[Kitsumi]

The arena had become a sort of haven for Rebi while she had waited for her partner to arrive at the school. While other students paired up and spent time with their Sacrifice or Fighter, the lonely girl had laid on her back on the grass here, looking up at the clouds and picturing the day when she would stand here with her Fighter, willing to bear the restrictions so that he could concentrate on casting wordspells.

This obviously wasn't anything like she had imagined. Still, she stood proudly as she looked Komo in the eyes. "Luckily for you, I haven't really trained to be a Fighter. I only know the most basic spells."

Suddenly eager to begin, Rebi issued the challenge to Komo. Once he had accepted, she began the battle. "Restrict!" she cried out, pointing a hand towards Komo. Instantly, a leather collar appeared around his neck. A heavy length of chain hung from a loop in the collar, weighing down on him as the collar cut tightly into his flesh.

[Jedi]

Hearing that she had only known the most basic spells is a slight relief, but as soon as the collar wraps itself around my neck, I can felt the immense weight pulling me down. I struggle to keep from being pulled to the ground, just as I'm struggling to breath. It wasn't long before I nearly pass out.

"Enough!" a voice orders from a distance. "Who said you two could be here!" I can't make out the figure in the distance, but the voice sounds familiar. If I'm not mistaken, it's the principal.

Principle Ilia Lane

"I thought I told you that if you didn't accept Komo we'd have to expel you."

At this moment, I'm still coughing and trying to catch my breath. I'm not able to say a word until I do so.

[Kitsumi]

At first, Rebi felt a sick sense of satisfaction upon seeing Komo bear the weight of the restriction. Hopefully, he would quickly realize that he wasn't cut out for the part of Sacrifice. Judging by the way he was choking, chances were he wouldn't be wanting to take on the restrictions again any time soon.

But then the choking didn't stop. His face turned bright red, and Rebi began to feel worried. She had wanted to teach the guy a lesson, not kill him! With worry clouded her judgement, she forgot how to end a battle. "I...stop...help!" Her worry turned to panic as Komo's face turned blue, and she screamed at the top of her lungs.

When the principal showed up, Rebi was practically crying. "I...I didn't want to really hurt him," she babbled incoherently. "I don't know how to make it stop." She was about to ask the principal to help, when to her astonishment, she realized that the collar had disappeared...somehow.

[Jedi]

Finally able to speak, I let out a crackled sentence. "It's my fault, principle." Wide-eyed, she glares at me. "And how is it that it's your fault, Mister Harrison?" I try to clear my throat a few times before I let out the answer. "I was the one who suggested we should practice. I should've known that we weren't ready to fight yet." She then looks back at Rebi and continues with another question. "And whose idea was it to break in here?" Before she can answer, I take the blame for that as well. "I said we could practice here, since there'd be no one here to distract us. It's my fault this happened." The statement was a lie, but from the look on her face, I think the principle is buying it. "Very well, Komo. I'll let you off with a warning for now. I don't want you to get into anymore trouble. Got it?" To which I give a simple nod. Then she continued, "I'll send a copy of the rule book to your dorm room. Study it thoroughly before you attempt another spell battle."

[Kitsumi]

Although she knew that withholding the truth would probably just get her in more trouble, Rebi couldn't find the courage to admit her wrongs. She looked down at the ground, still agonized by the thought that she had nearly killed Komo, who had only wanted her to accept him.

To her astonishment, the boy spoke up and took the blame. Her gaze shot to him, eyes widening in shock. She had been nothing but cruel to him since they met, and had nearly just killed him! Why the heck was he taking the blame?

"The two of you need to leave. Now," the principal said sternly. "Report to your dormitory and stay there until classes for the day are out. You will receive a class schedule this evening - until then, try not to be a distraction to the other students. And please try not to kill each other."

[Jedi]

The trip through the dormitories is a quiet one. Most of the other students are in their classes right now. All the others are probably off enjoying themselves elsewhere. It almost seems dead to me as I make my way through it. Trying to break the silence, I begin talking to my new fighter. "Hey Rebi, I'm sorry that I couldn't handle the restrictions. I thought too much of myself. I guess that I'd been excited from finding out they think we're soul mates. I never even considered the possibility that they're wrong."

[Kitsumi]

The fact that Komo had taken the blame was astonishing enough, but now he was apologizing to her? Rebi had no idea where to start with this guy. She tried to think of the right words, but before she could, she heard the words, 'they were wrong'.

Instantly she felt a familiar feeling in her gut. Squaring her shoulders, she marched ahead of him and groaned. "Yeah, well, that's what I've been telling you - we aren't soulmates." The fact that he had already given up on her verified what she already knew - he wasn't her true partner. And so, instead of thanking him, she turned and glared. "By the way, don't think that I'm suddenly going to fawn all over you just because you lied about everything being your fault. I didn't ask you to stand up for me."

[Jedi]

And once again, she was dismissing me. I match her pace and continue was I was saying. "Just so you know, I never said that we weren't soulmates. I just said that I never considered otherwise. And I never expected you to thank me for taking the blame. But I'm not giving up on us. I still think we can overcome anything. Just because I had a little fainting spell doesn't mean I'm willing to give up." I wanted to go on, but we had just reached our door number, which demanded we stop walking. "Here we are, dorm 143."

I open the door and peer inside, but don't enter until she does. "After you?"

