'Okay, now we're at the library, what do I do next?' Ashrosaliera thought to herself as she stood from one row away, looking at Zofia by removing a few books and peeking through.
Ash took a good look at the beastman girl—smooth black hair, nerdy and stylish glasses, thigh-high dark stockings with comfortable and durable gray boots that sell the whole vibe—with great envy of how she pulled off that style so flawlessly.
"Maybe I can do something romantic from those stage skits Dad brought me to watch." Ash said to herself, kneeling on the ground, "Oh Zofia, Zofia, Zofia~"
Ashrosaliera cleared her throat, her palm raised to the air as if she were holding someone's hand like a knight in shining armor. The girl with white hair spoke sincerely while her eyes were fixed on the ceiling, trying to recreate a scene in her mind.
"Would you forgive me, Zofia? I can not follow you through the end of time; Or, if you may, swear to be my love! And I'll no longer be a Säpphroaleryst!"
Ash took a deep breath, getting emotional with her voice, and continued,
"In truth, my fair Adinberg, I loved you too much. And therefore you may think light of my heart… But trust me, my fair lady! I'll prove more true than those that have more coying to be strange."
What she said made no sense at all, but Ashrosaliera found herself giggling at her own marvelous, breathtaking performance. She started quietly clapping to herself.
Ash would be brought back to earth after finishing the performance, and she saw Zofia Adinberg standing in front of her, with an extremely disgusted and dissatisfied expression.
She saw everything, and she heard her name being said in that weird romance chant. And the beastman girl wanted nothing to do with it; she turned the other way, ignoring Ash's antic.
"..."
Ashrosaliera started slamming a thick dictionary over her own head.
…
"Alright… I didn't want it to come to this."
Ashrosaliera somehow, someway, and for some reason, got her little gremlin hands on some props. A fedora, a mustache, a fake-looking wig, and dark glasses.
She, of course, put them all on.
"Super stealth mode: Activated!"
Ashrosaliera then wrote a small letter with a pen and a post-it note from the library front desk, before sprinting away to catch up with Zofia, trying not to lose track of the beastman.
"Hey, no running in the library!" A random woman with red hair exclaimed.
"I'm not running, I'm walking fast!" Ash dashed away out of her sight.
There she was! Ashrosaliera found Zofia, she stalked from one row away as the girl was sitting on a solo bench and reading a book, something about [Nobility Families of Euria Kingdom] which piqued Ash's interest, she wondered if Roshia would be in there? But nevertheless, she carried on with her plan and approached Zofia.
Zofia Adinberg looked up from her seat to see a small female figure wearing sunglasses while indoors, a mustache, some kind of black male wig, and a fedora.
Yeah, not suspicious at all.
Totally-Isnt-Ashrosaliera, or TIA, cleared her throat and tried putting up a gentleman's voice, which only a two-year-old would believe.
"Herro gud madam. (Hello, good madam.)" TIA said.
"What do you want?" Zofia answered coldly, glancing up.
"A cute rittle girl rift me dis! Tells me to hand it to yer! (A cute little girl gave me this and told me to hand it to you.)" TIA explained.
TIA would then smile brightly, handing Zofia the post-it note with a small phrase on it that said:
[I am sorry for what I said. Can we talk? Xxx best Fire User Alive]
Sadly, Zofia didn't even give TIA a chance; she didn't read the note. Instead, she stood up, went to the nearest trash can, shredded the note into pieces, and threw them in there.
Props to her for not littering, TIA thought.
"Ashrosaliera Säpphroaleryst, you are ruining my day with these ridiculous pranks, and I do not wish to associate with you. Please remove yourself from my sight and stop embarrassing yourself."
"Ooh, but madam, me is no Ashrosaliera, my name's-"
"Go." Zofia cut off Ash's attempt to act.
Defeated, Ashrosaliera slumped her shoulders down and curled her lips all sad. She removed the wig, fedora, mustache, and sunglasses, walking away defeated with her body hunched over and her head to the ground.
"It didn't work…" Ash approached someone and gave it back to them.
"Oh? How unfortunate, you could always pin her down in bed when she's sleeping~ That's a good way to apologize."
The voice came from Luciana Bloodforge, a frequent library visitor.
"Yeah, no… I'm not going to follow your advice, even I know that's not true." Ash frowned at the crossdressing vampire, all concerned. "I don't know what to do…"
Then, The Poet, Tanya Nrägèjmul, came from around the corner. "Why don't you just walk straight to her and say you want a minute to chat?"
"I can do that?" Ash asked, all confused.
"That's… The first thing anyone would do." Tanya commented.
