Work Text:
“I’m so cooked.” The face of an anguished college student was pressed against the table of one of the study rooms so kindly provided to them by their university. The table, however, was slightly sticky with god knows what.
“Maybe it’s because you’re too busy flicking balls of paper at Caelus?” March spoke in between bites of her sandwich. How she had smuggled it in was a mystery in itself given how strict the study room policies were.
The Caelus in question nodded solemnly. “I’ve had to pick out far too many pieces of paper out of my hair.”
“Or maybe it’s because you don’t study.” The low voice of Dan Heng sounded out from where he was actively doing his work—the only one, it seemed. “Maybe you should consider getting a tutor.”
Stelle leaned forward, her eyes sparkling mischievously. “Are you offering?”
“Absolutely not.” Dan Heng placed down his iPad pencil, looking at Stelle from above the frames of his glasses. “You two caused such a ruckus last time that you’re permanently banned from the library. There are pictures of you two warning the staff to escort you out if you try to come in.”
Caelus let out a low whistle. “Damn. That’s kinda impressive.”
Stelle nodded sagely. “Did they get my good side?”
Dan Heng didn’t deign her with a response.
“You two are totally going to fail at this rate.” March finished her sandwich, wiping off her fingers daintily. From afar she seemed like an elegant young lady, but inside she was a true fiend. “Haven’t you failed almost every test so far?”
Stelle let out an overdramatic groan, leaning dangerously back in her seat. “Practically. And Doctor Herta doesn’t even curve the test grades. I’m pretty sure everyone in that class is failing. All in or whatever Aventurine says.”
“Dude, I don’t think a single person is passing.” Caelus looked up from his game, sticking his pinky into his ear—much to the disgust of March.
“Ew! Caelus! That’s so gross!” March whined, reaching over to try and smack his hand away.
“Hey! It’s itchy! Leave me alone!” Caelus tried to dodge her smacks.
“You’re going to crack your skull open if you keep leaning back like that.” Dan Heng scolded while the other two squabbled. “Four on the floor.”
“Of course you’d say that. Loser.” She teased. “If I crack my head open at least I don’t have to take that class.”
The newest addition to their little group looked helpless, looking back and forth in a manner that reminded Stelle of a lost puppy.
“Don’t worry Sunny. This happens a lot.” Stelle gave Sunday finger guns, finally submitting to Dan Heng’s nagging and putting her chair back onto the floor. “You get used to it.”
Sunday looked like he wanted to protest about the nickname, but he let it go with a small sigh. “I’m passing Doctor Herta’s class…if that helps.”
Stelle’s jaw dropped as she practically lunged across the table to grab Sunday’s hands. “No fucking way. You’re joshing.”
The man’s face grew red with embarrassment as he tried to tug his hands away to no avail. Even Caelus and March had stopped fighting to stare—though Caelus still had March’s arm in his grasp from where he was trying to bite her.
“I am…passing, yes. Though I believe Doctor Herta detests my existence as a whole.”
“Dude. Bro. My guy. She doesn’t like anyone. The only person she likes is herself.” Stelle finally released his hands, drumming her fingers against the table. She always had to be moving somehow it seemed. “Okay. New plan: Sunday tutors us and we solo this class, low diff.”
“Please don't put him through that.” March had finally pried her arm away from Caelus’s snapping teeth it seemed. “Have you tried paying attention in class?”
“Of course! I’m not that dumb. Doc Herta just goes crazy fast.”
Dan Heng placed his iPad down onto the table with a soft click. “I do have to agree.” It looked like it physically pained him to admit. “I’ve taken one of Doctor Herta’s classes. It was a less than pleasant experience.”
“It’s cuz she’s a d1 yapper and doesn’t let us ask any questions.” Caelus yawned obnoxiously, reaching over to give March a noogie for good measure.
“You—my hair!” March wailed, scrambling up from her chair to check the nearest reflective surface.