[Kitsumi]

Komo was just like every other person Rebi had met. They would dismiss her, but try to pretend that they hadn't. His attempt at convincing her that he still had faith in them as a pair was a sad one, and did nothing but cause the girl to scoff. Luckily for him, she didn't really have a chance to respond rudely.

Stepping inside, she was surprised to find that the rooms were actually pretty nice. She had been forced to sleep in the room with all of the other unmatched potential future students - each room had been given two bunk beds, forcing four people into one small room. Sure, the rooms were recently remodeled and offered as many comforts as possible, but they weren't nearly as nice as this suite.

The first thing that Rebi looked for was the bedrooms, and she was happy to see that there were two of them. However, she was unhappy to see, instead of the names 'Rebi' and 'Komo' on the doors, were the words 'Sacrifice' and 'Fighter'. Stomping over to the room labelled 'Sacrifice' Rebi pulled open the door so hard that it slammed against the wall. "This is going to be my room," she glared at Komo, daring him to protest.

[Jedi]

He wasn't upset when she claimed the Sacrifices room. If anything, he expected that she'd pull that move. He was just fine with it. So he went in his room, beaming a smile at her. On the bed was a suitcase, which he could only assume was hers. He grabbed it by the handle and picked it up, then left to knock on her door. "Rebi," he called out to her, "Your suitcase was in my room. I wanted to give it to you."

[Kitsumi]

At first, Rebi didn't even notice the suitcase by the door. She plopped down on the bed, telling herself that it was probably much more comfortable than the bed in the Fighter's room. After all, the Sacrifices always got the best of everything. They were the ones in control, which was why she would never allow herself to be anything but a Sacrifice.

When she heard the knock, she opened the door. "Oh," she said flatly. She hadn't expected them to pack her stuff up for her - maybe they had been expecting her to leave. Grabbing the suitcase from him, she dragged it over to set it under her bed. "I'll unpack later. I take it that suitcase by the door is yours, then?" Having finally noticed it when she had opened the door, she now pointed towards it. "Go ahead and grab it."

[Jedi]

Komo grabbed the suitcase, giving her a farewell wave before closing the door behind himself. He set the suitcase under his bed, just as she had, then laid down in his own bed. He thought about all that had happened over the course of the day. He contemplated over everything that Rebi had said to him. About how she kept demanding that he wasn't her sacrifice. And how he wasn't good enough for her. That they weren't suppose to be together. But that was just her opinion, right? They were soulmates, weren't they? I mean, all the signs pointed to them being together, yet they couldn't work together. All this stressful thinking was giving him a headache. Instead of focusing on that, he let himself drift to sleep. It seemed the busy day had worn him down, in more than one way.

[Kitsumi]

Rebi hadn't even realized she was tired, until she woke up over an hour later. Rubbing her bleary eyes, she staggered out of the room. Taped to the door was a paper, upon the top was written, "Class Schedule: Enlightened" in large, bold letters. Grabbing the paper, the girl gave it a quick read.

They had all of the core classes that a normal school would have - English, Math, History, Science. But instead of electives such as art classes or a foreign language - which were offered instead as after school clubs - they had classes centered around wordspell battles. Spellcasting, Sacrifice Endurance, Unit Bonding, and Spell Battle History made up the latter half of their schedule. Their first classes differed - Rebi was supposed to attend Spellcasting, a fact which she would likely ignore, while Komo was signed up for Sacrifice Endurance, which was meant to build up his ability to withstand restrictions. The last two classes, as all of their core classes, were to be attended together.

[Jedi]

It wasn't long before Komo woke from the pain. He rummaged through his luggage, looking for his just-in-case pills. Finding them, he grabbed the bottle of ibuprofen, popping two in his palm. He was reluctant to take them right away, as he hated dry swallowing them. So he got up and went to the bathroom. Since the small dorm didn't have a kitchen, he'd have to improvise. He turned on the sink, stuck the pills in his mouth, and scooped water to his lips.

After the pain subsided, he was too awake to sleep now. He didn't want to wake Rebi, mostly out of fear she'd lash out. So he went out to the cafe to buy a couple bagel sandwiches and coffees. He also grabbed a handful of creamer packets, getting a variety since he didn't know her preference.

When he got back, he realized that she might not even like coffee. Hopefully that wasn't the case. As he entered, he noticed her reading something that he hasn't seen yet. "What's that?" He asked her, coffee in hand.

[Kitsumi]

Rebi had taken the schedule to the couch, sitting with her back to the door. Busying herself with reading the descriptions of each class, she hadn't noticed the sound of the door opening as Komo had returned. So when his voice suddenly appeared right behind her, she jumped, dropping the paper to the floor.

"What the-!" she started, eyes widening and then narrowing angrily as her gaze settled on the boy. "So now you think it's okay to just sneak up on me? What are you trying to do, give me a heart attack or something?" Retrieving the paper, she stuck it in front of his face - probably too close for him to properly read. "It's our class schedule, see? Happy?"

She could have said more, but the smell of food caused her stomach to rumble. Rebi hadn't eaten since breakfast at nine am, just about six hours ago. "Is that from the cafeteria?" she asked, practically drooling. The cafeteria at the school actually had excellent food. Spotting the second cup in his hands, she felt a bit of hope. "Did you bring me back something?"