NOVEL NEXT Ch 1.40: Accusations
“She left a few minutes ago. Prisma was looking for her. Come to think of it, she was looking for you too.”
Elaina ran back outside, darting down the hallway. That can’t be good, right? There were only two ways into the common room from the outside, and she hadn’t seen them while coming in, so they had to be the other way. It wasn’t a long run before she heard voices from around the corner.
“I just want to know the truth, Carline.” Prisma’s voice. Elaina stopped running, creeping up to the side of the wall.
“I told you the truth,” Carline replied. “I’m just stronger now!”
Prisma let out an exasperated sigh. “I know how strong you are. It’s been a few years, but we’ve sparred before, remember?”
“Yeah…” Carline’s voice sounded pained, embarrassed even. “I know I’m not the best fencer, but I wouldn’t cheat, I promise! Elaina wouldn’t either.”
Cheat? Oh, shit. Elaina balled her hand up, punching the air. That’s what that look was. Carline and Elaina were strong now, too strong, and Prisma had noticed. Were they going to be found out before Alonse got back?
“I talked to your other opponents, Carline, both yours and Elaina’s. You didn’t do anything to them like what you did to me, but Elaina did, to all of them. I know someone was helping you two, using their external aspect to bolster you. They did it on her the whole time, and then you once her matches were over.”
“No! That’s— I mean, it’s not like that!”
“Then what is it like? You know you two can’t go around doing this, or you’ll get caught sooner or later.” Prisma’s voice was thick with frustration, like she was holding back anger with every word. “She fought Waine, Carline. If he realized what you two were doing, that she cheated against him, he’d go ballistic. You know that, right? He’s already pissed you wouldn’t join our practicum team, not to mention that you’re hanging out with her. I get that you’re roommates, but I just— I don’t want him going after either of you anymore; I want it all to be over!”
“Why does it have to be over?” Elaina yelled, stomping out from behind the corner. “We’re not cheating, and we didn’t do anything wrong before either.” Prisma looked at Elaina with wide eyes, blushing. Carline just looked at the ground with her hands crossed.
Elaina realized the absurdity of the situation after a moment of silence. She was still soaking wet, shivering even, but the other two had already dried and changed, only their hair wet.
“Why are you still soaked?” Prisma asked.
“Don’t change the subject! You were looking for us, right? You wanted to accuse us of cheating, right?”
“What else am I supposed to think you two were doing? I wouldn’t put it past you, anyway.” Prisma crossed her arms and glared at Elaina. “After all, you went braless just to distract me too, right?”
“What? That was an accident! I keep telling everyone I had a laundry issue!”
“Well it was very distracting!”
Both girls blushed, looking away. So, it bothered her that much?
“Hey, uhm,” Carline said, stepping in between the other two. “I think there’s been a misunderstanding?”
Prisma huffed, stepping around Carline and looking back at Elaina. “Were you really not cheating?”
Cheating? It was hard to say. She couldn’t turn off the increased physical abilities from having a class, after all. It wasn’t like her aspect; they were just there. “We weren’t cheating,” Elaina decided. “I’m stronger than you think I am, and Carline’s gotten stronger since you last fought her too.”
Prisma narrowed her eyes, considering, then walked past Elaina, looking round the corner she’d come from. “Alright then, prove it. There’s no one else around, so I know no one’s enhancing you right now.”
“Prisma,” Carline said, “I don’t think—”
“Fine.” Elaina had had enough of nonsense accusations. She walked over to Prisma and grabbed her by the waist.
“What’re you— Stop!” Elaina lifted, hoisting Prisma up as the girl braced herself on Elaina’s arms with her hands, kicking her feet in the air. “Put me down!”
Elaina did, placing her back down with a slight grin. Prisma was blushing, straightening out her skirt and backing away. It’s nice to not be the embarrassed one every once and a while. “See? Carline can do it too, just as easily, if you need more proof.”
“No no!” Prisma said, backing way. “That’s fine; I believe you.” She finished fixing her skirt, then coughed in her hand before bowing down. “I’m sorry for accusing you of cheating. I can see I was wrong. You're just… really strong, I guess.”
Elaina blinked at the sight in front of her. Prisma Fireguard, one of the most important people in the country as far as she was aware of, was bowing and apologizing to her, Elaina “didn’t have a last name just a week ago” Weaver. “Uhm, well, I accept your apology?”
“Me too,” Carline said. “Come on Elaina, we should probably get going.”
“No. I want to talk to Prisma, alone.”
Carline bit her lip, shaking her head. “Uhm, are you sure?”
“Yeah.” Elaina needed this. “Go on ahead, I’ll catch up.”