Sunday appeared puzzled, opening his mouth slightly. He looked desperately at Dan Heng for some kind of translation. The other man shook his head in exasperation.
“Ignore them.” Dan Heng murmured, brushing his pinkie against Sunday’s gently.
Sunday’s face grew impressively red in seconds. Suddenly, the wall seemed very interesting.
“Literally the only time she’s not zooming through PowerPoint slides she’s glazing herself.” Stelle paused for a moment before her eyes widened. “And the only time she’s not glazing herself is when she talks about Doctor Ruan Mei.” This seemed to be a legendary revelation for her.
“What’s this about Doctor Ruan Mei?” March had made her way back towards the table after adjusting her hair. “I’ve heard her classes are super hard too. But she’s so gorgeous…” A dreamy sigh.
Dan Heng was the only one currently taking Doctor Ruan Mei’s class, so he chimed in once more. “Her class is exceedingly difficult, yes, but biology is slightly easier to understand than physics.”
Somehow, Caelus had procured a bag of chips and was now snacking on them loudly. “So does she talk about Doctor Herta like Doctor Herta talks about her?”
“Eh? I thought they didn’t like each other!” March gave Caelus a dirty look like she hadn’t just been eating as well. “You know Doctor Herta is…well…”
“The biggest self glazer?” Stelle supplied.
“…Sure. Let’s go with that.”
Sunday mouthed the words to himself, writing down the phrases so he could look them up later.
“Anyway, I’ve heard that Doctor Ruan Mei and Doctor Herta clash a lot. Some students have seen them arguing before their classes. Their classrooms are right next to each other too!” March leaned forward. “Juicy, isn’t it?”
“March…you just might be a genius!” Stelle slammed her hands on the table, startling Sunday enough for him to let out a soft yelp.
“I know.” March paused. “Wait, what?”
“We get Doc Herta to start hooting and hollering about Doc Ruan Mei. And while she’s ranting and raving, we can actually jot the notes from the PowerPoint down. Plus it’ll waste class time.” Stelle nodded at her own idea.
Dan Heng sighed. “Why would you want to waste class time?”
“So she doesn’t go as fast with the material, duh.” Stelle waved her hand around. “Don’t worry about the specifics.”
Dan Heng gave her a dubious look, but said nothing more. Instead, he turned his attention to Caelus who was now licking the salt from the chips off of his fingers. “Please wash your hands before you touch anything else.” He despaired.
Caelus wiggled his fingers at Dan Heng evilly. “What if I get you first?”
“I’ll cut the wires to your PlayStation.” A very real threat. A very convincing one, at that.
Caelus got up immediately, fleeing to the nearest bathroom to wash his hands.
Stelle shook her head sympathetically as he darted off. She remembered the first time Dan Heng had made good on his threat—he had asked Caelus to pick up his laundry four times before he disassembled each and every one of his controllers, lining the pieces up on his desk like a psychopath. Of course, he put them back together eventually, but not before Caelus picked up his stuff AND called her to fake cry into the phone.
Needless to say, she hung up pretty quick and got back to her makeout sesh with March after. Even now her stupid brother considered it ‘the worst betrayal ever in his life’ as he so eloquently put it.
“There’s something wrong with his brain.” She mused, leaning over to drape half of her body onto March.
“I think there’s something wrong with both of your brains.” March teased, reaching up to pet the top of Stelle’s head.
“Duh. But you love me so it basically cancels out.”
The pink haired woman let out a long suffering sigh. “That I do.”
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Stelle’s brilliant plan was put into action approximately two weeks after she had first thought of it. The reason it had taken so long was the fact that she scribbled down the idea on a napkin while half asleep—only to immediately lose it amidst the clutter of papers on her desk. And with Doctor Herta’s lectures thoroughly frying her brain, the conversation that occurred a few weeks prior had long since disappeared into the recesses of her mind.
