"Oh? Someone doesn't seem very happy about seeing me...I wonder why, perhaps SOMEONE forgot who he owes for covering his skipped classes..."

  A lilting and pleasant voice piped up from behind, tinged with anger and amusement. The grip on his shoulder tightened ever so slightly, thin and white fingers with pink and white nails leaving shallow marks on his ironed blazer.

  Min groaned a bit inaudibly. It was true, he probably shouldn't be avoiding her when she had just helped him out, yet again, but.....

  Damn this is so troublesome, I should definitely have prepared more before leaving the apartment this morning, I should have moved faster, checked my almanac...

  He contemplated fibbing it off. He hadn't even seen her, his feet had just happened to go in the opposite direction. Just wanted to stand closer to the platform to get better seats. In no way, shape, or form was he hoping that he wouldn't be noticed.

  Thats right, I just wanted to stand here how abou-

  As he turned around ready to defend himself with some smooth talking, a light touch on his lips interrupted his thoughts, the cool feeling of contact shocking him as he almost jumped backward out of habit.

  "W-what are you-"

  Hold on, this feels pretty good...No wait, what does she think she's doing in front of so many people?!

  "Shhhhhhhh- I don't want to hear any lame excuses rolling off your silver tongue, Mister Class President"

  The slim finger that was pressing on him moved down slightly, halting any further movement of the lips.

  A crown of shiny long ruby red hair came into view, bobbing around, a few strands of hair sticking vertically in defiance of both gravity and grooming.

  Its owner was a short girl, miniature in fact, barely coming up to his chest level even with the shiny black heels she was wearing in a vain attempt to increase her height. Her body was thin and waiflike, dressed in the female version of the academy uniform with a skirt. Min could feel a beast-like energy radiating from her in complete contrast to her frail appearance.

  Under the hair was a round face with delicate features that wouldn't have looked out of place on the expensive dolls belonging to children of the wealthy, a small and straight nose, heart shaped pink lips, and crimson gold eyes, round with just a slight upwards tilt at their outer edge. Tiny motes of light jumped in each liquid gold pupil, dancing with the emotions of their owner.

  Those eyes were looking at him now with a hint of playfulness and anger. Min snuck a peek at her pupils with his half lidded eyes.

  Flickering red and steady, Should be safe for now....

  "What are you looking at?"

  "Nothing in particular- Do you want me to buy you lunch again today Rhea? Or maybe that limited edition cake from your favorite dessert shop? You've been drooling over it for a week-"

  Ouch!

  The pinching sensation grew stronger.

  "By the way..." Min looked at his shoulder where a small hand gripped it like an iron vise "Don't you feel embarrassed gripping me in public?"

  The girl looked at him suspiciously, ignoring his rapid fire responses, and said "Why do I have a feeling that you're trying to distract me hm?"

  Then she grinned, exposing a mouthful of perfect white teeth with a pair of sharp incisors that she tried to keep hidden rather unsuccessfully.

  "Anyway, have you thought about it? We need another member for our group today, and I know that you're really good at Cartography. Didn't you say you want to get a better score this time? Come on Min, I'll take care of you, you know how strong I am, just think of it as repaying the favor."

  After saying this, she bent her neck back to look up, searching his eyes with a slightly narrowed gaze. From this distance Min could see the length of her long curled lashes and feel a ticklish breath on his face, causing him to step back unintentionally.

  When he did so, the height difference made it somewhat difficult for Rhea to tilt back far enough while maintaining her grip, so she released him and took a step back, still keeping him in arms reach as if afraid he would somehow escape.

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  "Well? What do you think? It's not everyday that a lady like myself asks you to join a group right? Right? Right?! The tiny stars in her liquid gold pupils flickered faster, jumping and dancing vigorously as she spoke with a rising tone, denoting her excitement. She smiled at him victoriously, even forgetting that she was exposing her tiger teeth.

  Just as Min was thinking of a response, a large shadow suddenly loomed over him.

  "Excuse me...may Grek ask if this is the right station for the Academy? Grek got a little lost because Grek can't read the signs......" A deep gravelly voice, reminiscent of low thunder, spoke up from beside him hesitantly.

  Turning to his right, Min saw the source of the voice. It was the demi-human he had gone next to in an attempt to hide. Standing so closely, he loomed even larger than he had seemed before, his three meter height towering over both Min and Rhea. In contrast to his intimidating appearance however, he had what Min thought was a vaguely sheepish look on his large gray crag-like face. A pair of granite colored hands the size of pot lids rubbed together embarrassedly, creating a sound like rocks grinding against each other. Rhea looked on from the side, tapping her heel against the ground impatiently with her arms crossed.

