"Teacher, this is the progress my classmates have made so far—here are their strengths, current issues, areas of stagnation. Please provide further guidance," Yuna said sweetly, her voice dripping with false innocence as she handed over the stack of compiled charts like a gift-wrapped burden.
Professor Veyne's lips twitched under his mask—subtle. Still, he took the folder without complaint and began flipping through the neatly organized profiles. As expected of the tireless tyrant of Heart Class, everything was labeled, color-coded, and terrifyingly thorough.
He gave a few thoughtful suggestions while Yuna stood there, arms crossed, watching him with the satisfied expression of someone who had just dumped their group project onto the only responsible member of the group.
And then, in his usual cold, flat tone that masked far too much mischief, Professor Veyne asked, "How is the progress on the students' 'Paths'?"
Yuna's smile froze.
The smug confidence drained from her face with all the grace of a building being demolished. Her eye twitched. Her lips trembled.
Professor Veyne, ever the picture of stoic calm, flipped to another page as if he hadn't just emotionally dropkicked his student in the solar plexus. But the slight glint in his eyes betrayed him.
Yuna stood there, defeated.
Her momentary glee all but gone to Ur-anus
With Professor Veyne's suspiciously on-point guidance—suspicious because Yuna swore he was enjoying this too much—the Heart Class finally started showing results. They have improved greatly.
....
Yuna had no clue where to even begin with the whole "Path" business. Frankly, she was just as lost as the rest of them. But she couldn't exactly sit back and wait for some divine miracle to descend from the heavens. After all, miracles were never particularly fond of her.
So, instead of brooding over the unknown, she took action in the only way she knew how.
Dragging a bench to the center of the spacious combat hall, Yuna arranged a seat directly across from her, motioning for the rest of the Heart Class to sit along the sidelines. This was going to be a one-on-one kind of thing—her talking individually with each classmate, trying to pry into their abilities, their feelings about them, and maybe—just maybe—help them dig out whatever potential "Path" was buried inside.
First up was Celeste.
Of course, it had to be Celeste.
Bright, bubbly, obnoxiously optimistic Celeste.
Yuna had very specific reasons for choosing her to go first. One—Celeste was her so-called "friend," and two—if she had to deal with someone that cheery and excitable, it was better to get it over with early before her patience ran thin.
Celeste bounced over with a grin, plopping into the seat across from Yuna with all the excitement of someone about to tell her life story.
Yuna, expression flat and tone dry, didn't even bother with formalities. "Let's just skip the whole 'Path' question. I already know you don't know, and neither do I."
Celeste giggled. "Fair enough."
Yuna had watched Celeste fight plenty of times before. A sound ability user—loud, jarring, and disruptive. The kind who opened her mouth and unleashed a sonic scream that made people want to fling themselves out of earshot.
It was... effective. In its own horrifying way.
"You scream things," Yuna said bluntly, resting her chin in her hand. "Any other tricks, or is the banshee act your whole brand?"
Celeste beamed. "Well, I've been working on resonance casting! Like tuning vibrations through my vocal cords into actual frequency manipulation. I made a wine glass explode the other day!"
"That's called breaking property," Yuna deadpanned. "Not progress."
The other students sitting nearby tried to suppress their laughter. After all, this wasn't some private session. Everyone could hear every word being said.
Yuna leaned back, eyes narrowing slightly in thought. "Still... resonance, huh? If you can weaponize sound waves precisely instead of just being loud, maybe that's something."
Celeste perked up. "You think so?"
"I think it's better than giving everyone migraines," Yuna muttered, already scribbling notes.
It wasn't much. But it was a start.
Yuna stared at Celeste with mild exasperation. "Do you only produce sound through your mouth?"
Celeste blinked at her like she'd asked the dumbest question imaginable. "Uh, yeah? I mean, screaming is the loudest and strongest output for a sound ability user. Isn't that obvious?"
Yuna narrowed her eyes.
Obvious? Maybe. But obvious wasn't always right.
As someone who devoured novels in bulk, Yuna wasn't satisfied with that surface-level explanation. She tapped her fingers against her cheek, then suddenly blurted out with the seriousness of a philosophical revelation—
"Are you Celeste, the sound producer... or Celeste, the sound controller?"
Her voice rang with all the dramatics of Odin questioning Thor—Are you Thor, god of hammers? No. He was the god of thunder.
Celeste burst into laughter, clearly about to toss out some kind of joke.
Yuna, however, wasn't in the mood to be derailed. She immediately dove into her train of thought before the bubbly girl could start her nonsense. "No, listen—if you're a sound controller, not just a screamer, why limit yourself to your mouth? Sound is vibration. Frequency. As you said right? If you can control that, then even the tiniest noise could become your weapon. You could amplify a whisper. A snap. Anything. Amplification, control, manipulation, not producer"
With Yuna each word Celeste's smile slowly faded.
A thoughtful look replaced her usual playfulness, something rare and oddly sobering. She raised her fingers experimentally, and without speaking, snapped.
A sharp vibration rippled out.
"Wait— "Yuna's eyes widened in horror, she stood up and sprint with her wind element towards her heart classmates. "—Mages! Shield! Now!"
The Heart Class, thankfully alert, scrambled to create a defensive barrier just in time.
BOOM!
The air exploded with a deafening sonic wave, cracking through the hall like thunder made flesh. The shield flickered under the pressure, barely holding. Even Yuna, who had braced herself, stumbled back from the sheer force.
And at the center of the noise was Celeste, thrown a few feet by her own ability, coughing up blood from the internal backlash. Yet instead of collapsing or panicking, she lay there for a moment—then broke into a loud, breathless laugh.
"Heh… hahaha! That… was awesome!"
Yuna stared at her like she'd lost her mind. Maybe she had.
Celeste had just discovered an entirely new way to wield her power—her wild laughter echoed through the combat hall like a patient in the middle of a hysterical fit at an asylum.
Yuna exhaled slowly, "...I really should start charging for this emotional damage."