It wasn’t until March nagged at her to clean up her desk that she found the prophesied napkin, proceeding to let out a shriek loud enough to startle her suspiciously raccoon colored cat that was most certainly not allowed in the dorms.
“Stelle! Are you okay!?” March rushed over from where she was curling her hair in their dinky little mirror hung up on the wall. “Why are you screaming? We’re going to get a noise complaint again from that loser Skott!”
“Huh? Oh. Don’t worry about that guy.” Stelle waved her hand dismissively, cracking an ominous smile at the mental reminder of him barking like a dog in front of a crowd of students. He hadn’t been an issue since then. “Look at this. Remember when we were studying and talking about how hard Doc Herta’s classes were?”
March gave her a perturbed look, but didn’t question the Skott thing. She had long since gotten used to her strange behavior. “I remember it a little bit. My own classes have me too stressed to think about any others.” She squinted. “Is that a napkin?”
“Yeah. From the cafeteria.” Stelle looked down at it again, frowning at the small ketchup stain on it. When did that get there? Either way, the writing could probably still be deciphered. Maybe. To everyone else aside from her and her brother, her handwriting looked more like wingdings than actual letters.
“…I’m going to need you to translate that for me.”
Stelle tapped the napkin confidently with her free hand, taking a look at it herself before crumpling up the napkin and throwing it over her shoulder. “Who needs notes anyway!” She clapped her hands together, leaning in with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “Step one is recon. We need to figure out what the deal is with Doc Herta and Doc Ruan Mei. You said they had some kind of beef, right?”
March shifted from one foot to the other. “It was just a rumor I heard. Stelle, I really don’t think it’s a good idea to pry into their personal lives. Why don’t you take Sunday up on his offer to tutor you and Caelus? That way you’ll actually be able to learn the cont—you’re already texting your idea to the group chat, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely right, my beautiful pink haired lover.” Stelle gave her a charming wink that she couldn’t even be mad at. “The idea is this: Sunday and Dan Heng can sit outside the classrooms and wait for the Doctors to arrive. Since they’re both nerds, nobody will think it’s weird that they’re there so early. Are you seeing the vision?” March let out a sigh, but she continued without missing a beat, grabbing a piece of notebook paper and a mechanical pencil to sketch out a crude layout of the second floor. “There’s a stairway leading up from the first floor to the second that Doc Herta usually takes to get to the classroom. Coincidentally, Doctor Ruan Mei’s classroom is on the other side of the stairwell. That means…?”
“Huh? Are you asking me?”
“Exactly!” The gray haired woman continued despite her girlfriend’s bewilderment. “They must take the same route every day. Since their classes begin at the same time and they’re both super punctual, right? Theoretically they should walk up the stairs at around the same time. That’s why sending out recon is perfect! We can get some juicy info about their rivalry and force Sunday to deal with his little crush!”
March groaned dramatically. “I’m sure he’ll talk to Dan Heng when he’s ready about it.” A pause, then a squeal. “…is what I’d say if I wasn’t so invested in the development of their relationship!”
Stelle grabbed March by the shoulders and shook her back and forth. “March. It’s perfect. Much better than Caelus’ idea of locking them inside a closet together.”
“Caelus had an idea to do what!?”
“Hush my sweet summer child.” Stelle shushed March like she was trying to soothe an animal, stroking her hair in a manner that one would pet a dog. “It’s the perfect plan. Genius, even.”
Her girlfriend gave her a dirty look for messing with her hair, but didn’t pull away. In the end, all she could do was hang her head in resignation. “Fiiiine. Let’s ask the group chat.”
Stelle let go of March in favor of grabbing her phone from where she dropped it onto the hard ground in her stroke of self-proclaimed genius. Though she had started her text to the group, she hadn’t finished it before having her revelation. Stelle frowned at the new cracks on her screen when she picked up her phone. She’d have to get another screen protector soon—her fifth one of the month. “Already two steps ahead of you.”
