The Night After the Defeat

Some years before the tragedy, and many years before all the members of RS had gathered, in the back garden of the dorms, there're two people chatting while one seems to be training with her sword...

"How careless I am! If only I had paid more attention, if only I hadn't let my guard down, I wouldn't be defeated by that Jaspers...!" Solar growled, as she continue practicing swinging her sword.

"It is unfortunate you lost..." Claire sat on the floor, listening to Solar's grumbles. "But I feel like you shouldn't have attacked him like that, you didn't even ask if he is down for a battle..."

"But the news about him being stronger than me has been spreading around! If I let that slide, I wouldn't be the greatest knight of the Luminescence, and the leaders might be-"

"Solar please," Claire sighed, "Just look at yourself right now. You have not even let yourself heal after the fight" Claire pointed out all the wounds on her body and her face, she was somewhat surprised some who cared so much about her own appearance did not care about this, the desperation really had gotten to Solar. "How would you defeat him if you won't even recover?"

Solar lowered her head, "No... I cannot rest yet, I have to reclaim my victory before everyone knows of my loss." She had been praised for being gifted ever since she is young, and being at the top of the school is her whole purpose. "We have high expectations for you, Solar." Imagine if she fails doing that, the disappointment from the leaders, the deregardment from her peers.

"(I will surely be left behind)", she shuddered at the thought.

Claire figured that it is difficult to stop Solar at this point, the best she could do is prevent the next fight from happening. "I should go to sleep now, and you should sleep soon too. But if you try to do anything reckless tomorrow, I will come and stop you, ok?"

As Claire left the area, Solar thought about how foolish Claire was. She knew how often Claire overslept, and Solar always woke up before Claire did. How would she expect Claire to wake up early and keep an eye on her? But unbeknownst to Solar, Claire was not returning to her room, but in fact, was looking for someone, the very person Solar fought...

The thought of talking to Jaspers made Claire a bit nervous. He may have only been here for a short while, but he had already gotten a reputation of being a extremely strengthful and dangerous person. She recalled how Solar got punched into mid-air and fell into the forest, she really should have stopped Solar before she even had the thought to battle with him. But there is no way to turn back time, the only thing she could do is minimise the damage.

However, looking for a stranger was harder than it seemed. There were so many rooms for each member, and it would take very long (and a bit rude) to knock on each door and have a half-asleep person respond, the sun would rise way before she's done searching.

As she was struggling to find the most efficient way to find the correct room, she heard something. In the distance, there is a gentle strumming of a string instrument and soft humming. She had not heard of people playing music at this time before, she thought. Out of curiousity, she followed the direction of the melody, perhaps the girl who really likes music has picked up a new instrument? As she finally found the orgin of the sound, the truth surprised her a bit.

That tall physique, and that shoulder-length red hair, yup that's Jaspers no doubt. It was a bit unexpecting a person like him to play such a beautiful melody. While Claire got immersed listening to the music, Jaspers seemed to have sensed a presence. He quickly turned his eyes to the back, and stumbled onto the floor in shock when he realised someone was watching him from behind.

"Ah! Sorry for scaring you, I heard someone was playing an instrument, so I followed the music... Your performance is really good by the way!" Claire complimented in a nervous tone. "Uh, thanks..." Jaspers answered timidly as he attempted to sit himself back up. There was a short and awkward silence between them, until Claire remembered what she need to do.

"Oh I am actually looking for you, to talk about what happened in the afternoon..." Claire said apologeticly. "I am sorry about Solar, she can be a bit aggressive when it comes to keeping her status as a top student..."

"Oh about that," Jaspers spoke up, "I am sorry about what I did. I didn't mean to attack her like that, but I am bad at controlling my power, and I accidentally hit her in a panic..."

"It isn't really your fault..." Claire felt quite bad about him, despite how scary he looked, he seemed to be quite polite. Perhaps people was too quick to judge by his appearance?

Claire's eyes took notice of the musical instrument that's still in Jaspers' hands, "So... you like playing the guitar?" She awkwardly attempted to start a new conversation, while sitting down next to him. Jaspers nodded, looking a bit embarrassed about his performance being noticed.

"That's so cool! I'm a bit surprised you have such a sedentary hobby, I'd imagine you would do something else like, sports and battling, like Solar." Jaspers replied, "Well a lot of people also thought I'm a sporty person, but I don't like being active much, or even fighting."

"...You don't?" Claire's eyebrows rose, if he doesn't like sports, how did he get this strong? He continued, "I'm glad I am taken here due to my powers, but if I have the choice, I'd rather not get into any battles, it feels rather draining to hurt anyone..." Remembering what happened this afternoon, Claire felt a sense of responsibility to stop this conflict for once.

"Jaspers, knowing my friend, Solar will definitely come back to have a rematch with you, very likely next morning."

Jaspers lowered his head, "Perhaps I should looking for spots to hide while-"

"You don't have to hide, Solar is too good at hide-and-seek to avoid her anyway. Also, I think you deserve to have a peaceful life here, we are a community after all!" Claire patted his shoulder, which startled Jaspers a bit.

Claire spoke, "This idea I have is a bit... stupid, but I believe this would work, the rumors would end and Solar will have to leave this battle behind. Do you want to join this plan?"