RSE CH 25 (Patreon)

Leo set up their lab table for the experiment. 

For the third class in a row, it was just him. Asa seemed to have disappeared. She’d been absent for more than a week. 

When he’d asked Professor Starling about Asa, the teacher hadn’t heard anything from administration about her. She told him to ask for help if he needed it, and to fill out the lab sheets for both of them. She explained that it wasn’t uncommon for students to miss a week or more, now that they were heading into Flu season.

After the second class she’d missed without responding to any of his texts or the messages he’d left on her voicemail, Leo had gone over to her house. He’d watched it for nearly an hour before walking up and ringing the doorbell.

The car he’d seen in the driveway before was gone. No one had come home while he’d watched, and no one answered the door—though he’d hammered on it and laid on the doorbell for nearly a minute. When he went around back to peer through the windows, he’d only seen a bunch of old furniture.

The place had been abandoned.

Leo told himself he was overreacting. People dropped out of school and disappeared all the time. Hell, he’d done it a time or three himself. He was surprised that Asa hadn’t returned any of his calls or at least responded to his texts. 

Leo consulted the lab diagram before assembling the apparatus he would use for this lab. It was the second to last lab for Chemistry 101. Only one more, and he’d finally get credit for material he’d gone over twice now. 

At least that meant the homework and the tests were easy. This and biology were both easy A’s. 

Normally, he and Asa flew through the labs. The knot in his stomach twisted up again every time he turned to ask his absent lab partner a question. Without her, he took just as long as everybody else… if not a little longer.

Time slowed as Leo meticulously followed every step of the lab. At some points he had time to knock out a calculation or two while the precipitate from the previous step dissolved, but since it was just him, he had to keep a close eye on the experiment. This meant it took the entire period for him just to fill out his observations. 

Instead of completing the lab and turning it in early like he was used to doing with Asa, he used the last few minutes of class to disassemble his apparatus, clean his beakers and test tubes, and tidy his lab station. He’d have to finish the calculations at home.

“Professor Starling!” Leo called out over the ringing buzzer that signaled the end of the period. 

The teacher nodded at him to let him know she’d heard him, then finished up with the two girls who always seemed to be the last ones done before coming over to where he was loading his calculator and lab manual into his backpack.

“What is it Mister Karteros?” the professor asked. 

Leo showed her his incomplete lab and asked if she’d accept a scanned submission once he completed the calculations. 

“That’s fine,” Professor Starling agreed. “I know you didn’t have a partner, so it would be unfair to expect you to be done with it already. I know you and Miss Silvers usually blitz through these labs, but that’s impossible with only one person.”

“Thanks, Professor.” Leo paused. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything about Asa?”

The chemistry professor sighed, then shook her head. “As far as I know, she hasn’t withdrawn from the college. With you finishing the labs like you’ve done and her near perfect marks on the mid-term, as long as she’s back to take the final, she’ll pass my class.”

“Will you let me know if you hear anything?” The knot in Leo’s gut was having babies.

“Admin details are supposed to remain private, but I don’t imagine it would hurt anything if I let you know if she drops off the roster.” Professor Starling reached out and squeezed his shoulder. “I’m sure she just caught a bug and is under the weather.”

“But she hasn’t replied to my texts or returned any of my calls,” Leo complained.

“Maybe she lost her phone? I hope she isn’t so sick that she can’t respond to a text.” The professor shrugged and gave him a sympathetic smile. “I’ll let you know if I hear anything, okay? Just get the completed lab to me before Friday—either slip the papers under office door or email me a scan of the completed lab workup. If I have it by Friday, there won’t be any penalty.”

She released his shoulder and walked to the front of the room. “I’m sure you’ll get top marks… like you usually do, Mister Karteros.”

He thanked her again before slinging his backpack over his shoulder and walking out the door.

A short girl with white hair and gold eyes leaning on the wall across from the chemistry lab straightened when Leo came into the hall. Without doing more than beckoning him to follow her, Kira turned and walked towards the stairs.

Leo blinked before remembering that today was the day he was supposed to meet Rayne Mephisto at the Occult Club. He’d been so worried about Asa that he almost forgot. Good thing Kira had waited for him, and it seemed was going to escort him over to the Student Center.

If she hadn’t, he probably wouldn’t have remembered the appointment until he got home. If that had been the case, Lucy would have stopped mid-ambush and might even have teleported him back onto the school grounds. 

If she’d had to do that, he’d have been afraid to go home—no matter how the meeting with Rayne turned out. Lucy wouldn’t hold back if he embarrassed a Mephisto like that—a nimantraṇa was not something you ignored.

As he hurried to catch up to Kira, he reached for the silver lining this opportunity presented. At least they’d have a few minutes with just the two of them on the walk over to the Student Center. 

He wanted to get to know Kira a bit better. Normally, she was… 

Well, he wouldn’t call her shy. She just didn’t talk all that much. Mostly that was because she was chewing on something or about to chew on something. He didn’t know where she put it, though. Despite all the snacks she seemed to put down, the girl had somehow dodged the ‘freshmen fifteen’—though with how much she snacked, it should have been something like the freshmen fifty.

“Wait up, Kira!” Leo called out. 

He took the stairs two at a time to catch up to her. When he caught her at the foot of the stairs, he slowed to match her pace. 

“That was a tough lab, huh?” 

“…”

“Err… did you and Maria have any trouble with it?” he asked.

“…”

“Okay…” It seemed Kira wasn’t interested in talking about class.

“Hey! Have you heard anything about the new club downtown? I think it’s called ‘Sirens’… I wonder if it’s still impossibly crowded.”

“…”