Harem Sync: Divine Edition

Chapter 105: Baptism (3)

"So this is what Baptism is like...?" Isabela asked as a maid cleaned her nails with a delicate file in precise movements.

A veteran leaning back in a chair next to her answered without opening her eyes:

"Yes. Is there anything better than this?"

The courtyard was all decorated, with lanterns of various colors floating, fresh flowers in vases, soft rugs covering the cold stone.

It smelled good, lavender, vanilla, something floral that Isabela couldn’t name.

There were maids moving silently carrying trays of tea, fruit, warm towels and more...

Students scattered in groups, laughing, talking, enjoying themselves.

Kira was being massaged, lying on the table, while the maid was working on her back.

The volume of her breasts pressed against the table made her casually comment:

"I thought Baptism was something scary... like a macabre initiation ritual..."

She barely finished speaking...

They heard a scream echoing from outside the women’s wing. Someone running past.

"PLEASE... PLEASE FORGIVE ME!"

Then another voice, closer:

"STOP RIGHT THERE! ARE YOU AFRAID OF A DWARF!?"

"Huh!?" Kira raised her head in astonishment, ears perked up.

The veteran opened one eye.

"Well... the boys’ Baptism is about as much as..."

"AHHHHHH MY ASS!" Another scream passed by.

All the newcomers stared in shock at the wall.

The veteran continued speaking calmly, smiling:

"Well... it’s kind of peculiar. The boys... They do everything. They’re like beasts. They hunt each other, break each other, humiliate each other..."

"Why all this?" Isabela asked, genuinely confused.

The veteran looked at her as if explaining something obvious.

"They’re boys..."

Isabela remained silent.

"Now I understand your rule," Kira commented.

"Don’t leave the women’s wing until dawn," the veteran confirmed. "Leaving here is a penalty. And what you’ll see... you won’t forget. The entire academy, except for the women’s sections, belongs to the boys on baptism days, especially tonight."

"I thought there would be a fight..." Seline commented to Isabela, sitting in a chair, a cup of tea in her hand.

Erect posture, as always, but something about her was... relaxed.

"I thought the same..." Lilithine replied from the corner.

She was wearing a simple dress, it looked like a nightgown, light white fabric... white gloves on her hands, less covered than the Cathedral habit, but still discreet.

She sipped her juice slowly, her expression almost tired, but she was present.

She wasn’t well, but she was enjoying herself.

"And what’s the justification for not fighting?" she asked with genuine curiosity.

The veteran thought for a moment.

"It just so happens that after this there will be a lot of rivalry. A lot of fighting, a lot of blood."

She looked around, students relaxing, laughing.

"Therefore, consider these days as rest and beginnings. I think the boys should do the same... and not mistreat each other all year."

She paused.

"Just relax."

They heard another distant cry, this time long and sharp, ending in a plea.

They all looked at the wall for a moment before returning to what they were doing.

"Poor things..." Kira murmured, returning to the massage.

...That same night, children’s ward.

Yukihime was sharing beatings with the other children.

"Who’s NEXT!?" she shouted breathlessly, her hair loose, eyes shining.

The children had done what none wanted: elected the last one standing.

In both sexes.

And Yukihime was unstoppable... her body sparked in her hands.

A child knelt before her, a boy.

"Have mercy on us... O Queen!"

"Queen!?" Yukihime exclaimed, dismissing the term.

The boy quickly corrected her: "I mean... our Goddess... oh Goddess..."

And then all the children there began to venerate her, prostrating themselves, joining hands, murmuring.

Yukihime stood there, arms crossed and a smile on her face, feeling that good and familiar sensation.

"So this is Baptism..." she thought, looking around at the children prostrating themselves.

"I thought you were more..."

...

The tea had been replaced with something lightly fermented, sweet, with honey, which left cheeks rosy.

The atmosphere had changed and become more relaxed and honest.

"So let’s talk about boys..." a newcomer began.

"Oh, no..." Blandina grumbled.

"Anything but boys..." the veterans agreed dryly.

They were silent for a second.

Then they all laughed, including Seline, who clearly hadn’t expected to agree with Blandina.

"Okay... So what do we want to talk about?" Another veteran asked.

"Goals..." Isabela said directly. "Why did everyone come here?"

The veteran smiled, impressed.

"Redhead (Valtherion) doesn’t waste time."

Isabela didn’t deviate. "Nobody wastes time here. So."

The veteran tilted her head: "I think Classes... whoever finds out early, maybe first..."

"...adapts first." Another completed.

"When are Classes revealed here?" Lilithine asked, genuinely curious.

