Merry-Go-Round Second Draft: Chapter Four

Chapter Four - Reveal

“Sayu-Sayu!!” Ariana exclaimed as we walked back into the house. “You’re back!!”

Once again, Soriana could be seen struggling to suppress her giggles. Sieural sighed, and replied, “Yeah, we’re back.”

Shiriana walked in, and after a small moment of silence, she exclaimed, “Are none of you concerned about what Sieural could have done to me? I mean, he is a guy after all, and he did go out with me… At night, no less!”

Ariana shook her head as Soriana replied, “I trust Sieural enough not to do anything bad to my little sister.”

“Right! Sayu-Sayu is a good person!” Ariana continued, as she clung to Sieural’s arm as if he was her actual older brother.

“You two are so naïve.” Shiriana sighed. “Well, I’m going to sleep.”

As the short haired girl walked up the stairs, Soriana said, “I think she’s still mad at you for walking into the bathroom when she was taking a shower… But I didn’t think she’d stay mad for this long.”

“I’m sad… I hoped Shiri would like you a little more.”

“Well, it’s not all that bad.” Sieural sighed. “I don’t think she hates me… as much as before, at least… if that’s saying anything.”

“Where did you two go, anyway?” Soriana asked, curious.

“Just took a walk. We looked at my house… or… whatever. Apparently, she says that someone burned it down with fire magic.”

“Ooh, Shiri is good at things like that… she’s pretty observant. I’d trust her judgment… Wait. Wouldn’t that mean that someone purposely burned down your house?”

Ariana gasped. “Why would someone do such a mean thing?”

“Well, doesn’t matter now. Nothing I can do about it. Sleep is the only thing I can do for myself.” Sieural yawned.

And, as was made painfully obvious, yawns are contagious. Ariana and Soriana yawned simultaneously, and Ariana said, suddenly looking sleepy, said, “I’m sleepy… I’m gonna go upstairs…”

“Go ahead, Ari.” Soriana smiled, as the small girl followed her older sister up the stairs. “She was waiting for you, after all.”

“Why would she wait for me?” Sieural shrugged.

“She loves her Sayu-Sayu. You’re like her older brother.”

“Don’t call me that. I swear, if I find Oaklyn and Deshael calling me that tomorrow… I know who to blame.” Sieural grinned.

“Okay, okay. I won’t say anything.” Soriana giggled. “It’s just so cute.”

“Does cute really, honestly, fit me?”

Soriana blushed. “Maybe…”

Sieural could only wonder what thoughts went through Soriana’s head, but he didn’t want to know.

“I’m going to sleep. I don’t want to be a part of your weird thoughts… especially ones combining me and ‘cute’.”

“It wasn’t anything bad!! I swear!” Soriana blushed.

“Honestly, I never thought I would say this to you, but… I don’t trust you.”

“Does… does that mean that you would normally trust me?”

“I guess.” Sieural shrugged. “You aren’t one to lie, after all.”

Soriana blushed and said, “Thanks… but yeah… it wasn’t anything really bad.”

“Really, now. What was it?”

Soriana blushed a deeper red. “Ummm… you know how Sayu sounds like a girl’s name?”

“I’m going to sleep.” Sieural marched up the stairs and into his new room.

“Sieural in girl’s clothes…” Soriana blushed an even deeper red, if possible.

Sieural awoke in his normal lethargic fashion. He raised his upper body off the much-softer-than-normal bed, and dragged himself to his feet. He walked lazily to the washroom across the upstairs hall, and opened the door.

Much to his luck, nobody stood in front of him this time; he had forgotten to knock on the door. He walked in, and washed his face thoroughly. He walked down the stairs, but found nobody. A small note on the table read: I didn’t want to wake you up, because you were sleeping so comfortably. Breakfast is on a plate on the counter. – Soriana.

Beneath that read: Idiot. – Shiriana.

Sieural laughed. “Still an idiot, huh?”

He ate his breakfast quickly, and walked the normal path to the academy.

As he walked through the ornate dark gate of the academy, he looked around. It was dead quiet.

“What time is it?” He said to himself.

“You’re only 3 hours late.” One of the guards nearby replied.

“3 hours? Wow. That bed was comfortable.” Sieural sighed.

“Get to class.”

“Will do.”

Adding to his misfortune, the moment he reached his class, the bell that marked the beginning of the battle practice portion of the day rang.