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
To Stelle’s utter disappointment, quite literally nothing had come out of the expedition she sent Sunday and Dan Heng on. Not only did Doctor Herta and Doctor Ruan Mei barely exchange words while walking to their respective classes, but Sunday and Dan Heng still hadn’t said anything to each other about their very mutual crushes.
“I did tell you it was just a rumor.” March ran her manicured nails through her hair, scratching at her scalp while she laid in her lap. “Having a rivalry at their age would be kind of cringe anyway.” She stifled her own laughter.
Stelle opened her eyes, staring up at March with a pleading expression. “March. Marchie moo. My love. I can’t give up on this now. It’s my only shot at getting a better grade.”
“Only?”
She nodded solemnly. “Yes, only.”
March rolled her eyes.
“I’ll text the group chat to meet up at our usual spot.” Stelle wiggled around, trying to grab her phone without moving her head. Her phone clattered to the floor, a cracking sound echoing through their dorm. Both of them fell silent.
“I’ll get it.” March moved her hand away from Stelle’s head, ignoring the wounded noise she made. “You get ready to meet everyone.”
“What’s wrong with my fit?” Stelle sat up with a whine, her hair sticking in all different directions. Surely her ‘big dick is back in town’ shirt and sweatpants was normal enough to wear out.
Her girlfriend gave her a withering glare and she relented with a long sigh. “Yes honey…”
And by the time Stelle had wrangled herself into a presentable outfit and gotten ready, half of the day had already passed.
“Oh my goddddd. It took you long enough.” Caelus groaned when she walked in with March. Stelle flipped him off without even looking, plopping into a chair next to her brother. “Sunday, Dan Heng, status report?”
Sunday looked up from his lap, a bit startled. “Nothing. I apologize. We waited outside of the classrooms again this morning and nothing out of the ordinary occurred.”
Stelle fist bumped Caelus under the table, keeping her face neutral. Well, as neutral as she could. “Don’t worry about it. I have a new plan.”
“Forming a study group? Reviewing your notes? Watching videos on concepts you don’t understand?” Dan Heng suggested.
“Absolutely not.”
The man closed his eyes in resignation.
Caelus put up his hand like he was waiting for the teacher to call on him. When Stelle pointed at him, he cleared his throat. “What else can we do when there isn’t obvious evidence of their rivalry?”
“Patience, my young disciple.” Stelle intoned like a wizened mage.
“We’re literally the same age. I’m going to hit you with a hammer.”
“Please don’t?” Sunday despaired.
Stelle slammed her hands down on the table, making it rattle. “Silence!” She paused dramatically. “I have a plan, but we can’t talk about it here.”
March tilted her head to the side. “Uh, why? We literally all just got here.”
“…because I think I broke the table.”
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
After a thorough scolding from one of the members of university staff, Stelle begrudgingly pledged to clean each and every study room as a payment for breaking the table.
To be fair, she did try to run away before she was caught, but some certain people made her feel guilty for destroying public property. Thus, she reluctantly confessed her sins and accepted the punishment given.
While she was cleaning, however, the mundanity gave her the perfect opportunity to refine her new plan. And after she had cleaned every room to perfection, she relayed her plan to the group chat.
Thus—Stelle sat in class, early for once in her life. Caelus sat in front of her as usual, turning around to give her a thumbs up and a cheeky smile. Stelle had already formed 12 paper balls stored under the desk to flick at him during class. She was aiming to beat her own personal record of 5 before he noticed.
Doc Herta’s yap session had yet to begin, but Stelle’s wrist already dreaded trying to keep up with how fast she went. She really had tried at the beginning of the year, she did! But when her notebook started looking less like handwriting and more like incoherent squiggles she gave up on trying to write alongside the PowerPoints.
Now though? Now she could keep up. She was completely confident.
The plan was this: Caelus would ‘innocently’ bring up a concept taught in Dr. Ruan Mei’s class to see how Dr. Herta reacted. The information was, of course, told to him by Dan Heng. Though he seemed less than enthused about their antics, the fact that he was still actively participating was enough to tell Stelle that he didn’t mind that much.
