Lina was not enjoying her days at school. It was less the impediment of freedom and more of the new student who was trying to kill her, with an emphasis on the trying part. He had an even greater aversion to school than she used to have and there wasn't a time that he didn't have some rude remark to make about this or that in the class. And because he was sitting behind, the teacher never failed to look in her direction.
There were also the weird signs he'd try to tape on her back or the knots he tried to tie her hair in. And he was always pushing into the back of her chair if his feet weren't already propped on the desk and jutting past her shoulder into her face.
"Damn that jerk! If this was out on the road, I'd be using him as a mop!!" Lina screamed, slamming her fists onto the table, causing the books to 'jump' an inch.
"NO LOUD VOICES IN THE LIBRARY!!" roared the school librarian through a megaphone, temporarily rendering everyone in the path of the soundwave deaf.
'Baka.' Zelgadiss wrote on a piece of paper he showed to Lina. 'You're the one who's going to be in trouble. And if you keep this up, you're going to get me in trouble as well.'
"He's the one picking on me!" Lina whispered furiously, rapidly turning the pages of the magic tome before her. They were sitting across from each other, piles of books towering above their heads.
This was their Occult Magic class, one of the specialty magic classes offered by the campus. There were two parts of the class, the first holding much less weight than the second. The first week they had studied about various obscure branches of magic and explore several myths about magic and their origins. Now from the second week on, the class was self-taught. The students in pairs had to choose an obscure magical topic, clear it with the professor, and then research it. And the end of the semester, a paper detailing the topic had to be presented. It was also possible to defer the paper if a petition was put forth for more time.
"So, what are you going to research?" Lina asked after several minutes of silence. The book before was some dry philosophical thing about the ethics of using Black Magic for morally good purposes. As far as she cared, if it worked, use it. So what if Black Magic supposedly came from the same source as the only-in-stories Mazoku? No one had reported a Mazoku in the last several centuries.
"Why do you care?" Zelgadiss replied coolly, quickly scanning the contents of each page before turning it. As if the readers can't guess what possible topic dear Zel could be researching.
"Hmmmm," Lina thought, twirling a strand of red hair around her finger. "Let's see... a love potion? How to resurrect a dark evil lord from times long past? The Philosopher's Stone? The Eternal King? Mazoku? The Clair Bible?"
"A way to reverse this stupid curse. Are you an idiot or does the obvious just make detour especially for you?" Mental arrows from Zelgadiss's putdown stabbed Lina.
"Excuuuuse me," she growled, visibly trembling as she struggled to keep her anger and violent urges under control. "I thought you were going to do something interesting, being so much more advanced than everyone else. But if you're going to do something as boring as how to break a curse...well, I guess that would still be more interesting than working with someone else."
"Huh?" the cursed one blinked intelligently.
Lina poked him on the brow. "Everyone is supposed to work in a pair, remember? And seeing how everyone else is like an entire class lower in skill and knowledge, you're the only one who could keep with me in this kind of independent research project."
He blinked again and then wondered if someone had slipped something into the disgusting nutrient broth that the lunch lady had forced down his throat by order of his mother. Because he rarely ate, Zelas made it a standing order for the old lady in charge of the cafeteria to make sure he did eat at least once a week. The fact that the old lady was built like a rock and had some magical apron that granted her the strength of a giant helped her in subduing him.
"Did you just ask to partner up for the research project? Because if you did, I'm turning you over to Filia for a physiological examination and if you didn't, I'm going in for a hearing check."
"No, I'm saying that it's the only reasonable thing to do," Lina said stoutly, trying to at least ignore all of the irritation of the last several weeks of the previous year. As Nee-chan had drilled into her, to do well in school, you had to play by their rules. That meant being at least civil to the son of the principal since people could be so vengeful when their offspring are slighted.
Zelgadiss stared at her.
"...what?"
He put a hand on her forehead. Lina blushed.
"No fever...but I can't be sure. Your face is red so maybe you have the start of one."
"Why is it when I talk seriously you think I have a fever??" she asked in a harsh whisper, trying to avoid the sensitive ear of the librarian. "Are you purposely trying to pick a fight with me?!"
"Hey, anyone would think it's strange, wanting to work with a monster like me. You'd have to be either a complete nutcase or a temporary one. What kind of normal person would want to have anything to do with me?"
"Fine, so I'm not normal! I know more about the real world than all of the teachers combined do. I learned the Dragu Slave when I was thirteen. I'm more comfortable beating the crap out of guys than talking with them. And I'm willing to work on a yearlong project with a self-absorbed jerk who since the very first day has only insulted me, teased me, and made my life hell. Yes, I am not normal! You have a problem with that??"
"...why would I want to work with such a short-tempered witch?"
"Why you..." Lina grabbed Zel by his jacket collar. "You really are trying to tick me off aren't you! I oughta..." She blinked, as if an epiphany just came to her, which it did. "That's it, isn't it?"
"What?" Zel didn't like that searching, sharp look in her eyes. "You've finally found your common sense?"
Lina didn't rise to the bait. Instead she peered closely at his face, coming much closer to Zel's face than he was comfortable with. At least nobody was looking, except for the stormy face of the librarian. Oh no wait, she was actually glaring at the guy two tables in front of them who was loudly munching on a bag of oily chips.
