My Bothersome Life

A Person from the Second District?

'Isn't that obvious?' Shelly threw me an obvious glance.

"That doesn't mean we can't date other people, right? Because we're not actually married, we're only FUTURE marriage partners, right?" I asked again for more confirmation.

"Well not many people actually try to date other people when they're engaged to other people themselves because it'll only make it harder for them. That's why I feel that Hubert will be a great friend to me, but I don't see him as anything other than that" Shelly awkwardly smiled back.

Even though Shelly was just eleven years old, I guessed she put a lot of thinking into her every action and her future. Just when this conversation was about to come to an end, the ride was coming to an end as well.

When I got off the ride with Shelly, I saw Luke and Alex waiting for us in silence.

"Why don't we grab some ice cream?" I tried to get rid of the depressing atmosphere.

"Rika, I think this is enough. You should stop troubling Michelle and start heading back with Alex to school." Luke frowned with his arms crossed like he was the one in charge.

"You guys said that we had more than six hours left!" I argued back.

"Well that's only because-"

I quickly ran off into the distance as I felt I would be always be held captive in the cage called, 'school' while I chose to not hear the rest of Alex's excuse.

The crew was no longer to be seen when I stopped running to catch my breath. I coincidentally called out to Ben when I found him separating from his friend Hubert while panting.

"Hey!" I waved while walking towards him.

"What a coincidence?" Ben looked back from my familiar voice.

"Yea, what a coincidence," I awkwardly shuffled my feet.

"Is there something that you want from me?" Ben pulled out his phone as if he was busy.

"No, but I came to ask if I said anything wrong at that cafe because your face looks a bit depressed after I asked about your school life." I made up an excuse on the spot.

It would be too awkward to confess I was depending on him to hide from Luke and the others.

"Well, it's nothing that a kid like you have to worry about." Ben kindly patted my head.

He saw me as a kid. A kid. I did have the body of a ten-year-old child that was going to turn eleven soon. But still, was it too much to ask to treat me as his equal? No wonder he treated me so kindly, thinking that I was a runaway child with Shelly or somewhere along those lines.

My first love was shattered after getting the little sister treatment.

'I never really got to know his age, anyways did I? Fine! I'll use that thinking as an advantage to get close to him!' I schemed inside my head.

"I want to listen though. I love listening to new stories." I whined while stomping my feet to pretend that I looked upset.

Ben kindly replied while crouching down to meet my line of sight, "Do you want to go somewhere else then to talk about this?"

I fiercely nodded my head while we headed towards the large block of modernly decorated building nearby the area while he held onto my hand.

I wondered if he was rich or had a family that was influential in the second district, as the restaurant looked like it was for elites.

The glass walls that let its guests admire the scenic view and the mini orchestra that filled my ears made me automatically walk in a more lady-like posture.

I fixed my slouched back and opened up the cavity of my chest as I confidently strolled inside. The waiter quickly led us to a table for two as Ben pulled out a seat for me to sit in. I naturally sat in the chair as if Ben's action was expected from Luke's same actions whenever we ate outside.

After Ben ordered our meal, he started to tell his story, "I'm not actually from the second district. I'm actually from the first district like you and your friend. I came here undercover with my friend for a school assignment."

I nodded my head to gesture him to continue on as Ben finally revealed his true identity, "I'm in my first year of Welms Collegiate Academy high school. I'm here to help resolve the issue between some friends of mine. My friend likes my other friend's partner and the love is mutual."

This was what Shelly was talking about. A love that was never to be bloomed due to the partner system.

"Then why can't they switch partners?" I asked as if both their partners were both consented to this decision.

"It's because the partner system has a lot of politics involved within it. Part of it is based on the amount of mana a family possesses, but the other part is based on what connections your family may need in the future." Ben explained as I imagined his eyes briefly twinkle.

"So, you can't not get married to your original partner easily?" I remembered Shelly's statement during our ride on the Ferris wheel.

"That's almost never the case." Ben responded as if it was a fact.

"Didn't your partner come today to find you as well?"

"Yea, we're doing this partner switching thing as an assignment at school right now. But my original partner and my current partner somehow found us as soon as we snuck into the second district." I revealed my troubled face.

There was no point in lying when Ben had already revealed himself to me. I felt bad being the only one to maintain the perfect façade while Ben poured out his heart to me.

Ben looked oddly utterly surprised, "You snuck into the second district! Not that you got permission to come here?"

"Well it was the weekend and my friend and I was bored of staying at school all the time. My friend heard of a secret pathway to the second district so we decided to sneak out together to have some fun." I fidgeted with my fingers from his odd response.

"In normal circumstances, you get severely punished if you do so. Next time you should try getting permission instead of sneaking out," Ben seemed to warn me.

"No wonder your partners looked really mad," Ben mumbled.

"Well, it's because both of my partners are too controlling all the time that I wanted a nice decent break that's far away from them." I explained my actions.

"My original partner is like, 'you have to behave properly as the future lady of the Roselia house Rika!' and my current partner is like, 'you have to study hard in order to not tarnish the Monette family name.' What's with all these pride with family names?" I complained as I unconsciously almost slammed the table.

"The Roselia and Monette family?" Ben's eyes twinkled as if he seemed to appear to be somewhat amused.

"Well, yes?" I was somewhat equally confused with Ben's reaction.

"Well it's expected from the school you attend. The Roselia and the Monette family are the part of the top five most influential families in the first district other than the Locast family who are also growing in power lately," Ben quickly analyzed to come to a conclusion.

"Actually, my friend Shelly who was with me before in the cafe is from the Locast family." I added.

I knew that Luke, Shelly and Alex were from influential families to a certain extent, but I had a tough time believing that they were one of the most influential in this entire district. No wonder Luke and Alex were so stuck up about their family names!

"Now I have a question to ask you," I stopped the smiling game.

"How did my partner find me so fast?"

'Oh, so we start from there?' Ben seemed to silently judge me.

"Well, each partner can track where their partner is as an emergency precaution with the marble you were given. You will get many dangerous assignments in the future so they train you to use it at an early age." Ben pointed to the setting in the marble.

Why didn't I know about this? Maybe I should have paid more attention to that lecture in the beginning of elementary school when they explained how to use the marble. But I was sure that they never taught this to us even though I didn't pay full attention. I still remembered the gist of it due to Luke's intense review afterwards.

No wonder Luke knew almost where I was all the time. I felt like he was using the tracking device almost every day.

"Is there any way to stop the tracking as it can get a little bothersome?" I asked to sustain a sense of privacy.

"Well, it's not recommended, but you can turn the tracking off by blocking the person you visualize with your mana and pour it into the marble. However, it's only temporary as you can do it for 24 hours." Ben warned me.

24 hours would be enough. I closed my eyes and visualized Luke as the person I wanted to block. I then poured my image I had in mind into the marble with my mana and my marble glowed a hint of white light instead of its usual translucent blue.

"Like this?" I showed him the settings section of the screen in the marble.

"Yes, exactly like that." Ben strangely smiled with amusement. border of the shield was spelled to end. The worn-out dagger was stabbed into the transparent pattern with my lack of energy that growled for more food. The shield shattered like glass with no sound to be heard as it soon vanished into thin air.