19 A Person from the Second District?

\"Yea, what a coincidence,\" I awkwardly replied back.

Ben sadly smiled toward me and asked, \"Is there something that you want from me?\"

\"No, but I came to ask if I said anything wrong at that cafe because your face looks a bit depressed after I asked about your school life.\" I responded back with my boldness.

\"Well, it's nothing that a kid like you has to worry about.\" Ben answered back kindly while patting my head.

He saw me as a kid. A kid. I did have the body of a ten year old child that was going to turn eleven soon in december, but still. Was it too much to ask? No wonder he treated me so kindly, thinking that I was a runaway child with Shelly or somewhere along those lines.

My first love. Sigh. I never really got to know his age anyways did I? Fine! I'll use that thinking as an advantage to get close to him!

\"I want to listen though. I loove listening to new stories.\" I whined while stomping my feet to pretend that I looked upset.

Ben kindly replied while crouching down to meet my line of sigh and asked, \"Do you want to go somewhere else then to talk about this?\"

I fiercely nodded my head while we headed towards the fancy restaurant nearby the area while he held onto my hand.

I wondered if he was rich or had a family that was influential in the second district, as the restaurant looked like it was for elites.

The waiter quickly led us to a table for two and Ben pulled out a seat for me to sit in. What a gentleman!

After Ben ordered our meal, he started to tell his story, \"I'm not actually from the second district. I'm actually from the first district like you and your friend and I came here undercover with my friend for a school assignment.\"

When I nodded my head to gesture him to continue on, Ben finally revealed his true identity, \"I'm in my first year of Welms Collegiate Academy high school. It's three levels down from your school in the first district and I'm the partner of Alexis Marcell. However, my friend likes my partner and I like my friend's partner and it's mutual love.\"

So this was what Shelly was talking about. A love that was never to be bloomed due to the partner system.

\"Then why can't you switch partners?\" I asked if they and their partners were both consenting.

\"It's because the partner system has a lot of politics involved within it. Part of it is based on the amount of mana a family possesses, but the other part is based on what connections your family may need in the future.\" Ben replied sadly.

\"So you can't not get married to your original partner easily?\" I asked again.

\"That's almost never the case.\" Ben said with a downcast smile.

\"Didn't your partner come today to find you as well?\" (Ben)

Ben looked utterly surprised, \"You snuck into the second district! Not that you got permission to come here?\"

\"Well it was the weekend and my friend and I was bored of staying at school all the time. My friend heard of a secret pathway to the second district so we decided to sneak out together to have some fun.\" I replied back while fidgeting.

\"In normal circumstances, you get severely punished if you do so. Next time you should try getting permission instead of sneaking out,\" Ben warned me.

\"No wonder your partners looked really mad,\" Ben mumbled.

\"Well, it's because both of my partners are too controlling all the time I wanted a nice decent break that's far away from them.\" I said while pouting.

\"My original partner is like, 'you have to behave properly as the future lady of the Roselia house Rika!' and my current partner is like, 'you have to study hard in order to not tarnish the Monette family name.' What's with all these pride with family names?\" I said angrily.

\"The Roselia and Monette family?\" Ben almost yelled out in astonishment.

\"Well, yes?\" I answered back confused with Ben's reaction.

\"As expected of the number one ranking school in the first district! The Roselia and the Monette family are the part of the top five most influential families in the first district other than the Locast family who are also growing in power lately.\" Ben explained.

\"Actually my friend Shelly who was with me before in the cafe is from the Locast family.\" I added.

I knew that Luke, Shelly and Alex were from influential families to a certain extent, but I had a tough time believing that they were one of the most influential in this entire district. No wonder Luke and Alex were so stuck up about their family names! Sigh.

Ben looked surprised again as his jaw almost dropped to the floor. \"Now I have a question to ask you,\" I said while smiling.

\"How did my partner find me so fast?\" I asked.

Ben had an expression like 'oh, so we start from there'. \"Well, each partner can track where their partner is as an emergency precaution with the marble you were given. You will get many dangerous assignments in the future so they train you to use it at an early age.\"

And why didn't I know about this? Maybe I should have payed more attention to that lecture in the beginning of elementary school when they explained how to use the marble.

Sigh. No wonder Luke knew almost where I was all the time. I felt like he was using the tracking device almost everyday.

\"Is there any way to stop the tracking as it can get a little bothersome?\" I asked to sustain my private life.

\"Well, it's not recommended, but you can turn the tracking off by blocking the person you visualize with your mana and pour it into the marble. However, it's only temporary as you can do it for 24 hours.\" Ben responded back.

24 hours would be enough. I closed my eyes and visualized Luke as the person I wanted to block. I then poured my image I had in mind into the marble with my mana and my marble glowed a hint of white light instead of its usual translucent blue.

\"Like this?\" I asked.

\"Yea. Exactly like that.\" Ben said as he strangely smiled.

It was about this time that our order finally came out. Ben ordered us two pieces of tender steak with mashed potatoes and a shrimp salad as a side.

It looked appetizing. Now in order to enjoy my meal, I used my mana again to block Alex from the tracking just in case he would be able to use it as well.

\"Rika if it's ok to ask this, can I ask how much mana you have? Normally people at your age wouldn't be able to do what you did, as they don't have that much excess mana.\" Ben asked hesitantly.

\"The teacher said that it looks like I almost don't have a limit on how much excess mana that I have.\" I replied while eating a piece of steak.

Ben looked utterly shocked at this point. Oopps. Did I reveal too much about myself?

I looked outside the window to hide my flustered face, as I saw a group of young children asking the people around them if they saw a 'young child with gradient red hair and orange pupil eyes wearing a pink lace dress'. This couldn't be good news could it?

And they were frighteningly close to where I was now. When Ben noticed my gaze towards the window, he said, \"I think it's better you get back to them now. It looks like your partners are quite worried about you since you put the tracking off.\"

No way. I can imagine how bad their lectures are going to be. When Ben paid for our meal and we exited the restaurant, the 'frightening young group of children' spotted me almost right away.

Shelly ran to hug me and said, \"We were worried when both Alex and Luke suddenly couldn't track you!\"

Sob. Shelly, you're such a nice person trying to buy me some time before my doom, as I saw some eerie smiles on two children behind her.

When Ben looked at the horrible reunion, he said to me, \"I'll get going now. It was nice meeting you Rika.\"

I nodded back. It was nice knowing you too before I get killed at any moment here.

\"Rika!\" Two voices simultaneously said.

\"Let's remain in a calm manner,\" I replied while slowly turning back.

\"In a calm manner you say. At this point, I feel sorry for Luke who has you as his original partner!\" Alex almost yelled while raising one of his eyebrows and crossing his arms.

\"At this rate, we're going to get the attention of people nearby. Look! They're already starting to stare!\" I pointed out.

Alex angrily grabbed my hand and said, \"We're going back to school. Now!\"

Sure why not? At least it was better than this place. I reluctantly let Alex drag me back to that cliff for one hour while we exchanged no words among us.

Wow. Today was going to be a long day. Wasn't it?