable, so don’t lose it."
"Thanks again."
"Okay, goodbye. And... don’t forget to survive."
Akirion laughed lightly, and so did the professor.
He waved his hand, and the students responded by waving back, so with one hand, so with both, so while crying, and so trying to smile but failing.
His three followers waved too, loudly and dramatically as always.
And finally, Akirion and the three stepped out the gate.
They left!
The place was left quiet, with a sense of panic.
Erlin was left thunderstruck, with no words at all. Her fist was clenched, her face with a rageous look. Her eyes were in a deep blaze of rage.
’Did Sis just do a despicable thing like that? Lowering my graph in this school, we are still new here, and she just showed her true dull colors in front of everyone here. Damn sis, damn! Following a guy? Are you even for real...??’ Erlin thought, her eyes looking really troubled.
Suddenly, she gasped before she finished her sentence as she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"Hey Erlin, are you alright?" Liberty asked, his eyes covered with red color glaring exactly at Erlin’s.
"No, no, I’m not okay! How could she do that? Does she really know how embarrassing it is?" Erlin replied, her voice cracking as she suffered a heart pain as she cried.
"Hey, hey, it’s okay, calm down! There’s nothing embarrassing about what she did."
"To you, not to !"
"No! It’s not like that, Erlin," Liberty paused and sighed. He then continued, "As for , I realized her care; that was her pure care."
"Yes, Erlin, he’s right!" Anda popped up next to Erlin, her voice barely above a whisper, also cracking as she was crying.
"Why do you think that? What kind of care are you even talking about? I don’t get it." Erlin asked, her eyes glued to the ground, tears dropping to the ground like raindrops. Her cheeks were flooded with tears as two streams were ford, joining at her chin, the main dropping point.
"No one was going to give his or her life to the monsters just for her sister’s joy." Liberty explained, and a bit of assistance followed as Anda shook her head.
Erlin’s eyes snapped open as she got touched by Liberty’s words.
Tears continued to flow down her cheeks.
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