The Academy’s No Named Nobody

"Hopefully I won't need to ride that very often." Archer said as he patted the dust off him after exiting down the small elevator.

"So what are we going to do now?" Luna asked.

"You can go home if you want." Archer replied.

"What are you going to do?" Julia asked.

"Attend class. I'm supposed to be here and watch over everything." Archer said as he made his way down the hall, "I'll message you if something comes up."

"How?" Luna asked.

"Right, you don't have my number. Ah, actually, you two should get to know each other. Julia you can share my number with her. I'm going to try to get something to eat before lunch is over." He said running off.

"Right, lunch. I don't want to go to the cafeteria right now." Julia said checking the time on her phone.

"Oh, uh. I brought my lunch over. Would you like some? It's just a simple sandwich." Luna offered quietly to her.

Julia gave a warm smile and laughed, "Thanks. That sounds lovely."

***

As the bell sounded for the end of the day Archer began to pack his things up. The rest of the school day he was surprised to see that Luna didn't take the rest of the day. She sure is tough. Archer commended as he got up from his seat.

 If nothing else, Luna looked far more energetic than she did the past week. Likely due to both not being possessed and the determination to get rid of the ghost permanently. After tomorrow Luna won't need to worry about this and she'll return to a normal life.

Archer looked to his side in confusion as he noticed Luna walking alongside him. Looking over to her quizzically he asked her, "Why are you walking with me?"

"Is that a problem?" Luna asked innocently.

"No, it's just you don't need to."

"But I want to."

"I don't think that would be very good for your health." Archer said with a laugh.

"Not meeting you was bad for my health."

"True. But now that you're better, you shouldn't want to talk with me."

"Why?"

"Because I'm supposed to go find trouble. You'll be in trouble if you stay too close." Archer warned.

"But that's what friends do right? Stick to each other through the good and bad."

"We're friends?" Archer said looking surprised.

"Do you not want to be friends?" Luna said looking sad.

"I didn't say that." Archer said quickly looking guilty, "Just saying that you might not want to know me after a while."

"Well that's a risk I'm willing to take." She said with a bright smile.

With a helpless sigh, Archer and Luna walked into the main halls of the building. As they prepared to exit, someone approached and immediately a look of disdain flashed across the face of Luna.

"Oh look, it's your love interest. Well, one of them anyways." Archer observed as the man he had met yesterday, Theo the B rank.

"After everything I still have to deal with this?" Luna muttered to herself as Theo approached.

"Luna, come let me walk you home to school today. We can stop by my place if you want." He offered to Luna, seemingly not noticing her look of disgust.

"No thanks." Luna said flatly.

"Huh?" Theo said blinking in surprise as this was the first time Luna had refused him so vehemently. He frowned as he looked at Luna confused.

"I said no thanks. I'm busy. I'm going home, please don't bother me." She said sternly.

"What? What's wrong Luna? Did something bad happen? Are you sick?" Theo asked looking concerned not seeming to understand that she did not want to be with him. He reached his hand out to touch her forehead to check her temperature only to have her swat it away.

"Don't touch me!" She snapped.

"Are you alright?" Theo said looking dumbfounded.

"I'm leaving now don't bother me." Luna said grabbing Archer by the hand and began to walk down the hall dragging Archer along.

As Archer followed Luna along he noticed that a few other students had noticed this interaction, there were a few whispers that could be heard among the bystanders. Archer and Theo locked eyes momentarily and Archer noticed the rage in Theo's eyes being directed at him. Archer flashed Theo a helpless smile which only seemed to worsen Theo's mood.

"I think your ex doesn't like me very much." Archer said once they made it outside the school.

"He's not my ex." Luna said sounding annoyed before calming down a bit, "I'm sorry, I just wanted to get away from him."

"So you used Archer as an excuse?" Julia Ming said who was waiting for them outside next to the cherry tree.

"Were you waiting for us?" Archer asked surprised.

"Yeah, Luna texted me that you guys were coming out. So which one made a pass on you?" She asked Luna.

"Theo." Luna said grimly.

"He's been friends with Codrol since they were young." Julia said surprised, "Wait, don't tell me the ghost hit on all five of them."

"I uh… I think so." Luna said looking embarrassed.

"Five of them?"

"The five B rank playboys. Him, Codrol, Ju-won, Bartholomew, and Ulmar. Friends since they were children, I've met all of them at one point." Julia explained.

