Week 1: Aria's Date, Part 1

As Aífe groggily sat up in her bed, she struggled to piece together memories of the dream she’d just been having—only able to recall that it was sexy, yet oddly unsatisfying. Wiping the sleep from her eyes, she turned to see Elise still slumbering peacefully next to her. She must be tired from yesterday. She thought to herself, carefully getting out of bed so as to not disturb the other woman. While Elise snoozed, Aífe went about her morning routine, washing up and getting dressed before going to the kitchen to prepare a pot of tea to surprise Elise with when she woke up. She came back with the tea right as the blonde was beginning to stir.

“Morning, sleepyhead.” Aífe teased as she set a cup on the nightstand by Elise’s side of the bed.

“Mmm, what time is it, Aífe?” Elise said with a stretch before checking her watch. “Oh, dear—I can’t believe I let myself sleep this late.”

“Aw, c’mon, it’s not that bad.” Aífe reassured her. “We’ve still got plenty of time until we have to be down at breakfast. Besides, you were probably exhausted from all the magic you were using yesterday.” The professor sighed in resignation, choosing to enjoy the cup of English breakfast rather than chastise herself.

Once they were both finished with their tea, Elise went about getting ready for the day, and they both made their way to the dining hall. They arrived to a perfectly normal scene—no strange visitors or unusual weather in sight. It felt somewhat odd to Aífe that they weren’t receiving any questioning looks like she’d had with most of her previous dates, but she quickly rationalized that it was likely due to how small the changes in the scoreboard were—Elise now having the same amount as Mallory had on the very first night of the show.

Aífe was most of the way through her breakfast, chatting with Erica and Aoba about Elise’s introduction to manga the day before, when Sera walked in.

“Good morning, all.” Sera smiled at them. “Not much to comment on this morning, I’m afraid—perhaps Miss Aria’s date will prove a greater shakeup in the scores then Miss Elise’s.” Her comment earned her a dirty look from the witch in question. At Sera’s mention of the woman whose turn it was to go out with the Mistress, Aife briefly looked Aria up and down, glad that she had the correct general idea of what type of date this was going to be. Aria was dressed extremely casually as usual—sneakers, black shorts and a black hoodie that was, fortunately, baggy enough on her old frame to fit over her newly enlarged bust.

“So, did you have anything in mind for what you wanted to do today?” Aífe asked, making her voice sound chipper to avoid letting anyone know how awkward she felt going out with this total stranger who had every reason to hate her.

“Huh?” The question caught Aria off guard. “Yeah, definitely, just give me a minute.” She waved her hand at Sera to get her attention. “Hey, is the offer to guess what our rooms do still on the table?”

“That’s right! I totally forgot about it yesterday!” Mallory facepalmed. She’d been hoping to ask after her date two nights ago.

“Of course, it is.” Sera shrugged. “It’s simply not my responsibility to remind you about it.”

“You can go ahead and go, Mallory.” Aria sighed when she saw the disappointed look on the other girls face. “I only have a vague idea of what I was going to guess anyway.”

“Really? Thanks!” Mallory brightened up and she thought for a moment to try and remember what her own guess was going to be. “Does my room improve balance? I noticed that I’ve been a lot less clumsy over the past few days.” Hearing this, Diona looked at Mallory with concern, recalling the wipeout Mallory’d had in the showers a few days ago. That was less clumsy? And a lot less, at that?

“Hmm, not an entirely incorrect hypothesis…” Sera rubbed her chin. “But, much like Miss Elise two days ago, you’re confusing the mechanism and the result. While it’s possible for a stay in the Hibiscus Suite to improve a person’s balance, that is not the intended effect.” As Mallory sat back in her chair looking dejected, Sera continued, “Well, if there are no other matters that need my attention, I suppose I’ll leave you all to your plans for the day—after all, I’m sure you’ve gotten used to the routine by now. As always, I’ll be around if you need anything. Have fun on your date.” Sera directed her farewell at Aífe and Aria before leaving just as quickly as she’d entered.

“Well, if you’re done eating, I guess there’s no point in putting it off.” Aria said as she glanced at Aífe’s now empty plate.

“Look, I know it’s not the best circumstances for a date, but you could at least try not to make it sound like a trip to the dentist.” Aífe protested as she stood up and took her plate over to be cleaned. “Besides, it’s not like we have to spend the whole day together if you don’t want to. It was only recommended for the first week.”

“Crap, you’re right.” Aria rubbed her head in annoyance at having just stuck her foot in her mouth. “I’m sorry. Yeah, I’m not happy about this situation, but that doesn’t make it okay to take it out on you.”

“We’re cool.” Aífe reassured her, though there was still a slight edge to her tone. “So, did you still want to spend the day with me, or are we just going to meet up at 5?”

“I do actually have plans for the whole day.” Aria replied, standing up. “We’ve barely spent half an hour together, so far, so we should definitely take the opportunity to get to know each other better.”

“Oh! Before I forget—” Sera’s sudden re-entrance startled everyone present. “I thought our resident witch and her lovely assistant should know that I removed a certain spellbook from the library. I think those Tachikawa-ryū spells are a bit advanced for your current skill level.” Hearing that particular name, two sets of eyes widened immediately.

“The Buddhist sex cult?!” Aífe and Aoba cried out in unison.

“Hold on—” Erica cast a dubious glance at her friend and girlfriend. “How do you two know about a Buddhist sex cult? And what were you and Elise doing with one of their books?”

“It’s a Fate thing. It’d take a while to explain.” Aoba sheepishly answered the first question.

“We didn’t exactly know it was a sex cult book.” Aífe weakly defended herself. “I was just trying to find a spell for Elise to cast, and I… ended up translating a basic spell from that book.” She then muttered to herself. “Guess it makes sense, given what the spell did?”

“Oh​?” Diona sported an eager grin as she looked at Elise. “And what did this spell do, exactly?” Elise, for her part, was decidedly ignoring any questions in favor of focusing on a plate of waffles.

“Wow! Would you look at the time? We really should get going!” Aífe dashed over and grabbed Aria’s hand, pulling the alien along with her as she booked it toward the exit. Sera followed shortly after them with a wave. Over the next couple of minutes, the other members of the harem filed out, as well. Just as Erica was about to leave second to last, a hand grabbed her wrist.

“Hang on a minute.” Cecilia demanded. “I need your help with something.”