ENF Academy - A LitRPG Ch. 009-017

Ch 1.9: Interrogation

The tall woman led Elaina through the halls, never releasing her wrist, her short brown hair bouncing up and down over her dark skin with each step forward. Her skin wasn't as dark as Char's, the carriage driver who'd brought Elaina to Endrin, but still darker than most people Elaina had ever met. She walked with the weight of authority, seeming less like she was enrolled at the school and more like a member of the faculty, despite her uniform clearly marking her as a student, not a teacher.

Elaina's captor pulled a ring of keys out of her jacket pocket after their short trip and unlocked a side door, opening up an opulent office space, filled with ornate tables and chairs, all empty, fortunately, leading to one large, gold trimmed desk. Behind that desk was... A window? But they were deep into the castle, with no connection to the outside. Elaina gaped as she looked at it closer, realizing the window was made of crystal, and it didn't show outside at all, but rather was showing one of the academy's inner hallways. It stayed on that hallway for a moment then changed to another, cycling every few seconds.

The woman walked towards the window, giving Elaina the first chance to actually admire her long, strong legs coming down from her skirt, her slim athletic form. "Crystal monitor," she said, sitting down at the desk. There was nowhere in front of it for Elaina to sit, so she just stood in the center of the room. "State of the art, only installed last year." She tapped a crystal tablet on the desk, a long pink nail clacking on it, and the image changed once again, to the front entrance that Elaina had first walked into. "I'd heard there was a cute girl wandering around, so I was waiting for one of my flunkies to bring you in. Imagine my surprise when I saw you waltzing through the front door alone." Yeah, Elaina was really glad she hadn't actually attacked those guards now. The woman leaned forward, playful eyes, dark brown with light pink eyeshadow below them boring into Elaina. Gods, Elaina though. Prisma had been beautiful, but this girl was hot.

"So, formalities," the girl said. "I'm head of the student watch, Tira Strask. Who do I have the pleasure of meeting tonight?"

"E-Elaina."

"Last name?"

"I-, uhm, don't have one. Weaver, I guess, technically. That's what they had me put on the registration forms."

"Oh? A commoner, huh." The woman jerked forward in her chair. "Wait, are you that commoner?"

Elaina winced. "Probably."

Tira sat back again, letting out a whistle. "Causing trouble all over the place, huh? Rough couple a days you've had. Anyway, let's get started." The woman pulled out a quill and started writing. "Funny enough, there's not a rule about prancing about in lingerie specifically, but you are out of uniform, so we have that violation to deal with. You're way past curfew, obviously, so that's number two. And lastly, the 'unbecoming conduct' situation. The lingerie doesn't help you out there either, but I'm more concerned with the fact that you reek of sex and have a damp spot the size of the lake on your panties than the fact that you're wearing panties specifically."

Elaina choked, covering her underwear with her hands. She had no defense, no reasonable one. "I'm really sorry, ma'am..."

"Ma'am?" She grinned. "I do like the sound of that, but I'm like, a year older than you. Maybe two, since I hear your late birthday is why your Awakening went to shit. But regardless, 'Tira' will do, for now."

"Right, still, I'm sorry."

Tira stared at Elaina. "That's all?"

"I— yes..."

Tira sighed, dropping her quill and leaning back in her chair, a chair that reclined as she fell into it. "Look, I know there's more to the story than that. When my apparently blind subordinates are talking about a streaking fresher nearly an hour before she actually shows up, there has to be more to the story." She leaned forward again, this time frowning at Elaina. "So tell me, why are you dressed like this? Why are you out this late? Did someone do this to you? What else did they make you do?"

Elaina's voice caught in her throat. She was getting riled up again, being interrogated in just her underwear. And this woman, this girl barely older than Elaina herself had an air of authority around her that was almost as intense as she was hot. Elaina hadn't experienced raw authority like this before, not from her parents, not from the headmaster, no one.

Still, Prisma's threat lingered. Talk, and Elaina would have it even worse. "I— I just am. I was alone, I took my clothes off, and I was late getting back..."