“Well, at least I didn’t have to listen to that teacher’s lectures.” Sieural sighed,

He turned around, and walked to the field. From behind him, a voice yelled, “Hey!”

It was Deshael.

“How are ya, Sayu?”

Soriana came running behind him. Panting, she said, “I didn’t say it! Ariana did!”

Sieural sighed. “Great.”

“What’s wrong, Sayu?” Deshael grinned.

“I swear, today’s battle practice, I will kill you.” Sieural fumed.

“It’s worth it, Sayu.” His grin persisted.

Sieural stormed off toward the field, and as he reached the lush, green practice field, he found that on the opposite side, the magician classes had gathered.

The instructors gathered in the middle, and exclaimed, “Today will be an actual practice in teamwork. Because our military will mainly consist of pairs of single knights and single magicians, today will be an actual portrayal of a true battle system. Two pairs of Magicians and Knights will duel each other. To even the sides, the students in the 14^th grade will pair with the students in the 9^th. The 13^th graders with the 10^th, and the 12^th with the 11^th.”

“9^th… huh? Wait a second.” Sieural commented.

He turned to his side and asked Soriana, who was standing beside him, “What grade is Shiriana in?”

“9^th.”

“I bet you… that with my luck, I’ll get paired with her.” Sieural sighed.

Sieural laughed. “I hate it when things are left to luck.”

Shiriana sighed. “I agree.”

“Why would you agree? You’re paired with the strongest knight in the school.” Sieural sighed.

“Is that a shot at my magical incompetence?”

“You’re thinking too much into it.”

“Whatever. Just don’t mess up, okay, idiot?”

Sieural sighed. “Still an idiot?”

“Yeah.”

The instructors called out the rest of the pairings, and the battles began.

As they began their fight, Sieural said, “So, you like burning people, huh?”

“If you’re asking ‘Do you wield fire?’, then, yes.”

“Can you make a wall?”

“About 75 feet square.”

“Did you really calculate that?”

“Yeah. So?”

“Good job. I want you to cast one right in between the two. I’ll take it from there.”

“Umm, okay.”

Within seconds of Sieural’s order, The wall appeared. A wall of flames about 10 feet high erupted from the ground between the two. As the opponent knight jumped out of the way, Sieural dashed toward him, unleashing a slash that hit his stomach.

“Team two, Knight eliminated!”

However, Sieural didn’t stop. He called out, “Shiriana, launch a fireball at me!”

“Don’t blame me if this hurts.” Despite her skepticism, she unleashed a fireball at Sieural, still in the air.

Sieural spun, swinging his dull metal sword into the ball of flame, causing it to explode downward into the unsuspecting magician beneath him. She quickly created a light shield above her that stopped the flames.

However, Shiriana noticed the magician’s opening quickly, and rushed at her with her Magician-form short sword. She struck her in the chest, and the instructor called out, “Team two, Magician eliminated.”

“I’m telling you. That observant trait of yours… it’s pretty amazing. You’re good at finding openings.”

Shiriana blushed, and replied, “Flattering me won’t get you anywhere.”

“It’s true, but whatever.”

As the battles continued, the two were never faced with a true challenge. Until the 6^th round, that is.

“Hey, Sayu.”

“I’m gonna kill you, Deshael.”

Sieural turned to Shiriana, only to find her blushing, and almost hiding behind him.

“Shiriana?”

“I can’t… I can’t…”

“What?”

Shiriana blushed. “I… Deshael… ummm…”

Sieural immediately got what she was trying to say. And his jaw dropped.

“You like Deshael?”

“Don’t say it aloud!!!” Shiriana blushed.

“I didn’t think you could have such girly emotions.”

Shiriana punched Sieural in the stomach, and whined, “Shut up! I am a girl after all…”

“With strength like that, you should be a knight.” Sieural grinned, still struggling from the impact of Shiriana’s punch.

“Shut up, or I’ll hit you again. But, either way, I can’t fight Deshael…”

“That’s fine. We’re due a true duel. Just keep the attention of the magician.”

“O…okay.”

