chapter 6 .ೃ࿐
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Afrina Munni
Afrina and her friends had dedicated most of their time to their studies. Their exams had arrived, though they still had the assassination to worry about. Afrina wondered how Ivy was coping with everything that had occupied her mind. All of them knew that it would simply be damaging to their lives if they had neglected their grades, though it would not affect Ivy as much due to her status. Afrina would be lying if she said that she did not yearn for the life of the privileged. Most of her problems would have been solved then, if she had that life. A pity that she wasn’t as blessed as Ivy.
She knew she could not fail at the stage she was at. Afrina Munni needed that scholarship. She was going to get her hands on that Biology scholarship no matter the cost. She had not worked hard for nothing. She was going to stop at nothing to get her hands on it.
The scholarship that was only given to the top student of each subject in each class…
"I bet that Afrina is getting that scholarship," one of the girls sitting all the way back whispered. Afrina had good ears, she could hear every decibels of sound possible to the human ear. It simply added to Afrina’s need of getting that scholarship. Afrina was the competitive type, she hated losing to people. She was no loser.
Though Afrina wondered, she had seen Rafeeda’s results from their class test. She always had exceptional scores when it came to Biology, high enough to make Afrina worry. She wondered just how good Rafeeda was. She could not wait to see it.
"Oi Afrina," Ivy chanted as she handed Afrina a bag, a proud smile crawled its way onto her “I made some food for us.” Said Ivy with a wide smile on her face.
"My favourite!" Afrina's eyes glinted with joy as she looked at the bag that Ivy had placed on her table. "Did you cook anything for Ashvina?"
"The same things I made for you," Ivy replied. "What kind of person do you think I am? I won't forget about any of you."
Despite all of their stress, Ivy still had it in her to seek peace.
"Oi Ivy you're going to be late for Yeosyan!" Shouted Low Sze Yee (刘思仪), a half Yeosyan, half Cainese girl from the same country as Ashvina, Singbardi. Sze Yee was Ivy's only friend in Yeosyan. Ivy had friends for every class that she was in, to avoid being lonely for the class. She only talked to them in class, rarely interacted outside of it. Ivy was picky with her friends and a mountain of people rubbed her off the wrong way but she was good at covering her emotions. She just acted like she was fine with most people when in actuality, she was not.
This was their final week of lessons before their tests officially began. All mystic lessons have been put on hold for the examinations until the next school term.
Afrina placed the bag of aromatic food under her table as her Beshari teacher stepped in. He was a rather stern looking man, his glasses constantly reflecting the sun off its glass, like how his balding head constantly shines as light reflects itself off from it. He seemed stern but he was actually rather sweet. One of the few nice teachers that Afrina could have ever asked for, Mr Sudeep Bhanja. He was one of the oldest teachers in the school as well. He was a well-accomplished married man in his late 60s. Sometimes, he would talk about his two daughters, his proudest achievements, alongside his wife, he was a sweet family man. Mr Bhanja was a Terrane and Aqualis himself. Only one of his daughters was a Mystic. If Afrina's memory didn't fail her, the older one was a Mystic and she was a Flash and Glazer. The younger one was born without any special abilities, but she was clever, a woman working in construction. Afrina had heard that she was responsible for some of the greatest buildings built in Besharana.
The older one worked as a nurse in a hospital in Beshari, apparently she was a Healer as well. Mr Bhanja loved his family dearly. He would talk about them every single lesson, and it was always some funny stories. Afrina found him comforting. He has a comforting presence, everyone in their class liked him, he was cool, nice, and funny. Nobody hated him. He was a great teacher as well, ensuring that everyone had knowledge absorbed into their minds by the end of every lesson, never had he allowed students to leave empty-handed.
Mr Bhanja was a gem of a teacher.