"A day before class, or on the same day."

"Your Rank is also revealed there."

"The stronger... the sooner the academy recognizes."

Lilithine processed that, looking at the cup.

"The academy tests before revealing?" "Yes..."

"How envious..." a newcomer murmured. "Those from the Cathedral know their classes way before we do."

"Not all of them..." Lilithine replied modestly.

Kira raised her nose, her beastskin sense of smell involuntarily activating.

She looked at Lilithine with a perceptive expression...

"No, I’m not a nun!" Lilithine said before Kira could speak, slightly blushing. "I’m just part of the Cathedral. I’m a saint..."

"Ah..." Kira nodded slowly. "But that’s not what I was going to ask..."

Lilithine frowned.

"I have a good sense of smell..." Kira continued innocently. "And you smell like... a specific person... I can’t identify who, but it’s someone who clearly marked the saint here..."

They all looked at Lilithine.

Lilithine coughed, lightly covering her mouth with her hand.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Oh, oh..." Blandina leaned forward. "This smells like something personal..."

"Boys are fools..." Lilithine said slowly, looking at her glass. "And sometimes... they lie."

A different silence now, the kind that carries a story.

"This smells like something much more specific than boys being fools..." Kira said.

Lilithine didn’t answer, just drank the juice.

Blandina opened her mouth to press down.

The veteran made a discreet calming gesture. Perfect reading of the room.

Blandina closed her mouth.

"By the way..." Seline said, looking at Isabela, changing the subject with surgical precision, "...I’m sure I know you..."

"We know each other..." Isabela agreed slowly, looking too.

"You are..." Seline began.

"Shh!" The veteran intervened immediately.

They all stopped.

"Rule of the night," the veteran said firmly. "No revealing names. No revealing houses. No revealing where you came from."

She looked around at everyone.

"We only call each other sisters. That’s the only rule. Don’t break it."

"To avoid guerrilla warfare..." Lilithine commented, understanding immediately.

"Exactly." The veteran nodded.

"But..." Isabela began, "...what if we already knew each other before entering?"

The veteran thought.

"Then pretend we didn’t. For tonight." She smiled slightly.

"Tomorrow... you can be enemies, rivals. Whatever you want."

"But now..." she gestured to the courtyard, to the hot tea, to the floating lanterns, "...you’re just students."

Isabela and Seline exchanged a long second of eye contact, then both looked ahead, as if they had never seen each other before. Respecting the rule.

...

The courtyard grew quieter, one by one, students going to sleep.

Servants collecting cups, extinguishing extra lanterns.

Only a few remained, those who didn’t want the night to end.

Lilithine stayed, looking at the sky.

Blandina beside her, lying in a chair, eyes closed but not asleep.

Seline further back, cup in hand, thoughtful.

They heard a distant cry, weaker now. Someone who had clearly given up running.

Blandina opened one eye.

"I think they finally caught someone important..."

Lilithine looked at the sky and said nothing.

But she thought, involuntarily, of the black hair and gray eyes of someone who taught her to knock on doors.

...

"Didn’t you say boys can’t come here..." Blandina said suddenly, looking at the roof.

"Yes. Why?" the veteran questioned.

"That guy over there... squatting on the roof... isn’t he the guy who took your canteen, Seline?" Blandina asked Seline, unintentionally revealing her name.

"Elf, Seline Asteriel Orphéne!" Isabela finished, the name she had been trying to remember all along.

"Oh, no, don’t reveal your names!" the veteran protested.

"My name is Kirathia, but you can call me Kira!" Kira shouted as they were revealing themselves.

Confused, the girls began arguing amongst themselves: "Why did you reveal your name!?" "Someone has to be honest..." "The rule..."

"Look..." Blandina pointed. "There really is a guy crouching up on the roof spying on us."

Kira raised her head, hands immediately covering her breasts. "Only my master can see me naked!"

And when Kira looked at the roof, "...Master!" she exclaimed.

"What!?" Isabela turned, clearly seeing Haru’s silhouette on the roof.

Lilithine, who had been quietly finding the whole discussion amusing, also looked.

"Haru..." she thought.

Few had seen the man crouching there; most were still arguing amongst themselves.

Until a random girl from the opposite side shouted:

"IT’S TRUE! THERE WAS A BOY THERE!"

Screams and female screams, indignation, laughter, uproar.

Kira and Isabela started laughing loudly, unable to stop.

And Lilithine just stood there looking at the empty rooftop where Haru had been and smiled slowly.

"Idiot..."

It wasn’t clear if she was talking to him or to herself.