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Chapter Text

Loen Academy: The country’s prestigious government school that doesn’t discriminate between students. The Academy has students that come from many backgrounds, the Academy only accepts those who meet the requirements; intelligence. Thus even a poor student can get into the Academy without paying a dime. One cannot simply bribe their way into Loen Academy, they have to have something to show for it. Recently, the Academy has opened enrollment submissions for international students, hoping for more young talents to come. This is the current situation Zhou Mingrui, a soon to be high school student is facing.

6:05 am, Zhou Residence, Southwest China.

Zhou Mingrui opened his eyes to the notification alert on his phone. It was still relatively early to be waking up on a weekend. The faint morning light peaked between the cracks of the window curtains, reflecting light onto Mingrui’s face. Mingrui put on his glasses and leaned over to grab his phone. He opened up his inbox and squinted to read the new email.

[Congratulations Applicant #9108458
You, Zhou Mingrui have been accepted as one of the many applicants to the Loen Academy of The Arts. We welcome you as one of us on Opening Day, September 10th. We highly recommend you to apply for our dorms, but you may also apply for a foreign exchange family residence. For more residency details, please go to our Academy’s Homepage. Upon immediate enrollment acceptance we have automatically booked you a plane ticket to the Academy. See here for plane ticket details. Please also fill out the form here for any allergies or medical conditions the flight crew should be aware of. Should you have any questions, they’ll be answered on the Academy’s Homepage questionnaire. We look forward to your arrival to our prestigious Academy Of The Arts!

Headmaster William Augustus]

Zhou Mingrui took a moment to process what he just read. He took off his glasses and read the email again. He leaned forward a bit too much, causing him to fall right down from his bed. He scratched his head and scrambled to dial up a contact from his phone.

“Huang Tao, did you receive the email?...” His voice so still in shock. “Yeah, what’s your result..?” The voice on the other end sounded. Mingrui’s mouth opened in surprise, “I got in.”

A loud “whoop whoop!” could be heard on the other end. “I’ll see you at Loen Academy Of The Arts soon!” After Huang Tao hung up on him, Mingrui got out of his bed and went to the bathroom.

’I, Zhou Mingrui, actually got into the most prestigious private school in the world… How. What. Why? My intelligence can’t be that high, and my skills are subpar. Strangely, the entrance exam wasn’t difficult. Wait, could it be how I answered it? But my answer was extremely basic, no way. But then again, Huang Tao got admitted… I guess there’s no point racking my head over this until I get some answers at the school…’

Mingrui looked like an ordinary Chinese middle school student with a squarish face, round glasses and wavy, messy hair shaping his face. Zhou Mingrui always looked like a child with a scholarly upbringing. Nothing particular sticking out about Mingrui, his grade wasn’t particularly perfect, and he wasn’t popular. Until now that is. A month ago, Zhou Mingrui had taken the entrance exam to the prestigious Loen Academy Of The Arts. It was a dream to be attending the Academy, but Mingrui knew it was quite farfetched for him to get accepted, so he only did the assessment out of pure boredom. It was already pretty much guaranteed that he was going to get accepted into a good high school, but he wanted to try his chances at the top high school academy in the world just out of boredom. There at the entrance exam, he met Huang Tao. A fellow middle school student who also wanted to try his luck at applying to this prestigious academy, at the entrance exam location.

Zhou Mingrui splashed water on his face, still surprised he got into the Academy. After washing up, he changed into a comfortable pair of baggy sports pants and white t-shirt and drew open the curtains. Dawn already broke through the midnight sky. Mingrui opened the window to breathe in the fresh dewdrop air. He waved to the neighborhood auntie walking her dog and sat in his chair, opening up his monitor.

’Might as well look at their website.’

Zhou Mingrui had two computer monitors he got back two years ago when he got into his middle school. He quickly searched up the Loen Academy Of The Arts homepage and clicked on it.

The website had a very fresh style format like those aesthetic school texts on the web. Several other page links were on the homepage like Academy Questionnaire, Residency Details, and Upcoming Events. Though Mingrui took extensive English lessons, it still took him some time to adjust to all the letters. He looked at the page that details the Opening Day.

We’re glad to welcome our new students and old students back to Loen Academy Of The Arts for the new semester! Opening Day lasts for 8:30am-5:45pm on September 10th. Please see to that you receive locker, dorm, and schedule information at the Check In office first thing. You’re free to explore the campus and participate in the events on Opening Day after.

Mingrui sighed and clicked to the Residency page.

The choices are dorms or family residency…

We recommend all our students to stay in the Academy’s dorms, but we’d also like our foreign exchange students to stay with a family residency nearby. The purpose of a family residence is to help our new foreign students to build familial bonds due to the separation with the student’s family being far away. Please look here to apply for family residency. Click here to apply to dorms.

Mingrui clicked to apply to dorms but soon popped up a box saying all dorms were taken.

“You’ve got to be kidding me…” Mingrui lampooned.

For such a big facility you’d think there would be plenty of dorms for everyone…

With no choice, Mingrui went back and clicked the family residency link. The screen popped up boxes of information to fill out.

[Student Year: 1
Student Applicant Number: 9108458

Name: Zhou Mingrui

Are you a foreign exchange student?
Yes

What is your cultural background?
Chinese

Any allergies or medical conditions?
No

Anything to note?
A calm household and not located too far from the Academy.]

He submitted all the information and leaned back in his chair.

Mingrui rubbed his eyes and sighed, “I should really start to study English more sincerely…”

He then scrolled around the website to buy textbooks, his uniform, and other miscellaneous things needed for the school year.

’Right, I also have to fill out that plane form.’

On his phone, he clicked the link to the form and filled it out.

[Allergies or Medical Conditions to note?
No

If so, do you take medicine? What is the name of the medicine?]

Mingrui just left the rest blank after filling out the first question. After that he closed his monitors and headed out of his room for breakfast.

’Dad is out for work and Mom has already left for morning exercise…’

He grabbed a bowl to scoop the porridge his mom left for him in the slow cooker. Taking out some pickled vegetables from the fridge, he started his morning breakfast. Klein’s phone dings for a notification.

[Huang Tao
I almost didn’t manage to apply for a dorm! How’s everything going on your end?

Zhou Mingrui
The dorm applications were already full so I had to apply for a family residency

Mingrui continues to eat his breakfast as Huang Tao starts to tease him for being slow.

Zhou Mingrui
Shouldn’t you go practice your English now that you’ve got in?

Huang Tao

😭😭😭]

When Mingrui finished his breakfast it was already 6:50.

’Maybe I should go shopping for some stuff I’ll need at the Academy. I already bought the textbooks I’ll need on the website, I just need to buy some other stuff on the list. On top of that, I’ll probably need some clothes, it’s probably been a year since I went shopping for clothes…’

He grabbed his keys and some money before heading out. The early morning weather wasn’t chilly as it was early July. The hot weather couldn’t be more irritating as Mingrui waited for a cab. He shielded his eyes with his hand before the cab came. When stepped out of the cool air conditioning cab he felt ten times more hot. Mingrui quickly walked into the mall to escape the heat outside.

This mall is relatively popular in Mingrui’s city district, meaning a lot of students come with their friend groups in the summer to shop. Cool air conditioning was like heaven to Mingrui after exiting the cab. Mingrui walked around for a bit before entering a random store.

Mingrui spent about 3 hours wandering and buying some clothes from various stores before going to the mall’s cafeteria. The only reason why he took so long was because at first he decided everything was “too expensive” so he had trouble deciding. It wasn’t until an hour later he realized he was never going to buy anything if he kept being cheap. Mingrui had a few bags of normal clothes and two pairs of shoes.

’Do I really need dress shoes for school?’

Seeing that it was about lunch time, he decided upon KFC fried chicken and set down his shopping bags beside him.

’It’s been a while since I’ve eaten junk food.’

The crispiness of the chicken paired with the sauces was a junk food delicacy of any teenager who had the chance to eat as much junk as they could.

Mingrui cleaned up his table and put away the tray. Checking his phone, it showed 11:13 am.

[Mom
Have you eaten lunch?

Zhou Mingrui
Yes, I ate lunch at the mall

Zhou Mingrui
I got accepted into the Loen Academy Of The Arts.

Mingrui nervously texted his mom a screenshot of the acceptance email he received this morning.

Mom
They released results? Congratulations 🎉! Tonight I’ll cook your favorite dishes. 😊]

Mingrui texted back with a happy face and started to head out of the mall. Booking a cab, he decided to go get a cup of milk tea as he waited. When he got out of the mall with a cup of milk tea and shopping bags, he was greeted with the hot humid air of summer. Sweat was forming from his forehead and neck and he instantly felt cooler as he stepped into the taxi cab.

Scrolling through his phone he noticed Huang Tao had sent him 10 texts concerning his proficiency in English.

[Huang Tao
How am I supposed to snag any cute girls at the Academy?

Huang Tao
Mingrui, text me back!!

I knew he was shameless but not this shameless…

Klein sighed and texted him back.

Zhou Mingrui
I’ll help you later

Huang Tao
Oh so now you text me?]

’Better switch the subject before he lashes out…’

[Zhou Mingrui
You should do some shopping before you leave for the Academy

Huang Tao
I’ll do it later 👍

Zhou Mingrui
😒]

“Here’s your stop,” the driver informed Mingrui. Mingrui nodded, “Thanks.” He got out of the car with at least three heavy looking bags.

Mingrui lampooned, “I should’ve gotten one bigger bag to carry all the bags…” The image of Mingrui stepping out of a cab with shopping bags would strike the image in Huang Tao’s head as “material gurl” vibes. He would definitely say something like, “Whoose’s money did you spend? Your dad? Wait- don’t tell me it’s like those online freaks-”

Mingrui immediately vanished that thought from his head.

’I’ve only met the guy recently, but his character is really simple to understand. I really hope we don’t have classes together.’

Mingrui sauntered off toward the direction of his house with the heavy load of shopping bags. When he got in he set all his shopping bags in his room. His mom called out from the kitchen, “Mingming! Come downstairs to eat some fruit!”

“Alright,” Mingrui called back. He obediently sat down and ate some apple slices his mom cut up for him. “How was your day?” His mom asked. Still chewing, he replied, “It’s pretty hot outside.”

“Y’know, I still can’t believe you got into that Academy.” Mingrui nodded, “Uh huh, I can’t believe it for myself, I even fell off the bed when I first read the email.” His mom laughed, “It can’t be that shocking! You are a clever child!” Mingrui shook his head, “You don’t get it mom, a top level school doesn’t accept just any book smart kid.” “Well you got in, so you’re plenty smart for me,” she smiled.

Mingrui chuckled, “Huang Tao also got admitted.”
“Oh that boy you met at the entrance exams? Good for him! Now you’ll have a friend to be with at the Academy!” “The Academy really doesn’t just accept anyone, so how did me and Huang Tao get accepted? I did the entrance exams out of boredom anyways.” Mingrui crunched on an apple slice.
“Didn’t you tell me their testing methods were unusual?”
“Well it is a top school afterall, but all the problems were both difficult and strange.”

’It’s like they were trying to test my aptitude…’

“I’m gonna go play some video games now.” Mingrui finished his fruit and walked back to his room. He sat down in his chair and opened up his computer monitors.

Beyond This World

This MMORPG game turned the world upside down when it came out one year ago. Different classes, species, weapons, and monsters, this game has it all! The style of Beyond This World is really fresh and different from other MMORPG games.

Mingrui quickly immersed himself in the game by starting out daily missions. Before long, it was already sunset.

Nice, I got all the materials needed for my next advancement!

“Mingming! Dinner is ready!”

Mingrui took off his headphones and turned off his monitors before going to dinner. He could see that his dad was already eating at the table.

“Your mom made your favorite dishes for dinner, have some before they get cold.”

Mingrui nodded and picked up his chopsticks.

“I heard you got into that Academy, it’s no easy feat I heard.”

“Yeah, I have to fly over there to attend. They’ve already booked the ticket for me.”

Mingrui’s mom sat down and sighed, “If you’re going to be gone for so long you’d better take good care of yourself! I’ll miss you terribly of course!”

Mingrui smiled, “I’ll remember to call back home.”

Chapter Text

[3:09 am. ]

The time on the phone changed to 3:10 am and rang out.

Mingrui clawed his way out of the warm blankets and shut the alarm on his phone. He sat there for a while and took in the morning drowsiness. His phone screen brightly lit up in the darkness.

[Reminder
Plane Flight to Academy in 4 hours]

‘I would’ve rolled off my bed if it weren’t for my phone light. Hah… my eyes are way too sensitive.’

Mingrui rubbed his eyes and grabbed his glasses.

‘Boarding time is 7:30 am so I have about two hours to get to the airport.’ He thoroughly reviewed his plan internally.

Getting out of bed, Mingrui changed into a pair of comfortable sweats and shirts and combed through his hair in the mirror. He splashed some water on his face and grabbed a towel to roughly wipe his face. He dropped some eye drops in his eyes before putting on his glasses.

[3:20 am. ]

Mingrui pulled a sweatshirt over himself and grabbed his headphones, phone, and his suitcase before heading out his room for the final time. He planned to take the bus to get to the airport, meaning he planned to take the earliest departure for the bus that could get him to his terminal in time.

The entire house was in a silent slumber with the sky still dark outside. The tap water was softly falling into the sink, and the window blinds were drawn close. Mingrui couldn’t see clearly even if he squinted.

Carefully, he turned the living room light on. This would be the last time Mingrui would see his parents until school break. He left his suitcase by the front door and gently opened his parent’s bedroom door as possible.

“Bye Mom. Bye Dad,” Mingrui whispered softly.

He closed the bedroom door softly before taking his leave. With the clinking of the electronic lock, the house was once again immersed in the silence of dawn.

Mingrui rolled his suitcase down the street and scrolled through his phone while walking to the bus station.

[3:27 am. ]

He checked the time on his phone; the bus wouldn’t leave until 3:35 am. He would need to walk fast if he didn’t want to be left with the 5 am bus.

‘The 5 am bus wouldn’t be bad, but it’s always better to be prepared for the unexpected.’ Mingrui thought of the worst possible situation.

Mingrui reassured himself and checked the directions on his phone to see he was pretty close to the bus station. There he would meet Huang Tao there, assuming that his mother refused to drive him out to the airport because he’s now a “responsible child.”

Mingrui arrived at the bus station just in time for the bus to pull over and a few people to be getting on. He lugged the somewhat heavy suitcase up the bus stairs and started searching for a seat in the almost empty bus. A bright young youth in quite a vibrant jacket waved to him to the left of Mingrui.

“Zhou-di! Over here! Come sit next to me!”

‘I almost don’t want to sit next to you anymore…’ he thought as soon as he saw Huang Tao.

Mingrui lampooned at his friend’s outrageously vibrant attire.

‘The poor fellow looks like he’s a nuclear scientist in a hazmat suit…’

Reluctantly, Mingrui walked over to Huang Tao, putting his suitcase on the floor in front of him. Little did he know, Huang Tao started blabbering off to him the moment he sat down.

“I’m super wrecked, I mean why are we getting on this bus this early in the morning?”

Mingrui scoffed, “It’s because you had to tell your mom about it, and now she wants you to head out early too.”

“Hey, I didn’t tell her! You were on speakerphone!”

“Yeah, and who put me on speakerphone during our call?” Mingrui retorted, comfortably leaning back in his seat.

Huang Tao puffed up again to argue, but luckily the bus started to move.

“I’m going to take a nap, unless you aren’t taking a nap could you wake me up when we get there?” Mingrui pulled over his headphones on his ears and got comfortable in his seat.

“Of course I’m also gonna sleep. It’s 3:30 am. Let’s just set an alarm.” Huang Tao shuffled around for his phone.

The two teens slept rather soundly in the dimly lit bus before they made it to the airport.

—------------------------------------------- —

[4:45 am.]

The alarm Huang Tao set on his phone had just gone off.

Huang Tao awoke with a sputter when his phone started vibrating. He turned around and quickly patted Mingrui on the shoulder. “The alarm went off, you awake?”

Mingrui sleepily groaned and turned away from Huang Tao.

“Tch, are you a preschooler? Come on man!” Huang
Tao quietly scolded Mingrui, “It’s not like I’m your mom!”
Huang Tao yanked Mingrui’s headphones off his head
and shook him more wildly.

“Quit it won’t you?” Mingrui slapped Huang Tao’s hands away.

Huang Tao threw Mingrui back his headphones and gave a surrendering gesture. “Alright! You know I’m the one who woke you up in time, right?”

Mingrui rolled his eyes. “What time is it?”

Huang Tao glanced at his phone, “4:43 am, I’d say we’ll arrive at the airport in about— seven minutes.”
Mingrui rubbed his face, trying to alleviate some of the grogginess when he just woke up.

‘Great, I bet my insomnia is acting up now.’

Though an hour has passed, the sky seems to stay pitch black. The city’s light pollution drowns out even the brightest of stars in the night sky. It seems as though the city has stolen the light from the starry sky.

Light quickly fades and appears as they pass through the busy cars throughout the airport lanes. The large airport in which Zhou Mingrui and Huang Tao were to be arriving had dizzying luminous lights overhead the entire area.

Mingrui got out first to let Huang Tao out of their section of the bus when they stopped. He dragged the suitcase down the aisle and paid for the bus ride before picking up the case down the stairs. Mingrui immediately squinted and closed his eyes when he stepped out of the dimly lit bus and into the shining airport.

“It’s amazing to think that we’re not even inside the airport building yet, and it’s super lit out here,” Huang Tao held his head up looking at the overhead lights.

Mingrui sighed, “Let’s get checked in first.”

‘It’s way too bright out here, my eyes are going to die out if I keep them open. Just gotta make it through security and I can take a nap at the terminal before boarding.’ Mingrui internally complained.

Mingrui left Huang Tao in the dust, rolling his suitcase behind him going to the check-in center.

“H-Hey! Zhou Mingrui, wait for me!” Huang Tao immediately started giving chase.

Mingrui started to check in with his flight on one of the self check-in machines at the front.

‘…If I were to talk to someone right now, I would probably fall asleep in the middle of talking.’ Mingrui had that random thought at the moment. ‘I am so brain dead.’

After checking in, the two immediately set off for security.

‘Thankfully I wore sweatpants, or I would’ve had to go through the hassle of taking off my belt.’ He thought after seeing people tackling with their belts at security.

The airport was actually not as deserted as Mingrui thought. There seems to be plenty of people rushing to get an early morning flight. Security check was rather quick due to the mildly long line behind the two.

Putting back his shoes on and grabbing his phone, headphones, and suitcase off the metal detector belt, he wanted to find his terminal as fast as possible to grab a quick power nap before boarding.

“Let’s go find our terminal, we should have the same terminal considering the plane is privately owned by the Academy.” Huang Tao started asking directions from nearby flight attendants while Mingrui was slowly falling asleep upright.

“Alright, apparently the privately owned planes are in another building, so we’re gonna have to take the airport subway trains.” Huang Tao pointed to the airport transportation sign to their left.

“H-Hey! Don’t fall asleep on me!”

—------------------------------------------- —

Somehow making it past the ten minute subway train ride, the two arrived at the building for privately owned planes.

“Wow, I never knew this airport would also have a private area,” Huang Tao joked.

‘Terminal Z-5, where is that? Hopefully I don’t need to walk too far…’ That was the current priority Mingrui had.

Mingrui’s eyes drearily cracked a crevice open to the sight of an empty airport hall. It was uncomfortably clean and bare that made him feel chills.

His sleep radar is currently very high with zero to none capacity to reason with anyone. He makes for quite a walking zombie.

Mingrui thought: ‘The backlash from my insomnia sure is hitting hard right now.’

Mingrui technically did try to go to sleep early because of his mom urging him to, but that failed horribly. Mingrui sometimes has erratic insomnia, meaning he can’t fall asleep on random day intervals. The outcome of this is him ending up knocked out tired. But it just had to happen on the day he had to travel outside the country.

Huang Tao had already given up on dragging Mingrui with him through the airport, so he let the snail try to keep up with him.

The terminal was not as far away as Mingrui thought it to be, so once they found it, Mingrui found a seat and collapsed right into it. The screen on the wall read:

[The Loen Academy Of The Arts
Boarding Time: 7:30 AM
Current Time: 5:13 AM]

That was the last thing Mingrui saw before he shut his eyes.

Chapter Text

Hazy morning light shone right through the window blinds and into the room. Birds quietly chirped and sang out the window. Still and warm, the memory lasted fervently.

But his once tranquil dream didn’t last for long. For the birds’ chirping transitioned into an unpleasant sort of squawking. It reminded Mingrui of a certain someone’s screeching voice.

“If you don’t wake up I’m not to blame for anything!”

Mingrui’s eyes cracked open to see the reality of his situation. An almost desolate airport past the crack of dawn. He sighed and absentmindedly tried to feel for his glasses on his face.

His first thought was: ‘Here I was, still thinking I was sleeping in late at home. Anyways, where’s my glasses?’

Mingrui frantically moved his hands before the blurry figure sighed and handed Mingrui his pair of glasses.

“It slipped off your face when you knocked out when we arrived at the terminal.”

He put his glasses on and the blurry figure was now revealed clearly to be seen as Huang Tao. He scolded Mingrui, “Hey, don’t go falling asleep so suddenly on me ever again, I thought you died for a second!”

Mingrui stood up and stretched while Huang Tao went back to scrolling his phone.

‘At least he didn’t break my glasses, so I’d have to wear my spare pair…’

Mingrui wiped off his lenses with his sleeve before sliding them back on his face.

“How long did I sleep for?” he asked.

Huang Tao checked his watch, “About one and a half hours.”

Mingrui squinted his eyes to view the sky from the expansive airport windows.

‘The sun already rose, meaning boarding time shouldn’t be far off…’ Mingrui tried gathering his thoughts together, trying to exit out of his sleepy state.

The early morning sunshine reflected off the broad window panes of the airport terminal. It colored the sky with renewment of a new day. The still and ambient airport made everything look paused in time. Almost like deja vu.

Opening his phone, Mingrui checked the time.

‘6:45 am. About forty five minutes until boarding. I wonder if I can snatch a quick breakfast before the flight. I don’t even know if they’ll serve anything on the flight.’

Turning around, he asked Huang Tao, “Hey, wanna grab something to eat before boarding? I don’t know if they’re going to give us anything on the flight or not.”

Mingrui’s mom did actually pack some snacks for Mingrui in his luggage, but Mingrui ended up just accepting a few crackers in the end. Those crackers were definitely not going to suppress his growing hunger during the twelve hour flight.

Huang Tao shook his head, “I’ll pass, they’ll probably feed us, I mean they won’t let us go without food in a twelve hour flight, right?”

Mingrui shrugged, “It won’t be until lunch they’ll feed us. I didn’t even know that this academy actually has a private jet until this morning, so who knows? Text me if people start lining up to board.”

Huang Tao shot him an okay sign, and Mingrui took off to find a convenience store nearby. But then he paused to rethink his strategy.

He slowly went over his thoughts: ‘Considering that this part of the airport is private it wouldn’t make sense for there to be a convenience store nearby. If I take the ten minute subway then I would spend at least five minutes to find something to eat and check out, after which I would spend ten minutes to go back, meaning I’ll barely make boarding. I guess I’ll have to make due with the crackers I packed…’

Disappointed, Mingrui strode back to the terminal empty handed. Huang Tao looked at him and confusingly asked, “I thought you were going to get something to eat?”

Mingrui shook his head, “It would take too long. I’ll just eat the snacks I packed.”

Huang Tao shuffled through his backpack and handed Mingrui a bento box. “Here, my mom packed me breakfast again worrying that I would get hungry again.”

“Are you sure you’re not hungry?” Mingrui hesitated in taking the box.

Huang Tao waved his hand, “Nah, go ahead and eat, I wouldn’t want an emergency happening on the flight just because you’re starving. By the way, did you even eat breakfast this morning?”

Mingrui tensed up. Awkwardly, he slowly let out a response, “No…”

Huang Tao pushed the bento box and a pair of chopsticks in his hands. “Hah! I knew it.”

Mingrui gave him a side eye as he sat down and opened the box.

The aroma of hard boiled tea eggs with rice and sausages filled the air. The bento box wasn’t very deep nor wide, so Mingrui wiped the entire box clean within ten minutes. Taking a napkin and wiping his face, he closed the bento box with the chopsticks and he went to throw away the napkin.

Huang Tao glanced over, noticing the very clean and almost shiny bento box. “Wow, you finished it up so fast!” He took off his headphones and held the bento box up close to examine the bento box.

“I’m going to the restroom now. Want me to wash the box off in there?” Mingrui turned back to ask.

Huang Tao snorted, “What’s there to wash?”

With that, Mingrui strided off to the washroom. He definitely didn’t want to do a dump in the quaint restroom on the plane. Mingrui didn’t even know how big the plane’s restroom was, but he wasn’t going to take any chance. Huang Tao put away the bento box and resumed surfing the internet on his laptop.

— ------------------------------------------ —

It was now 7:25 am, five minutes until boarding time. Thankfully, Mingrui made it back in time just to line up outside the entrance of the private jet.

He and Huang Tao got up and rolled their suitcases to the back of the line.

There weren't many foreign students from China going to the Academy. Just five people including Mingrui and Huang Tao. With a short line; the two moved up towards the front.

Boarding really just had started a bit earlier. Mingrui and Huang Tao were at the end of the line to scan their tickets in. The staff lady gave them a kind smile, ushering them the way into the plane.

“Please have a nice flight!”

On the outside, the private jet owned by the Academy looked pretty small on the outside. But on the inside, it was pretty spacious and had a sleek modern style. Its size was actually much bigger than how it looks on the outside. The aisle was spacious enough to roll down a suitcase with ease, and the seats were comfortably large to sit down on.

‘The Academy really sent one of their private jets to pick up some foreign students and not just let us buy tickets to fly over there…’

When Mingrui got accepted into the Academy, they had automatically booked him a flight, nonetheless a private jet. That was how you could tell this school is different from any other private academy in the country.

