"Are you Kyle Alars?" The leading student said.
The badge on his chest was different from the rest. The eyes of the eagle glowed red, the wings shined brighter.
"Yes." I answered.
At first, I thought it was a little weird that the student council was looking for me, but then I remembered the fight that happened 'today'.
It was still strange. I hadn't thrown a punch or done anything, after all. Maybe they just wanted to question me in order to form a clear idea of what actually happened.
"We need to ask you a few questions." The leading student gestured for me to follow him.
I complied silently.
The red-haired girl hadn't shown any reaction or even just looked at me ever since the student council had barged in.
The rest of the student committee members immediately surrounded me when I got behind who I assumed to be the Council President.
Eight of them. For questioning?
I didn't panic, however. It all felt natural.
Our footsteps echoed loudly in the hallway.
The entourage drew every student in the hallway's attention. Walking in the middle of the group felt suffocating.
When the student's whispers around us grew quieter, I approached a student in the back.
"So, what's this about?" I asked quietly.
I knew it was something related to the fight 'this morning', but I wanted to confirm.
The student I talked to shot me a look before shaking his head.
Trying the same with another student, I got a similar treatment.
Just a glare before they gestured for me to go back to the middle.
I frowned.
Thankfully, the student council office was just a few halls away from the lecture area.
The door to the office was almost ordinary looking, if not for that same eagle-like sigil resting on it.
It opened slowly, revealing all sorts of decorations put in an orderly fashion.
Banners hung on the wall with the academy and magic faction insignias, all a few inches away from each other.
At the far end of the room, right in front of a window, stood a small wooden desk covered with paper. Next to a stack of papers, a small golden plaque was placed. On it, a few words spelled: "Student Council President".
The chair behind the desk was empty.
This room was the epitome of order and symmetry.
As I walked in, the leading student left the room with a few others from the group following behind him.
I was left in the room with one student.
It was a girl with lush blue hair. She was wearing the first-year uniform.
She definitely wasn't the Council President.
I hadn't noticed her in the group before. She just hadn't stood out.
Looking at her, I could see small hints of personality on her uniform, unlike the other committee members who all wore the same boring dark blue uniform.
One of the decorations on her uniform sparked my attention.
It was a small pin of a teddy bear.
She seemed approachable.
"Hey. So, what's all this about?" I repeated the same question I had asked the other student while walking in the hall.
The girl shook a bit before going completely still.
My eyebrow rose by itself at her strange behavior.
I looked at her for a few more seconds.
"Is this because of the fight this morning?" I asked.
She shook again.
Her eyes closed as she seemed to ponder deeply on something.
A few seconds passed.
Her eyes opened, reignited with seemingly unending determination.
Her determined gaze almost immediately faltered.
My brows furrowed. This was starting to get on my nerves.
"Oh! Is this about yesterday?" I said after a second of thought.
The girl's head immediately shot toward me.
"How did you-"
Her mouth paused mid sentence.
*Cough* *Cough*
A few coughs sounded in the room as she returned to her previous 'stoic' state.
I rolled my eyes in annoyance.
I sighed and turned to the door, waiting for the Council President.
Her eyes fell on my back.
"You seem normal." She blurted out after a moment of hesitation.
At that remark, I instantly bolted to face her.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
Did they also notice the loop? Do they know that I remember?
She seemed to get really surprised by my reaction.
"Nothing. It's just I expected you to be more... muscular?" The confusion in her tone couldn't be any clearer.
Muscular?
I looked to my body.
The scrawny limbs of a mage stared back.
My eyelids twitched as I realized her remark.
"What made you think I would be muscular?" I asked with a bit of annoyance in my voice.
"Your report." She said.
Her eyes then widened as her hands moved to cover her mouth.
She took a few steps back. Her eyes looked at me with hate.
She was blaming me for her mistake of revealing that they had a report on me?!
I took a deep breath to calm down.
She straightened and folded her hands behind her back again.
A frustrated sigh left my mouth. This was going to be a long day.
