The good news?
I didn't stop time during breakfast.
The bad news?
I did try to butter my toast with a healing salve instead of actual butter.
In my defense, the jars look similar. And I'd only slept three hours between Earth and Atheria.
Still, I was determined.
Today would be normal. No glowing. No accidentally summoning birds with my pencil taps. No vanishing in the bathroom just to nap between timelines.
Just school.
Homeroom
Mr. Tanaka was in a Mood.
"There will be a surprise science quiz today," he said, smiling like a villain. "Don't worry. It's basic chemistry."
My soul exited my body.
I hadn't studied chemistry. I'd studied how to make non-explosive bath salts with magical rosemary in Atheria.
So obviously, I was doomed.
I spent the next hour cramming from Naomi's notes, trying to replace the words "mana crystal dissolution" with "molecular solubility."
"Are you okay?" she asked. "You keep whispering something about transmutation."
"Just... visualizing solutions," I muttered.
Science Quiz
It was multiple choice.
I read the first question.
Something about chemical bonds.
My brain whispered:
"This is like combining fireroot powder with dreamsalt—you just need a catalyst."
I blinked.
Wait.
Was... was alchemy actually compatible with high school chemistry?
I started flying through questions, matching formulas to potion recipes in my head.
Covalent bonds? That's just stable compound magic.
pH levels? Easy—acidic like panicberries, basic like calming leaves.
Mixtures vs. compounds? Please, I'd just separated dragon lint from sneeze root using a cheesecloth.
Somewhere during the quiz, I accidentally whispered "dilute with moonwater" out loud.
The girl next to me gave me the side-eye.
I smiled. "I meant... distilled water."
I turned in my paper early.
Mr. Tanaka raised an eyebrow. "Finished already?"
"I study... a lot of weird stuff."
"Clearly."
Lunch
Things got weirder.
I was peacefully chewing on melon bread when someone across the table said:
"I heard you aced the quiz."
I blinked. "It's been, like, five minutes."
"My cousin's in the advanced class. They already heard."
Great. I was now Reika: Secret Genius or Secret Wizard. Neither ideal.
Then Kento leaned in, eyes sparkling. "So, are you... y'know... secretly doing science at a super elite lab or something?"
"Sure," I said. "Something like that."
Naomi poked me. "You muttered 'moonwater' again."
I stuffed the rest of my bread into my mouth.
After School
I took the long route home to clear my head and not think about how my quiz answers may have included the phrase "mana-neutral reaction."
When I got home, there was a letter waiting on my desk.
Atherian delivery. Magical seal and everything.
"Lady Reika, we've stabilized the goat—BUT the Cheese Society is now requesting your presence as their Queen of Cultured Richness. Also, they sent you a crown made of brie."
"How did it eve-
I sighed.
Just once, I wanted to deal with algebra and cafeteria food without also being worshipped for my dairy aura.
But I looked at my notes, at the quiz I maybe accidentally aced, and smiled a little.
Maybe balancing both worlds wasn't so bad.
Even if one had pop quizzes, and the other had goat councils and cheese diplomacy.