Mingrui kept rolling down the aisle to find his seat, J-4. He had already passed Huang Tao, who had already found his seat closer to the front of the private jet. When Mingrui finally discovered his seat and was about to lift up his heavy suitcase into one of the overhead bins, a flight attendant did it for him.

“Thank you,” Mingrui said before sitting down in his seat.

Although the seats were positioned like commercial airplane seats, there was a certain distance from the two seats in a section. The seat wasn’t like a tall back of a seat and little leg room, but a seat with spacious leg room, a wide cushioning bottom seating, and a reclinable back that won’t upset the passenger behind Mingrui. But since the plane is big and there’s only five passengers in total, Mingrui doesn’t have to worry about someone within a twenty seat radius.

The flight attendant's voice sounded through the plane’s intercom, “We will be taking off soon so please pay attention to some of the safety instructions we’ll be mentioning.”

The flight attendant at the front of the plane then quickly went through the procedures for all emergency situations.

Shortly after, the pilot announced on the intercom that the plane will be taking off shortly and that all passengers must not get out of their seats until it’s okay to do so.

Mingrui fastened his seatbelt and looked out the window waiting for departure.

‘Are the flight attendants going to pass by to check if we don’t have anything out or if we have fastened our seatbelts? I guess flying private is rather different from flying commercial…’

The flight attendants did pass through the aisle to do a brief examination over the plane before take off.

“We will now be taking off now, please don’t get up from your seat until the unfasten seat belt sign is shining.”

Mingrui hadn’t been on a plane much in his life, only flights to Beijing for a class field trip and family trips in the country. So technically, Mingrui has never traveled outside the country. A half a day flight was definitely a draining trip from what Mingrui could conclude.

His window was placed right behind the giant wing of the plane, giving him a large view of the propeller. The propeller first started to spin and then the entire plane started to slowly trek forward. As an aspiring engineer, he studied from the movement of the propellers to the entire wing of the plane. Before Mingrui could completely dismantle the wing internally, he could feel the jolting speed that was rising.

‘Are private planes supposed to be this fast? If the worst comes to worst, I’m probably gonna die on this plane, not being able to even make it to the Academy yet. Airplane accidents are rare though, but who’s to say I’m not in that small percent minority of an accident?’

He couldn’t help but lampoon internally at his current circumstances.

It wasn’t long before Mingrui could feel the shakiness of the plane preparing for takeoff. The entire plane shook, and he could feel the roaring of the engine. The plane was practically speeding off the ground. The tip of the plane pointed upwards and the rest of it followed along.

‘If anything, this plane’s takeoff feels more like a science rocket ship than a flight to the Academy. Really, they have a prestigious school but not a plane with better handling?’

He put his hand up to his mouth and closed his eyes, trying to lessen the realness of the experience.

From the view of his window, he could see the airport was getting smaller and smaller until it couldn’t be seen among the rest of the buildings in the area.

“We’re in the skies now, but please don’t leave your seat just yet, there’ll still be some slight turbulence left,” instructed the pilot.

‘Slight turbulence?...’ Mingrui sarcastically repeated in his head.

Feeling a bit triggered and offended by the pilot’s choice of words, he tried calming down by taking slow breaths.

Mingrui could feel himself dropping and rising with the plane. The plane turbulence was like experiencing those drop rides at the theme park. No matter how many times Mingrui has gone on those drop rides and plane flights, nothing can prepare him for the out of the blue drops and rises.

He shifted to the armrest to support his forehead with his hand, trying to ease a coming headache.

‘…Please let this end soon.’

— ------------------------------------------ —

It took a few moments for the turbulence to stop. After about five minutes, Mingrui leaned against the seat in defeat. “Motion sickness couldn’t be worse right now,” he groaned painfully.

“All passengers are free to get up from their seats now, but please ask help from a flight attendant should you need anything.”

‘Perfect, I’ll go get my laptop now.’

Mingrui got out into the aisle to grab his suitcase from one of the overhead bins. He pulled out his laptop from one of the smaller pockets in the suitcase. After also pulling out some cracker snacks, he put the suitcase back into the overhead bin.

With the stress of school work out of the way, he had time for other things. That entitled playing video games, watching movies and videos, and chatting with online friends. Though, Mingrui already does that everyday. Pulling up the website of Beyond This World, he started chatting with one of his most trusted allies on the game forum.

[The Fool: Made it on the flight.

Evernight: Did you make it on safely?

The Fool: Yes, we’re in the air now.

Evernight: 👍

Evernight: When you land be sure to update me. I’m going to be clearing some things out in the field.

The Fool: Would you mind if I joined you?

Evernight: Try to distance yourself from Beyond This World before landing. It would certainly take a toll on your computer.

The Fool: Right, clever as always.]

[Evernight is in game]

‘I’ll go observe some streamers’ fighting tactics then…’

Watching these streamer videos practically have zero gain for Mingrui, but it can help him know what current tactics are being used by the community.

‘The Evernight Goddess is rather concerned… Perhaps she doesn’t trust the safety of air transportation? It would be a bit of a setback for her if I were to get into an accident during such an important time in the game…’

Evernight. Moreover known as The Evernight Goddess from her renown guild named after her, Evernight. She and the other big guild leaders are seen by the players as gods of the game. Evernight is one of the top ranking guilds in Beyond This World. The guild sports a whopping 500k members and not including their supporters that exceed that count.

The Fool is the main account Mingrui plays on. Currently he’s competing in a race for the position of Lord Of The Mysteries. When Mingrui first joined the game, he was recruited personally by Evernight herself. But that wasn’t shared in public to prevent attention on him.

Evernight has already placed her bets on Mingrui, meaning should anything happen to Mingrui, it would be a loss to the Evernight Guild. Though, Evernight seems to have a personal reason as to why she chose Mingrui. Mingrui once thought it was because she didn’t agree with the opposing party’s plans, but it seems not.

Mingrui disliked the idea of distancing himself from Beyond This World, but he restrained himself.

‘Hah… Better to do what Evernight instructs…’

Mingrui watched a couple of Beyond This World streamers’ videos for an hour before a flight attendant passed by with a cart full of beverages and snacks.

“Anything to drink?”

Mingrui took off his earbuds and put in a request for sweet tea and a plate of sweet tarts he noticed on the cart.
He sipped the bottle of tea and ate his tarts as he watched some famous guild clashes clips.

When he finished his drink and tarts, the flight attendants came down the aisle to collect his trash.

“Lunch will be served in two hours. Should you require anything, please press the button for assistance.”

Mingrui nodded and continued his viewing on his laptop. It was when he turned to look out his window that he realized he couldn’t see anything below at all.

Looking at the screen in front of him, it read:
Altitude: 44,000 ft

He thought: ‘Great. If I die from an explosion, my remains will probably be scattered in the mountains or the ocean.’

All in all, Mingrui is a worrywart.
Who can blame him when he discovered his newfound fear of private jets just today?

Mingrui felt something was off, like it was a bit too quiet. A moment later he recalled why he had a moment of peace.

‘I’m surprised Huang Tao hasn’t made his way over here. He must’ve found a new person to ramble his thoughts about. Hope he’s entertained long enough for me to get some space.’

In truth, Huang Tao was currently dozing off while watching a movie with soda and popcorn.

Mingrui turned his head to gaze out the window to view a perfect sunny day.

‘The sky is a pleasant hue, but it’s way too bright outside. At least when we arrive it’ll be in the late evening.’

His eyes squinted and stung a little just by looking at the sun beams on the plane. Deciding that was enough, he focused back on his screen to a streamer raging over a mutated creature. He silently lampooned at the poor fellow’s lack of tactics.

‘Tch, is the game full of dimwits nowadays? Everyone is recklessly charging in. Did they not do any extensive planning before fighting a mid level monster?’

His finger rapped on the table rhythmically, watching the screen with a bored expression.

Mingrui continued watching the video before getting fed up with the poor tactics. In turn, he clicked to watch cooking videos. It was mostly European sweets and desserts. To be specific, evening tea time snacks.

‘That cream puff looks so appetizing right now.’

It was almost lunch time, and Mingrui’s stomach was rumbling by the minute. Even though he had eaten Huang Tao’s bento box, it had only lasted for a short while.

Luckily, the flight attendant started rolling down the aisle with the cart of dishes. When Mingrui spotted the cart load of food, he steadily cleared the table of his laptop.

“Please enjoy,” the flight attendant took a bow before leaving.

Lunch today was steamed soup dumplings, and sides of stir fried spinach and fried pork ribs.

Mingrui’s mouth watered at the sight of the colorful arrangement in front of him. The soup dumplings were multicolored, like the ones you could find at those popular restaurants in Beijing. The fried pork ribs were gleaming with oil and spice, and the stir fried spinach gave a gentle, compelling fragrance to balance out the oil and meat of the other dishes.

Waiting no longer, he picked up his chopsticks and began digging in.

‘This food is like what you would find at those restaurants with extremely long lines!’

He would know, because he waited in one of those lines with his classmates. They lined up at 9 am and finally got in at 12 am. It was mostly because a large group in front of them left. If the group didn’t leave, they would probably be waiting there until 1 pm. As for why did they wait that long? It was the big city, and popular restaurants were one of the targets of middle school boys.

The fat of the meat melted in his mouth, and the spinach cleansed his taste buds after eating a dumpling. The plane smelled quite fragrant with Chinese food for a while.

The flight attendant even gave Mingrui a cup of tea to refresh. In which Mingrui thanked politely as the flight attendant also picked up his lunch tray. It was a very shiny plate.

Mingrui sipped the herbal tea in leisure, pausing to savor the flavor.

‘Even the tea tastes expensive. Truly this is one of the privileges of the rich.’ Widening his eyes by each mouthful of tea.

On his plane screen it read: 12:46 am.

‘About 7 more hours until landing. What should I do? Take a nap? It would help pass the time quicker. That blanket does look rather comfortable…’

Mingrui placed the cup on the side and reclined his seat back. Grabbing the blanket provided in a side pocket, he covered himself and even grabbed the sleeping mask. Before starting his soon to be long nap, he first shut his plane window.

The microfibers in the blanket caressed his skin, the sleeping mask was cooling and comforting to the eyes, the pillow supported his head pretty well, and his feet were propped up by the seat’s cushion. This set Mingrui in a perfect environment to fall asleep quickly.

— ------------------------------------------ —

[11:01 am Loen Time, 42,568 ft]

Mingrui shifted around in his sleep. Naturally, he slowly woke up to the sound of airplane noise. He adjusted his seat forward a bit and stretched his arms.

Yawning, he mumbled, “What time is it?”

Tapping the screen in front of him, it showed it was 11:02 am.

‘Did the time change? That means it must be evening back home…’

He slowly acclimated to his surroundings. A temperate temperature, dim lighting, and comfy blanket and opened his window to see it was less sunny from before. The clouds overlaid the sun to bring in shade, but the plane was up very high, so there wasn’t any shade.

‘There’s an hour before landing, so what should I do now? Play some games? Read a webnovel? Call my parents?’

Mingrui actually didn’t contact his parents before boarding or getting on the plane. The private jet has access to free wifi, but the first thing he did was simply alert Guildmaster Evernight. As if Evernight was his parental guardian.

‘I should probably inform my mom before her patience runs thin…’

He sighed and dialed up his mom’s contact.

A few seconds later, a voice came through the phone.

“Mingming? Have you landed yet?” his mom asked urgently.

“Not until an hour later will we be landing.”

“Have you eaten? What did you eat? Have you taken a nap?”

“Yes, I ate soup dumplings, stir fried spinach, and fried pork. I just woke up from a nap,” Mingrui promptly reported.

His mom let out a breath of relief, “Here I was, worried that you wouldn’t even be able to find your terminal! This morning you really shocked me when you already left!”

Mingrui awkwardly laughed, “Well, I did say I would be leaving very early in the morning.”

“Did you eat something before you left for the airport?”

Mingrui paused before replying, “No… But Huang Tao gave me a lunch box to eat later when I woke up from a nap at the airport terminal.”

Once the words left his mouth, he heard his mom’s speedy scolding of how he should’ve eaten something before leaving rather than eating his friend’s food.

“Remember to take care of yourself! Call me once you land and get to your school residency!”

Mingrui quickly assured his mom, “Yes, yes, I will! I’ll call you later. Bye.”

He let out a sigh of relief, finally ending the call.

His mom knows he is capable of taking care of himself, he’s proven that many times. But she couldn’t help but worry.

How was his mom not to worry when her most ordinary son got the most extraordinary once in a lifetime offer?

With nothing to do now, he considered informing Evernight that he was about to land. That was until Huang Tao shot him a text.

[Huang Tao
Only 1:20 until we land!

Zhou Mingrui
🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉 🎉

Huang Tao
Lunch was amazing, wasn’t it?

Zhou Mingrui
We got a peek into the lifestyle of the rich and famous

Huang Tao
Want to come sit with me up front? I brought some cards to play!

Zhou Mingrui
Sorry, I’ll have to pass. The idea of getting up right now is not super attractive.

Huang Tao
Fine, you enjoy your cozy little nest you’ve built! 🙄

Zhou Mingrui
I think I will :)]

He decided to read a webnovel during the last hour of the flight. If he valued his life, he wouldn’t go near Beyond This World as per Evernight's instructions.

He clicked on one of the trending webnovels on the board. Stormwind Mountain Villa. It was a story about a young lady named Sissi embarking as a home tutor in the Fruys Mountain Villa.

‘Quite a novel plot. It's such a simple but complex story. It’s quite surprising it beat all the other intricate world novels. Transmigration, Reincarnation, Armageddon, System, and Wuxia have been pretty popular over the last few years…’

As much as Mingrui tried to make the story sound unappealing, he actually lost track of time and was enraptured in the story until the pilot announced they’ll be landing momentarily.

“Please fasten your seatbelts as there’ll be some minor turbulence.”

Mingrui immediately thought: ‘Not again.’

He made quick work to close his laptop and put away the blanket and sleeping mask for landing. He fastened his seatbelt tightly, preparing himself for the nauseating turbulence to come.

He could start to see the city metropolis down below now. Sky scrapers, cars, and the people. Closer and closer he began to see the gigantic airport they would be landing.

But of course there had to be a sudden up and down movement before they landed. That earned Mingrui a small headache.

The private jet flew extremely close to the ground. Mingrui couldn’t bear to look out the window, worrying about the landing impact.

The wheels ran across the landing field, thundering below. The plane also shook a bit when landing, which further elevated his fear of an accident.

For a future engineer he didn’t trust aerospace engineering very much.

When they started to slow down, they turned to a terminal and the pilot spoke through the intercom.

“It is 12:30 am in Tingen, Loen. We'd like to thank you all for flying with us here, and we hope you all enjoy your time here in Loen. Should you need help exiting the plane, a flight attendant shall help carry or escort anything you need help with. As soon as you exit there shall be an Academy host waiting at the terminal as soon as you exit.”

After delivering that lengthy speech, Mingrui unfastened his seatbelt right away and took out his suitcase from the overhead bin. After setting his laptop inside the suitcase, he made sure he had everything he came on the private jet with.

Mingrui went over everything in his head: ‘Phone and headphones: check. Suitcase: check. Sweatshirt: check. I should be good to go.’

He had also checked his surroundings at least five more times before rolling down the aisle to be the last passenger on the plane.

“Thank you for flying with us!” The flight attendants bowed and thanked him as he exited the private jet.

Mingrui rolled out of the long hall to the airport terminal. Outside those sleek windows was the view of the city metropolis.

‘Time to find the Academy host now.’

Chapter Text

[12:35 am Loen Time, Tingen Airport]

After exiting, he started looking for the Academy host supposedly waiting for them.

Squinting, Mingrui tried to make out the figure a few feet away from him.

The blaring light from the setting sun practically bathed the airport in light. Though it may look beautiful, it’s still awfully painful to even look at its rays.

It didn’t help that the entire terminal was pretty much a glass building.

‘Is that the Academy host?’

Standing under a bright ray of light in the center of the airport hall, was a delicate doll-looking girl. Pale skin, clear eyes, neat hair. Even her skin looked like a glass figure, reflecting light off. Her bleak attire made her figure shine even brighter in the airport.

‘You’d think she would be attending a funeral and not escorting foreign exchange students.’ Mingrui squinted his eyes.

In a monotone and almost bored voice, she tried gathering the attention of the students who just got off.

“I am the Academy hostess for the foreign exchange students. Please gather over here so I can call attendance.”

Taking out the iPad from her arm, she started calling out names. “Huang Tao?”

“Present!”

One after another, she checked off almost all of the students.

“Zhou Mingrui?”

Mingrui raised his hand, “Here.”

She checked off the last box and everyone waited in silence for this doll hostess to speak.

“If everyone will grab their belongings and follow me to the Academy vehicle that will be transporting us to campus.”

She started marching off at her own pace as soon as she finished. Everyone else had to rush a bit to catch up to her.

Since they took a private jet, they arrived at the privately owned planes area of the airport. Where they’re headed now is right outside the building.

A dull looking minivan stood outside, appearing to be waiting for someone. A chauffeur stood outside the minivan with the truck open.

“I’ll take your luggages,” he said with eloquence.

After everyone stored their belongings in the back, the hostess gestured to get in the minivan. The interior was actually much more spacious than imagined.

Mingrui turned his head to look around the limousine-like minivan.

‘This minivan reminds me of those vans celebrities travel in.’

He climbed in to sit by the window on the side of the row. Huang Tao sat in the back, and a few other students sat with him in the back or on the side.

The hostess sat at the front, carrying her iPad.
“Apologies, you’ll have to sit close together. It’s going to take half an hour to get to the Academy.”

The minivan started off moving out the side of the curb and started driving on the road. The ride wasn’t too bumpy, and the students kept themselves entertained by introducing themselves.

Huang Tao took the liberty of talking first, “The name’s Huang Tao, nice to meet you all! I’m fortunate to be attending the world’s most prestigious school with you all!”

They all haha-ed at his goofy introduction.

One by one, they learned each others’ names. After introductions, they asked which provinces they were each from.

This didn’t include Mingrui, as they didn’t seem to notice him. Perhaps they just didn’t bother with him.

Besides, Mingrui slowly tuned out of the conversations, feeling sleepy again in the cool air-conditioned minivan. The cushioning on the seats were definitely high end, that’s for sure.

‘Tingen city seems to be a mildly busy city.’ he examined from the window.

He gazed at the passing tall glass buildings and numerous cars passing them by.

Once they left the airport area, they entered the city part of Tingen. The shadows from the tall buildings darkened as the sun got higher and brighter. Crowds on the cross walks, people out on a jog or hurrying to their business meeting.

One of the boys exclaimed and pointed outside the window. “Doesn’t this atmosphere remind you of Shanghai?”

Another boy laughed at him, “You mean it’s like every other big city in the world?”

“Bro, are you from Shanghai?” Huang Tao questioned.

The boy shook his head. “I just visit my relatives in Shanghai frequently.”

“You must be kidding if this place looks like Shanghai!
Shanghai has out of this world infrastructures that this run of the mill city can’t compare to!” his friend laughed.

Huang Tao patted the accusing boy on the shoulder,
“Haha, perhaps not! Shanghai Brother sure misses the
big city life. Otherwise, why would he be comparing Shanghai with this place!”

‘Shanghai Brother’ chuckled awkwardly,“To be
honest, I actually wanted to go to a high school there, but my parents wanted me to aim big. So here I am.”

“You’re plenty smart to be here alright!”

“Hey!” Huang Tao interrupted, “We’re all here because we have what it takes to be here! We’re gonna become the most elite highschoolers in the world!”

With Huang Tao’s motivational speech, the minivan soon grew rowdy with cheering. It was surprising how the driver or the hostess never bothered to tell them to pipe down.

Mingrui lampooned his current situation: ‘Well, it’s not like I had a highschool I absolutely wanted to attend. Loen Academy of The Arts was recognizably the best choice I had. My situation sure is different from some people here… I wish they would quiet down though.’

He didn’t really have a chance to join in on the ‘entertaining’ conversation because everyone already got so chummy together. A little more than half an hour passed before they reached the front gates of the Academy.

The gates were huge steel ones that are controlled by the gatekeeper on the side. It was like one of those rich neighborhood gates that separates the wealthy from the poor. The large letters LoenArts was printed in the middle of the gates. Once the minivan entered through, they were greeted by the Academy’s splendor in its full glory.

The Academy’s architecture was of a medieval gothic style with the stability of modern buildings. In the front was a grand fountain with the statue of the Academy’s founder in the middle. Wide grand doors seem to lead inside of the main building, but the group traveled to the left side of the main building where the dormitory is located.

The guys were practically touching the windows with their faces while staring at the Academy campus.

“I have no words! It’s exactly what you’d expect from a private prestigious academy!”

“There’s got to be a football field the size of a pool somewhere here!”

“Forget stadiums! I bet they have a massive cafeteria here!”

Mingrui himself couldn’t help but stare blankly at the splendor of the entire campus.

He thought: ‘…This is probably bigger than a college campus. Forget that, this campus is the size of a small state! If they don’t have a stadium, wide tennis courts, a swimming pool, buildings just for a class, then I refuse to believe it.’

The minivan stopped at the front of the dormitory. The dormitory had a sleek modern structure. It makes one think that they hired the world’s best architects to design every building on this campus. The outside walls were off white with pillars supporting a cover above the vehicle. The doors were the revolving kind you’d see in high class hotels.

“We’ve arrived. This is the stop for anyone who has a residence in the dormitory. There’ll be another host inside the building to give you a quick tour of the place,” said the hostess.

She exited the minivan and gestured to the boys who would be getting off here. The chauffeur grabbed their luggage from the back and quite a number of the people in the vehicle exited.

Before Huang Tao exited the minivan, he quickly reminded Mingrui of something.

“Remember to text and call me!”

Mingrui nodded and ushered him to quickly leave him.

It seems that only Mingrui applied for foreign family residency rather than the dormitories. He watched the other enter the dormitory building and the minivan starting driving off to the next location. Presumably, his soon-to-be new home.

The hostess slammed the car door closed. She looked back to see only Mingrui left behind.

She spoke rather straightforwardly to him. “Now we’ll be taking you to where you’ll be staying for the school semester.”

Mingrui couldn’t even give a response before she turned back to the front.

He thought: ‘Rather cold and delicate this hostess is. Is she a student helping out the school? Or an assistant teacher? She seems both young and mature, so it’s hard to tell.’

The minivan before seemed to be filled with laughter and cheer, but now the cheerful atmosphere had been replaced by a cold blizzard. This persisted for five minutes until they drove to a house near the Academy.

The house didn’t look to have many floors, and it looked a bit compact. It was spaced out between the other small houses by just a bit. A small garden of a few violet flowers was growing in the front of the house. The entrance looked clean and homey. Overall, it seemed very calm. The house wasn’t located far from the Academy, though he has to walk at least five minutes to get from the house to the school.

He got out of the car and the chauffeur handed him his suitcase. The hostess also got out of the car and already walked up to the doorsteps of the house.

She rang the doorbell a few moments before when a young girl answered the door.

The hostess asked with a calm demeanor, “Is this the Moretti residence?”

The young girl who was just a bit shorter than the hostess nodded and answered. “Yes, I’m Melissa Moretti.”

The hostess continued on and opened up her ipad to a contract looking page.

“As the Academy has informed you a few weeks ago, you have been selected to be housing one of our foreign students for the school semester. We expect you to abide by all our policies during the student’s stay. Should the student cause any disturbances, the Academy shall take up the matter and compensate you,” the hostess plainly stated.

Melissa nodded, “Where’s the student?”

Mingrui firmly shuffled up the steps to the front door at that moment. He looked at the young preteen and introduced himself.

“Nice to meet you, I am Zhou Mingrui. I will be staying here for the school semester with you.”

Melissa smiled politely, “Hi, my name is Melissa Moretti.”

The hostess quickly coughed to get the attention to announce her departure.

“If you don’t need anything, I’ll be going now. Opening day is tomorrow, lasting from 8:30 am to 5:45 pm. Please come to the school to receive locker information, class schedule, school uniform, and books and supplies.”

With that, the doll-like hostess left in the minivan.

Without waiting, Melissa quickly ushered Mingrui in.
“Please, come in. I’ll show you where your room is.”

He thanked her and entered the house. First taking off his shoes of course.

As soon as he enters there’s a neat shoe rack near the door, a place to put umbrellas for a rainy day, a mat, and a coat hanger. Melissa led him down the hall, right from the kitchen he got a glance at. Down the hall there seemed to be three bedrooms and a bathroom. Mingrui’s room was at the very end of the hall, across from the bathroom.

Melissa opened the door to his new room to reveal a tidy room with a simplistic wooden bed with a desk. The room wasn’t much smaller than Mingrui’s own room back home.

The desk had a few drawers and storage spaces and a small lamp on top. The bed comforter was a shade of faded monochrome blue. To the right of the door was a closet with a sliding door, being that the sliding door was a mirror. There was also a wide rectangle window with a ledge hung right above the bed.

Mingrui’s bedroom floor plan was a door to the very left, a closet right next to the door, a desk across the door, and the bed being across the closet.

“You can start unpacking and wash up if you want. Have you eaten lunch yet? I can prepare a quick filling snack for you if you have and if you’re still hungry,” Melissa suggested.

Mingrui shook his head, “Oh no, it’s okay. I’m not that hungry anyways, I’ll just go unpack and wash up.”

Melissa seemed like she couldn’t take no for an answer. “I’ll still prepare you something light to snack on. Do you mind orange meringue pie?”

“That’s fine, thank you,” he smiled.

She nodded, “Okay, then I’ll get that out for you on the kitchen counter.”

Melissa swiftly turned away to prepare a slice of pie for him to snack on.

“Ah, if you don’t mind me asking, is it just you in this house?” he hastily asked before she left for the kitchen.

Melissa chuckled, “Hm? Oh no, my brother Benson comes back from work a bit later, but he’ll be back around dinner.”

“Oh I see,” Mingrui nodded.

“Oh, and towels are in a small storage cabinet right beside the bathroom. Oh, and the laundry basket should be right underneath the sink. I’ve already labeled it for you which one is yours.”

“Thank you very much,” he sincerely thanked Melissa.