Stelle tapped her mechanical pencil against the desk, her leg jittering under the table. “Nice weather we’re having, huh?” She addressed her seatmate. The lilac haired girl had been quiet the whole semester, just doodling in the margins of her notebook while occasionally making notes. Every time Stelle tried to talk to her she looked bewildered—like she was shocked Stelle could even see her.
The girl looked around, her head whipping back and forth comedically before she pointed at herself. Stelle nodded eagerly. “Um…yes, lovely weather.” Her soft voice was barely audible over the chatter of the classroom.
“Castorice, right?” Stelle leaned towards the girl, eyeing the little doodles on her notebook. “You like, uhh, yah-wee right? Yow-wee?”
Castorice’s pale face flushed instantly, going bright red in a matter of seconds. She sputtered for a few moments, tripping over her own words.
“Chill.” Stelle held up a hand. “We can be yow-wee brothers in Christ. Anyway, listen, we need all the help we can get. I need you to hear me out.” She waited for Castorice to stop stuttering to continue. “You seem cool. Can I count on you?”
The other nodded slowly, clearly confused as to what she was going on about.
“Good. Great. I knew you were a real one, Cas.” Stelle reclined. “First, you see that person in front of me? That’s my loser brother. He likes that…” She waved her hand idly. “Stuff too. And he needs more friends. He’s nice, just stupid.”
“Um—“
“Second, we need help with this project. It’s not a school project, but a personal project. Kay?” Stelle didn’t wait for an answer before continuing. “Your objective is to keep an ear out for any info about Dr. Herta and Dr. Ruan Mei. Anything juicy. And your reward? One of my brother’s super rare gay people comics.” She knew they weren’t comics, but it was funnier to refer to them that way.
Castorice looked like her soul had left her body the second Stelle brought up Yaoi. Still, she nodded jerkily.
“Good? Great. Wonderful! Glad to have you on the team. Just listen for any hot goss. You got this.” Stelle gave her a thumbs up, turning her attention immediately to her professor as she walked in. The classroom immediately descended into silence at her arrival. To say she was awe inspiring was an understatement.
Caelus and Stelle locked eyes, nodding at each other seriously. It was go time.
The professor started with her usual spiel about her numerous feats before opening the evil and duplicitous PowerPoint presentation. Unfortunately, she really couldn’t hate it given how immaculate the design was.
Stelle tried to keep up with the slides, failing miserably. It only took 5 minutes before her wrist started to cramp. And when she took a second to roll it and flick a piece of paper into Caelus’ hair, she had already moved three more slides.
The sound of pencils frantically scratching against paper only worsened her mood. No wonder Dr. Herta had such a low rating on rate my professor.
Caelus raised his hand, waving it around in a silly manner to get the professor’s attention.
Dr. Herta looked at Caelus from over her glasses, clearly unamused. “You. What’s your question? Make it quick.”
“I couldn’t help but notice the intersection between concepts that both you and Dr. Ruan Mei teach. Enzyme kinetics, for example. If I recall correctly, this topic is both present in biology and physics, but the both of you teach it in completely separate ways.” Spoken like a true scholar. Stelle almost wept with pride.
Still, while her brother was busy yapping, she stole a glance at the current slide and made actual notes. Her idea was utterly genius.
Castorice tapped her with a pencil gently, sliding her notebook over quietly so that Stelle could copy her notes. Stelle sniffled. She now owed Castorice her life.
Dr. Herta clicked her tongue. “Biology and physics converge in numerous ways, hence the subfield of biophysics. However, there are fundamental differences in both subjects. Ultimately, they’re both entirely separate topics. Dr. Ruan Mei may teach the same concepts in a different manner but…” The doctor scoffed. “To each their own.” She moved on swiftly, but it was enough to feel like a total success.
