Moonlings: A Clash of Meteors and Mages

Raii Shin was getting an earful from Dawn.

''You were what?!''

Their classmates turned around towards Dawn and Raii Shin's seats. Raii Shin felt awkward.

''Um, Dawn, you might want to lower your voice? Everybody's staring,'' she pleaded.

Dawn looked around, only noticing by now. 

''Oh, right, sorry.''

A girl named Harana, a known dancer and a social media figure rolled her eyes at them. Dawn may not have noticed it but unfortunately, Raii Shin did. Raii Shin even saw Harana say something to her friends and laugh while pointing in their direction. Fortunately, Raii Shin wasn't into girl fights or gossip so she really didn't care. They were already in college. Everyone should be past childish things.

''So you're telling me that you got in a serious match with a senior in your taekwondo class? Isn't that against the rules? Did you complain?''

Taekwondo class is what Raii Shin always used as an excuse whenever things got busy at Orion. Dawn was a smart woman but for some reason, she always bought it. It was a golden rule for all moonmages to not let any ordinary humans know of the nature of their work because it will cause complications. The earthlings before knew of the moonmages' business. But it stopped around the same time that Moonlings and humans stopped interacting with each other. It was obvious there was a connection but with the passage of time, no one can already know the whole story.

''Yes, I did complain. And it's been taken care of,'' she said.

''Whoever your senior is, he's a jerk.''

Raii Shin could only laugh at that.

Even though the medic was clear in his instructions the other day that she had to rest for two days, one day was enough for her. Also, today was Friday, Ma'am Ague's class. She could move with no problem although her bandages in her whole right arm and left leg were getting in the way. Some kids that she passed by were snickering and calling her a half-mummy. She wasn't offended because she really looked like one, especially that she wore a skirt. It's because wearing jeans hurt her wounds on her legs and she wanted to feel relaxed.

''Oh? It's already past eight. I wonder if Ma'am Ague will be coming?'' asked Feriori, their adorable class representative.

''It's been more than fifteen minutes since her class time.'' Harana spoke as she stood up, still doing her makeup. ''I guess it's free time!'' She suddenly said with glee and went towards the door, fastly closing her makeup kit and flipping her hair at the doorway, mimicking Ma'am Ague's style. Her friends, which made up for almost half of the class, ran after her. Raii Shin was curious on how Harana could keep up with all her friends. 

Even dealing with one chatty friend like Dawn was work although it was fun. Maybe Harana's feeling was one thing that Raii Shin can never experience. Sure, she had people at the agency but everything was about work and they didn't really have fun there.

Dawn stood with her jersey in her hand. 

''Oh? You're not going to the library?'' she asked.

''I think I'll just read some of my notes here for a while. I've been ditching class, after all,'' Raii Shin answered with a smile as she held up her English books.

''All right, then. I'll just go and do some extra conditioning,''

Ten minutes later, the class was empty except for Raii Shin and a sleeping boy classmate at the corner.

Of course, she didn't want to study. She just wanted to make sure if Ma'am Ague would come up late, which she never did. Was she absent or something? To think that she ignored the medic's advice because she missed her criminal teacher and this is what she gets?

Raii Shin had a bad feeling. The talking nightspawn mentioned about a Moonling who had the sacrifices and that it was hunting for her. That was two nights ago. Ma'am Ague is not here. Could it mean…?

Raii Shin grabbed her bag and dashed out of the room. She climbed the stairs until she reached the second floor. She went to the edge, a huge gap opened up to her which was the space between their building and the teachers' building. She had memorized every tiny bit of Ma'am Ague's office. For some reason, she was the only professor who didn't share an office with another. Her office had a wide window overlooking the public roads. It would take Raii Shin forever to enter her office if she had to do the legal way with all the guards and security placed in the teachers' building. This way was easier.

She looked around. After making sure that there was no student in sight, Raii Shin jumped out of the ledge of the school and landed on the other building where the office of Ma'am Ague was located. Although a separate team is also working to find any clues about the missing teenagers and she had her own orders, they were running out of time. Raii Shin had to confirm everything now.

Meanwhile, at the other rooftop overlooking the first years' classrooms, Dawn dropped her ice cream. 

She just wanted to chill and have a quick ice cream before hitting the court. Dawn didn't bother inviting her friend because she would just be scolded because of her diabetes so from time to time, she would eat sweet things by herself.

Dawn didn't expect to see anything other than the multi-colored buildings of her school which suited it. After all, they were called Jazel Academy for the Diverse Ethnics or JADE. 

She didn't know if she just saw things. Dawn had seen an eagle fly over the roof before. She also often saw a herd of pigeons dominate the sky. Worse, she even got pooped at. But never did she see a girl in a skirt jump from one building to another.

And being her friend for almost a year, she was sure that it was Raii Shin.