“It’s no problem,” she said before going.

She left Mingrui in his unfamiliar new room he’d be staying for most of his time here.

‘I’ll start by organizing my clothes, then if I have enough time, I’ll go take a shower.’ he decided.

He pulled over his head phones and worked on unpacking his clothes while listening to music.

Mingrui could work without music, but sometimes his thoughts are a bit too loud. It’s better to have his thoughts drift off when occupied with listening to music.

He slid closed the closet door when he was finally done arranging his clothes.

‘Hm… Now that I think of it, I didn’t bring that many clothes. Just some clothes I bought from the mall and previous old clothes…’

Mingrui’s mom was actually surprised when he decided to only bring one medium sized suitcase to the Academy for the entire school semester. But he succeeded in reasoning with her, saying that he’ll buy clothes during the year so he wouldn’t have to bring so many clothes from home.

‘Oh right! I sent a box full of my stuff over before! I nearly forgot!’

As for what he brought? The usual things a middle school boy cannot live without. (Or things only an introverted gamer couldn’t live without.)

His computer setup includes his computer monitors, keyboard, mouse, and his box-like computer.

‘Hopefully they already arrived ahead of time, because that setup costed a fortune…’

Zhou Mingrui, like the stubborn boy he is, worked for the money that went into that computer set. As for how he could earn so much money in a part time job? Simple, he did either any job he could find, or a job that was more complex than others.

Mingrui had finished unpacking in fifteen minutes, so he decided to take a shower in the end.

Grabbing a spare change of clothes and a towel from the side cabinet beside the bathroom, he walked off to the restroom to wash up.

After refreshing himself in a steamy shower, Mingrui stepped out dripping wet. He quickly dried himself and ruffled his hair with the damp towel. He could only see the blurry visage of himself in the foggy mirror.

‘It’s so clean here. Are Europeans tidier than Asians?’ He thought as he looked around the bathroom.

He had already thrown the clothes he wore the entire day in the laundry bin and when he finished drying his hair off with the towel, he threw that in as well.

Mingrui threw on a casual gray shirt and a black pair of baggy, lightweight sweatpants. He wiped his glasses’s foggy lenses with the cloth and put them on.

Upon exit, he was greeted with a cooler air temperature compared to the bathroom.

Melissa poked her head out of the kitchen and beckoned him to come eat.

He followed out into the kitchen where he took a seat at the kitchen counter.

“My home ec. class made some orange meringue pies just yesterday, and we couldn’t finish all of it, so I brought it home.” She spoke fast without missing a beat, “I hope the flavor won’t be too pungent. Would you like something to drink? I can make some coffee or tea if it’s too sweet for you. We also have some fruit juices.”

Mingrui almost felt embarrassed about how the young girl treated him with such warm hospitality.

“Tea would be fine, thank you,” he requested bashfully.

“Would English milk tea be okay?” Melissa asked, holding a couple boxes of tea.

“Sure,” he nodded.

‘Is it like Japanese Royal Milk Tea?’ he thought.

Melissa grabbed a plate for a slice of the pie while the water was being boiled. Grabbing a fork, she handed the slice of pie to Mingrui.

The orange meringue pie had a colorful tangerine hue with light cream at the top. The crust looked puffy and airy coupled with the filling. Mingrui had to fight the urge to take out his phone to take a picture.

‘Is this really what a preteen class made for home ec.?’

Mingrui took the first bite of the pie and was savoring the taste of the sourness paired with the sweetness of the desert. His eyes slowly widened with bite.

“So? How is it?” Melissa asked, pouring the somewhat hot water in a tea cup.

“Very delicious,” he commented.

“You think so? I think I added a bit too much sugar, and lemon now that I think of it.”

“It’s alright, I have a slight sweet tooth anyways,” Mingrui assured her.

“Interesting, my brother and I don’t particularly eat sweet things often,” she said, pushing a cup of milk tea towards him.

The tea cup was a delicate, thin, white cup filled with creamy brown tea.

“When you’re done, just leave them in the sink. I’ll be in my room if you need anything. Dinner will be in four hours,” she said, walking to her room down the hall.

Mingrui tried pacing himself to savor the slice of pie, but he ended up finishing it quickly. He appreciated the English milk tea’s mellow sweetness combined with the natural bitter-like tea taste. After finishing his tea, he placed the dishes carefully in the sink.

"I'll just wash the dishes myself to save her the trouble.”

He noticed the dish soap and sponge in a container and started washing the dishes. When he was done, he placed the clean dishes on the counter and left for his room.

His new room was practically empty except the desk, chair, bed, and the lamp.

‘I should get some of my own furnishings later.’ he considered.

First thing Mingrui did when he got to his room was open up his laptop to Beyond This World’s game forum.

Really shows how he’s an addict.

The Fool: I landed just two hours ago.

Evernight: Did you run into any difficulties?

The Fool: No, I didn’t have the chance to contact you when I arrived.

Evernight: Get plenty of rest before you go online again.

The Fool: Is there trouble I should be cautious of?

Evernight: No. They’ve been staying quiet for a while now, so we shouldn’t expect anything drastic for a bit.

Evernight: Don’t play too long as usual.

The Fool: When would be an appropriate time to get online?

Evernight: Go online when you have the time, or it’s an urgent matter.

The Fool: Affirmative.

Talking to Evernight really was like talking to your boss. Mingrui was probably more respectful towards Evernight than his own teachers.

‘Time to report back to my mom now.’

Mingrui switched from his laptop to his phone, dialing up his mom’s contact.

“Ah, mom?” he asked.

“Did you land yet?” his mom’s voice echoed in the call.

“Yes, I landed a little over two hours ago.”

Mingrui was going to say he didn’t get the chance to tell her, but thinking back, he did have a lot of chances to tell his mom he just landed. He often did things without telling other people, assuming they’ll accept it.

Without waiting for his mom to interrupt and scold him, he quickly added on, “I already showed and ate something when I just got to my foreign residential home.”

His mom sighed over the phone, probably knowing it’s useless to nag him about not calling earlier.

“Oh well, it’s good enough that you remembered to call me when you had time. You better update me every now and then on how you’re living. That or I’ll come over there myself to ask you!”

“Yes, yes,” he quickly assured her.

“Now tell me how your new school home looks like,” his mom demanded.

In short, she means to tell her everything that happened.

Mingrui explained his current situation to her simply, “When I landed at the airport, the Academy host took every one of us to where we would be living at the Academy. My new home is probably a five minute walk to the Academy, so I don’t have to walk too long. The house I’m staying at is relatively nice and not too small nor big. There is a young girl and an older brother in this house, but I’ve yet to meet the parents. Maybe they work late? I don’t know. Tomorrow I’ll be going to the Academy for Opening Day to get all my stuff sorted out.”

“Alright then, make sure to send pictures to show me you’re doing well! Make some friends there, okay? Also stick to Huang Tao at school! Don’t make trouble!” his mom listed all her concerns with him.

“I’m going to bed now, so make sure to sleep well tonight!” his mom said before hanging up.

“Bye!”

“Bye,” Mingrui said.

— ------------------------------------------ —

[2:37 pm, Moretti Residence, Tingen]

Mingrui leaned back in his chair to gather his thoughts.

‘Oh right, I still don’t have the wifi yet!’

He quietly closed the door to his bedroom before trying to find Melissa’s room. He knocked gently on the door to the wall on the opposite side of the bathroom with slight noises coming out of it.

He could hear footsteps coming out before Melissa opened the door. “You need something?” she asked directly.

“Ah– yes, what’s the wifi?” Mingrui asked, showing his phone.

Melissa took his phone and showed him the wifi network and password.

“Thank you,” he said, receiving his phone back.

“No problem,” she promptly replied and closed her door.

Mingrui walked back to his room to connect his laptop to the wifi network as well.

‘I guess I’ll finish that webnovel I started on the plane…’

With nothing else to do, Mingrui continued reading Stormwind Mountain Villa on his laptop.

He had suspected that Huang Tao and the other foreign students were probably busy unpacking or they decided to go out. His suspicions were confirmed when his phone had a notification from Huang Tao.

Huang Tao
[Group photo at a park nearby]
You’re missing out!

Mingrui took a glance at his texts and rolled his eyes.

If anything, he’s better off alone than being pushed around by a dozen other Huang Taos.

He turned his phone on silent before continuing his reading session.

— ------------------------------------------ —

[5:29 pm, Moretti Residence]

Melissa was busying herself by tinkering away with some extra mechanical parts she had brought from her robotics team.

She had already finished up her homework and studied for upcoming assessments that wouldn’t be until two weeks later.

Her favorite hobby was any involvement with machinery. Her robotics team teacher advisor even praised her for her talent. That’s how the teacher let some things slide and allowed for Melissa to use those extra parts for her own personal work.

She lifted her head up to see what the time was to keep track of herself.

‘Hmm… I should start preparing for dinner.’

She neatly organized her finished work and tools on her desk before walking to the kitchen to start preparing for dinner.

She opened the fridge and took out plates of leftovers from the other night.

Originally, she wanted to prepare something extravagant to welcome the new student to their house but then realized she can’t possibly cook any tasty dishes. She may have partook in baking the orange meringue pie for her class, but she only measured the ingredients while her classmates did the grunt work.

‘Lamb from last night, and I could boil some potatoes and frozen peas. Yes, that should do.’

The boiling process was probably going to take the longest, so she first started with that before reheating the lamb.

Melissa grabbed the deepest pot she could find before filling it with water and placing it on the stove. She also grabbed a smaller pot for the peas to be cooked in. She took out the package of frozen peas to thaw out and grabbed a bowl to wash the potatoes. After washing, she started skinning the potatoes. Assuming the water has started to boil, she dumped the potatoes and peas in their respective pots to be slowly cooked at low heat.

‘Hopefully he doesn’t mind tonight’s dinner menu.’

Her brother usually eats leftovers with something fresh made that day, or it’s frozen/microwavable foods. Benson, the older of the two, usually works late, meaning he can’t make dinner. That leaves dinner up to Melissa. Sometimes Benson will bring back restaurant takeout food to give Melissa a break with cooking. This is how the siblings have survived so far alone.

She then starts taking out the plates and utensils and setting them on the counter. The timer she had set for the boiling timerang out, so she quickly scooped the potatoes and peas separately on a plate. Now all she had to do was reheat the lamb.

She took out the slices of lamb and placed them in the microwave.

‘Two minutes should do, right?’

The aroma of cooked meat filled the entire house after thirty seconds. The smell had eventually drawn Mingrui out of his room.

“What are we having for dinner?” he asked, coming down from the hall.

“Lamb with soft boiled potatoes and peas,” she answered.

When the microwave went off, Melissa first opened the microwave door to let the meat cool down a bit before grabbing plates and tonsils to place a portion of the lamb on a plate.
“Here, you can grab some potatoes and peas from over there. You can always have more if you want.” Melissa handed him a plate with a slice of lamb.

“Thanks,” Mingrui grabbed the plate and headed over to get the side dishes.

“Utensils are over here,” Melissa said, pointing to a plate with forks and knives. “You also want something to drink? Uh– we got sweet tea, lemonade, sodas, and orange juice,” she opened the fridge to list the options.

Mingrui had grabbed a knife and fork and quickly responded, “Ah– then sweet tea, please.”

Melissa nodded and grabbed a cup to pour the chilled tea in. She placed the cup where Mingrui had placed his plate down and went to grab herself a plate of food.

“So– when’s your brother gonna come back?” Mingrui asked, sitting down in his chair.

Melissa poked her head out to view the time on the clock.

[5:55 pm]

“In about five minutes, I guess.”
She grabbed herself a cup of water before joining Mingrui at the table to eat.

“Though he said he would be arriving earlier because of your arrival… I wonder what’s taking him so long,” Melissa added.

Right then they could hear footsteps approaching the front door and the sounds of the door knob being turned.

A mature looking youth who looked to be taller than Mingrui stepped into the household. He hurriedly took off his coat and placed it on the coat rack before a few words of apology.

“Sorry I came back so late, Melissa!”

Chapter Text

Melissa casually sighed, “It’s okay I suppose, you owe me later though.”

“Haha, alright,” he chuckled.

The young man, supposedly Benson Moretti, first put away his shoes, coat and backpack before also grabbing a plate to join Mingrui and Melissa at the table.

With both Benson and Melissa together, Mingrui looked at them rather intently. The two siblings didn’t share too much resemblance with each other except eyes, hair color, and some facial features. But staring at the two siblings together felt like staring at two different sides of himself.

‘I had my doubts when I saw Melissa, but seeing the two together makes me believe it even more…’ he pondered. ‘They look like they have some sort of Asian descent… Perhaps they’re an immigrant family?’

Either way, he didn’t dwell on the thought too much. But it felt a bit weird looking at two people who looked a bit too similar to him, besides the usual Asian facial features.

Benson smiled at Mingrui and introduced himself before eating. “Nice to meet you! I’m Benson, Melissa’s older brother. Of course, I’ll also be your ‘older brother’ from now on.”

Mingrui nodded, “Likewise, I’m Zhou Mingrui. Thank you for having me here while I attend the Academy.”

“It’s no problem, we hope you feel comfortable here,” Benson assured him.

Then the meal restarted quietly after introductions were done. It was a bit awkward for a moment before Mingrui decided to lighten up the atmosphere.

To get the ball rolling, he first thought of an issue he would definitely have while staying here.

“So uhm– I was thinking that you two could help me come up with a more– local sounding name? For my classmates and teachers to call me by. It would also be much easier for you as well,” he tried starting the conversation.

Melissa put down her fork, “I think your name sounds nice.”

Mingrui internally cringed: ‘Nice, but I doubt any of you can pronounce it without struggling for the first few dozen times.’

He chuckled, “Thank you, but it would be helpful to adapt to my new living environment easier.”

Benson snapped his fingers and nodded, “You’re right, getting used to an unfamiliar place by creating a more local name does help. Alright, Melissa, help me come up with a name for our new dear brother.”

Melissa took a sip of water and sincerely thought about it.

“James?”

Benson quirked a brow, “Like James Bond?”

No matter how stiff and introverted Mingrui was, he couldn’t help but let out a small laugh.

Though Melissa scowled at Benson’s direction.

He ignored her obvious displeasure and suggested, “How about, Travis?”

Melissa clicked her tongue, “Tch, that’s even worse! We’re trying to come up a name here for a real person, not an animal! Besides, does he really want a name that sounds like some backstreet low life?”

“Hey! Travis Scott is a reputable rapper I’ll have you know!” he defended.

“That name isn’t even local to begin with!” Melissa folded her arms and scoffed.

Mingrui had to catch himself to stop laughing for a moment before suggesting a name himself.

“How about Klein?”

The two siblings both simultaneously turned to face him.

Mingrui tentatively explained, “Klein, like the color, Klein Blue? I’m not quite sure if it sounds easy or local to begin with, but I’m a bit familiar with that name.”

First of all, of course Mingrui was familiar with that name. He’d been using that name for himself in Beyond This World ever since the beginning when he joined the game. When Evernight was the first to approach him and sign him up, she told him to hide his username and use a nickname for his player name.

He had chosen the name based on a shade of blue called Klein Blue that his school art teacher had taught them while teaching color theory. Rather unnecessary for high school but their art teacher was rather passionate about teaching. The foreign name took to Mingrui, so he decided upon that name when he joined Evernight’s guild.

Melissa thought for a second before replying, “Not bad, it has a nice ring to it.”

Benson nodded and agreed, “I believe you would fit the name Klein.”

“A name with a background from Intis, unique but simple enough for us,” she said.

Benson gave ‘Klein’ a thumbs up.

“Welcome to Loen, Klein Moretti,” he grinned.

— ------------------------------------------ —

Dinner wrapped up with Melissa clamoring for her brother to study rather than help her with the dishes. She tried her best to shove Benson to the living room to study.

“Go study! It’s my turn to wash dishes this week anyways!”

“But you’ve been doing the dishes this entire week! Also, don’t you have homework and some studying to do as well?” Benson accused her.

“Don’t worry about it!” She exclaimed, finally pushing her brother out of the kitchen area.

“How about I help you with the dishes?” Mingrui offered.

Melissa’s face showed that she dismissed that idea immediately but before she could say no, Mingrui had already grabbed a plate and started washing.

“Oh no, you don’t have to do that!” she said.

Mingrui, still washing the plate diligently with soap and water, looked up at Melissa and replied genuinely, “If I’m going to be staying here then I have to do my part too. I would feel too guilty for having you two do all the work. Take it as one of my many thanks for letting me stay here.”

“But you just got here! You must be tired!” she argued.

“Uh-oh! Melissa is on the rise again! Wouldn’t want to be a part of that!” Benson loudly called from the sofa.

Melissa blatantly ignored him and started washing the dishes alongside Mingrui.

“I guess I’ll just have to wash more dishes than you can finish!” she declared confidently as she grabbed a plate.

Mingrui chuckled and thought: ‘Is this what having a sibling feels like?’

Water was splashed more than needed during cleanup. There was certainly a lot of noise being made and water being splashed around, so much in fact that Benson actually started to feel left out.

He peered his head out from the sofa and shouted, “Are you guys having fun without me?”

Melissa responded back, “We’re almost done so don’t come over here!”

Mingrui shook his hands, trying to shake the water droplets off. “The counter is completely flooded,” he said, wiping off the counter with a rag Melissa just handed him.

“What did you just say?” Benson poked his head out.

“Nothing you need to worry about!” Melissa yelled back.

— ------------------------------------------ —

After cleaning up the mess, Melissa told Mingrui to go to sleep, afterall, he did have a long day.

Mingrui brushed his teeth and washed his face before bidding the siblings a goodnight.

‘I should probably set a timer to wake up in time for Opening Day.’

So he set a timer for 7 am in the morning on his phone before plugging his phone in to charge. He placed his glasses on his desk and flicked off the lights, deciding to go straight to sleep.

‘Today really was too much of a hassle. My insomnia started acting up, I couldn’t buy breakfast, and I got motion sickness.’

Even after he turned off the lights, the faint glow from the city passed through his window and shone on the wall across from his bed. It was all unfamiliar to Mingrui. His new bedroom, the light and language. He was way too tired to process everything he had gone through today. Surprisingly, even after that nap he took on the plane, he drifted off to sleep quickly.

[7:48 pm, Moretti Residence]

— ------------------------------------------ —

[9:55 pm Loen Time]

The game forum was open on a brightly lit computer monitor screen.

MidnightPoet: klein you there?

MidnightPoet: kleinnnnnnnnnnnn

MidnightPoet: don’t tell me you’re asleep.

MidnightPoet: I advanced to sequence 7 today!

MidnightPoet: jk, but answer me!!!

Pale fingers typed on the glowing keyboard relentlessly in the dim light.

‘Tch, is he actually asleep?’

— ------------------------------------------ —

[7:00 am, Moretti Residence]

The alarm Mingrui had set on his phone had just gone off. Bright morning sunshine had escaped the cracks of the small curtains of the wide window above his bed. The light had directly landed on his face at the perfect time. Giving him a nearly blinding wake up call.

Mingrui rolled off his bed and stumbled to end his phone’s alarm. He grabbed his glasses and ruffled his hair before grabbing some clothes out of the closet to change into.

The fit for the day was some wide, cloudy blue, denim jeans and a black t-shirt paired with a creamy white sweatshirt.

Mingrui might not be wearing something astonishingly fashionable, but at least he has a sense of aesthetics.

He headed out to the bathroom to wash up before getting breakfast. After brushing his hair and washing his face, he looked pretty refreshed.

The smell of french toast wafted in the air when he stepped out.

Benson poked his head out of the kitchen and into the hall to notice him exiting the bathroom.

“Oh, Klein, you mind waking up Melissa for me? I’m still kinda busy with our breakfast right now.”

Mingrui nodded, “Sure, no problem.”

“By the way, her room is on the opposite side of the bathroom,” Benson pointed out.

Following his directions, Mingrui gently knocked on the door and called out, “Melissa? It’s time to wake up. Benson’s making breakfast.”

There was a long pause before a quiet but tired voice rang from inside.

“Okay… thanks…” A voice softly groaned from inside.

Benson chuckled, “Haha, she must’ve stayed up too late last night.”

Mingrui entered the kitchen to see a plate of french toast with fresh fruit beside it on the kitchen counter.

“That’s yours,” Benson said, “feel free to grab anything from the fridge to drink as well. Cups are in the cabinet to my right.”

Mingrui grabbed a carton of orange juice from the fridge and poured it into a cup from the cabinet. He took his breakfast to the dining table and started eating.

The french toast was stacked like a pancake with fruit beside it. It was all fluffy and buttery like, and the fruit added a sweet touch to it. Maple syrup dripped from the layers of french toast and covered the fresh strawberries.

‘Did Melissa tell Benson that I have a sweet tooth?’ He thought, savoring the creamy flavor.

Benson looked out from the counter and asked, “Want some coffee? I think I made the french toast a bit too sweet.”

He quickly retook that thought: ‘Nevermind…’

“No thank you,” he politely declined.

Benson poured himself practically a pitch black liquid from the pot and dumped quite a lot of cream and a dash of sugar. The light cream slowly intertwined itself with the now brownish hue of coffee.

“You making coffee?” Melissa groggily spoke.

She appeared to be still half asleep, and walking in her pajamas.

“Want some?” He offered a cup.

She shook her head, “No thanks.”

Benson handed her breakfast to her and laughed, “Did you stay up late last night toying around with your robot?”

“First, I wasn’t messing around with a robot, I’m not allowed to bring home our school robots anyways without permission. Second, I was tinkering around with some spare parts,” she clarified while grabbing a glass of milk alongside her plate.

The two joined Mingrui at the table. It was a stark contrast between Benson and Mingrui’s neatly dressed state and Melissa’s messy sleepwear.

Melissa’s plate seemed to be more loaded with food than Mingrui’s was. She had two stacks of french toast with double the amount of fruits he had. Including her already second tall glass of milk that she had gotten after devouring her first stack of french toast.

He thought: ‘Did I eat this much when I was her age?’

His thoughts on Melissa’s morning mukbang was interrupted by Benson.

“Oh right– Klein, I’ll give you the house’s keys before you leave for the Academy.”

Melissa wiped her mouth with a napkin before asking, “Are you going to the Academy soon or in the afternoon?”

“I’m thinking of leaving soon. I’d like to get my school stuff sorted out before I go look around and maybe shop,” he replied.

Benson sliced his french toast in pieces and informed him, “Have fun looking around then, a lot of new shops just opened up a few blocks away.”

Mingrui nodded, “Will do.”

He gulped down the last bit of his orange juice and walked over to the sink to place his dishes.

“You done?” Melissa asked, poking her head out.

“Yeah, I want to get it over with quickly.”

She practically shoved the remaining bits of french toast in her mouth before also getting up and placing her dishes in the sink.

“Then I’ll head out too,” she said, still chewing.

She headed to her room to get dressed while Mingrui went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Leaving Benson to enjoy his breakfast without company.

Benson voiced his complaint loud enough for the two to hear while getting ready.

“I can’t believe you two just left me to eat breakfast alone!”

Melissa shouted back from her room, “Deal with it!”

‘What is with this sibling dynamic?’ Mingrui thought as he brushed his teeth, overhearing their loud exchange.

After brushing his teeth, he quickly ran into his room to grab a small messenger bag containing money and some other things he might need during the day.

At the front door he was met with Melissa standing beside the door in her school uniform, trying to get her shoes on.

Her uniform consisted a white blouse with a golden tan tie and a darkish brown coat paired with a darkened tan skirt at her knees and short socks around her ankles. She had a slight platform in her shoes, just barely making her look taller.

“You’re heading out too?” Melissa asked, lifting her head up.

Mingrui nodded in response.

“Oh- and before you two leave–” Benson hurried over from the kitchen sink.

He placed a bronze key in Mingrui’s hand before turning to Melissa.

“Remember to get some bread from Mrs. Smyrin’s bakery before you come back home alright?” Benson told her, giving her some money for shopping.

Melissa nodded, “Yes, yes.”

“Oh- and Klein-” Benson quickly turned to face Mingrui. “That’s the house key, try to not lose it alright?”

Mingrui nodded and thought: ‘If I were to lose it, do you have to change the house’s lock?’

“C’mon, let’s go,” Melissa said without any delay as she opened the door.

With a gentle push from Benson, Mingrui walked down the front steps of the house.

“Have fun!” Benson exclaimed, waving out the door as he watched the two start walking out the front yard.

Though he was more or less telling Mingrui that and not Melissa.

— ------------------------------------------ —

The two walked about the same route for a minute or two before they finally split at an intersection.

“I’ll have to walk a bit more, but the Academy is pretty close so you’ll only have to walk for three minutes before arriving at the student entry gates,” she informed him.

She gave a subtle wave before departing to the crosswalk in front of them. Mingrui instead walked the crosswalk to the right, according to his phone.

The area surrounding the Moretti Residence was rather suburban, with a few people watering their plants and walking their dogs in the morning. Because the weather still is summer-like, it was still a fairly humid sort of warmness. With the sun beaming down at Mingrui’s jet black hair, he was absorbing the heat in all its glory.

‘My head feels like a stove right now’

He touched the top of his head, feeling the scalding heat on his fingertips.

Looking around his surroundings, one can evidently see that he was getting close to the Academy. Large banners hung to the side of poles and he saw more and more teenagers coming and going in his direction. By the second, he quickly lost himself in a crowd, unaware that he was practically on school grounds. It was only when he found a patch of space to look around did he realize the suburban area he was once in was now completely changed.

Instead of residential homes, he was faced with a long and flat road filled with luxury cars and open grand gates with people walking out.

In slurred cursive letters, Loen Academy 0f The Arts was written on a signboard that appeared to shine gold (or is gold) on the steel metal gates.

“Welcome to Opening Day! We’re so excited to have you here!” excitedly shouted the groups of students standing just in front of the gates, welcoming the new students in.

The noise and people hit Mingrui with the realization that he really was accepted to attend the world’s most prestigious school ever.

He sighed and contemplated his situation: ‘Four years…’

Without wasting time, he stepped through the barrier between the rich and mediocre.