"All previous suitors?" Archer asked.

"Potential marriage candidates." Julia admitted, "They're usually not this bad though. They seem a lot more aggressive, did the ghost do something to them?"

"It's been down in the dungeon long enough to develop some powers, definitely seems to have some kind of charm ability."

"Will it wear off?"

"Depends on the type of charm she did. You're cute enough for the thing to carry over to you." Archer said taking a good look at her face.

"Cute?" Luna coughed out, face tinging a bit pink.

"Don't bully her." Julia chided.

"Well, it's not entirely a joke." Archer said with a chuckle, "If you're their type, they will still be interested in you. As for Julia and your friends, they'll probably hold regrets for how they treated you."

"A little too late. The charm power isn't that strong is it?" Julia asked.

"True. If they were actually faithful the charm likely would not have worked so well. At the very least they would have gone through a similar ordeal as Luna did." Archer said understanding her question.

"Maybe it was a good thing that they weren't in love then." Luna muttered wincing when she recalled the mental torture she had endured the last two days.

The trio then reached a crossroads and Archer addressed the two, "I got something I need to do so I'm splitting off. You two should prepare for tomorrow, it's going to be dangerous."

"Right, see you tomorrow then. Luna, do you want to come with me to a weapon shop? I know a good place to get supplies." Julia said.

"Oh, but I don't think I have the money for somewhere that nice." Luna said looking hesitant.

"I can cover it." Julia assured her.

"But-"

"No buts! We need to go fight monsters in the dungeon, do you want to do that with low-grade equipment?" Julia asked.

"No… I just feel like I'm taking advantage of you." Luna said glumly.

"I'd rather pay for your gear than have you die, alright?"

"Alright." Luna said nodding her head.

"Then come on, let's go." Julia said taking Luna's hand and dragging her away as they waved goodbye to Archer.

Archer couldn't help but smile as the two left he waved goodbye and watched them disappear over the horizon. Once alone he started heading over to the bus stop. I hope I have the right address. He thought as he waited for the bus to arrive.

***

Archer Griffen stood in front of a door and knocked. As he waited he looked around the neighborhood. It was a pretty well-to-do place, not extravagant but definitely a family neighborhood type.

As Archer was distracted the door opened up and an older man in his fifties opened the door. He was a pretty tall and sturdy-looking man that kept in shape in spite of his age.

"Uh, can I help you?" The old man asked.

"Oh, hello, my Archer Griffen." Archer greeted enthusiastically, "As you can see I'm a student of Trinity Academy." He said showing off his uniform jacket by raising his hands a bit, "Uh, I was told that this is where Caroline Song lives? She was a student back at the academy over three decades ago."

"Oh I know her, she goes by Caroline Polja now, she's my wife." The man said with a smile.

"Polja? Oh, right I remember hearing that there was a Ben Polja that year, is that you?" Archer said looking surprised.

"Yes I am. So why do you want to see my wife?"

"Oh, well, it's a bit of a weird project me and a few friends are having."

"Project?"

"Yes, we were, well this feels a bit awkward to say…" Archer said trailing off.

"Go ahead." Ben offered kindly.

"Well, over the years we noticed some students just go missing and we just sort of want to play detective and figure out why." Archer said looking embarrassed.

"Is that a fact?" Ben said suddenly looking a bit more defensive.

"Ben? What's wrong?" An older lady said approaching the door. She aged gracefully into her fifties. Her once black hair now replaced with sleek gray hair tied in a ponytail.

"Nothing dear, just talking to this young man." He said sweetly to her.

"I know how stupid this sounds, a bunch of teens running around pestering people. But we just wanted to know if there was some correlation with why these people go unreported. I mean I understand that deaths will happen, it's a dangerous school. But officially these people are just missing and you know, it feels different." Archer said with a helpless shrug.

"Why do you want to know so badly?" The old woman, who Archer assumed was Caroline asked him.

"Most of the missing tend to be lower ranks." Archer said before gesturing at his own rank on his jacket, "Just feels a bit scary I guess." He said quietly.

He could feel the demeanour of the two of them soften, the two shared a glance before nodding in agreement. Ben then opened the door for Archer.

"Come in." He invited.

