Cici jerked her head, immediately staring at Frenrin before whipping it back towards Charlie.
"Did he do this to you..." She said right before glaring daggers at Frenrin and then slowly turning back.
"...No, well, I suppose so, but—"
Cici immediately stood straight, positioning herself in front of Charlie while staring at Frenrin.
"You may be cute and have the death element, but you aren't able to do whatever you want!"
Frenrin stared dumbfoundedly while Cici pointed firmly and intensely at him.
"Stop!" Charlie yelled out to Cici.
"It's not like that..."
Cici's finger faltered, wavering while still pointing towards Frenrin. "Huh?"
Frenrin was still standing idly while staring confusedly towards the two.
...
"Cough, cough, so it was just a misunderstanding... I messed up again. I'm really sorry, Frenrin."
Shortly after the false accusations, Cici led Frenrin and Charlie inside her private room inside the library. It was filled with different bookshelves that were filled with books labeled by color.
"You've committed quite a few misunderstandings with me, Cici."
Frenrin stared seriously towards Cici, although in her mind she was currently only thinking. {He's so cute, I want to buy him and keep him in my room like a stuffed animal!}
Cici wore a sad expression. "I'm sorry if it feels like I've been rude to you... but they were truly all misunderstandings."
"It's fine, I suppose. Let's go find those books, Charlie."
Cici spoke up as they were next to the door about to leave.
"What books did you need? I could find them pretty easily."
Frenrin didn't even bother looking back towards Cici.
"It's fine; we'll find them ourselves."
"...Huh?"
Frenrin and Charlie left with no consideration of Cici, although Charlie mainly only left that way due to Frenrin slightly dragging him, and Charlie being too timid to stop him.
As Cici sat in a stupor, the two made their way to the librarian at the front desk.
Frenrin handed the girl the piece of paper that Sven listed the books he needed on.
"All three are in section A-1. Ren-related books have a white cover, and any martial books have a red cover."
Frenrin and Charlie found the books relatively easy; they were basically books you would start with, so they were in the easiest-to-find locations.
They then checked out the books through the librarian. Meanwhile, in the private study area.
{...Does he not like me?}
{But everybody likes me; how could he not like me? I couldn't count the amount of friends I have on 10 sets of hands.}
{Also, why did Charlie just leave like that? I thought we were friends...}
Cici's rambling became more rampant, slowly increasing in volume and ferocity.
Cici then started to nibble at her fingernails and tap her foot repeatedly on the floor.
{He doesn't know, right? There's no way he knows. He can't know.}
Her tapping increased at a rapid pace, while her fingernails started dyeing the floor a crimson red, much darker than a typical human's blood...
...
"...Why did you just leave like that? You even dragged me with you!"
Frenrin shrugged him off, "I'll tell you when we get back to my room."
Charlie scoffed in response but didn't pester him any longer... at least about things related to Cici.
Before Charlie could spout any more nonsense, Frenrin did a 180 and started walking backwards while talking. "You can read and write, correct?"
"Obviously, I'm a noble. Every child of noble origin has to know how to write."
...
"Seriously?"
Charlie stared at the piece of paper Frenrin wrote on after returning to his room.
Frenrin nodded in response.
"BAHAHAHAAHA! Your handwriting is terrible! Even a dog could write better."
Frenrin stared at Charlie, snapping his pencil in half, immediately quieting Charlie's loud outburst. "Are you going to help or not?"
"Just get a book from the library; there are specific ones for that."
"I refuse."
Frenrin continued to deny the act of borrowing another book while pestering Charlie to help him.
Charlie eventually gave in and crafted a makeshift textbook for practice, writing different-sized lines to help with size consistency.
"It's a little much to write every letter, so just start with size for now; just write in between those lines. It should help you with the inconsistency of size at least."
Frenrin wrote on the paper, but the content was not what Charlie was expecting.
"Are you for real?"
"Yes, my handwriting really is that bad."
|Do not react to what I wrote; pretend that what I'm writing is terrible in quality.|
"...Just keep practicing."
|Do not trust Cici, do not talk to Cici, do not interact with Cici, do not go near Cici.|
Charlie was surprisingly rather quick on the uptake, starting to translate his language rather efficiently.
"Why is your writing so bad?"
"I can't say; it's just always been like that."
Frenrin then continued to write on another line.
|The less you know, the better. Trust me.|
"Fine, if you don't want to tell me, then don't."
Frenrin then grabbed the pieces of paper he wrote on and then nonchalantly fed the pieces of paper to Garmr, who was eating them rather greedily.
"Must be nice having a living trash can right next to you."
Garmr stared rather furiously at Charlie, although he was currently eating paper, so it looked more like he was angry at eating paper rather than at Charlie.
"Anyway, I need to rest. Unlike you, I actually train every day."
Charlie took an exaggerated few steps back, wearing an expression as if Frenrin just insulted his mother to his face.
"I train every day, though?"
Frenrin stared at Charlie's flimsy and weak frame.
"Sure..."
"I really do! I'll show you tomorrow; don't chicken out. Alright?"
"Yeah, sure, sure."
Charlie left with a slight tinge of red on his face.
{Are you sure you should have told him about Cici?}
Garmr telepathically spoke to Frenrin as he continued to munch down on the paper.
{Yeah, I mean I kind of had to. Otherwise he would have kept talking to Cici, which could definitely come back to bite me.}
{Whatever, make sure you also keep your distance. But definitely do not let her grow suspicious of you.}
{What's the point? It's not like her choices would change. It's simply a matter of time.}
{If she knows that you know, then instead of years, it'll be days. I'm sure you wouldn't want that, right?}
{You're being too brash; your lack of danger is incredibly worrying. There was no reason to tell Charlie, nor was there any reason to act so rudely to her. You could have simply slightly pushed her away, politely albeit.
Frenrin didn't respond; instead, he had a slight smirk on his face.
...
"Cough, cough, so it was just a misunderstanding... I messed up again. I'm really sorry, Frenrin."
{Kid, don't react when I say this.}
{Hmm?}
{That teacher in front of you, she's... a demon.}
{A demon? Don't demons, well, look like demons?}
{Obviously there are ways to disguise ourselves; how else could we blend into society?}
{I just assumed you wore a giant cloak and mask, acting all mysterious, letting nobody see you.}
{...Anyway, you need to leave as soon as possible; it's definitely not a coincidence that she ran into you here at the library.}
{Alright, let me try this...}
...
Frenrin laid back on his bed with an insignificant smirk while staring at the ceiling.
Instead of being nervous, scared, or even just tense... in contrast, he was actually excited! The reason being due to something Garmr told him, specifically it was due to her soul!