Tira stared back, eyebrows pushing together in annoyance. "Listen, I get it; the horny girl is scared and embarrassed. I'm not an asshole, but I do have a job here. Keep whatever secrets you have to to yourself, but I'm going to need you to explain to me, without lying, why I shouldn't issue you this write up."

Elaina shook her head, trying to find more words. Sorry wasn't enough, and she'd already said that, but there wasn't anything else she could tell the woman. Not without making things worse. "I can't say what happened."

"Well, at least that's something." Tira stood up and slammed a fist on the desk, shaking it and knocking the quill she'd been using to the ground. There was anger in her frown, in her eyes, but her words didn't hold that anger, only authority. "Still not good enough. I know you're protecting someone else. Tell me what happened, now."

They stared at each other for a moment, for a while. Elaina wasn't sure how long. Tira stood there, leaning over the desk, holding the gaze for what seemed like forever. Elaina knew she wouldn't be able to leave without saying what happened, she knew she still couldn't say it. She had to listen to Tira, but she had to be silent too. Elaina bit her lip, looking down, closing her eyes shut to stem the tears welling up again. She couldn't cry, not here. She was already in trouble. She needed to stay strong, accept her punishment, move on, and then—

A soft hand lifted Elaina's chin up. She opened her eyes, seeing Tira look down at her. The student watch member looked like a prince come to save the princess in a fairy tale. The anger was still there, but Elaina could tell now that the anger wasn't for her. It was for Waine, for Prisma, for the others. "Can I hold you?" Tira asked.

The answer was obvious. "Uh-huh." Tira pulled Elaina into her, wrapping her arms around Elaina's back and enveloping her. Tira's chest was more average than large, but its gentle embrace cradled Elaina's head as she still struggled to hold back the tears. "I'm sorry, I'm going to ruin your uniform."

"If you're going to cry, I'm not going to let you do it all alone. Go ahead, let it out."

The tears flowed. Elaina sobbed into her upperclassman's shirt, gripping the sleeves of her jacket as she did. She remained there, crying on this complete stranger for as long as she could manage to produce tears, finally slowing down and just leaning into the embrace.

"When you're ready, tell me what actually happened," Tira said. Elaina pushed away, sniffing, looking at her empty hands, dejected. Tira produced a handkerchief from her pocket and handed it over, which Elaina took and started wiping her face.

"I— you heard about my Awakening going wrong, you said?"

"Ya, sorry that happened. Sucks that you had to find out like that, especially when it's actually the school's fault in the first place."

"Right, well, some other students took me out into the forest for the test of courage. They said that's why they were taking me out anyway, but actually..."

Tira furrowed her brow. "They did this to you."

Elaina nodded. "They tore up my clothes, said I didn't deserve to wear the Endrin uniform."

"Fuckwads," Tira said, walking back to her desk and sitting down and picking her quill up from the floor. "You have their names?"

Elaina glanced away. "I— no."

"Elaina, this is serious. If they're threatening you, don't worry, they won't be able to do shit to you once I'm finished with them."

"They're not... It's not just that. I deserved this, and I don't want to cause—"

"Cut that shit!" Tira threw her quill down and began to rub her temples. "I'm on your side here. If you let them get away with this, they'll just go further next time. And your uniform is destroyed? The school will replace it if I can report what happened, but they don't just give those out for free, not without a reason."

She was right, Elaina knew. Prisma's threats weren't even good ones; she'd admitted that if her and Waine's group followed through with them they may get expelled. "I still can't tell on them, I'm sorry. I trust you, but I really just want this to be over. I'll make do with my spare uniform until I can figure something out."

Tira groaned, throwing her head back. "Fine," she said, picking up the parchment she'd been writing on earlier and tearing it to pieces. "You're lucky you slipped past the other student watch members. If they'd seen you, I'd have to report something, but since you're going to be stubborn about this and no one else saw you, I'm going to do my best to forget this ever happened."

The woman stood up again, removing her golden pin and setting it down. She took her jacket off, revealing her powerful torso in full, and started walking back to Elaina. Tira tried handing the garment over to Elaina, who pushed it away and started walking back. "No, I can't take that. I'll just—"

"It's cold, and you're in your underwear. I can't be sure none of the other watch will see you on the way back, so you really need to wear something. And keep the handkerchief."

