The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)

LEO

It was after I brought my cheese dream picture to Falken (which got a good laugh out of him, together with a "Keep drawing, Leo") and was humming along, walking down the hallway toward the Academy main building’s exit, that I ran into Thomas and Isabelle—almost as if they were waiting for me.

"Hey, Leo," Thomas said, giving me a playful jab on the shoulder.

"Hi, hi," I said, dodging his second jab.

"Are you busy right now?" Thomas asked.

"I was just going to walk back to the dormitory. I think I’m done for today," I said.

"Perfect, then. Let’s go on a little detour," Thomas said, putting his arm around my shoulder.

As we started heading toward another exit—not the one we were close to now—and Isabelle quietly followed a step behind us, I asked,

"Where are we going?"

"Just for a chat," Thomas said.

It was somewhat odd, and I tried to be more awake and alert because I could sense some kind of prank incoming.

Then, as we approached the other exit, we saw Mario standing around chatting with Briant. I was about to call out to him, but—

"Let’s take the other exit, actually." Thomas turned me around, and we headed back to the first exit I was going to use.

"What’s all this? What are you planning?" I asked.

"We’ll go somewhere quiet and see," Thomas said so nonchalantly that it made me grow extra suspicious, but at the same time, I was kind of looking forward to a good prank. Sometimes it was fun to be surprised.

I noticed, though, that all the while Isabelle was keeping quiet.

That made me a tiny bit worried. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that Isabelle, although she was funny in many ways, wasn’t really the type to prank people. It was difficult to imagine she had planned something with Thomas, something silly like making me fall into a disguised hole dug in the ground.

Once we were out of the building, Thomas led us toward the forest near the boundary of the campus and waved me on to follow.

I felt hesitant and looked at Isabelle, but the slow nod she gave me said that I was safe and that they really did want me to come along.

We walked for a few minutes into the woods, then came to a small clearing where there was a big flat rock.

"Take a seat here," Thomas said, and we all sat on the rock.

"Are you going to tell me what this is about now? You are kind of making me nervous," I said.

"What do you think about the ’gentleman’ who looks after you?" Thomas asked me casually.

"Huh?"

I wasn’t sure what he was getting at.

"You know, the guy who was helping you out in the recovery room. The guy Isabelle said came and rescued you in the storm. The guy who came to give you some tips during the magic demonstration. The guy who was with you during the festival. I’m talking about THAT guy," Thomas said.

"Jeez. Why do you ask?"

"Just curious," Thomas said, then fixed his eyes on mine.

"He’s just a very kind man. He’s been very helpful in so many things," I gave him my honest take.

"I don’t like him," Thomas said. Very bluntly.

"Wait—why? He’s been so good to me, though?"

"Something about him creeps me out," Thomas doubled down on his assessment.

Very unfair.

"You don’t know anything about him," I tried to defend Mathias.

"Leo," Isabelle said, her voice soft and calm—but cautious.

"You don’t like him either?" I asked.

"It’s not like that. I’m not sure how to put it, because I’m worried it’d make you upset, but... we think he’s up to something," Isabelle said.

"’We’? You guys have been talking about him? What for?" I asked and found myself feeling a little irritated.

"I can’t quite put my finger on it, but everything seems so unusual when it comes to how he treats you. I have been thinking about it since your time in the recovery room—well, actually, even before that, like when he came to take you during the storm that time," Isabelle continued.

"Right, you just said two very nice things he’s done for me, and now you are saying those things are weird?"

Something about the way Isabelle and Thomas were talking about Mathias ticked me off.

"This is exactly what I was worried about. I know, from your side, he’d look like he’s just being really nice to you. But things don’t really add up. It’s unusual, to say the least," Isabelle insisted.

"What is he asking from you?" Thomas immediately followed up with a question.

"What do YOU guys know?! He SAVED me! Don’t bad-mouth Mathias behind his back!"

"Mathias?" Isabelle said, surprised.

"So you guys are on first-name terms, eh?" Thomas said, then continued, "The guy can order an entire company of Royal Knights around, lock down a district, and, oh—literally kidnap a circus magician and bring him God knows where... and somehow, inexplicably, he’s your best buddy."

The way he said all this in a single breath felt so relentless.

So spiteful.

"I won’t sit here and let you bad-mouth him for no reason." I stood up from the rock and glared at Thomas.

"And now you are angry—which you never used to be," Thomas said, standing up as well and squaring up to me.

"Hey—this is not what we came here for, Thomas. I told you to take it easy." Isabelle pushed Thomas to the side, away from me.

"Yeah, but I’m certain now. That man is doing something to you, Leo. And it isn’t out of charity, for sure," Thomas said and spat on the ground.

Something came over me, and I grabbed Thomas by his collar.

"Take that back."

"Leo, calm down!" Isabelle panicked and put herself between us, forcibly separating us.

"I will figure him out. Then you will see," Thomas said as he turned away. Then he said, with definite anger in his voice,

"And I’m sure Marius is in it together. I’ll figure him out too."

With that, Thomas walked away.

I was left feeling horrible for having pissed off Thomas for some reason, but I was equally angry that he was bad-mouthing Mathias for no good reason.

And in the end, he was bad-mouthing Mario too.

"I’m sorry, Leo. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. Thomas was acting stupid," Isabelle apologized, but it didn’t quite make me feel better.

"What’s... wrong with you two all of a sudden?"

It hurt to ask this question.

"You didn’t read the book I gave you, did you?" Isabelle answered me with another question instead.

"What book?"

"Gees, I knew you didn’t. The Tales of Witches and Folk Magic. The one I gave you when you were in that ’recovery room.’"

"Oh... sorry, I never got around to it."

Isabelle then took a deep breath, hesitated for a moment, let out a sigh, and said,

"Leo. I don’t think you are a dual magic user."

My head hurt.

My head hurt for no reason.

Why are you saying all this to me, Isabelle?

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