Dragon Raja

8 - Day of Liberty

All was quiet in the afternoon hours at Cassell College. While some students were already headed to their next class, others stayed huddled around their friends, finishing up their lunch break.

Y/N was off in her own world, eyes shut and tuning out any background noise that wasn't the sound of the leaves dancing within the soft breeze. Blades of grass dipped between the spaces of her fingers, tickling her arms and the back of her legs as she laid down by a tree near the outdoor cafeteria. The shade covered her body, leaving only small specs of light to shine down through the spaces within the leaves.

It had been just a little over a month since she had enrolled in Cassell College. Making quick friends after the events of the dragon invasion drill, Y/N figured she was long overdue for a bit of alone time. She had been bombarded with questions and tours of the college she had barely any time to take in everything that had happened to her.

Her friendship with Luminous and Finger influenced the rest of the students to compare the trio to the Three Stooges, mainly due to Finger pulling the other two along and then getting them into trouble. Nono readily took Y/N under her wing as a younger sister figure, always sure she was taken care of. Through Nono, she was also introduced to Susie, a close friend of Nono's.

And while Y/N would frequently stop and chat with Caesar and Johann, the two organization leaders seemed to have busy schedules, so spending time with them was minimal. Caesar expressed great interest in her abilities and always greeted her with his flamboyant attitude. Johann was always civil and understanding, but there were a lot of moments their conversation felt stiff.

While the others were easy to talk to or were the first to approach her with a conversation, she felt Johann was more awkward to approach. Of course, Y/N understood he was entirely focused on his studies, but she felt too shy to come up to him and have their conversation be entirely one-sided.

"Y/N? What are you doing here?"

A sudden voice brought Y/N out of her daydreams, her eyes slowly lifted open, and she was surprised at the figure hovering above her with a look of worry. Y/N internally chuckled at herself, propping herself on the back of her elbows to get a better look at her guest. What was that saying? Speak of the devil, as one would say.

"Just relaxing for the rest of our break," Y/N said, "wanna join?"

She smiled gently at Johann, who took her offer and sat down next to her. Y/N shifted up and sat upright so that she and Johann could sit side by side. Even with the smallest space between them, they could still feel each other's warmth radiating off their bodies.

"You know," Johann started, "S-Ranks are extremely rare, I only knew of Luminous until you enrolled. I heard from the principal that he's impressed with your skills, and so am I,"

Y/N chuckled quietly, bringing her gaze from Johann's brown eyes to the grass beneath them. She was surprised to learn that Johann would often wear contacts to hide his golden eyes, but he told her that he would prefer not to attract too much attention because of them.

"I'm guessing this is another attempt to recruit me to join Lionheart," Y/N said.

Johann chuckled, "You got me,"

Y/N brought her knees to her chest, resting her arms across them and giving Johann a curious glance. "I thought Lancelot was in charge of recruitment. Didn't think the chairman would ask me yet another time,"

"Normally Lancelot would, but we wouldn't want to miss out on someone with your potential," Johann's usual straightened-out lips twitched up into the faintest of smiles, one wouldn't notice the slight upward curve of his lips unless looking closely.