As usual, his class was filled with laughter from Mr Bhanja and the students. The boys loved joking around with him and some of the girls would occasionally join in as well. Beshari was definitely one of Afrina's favourite classes, it was so enjoyable. She would love to have Beshari every single day. Ashvina's Jatura teacher was allegedly boring and Afrina had heard rumours of him being a pedophile, Afrina also had a few encounters from him and he was definitely weird. Her Cainese teacher was more fun but she was also more strict with the class. Ivy's Yeosyan teacher was also a boring one, she always talked about how he has the ability to suck the fun out of the most enjoyable things. Ivy's Cainese teacher was strict but she could handle people joking around in her class, so Ivy often fooled around on the occasion where she was in a good mood, though it was really rare. Ivy was mostly quiet and kept to herself, Afrina was the same. Ashvina was more sociable but she was still quiet, though as the years progress, her social skills slowly began to degress.
Afrina had a few friends in her Beshari class but there was this one girl that she sat beside and she could not stand her. Her name was Varuna Mitra and she was a Flash and Glazer. Sitting beside her was like the equivalent of being near a nonsensical madman. Varuna had many friends but she couldn't keep secrets, hence why she always told Afrina anything that her ears picked up. Varuna couldn't keep any secrets, unless it was from her best friend. Afrina was careful not to tell Varuna anything sensitive, for fear that it would be spread around the whole school. One good thing about being friends with Varuna was that Afrina could get gossip any time she wanted it, and Ivy was always trying to find the latest gossip in school because her life was boring, for a royal princess. Ashvina didn’t care for gossip but wouldn’t mind listening if one was presented to her. Afrina just did not like how Varuna was just two-faced to everyone she met, even her own best friend on occasion. Varuna often sounded like she was delusional, the smallest things could make her think of endless possibilities with someone else.
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Studying had been the only thing on everyone’s minds for a while now, Afrina hadn’t even realised what day it was. It was a Wednesday. It was a day where Afrina would often be out with her friends, meaning that she could hang out with Ivy and Ashvina right after school and go to their favourite spot. Ivy's own dorm. Ivy hated the fact that her dorm was their hangout spot but it was the only place available. Ivy's roommate, Prirye Nayar, a Rakshasi, one that was not evil, was always out with her own friends, leaving Ivy's dorm empty. Prirye was an amazing spell caster, and shapeshifter, and was said to be one from the most powerful families.
Ivy’s mystical bird was the one who flew to Afrina and Ashvina to let them know that Ivy wanted them in her dorm. She wanted to discuss her sister’s ceremony, all of a sudden?
As it turns out, Ivy and Ashvina had managed to come up with a list of songs to be played at Rina's engagement ceremony when Afrina finally arrived, it was like Ivy had suddenly forgotten of their stress and the upcoming assassination plan. They were mostly songs played by some of Rina's favourite bands. Rina listened to Esamese, Yeosyan and Cainese music and songs of those languages would be blasted during her engagement ceremony.
Ivy was having too much fun finding ways to tease her older sister and Afrina kept egging her on. Perhaps Ivy was just doing all that she could to distract herself from the doom everyone knew was arriving. Ashvina merely laughed and wondered how she was friends with them as their silliness went on. The ceremony was going to be gold, with the trio witnessing how Rina would react. Ashvina has always been the more mature one out of the trio, Ivy had even mentioned that Ashvina occasionally felt more like a mother rather than a friend that was their age. Laughter filled the whole dorm as the trio planned, Afrina even decided to lay down on Ivy's bed with Ashvina, leaving no room for Ivy, meaning that she would have to sit on the floor.
"Excuse me, I w-wonder whose dorm this is," Ivy whined as she saw the scene before her, "Just what do you think you’re doing?"
"Too bad Lee Aera!" Afrina laughed, calling Ivy by her real name. Ivy didn’t hate people calling her real name, though she was never a fan of it. She just never liked the sound of Aera.
"Have you not mentioned that you adore sleeping on the cool ground?" Ashvina added while Afrina continued laughing. “I saw you sleeping on the floor once before. You have never looked more in love.”
"You lot are insufferable," Ivy responded while rolling her eyes at her two friends who were having fun with Ivy and laughing at her. "What kind of friends do I have?" She continued her whining, all the while meaning none of the words that she had spewed out.