"I get it," Lina said slyly. "All this 'monster' and 'everyone hates me' business, you're trying to keep people from becoming friends with you. You're just using your stony skin as an excuse to not let anyone get close. In fact, you like it when people don't like you."
Her chuckling did not reassure him in the least.
"Well, guess what?"
He really didn't want to since it sounded like it wasn't going to be good, for him.
"I'm going to be your friend, precisely because you don't like it. Besides being in all the same classes except one, we're going to together even more to work on this project. Hey, maybe I can even make some extra money selling pictures of you to the ZFC."
"What?! Aren't you torturing yourself by doing that?" Zel sputtered at the face of this...this...complete about-face in Lina's attitude.
"Yeah, I used to think that way but hey, if you don't like it, I'm bound to love it," Lina shrugged airily, letting go of Zel and wiping her hands. "So, Zel-KUN, where do we start looking? The encyclopedia of curses or artifacts involved in making wishes?"
"Doomed. I am doomed," he groaned, sinking into his seat.
"You betcha," Lina grinned widely.
Neither noticed the shadow that was watching them from the partially opened door to the library. The shadow retreated back into the hallway, its eyes moody, shoulders slouched. Another shadow sneaked up on *it*.
"Do you have a hall pass?" the second shadow asked creepily, freaking out the first shadow. "All students should be in class unless they have a hall pass."
"Who are-Xelloss," Valgaav spat, glaring at the teacher. "Speaking of being in class, why aren't you? You're the teacher."
"Oh, I don't have any classes during this hour," the purple-haired one said sweetly, looking around Valgaav to the crack between the doors. "Has someone been spying on someone else?"
"Oh shut up. I don't have the lecherous tendencies that everyone has told me you have, you pervert," the new student snorted, walking away, hands in his pockets.
Xelloss raised his eyebrows at the departing back and looked back through the crack. "Oh my. I didn't think they'd be allowed to do that in the library. And with so many other people present. Has Zel-kun no shame? And to bring Lina-chan into it as well!"
"WHAT WAS THAT?!?" Valgaav roared, throwing the doors open with such a force that they rebounded upon striking the wall. "What are you doing to - "
WHAM
Everyone in the library looked up to see the library doors slam close. Then they just shrugged and returned to their reading. Someone must have opened a window somewhere and let in a draft.
Outside, Xelloss looked at Valgaav from the side. "Ano, Valgaav-kun, how is your nose? Do you need another trip to the infirmary?"
"I'm. Fine." He pulled his face away from the doors, looking a bit flat in the places where the panels had slammed. His golden-eyed glare could have peeled paint, fried eggs, or maybe even given someone a good tan.
"Oh. I see. Well then, it's time you went off to class. We all know it's your first day and that you may still not remember how to navigate the halls. So I'm sure your teacher for this period will be lenient, this once at least. But spying on Lina-chan won't be a legitimate excuse for missing anymore classes."
"What?? Why the hell would I be spying on that foul-mouthed, short-tempered, mean-spirit redhead?!?" Valgaav stammered. "It's not like there's anything interesting to look at!"
"Oh dear, have I been mistaken?" Xelloss gasped in dismay. "Did I or did I not see you pick on Lina all last week in and out of class, try to catch her before and after school, ask around to find out where she lived, and now what else..."
"It isn't because I like her or anything!! I'm trying to get back at her for what she did to me!"
"Who said anything about you liking her?"
Valgaav gulped. "I think I just remembered where my class is. I'm leaving."
"Aaaw, so soon? But we were just getting friendly," whined Xelloss, hanging onto Valgaav's back. "Like this little thing about Lina-chan. So it is true when they say you tease the person you like."
"I DON'T like her!!"
"There, there, it's a very normal thing to happen, no need to be ashamed that you are attracted to a member of the opposite sex. In all cases, you need to handle your approach carefully. Lina-chan may be very knowledgeable in a number of things but her social development, as well as her romantic bone, may be a bit stunted." He patted Valgaav on the head, careful to avoid the horn. "Just leave everything up to the Love Doctor."
"I already told you I don't like her!!"
A rather large fly on the wall hummed, the transmission of the scene, visual and audio, completed. It now let go of the wall and headed off to scare some girls changing for P.E.
"Oh dear, this has gotten serious," Kitzero muttered, re-watching the exchange between Xelloss and the new horned student Valgaav. "Very, very serious. Just what is that Xelloss thinking?"
"What is it, grandson?" Rezo asked, walking past in the background and then tripping over something underfoot.
"Our dear Zelgadiss has gotten a rival for his affections for the Lina Inverse girl. Some new student that Lina apparently beat up between the two school years."
"How interesting. What is this? I can see!!" Rezo crowed triumphantly and ran right into a pillar. "Nope. I was wrong."
"Grandfather, do we have Love Potion Version 1.0 ready yet?"
"The gun is primed and ready. ...did you load the bullets into the gun yet?"
"No. I thought you did."
"I didn't load it. What is loaded then?"
"I have no idea. Shall we find out?"
"Yes. Oh, call in some random students and tell them we're paying 50 silver each for participation in a scientific experiment. After all, we don't want anyone we know getting hurt by whatever is in here."
"So true."