The room did indeed come with a room-mate and he slept behind the temple while Ioha made himself at home. The room-mate turned out to be Karaki, one of the students who spoke a language Ioha didn't understand, which didn't create a problem since everyone really did receive that magic gizmo Ioha guessed would substitute for learning a common language. Karaki had a penchant for sleeping naked with no covers while snoring loud enough to make the windows rattle, which did pose a problem, and attended the soldier of fortune education, which for some unknown reason also was a problem.
While awake he turned out to be a rather pleasant kid with a tendency towards the clownish. He was also, Ioha admitted, insanely good looking in that slender yet muscular way that had girls turn and stare at some of Ioha's friends during his high school and university days. All in all there weren't enough problems for Ioha to care, but for one thing. Karaki was, unsurprisingly, popular among the girls, as in absurdly popular. He gathered a harem of seven in a lower number of days, which was bad enough, but since all girls lived on the fifth floor and boys were forbidden there, they naturally gravitated two floors below, into Ioha's shared room to be exact. Now Karaki's harem should have been larger than seven if the longing stares he received was anything to go by, but Ioha soon found out why there were exactly seven of them. They were the girls who saw no problems in sharing one boy among them, and none of them suffered from any inhibitions whatsoever when it came to two extra eyes and two extra ears sharing their frequent and lively experiences with Karaki. Ioha could close his eyes but ears were a problem so he mostly spent early nights taking long walks around the academy.
This was one such night.
This was the first, though, when he met Ai, or rather saw her involved in a silent but heated conversation with the lordling jerk. Anthony, was it? A bit worried, a bit curious but most of all just a tad jealous Ioha changed direction and sauntered over to get a better idea of what was going on.
"What part of 'already taken' is hard to understand?"
That explained the contents of their talk, and it also did wonders to mitigate Ioha's jealousy. Whatever relation Ai wanted with him it obviously was something she kept to even when he wasn't there to hear about it or, as in this case, wasn't supposed to be.
"He doesn't even hold a title."
"Neither do you. Your father does."
Damn I love her guts! There was no hurry so Ioha slowed down and found a place under a tree. He read irritation rather than anything dangerous into the situation, so becoming a spectator was good enough. For something clandestine the spot they found was well lit but in general so were nights close to the large buildings here. After they all moved into the dorms Ioha found out that magic took the place of electricity here. It wasn't just a decorative solution for the temple. Rather than lamps parts of the exterior walls flooded the ground below them in a mild, yellowish light. The place where he hid, however, was not as brightly lit. While the mages here probably could turn trees into lamps they apparently decided it would look strange.
"Look, Anthony, I'm not interested. There's one man I want to know better, and he's not you." Even from a distance Ioha noticed ire rising in Ai's face.
"I can offer you a lot more. My father is the most powerful man in the entire domain."
Ioha almost felt sorry for him. How desperate can you be to inherit a title?
Ai threw her arms into the air. "I don't want to be offered anything! I'm me. I live for me. I'll share myself with whoever agrees to it only as long as I want to." She drew breath. "Look Anthony, I'm a woman and you're a boy. The only man around here is Ioha." Those words didn't exactly fill Ioha with happiness; as if she'd grab any male within the proper age range, but he also understood she was trying to explain something difficult to the lordling. Ai wiped hair from her face after a sudden rush of wind found itself between the buildings. "Look, I won't marry you. I won't become your lover. Just accept it!"
"I won't accept that. I'll…"
"That is quite enough," Ioha said and stepped out from the shadows. "You're being rude. She clearly said she had no interest in whatever it is you're pursuing."
"Stay silent! You have nothing to do with this," Anthony said, voice both rising and breaking at the same time.
Some people never learned, especially when brains and power didn't go hand in hand. "I believe I do. I'm her man."
Ai lit up and she hastily took a few steps to him and Ioha opened his palm to welcome her. At that moment Anthony grabbed her wrist and Ioha had enough. He barged in and slammed his fingers around the offending arm. Too late he realised he was a lot stronger here than back home. It mattered little. Ai had grabbed Anthony's other wrist and was busy pushing his elbow up in an angle with the hand Ioha's grip had just freed. With both arms locked what should have been a harsh reminder not to grab hold of people used to martial arts turned into a splendid face meets gravel event.
Shit, that has to hurt!
"Sorry, I didn't mean to…" Ai bent down. Getting away from Anthony was one thing. Throwing him face first into the ground was excessive. She took that face, riveted with blood and lacerations, between her hands and closed her eyes. Slowly the wounds vanished and only blood already spilled remained.
I didn't think you could learn to master magic so fast after contracting your god. Ioha shook his head. She said she'd become a healer. Maybe she got some of her magic abilities during the ritual. He had, quite a few of them, but he didn't fully understand what they did. Besides, healing magic just seemed more impressive than his own tricks.
"Do you know the punishment for attacking a noble?" Anthony growled after he found his feet again.
"For me? None. Diplomatic envoy and all that."
"You're not an envoy, your father is."
"You're not a noble, your father is."
That was, Ioha knew, stretching the truth a little. Direct families of nobles were considered nobles as well. They just weren't titled, but among other things they had the right to a second name, but then again, apparently so did Ai.
"I'll hold you accountable for what happened," Anthony promised.
Ioha looked at him. Every time they met the lordling shrunk a little in his mind. "Kiddo, don't be an arse," Ioha said. Salvaging at least something from the situation had to be better than the alternatives.
"A filthy commoner like you have no right to… I'll kill you!" He lunged.
Ioha blinked and threw up a wall, or rather he turned the air between them into something that resembled hardened insulation foam. To be on the safe side he threw in the fireworks as well. He didn't have to – most magic effects were invisible, just like Ai's healing earlier had been, but adding an anime style light show protected the attacker, and this was a school after all.
Fists still swinging Anthony got entangled before he reached Ioha. He just hung there in the air like a rather entertaining clown with arms helplessly circling.
"What's that?" Ai asked now that the situation was defused.
She clung to his arms and Ioha had no plans at all to remind her about the no touching before knowing part. After listening once too many to Karaki's nightly adventures Ioha didn't mind feeling Ai's small breasts pressing against him.
Her fingers stabbed in the direction of Anthony.
Ah, her question. "I got myself some kind of guardian god," Ioha said. This wasn't the time to explain the roles of the Norse gods, and besides he didn't really know to what extent his magic mirrored the attributes of Heimdall. "I woke up with some really useful defensive magic."
Ai thrust her left hand into whatever had stopped Anthony, and Ioha watched her fingers disintegrate part of the defensive field. "Feels rather brittle," she said.
"He's stuck, isn't he?" Ioha tried and hoped he didn't sound whiny.
Anthony's arm circled once more.
"Is it dangerous?" she asked.
"He can breathe."
Anthony mumbled something from inside his magic prison.
"How long does it last?" Ai wanted to know.
"You mean if we leave him here?"
Anthony stretched and shuddered, but he was stuck. The field, however, didn't prevent his eyes from widening.
"Independent magic, that's so cool!"
Ioha agreed. Magic that lasted outside the scope of casting was indeed cool. "Might be good for my research to find out how long the effect lasts," he pondered.
Anthony made gurgling noises.
It lasted until morning.