  "Yes...this is the right station for the Academy, the train will be here in a few minutes" Min said, having to crane his neck to look at his face, just like Rhea had for him.

  The hulking fellow murmured words of thanks politely, in a surprisingly formal manner. He fidgeted on the spot but didn't make a move to leave.

  Min looked around, wondering why the demi-human had interrupted their conversation, before realizing that the students around him had vanished to several meters away, leaving an empty space a dozen meters in diameter originating from the three of them, despite the crowding on the platform.

  "Did you use your Aura again? Rhea...." Min said her name with a sigh, shaking his head at the pint sized girl. The demi human also looked over at her with an expression on his face that was....curious?

  "What? It won't hurt them, I controlled it so they wouldn't notice a thing. Aura Fields are an art you know, I've been training since earlier this semester! It won't be like last year at all...."

  Her defensive words tapered off gradually as Min stared at her. She looked away guiltily, pursing her lips.

  "That's what you said last year" Min stated flatly, with a deadpan expression.

  He was quite certain in fact, that she had said it every year for the past three years, ever since she had started growing into her Gifts. Rhea 'Falling Star' Aster had never exactly been known for impulse control and she tested her Gift with glee on everything and everyone around her. Luckily for her, having the last name 'Aster' permitted a lot of freedom that Min wouldn't even dream of, unless he wanted to spend some of his precious time inhaling the stale air of a district police station jail.

  Case in point, even now that she had used her Aura freely on impulse there were no signs of any assistant droids coming to stop her. Despite the fact that using Gifts on other citizens arbitrarily was a misdemeanor at best, they seemed to ignore the space around Rhea as if it was a dead zone, walking or rolling about in another direction as soon as they entered within several meters of where she stood.

  Not every background had this kind of weight however. Min hadn't inquired too deeply, perhaps out of an instinctive desire to keep their relationship pure, but the 'Aster' family name was well known in their planetary belt, involved in numerous industries and intertwined deeply with various vested interest groups in Zafta, although he had an vague notion that they were above it all. Rhea had bragged many times that she was a candidate heir or something along those lines, though he often tuned her out when she energetically rambled off the wall for long periods of time, much to her chagrin.

  As he flipped through a folder in his mind of other things he could say to distract Rhea, a high pitched whining came all of a sudden from behind him.

  Choo Choo Choo!!!!

  Ah there it was, his out.

  Min turned around just as a long segmented gray cylinder with an elongated tip floated in next to the terminal like a shining metallic python, making a strange noise that was supposedly an imitation of some kind of ancestral ancient machine. The sky train came to a complete standstill as a robotic feminine voice speaking perfect imperial Standard began to blare out repeatedly at regular intervals "Sky train B-843 heading to the Lower District Academy at terminal 8 has arrived, taking off in five minutes."

  A large holographic sign popped up over the train with a flashing green icon indicating its arrival. The curved side of its cylindrical form facing the platform split open every few meters as integrated doors popped out and to the sides silently, ready for commuters. The students crowding around, who were waiting for just that moment, flooded instantly into the compartments, jostling for the best seats in silence.

  Min waited for the first group to pass before following calmly with light steps as the masses of people thinned out. He hated any kind of crowd, although experience growing up in the Pods helped him tolerate it more or less if he had to. Rhea tailed him closely from his right, her mouth opening and closing, seemingly wanting to say something but in the end staying silent as more and more people filed in from behind. The tall grey demi-human followed after a moment of hesitation, maintaining a certain distance as he looking around, gingerly avoiding contact with any of the other commuters who gave him a wide berth.

  The grey inner compartment of the train was surprisingly spacious for its narrow proportions, a low fluorescent light every few meters highlighting neatly aligned rows of padded white seats with small glass discs surrounded by metal built into their backs, miniature holographic projectors. A silver aisle ran through everything to the back of the compartment, wide enough to accommodate both commuters and robots. There were overhead storages covered with white panels lining both sides of the curved walls, large enough to carry anything up to a small personal droid.

  Min headed for the back of the compartment, as far from the opening doors as possible. He was looking for his usual seat, which he found luckily unoccupied. Sitting down, he reached into his blazer, searching around for a moment, before pulling out a small and rectangular transparent panel.