A Guy's Side Of The Story

Actually, you know what you really want to ask him about. You just need to build up to it.

"So you do this kind of meet-up regularly?" you ask.

Artie shrugs. "U-U-Usually w-wh-when we w-w-want to review th-th-things f-f-from cl-classes we s-s-s-share. O-O-Or Se-Se-Selena wants to p-p-practice her S-S-Summoning Battle s-s-skills."

He pauses for a moment before looking at the board on the table and adding. "S-S-She's... n-n-not very g-g-good."

"She mentioned that," you chuckle, "Maybe I'm here to be a more equal sparring partner so she can have a coach at the same time."

Artie grunts softly, as if mulling that possibility over. After another pause he looks up at you in concern and asks, "S-S-So h-how h-h-have you been s-s-since... uh... th-th-the l-l-l-l-last time?"

You have a pretty good idea what he is asking about, which is helpful for you. This lets you get closer to something else you want to probe him about. "You mean everything with Parisa?"

"Y-Y-Y-Yeah."

"I'm okay," you say in answer to his initial question, "They questioned me about what happened and I had to get checked out by a specialist to make sure I wasn't actually poisoned but it seems like I'm okay. Doing better than Parisa at least."

Artie frowns severely all of a sudden and unconsciously clutches his arm again as you add, "That reminds me. I almost bumped into her coming into here today but Professor Dove cut me off. I get it for me but I heard she was trying to keep the two of you apart too. Was it because of what happened in that Magical Defense class?"

"M-More than t-t-th-th-that," he replies, clutching his arm even tighter and squirming, "D-D-D-Don't w-w-w-wanna t-talk a-a-a-about it."

"Sorry," you say with a sigh, "She just said a few things to me before the... incident. And Victor made a weird claim too."

Unexpectedly, Artie's eyes widen in fearful alarm at the mention of the Kyrie member's name and there is a note of dread in his voice as he asks, "W-W-W-What d-d-d-did h-h-h-he s-s-s-s-s-s-s-say?"

"Basically? That she started it."

You are curious to see what his reaction will be to your vague answer and the fact that his fear melts to utter confusion is... interesting. "O-Oh. Weird," he says quietly before looking up and asking, "D-Do you b-believe him? A-A-And... me?"

"I'd like to think I can believe you," you reply, deciding not to add that you would not trust Victor as far as you could throw him without magic, "You may have noticed I don't have too many guy friends so it would be kind of depressing if I couldn't bring myself to trust one of them."

After a momentary pause, you add, "Besides, Selena and Mana trust and like you. A lot. And in the brief time I've known them, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't do that for someone who was a bad person."

"L-L-Like I said," Artie sighs, "They're.... j-just b-being... n-nice."

You do not know if it is the change in subject or your declaration about guy friends and trust, but you notice a bit of tension leaves Artie's body and his stuttering returns to more how you remember it the first time you met him. "Nice enough to invite you to their room," you shoot back with a smirk, "Multiple times. Alone."

"C-Can we... not? A-And I'm... n-not alone this t-time."

"Well, you got me there," you chuckle, "I might not be able to add much to the study part of tonight but I'm still new to this magic stuff so it should be interesting to listen to."

"G-Game time usually... s-starts when Selena... g-g-gets too bored," Artie explains, "A-And I would... like... to play... a-against you."

"Same here," you reply, "but... seriously, they do like you more than you seem to think. Especially Mana."

"I-I wouldn't deserve h-h-her or Selena... even if th-that were t-true."

Now THAT is an eyebrow raiser. "It's not about 'deserving'," you shoot back, "And really, shouldn't who deserves her or not be HER call?"

Artie actually seems to be mulling that over. "I d-d-don't... kn-know. Sh-She said... stuff... o-o-once but sh-she was just... t-teasing. Sh-She had to... be."

You remember Selena mentioning the time where Artie had gotten upset when Mana had been direct about her intentions. Sighing with a lopsided grin, you ask, "What if I said I might have a way to make absolutely sure she meant it or not?"

He looks at you with an even more befuddled expression. "Wh-Why would you...?"

Before he can finish asking his question, the door swings open to allow Mana and Selena to storm in, plastic bags full of many different types of snack foods hanging off both their arms. "Heeeeeey," Selena says in greeting, "We didn't know what our new partner liked so we just decided to go full Mini Meteor Storm and grab what we could!"

"I hope you're hungry or got a fridge back in your room," Mana adds, "Cause we aren't finishing all this by ourselves!"

The two of you smile back at the women and you lean over to whisper to Artie. "Why? Because I'm hoping you trust me too."