Reincarnated As The Villainess's Best Friend

The bell outside rang with a dull clang!

"Quills up!" Miss Fumiko's voice rang out.

Most students around me scurried to finish up their questions, the sound of papers shuffling on their desks.

Lucy wasn't done yet, which was surprising. Usually, she was trying to compete. But she hardly visited the library since the exams began, choosing to spend more time in the cafeteria.

With him.

"Bring your papers to the front of the class," Miss Fumiko's voice echoed once again.

Not wanting to waste another second, I strode to the front desk.

"First as usual, Rin," she said, shifting her gaze from the class to me. Then, she lowered her voice. "Nice to see you're making enough time for your studies."

Without glancing at her, I placed my paper on the table and walked out of the class. Passing a written exam was the least of my worries at the moment.

I had barely stepped out of the building when a voice called out behind me.

"Wait up, Stormborn."

I paused. Sensing his mana concealment spell was getting unnerving.

"What is it, Kyro?"

He caught up to me, his right arm slipped into his pocket.

"Tough exam, huh?" he said, adjusting his glasses. "I'm surprised you finished so quickly."

I took a step forward.

"Rushing somewhere?"

"What do you want?" I asked, my brows furrowing. I was hardly in a chatty mood.

"Just wanted some advice."

A few students walked toward us. Kyro stepped out of the way, returning to his position after they had passed.

"If you wanted to impress a girl, how would you go about it?" he asked.

Of all the things I wanted to talk about at the moment, this was probably the last.

"Let me guess...You want to impress Lucy."

A faint smile flickered on his face. "Any idea what she'd like?"

"You're asking the wrong person."

"Everyone knows you're her best friend."

"Doesn't mean I can help you."

"Come on, Stormborn. I'm not going to hurt her."

I lifted a brow. "Hurt her?"

He leaned in closer, as if he was about to share a secret. "You like her too right?"

"I don't think that's any of your concern."

"You're right. I'm overstepping," he leaned back, scratching the back of his head. "Will you help me?"

Everything about him seemed forced. His gestures, his expressions. I could barely even stand the sound of his voice.

The easiest way to get rid of him was to tell him what he wanted.

"Keep it simple," I said, turning to leave. "Lucy's not a fan of grand gestures."

"Simple. Got it."

I made a few strides forward when Kyro let out one last remark

"I'll take good care of her, I promise."

His words pricked me like a needle. I turned around, a witty reply stuck on my throat, but by the time I faced him, he'd vanished through the door.

My original plan for the afternoon was to send a message to Theo or Si Ya. Four weeks had passed since I heard from either of them, and I feared the worst had happened.

But something about Kyro's presence made every hair on my skin stand on end. So, I made a quick change of plans.

*****

Accessing the royal archives in the school library, was always a nightmare.

The old mage who took care of the library, despite his nonchalance, had a keen eye for books considered to contain protected information. Unless you were a tutor.

Last time, I basically had to beg him to obtain the records of House Borain. This time, I decided to try something else.

I slid over to one corner of the main storage, where a pile of books were stacked on a tall shelf that almost touched the ceiling. Then, I made one last glance at the librarian.

"Forgive me, old man... " I muttered under my breath. "Wind Arrow."

A swift gust rushed to the top of the shelf, knocking down all the books to the floor.

"Ugh... What's going on there?" the old man yelled from his table at the front of the reading area. As he made his way towards the mess, I slipped through the other shelves, past his table, straight into the royal archives.

Silently, I scanned through the thick books, until I found one with a blue cube inscribed on it.

The crest of House Solaris.

I reached for it and slowly unlatched it. Its chain fell back, hitting the bottom of the shelf

"Is anyone in there?"

The old man was heading back.

I tucked the book between my arm and slid out of the archives before the old man returned.

I debated whether to read it in the library or not, but eventually, I decided to take it back to my room. So, I ducked out of the library, trying not to call any attention to myself.

"What are you doing?"