Afrina pretended to be offended by Ivy's words and faked an annoyed expression, "if you aren’t so fond of us, the door is always welcoming for your exit."
Ashvina started to laugh as Ivy reacted to Afrina's words with a horrified and offended expression. "This is my d-dorm idiot! You are not kicking me out of my own confines!"
As the silly argument continued, Ashvina was finding it harder and harder to contain her laughter, and so did the two arguing. It didn't take them long to burst into laughter in the middle of their argument. "This is so stupid," Ivy laughed.
"You are stupid," Afrina replied, throwing a pillow towards Ivy, she didn't react in time and got hit in the face, causing the back of her head to hit the wall behind her with a soft thud. That caused another wave of laughter between the trio.
"Ivy you are so slow!" Afrina laughed at her friend’s minor accident which was caused by Afrina’s silly action. She loved how her friends made her so happy, they were like the only light in her life, alongside her current family members. She loved and cared for them all deeply. They were her everything, she couldn't imagine a life without a single one of them. They have known each other for their whole lives, there was no way she would be able to learn to live life without them. It was like they were ingrained into her life. It was like they were meant to all be together in this lifetime.
Without Ashvina's maturity and how caring she could be, she loved how Ashvina was mature through and through, an immature bone doesn't exist in her body. Ashvina just does not have it inside of her.
Without Ivy and her stupid gimmicks, her being an idiot but logical most of the time and one of the most caring girls Afrina had ever befriended.
Perhaps this was why Ivy asked for her friends to go over, she just wanted to laugh with them. Their laughter drowning out all of their troubles, though only temporarily. But it was better than nothing, right?
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The week was beginning to end, Afrina could only focus what time she had on studying. Ivy and Ashvina often joined her when it came to studying. The trio decided that each of them would take turns to cook when it came to their study date, they only began studying together on Thursday and it was going to last till their final papers. Ashvina and Ivy were actually amazing chefs and Afrina loved their cooking, always devouring everything that they cook, even that one time when Ivy had accidentally undercooked a chicken because she was rushing for time and had failed to check properly. Afrina turned out fine and Ivy was relieved. It was a good thing that Afrina had ended up fine. The only bad thing was Ivy being teased about it, according to Ivy herself. It was funny to Afrina to constantly tease Ivy, it was how they show their love for each other. Besides, Ivy was actually fine with their teasing, she would have spoken up if there was something she did not like.
There was going to be scholarship for every subject available and Ivy decided that she was going to go after the one for history since it was the one subject that she could always score for. Ashvina thought that she should try for food science but she didn't actually care about the scholarship much, she really wanted to get into accounting and bank related business. Afrina was for sure going after Biology but she had one worry, Rafeeda Jafari. She seemed to be as knowledgeable as Afrina when it came to the subject. Their scores always seemed to be a few points apart and it caused Ivy to tease about a potential rivalry between them. Rafeeda seemed to be the only person in their class who could compete with Afrina when it came to biology. Afrina had seen how much Rafeeda studied, she was one who lived in books. It had made Afrina worry about her standing in Biology class, she has never felt an ounce of nervousness for that subject in years.
"I am just saying!" Ivy commented. "One shall not shy away from the perfect opportunity. You are just as competitive as I am."
"Perhaps keeping things friendly and studying together would be the more peaceful option?" Ashvina suggested. It was typical of her to always seek the peace option, or to stand neutral whenever she had to pick a side. It was simply the kind of person Ashvina was.
"That is also a g-good idea!" Ivy chirped happily, smiling in agreement.
"Definitely," Afrina replied. "I shall not start beef with someone I barely know. It is idiotic, Ivy." She said, her head rising after being buried in her biology notes.