Chapter Text

He floated through the dizzying chatter of the crowd. A hazy dream as he would recall, spinning and weaving in between.

‘Where am I even going?’

Mingrui frantically turned his head around to look for any sign of directions. But his feet were clumsily leading him farther and farther away from the front desk where he should be getting his information sorted.

Current Academy students were fighting to get the new students’ attention. Recruitment shouts like:

“Consider the track and field team as your options!”

“Try out the volleyball team!”

“Join the basketball team! We’re the best in the country!”

“Help out with the Student Council Committee!” could be heard across the entire front of the school.

Then a flurry of random club/team members tried to bog him down with their incessant chatter. Suppose the students locked onto Mingrui as their target. Fortunate for the students, but rather unlucky for the poor foreign student.

“Dear friend! You certainly look like a reasonable one! Consider the debate team! We’re certain to claim victory!” a student basically screamed in Mingrui’s ears.

In a poor attempt to remove himself from this uncomfortable situation, he tried pushing the debate team student off of him. “Uhm- sorry, I have to get to the front first-”

“Hey! Don’t steal our potential club members for the ping-pong club!”

“Your new club member? Oh please, when have you guys actually been useful to the Academy?” The debate student who still is holding a tight grip on Mingrui’s arm, arrogantly spoke and pushed up his glasses in a snob-like way.
And with that, Mingrui was caught up in this tug of war. Meaning that he was the rope.

“Useful?” the other sounded immensely offended. “Need I remind you how tragic your ‘team’ lost against the Intis Institute?”

The debate student started fuming at the other’s words. “You!!”

Mingrui lampooned: ‘Can’t you Academy students be civil? If you guys are going to argue, can you not do it while still manhandling me? My eardrums are going to burst!’

‘Actually, they might even tear my arms out of their sockets if this continues longer!’

He tried calling out to the two students to stop but his shouts were overpowered by the intense fire of insults of the two students.

The heat from the weather, the push and pull of many hands and the overwhelming volume around were one of the many factors to Mingrui’s growing agitation.

With a rather heavy jerk of his shoulder, Mingrui thought he was going to be dragged to another club or team trying to scout him.

‘Why are all the students at this Academy so forceful? If anything, just don’t drag me into another argument!’

Unexpectedly his prediction was proved wrong as he was actually pulled out of the crowd and farther off to a blind spot in the corner of the school building.

Mingrui kneeled down, trying to catch his breath.

“Are you feeling alright, young man?” A man’s voice asked.

Mingrui slowly stood up and nodded toward his savior. “Yes, thank you.” Only managing a quick response of gratitude.

“How about I get you some water? There’s some bottles inside.”

“Ah- Thank you. That would be nice,” he answered with a sudden clumsiness in his English.

‘Wow. The only time my English fails me now is this time? Why now?’

He sighed and sincerely internally reminded himself to study English even more diligently so that in the future he wouldn’t have any slip ups.

He followed the man rather calmly, certainly a big contrast to his internal monologuing. The walk was a quiet and ambient one.

Now that Mingrui’s eyes have stopped spinning and refocused, he took in the appearance of his savior.

‘He seems to be older than me and his skin seems a bit tanned. Do men in Loen grow out their hair? A fine looking reddish-brown waistcoat with dress shoes. That’s a lot of clothing to be wearing for such a sunny and busy day here. From the looks of it, chances are that he might work here at the Academy?’

His analysis was paused when the man led him into the inside of the building to a slightly less grand door than the front entrance of the building. All previous inferior thoughts Mingrui had about what lay inside were crumbled the moment he stepped inside.

‘Are these… marble floors? What’s with the avan gant looking pillar walls? Wait- is that even a thing? This red wine colored carpet really gives one the feeling of a politician’s residence or work office.’

Nonetheless, the cool air conditioning that blasted in his face was more exquisite than any interior design in his opinion.

‘Sweet air conditioning!’

Mingrui allowed himself to be bathed in the cool air for a moment.

Though, he couldn’t stand there for long to appreciate the chilly atmosphere. He continued following the man from the previous opening marble floor room to an exalted carpeted hallway with gold encrusted navy wallpaper. In each section down the hall there hung paintings of many regal and empowering looking figures. The portraits definitely added a dominating influence in the hall for anyone who entered.

Mingrui’s sharp eyes manage to catch some brief descriptions written on small plaques beneath the paintings. There he captured some rather high ranking people.

‘From the Nobel Peace awards to even some foreign politicians! Do they all support this Academy? Or they could even be alumni?’

The two passed a couple of doors before the man led Mingrui to a room with a more comfortable and modern interior setting. Though the room still gave off a cold feeling, it was definitely less intimidating than the hallway.

The man pointed at a small sofa and gestured for him to sit there and rest. The room Mingrui was in seemed to be a reception room. The sofa didn’t feel like a stiff piece of cushion, but akin to a comfortable cloud when he sat on it.

“Here,” said the man, passing the bottle of water to him.

Immediately chugging the water after receiving is rather rude in Mingrui’s eyes, but what else was he supposed to do when presented with an antidote to his dry throat.

While silently chugging the water down, his thoughts were rather chaotic.

‘Are you really so weak that you can’t survive without water as soon as you leave the safety of the house? Barely an hour has passed and I already feel so burnt out… Aiyo, am I really this unhealthy? Maybe I should start exercising more often…’

His benefactor sat down next to him and asked, “Are you one of the new students here?”

“Yes,” Mingrui answered, “I was trying to get my information at the front, but I ended up getting lost in the crowd.” He scratched his face and gave the man a pitiful smile, showing how thankful he was to the man.

The man nodded and stood up once more. “I’ll show you a less crowded way to the front when you’re finished resting.”

Following suit, Mingrui also stood up. “Ah it’s okay, I wouldn’t want to waste your time by staying here. We can go now, I’m already well rested enough.”

Though a bit surprised by the youth’s insistent words, he nods his head and responds, “Alright then.”

He gestured to a door leading to another hall as Mingrui got up to follow him. The only sounds heard was the clacking of the man’s dress shoes on the cold stone floors and awkward silence permeating the area. It was only after a few sharp turns around the corridors did they reach wide double doors.

The man opened and held the door open for Mingrui. “Here’s the main entrance area. Registration is over there,” he says, pointing to a line and spread tables farther away.

“I wish you a successful year.”

And with that, he smiled and bid goodbye.

Mingrui nodded, “Thank you very much.”

He watched as the man turned away from him and disappeared into the surrounding crowd.

It was only now when Mingrui was alone did he realize it was suddenly much louder than the quiet hallways he walked through.

He shook his head and sighed, ‘I guess I better line up.’

He started walking toward the ever growing lines at the registration tables.

The white folding tables looked like they were lined up for miles. Each table was stuffed to the brim from paper documents, baskets and bins, stationary items, and definitely the latest modern technology the school could get their hands on.

Academy students seemed to be the ones helping people get their information. A busy chatter could be heard clearer and clearer as Mingrui walked to get in line.

Scouring for a mildly shorter line, he finally came across a surprisingly empty line. It seemed that the Academy student just finished helping a new student. Though the student looked like they faced an uncomfortable situation…

Of course, Mingrui was pleased that he could finally get what he came here for done.

‘Great! When I’m done with this, I can either explore the campus or go into the city and shop. But I’d rather get some time shopping and get familiar with the campus in case I get lost tomorrow. Checking the time… It’s 9:20, if I need to get back home around 6 pm, I should spend an hour or two here and spend the rest of the time exploring the city. Yes, that’ll do.’ Mingrui nodded to himself, satisfied with his planning.

“Next please,” the female student behind the table called out. That was Mingrui’s cue it's his turn.

“Name and ID code,” the girl said chillingly, “your ID code is the long strand of numbers you got in the acceptance email.”

He was a bit startled by the student’s rapid fire directions. Not to mention, the girl emitted an icy aura from the moment she spoke.

“Ah- yes.” Mingrui quickly pulled out his phone and searched his starred inbox for the email. Turning his phone to show the girl, he also introduced himself. “Zhou Mingrui, or Mingrui Zhou. My surname usually comes first.”

The expressionless student slightly nodded and started tapping and swiping away on the school provided iPad.

While she was pulling up Mingrui slowly noticed a familiarity about this unusually quiet and collected student.

‘A frosty, silent demeanor… Have I met someone like her? …Oh wait- is this the girl who picked the foreign exchange students up from the airport? I suppose this school needs plenty of people to work efficiently on Opening Day…’

Another thing he noticed was that there was a name tag she wore that he didn’t notice was there from the airport.

Sharron.

A noise from the clatter of the doll-like girl putting down the ipad had pulled Mingrui out of his thoughts. She then pulled out a couple of sheets just printed out from the portable printing machine on the side of the table. She put the documents and a small card in front of him.

She started explaining by pointing at various sections on the documents. “This is your normal schedule for the entire semester and if there’s any changes, you’ll be notified in the school app. I’ll show you how to download and set up the app after I finish explaining.”

Mingrui nodded, paying attention to every little thing she said.

“Your schedule includes the classroom’s number, teacher, and duration of the class. Any questions about classes will be answered by your homeroom teacher next morning. And this card contains all your locker information in where it’s located and its password. Please bring all your needed supplies into the school tomorrow. Now I’ll show you how to set up your account in the app.”

She took his phone from his side and set it beside her iPad. She tapped a few things on both devices and an app popped up on the home screen. Opening the app, she pointed out the following information needed to be filled out.

“Enter your name, birth date, residence here, school year, and your ID code.”

After he filled out the following information, the screen cleared to a welcome screen.

Welcome to Loen Academy of The Arts, Mingrui Zhou!

Pointing and tapping at a bunch of different app functions, the girl speedily explained everything concisely for him. “Notifications will pop up here on the main screen and update on irregular class schedules, emergencies, and general news. Here you can go to the school’s student homepage where you can connect to other students and also be notified of upcoming events. A digital copy of your schedule and locker information are on the information page and your grades are on this other page. It’s recommended to check your grades very often. You may also message your teachers and fellow students here should you have any questions. That should be all. If you have any other questions, I’ll answer them now.”

Mingrui shook his head, “No thank you, it was very helpful.”

The girl nodded and handed him the documents, card, and his phone. She slightly bowed and sent him off without expression.

— ------------------------------------------ —

Walking away from the large registration tables and now exiting from the grand front entrance, he had finished his most important task of the day.

Though he had wanted to explore the inside and find out where his classrooms are, the main area of the school where classrooms are located is closed off until tomorrow morning when classes start.

‘I guess I’ll take a walk outside around this school then. It might prove helpful to get used to this place. But I better avoid the clubs promoting outside… Since this place is so big, maybe there’s a silent spot somewhere here…’

He carefully put the documents and the card in a smaller pocket of his messenger bag that he had brought. Then he stalked off to the side around where the incoming crowd of people were still centered around the club stations.

The small path he had wandered off to had less people walking past than the large mob at the front of the building. The sunlight shown through from the intersecting tree branches and their summer green leaves onto the pathway. Birds chirping and small chatter of new students mixed in with the excitement and nervousness of starting classes the next day.

The path split off and winded past small fountains, gardens and gazebos, outdoor restrooms, classrooms, and small tables and benches. Mingrui continued his walk just like this, taking in the ambience and beautiful scenery of this prestigious academy. His thoughts were also occupied with calculating how much all this must’ve cost and how long it took.

Though he didn’t see the stables, he saw signs pointing to the Equestrian Field and Stables. As well as a sign directing to the way of the swimming pool.

Mingrui sighed and made up his mind. ‘I don’t even want to comprehend how much money was spent here…’

‘That butterfly conservatory, stables, gardens, gazebos, and fountains are all an extreme luxury, even for a private school. A fortune must’ve been invested… how many billionaire investors did they put forth onto this Academy?’

‘It’s a little intimidating to attend this school now… Better not tell people I attend this Academy unless I want to attract unnecessary attention.’

He’d spent about half an hour just taking a walk around the school. His feet already started to ache from the distance he had crossed. The shade provided from the trees greatly helped him battle the sweltering temperatures of almost midday sun. In front of Mingrui was the concrete path with detailed engravings on the surface, neatly trimmed and perfect bushes and flowers on the side, and a few trees partially blocking the sunlight.

Perhaps the Academy went for a royal castle garden aesthetic when constructing the campus.

‘Damn it. I should’ve learned that it was going to be this hot outside. I thought it was just because I was being pulled around like a rag, but this place is way too hot… Should I go to a store nearby to seek refuge?’

Mingrui started to fan himself using his own hands.

‘It’s too bad I don’t have a fan right now.’

Mingrui firmly decided as soon as he figured out how to exit the back garden pathway of the Academy he would go shop downtown.

Finally he saw a sign pointing to the front entrance. This boosted his morale plenty to endure the sun for a couple more minutes. When he saw a glimpse of the familiar crowd and club stations, he immediately swiped on his phone for directions to the downtown mall.

Walking out from the shrubbery, he put on his headphones and strided off to the side of the crowd. He managed to avoid the crowd and reach the exit without anyone trying to recruit him or bump into him.

The exit was also a bit flooded with people coming in and out, so Mingrui stood under a shady tree a couple feet away to catch his breath. Any small breeze was greatly appreciated by him.

He briefly touched the back of his neck, feeling the moist sweat forming into drops and dripping down his back.

Looking back at the Academy sign on the gates, the name Loen Academy of The Arts sounded even more intimidating than ever.

Mingrui turned his head back around and looked down at the map directions on his phone.

‘Ah whatever, it’s so hot here. I should probably catch a bus to reach downtown.’

Chapter Text

Mingrui managed to somehow catch the bus headed for downtown.

The doors to the bus opened and he scanned his phone to pay, and then found a single seat by the window. He waited for the bus to close its doors and depart for downtown. Comfortably relaxed in his seat, he admired the moving changes of scenery out the window.

‘Sitting down feels so rewarding after walking forever!’

He was going to make the most of every air conditioned area he comes across in Loen before the chilly autumn air arrives!

— ------------------------------------------ —

“Melissa! You coming?”

Though the bell had rung for lunch time, Melissa Moretti was still taking notes at her desk.

“Mm, coming!” she replied back.
She closed her notebook and put away everything on her desk into her bag beside her. Quickly grabbing her lunch box and bottle, she met up with her friends waiting for her out the classroom door.

“I heard they’re serving the special pastries in the cafeteria today!” said Selena.

Elizabeth gasped, “Really?”

Selena nodded with certainty. “Don’t blame me if you two can’t get any, because I’m going to be the first in line!”

And with that, she sped off ahead, sprinting in the direction towards the school cafeteria.

“Wait up!” exclaimed Elizabeth.

Melissa and Elizabeth both started to run after their friend. The clacking noise from their shoes resounded in the empty hallways.

Melissa breathed restlessly and heaved out, “It’s not possible for you to be first in line anyways! There’s probably plenty of people already lined up in front of you!”

“Duh!” Selena retorted, “That’s why I was trying to hurry you along back there! Even if I’m not first, we might still have a chance!”

Melissa jokingly scoffed while Elizabeth giggled at their bickering.

When they reached the cafeteria there were plenty of students already chowing down their meals, and the special pastries that they lined up for.

“Aw… Were we too late?” said Elizabeth, stopping when she entered.

“I’m not giving up until I get official confirmation!” said Selena. She walked up to the cafeteria line where they sell snacks occasionally if the students ever feel hungry during breaks.

“Hi, Mr. Alec, we were wondering if there were still some special pastries left?” asked Selena in her most sweetest and persuasive tone.

“Sorry to disappoint you, but I’m pretty sure everyone already snatched them up!” Mr. Alec gestured toward the empty metal plates behind him.

“Actually, you’re in luck! There’s one more left!” said Ms. Jane from the back. She tossed the wrapped up pastry towards Alec. Selena immediately opened up her coin pouch to pay for it.

“Thank you, Ms. Jane!” Selena called out to the back.

Mr. Alec handed her the pastry and said, “Enjoy your lunch!”

— ------------------------------------------ —

When Selena found Elizabeth and Melissa sitting at their usual table on the patio, she came back with a big grin.

“So? Were there any left?” Melissa asked curiously.

Selena threw the pastry in Elizabeth’s hands and smiled, “You guys better thank me for sharing it with you two!”

“We love and appreciate you, Oh Selena the Great!” Elizabeth said with dramatics.

Melissa applauded Selena as she took an expressive bow before sitting down with them.

“Now! Let’s open it up and see what it is!” Selena said with great anticipation.

Melissa munched away on the sandwich she had made with the leftover lamb from last night’s dinner while watching Selena and Elizabeth tearing away at the packaging of the pastry.

“This is…”

Melissa couldn’t help the suspense taking over her. “Oh, what is it?”

Selena held up the pastry for them all to see.

“A croissant?...” said Elizabeth.

Melissa started laughing, “So the mystery pastry for this month is a croissant, huh?”

“I cannot believe I came all this way for a croissant,” Selena sighed and pushed the croissant away from her.

“Well I sure can,” said Melissa. She took out a knife from her lunch box and sliced the croissant in even pieces. She sliced the smaller end parts to make one serving portion and the middle bigger parts for two serving portions. This allows for everyone to get an equal amount of a serving instead of just number based divided.

“Come on, are you not going to eat it?” asked Melissa, already taking a bite out of her portion.

Elizabeth reached for hers and told her friend, “Selena, if you don’t want yours I can eat it.”

“No no no! I’ll eat it!” Selena exclaimed, quickly grabbing her portion as well.

The two girls laughed at their friend’s sudden change of mind.

“It would be bad if we didn’t eat this bread after getting it anyways.” Melissa frequently likes to remind her friends not to waste food. Saying that it’s a luxury for many people to be able to have access to delicious food.

“Hey… This bread isn’t that bad,” Selena commented.

Elizabeth nodded, “I know right! It practically melts in your mouth! I think there’s some cheese in this too!”

Within two seconds, Selena had already gobbled down the bread in her hands.

Melissa contemplated the taste slowly in her mind: ‘Indeed, the cheese goes perfectly well with the grains of the bread…’

Selena wiped her hands off and announced, “I’ll definitely buy this if I ever see this at the bakery!”

Elizabeth giggled at her friend’s enthusiasm.

After the girls finished the bread, they ate their actual lunch they had brought. They’d talk and gossip as they ate, like any other regular girls. Though, their friend group is normally larger. But due to their other friends not studying for the recent quiz, they had to take the makeup quiz during lunch.

Changing the subject, Elizabeth suddenly remembered some news she remembered this morning. “This morning before homeroom, I heard that Loen Academy is opening its doors tomorrow for the new semester!”

Selena nodded, “Mhm! My elder brother is attending the Academy as a second year student this semester.”

Elizabeth’s eyes glimmered with intrigue. “It’s really amazing how your brother is attending the Academy! I bet everyone wishes they could attend! I heard it’s super difficult to graduate! Some even drop out to attend a regular private school toward the end because the curriculum is so complex!”

Melissa thought: ‘Then I hope Klein is able to persevere through it…’

“Oh right! Didn’t you say that you’re hosting a Loen Academy student?” asked Elizabeth, turning her head to Melissa.

Selena rapidly turned her attention towards Melissa. “Are they one of the Academy’s new foreign students for the new international program?”

Both of her friends looked at Melissa intently, waiting for her to give them an answer.

Melissa tried to avoid their gaze but ended up slowly muttering out the answer. “Ha..ha… Well… Yes…”

That was a fatal mistake because then the two kept badgering her with all sorts of questions.

“Are they a girl or boy?”

“Which country are they from?”

“Even better, what’s their name?”

“Did you ask how they got accepted?”

Selena lightly gave Elizabeth a small pat on the head for that question. She jokingly scoffed, “Obviously they took the entry exams to be even listed in the Academy’s options! I bet it’s super hard! I mean, my elder brother has studied for practically his whole childhood for a chance at the Academy!”

Elizabeth awkwardly laughed but added, “But I bet it’s even more difficult because they hosted entrance exams in different countries! Think about all those geniuses competing for a spot!”

Melissa hoped that Selena’s comment would throw off the barrage of questions, but Elizabeth brought it right back.

“So? Please tell us, Melissa!” Elizabeth pleaded with puppy eyes.

Melissa sighed, “Alright, alright, I’ll tell you guys…”
She cleared her throat and she could feel the intense focus on her. But before she could start, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch time.

“Oh well! Time to head back to class!” Melissa said, grabbing her lunch box and bottle and rushed out of the cafeteria.

“Hey! You can’t leave without saying anything! Melissa?” Selena and Elizabeth both called out to their friend.

Elizabeth and Selena grabbed their stuff and chased after their friend back to the classroom until they finally cornered her.

Out of breath, Elizabeth heaved, “Just answer one of them, please?”

Melissa sighed and accepted her fate. “He’s a student from Asia.”

That was all she said before throwing her bag across her shoulder and heading off to her next class.

Selena poked her head out the door and called out to Melissa, “Which country?”

Melissa shouted back in response, “I gotta make it to Biology! See you in Study Period!”

Selena crossed her arms and sighed, “Oh well, I guess we could always try again later.”

“There’s quite a lot of countries in Asia,” said Elizabeth, thinking of the options.

“Enough of that now, let’s head to class, Elizabeth,” said Selena, grabbing her friend’s hand and leading them down the hallway to their next class together.

— ------------------------------------------ —

Next Stop: Backlund Downtown

The bus had arrived at Mingrui’s destination. Viridescent Shopping Centre of Backlund.

“We’ve arrived at our destination. Please gather all your belongings with you. Thank you for riding with Loen Public Transportation.”

Mingrui pulled his headphones down around his neck and grabbed his messenger bag before exiting the bus.

“Hm…” He glanced around his surroundings and then swiped open the directions for the Viridescent Shopping Centre.
‘It’s around the block, so it should only take a few minutes to walk there.’

Thus he started to walk down the streets of the city metropolis.

Mingrui took in the subtle details he noticed about Backlund that share or contrast in details back home. Though there weren’t much differences, as cities were about the same anywhere. The small debris/litter scattered to the side, the smell of smoke/gas, the bustle of people and vehicles.

‘The only clear difference is that this city has more modern buildings and almost all the people drive expensive cars and everyone is dressed so spiffy.’

Taking in the appearances of others he saw as he walked, Mingrui started getting self conscious of his own attire.

‘Maybe I should’ve dressed more respectable looking?’

He stopped at the crosswalk in heavy thought at this question.

‘If I’m going to be attending the Loen Academy, then I should start dressing like it then, right?... Now that I think of it, this school seems to be a really big deal to everyone… If I don’t dress more carefully outside of classes, then maybe other students will start to denounce me because I don’t dress up to their level of prestige… Then, should I get more clothes at the mall? But then I’d be spending a lot of money…’

The walk sign turned on and Mingrui started to cross. It’d only be a couple of seconds until he’d turn to face Backlund’s famed shopping mall.

‘You know what, I’ll just pick up anything at a reasonable price and suitable there.’

Little did he know, inflation does exist. And this is Backlund. Fine clothing doesn’t exactly come cheap. The finest attire Mingrui might wear this year will most likely just be his Academy uniform.

He hadn’t even turned to face the mall when he spotted passersby carrying luxury brand named shopping bags and their attire displayed their clean and comfortable living style. If that wasn’t a sign of anything he was going to face in the coming days, then the sign pointing to a massive parking lot saying Valet Parking surely sent him the message.

Revolving doors with a just as grand sign as the Academy’s was hung above him.

Viridescent Shopping Centre

‘At least I know I’m in the right place…’

He entered the mall through the revolving doors and a very tall and expansive chandelier greeted him from the quite possibly, sky high ceiling. Diamonds, crystals, you name it, were reflecting the light coming in from the glass ceiling.

He thought: ‘Even Dubai wouldn’t be this excessive…’ right after walking a few steps inside.

If he didn’t feel underdressed a few minutes ago, he was feeling it now.

The mall had shops from your local casual but expensive brands to private luxury named stores. Some were even historical sites dating back a century, exclusive to the country. (Quite hard to believe, isn't it?)

Looking at the time, Mingrui’s phone showed 12:47 am. But even without the time could he tell it was time for lunch from the discomfort in his stomach.

He walked up to a board showing the map of the mall and quickly found the food court.

‘So… Forward, right and then left.’

The shiny, glistening floors reflected every person’s reflection as they walked. Stores displayed their newest and trendiest items at the windows. Mingrui could see his own reflection up against the glass, and right through his reflection was probably a million dollar watch he definitely needed to sell his soul if he so desired it.

He turned his head away and sighed, taking a left turn to reveal the so-called ‘food court.’

And oh my indeed it is…

Picture this, if the second you stepped inside the mall you saw a ginormous delicate flower chandelier basically dressed in glittering diamonds, what might you suppose lies in the food court?

(Suppose you’re never going to find out until Mingrui comes to terms with it)

‘...I’m going to get some barbecue over there…’

He decided upon a safer and less intimidating choice of cuisine. Perhaps he’ll try one of those more impressive restaurants later when he adjusts to life here(which will probably never happen).

Ignoring the over the top glamorous decor on a certain side of the food court, Mingrui went to a Korean barbecue store that looked more– urban friendly.

Though, this wasn’t your regular food court store where you just simply order and they hand you your food in a takeout looking box. No, this was an actual store-like set up. The store itself had its own tables/grills and chairs with a fencing around them.

He took a seat at a small table for two in the corner, closest to the large indoor fountain set in the center and below the flower chandelier.

Looking at the menu(mostly the prices), Mingrui picked some simple meat dishes, some vegetables, and a nice cool bottle of sweet tea to accompany the grilled oily dishes.

Instead of a waiter coming to get his order, there was a tablet installed beside the table that he could order with.

‘I didn’t know this part of Europe was this highly developed already…’

Back home, the only places he went to that had such a ‘fancy’ way of ordering were hotpot places. Other than that, he had to communicate with people the old fashioned way.

The place wasn’t overcrowded with people so his food came quickly.

An employee came over with a cart of his order and some utensils. They first turned on the grill under the table and then placed two plates of meat, one plate of vegetables, a bottle of chilled sweet tea and tongs on the table.

“Please enjoy,” said the employee.

