It’s A Wonderful Life - Volume 2 Chapter 13 2.4

The Second Prince stalked the halls of the school, his back straight with a regal bearing. After him followed the entire Student Council, a gaggle of students that were the very best at their respective fields within the academy. They were only a few days away from the autumn break and preperations were in full swing.

Ira glanced at them as they passed him where he was sitting, reading and ridiculing another clich love story.

The Second Prince had black hair and a pair of enchanting blue eyes, clearly worthy of his title as the male protagonist. And like most other of his kind, he was unfairly tall, towering above Ira that was the average height. He made a striking couple with Eliza.

Such a shame that that wasn’t going to happen.

His Host had, thankfully, given up her illegal stalkering habits (due to a very frightening warning from the Second Prince’s personal guards) and decided to put her all into impressing the prince instead. She made a valiant effort to study and learn, although she was still late to most of her classes. The only class she actually came in time for was Magical Theory and that was just because the teacher could be freaking terrifying.

Her effort to gain more friends and be popular again was a total failure, though.

In fact, the more she tried, the more disliked she became.

A few months had already passed since school started. Ira had tried to get average marks in all of his classes, though he was unsure how it was going, and spent most of his time in the library reading.

A library his Host still couldn’t enter.

They had done something with the wards around the library and now she physically couldn’t enter the building.

Damn hilarious, it was.

Turning another page in his book, he ignored the Second Prince as he struttered past him, looking way too smug for a guy that wasn’t actually the Crown Prince. Which reminded him, where the hell was the Crown Prince? He never showed up in the original story, aside from a single line that said his life-long dream was to be a famous scholar. Which Ira just thought was an excuse for his lack of presence. He had probably been assassinated a long time ago and now they were just covering it up.

Or he was an illegitimate child and was hidden for his own safety. Or he was the mastermind planning the take-over of the entire world.

Or Ira had been reading too many stories with clich plots.

That was probably the most likely.

Rolling his eyes, Ira read the last sentence of the story and felt the vivid urge to vomit. It was so damn cheesy. How could anyone ever stand to read things like this?

Ugh, he wanted to burn the book to ashes. It was better then it deserved.

Dropping it on the table with a disgusted look on his face, Ira stood up from his chair and wandered off to find another book to amuse himself with. This was what happened when he was in a peaceful world with no TVs or computers for him to spend his time on. He tortured himself with click books and sappy love-stories.

He dragged his finger over the spines of books on the shelves. Most of the books were bound with leather. Humming to himself, he let his eyes roam all over them in search of something even remotely interesting. When he finally caught sight of a book, it was too high for him to reach. He felt like swearing. Viciously. Just as he was about to go get a chair for him to climb, someone else’s hand grabbed the book from behind him.

Ira turned around against the bookshelf and was met with the magical theory teacher. The teacher smiled slightly at him and handed him the book. “Here, Bran. Next time, just ask for help.”

“Thank you, professor…” What was the teacher’s name again?

The teacher rose a black eyebrow at him. “It’s Silas Hawkthorne, Bran. Are you telling me that you still can’t remember my name?”

An amused glint appeared in the teacher’s eyes and Ira scowled at him. “Or course I can! I was just testing you.”

“Testing if I could remember my own name?”

“It’s important to know.” Ira defended himself, knowing full well he sounded like an utter fool. He scowled harsher and did very much not pout. He. Did. Not.

The teacher, Silas, smothered a laugh unsuccessfully.

Ira snapped out, “Oh, shut up!”

At that, the man just laughed more, his blue eyes twinkling in amus.e.m.e.nt. Ira had the urge to claw his perfect face off. The man wasn’t even the protagonist, yet he was so much taller than Ira. And he still reminded Ira of somebody he just couldn’t seem to recall.

It was so damn frustrating.

Ira rolled his eyes and looked at the book he was still holding. At least it was the one he was actually reaching for and not some other book. He had seen that happen before. It totally killed the mood.

Not that there was a mood. But, you know, in other situations, with other people, it completely killed it.

Glancing up , he caught sight of Silas’ amused face again. “What are you looking at?”

The man just quirked his lips in a parody of an innocent smile. “Oh, nothing. It’s just nice, seeing you so animated. You’ve been so distant lately.”

“From you, maybe.”

Silas smirked. A totally inapproriate expression to make in front of a student. “Are you staying for autumn break?”

“Yes.” Ira answered, feeling apprehensive for some reason.

“Good.” Silas said. “Then we’ll be spending the break together. I look forwards to your continued company.”

After saying that, the man left Ira behind and exited the library. Ira got the savage urge to murder him as painfully as possible. What was with all these people, saying stuff like that straightfaced? Didn’t they have any goddamn pride?

