Her body enveloped by the warmth of the water and the soothing scent of soap, Emilia took her time relaxing in the bathtub, organizing her thoughts.
'A uniform with a white band. So, is he the rumored Special Admission student Mira was telling me about? I certainly didn't expect to run into him before classes even started, and… I might have gone a little overboard,' she thought, staring at the ceiling while embarrassment gripped at her.
With a sigh from her, "But still, what am I supposed to do here? With how things are going, it's obvious what's happening even if no one says it," her words stopped as they hinted at an expected outcome.
In the meantime, Ace took his smartphone and called Chris.
The phone ringing, Chris picked it up. "What's up Ace? I was on my-"
"Why is there a girl in my room?" coldly interrupted Ace, going straight to the main point without even letting Chris finish his sentence.
"You know it's quite rude to suddenly cut in like that."
"Yeah, yeah. We'll talk about my behavior on the phone another time. Why the hell did I find a girl in my room?"
Chris with a sigh, "If you found someone inside your room, that probably means that they are your roommate, don't you think?"
Ace also sighed on his side. "I get the point. But why is it a girl?"
"The academy dorms have a co-ed system, so it's not that surprising to see a boy and a girl sharing the same room. Normally it would stir up some trouble, but the Dean doesn't really differentiate between boys and girls all that much. In his own words: Students should explore more synergies since when in battle, they won't have the luxury to choose who they fight with. Hence, he thinks this is good practice to reinforce cohesion between students beyond gender or age," Chris explained, keeping his own thoughts to himself.
'I can understand his surprise. Though I never really experienced this kind of situation, I can understand he finds it troubling.'
Meanwhile, Ace, on the other side of the call, had a deadpan expression on his face. 'I knew he was a weird and shrewd old man, but I didn't expect him to also be crazy.'
With another sigh, "Fine. I get the gist of it," Ace said, his unexpressive face carrying a tinge of exasperation.
"Anyway, you don't need to come and say goodbye to me," Ace added, making Chris halt in his march.
"Why?"
"I think it'd be better to go home and tell Ellie and Shaw that I've safely arrived."
'I kind of expected it, but…' Chris stiffened, a hint of disappointment in his eyes. 'I didn't expect him to still put up barriers between him and us.'
"Okay. I got it. I'll go back home then."
"Have a safe trip."
"Sure," Chris stopped for a moment. "Ace?"
"Yeah?"
"Hope you enjoy your stay at the academy and that you'll have fun," Chris said, his voice deep but full of warmth.
Ace felt a pang in his heart. It wasn't a painful one, but a warm and fuzzy sensation that made him clench his fists as a distant gaze descended on the floor.
"Be careful and take care of yourself. And whenever you feel like it, remember to come home once in a while. I'm sure Shaw and Ellie would be happy to see you again."
"Sure," Ace replied, his voice low.
"Okay. Enough with the sassy and cheesy words. Just get going already," Ace returned to his normal self.
"Sure, sure. Geez. Can't you act a little more moved? It also made me cringe you know," said Chris with a mix of embarrassment and exasperation on his face.
"Your fault, not mine," coldly said Ace.
"Cheeky brat. Well, goodbye."
"Sure."
And with that, their conversation came to a close, but not without witness.
After her bath, Emilia had come out of the bathroom while drying her hair with a towel and wearing the clothes she had put nearby.
Entering the room, she had found Ace standing around the room on the phone, but she had hesitated to interrupt.
After the call ended, "Uuuuh. Excuse me," she aborded Ace who turned around at the sound of her voice.
"Sorry. I was on the phone, so I didn't notice you there," Ace said with a composed and almost distant expression as he then bowed apologetically.
Raising his head, his eyes opened, meeting Emilia's gaze which filled the room with an intense quiet tension.
"Firstly, do you… want something?" she asked, trying to shake off the odd tension that lingered between them as Ace nodded in agreement.
He was given a pack of biscuits on a bowl with a glass of apple juice.
As the tension faded, Emilia confronted Ace who remained stoic and unreadable while he indulged in the hospitality he was given. "I guess introductions are in order. My name's Emilia Windsor. I'm a Second-year student. Nice to meet you."
"I'm Ace, Ace Blakelord. Nice to meet you too."
"Well, I know it might be a bit surprising but… it would seem that from now, you and I are roommates," Emilia added, still finding the situation awkward.
"Yeah. Seems like it," Ace said as the air surrounding them suddenly changed. "Anyway, sorry about earlier. I wasn't expecting to have a female roommate."
'Thank goodness,' thought Emilia as she felt the ice between them disappearing completely. 'He seems like a pretty nice guy.'
"Guess I should help you get your things in order. Oh! By the way, you can just call me Emi," she said, a bright smile on her face.
"Thanks," Ace said, a thought following his words. 'Guess I won't need to be too on guard with her.'
With the ice broken between them, Emi started helping Ace with arranging his stuff, and they started conversing more comfortably with each other.
This also helped Ace get accustomed to the dorm room which resembled a small apartment including a bunk bed, a small kitchen with a functional fridge, microwave and water tap, cooking utensils in drawers and cupboards, and a gas-using cooking stove.
The door led to the bathroom with its big space which included baskets for clothes and a washing machine with a door that led to the toilet on the opposite side. The actual bath was made up of a bathtub to relax in the warm water and a shower to rinse off.
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After the hard labour, noon came, and their stomachs started growling.
"I'm so hungry~," moaned Emi as she collapsed on the foldable couch. "All that work just increased my appetite."
"If there's something in the fridge, I can probably whip up something," suggested Ace as Emi watched him in disbelief.
"Huh? But aren't you tired, though?"
"Don't worry about it," replied Ace, seeming completely unbothered. "I'm also hungry, so I might as well cook something up."
"Thanks."
"No problem."
Ace then headed towards the kitchen and took a look inside the fridge.
'Hmmm. Let's see. Eggs, onions, green peppers and tomatoes. Yeah, I think I can make do with this.'
He then took a look inside the cupboards, finding a sack of rice, a bottle of oil and clean pots.
'This should do the trick.'
Rolling up his sleeves and washing his hands, he rinsed the vegetables and took out a knife from the drawers.
With expertise akin to a chef's, Ace started cutting up the veggies then proceeded to cracking up the eggs. His ingredients ready, he started preparing the rice in a rice cooker and proceeded to finishing the preparations for his other ingredients.
He battered up the eggs, used a portion of the cut-up onions and green peppers, and started preparing an omelet.
The once-boiling rice now fully cooked and the omelet ready, he then proceeded to the finishing touches. He poured a small amount of oil in a small pot, letting it heat, and he then poured tiny cut-up pieces of the tomatoes, remaining onions and green peppers, and finally mixed the whole thing with the omelet by churning it up into pieces.
The scent becoming stronger, Emi couldn't hold her appetite.
At the end of the entire process, Emi was greeted by the sight of an appetizing laid-out dish on the table.
"It might be a simple dish but allow me to introduce you to Rice with a Toping of Egg Sauce," Ace presented as Emi became impressed by his culinary skills.
"Well then, thank you for the food," she said gratefully as she and Ace took their seats, eating in companionable silence while Emi, savoring each bite, smiled due to how delicious the food was.
Observing her reactions and expressions, Ace seemed lost in thought as he subtly stared at her with a calculative gaze.
'Though it's faint, that lingering scent around her, that's…'
"Heh," he hid his smirk as he took a bite from his plate.
'Interesting. Guess it shouldn't be surprising for everyone to have their own little secrets.'