She usually seems pretty straightforward to Lu...

Hidden depths!

That Lu's excited to delve into. 

Heh heh heh.

Though maybe a thought for later... Wouldn't do to be late for breakfast, after all. 

Indeed not. Off they go!

And on the way, when no one is near them: "Me and El have been pulling a lot from the mana sharer with all the attacks - and I'm guessing no one else really has?"

"Just for class stuff... We're actually ahead on mana for this time of year."

"Do you think they'll notice only us pulling off it, then?"

"If no one else gets any mals and we stay ahead... The reservoir's not infinite, so we'd have to use up the excess somehow."

"So the opposite of the 'they might notice we're overpulling' problem?"

"Kinda? I mean, if we have that much mana we're supposed to use it to set up more infrastructure. But New York is already in a good spot here so I don't feel bad about making our life easier instead of making things even better for future students."

"...Future New York students."

"...Yeah."

She stops walking.

"...No one's really thinking about - the future Luisa's. Shanghai is... Posturing at the indies and smaller enclaves about how they'll do a better job of running a school, but they're not - not really thinking about the kids with nothing."

Or about the freshmen in her Wednesday seminar in protecting very stupid children (there's no way Luthien was ever that dumb, nor that short), who won't have anyone once Luthien and El graduate - the Bangkok kid won't talk to her about it but she's the only enclaver and seems on the outs with the other students in her own enclave. Kid doesn't even have hand me downs.Two of her little idiots have an older distant cousin in the school who's handed down some things, but that cousin is graduating this year, too. Technically they're indies, only one of her idiots is one of Shinta's monstrously unlucky mundane-borns, but... They're nobody, as far as indies go. Those two kids are the closest to people that anyone here will care to acknowledge, and the best it'll get them once she leaves is a seat at the edge of Shanghai's orbit. 

She's realizing, right now, that there's a lot of kids tucked into her orbit. In Shinta's orbit, because Shinta is thinking about Luisa, and Shinta's actually being methodological about this rather than randomly saving anyone who's in the same room as her or anyone who bribes her with food they probably need more than she does - but they're not enclavers. Those orbits will just... Vanish at graduation.

There's a lot of kids no one cares about, here, and that no one thinks about when they say 'future students.'

She's realizing that maybe, just maybe, she's mad about that. 

"Lu..."

"A non-enclave enclave would have been a lot easier to set up starting a year ago."

Grin!

"We would've had way less clout a year ago, though, and we wouldn't have had Jialin." Who's the obvious person to tap as their successor at least on the 'organizational skills' front. (...Okay, as Shinta's successor. Lu has 'stabbing things' skills. Shinta is the one with the organizational skills.)

"Yeah, but we still could have planned."

"True... But I think we're up to the task even now."

"Obviously. You want it, it'll happen."

Kiss!

Kiss!

They can talk more over breakfast.

Actually loop Jialin into the conversation properly, too.

El is sure she'll be helpful.