"Damn it, if we had school uniforms this would've never happened," said Cleia, blushing and embarrassed.
"What's a school uniform?" asked Astrid.
"Nothing," Cleia replied, remembering how many things this world lacked compared to her previous life.
After changing clothes, Cleia returned to Mikey.
"Well, the last round is the maze," he said, and a labyrinth appeared above the castle. Soon after, both classes entered it. The timer above their heads showed three hours: that was the time they had to complete it.
"Zeryan, we elected you as leader, and Astrid as vice-leader. You're the ones who have to tell us what to do," said a boy; many agreed.
"Alright, here's what we'll do: I believe all of you know how to use the intermediate magic Communication, right?" said Astrid. "We'll split into groups of three. As soon as a group finds a clue, they send it to me or Zeryan, so we can tell you how to proceed."
Seven groups were formed: six groups of three and one group of two. Zeryan, Cleia, and Astrid stayed together and began their exploration first, taking a path with very thick, narrow walls. They kept walking until they stopped: in front of them was a fork—two corridors to the right and one straight ahead. On a stone, it was carved:
"3x + 4y = 25 ; x, y ≥ 0 ; x, y ∈ ℕ ; the number of turns must be even."
"It's a Diophantine equation," said Astrid. "The only possible solutions are x = 7, y = 1, or x = 3, y = 4. Since the inscription specifies that the number of turns must be even, it has to be 3,4. Three steps forward and four to the right."
"Impressive… but how do you know 3 means forward and 4 means right?" Cleia asked.
"It's simple: the even number implies a turn, and the only possible turn here is right. As for the 3… it was written on Professor Thyra's sheet."
"Damn, I should've read that sheet," thought Cleia.
The conclusion was clear: they had to take the first corridor on the right. So they did. The corridor was even more rotten, covered in moss; the floor was slippery and the air smelled of death.
"Couldn't they have made this maze a little less disgusting?" snapped Cleia.
"Apparently not," replied Zeryan, holding his nose.
After a short walk they found three corridors: one straight, one right, and one left.
"What do we do? There are no clues," asked Zeryan.
"I don't know," replied Astrid, expressionless as always.
At one point Cleia suggested, "Let's go straight."
"Fine," Zeryan answered.
They advanced and once again found themselves facing three identical corridors.
"Let's each take a different one," suggested Zeryan.
"Then I'll take the right one," said Astrid.
"I'll keep going straight," added Cleia.
---
Meanwhile, in Class C, Yuri and her teammates had a wild idea: destroy the maze. With her sword, Yuri was demolishing the walls one after another. This way, she ended up encountering Cleia.
"Oh, look who's here," Cleia said.
"Yuri? What are you doing here?" But she froze when she saw what Yuri had done. "You… destroyed the maze?"
"Yes, that's what I'm doing. I find it much easier and more efficient."
Yuri placed a hand on Cleia's face.
"You're still wearing this stupid blindfold…" She violently tore it from Cleia's eyes. "Look at how disgusting you are!"
Yuri's teammates reacted the same way and began mocking her.
"You disgust me." Yuri punched her. Trembling, Cleia tried to cover her blind eye.
"Stop it!" Cleia screamed. "Why are you doing this?"
"Just look at yourself! You're repulsive!" Yuri kicked her.
Astrid, having heard the screams, ran toward them. She arrived to see Cleia against the wall, crying, one hand over her blind eye, while Yuri kept hitting and insulting her, her teammates laughing.
"Stop it, Yuri!" shouted Astrid.
"Oh, look who's here—the emotionless girl!" Yuri yelled. She dashed toward Astrid and swung her sword, but Astrid dodged it.
"How are you using your singularity? Mikey should've blocked it!"
"Apparently he couldn't."
Astrid wasn't satisfied with the answer, but decided to ignore it for now.
Yuri kept attacking until Zeryan intervened, grabbing her arm.
"Stop! Why do you have to be like this, Yuri?"
"Don't call me by my name!" she shouted, hitting him.
"This is getting bad. Take Cleia and get her out of here!" Zeryan ordered. Astrid did so, and shortly after they were teleported out of the maze.