“Thank you,” Mingrui said in response.

He took the tongs and started placing the meat on the grill along with a few vegetables.

Dong!

The noise had disrupted the usual chatter around the mall. Though after a few seconds, everyone returned back to their conversations.

Mingrui turned his attention to a massive and impressive clock centered on the wall. The clock’s hands pointed exactly at 1:00.

‘Wow, I must be eating lunch pretty late…’

He turned his attention back to his grill and flipped the meat over.

‘Ah shoot! They’ve been cooked really fast!’

The cooked side of the meat has now been turned over, showing a mouth watering shot of tender and chewy cooked meat.

He was feeling impatient waiting for it to be fully cooked.

In his mind he screamed: ‘Please hurry so I can eat!’

Chapter Text

When all the dishes had finally been thoroughly cooked, Mingrui took no hesitation in digging in.

Famished as he was, it took him quick work to finish his lunch.

He took the last bite of the beef and set the chopsticks down on the bowl as if claiming victory.

To his surprise, when he had called over a waiter to settle the bill, the worker had told him he could use the tablet beside him instead.

Mentally he lampooned: ‘How embarrassing! Have I really been behind the times?’

He sighed as he grabbed the tablet to pay the bill.

Once he finished, he gathered his bag and left his seat.

An employee, who noticed him leaving, bowed as Mingrui passed by. “Thank you! Please come back next time!”

As an instinct developed from his homeland, he nodded at the employee, to acknowledge and thank them for the restaurant’s service.

With the noisiness of the restaurants behind him, he walked toward the fountain in the center to get some space to plan where to go next.

Mingrui stood amidst the people passing. He swiped through his phone’s inbox to review the digital receipt that had recently been sent in.

‘A meal here is not too expensive, plus it’s also tasty.’

‘Ahhh!! The more I think about it, I miss the BBQ stands back home!’

He sobbed internally for a bit before making his way to the directions of the stores.

Perhaps he had eaten with a little too much enthusiasm; he took this chance to digest all that food while he walked around and window shopped.

Store by store, window by window, there was no lack of luxurious and stylish clothing on each mannequin.

Each mannequin was fitted with a stylish ensemble. Neat, but not without careful details; Class, but not boringly plain as one would expect; Complex, but not confusing.

There were the occasional people stopping just outside the store to admire and stare at the newly designed trendy pieces of the season from the stores.

“Ah! I wish I had enough allowance to afford this!” complained a girl standing outside a luxury store with her friend.

“No allowance could possibly buy anything from this store! They only allow previous loyal customers to even look at any of their purses!” huffed her friend.

“Loen fashion truly is one in a million!” commented a passerby with a group.

On a poster tied to a bridge from overhead said: Loen fashion truly is one in a million.

High praise is only reserved for true luxurious and high end fashion, the usual expensive and overrated brands.

But that doesn’t only go to this country’s more expensive companies, even branch companies of cheaper brands get influenced by the stylish trends of Backlund.

Mingrui paused before a mannequin. The outfit it showcased was a dark themed piece from the men’s collection.

He was attracted to the respectable and professional air of it. Coolness like Batman– but less rugged?

He took one glance at the price tag at the bottom and returned to being a passerby.

‘No way I can possibly afford that.’

He sighed and moved on to viewing other stores.

Ah… one can only dream of such luxuries.

So, he kept searching for a store that looked like it’s actually within his budget.

Finally, he passed upon a store that looked moderately priced enough not to be a luxury brand nor a cheap franchise.

It seemed to be a standalone store only opened here.

The outside and inside were decorated with simplicity, colors of black, gold, and white. The place looked classy with the detailed thin lining of gold coloring on the pitch black glassy walls. Tall skinny windows were lined up side by side on the outside to allow people to view each mannequin’s outfit singularly instead of given spaces between each piece which would give the viewer too much information to comprehend.

When he stepped inside on the black tiles, the inside was rather– larger than he assumed.

There was a lot of space in the store, enough that he could only see a few heads poking from the very back of the store.

It also seems that there are also quite a lot of people shopping in the store besides him.

Mingrui first started looking through a clothing rack in the men’s section, and was drawn to a neat looking pair of black dress pants.

Though upon looking at the price tag, he immediately placed the pants back on the rack and backed away.

Mingrui turned away and refocused his attention on a nice collared shirt behind him.

‘I’m pretty sure the Loen currency doesn’t have that many digits…’

His eyes were still quite wide from the ‘surprise’ as he wandered around.

He tried to calm his mind down and started looking at less expensive pieces. Though that didn’t really work.

Mingrui could hear bits and pieces of a conversation between a few shoppers while he moved about the store.

“Did you know this store uses imported silk from overseas?”

“Actually– I think I’ve heard about a couple celebrities getting their clothes from here.”

“No! Apparently the minister’s nephews and nieces occasionally come here too!”

Mingrui’s face rapidly darkened.

‘Imported silk? Celebrities? Government family members?’

He dropped his head and sighed, ‘This is not going to be an easy shopping trip...’

— ------------------------------------------ —

[3:14 pm, Viridescent Shopping Centre, Backlund]

In the end, Mingrui only emerged from the store with three purchased items (it was really pricey).

All three clothing pieces were suited for a more formal event. But by looking at it from the Loenese people, it would definitely be considered business casual.

After that first store, he made up his mind that they were the most expensive pieces of clothing that he’ll ever buy this entire month– if not, his entire stay here.

‘Hah… I'll try my luck with store brands I’m probably more familiar with– that are cheap…’

Stepping out of the pitch black interior of the store with a bag, he walked a few steps past a few stores to spot an H&M.

‘A clothing franchise ought to cost less than the other stores here, right?’ he thought.

So Mingrui took his chances.

— ------------------------------------------ —

[4:46 pm, Viridescent Shopping Centre, Backlund]

After H&M Mingrui had already visited quite a number of other stores in search of a ‘good deal’.

When he finally came out of the last store, he carried more shopping bags in his hands than when he first entered.

He stepped to the side beside a wall outside the store to count all of his shopping bags.

“2…4…6…8?”

Mingrui took a deep breath in and gave himself a mental note of his current spending situation.

‘Okay… Maybe I spent a bit too much?...’

He shook his head and thought of an excuse to back it up.

‘No no no, I couldn’t possibly NOT help myself to the sale sections…’

‘But– how could anybody leave so many good clothes to waste in the sale section? Another man’s trash is another’s treasure. Plus, so many clothes in the sale section today were my size!’

But then again, he couldn’t flat out ignore how much was spent even though a deal was at sake.

Mingrui sighed and went through his receipts.

He awkwardly laughed and thought: ‘Any glance at any one of these receipts would send any auntie or uncle back home right into the hospital…’

Usually Mingrui wouldn’t spend this much in one go, but being in a new environment sure changes you.

‘It’s for a good cause; now I can be prepared for any urgent situation that calls for the importance of my appearance.’

Seeing how much he had already to carry and how much he had already spent, it was best to retire for the day.

He sorted out which bags were in which hand to even out the weight in both arms.

Then he wobbled toward the direction of the front entrance of the mall.

— ------------------------------------------ —

[5:00 pm, Viridescent Shopping Centre, Backlund]

He had passed the food court, then the grand chandelier and finally reached the front entrance.

The moment he stepped from the marble floors onto the cement ground, he could already feel the temperature change and rise 10x.

He sighed and complained internally: ‘Air conditioning really shouldn’t be taken for granted…’

Mingrui turned his head back one more time to gaze upon the grandiose mall.

Glass doors that gave anyone outside a clear view of the inside. A taste of luxury a common simpleton could never afford.

There was no going around it, it’s clear that it’s a barrier between the poor and the rich. Separating the impoverished streets from the life of the fortunate.

But perhaps that says more about the country’s situation more than the people.

And to the eyes of a wary foreigner like Klein, this tells him the streets of Backlund are like any other European streets.

‘People say whenever you travel to any European countries you should always hold tight to your belongings in case a pickpocketer tries to steal anything from you…’

During the short walk back to the bus stand, Mingrui made sure to clench his fists together to hold onto the shopping bags even tighter.

Past the crosswalk and walk a bit further from the KFC, there was a bench with a roof covering beside the bus stand.

Checking the time on his phone, it looked like he’d have to wait at least ten minutes for the next bus to Tingen.

The heat wasn’t getting any better even though it’s already mid-evening. It was a sort of humid feeling that made you feel trapped.

His head was starting to feel a bit fuzzy from the heat; he took a seat on the bench under the covering from the roof.

Sweat dribbled down from his forehead and down to his chin. His back was already feeling a bit too moist for comfort.

‘Is it possible that if I set these shopping bags down they’ll get stolen as soon as I turn my attention away?’

He was still clenching the shopping bags in his hands; however, they were getting sweaty and tired.

But no matter how sweet the idea was to let go, the possibility of stolen items on his first day here was enough to outweigh any satisfaction from a split moment of rest.

Mingrui shook his head, ‘I’ll just keep this close to me then…’

He gathered all the shopping bags together and hugged them close to his chest.

‘Can’t believe it’s only 30 degrees celsius right now…’

— ------------------------------------------ —

[5:30 pm, Tingen]

The dismissal bell that rings for the end of classes for the day sounds like bliss to all of the students.

A few minutes later, the floodgates opened and a steady flow of chattering teens walked out.

Many students have already begun talking to their friends about what they would be doing in their free time now that they’re done with classes for the day.

“So… anyone wanna go to the movies with me?”

“Who goes to the movies on a weekday?”

“I got prep school later, so no.”

“Sorry! I gotta stay at school later for basketball practice!”

Such was a slice of the usual conversations between the students.

Inside the school, Melissa Moretti grabs her backpack on the floor and turns for the door to exit the school building alongside with her other robotics team members.

Her eyes caught the massive writing on the whiteboard before she left the classroom.

Next to the door was a large whiteboard with the words, UPCOMING ROBOTICS FALL SEASON COMPETITION written on it.

She takes one more look at it before swiftly making her exit.

‘Things are going to get a lot busier nowadays…’

Regular class schedule is that students would be dismissed at 5:30 pm everyday after attending their last class period, which was for any association they were a part of.

It was a requirement for all students to join a club, team, or a council of sorts. If that didn’t interest them, extra study time was given. Anything other than those things was considered slacking off.

As Melissa stepped out of school grounds, her phone vibrated with a notification.

She situated her backpack to her chest and unzipped the pocket to pull out her phone.

The new message popped up on her lockscreen that was a cute frog contraption she made a while ago.

Benson
I’m gonna be slightly late to dinner again, sorry!

A moment later, another message popped up on the screen.

Benson
And remember to buy some bread from Mrs. Smyrin!

Melissa sighed and chuckled at her brother’s urgent reminder.

“Does he not remember he already told me that this morning?” she mumbled under her breath.

She opened up her messages app and texted back.

Melissa
Anything else I need to get?

Benson
Not that I recall

Melissa
👌

Benson
Thanks! Cya at home!

Melissa smiled and put her phone back in her backpack pocket.

‘I wonder what I should make for dinner tonight…’

— ------------------------------------------ —

[5:45 pm, Moretti Residence]

Dropping the bags on the ground for a moment, Mingrui searched for the keys in his messenger bag. After fumbling around for a few seconds, he inserted the key into the lock and pushed the door open.

“Home sweet home,” he sighed.

He trudged through the doorway with hands full of shopping bags. It looked like a mother coming back home from a grocery run rather than a fruitful spending spree.

He took his shoes off and placed them on the rack before somehow opening the door to his bedroom (gently kicking the door to push it open) and dropping all the bags on the floor.

‘I’ll sort the clothes out later…’

Checking the time, he got back within an hour and it didn’t seem like the siblings were home.

First: get himself a glass of water.

Second: change the thermostat to a lower temp.

Sure, the thermostat was just right there, but a man’s hydration comes first.

Mingrui grabbed a glass from the cupboard and rinsed it before pouring water into it from a pitcher.

He emptied the glass within seconds and then poured himself another glass. This time, he steadily took his time to sip the water.

‘Next time, I’ve got to bring a bottle of water with me.’

Finishing his second glass, he poured himself a third one and moved to the thermostat in the hallway.

He pressed the down arrow a few times before he heard the air conditioning system start in the vents. A few moments later, he could feel the cool air down his neck.

Air conditioning couldn’t have felt better than ever.

Just then, Mingrui could hear the faint noise of rustling at the front door and a key being inserted. The door was pushed wide open and revealed the person behind the door.

Melissa appeared to have her bag on her back and a cute flower patterned reusable bag in her hand.

“Oh, you’re back already?” she asked as she slid off her shoes and put them on the rack with her free hand.

Mingrui took a seat on one of the high chairs at the kitchen counter.

He took another sip of water from his glass.

“I only just got back from the mall.”

Melissa placed the bag on the counter and raised an eyebrow. “The mall?”

“The Iridescent Shopping Centre downtown,” he elaborated.

She widened her eyes in bewilderment. “That mall? You went shopping at one of the most expensive places here?”

Mingrui awkwardly laughed and thought: ‘Lunch wasn’t too pricey, and the most expensive place I went was that first store. But I can definitely say I’m not going shopping for a while…’

Though it wasn’t probably her place to say anything, a piece of advice can’t hurt anyone.

So Melissa put on her concerned and serious face. “Please do remember not to spend all your money in one go, Klein.”

Mingrui reassured her, “I know I know. I didn’t bring too many clothes with me because I figured I could go shopping for more here.”

‘Plus I wanted to make sure I had some more finer and local clothes to wear outside of the Academy, in case I ever get recognized…’ he thought in the back of his mind.

Thankfully, that explanation was good enough for her to back down— for now anyway…

“By the way, Benson is working a bit later tonight so it’ll just be the two of us for dinner,” she said, taking out the bread she bought from the bag.

Mingrui spun around in his chair to face the kitchen side.

“Does this happen often?” he asked.

Melissa turned to face him and looked to ponder his question.

“Sometimes? Though it’s all a blur when I think about it,” she gave her best answer, “from my memories, he’s always worked pretty hard.”

She moved to the pantry and placed the bread on the shelf.

Mingrui nodded. “Suppose we’ll have to reward him with a delicious dinner then.”

Melissa chuckled, “Thing is, I still have no idea what to do for dinner.”

She shifted towards the fridge and opened it to look inside.

“Hmm– I could make a stew, but we don’t have some of the ingredients…”

Mingrui gulped down the remaining contents of his glass and raised his hand to volunteer.

“I can go and get them for you.”
Melissa stood there and thought for a moment, then grabbed a notepad and pen and started scribbling. When she was done, she ripped the note off and gave it to Mingrui.

“Here’s what we’ll need,” she instructed.

“Alright, I’ll be back quick,” he said, getting his shoes on at the doorstep.

“Oh, I almost forgot–”

She hurriedly grabbed her phone from her backpack and asked, “What’s your phone number? I should probably make a group chat between us and Benson.”

Mingrui nodded, “Sure, my number is - - - - - - - - - - -.”

Melissa typed away and first put a contact name down and then made a group chat between her, Benson and Klein.

Mingrui quietly praised himself for thinking of getting a foreign phone number before coming to Loen.

‘It’s a lot more convenient to use a local number instead of such a faraway number. Besides, it’s not like I’m gonna be back home for most of the time if I’m spending all my highschool semesters here.’

His phone dinged with a new message notification.

Unknown
Alright, this is the group chat for the Moretti Family

Mingrui clicked on Melissa’s number profile to create a contact for her and then for Benson.

When he was done, Melissa grabbed the same cute flowered patterned reusable bag she used for him.

“Take this bag,” she said.

One look at his face could tell her that he had some reservations against this cute bag.

Anyone can tell the stark color and aesthetic contrast between that flower bag and Mingrui.

“Or would you rather with this bag?” she proposed as she pulled out another reusable bag from a drawer that looked more plain.

He nodded. “Yes please.”

Melissa giggled while handing him the bag at the doorstep.

“Oh– and, I’ll send you the directions to the grocery store,” she added, nearly forgetting.

She texted him and sent the directions to the nearest grocery store they usually go to.

Another notification of a text message popped up on Mingrui’s screen.

“Got it,” he told her, tapping on the directions link.

“Alright, I’ll be going now, unless you have any other things you need to tell me before you forget,” he teased.

Melissa shook her head, “Nope, get going now! Our dinner won’t be made out of nowhere!”

She practically pushed Mingrui out the door.

“Ahaha!” he laughed on his way out.

“See ya!”

Melissa smiled and slowly waved back to him and then shut the door behind her.

Perhaps then did Melissa Moretti really gain a new older brother then and there.

— ------------------------------------------ —

Getting to the grocery store was only a mere 7 minutes away by foot.

Mingrui had already gathered almost all the ingredients they needed for dinner easily.

‘Hm… Should I just get this bag of potatoes?’

The last thing he needed was some potatoes. But the question was: which one is the best?

Mingrui held two different bags of potatoes in hands. He contemplated both the pros and cons of either bag.

‘This one’s more expensive but it doesn’t have as many potatoes as this one…’

He sighed, “Quality over quantity is better after all.”

‘I mean… that’s what Auntie Wu would always say…’

Mingrui placed the more expensive bag in the basket and headed out for the self checkout section.

As he scanned and paid for the groceries, he couldn’t help but leave the store with some lingering regrets.

Mingrui clenched his fist and sobbed internally.

‘I could’ve saved half a pound on that other bag!’

Clearly– he was reluctant to part with the cheaper option.

The walk back was enough to calm him down luckily.

Little sprouts were grown in the cracks of the sidewalk with occasional yellow dandelions sprinkled here and there.
Old metal fences on top of brick walls were to his left and fast moving vehicles were to his right.

Though it’s still summer, the sun seemed to be retiring earlier.

The lamp post certainly struggled in its attempt to stay alight, flickering on and off. The local nats all flew in a frenzy towards the light.

The vibe of his surroundings gave him a sense of deja vu. All that was missing was the couple of street vendors.

A passing breeze tickled Mingrui’s cheek and rustled the surrounding tall weeds.

He thought: ‘The breeze is nice and subtle; the scenery is also very familiar…’

He breathed in the evening air, taking in the grassy smell of the local flora and fauna.

‘All of that is nice and all, but–’

Pah!!!

He slapped his forearm again, for the last five times in the past minute.

‘–this kind of place is a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes.’

Mingrui could already picture a swarm of mosquitoes in the grass beds, just waiting for him to pass by and strike.

This thought motivated him to walk even faster back home.

— ------------------------------------------ —

Melissa set the chopped garnishes off to the side of the chopping board and then focused on the meat.

She first chopped it up into small pieces and then set it off to the side. Taking out a frying pan from a lower cabinet, she set it on the stove and turned on the burner.

‘Hm… where did I put the oil?’

Turning around a couple times, she spotted it behind her.

“Ah! Here it is.”

She grabbed the oil and thoroughly poured a thin layer of oil on the frying pan before putting the meat in.

All was fine until she remembered a few minutes later she forgot to turn on the ventilator.

Melissa struggled, stretching her arm out and standing on her toes to reach for the ventilator above the stove. Little by little, she switched the button to On slowly.

“Phew, either I need to get taller fast or there needs to be a stool here.”

Taking out a spatula, she turned over the once red meat to reveal a light cooked color.

No spices were added but the slightly thick aroma of meat could be smelled around the house.

The last thing Melissa had was a juice box she got between classes after lunch, and liquids get digested pretty quickly.

Her drool was threatening to slip down out of her mouth and down her chin before she wiped it.

‘Aaaa….. When is Klein gonna get back?’

Chapter Text

He gave her an ‘ok’ sign before the two began working. They worked like this until four large potatoes later.

“Alright,” she said, dusting her hands off. “I think this is enough.” She dropped the chopped up ingredients and previously cooked meat in the now simmering pot.

“Anything else you need help with?” He washed his hands at the sink.

Melissa pointed to the plastic wrapped bottles on the counter. “Help me unpackage those spice bottles, please.”

Mingrui ‘easily’ bare handedly tore and separated the bundle of bottles from the plastic wrapping. He placed the spice bottles close to her on the side. Looking over her shoulder, he inquired,“Are you making stew?”

She nodded. “I’ve only made this dish a few times so I’m not very confident.” She held the ladle as she stared intently within the pot’s contents. Taking a few bottles for a few dashes into the mixture, she placed the lid on top of the pot for now to stew itself.

Melissa turned around to face Mingrui and gave him a wave of her hand. “All it needs to do now is to slowly cook. You’re free to go now.”

She made a ‘shoo-ing’ gesture and he nodded, thus promptly returning to the mess he had dropped off in the middle of his bedroom floor.

He poked his head out of his bedroom doorway. “Please inform me when it’s time to serve dinner, alright?”

Melissa gave him an ‘ok’ sign before she too returned to her bedroom. “I can promise you that it’ll be cooking for an extended period of time, so just relax, and we’ll probably be serving dinner after Benson comes home.”

‘Haha… that is if Benson doesn’t come home at midnight…’ But she kept that thought to herself, less it trouble the poor foreign student.

— ------------------------------------------ —

[7:46 PM, Moretti Residence]

In his spare time, Mingrui managed to organize all his belongings and create a system for cataloging all his clothes in the closet.

Though, his room wasn’t as homey as he’d hoped it would be after a day’s worth of shopping.

The sliding mirror door of the closet hid all evidence of a wardrobe, still leaving him a plain and basic bedroom with only a desk and chair with a bed.

“It’s okay, I’ll eventually gather a collection from my long stay.” Mingrui reassured himself.

Then a sudden thought popped into his head, pumping the breaks on his idea of a collection of junk. ‘Does that mean I have to bring all the things I collect from here all the way back home? My baggage might get called out for being overweight!’

He quickly shook that thought away. ‘No no no, even if I do have to bring it back with me, I’m sure the Academy’s planes don’t have a strict limit on the weight of baggage.’

‘And, there aren’t that many Chinese foreign students here at this school anyways!’

The reminder of him being one of those elite and lucky students who managed to come to the illustrious Academy completely slipped his mind.

After organizing his clothes, Mingrui was left with nothing to do.

The Moretti Home was pretty much silent until the faint sound of the door opening was heard.

“I’m home!” Benson announced his entry as he not so silently shut the door behind him.

Mingrui had already opened his bedroom door to go out and greet Benson.

“Welcome back,” he said.

The older sibling sighed heavily and explained his late arrival, “I never imagined my boss would make me work overtime for so long!”

Mingrui gave him a smile of sympathy in response to his plight.

“Speaking of which, where’s Melissa?” Benson tilted his head as his eyes searched for a trace of his sister.

“Usually, when I haven’t even opened the door, she’d stand at the doorstep waiting for me.”

“Ah, I believe she’s in her room,” Mingrui said, pointing towards Melissa’s room.

Benson had tossed his bag down on the sofa and grabbed a glass of water to chug down.

“Ah, is that so?” he spoke in between gulps. He placed the now empty glass down on the table, and took a deep breath in. “I assume it’s because she’s got a pretty important exam coming up soon. She practically blocks everything out when she’s in the zone studying.”

Said crazed student had just entered the room.

“Ah– Benson? You’re home already?” She coolly noticed his presence.

Her brother nodded and asked in return, “How did your intense studying go?”

“Intense?” She mocked her brother. “I wouldn’t say that, the assessment is only two weeks from now on.”

Mingrui thought: ‘Studying two weeks in advance? How much material are they getting tested on?’

Benson sighed. “There you go again, studying and preparing earlier than ever.”

Melissa ignored his comment. “Anyway,” she continued, “dinner will be ready in ten minutes.”

She took out three bowls out of the cabinet and placed them on the counter as she grabbed the cutlery from the drawer.

“Need any help?” Benson asked.

Melissa pointed to the cutlery and bowls as she stood beside the stew. “Can you set the table?”

“Sure, my dear sister.” Benson obliged, grabbing the bowls and cutlery.

“Anything I can do?” Mingrui chirped in.

Instead of saying ‘You don’t need to’ like she would usually do, Melissa finally gave in. “Get three glasses of water, will you?”

He nodded. “Alright.”

He set Benson’s cup that he previously used in his seat while he grabbed some cups from the cabinet for him and Melissa. Then he filled each glass with water from the pitcher.

A timer then rang from Melissa’s phone, signaling the stew was done. When she took off the lid, the warm aroma of beef and potatoes flooded the surrounding area.

Mingrui thought: ‘It smells really appetizing…’

Drool was already coming out of Melissa's mouth as she slowly stirred the stew around with the ladle.

“Need help carrying it to the table?” Benson asked, pointing at the pot. He had already walked beside her.

She nodded, putting the lid back on the pot.

Benson took hold of the handles on the side and lifted the pot up first before making his way to the dining table.

“Make way!” he exclaimed.

Melissa set a thick cloth in the middle of the table for the pot to be placed. Once Benson had put the pot down, she snatched her bowl up to get the stew.

When her own portion was done, she grabbed Mingrui’s bowl, giving him a large portion with a lot of meat. Benson’s bowl however, was sadly more potatoes than meat when she had given him his portion.

“Hey, how come Klein got more meat than me?” Benson filed a complaint.

Melissa merely ignored him and smiled at Mingrui. “You can always get more if you want, there’s no way we’ll be able to finish it without seconds.”

“Hey!” Benson exclaimed. “Favoritism!”

— ------------------------------------------ —

“What did you all do today?” Benson asked, finally shifting to another topic other than his work grievances.

Melissa scooped up another serving of stew into her bowl. “Today at school, they were selling the cafeteria’s special pastries,” she said. She slowly blew at the spoonful of soup and meat and then quickly shoved it in her mouth.
“It was a cheese croissant this time, but because there was only one remaining, we split it amongst ourselves.”

Mingrui took this moment to reminisce about his own school days. ‘ I remember rushing to the cafeteria too. Pastries always taste better after an exhilarating victory.’

He took a bite of the meat; it was tender and chewy.
The potatoes practically melted in the mouth, and the soup enhances both ingredients. With the spices mixed in, it was a very nostalgic and homey taste.

Back to the conversation at hand, Benson curiously asked, “How did you split it if there’s so many of you?”