Elaina reached out pulled the jacket to her body, clutching it and the handkerchief both. "But you'll be out of uniform, and I don't know how to get it back to you."

Tira shrugged, laughing Elaina off. "On the night shift and in charge to boot, I can get away without the jacket for a few hours. I'll just swing by your dorm sometime to grab it later."

Elaina blushed, covering herself with her new piece of temporary clothing. "Come to my dorm? Do you mean..."

"Uh, no. You're a little too vulnerable here for me to be hitting on right now."

Right now? Elaina felt her face grow even redder as she wrapped the jacket around herself, buttoning it up. With Tira's height, it was actually long enough to function as a skirt, but that also meant her lace-clad breasts were completely hanging out the top. She looked up and saw Tira staring at them.

Tira coughed, realizing what she'd been doing. "Anyway, you really should get back to your dorm room. If anyone comes in and I'm not actively writing you up, I'll have a lot of explaining to do. Try not to be seen, but if anyone finds you I can try and cover."

"Right." Elaina turned around and started walking towards the door, stopping after only a few steps and turning back around. "Thank you, Tira, for everything."

Tira placed a hand on Elaina's head and ruffled her hair. "No problem. Now get some sleep, you've had a rough night."

Elaina relished the contact for a moment before nodding and walking off. It had been a rough night. After exiting the office she hurried through the hallways, finally with some semblance of modesty, but knowing she wasn't fully in the clear just yet.

Ch 1.10: Redo

Elaina made it back to her dorm wing without incident, but paused at the entrance as she heard noise from the common room. On a school night the curfew meant complete lights out, but on the weekend like today, it simply meant students had to be in the dorms, common area included. She took a deep breath, pulling Tira's jacket over her as much as she could before darting in.

It took a second for someone to notice her state of dress, but once they did Elaina heard a sharp whistle, followed by shouting aimed at her, "Whoo! Get some, girl!" Elaina continued her path to the stairs, face burning as she ignored the hollering. At least they don't know what really happened. Not yet, anyway. There was still the portrait situation, but Elaina couldn't worry about that now. Five people had pictures of her, they would show them to others, and that was that. She made her way up to her room and opened the door.

For once her roommate had beaten her to the room, but she was already asleep. Elaina walked over to her dresser and opened it, squinting in the darkness. Her other clothes were still there, of course. Waine and the others had wanted to send a message that wouldn't be noticed by school faculty, so taking every bit of her wardrobe wasn't an option. She pulled off Tira's jacket, put it on top, and glanced back over at her roommate. Still asleep, back to Elaina's side of the room. Confident she wouldn't be seen, Elaina took off her underwear set and went to place it in the dresser, noticing the star necklace that Char had carved for her on their carriage ride here.

Luckily I didn't wear this today. She had wanted to save it for her actual Awakening, but she supposed she messed that up too, having done that already. Elaina put her underwear in, then took out the necklace and put it on, something to keep her company in the night. She looked at the nightgowns she'd packed, deciding if she wanted to wear one. She never wore them at home, but she knew she should now that she had a roommate. Her eyes flicked to the top of the dresser though, and she grabbed Tira's jacket back instead before closing the drawer.

The jacket would be nice, tonight at least. She'd noticed its smell on the walk back, like evergreen trees growing in a field of lavender. She put it on in reverse, the back of the jacket now cradling her like Tira had, before climbing in her bed. The rough fabric of the uniform wasn't as soft as her bedsheets, but it was somehow more comforting. Why does this jacket feel so nice?

She thought over everything that had happened the last few hours, wondering why she'd bothered wearing anything to bed at all. Normally she'd already be pounding herself, halfway to an orgasm after something like this. She liked to think it was because she had a roommate to worry about, but the night before had proven that Elaina didn't care about that. She'd already gotten herself off twice, to be fair, and that was probably part of it too, but two times in as many hours was certainly not her limit. Neither of those were it.

Elaina definitely could get herself going, but for some reason she didn't feel the need to, despite all that had happened. She clutched the jacket to her chest, drinking in the smell of Tira's perfume as she faded to sleep.