Stelle made eye contact with her twin and mimicked wiping a tear from her eye. She received an exuberant thumbs up—this was progress. Great progress indeed.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Unfortunately, their streak of luck ended there.
Castorice apologized for not finding any information, but Stelle forgave her forever. Since she was lending her notes, Stelle would have forgiven her even if she hadn’t done any snooping.
Dan Heng and Sunday didn’t find anything new either. March wasn’t even participating anymore. After her initial information, she stepped away from the plan as a whole to focus on her photography midterm rapidly approaching. For that, Stelle forgave her forever too.
After their breakthrough, Caelus continued trying to bring up topics in class that related to Dr. Ruan Mei. Their professor refused to answer by the third time, simply moving on with her lecture and ignoring the question posed.
Stelle had tried too! But the moment she even uttered the word ‘doctor’, Dr. Herta spoke over her—not even giving her the chance to ask any sort of question.
At some point it had become less of a reason to pass the class and more of her desperation for an answer. Her nosiness knew no bounds, truly. And with Castorice and Sunday lending their notes to both Caelus and her, they had a pretty solid chance of actually passing the class. Now, the only thing fueling Stelle to continue digging was her morbid curiosity.
They stood at an impasse for a few weeks until Stelle finally discovered the truth in the form of her old literature professor and self proclaimed mother figure.
“Himekooooo…” Stelle laid her forehead down on Himeko’s (blissfully non-sticky) desk, rolling her body back and forth obnoxiously. Now that Stelle wasn’t her student, she insisted that she call her Himeko.
“Yes?” Himeko looked up from her book, taking a sip of her evil concoction she called coffee. “What’s troubling you, Stelle?”
“Well, good news is that I’m no longer washed.” Stelle pulled her head up, resting her chin on her hand. “Also we dragged a new person into the gang. Her name is Castorice. She’s super cool. She draws and writes a lot of yaoi and poetry.” Noticing Himeko’s confused expression, she continued on hastily. “Don’t worry about it. All that matters is that she’s fitting in, right?”
Himeko’s expression smoothed out, a small smile rising onto her lips. “I’m glad you’re all just as close as you were in my classroom. You’re great kids, I’m sure anyone would be happy to spend time with you all. I trust you’ve been behaving?” She raised an eyebrow knowingly.
Stelle grimaced, remembering the table incident very clearly. “We’ve all been good eggs.”
The woman clearly didn’t believe her, but moved on with an amused smile. “I’m happy to hear you’re all doing well though. Welt has been asking about you all like a mother hen.”
“I miss Mr. Yang. That’s my goat right there.”
Himeko nodded, bemused. “Reach out to him then. You know how he gets.” She nudged Stelle’s arm gently. “Now, what else have you been up to?”
She groaned loudly, leaning back in her chair before begrudgingly sitting properly when she was hit with the mom look. “Okay, so you know Dr. Herta? Physics prof?”
“Of course. I’d like to think we’re on good terms.” Himeko tilted her head to the side. “She’s certainly interesting company. Though she’s hard to keep up with sometimes, she’s a very good conversationalist. Well, in the sense that one can hardly get a word in when she speaks.”
“What the fuck. She actually has friends?” Stelle gaped.
“Language.” The other chided lightly. “Dr. Herta is eccentric and proud of her accomplishments, but she can also recognize the genius in others too.”
“Insane.” Stelle shook her head. “I didn’t know she could do that. Is that why her and Dr. Ruan Mei have lowkey beef? Because Dr. Ruan Mei is also super smart?”
Himeko looked puzzled. “Perhaps they have some intellectual conflict, but I’ve never seen them truly argue. From what I know, Dr. Ruan Mei is the only other person Dr. Herta sees as her true equal. They’re quite cute together, I must say.”
Stelle paused, a sinking feeling forming in her gut. “Cute together?”
“Hm? Oh yes. I wouldn’t say that to them directly, but their relationship is rather wholesome for their respective personalities.” She chuckled. “I suppose it keeps their marriage interesting though.” A pause. “Dr. Herta really does remind me of someone though. Stelle, are you alright?”
