Of Sages and Oni

Chapter 2 - Arrival

Y/N POV:
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I stared at Al Haitham and blinked a couple of times. He couldn't be serious right?

"I mean if you're comfortable with it then I guess I'm fine. But are you sure? I can sleep on the couch or-"

"Nope. Like I said, I want to make sure you're close by so I can wake you up and we can leave at a reasonable hour. That being said it's about time to get some shut eye so please, lie down Y/N."

I gulped and got on the bed. It was very soft and I almost immediately sunk all the way down into the mattress.

Al Haitham chuckled. "Comfortable right?"

"Very." He climbed in on the other side and turned the lights off. I sighed and rolled over. The sounds of pages turning filled my ears. "What have you been reading?"

"A textbook on theoretical origins of Celestia. This is the 5th edition and I've read each one."

"That sounds very exciting?"

"Oh come on- You can't tell me you haven't wondered at one point or another where the gods came from and how we as humans and vision holders fit into the puzzle."

"I guess maybe at one point or another but thinking that deeply for too long makes my head hurt so I just leave the topic there." I rolled over so I was facing Al Haitham. The small amount of light from the window really accentuated his features and gave off this sort of ethereal glow.

He hummed and lightly tapped his fingers on the bed. "Y/N. I've always been curious. Why did you come to the Akademiya?"

"Well I was a little interested in Um...I'm sorry this is going to sound ridiculous."

"Don't worry. I promise I won't laugh."

I sighed. "Ever since I got my vision I've wanted to learn how to fight and eventually that lead me to becoming a little interested in testing how far can a vision go in combat. I also know there are the standard weapons vision holders use, but I really want to try and gain enough knowledge to create something new. Something different."

Al Haitham burst out into laughter a few seconds later. "So you're telling me you came to the Akademiya to work on combat skills and weapon design? Ohohoho....I can see why the other sages might have taken an interest in your studies but wow that's really random."

I huffed. "You said you wouldn't laugh at me."

"And? I wasn't expecting the answer you gave." Al Haitham calmed down. "Anyways it's best to get to sleep. Goodnight Y/N."

"Goodnight." I curled up and slowly let myself fall asleep. What's really odd is right before I was completely out, I could have sworn I felt someone wrap their arms around me. Maybe Al Haitham just pulled a blanket over me so I wasn't cold.

'How considerate of him...'

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I woke up to Al Haitham shaking me.

"Get up Y/N. We're getting breakfast and going."

I groaned. "Can I get another hour of sleep?"

"What? No. We have to be on the island bright and early. You can sleep in another hour but you won't eat."

He was right. I did technically need to get up. I rolled out of bed and got dressed. I was about to head to the dinning hall when I saw Al Haitham already had a few pastries sitting in the living room.

"I figured that I'd go ahead and grab some food for you. Just make sure to leave some for Kaveh whenever he decides to get up."

"Alright." I picked up my favorite pastries and started eating. Al Haitham, to no surprise, was reading his textbook again. You used this opportunity to watch him closely. The way his muscles sat on his chest, you could see them ever so slightly rising and falling with each breath he took. I wonder how they feel...

"Y/N. Is something wrong? You stopped eating."

"Nope! Nothing's wrong. Just thinking." I finished up my pastries.

"You full?"

"Mhm. We can go now."

"Finally." He closed his book and got up with his belongings, including the folder for the project. "Let's getting moving."

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It only took a couple of hours to get to Inazuma. It was a lot cooler than my home in Sumeru and for that I'm grateful. We were told we could go on the island, however we'd just need to make sure we navigated the fog carefully. Right now we had decided to bring our trek to a halt because the fog had gotten too dense and we could barely understand where we were.

"I think we should wait here and hope the fog clears around sunset."

"That honestly sounds like it'd be the safest plan." I sat down on a rock and played with a few twigs.

"And just like that you're already bored, huh?"

"Yep. There's not much to do so I'm just going to draw pictures in the dirt."

He walked over. "What are you drawing?"

"So, this is you." I pointed to a dirt drawing of him. It didn't look too bad. I really struggled getting his hair right. "Then this one is me."

"Ah."

"Those are some pretty good drawings."

I nearly jumped out of my skin at that very moment and let out a scream. Al Haitham blindly swung at whoever was behind us. A giant man with white hair and red horns was curled around his stomach and whimpering in pain on the ground. "Whyyyyyyy..."

"And that's what you get for sneaking up on people," Al Haitham said as he glared down at the oni.

I went over to him. "Are you doing alright?"

"I was until I got the air knocked out of my lungs by the thickest book I've ever seen." He huffed. "You two wouldn't be the research students from Sumeru I'm supposed to be hanging out with right?"

"We are. Sorry about that..."

"No no. It's alright. Arataki the One and Oni Itto will manage." He immediately shot the two of us a smile. "Now who's ready to be educated on Oni Culture?"