Fools Paradise

It's the last day of the break and Wittorf decided to wander around town. He had a little spending money from Lana who sends him what money she can from time to time and he had been saving it up until now.

Walking just ahead of him is Sai who seems to be in a bit of a daze. Perhaps she was day dreaming. He was known to do that often. He noticed she was headed straight for a pillar.

Deciding to approach her Wittorf tapped her on the shoulder and she jumped.

"What!"

She looks over to see Wittorf and starts to blush.

"Don't you know it's impolite to touch a girl without her permission?"

"Sorry you looked like you were in a daze and I didn't want you running into that pillar."

She looks over to see the pillar just in front of her face and she jumps again.

"When did that get there?"

"You seem a little on edge, is everything alright?"

"No…not really." Sai says as she quietly looks to the ground.

He only just noticed but Sai was kind of cute. Her short red hair seemed to shine in the light and her pink eyes glistened when she looked at him. Her white robes were also clean and pristine.

Which reminded Wittorf ever since he went to remedial class, they never gave him any robes. He should investigate that if he remembers.

"What's wrong?"

"I have to clean to rooms today with Kai but she already left to go home. She always does this."

Oh, was that it? He had the day off and nothing to do perhaps he could help her.

"Why don't I help you out then?"

"Oh no, there's no need it's not your job."

"I've got nothing else going on today I don't mind."

She glances at Wittorf a couple times and back to the floor.

"A-alright."

Wittorf and Sai are in Steel's classroom dusting and sweeping. Sai is doing her best to stay away from Wittorf and only gives him passing looks occasionally. Silence fills the room for most of the time. He felt like he should say something. But he did not know at all what to talk about. What did she like? He realized he did not know much about any of the students save for Loat.

"Sai?"

With the silence broken Sai jumps a little as she dusts the window. "Yes?"

"So what kinds of things do you enjoy doing?"

"Oh, uh I like to…"

She paused for a moment while she thought. Her eyes darting to the floor and back to Wittorf. She had never been asked what she likes from a boy before. In fact, she had never been alone in another room with a boy. She was nervous and couldn't help but stutter in her response.

"I-I uh like to R-read."

"Reading huh, anything in particular?"

She turned around to continue dusting and also to avoid eye contact from Wittorf. She was actually having a conversation with another boy. This was exciting but also nerve wracking.

She started laughing to herself quietly as she picked up the pace of dusting until a dust cloud was formed around her.

Coughing she batted the dust away and saw Wittorf was in front of her now. He had a bottle of water in his hand.

"Here drink this, it will help with the dust."

Sai turned red and nodded her head quickly. She was being offered his drink. Did he drink from it or was it a new bottle? She couldn't tell from the looks of it. Quickly grabbing the bottle she opened it and started drinking from it slowly.

Wittorf was smiling he was having fun spending time with Sai even if they were just cleaning rooms. She was a little on edge, but he figured that was just how she was.

"My favorite books are fairytales." Wittorf said with a little bit of a nervous laugh. He was worried she might think he was childish for liking something so simple.

"Me too."

"Which ones do you like? I enjoy stories about powerful mages and exciting quests."

"I like the ones with the cute animals in them."

That sounded about right to him. He figured she might be into cute stuff. He tried to think of any fairytales he read growing up that had cute animals. One story came to mind that kind of fit the description.

"Have you heard the story of the raccoon snake?"

"Raccoon snake?"

"It was a story of a lonely raccoon snake who was said to have had a human best friend that died in a war and left him behind. The snake would travel from town to town searching for his friend and eventually he found himself in a desert and died of dehydration."

"Poor raccoon snake."

"It's alright some say he actually found his way back to his home and his master was waiting for him there. At least that is what Lana told me."

"Who's Lana?"

Wittorf smiles and rests his head on the top of the broom.

"She is my foster mother."

"Oh, is she nice?"

"The nicest woman I've ever met. She is the reason I wanted to become a mage."

"It's nice to have people like that in your life."

"Why did you want to become a mage?"

She gets a little nervous again and twiddles her thumb.

"No reason in particular."

"Really?"

She rubs her arm and looks away responding quietly.

"I uh, wanted to make more friends."

"Wanted to what?"

Wittorf leans in to try to hear her

"Nothing…"

She quickly walks over to the other side of the room and begins dusting. Wittorf was so persistent she thought. He was very close to her too and that made her nervous. She was not use to people talking to her like this. Most of the time they only talked to her older sister.

The room was finished being cleaned and Wittorf returned the tools back to the closet. Sai was happy that someone aside from her sister talked to her today. She was going to journal about this tonight.