With that, Sieural rushed at Deshael. As he quickly approached his opponent, he slashed at his torso, causing him to jump out of the way. Both magicians stood motionless, like spectators. Deshael countered with a slash of his own, but, using his momentum, Sieural rushed past it, avoiding contact. Turning his upper body, Sieural swung his blade at Deshael’s head. Deshael immediately leaned backwards, avoiding the slash, but losing his balance, he fell. Taking that opportunity Sieural slash at Deshael’s body. Using his nimbleness, Deshael rolled backwards, and jumped to his feet. Throughout all this the two magicians stood still like statues, watching the intense battle in front of them.

Sieural continued his rush forward, slashing furiously at the white-haired boy in front of him. With a grace that didn’t fit his personality, Deshael quickly avoided each and every slash. However, as the battle migrated across the circular field, the two fighters passed by Deshael’s teammate.

“Sorry.” Sieural said, as he slashed the small girl that was Deshael’s partner.

“Team Two, Magician eliminated.”

“Cheap, Sayu, cheap.” Deshael grinned.

“Team battle after all.”

This exchange of blows continued for almost 15 minutes. As the other battles finished, the audience that gathered around the battle slowly grew.

“Damn, this is tiring.” Deshael grinned.

“I agree.” Sieural mirrored his grin, as the two took a small break in the battle.

“Hurry up and make a mistake, Sayu.” Deshael continued. “I’m trying to make you angry, here.”

“Oh, don’t worry. I’m plenty mad.” Sieural said, as he slashed once more.

As they continued, one of the magician members of the audience said, “Isn’t that magician still in the battle? Why isn’t she attacking? There have been plenty of openings for her to get a clean hit in.”

“Come on, girl! Finish this already!”

Sieural yelled, as he continued to slash, “Shut up! I wanted it like this, so mind your own business!”

The crowd quieted down, but his sudden use of breath took its toll on Sieural. Sieural coughed, and let down his guard. The audience gasped, but Deshael did not attack.

“The heck was that, Deshael?”

“Oh, you know I don’t win like that. I don’t need luck to beat you.” Deshael grinned.

“We’ll see.”

As Shiriana stared at the battle between an idiot life and the boy she liked, she sighed. “What am I doing? This is battle practice class. Not ‘watch the number one knight in the school beat up everyone’.”

As the battle continued, the momentum of the fight began shifting to Deshael’s side. Sieural had begun to tire, and eventually, Deshael’s speed and stamina had taken its toll.

Sieural took a wild, wide swing at Deshael’s head, hoping to overpower him. Deshael blocked it cleanly, stopping the blade. Quickly, he grabbed Sieural’s wrists and twisted his upper body, sending Sieural flying to the ground. Deshael slashed at Sieural’s vulnerable body…

Only to be stopped by a flaming wall. Upon contact with the flames, the wooden practice sword rebounded back towards its owner.

Immediately, Sieural jumped to his feet, and back into his fighting stance.

“Thanks, Shiriana.”

“Oh, yeah, right! You suck, Shiri! I was about to get him.” Deshael grinned.

“S—sorry… But…” Shiriana stuttered.

Sieural laughed, “Of all times, you had to show your girly side now.”

“Shut it!” She exclaimed, launching a fireball at Sieural.

“Agh! I’m your teammate, you know!?” Sieural yelled, parrying the fireball.

Coincidentally, that parried blast of flame ricocheted off the wooden practice sword, and into Deshael’s face.

“Eh… Oops.”

“What the…” Deshael frowned.

“Ehm… Team Two, Knight eliminated… I guess. I don’t think that’s ever happened before.” The instructor said, with a tinge of hesitation.

“Shiri?” Deshael said.

“I… I’m sorry…”

“Nice shot.” He grinned, patting the younger girl on the head.

Shiriana blushed a furious red. “Umm… tha—,”

“You beat me anyway.” Sieural sighed.

“One on one, yeah. But, hey, who cares? This is battle practice. You guys won. Just because I almost finished you off doesn’t mean that I’d have won anyway.” Deshael continued to grin.

“Whatever. And, hey, Shiriana?” Sieural sighed again.

“Yeah?”

“Nice shot.”

“Stupid.” Shiriana blushed.

“Hey, I’ve graduated.”

“Huh?”

“From idiot to stupid.”

“… Shut up.” Shiriana grinned. “Idiot.”

Deshael and Sieural laughed.

The white-haired boy then walked to his partner, and said, “Sorry. I couldn’t get them both.”

“Oh… it’s okay.” The young girl smiled. “I did get eliminated very quickly, after all.”

“That idiot got a cheap hit. Don’t worry. You did well.”