Ivy sulked. All three girls knew this was their final year of school and had no choice but to get the best of the best types of grades. All of them had borderline passing grades despite studying, with the exception of Ivy who had given up years ago and Afrina who just wasn't feeling good enough mentally for the past few years to even start but still managed to study a good few topics, for Biology. Ivy had said that she was going to start studying but Afrina wasn't sure if she was telling the truth. Ivy was the type to say something and completely forget it the next second. Besides, she had studied for their finals the year before but her maths was somehow worse than ever, she was upset about it for ages.
"Ashvina, you are helping me with maths. It is not a question, it is a demand. An order from a princess," Ivy announced. "I will have your head if you said no."
"Sure," Ashvina responded, unfazed by the threat. Instead, she was looking at Ivy like she had gone mad. "Why wouldn't I help you anyway? You're my friend."
"Besides, you love Ashvina too much to have her decapitated," Afrina added as she broke her eye contact with the materials that she was studying.
"Oh shut up!" Ivy replied, unhappy that both of her friends were up against her as usual. "I will have both your heads!"
"Alright," Afrina responded with a smile that was anything but innocent. "Come and try! Rina would never allow it, she would have your head chopped off instead."
"Never should I have allowed any of you to lay your eyes on my sister," Ivy sulked once more. It made Afrina laugh after seeing Ivy's face. It was a sight only she and Ashvina had the privilege to see. Maybe Rina had seen it before too.
Ivy actually got herself together and actually started to study, Afrina could not remember the last time she had seen Ivy study. But Ivy was still falling asleep in class, and yet she still managed to understand most of what was being taught. Afrina also started to be more serious with her studies and tried her best to pay more attention in class. Her brother had managed to mail her some study tips that worked for him when he was still in school, he even mailed some of the notes he used to write for school. She tried some of them and it was surprisingly good enough for her. Ashvina was the type that would strive studying alone but she still made time to study with her friends and help them out as and when they liked.
Ivy went completely silent as she began to seriously study. Her eyes stayed glued on to the notes she had produced. Her mouth mumbling out various physics formulas Afrina had absolutely no clue about. Occasionally, Ivy spoke, only to seek help in the subject that had caused her hell, and many sleepless, tear-stained nights.
Afrina only wondered if that was the only thing Ivy needed assistance in.
Maybe deep down, Ivy was still struggling with what she now knew and just studied to distract herself from the hell that was engulfing her from the inside out. Afrina wanted to show her assistance, but how could she do it?
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“Afrina?” Nagisa’s voice appeared from behind Afrina, sending the poor girl into a state of shock as she was reading about poisons in the library. Both girls were standing in the aisle of books on poisons. “Why are you reading about nightshades?” Nagisa asked, moving her head closer as her eyes began to take in the words that were on the papers.
“Oh,” Afrina replied as she slammed the book shut, having already read all of the information she needed. She had decided to stay in the library to study, in hopes of gaining more knowledge that could help her, and also for a separate reason. “Just hoping that it would help. Sometimes, the knowledge from other books could benefit us in our papers. You know how teachers love giving impossible questions.”
It wasn’t a huge lie. But the truth was that it was for Ivy. Afrina had a hunch that the assassination attempt would involve poisoning. So Afrina figured that she should look up on nightshade poisoning, she had heard that it was one of the more common poisonings around. She just didn’t expect to bump into Nagisa. Afrina sometimes forgot that Nagisa was different from her twin brother, Nagisa was the type to study while Hiroya pushed everything to the last moment and hoped that it all somehow worked out for him. Afrina will never figure out why the twins were in the same class, in the same level. Sometimes it was just baffling how those two were related, let alone twins.
Nagisa laughed at her response. “That’s a good idea but oh well,” she shrugged, though she seemed to have bought Afrina’s explanation. “I doubt they dislike us enough to test us on something they have never used on students before us. I would complain to the higher-ups you know, the people managing all of the mystic schools and what not. Maybe I would even get Ivy to help me with that.”
Nagisa checked out some of the books she had gotten from the library before she left. She did not exchange many words with Afrina. They were all mainly focused on their studies, if not, their upcoming competition. There just wasn’t much time for small talk. Nobody wanted to risk a bad grade. Their training, too, have been cancelled for the upcoming exams, despite Ms Minah’s protest.