Melissa shook her head. “Only Selena and Elizabeth joined me for lunch, the others had to retake a quiz.”

“Ah, youth…” Benson mused.

She rolled her eyes at her brother’s nonsense. “By the way–” She shifted the topic and turned to face Mingrui.
“How did the preview day of the Academy go?”

Mingrui set down his spoon and started to explain in detail the events that had transpired.

“Wow, is the Academy really that extravagant?” Benson set down his spoon in surprise.

Melissa calmed her face and took a sip of water. “I’ve heard from other students that the Academy even has a courtyard with a garden, gazebos, and fountains,” she said.

Mingrui thought: ‘Really? Then perhaps I should’ve walked farther into the garden pathways…’

Benson nodded and added, “They say tea parties attended by government officials are even hosted there.”

Mingrui couldn’t believe the words coming out of Benson’s mouth. ‘Tea parties attended by politicians?’ he thought.

“Klein, have you visited the Academy’s website?” Melissa asked.

He nodded. “I have. The couple of pictures online don’t serve seeing the real thing in person justice.”

“Did you know, the pictures on the website were taken by a student of the Academy?” she tipped him off.

Benson raised his eyebrows. “And the next thing you’ll be telling me is that the website was designed entirely by students.”

She shrugged. “It’s not impossible, I’ve heard that the Academy values autonomy.”

Mingrui spoke up, “I admit, I knew Loen Academy is basically one of the world’s finest established learning institutes, but it seems like its importance is held even higher here.”

“Everyone wants to be a student of the Academy,” Melissa said. “It’s the truth.”

Benson chuckled and teased, “So do you feel the same?”

A bit flustered by the sudden question, she paused for a moment. “No way,” she answered.

Seeing how she had soured the atmosphere, Melissa stood up and grabbed Mingrui’s bowl. “Enough about that! Tomorrow is your first day, so you should eat a lot!”

She vigorously poured a generous amount of the remaining stew from the pot in his bowl. When she gave him back his bowl, she gestured at Benson to hand his bowl over too. “Come on! This stew isn’t going to finish itself!”

Benson laughed as he passed his bowl to her.

Mingrui couldn’t help but also smile at Melissa’s cheerfulness.

— ------------------------------------------ —

Benson collapsed onto the sofa with a heave. He groaned.

Melissa teased her brother, “Have you had your fill?”

He nodded painfully.

“It’s impressive how we finished all that stew,” she commented.

Clutching his stomach, he pointed accusingly at his sister. “You’re the one who insisted on finishing it today!”

Irritatingly, she thought: ‘That’s because it’s such a waste if food isn’t eaten freshly!’

Melissa ignored her brother as she continued to scrub the dishes clean in the kitchen.

Then, Benson suddenly jolted up from his position on the sofa, and walked to the front door. Squatting down, he picked up a long rectangular box. He closed the door and then slowly walked back.

“Whatcha got there?” Melissa turned off the faucet and asked.

A large cursive ‘L’ logo was on the face of the box, along with the stick-on name tag for ‘Zhou Mingrui’.

“Kleinnnn!!!” he yelled in a sing-songy voice. “I think I have something you’ll really need for tomorrow!!!”

Mingrui stepped out of his room at the call. “What is it?”

Benson handed him the box. “See for yourself.”

Upon a few moments of inspection, Mingrui realized the box was tightly sealed (as if the inside contained something super confidential).

“Got any scissors I could use?” he asked.

Benson quickly grabbed one from the disorganized shelf and gave it.

“Thanks,” Mingrui said. He took the blade and cut through the thin tape.

“What’s inside?” Melissa peered over his shoulder.

Benson pointed at her and exclaimed, “Since when did you finish doing the dishes?”

She scoffed, “Just now.”

Mingrui couldn’t care less about what the two siblings were bickering about and set the box down on the floor.

What he lifted up from the box looked like a school uniform.

Melissa pointed and gasped, “Is that–”

“Definitely is...” Benson gulped.

Melissa quickly coughed and contained her squeals of excitement.

Benson nudged Mingrui with his shoulder. “C’mon, try it on!”

Mingrui internally teased the older: ‘Who’s really the one who wants to wear it?’ He turned his head around to look at Melissa for her thoughts.

There really was no way to hide the twinkle of eagerness in her eyes.

He smiled and nodded, finally giving in. ‘Guess I can’t refuse them…’

He sighed. “Give me a second to get changed.”

— ------------------------------------------ —

[9:06 PM, Moretti Residence]

The clock’s ticking resounded throughout the Moretti Residence.

Melissa Moretti suddenly stood up from her chair and spoke up. “Is it just me, or he’s taking his sweet time to get changed…”

Benson swung himself over the sofa and shouted. “That’s it! Klein! Come on out!” He marched on over to Mingrui’s room with Melissa behind him.

Knocking, she asked, “Klein? You done?”

A quiet shuffling could be heard from inside. The door opened up a crack, and Mingrui’s voice was heard.

“Uhm… Benson, could you help me with this neck-tie?”

Melissa criticized him internally. ‘Does he really not know how to wear a tie?’

“Of course!” the oldest agreed.“But it’s not like you’re butt-naked, rightttt?”

Mingrui immediately understood what the underlying meaning behind his words were.

‘He just wants me to show off my uniform first!’

“Fine.” He complied.

The door slowly opened, revealing Mingrui’s figure.

Now the two siblings took a nice– good, long look at the foreign student.

The three of them stood there for a couple minutes. Complete silence.

…

“So?...”

…

He scratched his neck.

…

“Oh come on, just say someth–”

“Klein.”

Mingrui immediately tensed up.

He recomposed himself and asked, “W-What? Is there something wr–”

“Please let me take a picture!” Benson exclaimed.

‘Eh? What?’ Mingrui tried to process the current situation.

Melissa slapped her brother on the back. “Just one?”

“I’m gonna go get my phone!” she said, before running off to her room.

Benson turned around in disbelief. “Wha-?”

“Before you dash off, can you help me with this tie?” Mingrui waved a gold embroidered black tie in his hand.

“Oh, right!” Benson hurriedly helped him to tie it while Mingrui observed him.

By the time Melissa got back, Mingrui was all dolled up and ready for the siblings’ photoshoot.

“So… what do you want me to do?” Mingrui scratched his head.

“Just stand there!” Benson gave him a thumbs up.

The shutter noise of Melissa’s phone went off several times while Benson started taking pictures from multiple angles.

‘This–’

“—feels so uncomfortable!’ Mingrui cried inaudibly.

“Alright, I think that’s enough.” Melissa wiped her forehead.

“The colors of the Academy truly are regal!” Benson (tearfully) complimented as he went through his camera roll.

Like how every prestigious school has their uniforms that identify their students, the Academy has theirs. Each student’s uniform is custom tailored. Many praise the designs to be refined and elegant, befitting of the world class Academy.

“I’ve only seen pictures from Selena, but the uniforms really are much better in person!” Melissa said.

Benson nodded in agreement. “It really suits you, Klein.”

Now Mingrui felt bashful.

Benson moved his gaze towards his phone and caught a glance at the time. “I’m definitely going to nod off during my shift if I don’t get my Zzz’s…”

“Then you better rush off to shower, because I also have school tomorrow!” Melissa told him.

“Wait, that’s not right!” Benson objected. “Klein has his first day of school tomorrow, it’s best if he goes first.”

“And then?” Melissa asked.

“Then I go after him!” Benson answered.

His sister was not amused.

Mingrui chuckled. ‘Feels like home already.’

— ------------------------------------------ —

After a hot shower, he set his uniform on the hanger on the wall, charged his phone, and prepared everything for tomorrow before tucking himself into bed.

“Night!” He could hear Melissa’s shout, as well as Benson brushing his teeth at the sink despite the vent being on.

Flicking the light switch, the room was flooded with darkness. All except the faint citylights that escaped through the small window above Mingrui’s bed.

An unfamiliar room, a haze of light sometimes fluttering on and off his face, thousands of miles away from Asia. There were no sounds of crickets, nor the occasional owls hooting which he would hear back home.

Mingrui sat up for a moment to stare out the window. A mesmerizing glow from the city still shone out into this empty neighborhood.

He only stared for a few seconds before laying back down. Silence permeated the room as he drifted off into sleep.

Chapter Text

[11:18 PM, Unit 7 Pinister Street, North Borough, Backlund, Loen]

The entry door slammed open and then closed.

A bag was thrown off onto the sofa and shoes were haphazardly tossed on the floor. The perpetrator who did all of this walked down the hall of the medium-sized apartment and into the bathroom without a care.

Glowing city lights passed through the window. Curtains blocking them at the edges. The room was dark, only the crevices and edges of the bathroom door were leaking light.

There was the noise of the shower running in the background, plus the occasional ‘ow!’ one might hear from someone getting soap in their eyes. After a few moments, the running water stopped, and the bathroom door opened, releasing the hot air from inside and out into the rest of the room.

“Tch, that really stung…” The figure who exited persistently wiped their eyes with the damp towel.

Traversing around the room completely bare (not including the towel that covered their lower body), they rummaged through the closet. Though, that was interrupted by the ringing of a phone upon the desk.

“Alright, alright, I’m coming,” they called out.

With a hit of the accept button, the first thing that came from the other line was a rough voice. “Have you received your uniform package?”

With some shuffling of clothes in the background they replied. “Yeah, yeah, I got it alright, Old Man,” said the lean figure in the dark.

Suddenly the other person on the line was annoyed by their casual attitude. “Tch, do you know how late it is? 11:25 PM! I’m telling you right now, you ought to fix that problem of yours!” The voice on the other end huffed. “This is not going to bode well for you if this continues! Hey, kid, are you listening to me?”

The phone practically shook with the volume the voice spoke with. But the recipient of these scoldings gave no response, seemingly quite busy drying their hair with a towel.

“I’m not gonna help you out if you ‘accidentally’ mess up again!” the person on the other end stated.

The one being hollered at finally sighed and said, “Are you doubting my skills?” As if everything he heard went in one ear and out the other.

“Skills?” the voice mocked. “If you had such skills then why didn’t you place in the top 100 in the entrance exams?”

In defense, they argued nonchalantly, “There’s too many other great and powerful people in the world, I’m just passing by.”

“...That is, if someone’s space isn’t vacant.” A sly grin appeared on their lips.

The voice on the other end started to laugh boisterously. They laughed for quite a while before settling down. When they were done, they mocked them in a ridiculing tone. “You’re blowing hot air.”

In basic, crude terms; nonsense, crap, all of the above.

But this was all being completely blocked out. The one being criticized threw on a shirt and swung himself into a comfortable chair, turning on the computer monitors at the desk. Sitting down, they let out a noise of joy after seeing the screen. “Hah! Listen, Old Man, I’ll have to talk to you about this later.” Their tone of voice all smiley.

The ‘Old Man’ on the phone tsked. “Show more–”

Then the figure immediately ended the call right before the other could start yelling. “And end call!”

‘Hah, I’m sure to receive an earful from him later.’ They snickered at the thought.

‘But, back to more important matters…’

The game forum on the screen showed a blue dot next to the profile icon of Klein. But before they could finish typing, the blue dot disappeared.

They clicked their tongue and deleted the words on the screen. ‘Now he’s making me think that he’s just avoiding me!’

Now with the daily login done, suppose checking the mailbox isn’t too bad once in a while. Clicking upon the game inbox, a message popped up on the screen at the very top, above the rest of the dozens of unread mails.

‘You’re on duty this week. Don’t slack off.’

Goldfish

They chuckled. “Who says I’m going to?” talking to themselves.

After replying to this one message, they continued to sort out the rest of their months old unchecked inbox.

— ------------------------------------------ —

[11:50 PM]

Checking the mail took a lot more time than expected. Especially since there was a message about a purchased item that was almost from half a year ago.

The figure’s eyes were already creased. Propped legs were already laid on the desk in front.

The phone beside the keyboard lit up, showing a notification of a new email on the lockscreen. “Another one?” Sighing, they remove their feet from the desk to properly read the email.

‘Here’s the calendar for this month’s shifts. Remember, you’re starting tomorrow, no funny business. No matter the reason, try not to be late. Our business counts on you.’

EverSweet Desires

Picking up the phone, they quickly typed up a response, then lazily tossed their phone away.

To: EverSweet Desires Boss

‘Sure, got it.’

With no signature at the bottom.

[11:54 PM]

Returning their attention back to the computer screen, they opened the chatroom window. The figure still stared at the profile icon that showed the name, Klein. Still wanting to reach out to him, they sat in silence to ponder what to say. Typing strings of words and eventually deleting them, then finally settling on the most important thing to say.

MidnightPoet: klein

Blue light from the monitor shines upon the figure’s face. Pouting, their head propped up by their arm, they impatiently typed away.

[11:56 PM]

A few minutes pass but still no response.

They sighed, leaned back in their chair, and placed their long legs back on the desk. Crossing their arms, they sat in thought for a moment.

‘Before these past few days he would reply within seconds. Wait… Is he ignoring me on purpose? Or is there something troubling him IRL?’

Such thoughts ran rampant in their mind.

[11:59 PM]

They finally sighed. Giving up trying to find the reason, just for now anyway. They weakly smiled. “Isn’t it about time you come back?”

“...Klein”

Those soft words evaporated into the air within moments.

[12:00 AM]

The clock strikes midnight. In the distance, the bell tower rang out, signaling the hour.

Chapter Text

[5:48 AM, Loen]

The sun peaked out of the eastern lands, showing a blinding light tore into the streets.

The window of the young daughter of the Wood family was blocked by a curtain, preventing the early morning rays from shining in.

The young lady had woken up in the wee hours due to her brother's ceaseless worries of being late on the first day of the Academy. So, being the light sleeper that she is, the thudding of footsteps in the hallways at the twilight hours had kept her awake.

By the time her brother had already left the house by the crack of dawn, by his words, “Meet up with friends,” Selena had decided not to sleep in, and instead get an early start.

However, a certain friend popped up in her mind as she was complaining about her brother’s foolish dedication to the Academy.

Melissa Moretti, one of her dearest and closest friends.

‘If I call her to ask about the foreign Academy student now, she probably won’t have the energy to think twice to not tell me!’

With this ingenious idea in plan, Selena Wood carefully propped up her phone on her pearl-white vanity. She eagerly hits the facetime button in her contacts.

A few minutes pass without an answer.

Growing suspicious, Selena stares closer at her screen. ‘What’s taking so long for her to pick up?’ she thought.

Impatiently, she recalls her, dusting some rosy blush to her face in the meantime.

Finally, the facetime call goes through, and the other responding screen goes blurry. Noises of complaints and shuffling sounded out through the microphone.

“Melissa, did you just get out of bed?” Selena remarked, not looking at the phone screen to know whether she was right or not.

Melissa holds up her own phone up close to her face, squinting to see the time in the top left corner of the screen.
“You woke me up a whole hour earlier than what I usually get up,” she groaned.

“A whole hour?” Selena exclaims.

Her friend felt too tired to elaborate. “At least I get there early enough for class to start…” only explaining that part of her defense.

She put her phone on her desk while struggling to get up from bed, almost face-planting on the ground. “Why’d you call me anyway?” Melissa groaned, rubbing her eyes and face in an attempt to get rid of the remaining sleepiness.

Selena sighed. “My brother decided to noisily wake the entire neighborhood block by his nervous footsteps at twilight, and now you and I have to suffer his consequences.”

“I still don’t get it,” her friend replied. “What does it have to do with you calling me this early?”

Selena cleared her throat and resumed. “After you had left us wondering who this mystery Academy foreign program student was, I just had to know. And considering that today is the first day of the Academy, isn’t this the perfect chance?”

Melissa doubted her friend’s reasoning for some reason. ‘She definitely had deeper ulterior motives hidden inside.’

But her mind ran slow in the morning, so she gave up further questioning. She quickly got changed into her school uniform and checked over her bag. “Other than the supernatural, your only other interests are the Academy and their business” she sighed.

Selena was starting to grow impatient. “So, Melissa, tell me more about this foreign student!”

Melissa checked herself in the mirror and picked up her phone. “Sorry,” she hastily said. “I’m going to have to start breakfast, see you at school.”

Selena jumped to her feet. “Hey! I’m not—”

Melissa hung up that call just as impromptu as the beginning of it.

‘Now, what should I make for breakfast this time?’ she thought as she walked out of her room.

— ------------------------------------------ —

[6:07 AM, Moretti Residence]

Crack, sizzle, pop! Such sounds reverberated in the house.

Melissa flipped her fried eggs over and turned the heat to low. She turned her head, hearing the closing of a door and the shuffling of footsteps. “So, you’re finally awake, huh?”

The eldest Moretti was slowly dragging his feet against the floorboards. He yawned and stretched as he came to a halt in the kitchen. “Can you make mine runny?” he asked, in an exhausted murmur.

“It’s either charcoal or sunny-side-up,” she steadily replied.

Benson yawned and heaved his shoulders. “Oh, alright…”

He went to the fridge and grabbed the milk, poured himself a glass, then trudged back to his room to get properly situated into his work uniform.

He came back just in time for his serving of eggs and toast with bacon was done. “Has our youngest woken up yet?” Benson grabbed a mug for his daily morning coffee.

Melissa shook her head. “It’s best if he sleeps more,” she said, thinking of what Selena complained of her own brother’s worries,“the Academy has long evening classes.”

“Eh? How do you know?” Benson carefully sipped his instant coffee.

“Selena’s elder brother attends the Academy,” she explained. Sighing, she complained, “According to what Selena told me, he always got home late in the evening; sparking quite a riveting story at home with their parents.

“Not like I have much opinion on it,” she quickly added.

Benson pondered for a moment and then shared his thoughts. “I think he’ll be more than alright. I’ve heard Chinese students are trained in the mind and are as tough as military soldiers are in brute strength.”

Melissa raised her brow, an incredulous expression was written all over.

‘What an interesting… use of figurative language, brother…’

Though, her attention suddenly shifted to the sound of an alarm followed by an abrupt thudding noise.

“What was that?” Benson said, his mouth full of food.

Melissa paused then laughed. “Somebody’s beauty sleep was interrupted.” She smiled.

Zhou Mingrui, a former average Chinese student, was sleeping under a new unfamiliar roof in a foreign country. That is until the peace was disrupted by the alarm he’d set up. As for what particular sound he’d set his alarm as, that’s for later to figure out.

‘Agh… That really hurts!’ He internally complained in his mother tongue while rubbing the side of his arm, which he’d bumped against the corner of his desk in the process of falling out of his bed.

He finally sat up from his position on the floor and stood up to reach for his phone. The alarm had been turned off in the frantic fall.

“I set the alarm volume way too loud…” Mingrui adjusted the volume and then looked at the time.

“6:15 AM, huh.”

He let out a massive sigh. His internal alarm clock was still adjusting to his current surroundings. But Mingrui was used to waking up before the sun even peeked out of the earth anyway.

‘First rule of business, I gotta tidy up my bed.’ He looked at the messy state of his bed. The blanket covers were thrown overboard and the pillow was flung across the room. He took care of that before heading to the bathroom.

[6:21 AM]

Mingrui splashed his face with some water then wiped it with a towel. Looking in the mirror, he saw his groggy reflection staring back at him. After a struggle of combing his hair down and giving up on styling it, he returned to his room.

He changed out of his sleepwear and into the picture perfect image of a model student of a rich private school.

Black and gold, the uniform colors for the Academy.

The large sliding closet door mirrors showed him wearing a neat white buttoned-up collared shirt under the black uniform coat with golden embroidery on the sides. A deep black clean tie with golden lines by the edges was fitted neatly under it as well. There were even special patterns on the golden buttons for his cuffs. The black pants also had golden buttons at the ankles.

Unlike the common European schools, the Academy actually had pants that went down to the ankles. Mingrui was even given black socks, part of the uniform, with a golden embroidered L at the ankle. As for shoes…

“Where’s my shoes?” He panicked, searching his closet.

The door to his room flew open suddenly with Benson behind it. He held up the missing object Mingrui was so desperately searching for.

“Let’s have breakfast first,” he said with a grin.

“Alright,” the student smiled and replied.

Benson looked around the room for a moment. “It’s so dark in here! Turn on the lamp next time, in case you accidentally trip,” he advised.

Mingrui awkwardly laughed. “Let’s go, we wouldn’t want to leave Melissa eating breakfast alone.”

— ------------------------------------------ —

Melissa placed Mingrui’s plate of food down. “Do you need anything to drink? Orange juice? Milk? Coffee?” she attentively asked.

He waved his hands to decline. “No, it’s—”

She looked at him with large doe eyes.

“I—”

“Orange juice, please…” he meekly gave in.

Melissa gave him an ‘ok’ sign and already had a glass in her hand.

Benson raised his coffee mug. “Can I get a refill on coffee, please?”

…

She poured a glass of cold orange juice in the glass and handed it to Mingrui. “Enjoy your breakfast everyone!” she said cheerfully before sitting down herself to dig in.

‘Ignored…’ Both Mingrui and Benson immediately thought.

Mingrui’s toast had a heart cut out in the middle and instead the egg was fried into it. “How creative,” he complimented her handicraft.

“It’s just something I learned in Home Ec.” Melissa casually dismissed it. “Since Benson doesn’t have much time to cook, I figured I should take Home Ec. as an elective, so it could help expand my knowledge farther than microwave dinners.”

A side of bacon and some fruit were also on Mingrui’s plate. This breakfast of egg/toast, fruit, bacon, and a glass of orange juice really was one of the most balanced meals Mingrui had seen since before he became slumped with exams. Before that, he’d been living on convenience store bread, instant noodles, and the quick and easy meals one could get from the store. Of course, that stopped when his mother found out and really knocked some sense into him.

The poor middle school student back then thought eating an egg with some leafy greens with his instant noodles was enough for a balanced meal.

His mother made sure he was woefully wrong.

‘The orange juice is really refreshing after a bite of the toast and bacon,’ the gourmet inside of him complimented.

To his left, the older sibling was sipping coffee while reading from his phone. In front of him, the younger sibling was digging into her meal.

Melissa had already cleaned off her plate within a few minutes and gulped down the rest of her milk.

“What’s the hurry?” her brother laughed. She stared daggers into him afterwards.

Mingrui also began to pick up the pace, finishing his plate soon after as well.

— ------------------------------------------ —

[6:59 AM]

‘The Academy begins at 7:30 AM. I have half an hour to get out the door and walk to the Academy.’

Before Mingrui could even thank Melissa for the meal, she dashed off to the bathroom. The slamming of the bathroom door was a clear sign.

‘Welp, this leaves me with sorting my belongings first…’ Mingrui grabbed his dishes off to the sink.

“I’ll clean these up,” said Benson.

Mingrui nodded, then left for his room.

Things like a portable battery with a cord, phone, stationary, notebooks, and other essentials needed throughout the day went inside the bag the Academy provided for him. Originally, he was going to bring his own bag, but that wasn’t needed anymore when he opened up the package containing the bag, his uniform, and other Academy items he needed from last night.

It was big and wide enough to fit a laptop inside, but instead of being carried on the back, it was intended to be swung on the shoulder. It’s all black with the signature gold lining, and the L label at the corner of the bag. The only thing standing out was the bronze gold name tag attached to the side of the bag.

[Zhou Mingrui]

“Bathroom’s free!” Melissa called out, cueing Mingrui’s turn.

He quickly brushed his teeth at the sink, checked his appearance in the mirror (carefully putting each hair strand in its own place), and grabbed his bag to leave.

At the door, Melissa waited for him. She herself went through a rigorous check over the inside of her bag until she felt everything needed was there.

Benson carried his briefcase and lunch box. “You got everything?” He questioned Mingrui with worry.

The younger one nodded in response.

“Phone?”

“Got it here.” Mingrui said, pointing at his bag.

“Make sure it’s on silent during class,” Benson reminded him. “Writing utensils?”

“Mhm.”

“Notebooks and paper?”

“Yes.”

The oldest finally seemed satisfied and nodded. “Alright, seems like you’re all set.”

Melissa couldn’t help give her brother a look out of the corner of her eye. “It’s not like it’s his first ever day of school,” she chuckled.

Benson crossed his arms and grinned. “Well— it’s better safe than sorry, you’d thank me if you ever forgot.”

Mingrui stood between this crossfire and thought: ‘If we keep standing here, we’re all going to be late.’

“I think you’ve forgotten something though, brother,” Melissa said, pointing at the counter. “Your keys?”

Benson whirled around and snatched the ring of keys off the counter. “Ah— yes, thanks, dear sister,” he said in a flair of dramatism.

At last, the three could finally leave the house and be on their way to their respective places for the day.

“Oh, and could you buy some more coffee on your way back today?” Benson added, stopping the three.

His sister nodded. “Got it, medium roast.”

But right before Benson opened the door, he had something else to say. “Oh, and—“

Mingrui smiled and politely said, “How about you text in the group chat while on your way to work? I’m worried you’ll miss the bus if we keep dallying.”

‘Or even worse, we’ll all be tardy.’

There was a slight intimidating intent behind those words that the Moretti siblings could hear.

Benson awkwardly laughed. “You’re right, let’s go then.”

Thus the three departed on their ways. Benson split up from Melissa and Mingrui from the start since the bus stop was the opposite way of the schools.

“Have fun at school, you two!” he shouted before bolting off to his bus stop, because he was supposedly going to be late.

Melissa checked her watch.

[7:09 AM]

She looked up at Mingrui. “If we hurry now, we’ll most likely make it without a scolding from any teachers.”

At first, he didn’t understand where she was getting at for a second but then realized what she meant.

“You mean…” He spoke slowly.

Melissa nodded with seriousness. “Start sprinting.”

— ------------------------------------------ —

The two finally stopped at the street crossing where they were going to split up at. Both of them squatted down and panted, trying to catch their breath.

Melissa hurriedly got up again and waved to Mingrui. “I gotta go now,” she said, pointing at the crosswalk sign in her direction. “Good luck at the Academy!”

Mingrui couldn’t say anything but gulp down his saliva. He waved back to her. “Mhm, you have a nice day too!”

He watched her start running again while he waited for the crosswalk sign in front of him to light up. Her figure disappeared fast from his vision.

