[Eon's POV: ]
"So, today's the day everyone."
Looking at the group gathered in the garden of the accident on this fine morning, we looked around at our dear friends that seemed to be doing much better than we had expected.
"Haaa... I'm gonna fail."
Of course though, there were going to be various reactions to this day.
"No you won't. Why are you so negative, dummy?"
"Mana properties of the environmental Mana associates itself with the physical body to give rise to the attached Mana that one uses in order to conjure natural phenomenons with the specific 'magic' formulas, as well as in various different forms..."
Some were studying even right now while some were learning some things from the others.
Others were carefree but there also were some that looked particularly troubled.
"Someone please teach me this! Someone! Whhaaaaa! Please teach me this!!!"
Tia had studied more than enough and still, here she was crying over something as simple as the fundamental structure of a spirit body.
She was being too much as usual, but she really didn't seem to have done that topic.
'It wasn't in the syllabus and the chances that they would ask something so tough to someone in the first year was not high.'
She didn't really have to do this, but she was crying. And, Bell couldn't just leave her crying fairy friend alone.
She knew the most about the fundamentals of spirits so she was teaching her to the best of her abilities.
"Come on now, Tia. They aren't going to ask you to summon an advanced spirit or something. Don't stress it too much-."
"Shut up! Just shut up! Let me do this or you're gonna pay!"
She was even shouting at Carla now. She really was talking all this too seriously.
"Well, at least they look cheerful."
Rein looked around at the others, how they were preparing for their individual papers, and how despite most of them having different subject's tests today, they were helping one another.
The atmosphere around here was nice, nothing gloomy or cold like it was a few days ago.
'Some of them were looking especially high spirited thanks to the good luck rituals they had done, or the people they had talked to.'
Though, above all else, the reason for their relatively better 'vibe' was the friends around them.
Friends that had helped them and taught them all that they needed to know for this test...
It was nice, and seeing them like this was pretty much worth all the efforts we had spent on them.
"Lucifer. Got a minute?"
"Hmm?"
A familiar voice called me from the back as soon as we sat down on the ground after greeting the rest of them.
'We knew they would crowd around the two of us after they were done with their own studying. And since there was still an hour left before the start of the tests, we had plenty of time for the last minute discussions.'
I thought they would give us some peace of mind, but someone was already here to greet me.
"Yes, Miss Luna. What is it?"
It was Luna and she didn't seem as normal as she usually is.
It was difficult to notice the subtle sadness on her ever stoic face, but for some of us, it wasn't difficult to notice something as obvious as this.
She bowed a little and with that same atopic upset look, she walked away from me, and went all the way to the empty area on the other side.
"What did you do...?"
When I came back, Rein was standing there, looking at the lone figure of Miss Luna standing alone staring blankly at her notebook.
She can tell she wasn't reading— everyone can tell it since she was holding her notebook upside down. And, she could see the emotions that others, even I cannot perceive.
"I don't think I did anything out of the ordinary... I mean, everyone already knows we somehow know some unordinary things.
She just got upset and-."
"She's sad, not upset... it's almost as if she wants to cry."
"What?"
Her behaviour just now was unexpected, for all of us.
Captain Alpha even went up to her and started talking with her casually like he usually does, but she avoided him and even ended the conversation.
She didn't look sad but angry and upset, but what she was showing and what she might be feeling could certainly be something so complicated that she herself couldn't understand those emotions.
Rein could see them with her eyes so that was the only way we could tell that there was some deeper problem, and seeing how the tests were going to start in a few minutes from now, this wasn't good.
"Miss Luna..."
I couldn't just leave her like that, so even though Rein was hesitant, I told her it was alright and went up to miss Luna once again.
"What do you want now? Didn't I say we are fine-."
She was adamant on what she had said earlier, but right now, she shouldn't be alone.
She needed people. If not help, she at least needed someone to be with her.
And...
"Miss Luna. How can I help?"
Even though we don't know how bad her mom's condition might be, or how worried and concerned she is right now, we were here for her.
"How can your friends help you?"
I wasn't the only one present here for her.
All of her friends were here.
Rein, Quin, Lizzy, Captain Alpha, Zoe... all of us were here from her. And, she can rely on us without worrying about the exams that will start in a bit.
'We knew we were going to do well anyway, so, at a time like this, helping a friend was more important than burying our faces in the same books we have already studied.'
If she couldn't even recognize her emotions properly, there was no telling what she might have to go through during her test.
Worst case scenario, she might not even be well enough to finish her test paper... and I'm not overreacting.
"..."
She knew she needed help as well.
The moist eyes looking back at all of us were enough proof of that.
"Everyone..."
She didn't have to fight this internal battle all by herself...
We were here for her.