Luciana then nudged Tanya with his elbow, smiling mischievously, "That's how this lad landed his ex-girlfriend. He just went and asked to touch her badoink badoink. You heard of Emily Partiak, right, Ash?"
"Oy! I told you not to tell anyone else outside the third and fourth year!" Tanya immediately got defensive.
"No… Can't say I have." Ashrosaliera shook her head, "But… Thank you, Luciana, Tanya! I'll go apologize to Zofia now!"
"Good luck, bae, don't come back unless with good news," Luciana smirked, his hands resting on his cheek.
Ashrosaliera went sprinting through the library in search of her soon-to-be friend again.
She saw Zofia still sitting in the same seat, still reading a book, while Ashrosaliera looked from afar in awe. Ash mustered up all her courage, air in her lungs, and bravery in her soul, and hit her chest like a gorilla, getting ready to face the toughest battle ever.
"Zofia, we need to talk." Ashrosaliera crossed her hands behind her back, trying to act nonchalantly and cool.
"Is this another prank?" Zofia asked, "If that's some kind of cockroaches or spell tool on your hand back there, I won't take it lightly. I told you to leave me alone already."
"I'm sorry!" Ash exclaimed, bending her head down to both express remorse and to hide her red face.
"For what?" Zofia sighed, the beastman rolled her eyes, and put her book down, ready to hear another broken record.
"For laughing at you and mocking you at the evaluation test while you were trying your best." Ash started fiddling with her fingers, resting both hands on her chest. "I was really rude, and I wish you could forgive me! I've gotten some sense knocked into me recently, and I realize you don't deserve stuff like that to be said to… So, sorry, I should've noticed sooner and not hurt you."
"..." Zofia widened her eyes and raised her eyebrows. She was pleasantly surprised by Ash's new revelation, and maybe, just maybe, a smirk formed from the crease of her lips. "Anything else?"
"Eh? Uh…"
Ashrosaliera was ambushed by this question; she couldn't think of anything else, really. For the past few days, all her revelations and rude awakenings led back to the day of the evaluation test, where she said many hurtful things about Zofia being a weak and pathetic mage who didn't deserve to be in the Royal Magic Academy.
"I'm sorry for not taking responsibility for the principal's wet books… I got off too easily on that one." Ashrosaliera muttered.
"Something else, something more recent." Zofia stared at Ash, her face on her palm, legs crossed.
"Umm…" Ash started panicking, she lost control of her breathing pattern as she scratched her hair in confusion, trying to dig into her memories, "Hint, please? :<"
"You kissed me, and I don't appreciate it." Zofia pierced straight into Ash's soul with her gaze. "Do you know why?"
"I think I do?" Ash tried making eye contact, but was immediately shut down. Her eyes darted through the floor and random books on the nearby shelves again, "Because we aren't actually friends, you didn't like me, but I did something only close friends do, which was irritating and annoying of me."
"Haa…" Zofia sighed heavily. She looked at Ash with an uneasy look, staring at the girl up and down.
"Did I pass?" Ashrosaliera smiled awkwardly, but deep inside, she was being pierced by two hundred and forty-six knives.
"Yes, that's correct." Zofia picked up her book again and started reading. "It wasn't that hard, is it? I didn't mind your behaviour as much as the fact that you didn't acknowledge it and weren't remorseful, but I'm glad you see your mistake now… I forgive you."
===
Ongoing Quest: Amendship
Details: Receive Zofia Adinberg's expressed forgiveness
Reward: 0.10 System Points
Status: Finished
Unallocated System Point: 0.31 > 0.41
===
Hearing Zofia express mercy and the system sound pop up, signaling Ash's success, made the girl literally shriek and giggle in happiness.
"You forgave me!" Ash exclaimed, throwing her arms in the air. She then dived in and hugged Zofia from the side, snuggling her face against the beastman's face, "I'm so happy! Yippieee!"
"Hey hey!" Zofia frowned, pushing Ash's face away, "What did we say about unsolicited affectionate touching?"
Ash froze. She forgot again. She always acted before thinking when she was excited.
"Alright, my bad, sorry again." Ashrosaliera giggled, "Are we friends now?"
"No?" Zofia said, genuinely confused, "We're at best roommates, me forgiving you is different from being friends… But I don't necessarily despise the idea."
"Alright, at least that's progress! I'm gonna be a good friend, I pwomise!" Ashrosaliera smiled brightly with her eyes squinted close and her teeth out, 'One whole system point, here I come!' she thought.
Operation: Zofia Apologia
Status update: SUCCESS