"Yuri Duskbane, you are suspended from school for three days," announced Professor Thyra. "The reason is obvious: you injured one of my students." The third round was canceled and Class H was declared the winner.
Yuri knew exactly what the consequences would be, so she said nothing, but inside she was full of frustration. Next time it won't go so smoothly, she thought.
---
Astrid accompanied Cleia to her room.
"Are you sure you don't want to go to the infirmary?" she asked; even if her face didn't show it, Astrid was very worried.
"No, I'm fine…" Cleia replied, voice low.
"If you need anything, ask me."
"I said I'm fine." But Astrid knew it was a lie.
"Cleia, if you want to talk… I'm here."
The next day, Astrid woke Cleia up.
"Hey, we should go to class."
"Sure, go ahead, I'll catch up," Cleia said. But Astrid knew she wouldn't come.
In class, Zeryan asked, "Is Cleia absent?"
"Yes… she doesn't want to leave her room," Astrid replied.
"Should we do something? Talk to her?"
"If you want, we can go to the café later and discuss it," Zeryan suggested.
Later, sitting at the café, Astrid asked, "What can we say to make her feel better?"
Meanwhile Cleia, alone in her room, thought: I shouldn't even be here. Why am I still alive? My father killed me… And the more she thought about it, the more the trauma from Yuri's first attack worsened, pushing her deeper into depression.
"Then I'll go talk to her," Astrid said.
"Alright," replied Zeryan.
But Astrid was tormented: It's my fault. I couldn't prevent it, and when I arrived, I couldn't do anything… I was completely useless.
When she opened the door, she found Cleia curled up on the bed, crying.
"Cleia, we need to talk."
"I don't want to talk, I'm fine."
"You're crying, you're not fine. I worry about you. You need to talk to me. I… I don't know what to do."
"I said I don't want to talk!"
"This again? It's the same thing you told me before, and didn't you feel better last time we talked? You can't stay locked up here forever. You can't stop at the first obstacle."
She handed her a blindfold.
"I bought this for you. It's the same as the first one I gave you, remember?"
Cleia put it on. "Thank you…"
"But you can't hide behind this mask forever."
"Sure…" Cleia replied, only to reassure her.
---
"Now I'll have to deal with Yuri," thought Astrid. But since she was suspended, she decided to wait.
When she returned to the room, it was already evening.
"I can't bring food to your room, and I can't leave you here without eating," she said.
"You can… I'm not hungry."
"Cleia, you skipped lunch because of the tournament. You can't skip dinner too."
In the end, she convinced her to go to the cafeteria.
"Cleia, Astrid! Over here!" Zeryan waved.
"Hi Zeryan."
"Hi Astrid… and hi Cleia."
Cleia ignored the greeting and sat in silence.
The voices in the cafeteria rose.
"That's the girl who got bullied? Poor thing…"
"She has a blind eye, right? Gross!"
Whether positive or negative, everyone was talking about her. Cleia stood up and ran outside.
"Cleia, wait!"
"Leave me alone, Astrid! Coming to the cafeteria was a terrible idea! They do nothing but judge me! It's all this stupid eye's fault!"
"What are you saying, Cleia? I love your eye, it's beautiful. You mustn't break down just because someone doesn't like it."
In that moment Crynn, Cleia's brother, arrived.
"I heard everything. I'm sorry I couldn't come sooner. I wanted to, but I didn't have the chance." He hugged her. "Listen to your friend… don't listen to fools."
Behind him was Zeryan, who nodded shyly.
"I'm not good with words… but your brother is right."
"It's easy for you to say… You've never lived through something like this. All I can do is listen to people judge me… every comment sticks in my head and I can't get it out…"
Cleia burst into tears.
Zeryan, Astrid, and Crynn did their best to comfort her, then they all returned to their rooms.
"Be strong, Cleia," said Crynn.
"Don't push yourself too hard," added Zeryan as he left.
Only Astrid and Cleia remained.
"I know how you feel," Astrid said, hugging her. "But you have to get through moments like this. Once you do, you'll become stronger. And when you're strong… no one will ever be able to hurt you again."
"Thank you, Astrid… you really helped me a lot."
The two lay down in their respective beds and fell asleep.
---