Refreshed

Luckily for you, the second exam of the day was a subject you were more comfortable with and Emma was with you for this one. Your rushed entrance into the class had meant that you couldn't talk with her beforehand, but you were able to meet up with her as you filed out of the room and moved to an area with fewer people around.

“You look pretty good considering you’ve just sat through that” Emma greeted, looking slightly tired which you would have never pointed out yourself as you knew better by now.

“Yeah I’m… actually starting to enjoy these tests” you admitted, seeing Emma raise her eyebrows at you and another student walking past sent a scowl your way for what you said.

You let them walk past having no idea who they actually were before you continued your train of thought, making sure you were less likely to get overheard again.

“Yeah thanks to… the ‘help’ we got, I’ve been able to use the extra time once I’m finished to think a bit more about the long term plans. It’s not like I had anything else to do with my time. Plus a few other things that had been bothering me that I now seem to have at least some idea of how to progress” you explained, trying to catch her up on a few things she had missed.

You had stopped in one of the corridors but as you felt the conversation was going to drift to more sensitive subjects, you took her hand and led her to somewhere more secluded.

That ended up leading you both back outside to the side of one of the buildings, finding your usual spot now slightly too busy and deciding you needed somewhere for just the two of you to go.

Once you felt you were safe, you showed Emma a few things on your phone, namely Mom getting very close to her next level up and Rebecca’s hidden effect now being revealed, both things being something you were excited to show off.

“You think you’ll have time to tell me what your Mom’s level-up effects will be tonight?” Emma asked, sounding excited after staring at Mom’s profile

“Sure why not?” you casually replied, happy to see she was just as pleased as you were.

“Well with tonight I just assumed there might not be enough time for everyone to have their moment and for us to also catch up at the end of it… Oh…” Emma said, seeing your expression turn as she realised that hadn’t crossed your mind.

“It’s not a bad thing!” Emma quickly added, placing a hand on your chest for reassurance before she continued.

“We will have Sarah to look after once we tell her the secret and then Rebecca to handle, although that might be easier knowing we can just have you hold her wrists. But then three other people on top of that who will also be trying to get your attention. I know you’ve been focused on making sure everyone will be okay but I’m pretty sure everyone else will be doing the same but just for you” Emma explained, trying to highlight that you’d probably have a lot on your plate even if you ended up doing nothing at all.

That prospect didn’t make the evening any less daunting but it did oddly reassure you, knowing that you wouldn’t be the only one trying to make the night go well. You were sure Mom would already be worrying about getting the food prepared even this early in the morning and you already knew Rebecca was worrying about how she would act. And now you had Emma telling you she was willing to put herself on the backburner if it meant that the others got more time with you.

You were sure the others were also adding in their own ways too so there was a calm that came over you that took away some of your worries.

“I still think you don’t need to limit yourself if you are thinking everyone else needs some time with me. For all we know, everyone else is also thinking the same and it’s gonna end up being six people sitting there doing nothing for fear of getting in the way.” You joked, the idea of that being the worst-case scenario now seeming funnier than it had before.

“Well in that scenario I’ll try and push things along. Just think of me as your wingman tonight. I’ll try to get people in the right headspace and we can try and get everyone in the right mood” Emma suggested, sounding like she looked forward to being your wingman.

“Oh and I’m sure there’s no benefit whatsoever for you to be watching from the sidelines” you teased, seeing Emma return the smirk.

“Call that an unintended consequence” she replied, keeping up the act.

You ended up happily chatting back and forth about how true to her role she should be and between the smiles and the laughs there was a moment where you both paused in the conversation and Emma seemed to want to speak up.

“I know we’re joking but have you had any thought about using Rebecca’s hidden effect tonight? It feels like a good thing to try out in front of everyone to see their reactions. Oh! It might be a good thing to show off to Sarah if she wants proof of the KDK working. I know I didn’t need much convincing at the time but having something like that as an option doesn’t sound bad?” Emma explained, coming up with a pretty good idea in your opinion.

“That’s good with me. I still have very little to go on for the other hidden effects, including yours, so there’s a chance we can use this to see if anyone else does anything suspicious too” you added, looking for an opportunity to get some more clues.

Emma did seem to spend a minute considering her own thoughts, as if trying to figure out what her own effect could be.

“I think you’re gonna have to figure out mine. So much has changed that I don’t know what is from the KDK originally and what is being hidden from us” Emma replied, giving up after not being able to explain her own behaviour.

You could see it was bothering her however, not knowing what part of her was being manipulated outside of the usual KDK system.

“I’m sure it will be something specific that we won’t know about until the occasion comes up. I mean figuring out Rebecca’s was more luck than anything else so I wouldn’t worry about it. I don’t even think we would have known about the hidden effects of it wasn’t for Sarah’s being so obvious” you said, trying your best to perk her back up.

It did seem to have an effect on her but she wasn’t quite back to her usual self, making you want to try something to get her into a happier mood.

Author's note: As mentioned, having a 2 chapter break so I will be back on the 3rd of April.