Finally, the crosswalk sign lit up, signaling Mingrui to get going.

‘In a few blocks, this street is going to turn into a completely different place, and I’ll be entering one of the world’s most prestigious schools…’

After crossing the road, tangling ivy hung from the giant concrete walls beside him followed him for a block until he came across the large clearing of land guarded by tall gates.

From afar, he could see the sea of people, wearing the same uniform as him, black and regal. Though, they looked like they were from a totally different world than him.

There was a certain je ne sais quoi about them. The air around them certainly fit the elegant and confident style of Loen. Completely different from the humble Mingrui.

Some students looked like it was another day, chatting with their friends. Others were either bright-eyed freshmen like him, eager and nervous to begin their journey. But although everyone wore the same uniform and walked into the same school, there was one minority that stuck out.

Expecting that everybody at this institute is rich/wealthy in some ways or another, how much wealth can one exactly have?

“Is that a limousine? Wait– That’s the latest limited edition from that luxury German brand!”

“My father says it was auctioned off at the company’s cruise liner anniversary banquet exclusive to the government!”

“What? No way! I heard even the Duke of Negan couldn’t get it!”

Such whispers were heard as a shining black limousine came strolling down the road.

It had stopped to the side right next to the gate of the Academy. A young, beautiful girl stepped out. The dark uniform furthermore enhanced the glowing of her skin. Light bounced off from her golden shining locks.

The surrounding people nearby stood still and stared with either awe or envy at this wealthy and beautiful student.

Mingrui however was too busy admiring the scenery and architecture around him that he had to peel his eyes off of all these magnificent sights before him, or he’ll end up crashing into someone on the first day.

‘If I bump into someone on the first day and rub them in the wrong way, who knows what kind of conflict it’ll spark?’ This was the kind of over thinking that occurred.

Carefully, he weaved his way through the groups and individuals while getting through to the gate and officially entering the Academy grounds.

He passed the line separating the outside and the inside of the Academy property. He gazed upwards toward the Academy building to view it in full picture.

“The same as it was yesterday. Or maybe even shinier?” he spoke out loud in a low voice.

He didn’t turn back, instead walked calmly forward.

Chapter Text

The bell had already rang, signaling the start of first period. But the teacher had yet to arrive, so class couldn’t actually begin.

Selena Wood was sitting at her desk, arms crossed and an expression of either displeasure or impatience was upon her face. The two emotions were practically one.

She clicked her tongue, “Tch, when is that girl going to arrive? Class is almost starting!”

Her voice was all jittery and agitated, panicking for sure.

Elizabeth turned around at her desk to face Selena and gave her a reassuring smile. “I’m sure Melissa will make it in time. She’s never been late to class after all.”

Selena angrily snapped, “Oh– that’s not that I’m worried about–”

Just one minute before class starts, Melissa Moretti shows up charging into the classroom and into her seat, right behind Selena.

Panting, she plops down into her seat and drops her bag right beside her. “So–” she spoke in broken breaths, “I’m not late, am I?”

Elizabeth shook her head. “Don’t worry, Ms. Belle has yet to arrive.”

Melissa let out a quick sigh of relief, but Selena didn't give her any breathing room after that.

“How could you just hang up on me like that?”

Melissa gave her friend an exasperated expression that said without words, ‘Really?’

Selena frustratedly stared into Melissa’s eyes.

She unknowingly pouted, giving a less angrier demeanor and more of a cute upset pet.

“Now, now,” Elizabeth said, trying to not accidentally let out a laugh. “Let’s be civil about this, alright?”

The flames were about to get fanned if it were to continue like this.

Most of the time the two girls would ignore Elizabeth’s peacemaking, but Selena instead took a deep breath in and slowly let it out.

Melissa took the liberty to speak first. With a sharp intake of breath, she replied resolutely, “Listen, I have a solid reason as to why I left in such a hurry.”

Selena’s eyes, stern with annoyance, gazed back at Melissa. She ‘hmphed’ and said, “Nevermind— that’s not what I’m really annoyed about.”

Melissa was now really curious. “Then what are you so mad about?”

Selena uncrossed her arms and furrowed her brows. “I–”

A tall woman with blonde hair styled into a high bun stepped into the room. Cutting off Selena’s sentence, she greeted the class in a gentle voice.

“Good morning everyone, if you haven't read the board yet, we’re going to start discussing the contents of chapter four. I presume you all did read last night, yes?”

A quiet murmur of voices was heard.

“Oh crap, I didn’t read last night!”

“I only read half of it…”

“Of course I read it, did you?”

“...Mhm, totally did…”

Melissa lightly tapped on Selena’s shoulder, causing the girl to tilt her head a little bit to the side.

“Tell me later, okay?” Melissa whispered.

Selena promptly returned with a ‘hmph’ and a slight nod.

On Melissa’s face, a small smile appeared. She knew her friend couldn’t stay mad for long, especially since she was planning to buy her some snacks from the cafeteria to make up for it.

With a loud crisp clap, Ms. Belle returned the class’ attention back to her.

“Alright, I know school has only just started, but we all need to start getting in the habit of getting our work done on time.” Her caring yet scolding demeanor made a few students feel guilty, as if she was a doting mother.

“Now, will somebody care to say a quick summary of the chapter before we dive into the deeper analysis?”

No one among the students raised their hand.

Ms. Belle scanned the rooms and patiently waited for someone to volunteer.

“I will,” a voice from the front, their hand raised at midpoint.

The teacher smiled. “Go ahead, Ms. Moretti.”

Melissa stood up from her chair and took up her paper in which she wrote down the summary for the recent chapter.

She began to read from the paper in a clear, resounding volume for all to hear.

— ------------------------------------------ —

[7:16 AM, Loen Academy of The Arts]

The inside of the Academy looked exactly like what it did yesterday, but without the long white folding tables and equipment.

Glistening floors that reflected one’s image upon them, and a ceiling of simply a large glass dome, a couple dozens feet above, with intricate designs engraved upon the thin glass. One might even suppose the Academy was instead a conservatory just from looking at the reception.

Passing underneath the dome, began the real route of the Academy.

The hallways, routes to classrooms, paving roads to success, the future of the driving capitalism of the nation.

There was already a steady flow of people roaming the halls, including Mingrui, trying not to get lost in the constant flood.

There really wasn’t much to see when everything seemed like a pool of black uniforms.

Signs hung overhead, directing where each destination lies.

‘If I remember clearly, my first class should be in room III-A…’

To the east, was the direction of the cafeteria and to the west, Hall A.

Seeing how the letter ‘A’ is on the sign plate and lots of students that look about his age are heading west, Mingrui decides on going with the crowd.

It was indeed expectedly chaotic for the first day. There’s usually no order in which direction or side is chosen for people walking in different directions.

But for it to be what his situation now looked like?

Mingrui had people going in the opposite direction of him on his left and right, and people who were also going in the same direction as him. It’s as if these people have forgotten all their years of attending school and mutual understanding of the assignment of pathway routes from north to south and east to west were thrown out the window.

‘Why did you all make this so troublesome for everyone?’ Mingrui silently lampooned. ‘Did everyone silently agree to make chaos?’

Since there was no clear side of who was going into the hallway and who was exiting, it took extra time for Mingrui to find his classroom than necessary.

Spotting an air pocket of space right beside the wall, Mingrui decisively maneuvered out of the crowd and attached himself to the wall.

He took this time to catch his breath and try to find a sign that showed any clue of him being closer to his classroom.

‘So far I’ve found rooms VIII-IV, so where could room III be?’

His thoughts grew ever more anxious as time ticked on.

He internally cried frustratedly, ‘Benson! Why did you have to choose today of all days to take up time in the morning?’

Mingrui puffed out a large sigh and collected his thoughts again.

Suddenly a loud microphone noise rang out across Hall A, a clear and calm but demanding voice resounded.

“First years of the Academy! We know it is quite normal to be nervous on the first day, that’s why the Academy has always been lenient on attendance on the first day, but if you cannot begin to conduct yourselves properly after getting out of your first class, can you proclaim to be students of Loen Academy?”

These harsh words cut into the crowd hard, making everyone stay at a standstill.

“If you believe my words to be ridiculous, then might I ought to ask you how you’re going to carry yourself in the future with the knowledge that your actions are going to influence future students here. If you all cannot solve such a simple problem like mutual understanding of the crowd, I don’t believe you all should be tasked with such heavy responsibilities that your seniors do everyday and are usually seen as light work.”

Over the microphone, another voice could be heard. A softer and more awkward one.

“Uhm, president, I think that’s enough. There’s a possibility you might scare off these students…”

The other voice cleared their throat and replied in an indifferent tone. “If this was all it took for them to go running back home, then they clearly weren’t fit to be Loen Academy students in the first place.”

That really made the atmosphere in Hall A chillingly freezing.

The whispered bickering continued on for a few seconds before the person cleared their throat loudly.

“Ahem– Anyways, I do sincerely hope you all get to class on time, and you all may fix this crowd rush problem by the end of your first class. May your first day be full of happy, memorable events you’ll never forget. Hopefully we’ll meet again often, first years of the Academy. Edwina Edwards, your student council president.”

And with that, the intercom halted, and the crowd did actually start dispersing and began falling back in order.

Mingrui could feel chills down his spine.

‘Hopefully today’s memorable events aren’t bad ones…’

The chatter in the hallway immediately recontinued once the speech ended.

He sighed, “Where could room III-A be?”

Desperation was catching up with Mingrui.

To his surprise, a light tap was felt on his shoulder.

A young man with thick brown hair and about the same height as Mingrui was behind him.

“Excuse me, but could you also be trying to find room III-A?”

Mingrui nodded in response. “Do you know where it is?”

This fellow classmate gave a ‘mhm’ to answer. “Shall we go together?”

“Yes, please.” Mingrui emphasized the ‘please’ part especially.

‘At last! There’s someone who actually knows where this blasted classroom is!’

Mingrui followed the other through the hallway past the other rooms and leading upstairs.

He thought: ‘It’s upstairs?’

The young man clarified it for him, “There’s a sign hanging up above next to the stairway showing there’s more classrooms upstairs.”

Right he was. Mingrui immediately looked up above him.

‘...I blame the crowd…’

On the second floor there was another line of classrooms.

Further down the line opposite to the windows to the right was classroom III-A.

Mingrui bowed his head in thanks. “Thank you for helping me.”

The young man shook his head. “No problem.”

But before Mingrui could turn to open the door, the young man continued, “Oh– and by the way, I’ll be your classmate for this class, nice to meet you.”

Mingrui smiled, “Nice to meet you too.”

“And, I don’t believe I’ve introduced myself yet.” His classmate awkwardly chuckled. “I’m Kenley, Kenley White.”

“I’m–”

The classroom door in front of them flew right open.

“Mitchell, are you certain this isn’t the wrong class? Where’s the teacher?” the girl who stood in front of Mingrui and Kenley spoke in a rising tone.

Her eyes fell onto the two newcomers as soon as she realized her acute timing with the door.

She apologized respectfully, “Ah– forgive me, I was simply wondering where the teacher was.”

“No worries,” Kenley assured her with a courteous smile.

Mingrui thought: ‘Are all Europeans this polite and proper?’

The girl moved out of the entrance to let the two inside.

The classroom seemed spacious on the outside and even more so on the inside. It was styled more like a college classroom more than an average high school, with long tables instead of individual desks.

As one walked in, they were met with taller seats and tables in the back (and shorter to the front) to their left that descended downwards toward the very front of the room where the teacher’s desk and podium was.

There was a giant wide screen that spanned a couple feet on the wall behind the teacher’s podium. On both sides of the screen were large windows that leaked out the morning rays.

The view wasn’t facing the front of the school, but what looked like a small garden courtyard to the side where students could congregate during break time.

The classroom overall was one of the best, if not, the best classroom Mingrui has ever had. It had nice lighting, sleek and modern interior designs and seating, and provided a nice atmosphere perfectly attuned with the aesthetic of diligent studying.

Students were already seated, all that was missing to complete the look was their teacher.

Mingrui thought: ‘I’ll take a seat first…’

Seeing how most of the seats were taken over from the back to middle, he took his place towards the front.

There were a select few sitting up front. The girl who opened the door; now muttering something next to a rather lazy-looking guy a couple seats down from her, another girl; more refined and quiet, and Kenley White who helped him out, took a place next to Mingrui.

The large digital clock on the wall ticked on for a minute or two, but the teacher did not show.

‘What an anticlimactic first day…’ he thought.

Originally he assumed that this first day was going to be more heart-racing, stressful, and panic inducing, but that came to a crashing halt.

But Mingrui couldn’t say it just yet, because the door to the classroom once again slid open. This time a tall tanned man walked in with a clean black attire that looked like it belonged to the Academy.

“Good morning,” he greeted, “I do hope you all didn’t wait for long.”

As he crossed the room from the door, his steps resounded throughout the classroom, immediately shutting up all previous chatter.

Taking his place at the podium, he cleared his throat. In a clear and loud enough tone he greeted the class, “Welcome to your first class of today and for the rest of this year, homeroom.”

Mingrui’s first reaction to this teacher was–

surprise.

‘This… Isn’t this the teacher who helped me yesterday when I got lost?’

His eyes met with the teacher just then. The older man gave him a polite smile, causing Mingrui to flinch internally at the abrupt eye contact.

“Pleasure to be one of your teachers this year. My name’s Azik Eggers, one of the many history teachers at Hall A,” He introduced himself, his eyes scanning across the room.

With a pleasant smile, he continued, “Before I begin an explanation into the Academy’s expectations and functions, let’s familiarize ourselves, shall we?”

“We are after all going to see each other quite often in the mornings.”

In short, he means everybody should follow the worldwide standard protocol of icebreakers.

Mingrui sighed in his heart.

‘High schools really are the same everywhere…’

Azik Eggers pulled up a laptop and announced, “I shall go in alphabetical order for roll call. Should I call your name, please say ‘present’ and share something about yourself.”

Thus began the tiring process of waiting, anticipation, and the awkwardness in breaking the ice. Names were called, interesting facts were shared, resulting in some oohs and ahhs from the class.

Mr. Eggers once again called out another name. “Kenley White?”

“Present.” The brown-haired boy stood up just like all the others before. He first pondered over what to share first before speaking. “Let’s see…”

“I can play three different instruments and sing.”

A classmate from the back suddenly hollered and asked, “What instruments?”

Kenley chuckled (a bit more awkwardly in Mingrui’s opinion) at being put on the spot like this.

“Well— I can play the seven-string guitar, a regular guitar, and the lute.”

After saying his piece, he sat down, and Mr. Eggers continued onwards.

“Seeka Tron?”

The girl who opened the door in front of Kenley and Mingrui stood up and said, “Here.”

The air around her had a wise and quiet feeling, with a touch of the mischievousness of youth. Her hair was combed smoothly into a low ponytail that hung on her shoulder, making her seem both mature and youthful. She could make one think of her as a reliable senior.

Seeka Tron gave a soft smile that seemed purely for the exterior. “I sometimes write for small local downtown newspapers, but I’m mostly working to be an author.”

As soon as she finished, she politely sat back down, not giving way to any questions or comments from the back.

Mingrui uncomfortably shifted in his chair as time passed.

‘What should I share? I’m a foreign student? No, could the teacher even pronounce my name correctly?’

His class was made up of at least twenty other people than him. Though attendance should go fast, it somehow felt like a ticking time bomb as the teacher went down, counting off the people, eventually reaching Mingrui sooner or later.

Soon Mr. Eggers announced another name. “Leonard Mitchell?”

The boy who Mingrui had seen slacking in his chair lazily stood up.

He combed through his hair like he’d just woken up from a nap, a nonexistent yawn could practically be seen.

“Present,” his voice soft but hidden underneath was the maturing tone of a teenager.

Because Mingrui was sitting behind him, the most he could see was the guy’s back. In fact, that’s what most of the class saw too, as most of the people were seated in the back.

But instead of just facing the teacher, this Leonard Mitchell actually turned around and started introducing himself.

He spoke in a rather slurred, nonchalant way. “Hope we all get along. I’m in the computer science department by the way, nice to meet you all.” Then he sat right back down.

Mingrui’s only thoughts on his guy currently was this: ‘He’s seems rather lazy, but he also–’

A murmur spread throughout the classroom. The girls’ sweet voices whispered, “Oh my gosh he–”

Mingrui finished his thought: ‘—looks and feels so gay…’

“—he’s so good looking!” the girls whispered really quite loudly.

Another girl nodded in satisfaction. “Handsome, no other words to describe.”

A couple guys in the back also chatted along. “Are we sure this guy is in the computer science department?”

“Yeah! I thought the computer science nerds were all cooped up in their laboratories, not leaving for days and smelling like the stench of days old coffee!”

Mingrui lampooned: ‘What’s with these people’s viewpoint on computer science people?’

Though, the topic of these conversations wasn’t even bothered in the slightest!

Leonard Mitchell seemed to have found a comfortable position to sit, and his eyes were half-lidded, looking like he was floating off into dreamland.

“Mitchell, don’t fall asleep just yet!” Seeka Tron whispered to him in a light scolding voice.

“I’m not, I’m simply conserving my energy,” Leonard explained, even closing his eyes.

The order in the classroom had completely fallen through at this one student’s introduction. The noise was only interrupted by a thudding sound through the microphone system in the classroom.

Mr. Eggers cleared his throat and smiled, as if asking for the class’ permission to continue.

“Mingrui Zhou?” he called out.

Finally, it was his turn.

Mingrui lightheartedly thought: ‘He actually didn’t completely butcher my name.’

Everybody turned their heads and attention toward this foreign looking person.

Mingrui replied as emotionless and confident as he could. “Present.”

He then turned toward the class just as Leonard Mitchell had.

Raising his half-lidded eyes and parts of his face, the closed off atmosphere disappeared from Mingrui’s face, giving him a more open and delightful impression. With a polite tone and a tad bit more emotion in his voice, he began, “It’s a pleasure to be here, I’m one of the Academy’s foreign students from China, nice to meet you all.”

His eyes flickered around the gazes of his classmates while he spoke.

Just when he was about to sit down, he realized one important thing he almost forgot to say. His movement displayed surprise.

A quick pause. “Oh– and–”

“You may call me—”

“Klein Moretti.”

Chapter Text

The pleasantries were swiftly concluded after Klein’s introduction. After he had sat down, unsurprisingly, the students began to talk.
“Woah, he’s a foreigner? I totally couldn’t tell by the way he speaks.”
“Really? Couldn’t you hear the faint accent underneath all that?”
“I guess? Honestly, it flowed a bit stiffly in my opinion.”
Klein awkwardly thought: ‘I guess I should work on my accent some more…’
“Hey, what department do you think he’s in?”
“Obviously something technical like math or science related. Most guys here come here for that.”
“Does it matter? Either way, all Asians excel at everything and anything.”
Klein lampooned: ‘Not all stereotypes are true! Is this what westerners think of us? I’m really just some poor shut-in high school student…’
All this conflict stewed in his head but showed not a hint on his face.
In the corner of his eye, he spotted a certain somebody looking over in his direction. It’s hard not to notice a piercing gaze so focused on you, especially since the person was in front of him, and quite literally had his head turned.
Direct eye contact was made with Leonard Mitchell, who seemed to have given his full attention and curiosity towards Klein.
Leonard gave him a relaxed smile with half lidded eyes and then turned back around.
A silent shudder went down Klein’s spine. ‘What was that.’
“Congratulations, we have a full attendance on the first day,” Mr. Eggers looked up and smiled.
After concluding roll call, he moved on to the next topic. “Let’s discuss your school activities within the Academy now,” he said.
The expansive screen behind him turned on, showing a slideshow presentation. The lights in the room dimmed in response to the corresponding setting.
There was still the faint glow of morning coming from the windows, but the sunny cloudless sky from this morning was gone, replaced with quite a few ivory clouds covering the sky, blocking the sun rays from shining through.
‘How atmospheric…’
The first slide being presented on the big screen was a bell schedule of the Academy. Mr. Eggers said,“Loen Academy of The Arts has a total of six classes. In addition to that, there’s also your homeroom and study hall. You’ll have a five minute passing period to get to your next class.”
Klein took a good long look at the schedule while he listened to Mr. Eggers talk.
Homeroom: 7:30-8:15
1st class: 8:20-9:20
2nd class: 9:25-10:25
3rd class: 10:30-11:30
Lunch: 11:30-12:30
4th class: 12:35-1:35
5th class: 1:40-2:40
Study Hall: 2:40-3:40
6th class: 3:45-4:45
Extracurriculars: 4:45-5:30
“Spending more time on extracurriculars is recommended for all our students to achieve excellance,” he advised. “I am aware that many of you already have a club in mind for your extracurriculars, but for the rest of this week and the days until next Wednesday, you’ll have the option to roam around the school grounds to visit the different school clubs and teams we offer here at the Academy during the extracurricular period.”
“Are there any questions?”
Seeka Tron promptly raised her hand. “Sir,” she said, “what of the students who’ve been personally scouted by a club?”
“Ah, good question,” Mr. Eggers responded, “ It’s unlikely, but not impossible to be scouted by a club or team before coming to the Academy. Those who have been scouted can either help the club or team that selected them during the viewing period and turn in the application form for that extracurricular, or they could decide to switch their choice on Wednesday when the extracurricular applications are due.”
“So, we are free to explore the different clubs as well?” She repeated.
He nodded. “Yes, you may do whatever you should like during this period.”
“Are there any other burning questions anyone needs to ask?”
The silence was his cue to move on.
Mr. Eggers continued,“As I mentioned before, you have a total of six subject classes. Science, math, English language arts, history, physical education, and Loenese. Homeroom shall be your first ‘class’ of the day. Lunch is served after your third class, and study hall is after your fourth class.”
Next, was a slide of a map of the entire school grounds.
The Academy was built on an extremely spacious plot of land gifted by various partners since the institute’s founding. The entirety of Loen Academy was so vast that Mr. Eggers had to zoom in specifically on the first year’s buildings.
At the very bottom showed the entrance and the front office. To the east was the cafeteria and to the west showed Hall A, the first year’s building. North of the courtyard in the middle was a library.
Pointing to various areas of the screen, Mr. Eggers presented the Academy spaces. “Here’s the cafeteria that all Academy students will dine at. Of course, you’re welcome to enjoy the outdoor breeze should you wish to take your meal outside in the courtyard or the cafeteria’s outdoor platform on the second floor. The kitchen in the cafeteria is only open during meal times. When it’s not quite time yet there is a convenience store by the cafeteria. It’s open everyday at any time. I believe their weekly special for this Friday is cream puffs.”
Though,” he paused, “I heard they sell out fast, so it’s best to arrive there early.’
Even though he had silenced the class so many times, quiet and excited chatter continued throughout his presentation. At first, Klein couldn’t hear any particular sentence clearly, just a handful of words of every phrase.
These conversations began off to be some small murmurs, but later started to spiral into clear sentences even the people at the front could hear despite the distance
“It can’t be Intis cream puffs, right?”
“Apparently they don’t serve the same thing twice!”
“I’ve heard people even fight over this!”
“Hey, how many stars does the Academy cafeteria have again?” asked a curious student.
“Three stars at the very least,” someone replied confidently.
“Three? Isn’t that the limit?”
“There’s never a limit to the excellence of this institute! I’ve heard the chefs here have served world leaders!”
Though the room was dim enough for someone not being able to see as clearly, somehow Kenley managed to witness Klein’s slight disbelief on his face.
He lightly laughed and said, “It’s not all lies, the Academy’s cafeteria indeed has praiseworthy culinary skills.”
Klein got flustered for a moment then responded with, “Haha, is that so?”
Kenley quietly told him, “You’ll find out if the food in the cafeteria satisfies you later at lunch today.”
Afraid of talking too loud and contributing to the already noisy background behind him, Klein simply nodded.
Mr. Eggers moved on from the cafeteria and instead focused on the library. “Our library is filled with decades worth of knowledge. Many Academy students frequent there, especially during study hall.” He emphasized on the study hall part most importantly as if hinting something. “The library has many strict rules, so please adhere to all of them if you wish to have access to the books this whole semester,” he added with a stern voice.
That seemed to slightly target the noise in the back of the class.
“Ahem, the courtyard is also a popular spot,” he continued, “and by the way, study hall is essentially free time, so you may spend it however you like. For example, plenty of our students may choose to spend time on their clubs or teams, studying, or take it as a time to make up any missed assessments if you had been previously absent.”
The screen moved to the left of the screen, showing a large building. Mr. Eggers introduced, “This is our gymnasium, used for physical educational classes and all sports teams.”
He proceeded to introduce various other buildings on campus like the dormitories.
“Before I move on to the next topic, are there any questions?”
He then proceeded to speak, “Seeing how no one spoke up, shall we move to discussing the important dates you need to remember for the rest of this school year?”
The screen flipped to a new slide, showing the Academy calendar for events. Using the computer mouse, he directed the students’ attention and explained, “Your midterms are scheduled for December 19-20. There’ll also be final exams at the end of this school year, but we’ll talk more about that when it approaches.”
He continued announcing any breaks and important dates to remember.
Mr. Eggers turned to the class and smiled. “The last thing I need to mention…” He began, “ The Academy holds many exclusive balls and charity events, but not all events are suitable for the students without special invitations.”
Holding up two fingers, he said, “There are two major events that the Academy holds every school year.”
“The Winter Ball.”
Immediately, squeals and chatter rose once he spoke.
“Oh! I’ve heard about it before!”
“My father always attends! It’s a gathering only for the elites!”
“I can’t believe we’re allowed to attend!” exclaimed one of the girls.
These young masters and ladies were practically born ready to make their debut in the social world. Therefore, the extravagance of the Academy might seem shocking to any ‘normal’ student. Especially to those who aren’t part of the wealthy nobles of society.
Klein wasn’t exactly ecstatic at the idea. He turned to Kenley next to him and whispered, “Excuse me, what’s this Winter Ball exactly?”
He looked quite happy to explain it. He gave an enthusiastic brief summary. “The entire student body of the Academy are invited to a banquet held here at the Academy’s ballroom. Lots of high ranking people are also invited, making the Winter Ball the setting for Academy students to forge connections and pave a way into society once they graduate.”
“But it also serves as a place for top business companies to scout future employees, and oftentimes graduated students already have a position in a huge company ready for them as soon as they depart from the Academy.”
Klein made a note to himself to keep this information in his memory bank.
‘This really is the game of the elites…’ His head was already spinning for future plans.
But a rather audible sigh seemingly ahead of him interrupted Klein’s thought process.
A dramatic sigh came out from Leonard Mitchell. “More networking I see…”
Seeka, next to him with a resigned expression, let out a sigh and agreed, “It’s the way of society, there’s no going around it.”
Klein felt like he was seeing the true ‘woes’ of these masters. ‘I can’t relate.’ He thought instantly.
“Ahem.” Mr. Egger’s cough silenced the entire room. “It appears that many of you are aware of what the Winter Ball entails.”
He paced around the room and said, “The Winter Ball is one of the very few times all Academy students from all years gather together and meet with outsiders. We’re giving students the opportunity to network and plan ahead in their futures, but it’s also a time where you must showcase the dignity and respect of the student body of the Academy.”
Ignoring the others who had already restarted to talk amongst themselves, Klein muttered to himself, “Try not to disgrace the Academy image.”
‘That’s what they’re warning us…’
The girls from behind Klein all excitedly whispered, “Eeek! We’ll get the chance to meet the Royalties!”
The boys also chatted along, saying, “I’ve heard the third years are truly the cream of the crop this year!”
“I heard there’s also a few uprising talents in the second years as well!”
At this point, Mr. Eggers simply spoke with a louder authoritarian voice. “The second major event is in the summer. This event is open to the public, allowing outside visitors to see the showcased talents of the Academy students. It is essentially a festival of sorts. More details will be shared in the spring.”
Smiling, he went on to the next topic. This time, his smile seemed more sinister than the previous courteous ones.
The class muted in response to his chilly demeanor.
Klein cried internally: ‘Can’t we all just be respectful to our teacher on the first day of school?...’
— ------------------------------------------ —
[8:14 AM]
“Remember to grab an Academy laptop and tablet on your way out! It’s crucial to your learning here at the Academy!” Mr. Eggers reminded them, as everybody started packing up.
“Your first assignment here is to read over the Academy handbook of rules, then we shall do a quick assessment over it on Friday,” Mr. Eggers announced before the students could get up from their seats. A paper copy of the Loen Academy rules were given to all the students.
Several students were already groaning about their homework. “First day and there’s homework already?” they complained.
Klein had already picked up his things and tuned out from his surroundings.
‘I should probably work on my English some more when I get back home.’ He did not forget what his classmates said about his quick introduction during attendance.
It wasn’t hard for Klein to ignore the talking in the background, as his English comprehension wasn’t perfect enough to sharply hear every little mumble.
He pulled out his schedule and checked out where the next class was.
Room VII: Biology Science
A voice suddenly peered from over his shoulder. “Got science next too?”
Klein was surprised someone was talking to him. He spun around and looked up at who was speaking to him.
An effortlessly good-looking face had greeted his eyes.
He instantly composed himself once again and replied with a solid, “Yes.”
Leonard Mitchell had an air of nonchalance, hands in his pockets. Smiling, he said, “See you around then.”
He left as quickly as he appeared.
‘...........’
Klein Moretti was dumbstruck.
‘What was that?...’