*Click*
The sound of the door opening echoed in the small room.
The same slim man from before stepped in.
"Sorry for making you wait." He said.
He nodded toward the girl as he walked to the chair behind the desk, gesturing for me to sit down in the process.
A pile of documents was pushed away as he searched for something.
He quickly found it, flipping through a small bundle of papers before looking at me.
"What were you doing yesterday?" He asked.
I swallowed. Lying wouldn't work on him.
"I went to the cafeteria with my friends." I said slowly, wanting to buy time for me to craft the perfect excuse.
He gestured with his head for me to continue.
"Then we explored the academy for a bit, getting lost in the process." I said.
He didn't seem satisfied with my explanation.
"You got lost until midnight?" He said with skepticism. "You broke curfew last night and got into a fight while half-dead this morning. Can you tell me why?"
A sigh left my mouth.
I had already made up a semi-convincing story in my mind, but I didn't want to test my luck.
"It took us about half an hour to find our way back, and we trained in the forest after that." I took a deep breath. "We kept training until about an hour before midnight. That's all."
He furrowed his brows at my words.
"Just what kind of training would make priest Malfoy concerned like that?" He started rubbing his eyes with his hand. "To tell you the truth, we don't really care about you going past curfew or training until midnight. What we care about is you getting to your lectures completely tired and almost unresponsive."
"Priest Malfoy, the one that treated you, told me to prohibit you from any form of training for the next two days." He continued. "I don't want first-years collapsing in the corridors."
I grew skeptical.
"Did you need so many students to escort me just for that?" I asked.
"You got into a fight this morning." He didn't blink.
"..."
I guess it looked like I was unreasonably picking a fight with the second-year student for not apologizing after bumping into him.
But it's not like I meant to. I just couldn't speak at that time.
"Next time you decide to train until you collapse, at least tell someone." He said. "Emilia, escort him out."
He paused for a second. "Oh right." His hand extended toward me for a handshake. "Name's Zorian."
"Kyle." I nodded, shaking his hand.
The outside of the Council President office was empty now. Lectures had likely already started.
I found it strange that this meeting with the student committee council didn't happen last time.
But I was holed up in my room basically the entire break. Maybe that's why I didn't meet them.
I chuckled at the memory of me from last loop. I just seemed so much more concerned with this.
My face hardened at that thought.
...Being weirded out by all this would be the normal reaction. Why was I acting like it was all normal now?
"I-I wasn't supposed to tell you, that's why." The girl walking with me to the lecture area, Emilia, suddenly said.
I blinked at her a few times.
"What?"
"I wasn't supposed to say anything. That's why I acted so weird in the Council President office. Don't laugh at me." She said shyly.
She seemed to think I was laughing at her.
That drew out another chuckle from me. She reminded me a bit of Pram.
A small figure stepped out from the corner ahead of us.
My chest tightened when I saw who it was.
Denis.
I didn't know why, but the corridor seemed narrower at that moment.
My eyes went to the ground. I felt scared to meet his gaze.
Emilia looked at him strangely before turning to me.
"Hey, Kyle. Where have you been?" Denis said with a warm voice.
His tone made me shudder. It just felt so forced.
"Hey, Denis." I said with a grim expression.
A bright light shone in Emilia's eyes.
She resumed walking to the lecture.
Emilia seemed to think that leaving us to discuss things alone would be best.
My eyes shot toward her, I wanted to beg her to stay. I didn't want to be left alone with Denis.
I saw her turn the corner.
Now it was just me and Denis here.
"Kyle?" Denis asked in a worried tone.
My body shook.
"N-nothing." I replied hurriedly. "We shouldn't be late to Professor Damian's lecture."
The shadow of his head tilted slightly.
"But Professor Damian isn't going to give his lecture today." Denis said with a questioning tone.
My hands started shaking violently.
How did he know.
How did he know Professor Damian would be absent today.
I finally mustered the courage to meet his eyes.
My body almost collapsed at the sight.
His gaze was full of uncaring coldness.