Afrina wondered how the basketball team’s training progressed. She had peeked over at the basketball girls once and they seemed to be doing well, and Afrina had heard rumours of how Lis was going crazy on all of the boys. But that was just a rumour, Nagisa once told Afrina that Hiroya said that training was alright.
Afrina left the library shortly after, wanting to relay on her newest information to Ivy. It was important for them after all. To end the assassination plot against her sister. Afrina wanted to do all she could to prevent a war. The destruction that would soon follow through, it wouldn’t just be Ivy suffering then, and the mess would have been beyond her ability to save. She found Ivy in the school’s garden, staring down at the field of flowers, her mind heavy. Ivy’s hands were behind her back, like she would often do back at her palace. Ivy had many troubles in her mind. The peaceful sight was drastically different from her trouble filled mind.
“Ivy!” Afrina yelled, her hands waving frantically at the princess. Ivy turned around and ran towards her friend, the both of them meeting in a warm embrace before Ivy pulled away.
“What do you want?” Ivy asked, her eyes narrowing at her friend out of curiosity.
“I might have found out how they were going to poison Rina,” Afrina explained with one of the biggest smiles she had to offer. “I figured that they might try poisoning so I read up on them, I think nightshade poisoning might be it. It was used often, and assassinated other royalties. I just think it is plausible.”
Ivy went silent as she looked at Afrina in her eyes, her mouth slightly opened, which Afrina assumed was from shock. Afrina noticed the tiniest droplets of tears forming in those big eyes of Ivy. The way her lips trembled, then pursed together as Ivy tried to hold it all back. It made Afrina’s eyes water alongside Ivy as well. Afrina was the type to cry alongside her loved ones whenever she saw their eyes water. Ivy was not one to let her eyes water often.
“Thank you,” Ivy managed to mutter as she wiped the tears before they even fell down her face.
Afrina smiled, “I cannot have you struggling alone in silence.”
The duo walked back to their dorm rooms after that, getting ready for the events the next day had in store for them. It was going to be the beginning for their papers, the first paper was in the morning. Esamese. It was a subject that neither Afrina nor her friends had any trouble in, all of them could pass that subject. They had other papers to worry about. Once this paper was out of the way, that would be when the challenges slowly started to show itself to them.
“It was easier than what I had originally had anticipated,” Ivy commented when the paper had ended for the day.
“Do not boast yourself just yet,” Ashvina replied, “What if you did badly?”
Ivy brushed Ashvina’s comments away, “I doubt I would fail. Study at my dorm for tomorrow?”
Afrina nodded, “I think today’s paper was manageable. I am only concerned about what we might have tomorrow… maths…” Afrina’s voice sounded dreadful as she delivered the news over to an equally dreadful Ivy and a relaxed Ashvina.
All Ivy had were complaints over certain questions when they did their maths paper on the very next afternoon. Ivy had gotten up early and spent the entire morning dedicated to maths. It was one of the few times where Afrina had seen Ivy so dedicated and focused. Afrina had studied alongside Ivy in the morning before Ashvina joined them later. Though it did not seem to deter Ivy from finding some questions hard, but she seemed proud of herself for being able to finish the paper with an hour left, the perfect amount for her to look through what she had written down for her papers. Their maths paper was two hours and thirty minutes long. It was one of the most hell-like hours of Afrina’s life.
The rest of the papers seemed to be a relative breeze. Afrina and Ashvina both found their biology paper doable. Both of them had high hopes. Ivy seemed to have faith in her physics as well. Their languages paper seemed to be decent, though only Ashvina found her papers to be somewhat of a challenge. Ivy only screwed up certain questions but still had confidence, so did Afrina. Both Ashvina and Ivy seemed to hold strong faith for their history, though Ivy was admittedly stressing over one question which she claimed to have screwed her over big time, but still slightly hopeful.
