Lily, After School

Lily's point of view:

"Lily? Lily!"

Hearing a voice, feeling my body being shaken...

Mmm... I opened my eyes. A classmate stood before me, and outside the window, the evening sun was setting.

"Lily, school's over! Wake up and go home!"

"Oh, oh. Thanks for waking me up."

"Mm! You're welcome! I'm leaving, then!"

With that, the classmate ran off.

What was her name again...?

I forgot, but she was really nice. She even woke me up.

"Yawn..."

After yawning and stretching, I picked up my schoolbag and stood, ready to use teleportation magic to go straight home.

Just as the teleportation circle activated, I suddenly remembered that Dad had said he would come pick us up today.

Dad had come to check on the operation of the mana storage devices in the school laboratory today, so he was picking us up.

Lucy, Tina, Sieg... oh, and Lara had come to school today.

Lara had actually come to school today.

But I had forgotten where they said we were supposed to meet.

Forget it. I could just wait at the school gate. They would definitely pass by there anyway.

Thinking that, I walked toward the school gate.

The sun had already sunk to the end of the street, its orange-red light filtering through the leaves and casting mottled shadows across the ground.

I slowly walked along the tree-lined path outside the school buildings.

Students left school in groups of two or three. Some discussed today's lessons, while others complained about tomorrow's exams.

Laughter drifted over on the evening breeze. It sounded very lively.

The leaves by the road rustled in the wind, and now and then, a few yellowing leaves fell from the branches, spinning down beside my feet.

When I reached the school gate, I casually found a stone,