Stelle’s face had paled significantly as she realized the truth.
Dr. Herta and Dr. Ruan Mei weren’t rivals…they were married!
“I have to go!” She announced suddenly, the chair skittering back with how fast she got up. “Nice chatting with you! We’ll catch up more soon, don’t worry!” She gave a confused Himeko a wave before setting off.
In her hand was her phone, a message already being typed up for an emergency meeting.
°❀⋆.ೃ࿔*:･
Stelle rushed into the group's usual spot with a particularly manic fervor. When she arrived, she opened the door with such force that the hinges croaked in agony.
March looked up from her phone, bewildered. “Jeez, you got here fast. I was already near here when you called the meeting.” She squinted. “Did you run here?”
“No time to explain!” Stelle put both hands on the table like a CEO about to break big news. “Where is everyone else?”
“Uh, probably walking here like normal people? Did you want to sit down?”
Stelle shook her head violently, clasping her arms behind her back as she paced back and forth impatiently.
Caelus and Dan Heng arrived next, both giving her a wave with varying levels of enthusiasm. Caelus took a seat next to Dan Heng, sprawling out obnoxiously as he produced a bottle of soda from out of thin air.
“Dude, how the fuck did you sneak that in?”
“I shoved it down my pants, duh.” Caelus responded like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
The other three of them went silent in disbelief.
“That’s…so gross.” March wrinkled her nose. “Couldn’t you have put it in your backpack or something?”
“…I forgot I could do that.”
Stelle was fairly close to slamming her head against the wall. Thankfully, her saving grace arrived in the forms of Sunday and Castorice. Castorice had only recently begun to hang out with them, but she fit in rather nicely with their ragtag group.
Castorice took a seat next to Caelus and Sunday next to Dan Heng. Now that the gang was all here, Stelle moved back to the front of the table and steepled her fingers. “I’ve brought you all here today to relay important news.” She paused for dramatic effect. “Dr. Herta and Dr. Ruan Mei are, in fact, not academic rivals, nor do they have any beef with each other.”
March tilted her head to the side. “Huh. Well, okay. Mystery solved?”
“Not quite yet.” Stelle held up a finger. “You see, things get more interesting from here. I spoke to Himeko this afternoon and regaled her with stories of our adventures. It was then that she revealed to me that Dr. Herta and Dr. Ruan Mei’s relationship exceeded mere coworkers.”
March leaned forward as Caelus took a sip of his soda. Even Castorice and Sunday looked intrigued. Stelle could tell Dan Heng was invested as well despite his neutral expression.
“And thus, I reveal that Dr. Herta and Dr. Ruan Mei are actually…married to each other!”
Caelus snorted out his soda in pure shock, the tidal wave catching both March and Sunday, missing Dan Heng by a scant few inches.
“Caelus!” March cried out, reaching over to knock him over the head. “You’re so replacing my outfit! That’s disgusting!”
Caelus whined at her abuse. Sunday looked mortified at the situation, a few stray drops dripping down from his hair onto his already sticky face. He looked distinctly uncomfortable, closing his eyes in what had to be barely suppressed disgust.
“Here, I’ll help you clean up.” Dan Heng murmured, holding a hand out to Sunday. Sunday took the hand with a quiet thanks, looking rather pale in the face.
As Dan Heng led Sunday away, Stelle gazed fondly at March putting Caelus into a headlock and demanding his sincerest apologies. The two argued loudly over each other, soda still dripping from March’s clothing and hair onto the table, no doubt adding to the collective stickiness. Even Castorice was trying not to smile, fighting her laughter by pressing her lips together.
Stelle patted herself on the back for her good work. The mystery was solved, new friends were made, and classes would definitely be passed with the help of said friends.
She stared fondly at her people, sitting down to watch the chaos unfold. What a good day it was.