Carline looked like she was going to say more, but eventually started walking. “I'll, uhm, see you around, Prisma.”
“Yeah…” Prisma said. Carline walked off, leaving the other two alone.
“Are we good now?”
Prisma opened her mouth, fumbling for words. “What— what do you mean good?”
What did she mean? “I mean, can we just move past everything? Start over, be friends?”
Prisma sighed and walked past Elaina, keeping her back to her as Elaina turned around. “No. I already said that. I can be cordial with you, friendly even, but not friends.”
Elaina's heart sank. It wasn't the pain from earlier. No, this was more final than that. Her own acceptance was changing the sensation, weighing it down.
“Okay… So that's that then?”
“Yeah.”
That was it. Friendly was all they could ever be now. Elaina still didn't understand fully, but there was a peace in the finality of it all. Maybe with time, that sinking feeling would go away too.
Prisma turned around, looking over Elaina’s entire body. It almost looked like there was a tear in her eye. “Come with me back to my dorm.” Prisma started walking, and Elaina stood there.
“What?”
“Hurry up. I have something to give you.”
Elaina shook her head, making sure she'd heard everything properly, and then ran off to catch up to Prisma, walking alongside her.
It felt normal, walking through the school with Prisma again. The halls were quiet, most people either in their indoor classes or huddled up around the fires in the common rooms, and the two students walked through them like nothing had ever been amiss at all. If it weren’t for Elaina’s soaking and cold clothes, it would have felt perfectly normal. Why are we going to her dorm though?
“You really are impressive at fencing,” Prisma eventually said. “With practice, you’ll be very good. I may need to step up may own efforts if I want to remain at the top.”
“Oh, uhm thanks, I guess.”
Prisma nodded. “I do want to be friendly with you, like I said. We’re classmates, after all, and we have two important courses together. Just, don’t…”
“I get it.” I think. “We’re like, acquaintances, I guess?”
“Yeah, that’s a good way to think of it.”
“Hey, earlier, I wasn’t really trying to eavesdrop, but… you said you didn’t want Waine to freak out?”
Prisma’s eyes glanced over for just a moment. “I wish you hadn’t heard that. It wasn’t really proper of me to say to Carline either, but I have a certain degree of familiarity with her. Those words were meant for her ears, and she understood them.” Well, that was that too. Elaina could tell pushing the matter further wouldn’t be productive.
They continued walking for a few minutes before they came to another dorm entrance, one that looked exactly like the one to Elaina’s own. “Uhm, I’ll wait here?”
Prisma flushed, looking confused and embarrassed both. “What? No, you have to come up!”
“Oh,” Elaina said, confused herself. “Is that okay?”
“It’s fine. You obviously can’t stay after curfew or anything, but it’s not even lunch yet.”
Prisma marched into her common room, Elaina following behind. This room was filled with students just like the one for Elaina’s dorm, still all sitting by the fire, chatting away. She recognized some faces from her fencing class, but none by name. A few of them glanced at the two new arrivals as Elaina followed Prisma straight through the crowd, though none of them payed too much mind. Probably more confused about my clothes than anything else. They walked up the stairs and into Prisma’s room down the hall. She locked the door, leaving her key inside of it as they entered.
Elaina had half expected some sort of grand bedroom like Tira’s, but no, it was the same exact room that Elaina herself had, save for a couple of decorations on the dressers and nightstands. One in particular stood out to Elaina, a picture of someone about Prisma’s age, who looked quite a lot like her.
“Is that, uhm, Kohpicia?” Elaina said, pointing to the portrait.
Prisma looked at it from the center of the room, hands together in front of her, fingers playing across each other. “Yeah, Koh. I didn’t know you knew about her.”
“I don’t really. Professor Ranlit mentioned her.”
Prisma smiled at that. “She would. Koh was always her favorite, of course. Even outside of sparring, they always got along great.”
Elaina smiled back. “She sounds nice. I wish I could’ve met her.”
“Yeah, she is. Maybe if she was here, things could’ve been different after all.”
Prisma stood there, staring at the portrait on her nightstand while Elaina waited in the corner of the room. “So, you had something to give me?” She still had no idea what that could be.
“Yeah.” Prisma undid her jacket, pulling it off an placing it on her bed. “I really am sorry about everything.” Elaina was having trouble following the logic, but she was enjoying the sight at least. Prisma in just that shirt was so good at drawing her attention. She could see the faint hint of black bra underneath the fabric, and she found herself wishing she’d paid more attention in the rain earlier. “I wanted to make it up to you, just a little.”
And then Prisma reached into her skirt, undoing the clasp and letting it fall to the floor.