"Oh, thank you." Archer said quickly heading in, the home itself seemed like a classic family home. He saw a few family pictures with two kids at varying stages of age across an unused piano and on walls. The floor was wooden-tiled and had a few carpets to fill up space.

"Please, sit down." Caroline offered.

"Thank you."

"Would you like something to drink?"

"Oh no, well-" Archer paused noticing an already brewed pot of tea, "Well I suppose a cup of tea would be nice."

"Here." Caroline said pouring him a nice cup of oolong tea.

"Thank you." Archer said taking a sip and smiling, "This is steeped great."

"Thank you, I've been brewing tea for a while now." Caroline said smiling.

"So, what did you want to ask us?" Ben said getting back on topic.

"Ah right, yes." Archer said remembering, "Uh, do either of you remember a classmate named Trinity Boen?"

"Um, yes." Caroline said nodding her head as she looked as though she was taping into some unpleasant memories. Ben gently put a hand on her hand and gave her a reassuring squeeze.

"So, from what I managed to learn, she disappeared right? As a first year?" Archer asked.

"Um, yes." Ben said, "She went missing early in the second semester."

"The last day she was there was a dungeon trip right?"

"Yes. Our class went down the dungeon on that day." Caroline said gripping her cup tightly.

Archer took a small moment to internalize with himself. Where does he go from here? He wanted to know what happened all those years ago but could he do it tactfully? Should he? Archer decided that maybe he could be a bit more serious.

"I imagine that she likely died in the dungeon because of this. But the body wasn't recovered." Archer said, "Does that often happen?"

"Well, I believe that there were a couple of incidences during our time at the academy. Which is expected considering we were trying to become heroes and hunters." Ben said recalling.

"I know that, I was warned before I joined. But because there was no body for Trinity because I don't think that they know where it would be." Archer said.

"Are you looking for the body?" Ben asked eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Yeah, I think her parents would probably find some sort of solace at least knowing what happened to their daughter." Archer said softly.

Ben had to give a pause after hearing that. He and Caroline glanced at one another as they thought both about their own parents and children who had recently moved out from home. Ben swallowed as he wondered how he would feel if his kids disappeared and he had no way of knowing what exactly happened.

"I'm just wondering if you have any idea where she was last seen down there. I mean, I can at least ask someone to go check the place out." Archer added.

"As an F rank?" Caroline asked cocking her head curiously.

"I'm charming." Archer joked.

"Well you are very polite." Caroline said with a laugh before taking a small inhale, "I saw her near the time she disappeared."

"Really? Where?" Archer said sitting up a bit straighter.

"On the first level there was some sort of shortcut, a slide or something that leads down to floor four. It's east of the last ant's nest there." Caroline recalled.

"I see, you saw her there? Did you two talk?" Archer asked.

"Yes, briefly, but then I left her and she was gone afterwards." Caroline said.

"You think she fell down the slide?"

"I think so."

"What happened to the shortcut? I don't remember seeing one." Archer asked, it was partially the truth, the chute was covered in rubble and hidden until Luna possessed by Trinity smashed it open.

"Oh it was a hidden place used by the higher ranks back in the day." Ben answered.

"Oh, did both of you know about it?"

"No, I was the only one that knew about it. I used it with my friends to try and grind our skills." Ben said remembering the memory fondly.

"I was very upset when I eventually learned that." Caroline teased.

"How did Trinity know about it then? She was my rank."

"She likely overheard me talking with friends about it before." Ben said with a bitter look on his face.

"It's okay." Caroline said placing a gentle hand on his.

"Ah." Archer said as something clicked in his head. Still, he needed to confirm something, "Well, thank you for answering my questions. I need to get going now." He said placing his empty teacup onto the table and getting up.

"Oh, it's fine." Caroline said looking surprised that Archer was suddenly leaving, but acquiesced to him nevertheless.

"Hey, kid. Are you actually going to look for Trinity Boen's body?" Ben asked as Bryson was at the door.

"Oh don't worry. I won't be hurt." Archer said before he walked down the driveway.

"Do you actually believe his story?" Ben asked his wife.

"He's hiding something, but somehow I don't think it's through malice. For some reason it felt like he figured out what happened back then." Caroline said thoughtfully.

"True. The boy was strange. I hope that he doesn't have a negative opinion oh- huh?" Ben said looking back to where Archer was only to find him missing. In fact looking down the street, Archer was nowhere to be found.