I froze for a moment, then slipped the book right into my blazer.

Lucy stared at the spot for a while.

"What is that?"

"Nothing."

"Doesn't look like nothing."

"It's nothing."

"Looks like a book."

Her tone was sharp, like she'd caught me stealing her wand.

"It's nothing," I said, with a tone of finality.

Lucy's eyes remained glued on my chest, then she shrugged and walked past me without another word.

*****

The cold evening winds blew in through my open window, calming my uneasy nerves. I took another sip from my cup, to whet my parched throat.

The book lay open on my desk, its pages old and dog-eared. I flipped through it meticulously, trying to find the information I needed,

But half of the information were things I already knew. I knew the history of Pentra, the Houses in it, and the magic affinity of House Solaris.

I felt a slight churn in my stomach. Something about Kyro made me feel uneasy. For some reason, his mana pressure rivaled that of a seasoned mage, but even after reading the entire history of his house, I couldn't figure out why he'd have such a large mana pressure at a young age.

With a loud sigh, I closed the book in front of me and pushed it aside on the reading table, then I stood up to stretch my limbs.

Glancing briefly through the window, I noticed a faint spot of blue, darting away from the nobles' dorm.

It was Kyro, dressed in his blue blazer.

He walked briskly, in long strides, like he had some place to be. However, it was already dusk, and in a few hours, the night guards were going to resume patrol.

Wherever he was heading to this late, was worth investigating.

Without hesitation, I slipped on my blazer and rushed downstairs.

Kyro veered towards the school buildings, then he cut right, as if headed for the library.

I trailed behind at a distance, using the surrounding trees for cover to avoid detection. However, Kyro barely turned around, even when I expected him to. He was either oblivious of his surroundings, or simply unbothered.

Finally, Kyro made a final turn, disappearing into the school orchard. Rather than follow in the same way, I decided to take another route. Then, I chose to climb onto one of the surrounding trees, where I could see and hear everything going on in the orchard.

"You're late," a voice said from the orchard.

"My apologies," Kyro replied, "I lost track of time."

On second thought, I hid behind one of the surrounding hedges and peered over it.

"We shouldn't be meeting like this," the second voice said again. It was deeply feminine and vaguely familiar.

"We don't want to attract more attention to ourselves now, do we?" Kyro asked, his voice rising with each word.

Both of them sat on the bench directly opposite the hedge. As soon as I saw the black length of hair on the second figure, my heart sank.

"I don't. But I don't want to feel like I'm hiding either," Lucy replied, her eyes glued to her shoes.

Kyro leaned toward her, his hand gently moving toward her face. Then he lifted her chin and planted a kiss on her lips.

In that moment, a burning sensation erupted in my chest. I didn't know which was hurting, the fact that Lucy was officially seeing someone else, or the person it was she was seeing.

The kiss lingered, far longer than I liked. Then Kyro broke it off, reaching for an object in his pocket.

"I brought you... a gift," he said, pulling out a small black box from his pocket and handing it over to Lucy.

"Thank you," Lucy replied, her hand trembling slightly as she flicked the box open and lifted the object within.

It was a pendant, shaped like a teardrop, attached to a silver chain. It glimmered faintly in the light of the setting sun, but seconds later, it let out a soft orange colour.

Lucy's eyes widened, impressed by the glowing pendant.

"Beautiful isn't it?" Kyro said, wearing a faint smile.

"It is."

Suddenly, I felt a slight twist in my gut.

The pendant had been imbued with a spell, which gave it its faint glow. But the mana which the pendant emitted was way too high for a simple lumination spell.

Something about this situation felt wrong. I wasn't sure why, but I knew I had to keep that pendant away from Lucy.

For a moment, I hesitated, afraid to reveal my position. Then I raised my head, to check what they were doing.

Kyro's eyes were staring right at me, cold and knowing. Slowly, his smile widened into a sharp smirk.

"Enjoying the show, Stormborn?"