A soft melody played through the music studio. It was a violin that played, with each sound amplified by Vale. She saw Dirin in the corner of her eye as he slumped back against a chain and had his eyes closed.
The bow went across the string as it moved them and caused a softening sound. She was using some of her abilities to amplify the effects of calming towards Dirin.
She was mainly doing it to test out how it would work, but seeing his reaction did cause her to want to see how calm she could get him. She played the music smoothly, but her skin started to glisten with sweat slowly.
Resisting the urge to wipe her sweat, she played the music more as she started to push her amplification to the limit. Dirin's shoulders began to rise more slowly the longer it went on.
His eyes were now still beneath his eyelids. He was either asleep or on the border of it. She didn't suppress the smile that formed on her lips as she kept playing.
Lulling people to sleep was starting to become one of her favorite pastimes; the more she saw the effects on Dirin. It would also be useful if she needed people to be drowsy for some reason. She had to suppress the growing urge to play something more violent to see what the sudden change would cause in him, if there was any at least.
The notes kept appearing in her head as she played. She had the instinct to recognize the notes she heard, letting her start to create a music sheet in her head as she played to make for later. She didn't have any plans on naming this one since she was just doing it to practice.
Once I get to Rank 4 or 5, I'll start to compose music for money. With that, I should be able to afford some trials to keep progressing. I could even compose music for people based on requests. She fantasized in her head the more she played. I could also do what I did to Ritchard. Beating people up with music isn't too far out of reach. I can play sounds to make them unable to think clearly, and then winning is simply just reading their rhythms after that.
She slowly stopped her playing and glanced at Dirin. Once she saw that he wasn't going to wake up immediately, she went outside to go to a vending machine. She was feeling thirsty, and the cool air would feel nice.
Outside, she got a bottle of water and started to drink as a soft breeze rolled by. She heard footsteps to her left and turned her head. It was Ritchard walking towards her.
Instinctively, she started to note down his steps and breathing and started to make an imaginary rhythm in her head. He waved and she noted down how his arm moved and even noted that down. Once she got his rhythm down, she narrowed her eyes.
It was wrong. It was off. She knew what Ritchard's rhythm felt like, and it wasn't what she was noticing now. She then got to the point where she had his rhythm three seconds ahead of the present and sensed a dramatic change.
He was going to attack her! She felt appalled at this fake's attempt to try. Clearly, they haven't done their research. She sent a message to the teachers immediately while rushing back inside. She shook Dirin awake.
When he looked drowsy, she started to whistle an upbeat tune as she put a couple of chairs on the door. The sound was amplified, and his weariness was washed away quickly.
He didn't need any explanation of what was going on before helping her move large and heavy things in front of the door. The tune she whistled switched to a more upbeat one, and they both started to fill with adrenaline.
Banging started to sound from the other side of the door. The door started to crack, but it held in place until a hand punched through the wood, covered in a golden light. It was Ritchard's fist with his life energy surrounding it.
More and more holes started to be created in the door as time went on. Do they have the same life energy as Ritchard? She took note of the color and started to see if there was any difference, but there wasn't. It kept going until water flooded against the door.
A couple of drops escaped the holes, but they froze mid-air and rushed back through the holes. The pounding stopped, but now they had a clear view of the outside and saw Mr. Till pressing an object on Ritchard's forehead.
"He was made into a puppet. He is alive for now." He said as he started to contact for emergency care. "It seems like that shapeshifting kid was also made one. He was a normal student. Now he is in an emergency room getting treatment. He'll recover. Hell of a lawsuit we have coming our way.
Leading Ritchard into the room, Mr. Till looked around and nodded in approval. "Nice course of action. Both of you blocked the path, and Vale contacted the teachers. Stay here. They are getting very brazen now. It might turn into a full-on fight." He left a couple of artifacts that would generate shields and instructed them on how to use them. "At the slightest sight of intrusion or anything, activate them. Don't be sparring. Contact me when you get down to two. I'll rush over and resupply you."
Then he left the room after using another artifact that put the room to as it was before. They had to rearrange the desks and chairs back against the door again. They sat on the wall perpendicular to the wall.
"Looks like this is going to be a long day..." Dirin mumbled.
Vale nodded in agreement as she started to whisper a tune to make them both more vigilant. She was getting tired of whistling at this point, but it was the only way to make sure they both paid attention.
It's going to be a very long day...