"Upperclassman? This little girl?" Zandre voiced incredulously, and gave her a look-over.
'Don't punch him, Don't punch him, Don't punch him, Don't punch him,'
He was ruining any impression she had of him, and considering that she had managed to camouflage herself so that he couldn't even see her, even with Place directly staring at her, this could end quite badly for him.
"You should know better than to underestimate anyone, respect goes both ways." Place admonished him before turning his attention back to the girl.
"Good morning, I am Ald-placeen Cublue, please just call me Place." He held out his hand, and she took it.
"Me and Zandre here." Place gestured with his head to his companion. "Are new admissions, we were supposed to start classes today, but this guy, lacking basic respect and manners, decided to sleep in, and then decided to run randomly until he found the building!"
Anger had returned back into his voice.
"And no matter, HOW I shouted for him to STOP, THIS... creature didn't, and being the good roommate I am, I followed him, trying to help."
Having almost cursed in front of a child, Place brought his emotions back down as he stared at Zandre, who looked away guiltily.
"You can swear, it's alright." The girl walked over to the chair and sat down, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she did so. "I'm older than I look, and the other students aren't as quiet as they think."
She waved her wand, and golden words wrote her name in the air.
"Prismella Magi-child, pleasure is all mine."
Place inhaled sharply, and Prismella's face gained a grin.
She let out another giggle as she took in Place's shock.
"Nice to meet you." Zandre returned her greeting, completely unaware.
Place wanted to scream.
"We'll meet again." Prismella waved her wand again, and a spell circle appeared beneath them.
Place didn't move, but Zandre did.
"Whoa!" He lifted a foot as he looked at the glowing circle.
"What is th-"
His words were cut short as he, along with Place, was teleported out of the warehouse.
Prismella stared at the space that Place had occupied a moment ago.
"How did he manage to get admission?" She wondered aloud. "He barely had any mana..."
***
Zandre fell to the ground, suddenly off-balance from the sudden shift.
"Oof!" He grunted. "What just happened?"
Place looked at the buildings around him.
"We're back." He said, and started walking away.
"Where are you going?" Zandre asked.
"Back to the dorms to change my uniform, then I'll go see if classes are still going on."
"Do you think they'll let us in?" Zandre asked as he jogged up to him.
Place stopped.
"Zandre." He spoke, staring straight forward.
"I need a few minutes of silence."
"Hmm? Something wron-"
"Zandre."
A moment of silence passed.
"Okay." Zandre nodded with a confused look on his face.
"Thank you."
The walk back to the dorms was made in silence in accordance with Place's request, giving him time to sort and manage his current mental state.
Place was agitated as he stepped out of the shower and put on fresh, dry clothing.
He felt anger towards Zandre, and some of it was justified, but there was too much of it.
It felt forced, like some of those people who just wanted to pick a fight.
He had cursed.
As far as he knew, he hadn't cursed within earshot of anybody at any point in his life, except for that one time five years ago.
And now, he had cursed at Zandre, in his face.
That was a complete loss of control.
It was unnatural.
Zandre had not done anything to deserve that.
For the second time since this morning, Place wondered if something was affecting his mind.
He glanced at the small clock on Otis's table.
'Class is still in session.'
He looked over at Zandre, who had switched out his clothing as well, and seemed to be in deep thought.
"Class is still in session, if you want to attend."
Zandre snapped out of his trance and looked at him.
"Then let's go!"
"No running."
...
"...Right."
They walked out of the dorms in silence.
"I apologize for my outburst."
Halfway through their journey, Place decided to break the tension.
"Huh?"
"I apologize for my outburst. I should not have cursed at you like that. I should have known better."
Place pushed down an angry, derogatory thought before it could escape his mouth.
His theory was now confirmed.
'No way that thought was natural.'
While he was confirming his theory, Zandre had finished processing his apology.
"I... Thank you...?" He sounded unsure, which caused Place to raise an eyebrow.
"I'm not sure how to respond." Zandre admitted.
Place revised everything he knew about Zandre, and this was a bit against the mental profile he was building.
A new thought.
'Is his mind being controlled as well?'
Normally, he wouldn't have thought in that direction, but that line of thought was still fresh, and so he immediately jumped at that.
"But I appreciate your apology, and I should say sorry as well."
He took a deep breath.
"I'm sorry for running off and not listening to you."
"Apology accepted."
A moment went by in silence after Place accepted the apology.
"Did you really not even think about stopping and listening to me during all that time we were running?"
"I'll be honest, I didn't even hear most of what you were saying."