The girl smiled. “Thank you.”

Sieural turned to Shiriana, only to see a small scowl of what he assumed to be jealousy appear on her face.

“Hey, if you care so much, go talk to him.” Sieural commented, staring out towards the sky.

“Ah…” Shiriana blushed. “Shut up, stupid idiot.”

As the next round started, Sieural found himself up against the petite Yukishi and a 10^th grader he didn’t know.

“Hmm… come to think of it, I never knew how good you were at fighting, Yukishi. We’ve only just met, after all.” Sieural said, contemplating.

“I’m ranked 5^th in the academy.” Yukishi replied, curtly.

“Really? I don’t pay attention to these things.”

“Alexis is 25^th. Deshael is 9^th. Soriana is 2^nd. You are 1^st.”

“Erm… thanks?” Sieural said, then realized, “Wait a second. You’re higher ranked than Deshael?”

Yukishi nodded without saying a word. Sieural noted that Yukishi rarely spoke.

“What the…” Sieural blinked, surprised. “Well, at least this should be interesting.”

The battle started soon after their conversation ended. Yukishi, surprisingly, rushed straight at Shiriana. Unable to avoid her, Shiriana could only cast a circular flaming wall that was only hardly able to protect her. With one quick slash, Yukishi shattered that red-hot wall. Unable to protect herself with a second wall, Shiriana was caught unprepared by the sky-blue haired girl’s following attack.

However, Sieural was able to block Yukishi’s second slash, saving his partner’s elimination. Not leaving time for retaliation, a bolt of lightning surged at the two.

Sieural slashed at the bolt with lightning-fast reflexes, causing it to immediately dissipate upon contact with his blade.

The opposing magician then said, grinning, “If the practice blades were made of metal, that would have arced.”

“Whatever.” Sieural frowned, and slashed at Yukishi.

She perfectly parried Sieural’s slash, but was immediately confronted by a blast of fire from Shiriana. Unable to block the blast, Yukishi turned to her side, just barely dodging the flames. Using her momentum, she continued turning, meanwhile slashing at Sieural’s head. Reacting quickly, Sieural ducked and slashed as Yukishi’s torso.

The girl leaped backwards, tossing her sword at Sieural with breakneck speed. Sieural could only block the sword upwards, and the wooden blade flew into the air.

Immediately after Sieural parried the blade, a lightning bolt flew at it, colliding with it so precisely that it soared straight back to Yukishi.

“Wow.” Shiriana gasped.

“Pretty cool, huh?” the other magician replied, smiling.

“Yeah.” Sieural also replied, gasping for breath.

In response, she grinned, and said to Yukishi, “Let’s do this.”

With that, Yukishi nodded, and rushed at Sieural again, slashing extremely quickly. Sieural blocked the attack, and retaliated with a slash of his own. Shiriana and her opponent found themselves in a separate battle of magic, sending lightning bolts and fireballs at each other.

Sieural, much like the previous battle with Deshael, also began quickly losing stamina. He took a wide, wild slash at the girl’s torso, missing terribly. Yukishi jumped backwards, and tossed her blade at Sieural with the same speed as the first time. After wasting all his energy with his last wild slash, Sieural could not dodge or block the sword.

A fireball flew at the sword, sent so precisely that it knocked the it out of the air. A second fireball collided with and exploded on the back of Yukishi’s head, causing her to fall forward. A third fireball engulfed a lightning bolt and connected with the magician’s chest.

“Team Two, Magician and Knight eliminated!” The instructor yelled, announcing the end of the match.

Shiriana stood still, totally surprised at what she had just did. “Whoa.”

Soriana, who, with her partner, a young male magician, were the only other remaining team, ran and embraced her sister. “That was awesome, Shiri!”

“That was!” Deshael and Oaklyn interjected simultaneously, following Soriana onto the field.

“Thanks…” Shiriana replied, blushing.

“You shouldn’t be so happy! Look at the people you hit!” a girl’s voice from behind the group called out.

Both Yukishi and her partner, a young girl with red hair, were still unconscious from the impact of the fireballs.

“Oh…” Shiriana gasped.

“You should know to limit your strength in these types of school activities!” the girl continued. “I’m the one that had to heal them, you know.”[i]

“I didn’t know that…”

“Didn’t you learn that in class? What rank are you?” the academy’s main healer, the young green-haired girl, asked.

