"Wow!", Satori clapped her hands frantically. She looked like a little kid, tasting sweets for the first time. Her smile was so broad it made her ugly face look normal.
Shivani, meanwhile, only bowed and thanked Arian for sharing his information.
"If you don't mind me asking, how long will you be staying at the academy, your Highness?", she added finally.
"Well, my job is to help this school improve... honestly, I don't know how long this will take," Arian said dejectedly.
His father hadn't really given him a time limit. But Arian knew if he took longer than one year, it would probably be too long. Especially since his father wasn't known to be a patient man. The faster Arian would be, the more his reputation would improve. Of course, the improvements he made to the school must be good too.
So there was no point in rushing his job.
Still, it bothered the prince that right now he was nowhere. He hadn't made any improvement since he arrived here.
He felt like he would stay here for a while, even if it pained him.
But then he suddenly had an idea. "Is there something that bothers you guys about the academy, something you think would need improvement?"
Shivani shook her head and looked at Satori. When the girl felt the gaze of the taller one upon her, her smile faltered, and she returned to being awkward. Her confidence was gone in the blink of an eye.
What a strange girl. Arian turned his gaze towards her as well, trying to encourage her to speak.
Instead, the girl only seemed more shy. Shivani sighed and again, she talked in her stead.
"Yes, well, it doesn't bother me, but I think Satori has a problem with it. There are a lot of students who belong to a gang. Even though they aren't allowed to officially attend the school. They have internal rivalries between each other, and they are quite rude and even violent sometimes."
So again, the problem with the gangs. Arian didn't have a solution to it, but something Shivani said caught his attention.
"You mentioned gang members aren't officially allowed to enter the school. So are there conditions that possible students have to meet in order to be accepted into the academy?"
Arian never gave it much thought, but now he realized how shallow his attempts at helping the academy actually were. He never thought deeply about the problem. Had he done that, he would have realized much sooner that not all teenagers or young adults from the slums attended the academy. Given the small number of students, there were only a selected few. It should have been obvious, yet Arian failed to wonder about how these students were selected.
He wanted to facepalm himself. Since the students of the school he had attended were selected by status or by their parents' wealth, he expected the Akai-Dezato Academy to recruit their students similarly.
The prince hadn't realized how illogical this concept was for commoners, who had no wealth or status to begin with.
Meanwhile, Shivani shrugged her shoulders. For the first time, she seemed unsure.
"I don't know the requirements for students in detail- if you want to know more about that, I would advise you to ask teacher Javis, my prince- but there are some common rules most people are aware of. For example, you can't go if you have been in jail or if you have been arrested. If you have a symbol associated with a gang tattooed on your body, you can't go to the academy either."
Now it was Arian's time to be confused. "Then how did the gang members enter school in the first place?"
"Well, it's hard to receive knowledge about beast-taming without visiting a school that teaches about it. Most gangs don't know much about it, which means they can't tame beasts. This is a big hindrance for gangs, and the reason why they can only rule the weak. Against someone with a beast, they are simply powerless.""
"That's why they nurture people who don't participate in gang events and don't have questionable tattoos. Their records are clean, so they're allowed to join the academy. In other words, they can't be associated with a gang."
"Of course, once they are in the academy and they meet other undercover gang members, things might get heated, and they expose themselves."
"And the school doesn't just send them back?", Arian wondered.
"No, maybe it's because they don't want to admit their selection system is lacking, or maybe it's because they want the students to change for the better. Personally, I believe in the latter option, since the former is just stupid. I think it fits with the moral of the school; only when the students cause serious trouble do they get rejected. As long as their misbehaviour only consists of small fights and tantrums, the school tries to loosen the ties between gang members and their gangs."
Shivani paused for a short moment, thinking about her next words, before she continued. "I think the fact that this place is so isolated from the rest of the world helps a lot. Staying in contact with a gang is basically impossible here. This is the best place for gang members to leave their old life behind and take on a new one, the one of a beast tamer."
That makes sense, Arian thought, as he smiled at Shivani.
"I understand now. You're very good at explaining things, Shivani."
Arian expected the girl to bow or thank him for his compliment, but instead she threw her head back and laughed.
At first, Arian was taken aback by this action. Is she laughing at me? What did I do wrong?
Laughing into a prince's face, such audacity!
He wanted to get angry at her- for being so disrespectful- but stopped.
How could he be angry with her? Even when she insulted him, at least she looked good doing it.
Shivani was breathtakingly beautiful all the time, but when she laughed, everything about her was just perfect.
From the way her voice sounded like honey to how her breasts bounced when she arched her back, while her plain clothes hugged her body in the most flattering manner- Arian was simply mesmerized.
If he was staring, Arian couldn't bother to make himself look less obvious.
The things he would do to have her as his wife instead of Emilia.
Immediately, Arian slapped himself mentally.
What stupid thoughts, at least stick to the resolution of not starting something with a women that isn't your wife, Arian, the prince warned himself.
Luckily for his sanity, Shivani stopped laughing.
"And you are very good at being curious, Your Highness," she said softly.
Arian raised a brow. He wasn't sure if he could agree with this statement. After all, it was Shivani and Satori who had bombarded him with questions during the latest lessons and had even driven him to the point where he had to remember things he had wanted to forget for a long time.
Sensing his doubt, Shivani chuckled and waved her hand dismissively. "But don't worry, we're still better at it than you."
Apparently, she has the same thoughts as I do. But if she wants to tease me, I shall tease her back.
"Oh, is that so, because I already have the next question for you guys," Arian said playfully, before he leaned back in his wheelchair, already preparing himself for a long but detailed answer.
"So, how did you two get intoto the academy?"