It was like they didn’t know that they sounded like utter idiots.

Ira rolled his eyes again and wandered over to the chair he had just vacated. He threw himself down on it with an utter lack of decorum and just smiled when the other students (who were actually studying) glared at him. Ira, unlike his Host, wasn’t an idiot. He had made sure that he was on friendly terms with the librarian, who luckily shared his particular brand of humor.

They had tea together every Sunday.

Shrugging off the looks he was being given by his supposed peers, Ira went right back to reading. And promptly felt like murdering someone again.

He really didn’t understand humans.

Autumn break began on a Sunday and would last the entire week. It was an opportunity for students to visit their family, attend balls and social gatherings and get a release from the heavy workload. Or, in his Host’s case, it was a chance to catch up with the other students.

Ira, on the other hand, spent the first day of the break locked away in his room, trying to make heads and tails of a new book he had picked up. He was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to be horror, but it very much seemed like it. Not to mention that the spelling of the main characters name abruptly changed in the middle of the story. And at the beginning, it was set in a fantasy world, not at the end, it apparently took place in this world’s modern world.

To be honest, Ira was mostly just confused.

He felt embarrassed for the poor guy that had published this crap, but, still, confusion was the most prominent.

He decided to distract himself by looking over his Host. He would be automatically notified if she died, but it was common sense to check in once in a while. And it had been a couple of days since he last checked. She could be paralyzed and he wouldn’t know.

When his inner eye honed in on his Host, he saw her in a gazebo on the school grounds. She was surrounded by books and in the company of her roommate. Her face was scrunched up with confusion and frustration, her eyes saying she was on the verge of giving up. Ira didn’t really feel a thing for her, despite the fact that she made quite the pitiful image.

You know, aside from glee.

As Ira watched, the Second Prince entered the gazebo, a heavy frown on his face and a hard look in his eyes. However, the second he caught sight of Ira’s Host, the man stopped walking over for some reason. Rather, he stood stock still with a stunned look on his face. Ira glanced around and saw what had caught the man’s attention.

It was his Host, sitting on the ground looking absolutely miserable.

Seriously?!

Ira felt the urge to just throw his hands up in the air and give up on humanity as a whole, idiotic species that they were.

The Second Prince collected himself and approached his Host.

Ira was judging him the whole way over.

“Is there a problem?” the Second Prince asked, looking all prince-ly while doing so.

His Host looked up and stared at the Second Prince, completely stunned that the man was even speaking to her. Ira was even more shocked. “N-no, my lord. We’re just studying.”

Well, at least she could learn from her mistakes, right?

Ira wished a meteorite would hit her.

Maybe take him out too, while it was at it.

It would be the kind thing to do.

The Second Prince glanced at the textbooks surrounding her and nodded his head. “I can see that. You appear to be doing better in your classes lately.”

His Host beamed. “I am! I’m doing really good!”

Nodding (again), the prince commented, “That’s good. It’s always pleasant to see commoners taking their chance to better themselves seriously.”

Immediately, his Host’s face closed off and now it was her turn to look coldly at the prince. “I’m sorry, what did you say?”

The prince narrowed his eyes. “The truth. It is a wonderful opportunity you have been given. Not taking advantage of it is foolish.”

So he wasn’t a complete idiot then? Good to know.

Ira still felt like stabbing him.

His Host glared at the prince, forgetting her manners yet again. “Just because I’m a commoner doesn’t mean I’m less than you.”

The prince did the smart thing and neglected to respond.

His Host let out a hmph and stood to her feet. Gathering all of her stuff, she grabbed a hold of her roommate and dragged her off with a mean look in her eyes. Ira could practically see her thoughts. She’d been insulted because of her station and now she thought that the prince was prejudiced.

Again, she was neglecting to remember the fact that she was in a time where nobles still ruled the world.

Ira zoomed out and stopped paying her any attention. Instead, he threw the book he had been reading under the bed and pretended that he had never seen it. It was a library book, so he couldn’t burn it, but he could pretend it didn’t exist. The library would get it back. Eventually.

Probably.

In his mind, he could see as his Host fervently complained to her roommate and how uncomfortable it made her. He almost felt sorry for her.

But as long as his Host wasn’t complaining to him, it was all okay.

He grabbed another book of his shelf, one that was at least tolerable, it still way to dramatic, and settled down on his bed together with it. All of the lights but hid bedside lamp were turned off, the curtains were drawn over the window and not a sound could be heard. It was the perfect ending to an ordinary day.

Turning to the first page, a page he had already read, Ira snuggled deeper into the covers and sighed in pleasure. His eyes shone in anticipation and his smile was actually an honest thing for once.

This was what made all of it worth it.

He fell asleep reading.