“I’m… I’m a Yellow Iron A class…”

“Yellow Iron?!”

Shiriana, confused at the girl’s outburst, simply nodded.

“You do know you just triple-casted, right?”

“Did I? I’m still practicing double-casting…”

“For your information… that is a Silver Star skill, you know?”

Ariana gasped. “Wow, Shiri!!! You’re a Silver Star!!!”

“I… I guess.”

Ariana embraced her older sister with a huge smile.

One of the instructors of the Magician branch of the Academy walked over, and said to Shiriana, “Actually, is it possible for you to re-cast that?”

“I can try… But…”

“Go, Shiri!” Deshael exclaimed.

Shiriana concentrated, and materialized a fireball in her hand. Slowly, it became two.

“Ooh… there’s two now.” Oaklyn exclaimed.

However, unlike last time, the two fireballs did not become three.

“Wow.” Ariana, along with almost everyone in the audience, gasped.

Instead of three, it became four. And then eight. Then sixteen. However, the skill immediately took its toll on Shiriana. She collapsed, unable to support the numerous projectiles.

“Ahhhh! Shiri!” Both Soriana and Ariana exclaimed, rushing over to their unconscious sister.

“Well, this certainly is an interesting turn of events. Although she did fall unconscious, she was able to initiate the ‘Firestorm’ skill.” The instructor looked to the other teachers standing around the fallen girl. “Should this warrant an increase in class? I mean… Yellow Iron is far too low, is it not?”

“Agreed. But, before this, we should make sure Miss Shiriana is healthy. I’ll carry her to the infirmary.” Another male teacher replied.

As he carried Shiriana off the field, most of the other students followed.

The original supervising teacher called out to the students, “I guess we will have to postpone the final battle to another day. Class is dismissed.”

With that, she followed her colleague to the infirmary building. Soriana and Ariana, with concerned looks on their faces, followed the female teacher.

As the students that did not follow the teachers into the infirmary began to leave, Deshael stayed beside Yukishi until she awoke. Sieural sat beside the red-haired girl, waiting until she recovered. Oaklyn also stayed by, along with a few other considerate students.

Luckily for them, the two fallen females awoke quickly. Deshael helped Yukishi to her feet.

“You okay? That was a pretty hard hit. Especially to the back of the head.” Deshael said.

Yukishi simply nodded.

Sieural also helped the red-haired girl to her feet, saying, “Welcome back. How was it there in unconscious-land?”

“Not bad. I’m sore as heck, though. Where’d the mage go?”

“She fainted.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised. Triple-casting like that…”

“Actually, it wasn’t from triple casting. She tried to do that again, but ended up casting something called Firestorm.”

The girl gasped. “Wow. That’s hella advanced, you know?”

“I guess.”

“Anyhow, how long have I been out?”

“Looks like about two hours now.” Sieural replied, staring at the setting sun.

“Well, that’s not good. I should be getting back home. My twin brother is probably worried.”

“Wouldn’t he be waiting here for you?”

“Nah. He hates me.”

“You don’t mean that seriously, do you?”

“Not really. Kind of, I guess. He wouldn’t wait for me if I was unconscious, though.” The red-haired girl grinned.

“I am right here, you know?” A red-haired boy from behind Sieural said.

“Oh, Araschaun? I didn’t think you’d stay.”

“I don’t hate you that much, Shiara.” Araschaun grinned.

“Then why was this guy watching me instead of you?”

“I don’t like you that much, Shiara.” Araschaun continued to grin.

“See?” Shiara said to Sieural. “Well, I should be going now. Oh, what’s your name?”

“Sieural.”

“Ah, thanks for keeping watch over me, Sieural. I’d rather have a brother like you than Araschaun here.” Shiara smiled.

“Older brother, huh?”

“I’m joking. See ya, Sieural.” Shiara grinned.

“Bye.” Sieural shrugged. Apparently, he took the idea of having a new sister seriously.

Watching the two twins walk toward the Academy entrance, Sieural turned to Deshael and Yukishi. By then, Oaklyn had already left, along with the other students, leaving just Deshael, Yukishi, and himself.

“Let’s go, Deshael. You too, Yukishi.” Sieural called out to the two. “Let’s go before it gets dark.”

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[i] For occasions where students are at a chance of being hurt, a healer is usually present to provide services in case of injuries.