Afrina wondered if her other classmates had found the papers to be manageable. She knew Nagisa found maths to be a breeze, that was where her talents lay. She had heard Lis complaining to Afshin about some of the papers and questions, though she hadn’t hurt anything from Afshin himself. She had heard nothing from Rafeeda, she was good at keeping to herself it seemed. Afrina could not recall a single moment where she had seen Rafeeda doing anything aside from studying, and maybe writing.
Afrina was curious about her roommate, they have not even exchanged a single conversation, only simple greetings. She wondered how she was going to live with a silent roommate. She had missed the chaos that was Han Yuri. The laughter and chaos that seemed to follow Yuri wherever she went. Afrina wondered just how Yuri was doing in Eupara.
Han Yuri seemed to have vanished off the face of the earth ever since she left. Not once did a response to Afrina’s mail arrive to show Afrina that Yuri was safe. Afrina knew that Yuri was a strong Gumi-ho, from one of the strongest families of Gumi-ho there was. She knew Han Yuri could defend herself, but it would not hurt to receive some response, right? The last thing Afrina had heard from Han Yuri was that her boyfriend was going to be the one who fetch her from Yeosya to Eupara. Afrina had no idea that Han Yuri was even in a relationship until that very moment. It was the last day Afrina ever saw Yuri. Since then, Afrina had never heard anything from Yuri. To say that Afrina had missed her would be an understatement.
“Afrina!” Ivy exclaimed excitedly as she wore one of the widest grin on her face, pulling Afrina away from her thoughts.
They had just finished their final papers, which was why Afrina had so much time to allow her mind to drift off, wondering about all there was to think. The three of them had gathered and moved away from the large crowd that would often gather at the end of every paper. They hated the noises produced, every single time. The noises that would make them feel ever so stressed and drain them of their emotions.
“What is it?” Afrina asked as they were finally away from the sea of students and finally reached somewhere where they could speak at a normal volume.
“A break!” Ivy chanted. “Finally! What should we do?” Ivy asked, her head tilting towards her left, glancing over at her friends with curiosity.
Of course, they had been busy for so long, who would say no to a nice break from overworking their minds? Perhaps Ivy was just trying to seek as much distraction as possible. Who was Afrina to say no?
Ashvina was the only one who had objections, much to Ivy’s surprise as her head shot back up when she heard the no from Ashvina. “Afshin had requested my assistance in one of his projects, and said Lis was not available for it.” She explained.
Ivy tilted her head towards the left once again, curiosity clouding her mind as she processed the words that her ears had just picked up. “Since when were you and Afshin this close with each other?” She asked, mind trying to rethink and properly organise all of the possible moments where her friend had been this comfortable with someone of the opposite gender.
Afrina frowned with disappointment as she heard what Ivy had just asked. “Are you seriously asking Ashvina why? When the both of them sit beside each other in class? I wonder why…” Afrina responded, unable to believe what she had heard.
Ashvina laughed, “It was more of a rushed decision made by Afshin when Lis had no choice but to bail on him. The Mystic championships are coming up, are they not? Lis had a last minute practice by his coach.”
The coach of the basketball team was known to be a little bit of a psychopath. Maybe not a little. Afrina had seen how he worked before, definitely a few screws loose in that old mind of his. That old man treated winning a competition with more care than how he treated himself. Sometimes Afrina wondered if he would sacrifice himself for the sport.
Ivy nodded, “Ah I see,” she said. “What about you Afrina? No extra practice?”
Afrina laughed as the words left Ivy’s mouth. “My coach is sane. She knew we would all have her head if she tried to give us extra.”
It did make sense, though her coach was also stressing herself out over the upcoming matches and her fear of losing. Afrina knew she had to look forward to the uneventful extra training that would disgrace her ability to get proper rest. At least she had the time now for her mind to seek the calmness she ever so craved.
Though it seemed as though the days of her peace might just end soon. How long could one’s freedom last? Certainly not long considering what was in store for them all during this very year of their school. Afrina might have to begin her sports very soon, she could only hope that it would not be so hectic.