The shores of the large pond were beginning to grow more and more crowded as people came to see the Longnan’s dragon boating event. Here and there one could spy stalls and shops taking advantage of the influx of people to sell their wares, from the traditional rice dumplings served during this holiday, to several small souvenirs and decorations styled after the festival. 

Celica sat on the shore, chin resting on her hand in a bored posture, looking on as the boats were brought to one end of the lake and fitted with the decorative dragon heads and tails, the teams milling about in their own distinctive colors. She herself had seen fit to change her attire for the festival, replacing her usual cargo pants with black, sports shorts below a small dark blue skirt, and had thrown a bolero jacket of the same color over her sleeveless white shirt.

Occasionally, her eyes drifted to the spectators besides her. Mostly families, with a few couples here and there, the vast majority of them engaged in some conversation or other, filling the place with a constant, lively din. She was one of the few people in the audience who had showed up to the event on their lonesome.

She let out a despondent sigh and threw herself back, closing her eyes as she rested against the ground. The thought was as sudden as it was unwelcome. 

[i]Damn, I’m lonely. [/i]

She remained that way for a moment, until a shadow fell on top of her, blocking the warm summer sun. She cracked an eye open, trying to make out the figure outlined by the sunlight. She did not have to try very hard. That pearly smile could only belong to one person. She would have to ask him what toothpaste he used.

Her lips curled into a small grimace. “Has anyone told you your sense of timing is uncanny?”

“Honed through constant practice,” Charles said with his characteristic smirk. “Why? Were you thinking about me?”

Celica snorted, sitting upright again. “As if.” Still, she found herself glad to have someone familiar to talk with, and she made no moves to stop Charles as he took a seat beside her.

“So,” Charles started as he settled down, “where’s Alice? I don’t think I’ve ever seen the two of you apart outside of class.”

Celica hummed absent-mindedly, her eyes settling on the boats once again. “I don’t know. She was still in the room when I took off.” And with a small, guilty grimace, she added. “She’s been a real downer the last few days.”

“You mean more than usual?”

“Ha Ha,” Celica said with little mirth. They remained quiet for a moment, in companionable silence, until Celica saw fit to break it. “This Endolan dry spell is getting to her.”

Charles made an inquisitive sound. A simple, polite motion for her to carry on, and she did.

“I doubt there is a single student in The Academy that doesn’t feel as though this is the calm before the storm. I suppose we’re all too cynical at this point to believe that good things are meant to last.” She chuckled wryly. “It’s the same for Alice, except that she keeps thinking about it, and thinking about it some more. She is utterly convinced that something bad will happen soon, and she has been spending much of her time outside of class making up theories of what will happen once the Endolans resume hostilities. Of course, she has nothing to go on, so she mostly just wallows in her own paranoia.”

“Ah.” Charles nodded. “Well, who knows what is happening? Maybe Endola suddenly changed their minds about the war and they’re preparing a surrender.”

Celica was not sure why, but the mere idea felt utterly wrong to her. Not in the sense that it was extremely unlikely to happen, but in the sense that she found herself hoping it would not. She tried to fake a smile. It came out as a grimace. 

“I wonder if we’d even accept that,” she said in a light tone that was only mostly joking.

Charles shrugged, seemingly oblivious to her discomfort. “Hey, you have to stay positive.”

“Positive. Right.” She sighed and gave him a sidelong glance. “Are you not worried at all?”

“Of course I am, but I’m not really in a position to do much about it, am I? I mean, we’re still in training. We’re not even proper grunts. Let the brass worry about quand le scandale va éclater.”

Celica shook her head with a smile. “Stick to your job description, huh? We got enough stuff to worry about already.”

“Exactly.”

Celica glanced his way to find him nodding sagely. She let out a small laugh. Suddenly, the mood did not feel quite so dour anymore.