***

Elaina shot up at the first bell, looking over to the other bed in her room. "Damnit!" It was neatly made, empty, again. "I only half believe that girl exists." Elaina had hoped to meet her this morning, try and prod out how much she'd seen and heard on their first night. The thought of that conversation looming over her head wasn't even embarrassing, just anxiety inducing.

Elaina threw on new underwear and her spare uniform— her only uniform, she supposed— and set out about her day. She attended her first breakfast, which was thankfully uneventful, and in between meals returned back to her dorm, hoping to catch her roommate. Unsuccessful again, she resolved to try again after lunch. Lunch was almost as uneventful, but Elaina thought she was getting more stares than earlier. I can't tell if it's because of the Awakening, or the portraits.

She repeated her trip back to her room after eating, finding it empty once again and tossed herself onto her mattress with a sigh, resolving to try and wait out her roommate again. Elaina would've gone out and looked for her in the common area, but the only thing she'd ever seen of the girl was the back of her head in the dead of night, and there could be any number girls with short dark hair.

She could try and go out and make more friends, of course, but that hadn't gone well so far. No, it was better to get the basic pleasantries out of the way with the person she would have to spend time with— if they ever met— and then keep low during her time at the academy. It would be lonely, but she could manage.

Elaina entertained herself on her bed by conjuring and manipulating lengths of rope and chains. She couldn't do any real practice outside, since as far anyone else knew she was still unawakened, but it passed the time well enough.

The dinner bell rang after hours of fruitless waiting and contemplation, so Elaina finally got up and started the trek back to the dining hall for the last time of the day. She made her way there with the flow of students, the vast crowd all making their way to the same destination, and Elaina realized for the first time that she would be the only one having her Awakening in front of the entire school, not just her fellow first years. Two days prior there would have been a separate meal for the upperclassmen, but it wouldn't make sense to arrange that just for Elaina.

She was fortunately one of the first to arrive, and there was plentiful seating near the faculty table, which she was grateful for. That had been the place to be on the full Awakening night, but the desirable tables for general eating seemed to be the ones closest to the serving station, naturally. The station itself was currently closed, automatons standing at it next to empty trays. Right, they waited to serve food after the Awakening then too.

Elaina sat alone for a while, but eventually the room started to reach capacity, and people had to move to the outer tables and fill in around her. There was definitely attention on her this time: staring, pointing, whispers, but none so loud she could make out the words over the general volume of the room, which was already louder than usual.

Alonse Stormshine stood, and the room silenced. "Now," he said, his thunderous voice echoing throughout the hall, "I must make an apology on behalf of the faculty. We mistakenly offered enrollment to a certain student when they technically weren't of age, and that caused some strife the other night.

"But today is her twentieth birthday, and rather than send her back home, we're going to have a special Awakening for her tonight and enroll her this year anyway. I appreciate your hospitality and understanding to her as we delay this evening's dinner, but please recognize again that it is ultimately the academy's error that caused this, not hers." He waved his hand, the Awakening crystal appearing once more in front of him, mist floating inside. He looked at Elaina, smiling and beckoning her to him.

Elaina stood and began the long walk up to him. Had it always been this far to the faculty table? She'd sat as close as possible, but this distance seemed to stretch and stretch, right up until she reached that damned red rug, sprawled across the floor, leading up the stairs she needed to walk up to reach the crystal.

What if I dreamed it? I could have hit my head falling down that hole, imagined the whole thing. I mean really, a crystal orb that talks and gave me a class? I really might still be a dud.

She swallowed, then pressed forward, ignoring both the rug on the floor and her own thoughts. When she reached the top of the stairs, she braced herself for the worst and reached out a finger, tapping the top of the crystal once more, her final chance. At first, there was nothing. Nothing continued, giving way to—

Nothing.

"No," she whispered. "Not again..."

The stormy mist inside the crystal raged, surging inside the confines like it was trying to escape, needed to escape. It continued on for only seconds, but still far longer than it had for the Awakenings Elaina had seen prior, finally calming and settling to its previous pattern of gentle swirling. The faculty, the only people Elaina could see, all stared with dumbfounded expressions, some at crystal, some at Elaina herself, and some even at the headmaster.