He let out an airy laugh and thought: ‘Too?’
[8:20 AM]
The bell for the second class of the day had just rang.
The science classroom looked quite empty except for the board, chairs, tables, and cabinets. It looked more like a disinfected laboratory than a place for learning.
For a laboratory looking classroom, it was still top class with its interior design and sleek materials.
Upon closer inspection, the cabinets looked to have locks on them. Possibly containing all sorts of dangerous chemicals. A storage space was hidden behind a door next to the teacher’s desk area.
Unlike room III-A, room VII’s desks were separate long rectangular tables with two chairs settled next to each other. Klein had picked an empty table in the middle of the classroom to take a seat at.
At first, there weren’t many people in the classroom, so Klein took the liberty of choosing his own seat. That was until he was the only person left without a partner.
Their teacher first scanned the room then said, “Please make sure you have a partner seated next to you. This whole semester in science we will at least be working in these pairs during labs.”
Klein instantly thought: ‘It’s me, isn’t it?...’
He was too lost in thought to notice the student who had already pulled out the chair next to Klein and took a seat. At the sound of the chair scraping against the ground, Klein turned his head around to see his year-long partner for this class.
A tall build, casually brushed ink hair, deep emerald eyes…
Leonard Mitchell’s eyes met with his, and Klein couldn’t budge his head to move away in fear of creating awkwardness.
Instead, Leonard even flashed a small smile at him!
Klein didn’t know what to feel anymore.
Klein was flabbergasted. ‘How in the world did this guy not have people fighting over to sit next to him?’
— ------------------------------------------ —
[Tingen Middle School]
“Hey, Melissa, I heard you and your brother took in an Academy student!” a classmate gossiped while standing over at Melissa’s desk.
Melissa stiffly nodded, “Err, yes–”
Another student joined in, “Is it a foreign student? What year?”
“Uhm–”
Before she realized it, her desk was already surrounded by everybody in the class. All their voices and questions overlapped with each other, creating a spiral of noise with Melissa stuck in the middle of this vortex.
Elizabeth finally shoo-ed a few students away. “Class is about to start, so quit bothering Melissa and give her some breathing room!”
With her nagging, the crowd reluctantly dispersed bit by bit. Though, some were reluctant to part unsatisfied.
“Elizabeth, don’t you wanna know too?” a member of the newspaper club asked.
Elizabeth folded her arms.“Yes, I do, but I don’t have a burning desire to charge forward without respecting Melissa’s boundaries first. Can’t you put up with it until after class is over?”
It was impossible to refute that. Dejected, the student trudged back to their seat.
Elizabeth sighed as Melissa smiled sheepishly. She gratefully thanked her friend. “Thanks, I was starting to feel dizzy by the bombardment of questions.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “I’m pretty sure the teacher would’ve got everybody back anyway.”
“But,” she paused, “when are you going to spill about this mysterious foreign student to me and Selena?”
Melissa reassured her, “Don’t worry, I will, but just not now.”
Only when all the disturbance disappeared did she realize one crucial detail she had forgotten.
“But, wait– where’s Selena?” Melissa frantically looked around the room.
In disbelief, Elizabeth blinked twice with eyebrows raised. “What do you mean? She’s been behind you this whole time.”
Melissa instantly froze up and could feel the presence of her friend behind her at last.
Selena’s mood went to an ultimate low. She sighed, “Seriously, is today really not my day?”
Melissa frantically tried to cheer her up, waving her hands and everything. It’s been a long time since she was this flustered. Eventually, all that she could make out was an apology. “Sorry! But perhaps me telling you about that Academy student at lunch will make up for it?”
Selena’s eyes lit up.
Jackpot!
“Deal, and you better not back out!” Selena narrowed her eyes, pointing her finger at Melissa accusingly.
Melissa chuckled. “Why are you so interested in this student? Isn’t your brother also an Academy student?”
This made Elizabeth question it as well. “Yeah, why are you so interested?”
Selena looked at Elizabeth judgmentally. “Aren’t you also as equally curious as I and everyone else in this room is?”
“Clearly I’m not as devoted as you,” said Elizabeth, “calling Melissa so early in the morning before school just to ask questions.”
Selena was about to talk back when the teacher entered the room. She gave Elizabeth a look that said, ‘Just you wait.’
Melissa couldn’t help laughing at these two.
“Silence, turn to topic two in your textbooks,” instructed the teacher.
Elizabeth and Selena gave Melissa a shushing gesture. “Shh!”
Melissa rolled her eyes at them.
‘Seriously, what would they do without me?’ She thought.
— ------------------------------------------ —
[11:30 AM, Loen Academy of The Arts]
“It’s finally lunch time!”
“I wonder what the Academy chefs have prepared.”
“It has to be at least on par with my family’s personal chef.”
Almost half of the school day has passed, yet Klein feels like he’s done for the day.
‘What’s wrong with me? Even when I had cram school after classes I wasn’t this tired?’
‘No– not tired, what’s the word?...’
Klein slowly pondered his thoughts as he gathered his belongings.
‘More like…’
“Zhou Mingrui!” A loud voice disrupted his chain of thought. Outside in the hallway stood a very familiar figure.
“Huang Tao?” Klein turned to face him.
Huang Tao walked up to him and spoke with his awkward English. “What’s up man?”
‘The same slacker air as always.’ Klein immediately thought.
“What are you doing here?” he asked in Mandarin.
Huang Tao slung his arm around Klein’s neck. “To find you,” he said in their homeland tongue. “Come on, let’s go to lunch! I’ve heard of all sorts of delicacies from the cafeteria, and I’m not about to be the one who doesn't get a share!”
He dragged Klein out into the hallways and into a run.
“Quit dragging me!” Klein exclaimed.
Contrary to their expectations, the cafeteria wasn’t all that packed. Although students from all grades ate in the same cafeteria at the same time, many students had chosen to sit elsewhere around the school.
Of course, there were also people who didn’t eat lunch and went off to do something else. Klein would’ve done that any other day, but he really was curious about the Academy’s cafeteria food, and he wasn’t about to pass on free expensive food.
Huang Tao grabbed a tray for Klein, and the two went down the line for food.
It was a self serve food buffet filled with assortments of different dishes of European cuisine. Specifically, today was focused on what looked like fancy comfort foods of the wealthy nobles of Backlund.
Huang Tao grabbed one plate and then another until he lost count.
Klein looked over at his friend’s tray. “Are you sure you’ll be able to finish all of that? Don’t stuff yourself sick with food,” he warned.
He secretly thought: ‘Or you’ll come back home looking like a pig to everyone.’
Huang Tao was still older than him, and this guy certainly loved reminding Klein who had the senior position.
“What about yourself?” Huang Tao pointed at Klein’s tray. “You only have a few dishes! You’re definitely going to grow hungry later in the day.”
Klein shook his head and sighed. He thought: ‘Whatever…’
“Shall we sit outside or stay inside?” Huang Tao asked.
The two carried their food trays out of the line, and Klein filled his glass with water.
Even though the clouds had cleared up since this morning, a hint of the gloominess remained in the sky.
Klein responded, “Let’s stay inside.”
“Then how about that spot by the windows?”
A booth for four was settled next to a window looking out into the courtyard.
“Alright,” Klein complied.
He placed his tray down and carefully arranged his meal placement. Huang Tao did the same, but his plates filled the majority of the table.
Ribs, steak, prime beef, and all sorts of other expensive meats were picked.
As soon as they sat down, they began feasting. By ‘they’, it was Huang Tao.
Klein couldn’t bear looking at his friend scarf down his food anymore.
He spoke in slow and clear English, “Slow down, we still have plenty of time left in lunch.”
Huang Tao replied in between bites. “What?”
Klein gave up and continued eating his own meal.
The cafeteria certainly wasn’t crowded, but there were definitely more people than usual. Besides the chatter in the background, there was ambient and quiet classical music being played as well.
Klein slowly sipped his water. ‘Is this what the rich do? Play classical music while they eat?’
Compared to what he was seeing, the classical music did not fit whatever his view was.
Thankfully, Huang Tao didn’t have terrible table manners, or Klein might’ve just walked away to sit at another table.
The window view of the courtyard wasn’t anything special besides the fountain, roses, and garden decorating the whole scene.
Klein really enjoyed this whole atmosphere overall. The meat of his steak melted in his mouth, the music, and the great view outside.
‘This food is really amazing…’
A group of students had settled behind him and started chatting it up, making their conversations a bit too loud that Klein could overhear.
“I’ve got to say, the Academy really doesn’t disappoint.”
“This is even better than what my personal chef makes!”
“I’m so glad I live in the dorms! Have you all seen the dorm rooms?”
“Oh, please! The size of your dorm room is barely the size of my closet!”
“Okay, enough about all of that!” exclaimed one of them. “Do you all know what’s really important to talk about right now?”
The students looked at each other confusingly and then asked, “What?”
Klein thought: ‘Yeah, what?’
He really shouldn’t have been paying attention to their conversation, but the two booths were back to back with each other, making any words said to be distinctly heard.
A pause then the student slowly said, “The super beautiful people here!”
“Huh?” they all let out.
‘...’ Klein took a bite out of his steak.
“Tell me you all didn’t see that super beautiful blonde girl step out of that limousine this morning. Her hair practically reflected sunlight! It was such a brilliant gold hue.”
A collective ‘ohhh’ sounded.
“Hey, I believe she’s in my homeroom!” one of them exclaimed with excitement.
“Really? You’re so lucky. She’s so pretty she puts almost everybody to shame!”
“Almost? I think you mean everybody in this school!”
“No way! Have you seen that one tall guy with black hair?”
Klein was hooked. ‘Black hair? It’s not as common as blonde hair, but it certainly doesn’t stand out.’
The group of students waited for the other to continue.
“He’s in my science class,” they clarified. “I’ve met models in real life, but not like this.”
“Oh? Describe his features right now.”
“He looks quite uncouth actually, but somehow that fits with his charm! He’s in my science class.”
“When’s your science?”
“It’s my second class.”
Klein almost choked on his food.
“He was so good-looking that I didn’t dare sit next to him!”
“Do you even remember his name?” asked another.
“Sadly not,” they sighed.
“Well, what’s that golden girl’s name?”
“Hm, I believe it was…”
— ------------------------------------------ —
[Tingen Middle School]
Selena’s tray clacked against the table.
“So? Are you going to spill about this foreign student or not?” She took a fry from Elizabeth’s tray.
Elizabeth shielded her plate. “Get your own fries,” she said defensively.
Melissa opened up her lunchbox and responded, “Not until you tell me why you’re so interested.”
“Fair,” Elizabeth added in.
Selena side-eyed Elizabeth. “Fine,” she relented, “but I know I’m not the only one that is this interested.”
“Elizabeth,” she said tersely.
The one being accused calmly sipped on her lemonade.
Selena let out a breath and continued. “I heard that the Academy this year opened up its entrance exams worldwide and not just to Loen and the other few countries.”
“We’re all aware,” Elizabeth stated.
Another look was given to Elizabeth by Selena.
“Anyway, I was just really curious about who this student may be. Could it be some overseas genius? Do I know them? Should I know them? I mean– they’d have to be really talented to have been shipped from their country to Loen Academy.”
Melissa slowly thought about this. ‘Talented? Well, Klein doesn’t seem to show any exceptional abilities so far…’
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. “Then what about your brother?”
Selena scoffed and flipped her hand. “Oh please, he dedicated his whole childhood studying for the entrance exams that father worked so hard to get an invitation for him.”
“But, didn’t he get in?” Melissa asked, “So shouldn’t he be as impressive as the others?”
“We all know there are even more special people among the talented,” Selena argued. “Besides, he barely cuts it.”
“What I’m trying to say is–”
Elizabeth chuckled. “We understand, Selena. There are really amazing and talented people in the Academy, and you just couldn’t keep your wits about when Melissa said she and her brother were housing an Academy student.”
Their dear friend really looked to be fuming.
As gentle as Elizabeth may be, her light teasing side can be considered irritating (by Selena).
She took a deep breath in and out before talking back. “Several prodigies this year have been invited to attend the Academy. Ranging from sports to analytical subjects. For example–”
“Lady Audrey Hall, the daughter of one of the most influential noble families of Backlund. Beautiful and elegant, a genius of all the arts!”
“Wait, wasn’t she on the front covers of all the magazines in Backlund during fashion week?” Melissa slowly recalled her memories.
“It’s most likely she even got a chance to take the exams due to her father’s influence,” Elizabeth chipped in.
“Elizabeth, don’t be rude,” said Selena.
“I’m not being rude, I’m simply stating the possibilities.”
Melissa quietly ate her lunch while watching these two go back and forth. “So— any other geniuses to mention?”
“Hmm…” Selena pondered carefully. “Not geniuses, but definitely worth mentioning.”
“An author of a famous novel was invited, but I’m not sure if they passed or not.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened with surprise.“Woah, then that would mean the author is around our age?”
“Wait, I think I saw online that there was also a talented fencer invited,” she added.
Selena nodded enthusiastically. “I think they’re a girl? Dere-something? Anyway, I forgot her name.”
“I had no clue there were this many talented teenagers in Loen…” Melissa said in disbelief.
Selena stared at her friend dead in the eyes.“Don’t tell me you’ve been hiding under a rock all this time.”
Elizabeth giggled, “No, she’s been hiding away in the robotics lab this whole time.”
“No,” Melissa objected, “of course I’ve been keeping up.”
In between laughter, Selena asked, “Yeah? Tell me.”
Melissa gladly proved her point.“That mysterious programmer from last spring’s hacking competition. He wasn’t even from one of the schools participating, but I heard he got past the competition manager’s software to obtain evidence for the police!”
“You mean that mess of a computer competition? Wasn’t it cancelled due to cheating and bribing the officials?” said Selena.
“So, you mean this guy, who broke through the government system to help the police catch the culprit, got an invitation from the Academy?” Elizabeth raised her eyebrows. “And he’s a teenager?”
“Yes, and technically he got scouted by the Academy for his skills, not just because of this event,” Melissa clarified.
Selena sighed. “I swear nothing else interests you like anything related to technology.”
Elizabeth chewed on her sandwich.“So? What’s his name?”
Melissa set down her fork and paused. “I think it was…”

Chapter Text

[Loen Academy of The Arts, 2:34 PM]

Shoes squeaked against the court with each anxious step. Exuberant shouts with hinted urgency. Sweat was leaking onto the glossy floors.

“Pass here!”

Three against one. Leonard Mitchell clutched the ball in his hands and seemed to have blocked everything out, including advice from his teammates.

One of the guys sitting out on the bench asked, “So many people up against one person?”

Another shrugged. “Whatever goes.”

On the court, the opposing player in front of Leonard was on the defense. Laughing, he remarks, “Not so hot now, huh?”

Leonard’s eyes flared with focus. He bounced the ball calmly to his right and then switched it to his left.

One of his teammates shouted. “Just pass, man! Your position is too tight!”

Just when Leonard steps to his right, the player rushed forward to steal the ball.

“It’s a fake!” the opposing team’s benched player yells.

Leonard was about to shift towards the other way and almost escaped, but the two other opposing players immediately responded to his actions, limiting his area of movement.

They snickered. “Like we’ll get you through that easily!”

Clock’s moving. He can only hold onto the ball for so long.

The people on the bench were on the edge of their seats. The atmosphere was tense with anticipation.

“He really doesn’t have much of a choice other than passing,” Kenley commented, wiping the sweat off his chin with his shirt.

Klein contributed no words and adjusted his glasses, gazing onwards.

Leonard sighed. Muttering under his breath, he grinned. “Gotta end this fast then.”

If he can’t move forward, then he’ll just have to step back.

The onlookers clustered together. “He’s taking a shot there?”

With his ‘jump’, the three players in turn followed, jumping to block him.

Except, Leonard’s jump had been timed carefully. His feet reached the ground the moment the three had jumped high.

Even under the eyes of three people, he managed to slip past their guard and run to the front of the hoop.

He spotted an opposing player coming from his side.

“Here! Pass it!” shouted his teammate.

He passed the ball to a teammate who was free.

A jump followed by the flight of the ball.

The ball lingered at the rim of the hoop, a gamble resulting in victory or defeat for both sides of the teams.

Just when it looked like it was finally going to fall through, it swerved too hard to the left of the rim, thus falling down onto the court with a bounce.

The buzzer for the final game rang out. “Eleven to twelve! Team Blue wins!” called the coach.

Leonard stood in the center of the court. He ran a hand through his slightly damp hair and heavily breathed in and out.

The people on the side all exclaimed. “Whaaaaaaaat?”

Victory cheers erupted from the blue side.

The players on the red team all sighed and groaned in disappointment. “That was so close!”

Kenley's expression morphed from disappointment to acceptance. He sighed. “The deciding factor for victory was slim, but fate ruled it to be the blue team,” he said rather poetically.

Klein nodded.

He thought: ‘Even though he definitely could’ve taken the shot himself, he instead caused the team to lose the game by passing the responsibility off.’

He didn’t share his thoughts to his classmate, for he was tired enough to not want to voice his opinion and then explain his line of reasoning.

Although there are still classes to be attended, Klein felt done for the day.

“Alright, that concludes class for today,” yelled the PE coach. “Go ahead and get dressed!”

“Yes, sir!”

Klein wiped the sweat off from his forehead as he stepped off the court.

‘I’m definitely not doing basketball for my extracurriculars.’

Slowly, the students left the basketball court and walked back to the locker room.

The Academy’s basketball gym was spacious enough for two basketball games to happen. It had seats at the top for the audience, and the signature Academy colors were featured everywhere. Large banners of the Academy logos were drafted and hung from the walls and balcony of the audience.

Klein walked down the hallway filled with other students toward the men’s locker room.

Thankfully, the lockers weren’t uncomfortably squeezed between corners, making everyone bunch together.

He swiftly changed back into his uniform and left the rather loud locker room, bursting with the voices of happy and unhappy players.

Exiting the gym for basketball, he stepped into a long hallway, passing by many other indoor sport facilities. In total, he counted at least four different doors to different sports areas.

‘Volleyball, badminton, tennis, table tennis…’

‘Just when is this hallway going to end!’

Klein was just about to lose his mind until he saw the sign pointing to the exit at last.

A blast of wind greeted his face once he opened the door.

The weather had certainly taken a turn for the worse since this morning. Skies of blue were instead replaced with a blanket of thick clouds.

“Talk about bad luck on the first day of school,” he remarked.

“Bad luck? I wouldn’t say so. This is basically the norm here in Backlund.”

Kenley appeared beside Klein. “Although, it is a bit darker than usual. But- it’s nothing you should be too concerned about,” he reassured him.

“Too bad I didn’t bring an umbrella with me,” said Klein.

Kenley chuckled. “No worries. Even if it does happen to rain, it’ll clear up before classes end.”

Klein gave a doubtful look at him.

“Probably,” Kenley added.

The two walked together for a bit on the path back to the main building, talking on the way. Klein began to comment on how long it takes to exit the gymnasium.

“It takes so long,” he complained, stressing on the ‘so’ part.

Kenley raised his eyebrows. “There’s a much shorter route that everyone takes. I believe you took the main visitors pathway out of the building.”

‘And how come everyone but me knew about this?’ Klein’s internal voice boomed in his head.

“Ah, I see… Then next time I better look where I’m going.” He awkwardly laughed it off.

“Haha– by the way, where are you going to go for study hall?” Kenley inquired. “I was thinking of exploring the Academy.”

“I’m planning to go to the library. Mr. Eggers talked about it this morning,” Klein responded.

Kenley praised him, “How studious of you.”

Klein laughed in response but thought: ‘No, it’s just that ever since I’ve entered the Academy, I keep hearing words I don’t understand. ’

The two parted ways once they entered. Kenley decided to first visit their homeroom class again, and Klein chose the library.

Klein already knew what he was going to do.

Study his English.

He followed the sign pointing in the direction to the library.

The Academy hallways weren’t as filled as they were in the morning. A handful of people passed Klein every few steps. That was until he reached the entrance of the library. He could tell by how quiet the surrounding area was, including the fact that he encountered less and less people on his way.

Apparently, the library had a whole building to itself, and the entrance of it was nothing short of the Academy’s standards.

On the large and thick wooden doors, a detailed patterned logo was engraved in the center. Vines intermingled with each other on the side, and a book was open up with what looked like a large spherical object above it.

Klein pushed through the heavy doors with heave.

The aesthetic style of the library contrasted with the rest of the Academy he’s seen so far. Although it wasn’t terribly old and looked like it had seen better days, it had a more ancient and mysterious presence.

Not to mention that it was almost dead silent, except for the squeaking of the cart’s wheels against the floors, and the librarian’s fervent light typing on the keyboard.

Klein had walked through the language aisle and picked out some books on English and Loenese to look through. He took his place at a table against the windows and near to the grand clock centered at the entrance.

A few minutes in of peaceful reading, the doors to the library opened.

Klein paid no heed to the background noises (a skill obtained from cramming back home in public libraries), but two girls were having a conversation loud enough for him to pick it up despite not having intention to listen in.

The two stood in an aisle, one of the girls seemingly bored as she watched the other carefully go through the shelves.

“Don’t tell me you’re going to check out books on the first day,” said a girl in a bored and slightly irritated voice.

“First of all,” said the other girl, “the Academy doesn’t even allow students to take books out of school learning grounds.”

“Does this mean you’re abandoning me for some dusty books?” Her friend’s patience was waning by the second. “I suppose I’ll just have to visit the fencing grounds alone,” she said, emphasizing on the ‘alone’ part.

“Aren’t we here to look around the Academy? Take a look at our country’s best library,” said the other, trying to coax her friend.

Her companion took a couple glances around and agreed. “It is breathtaking and all, but I’d rather not spend all my time in this dreary place,” she explained, phrasing it rather negatively.

The other sighed, “Fine.” She closed the book she was looking at and put it back in its place. “Let’s go to your beloved fencing team, Xio.”

Xio smiled and told her, “Fors, it’s not like you were actually going to faithfully read the books in here. It’s not your M.O.”

Fors didn’t agree or deny it. “Let’s go, we’re being too loud.”

Xio nodded eagerly. “Yes– let’s. I’ve been getting intense stares from that librarian for a while now. Hopefully, she won’t scold me on the way out.”

Her friend sighed. “Then let’s take another exit.”

Their footsteps got fainter and fainter.

Klein overheard their entire conversation with perfect clarity of his current limited knowledge of the western language.

Due to the library being almost dead silent, even the quietest of whispers are heard as loud chatter. Except, the two girls barely attempted to quiet their voices.

He lampooned: ‘If you’re going to talk, you could at least whisper…’

The silence of age-old books resumed once more. Outside the windows was the view of the Academy’s garden pathways that led to different buildings.

A light thud of a raindrop landed on the window. Within a few seconds, the time intervals between these raindrops were getting smaller and smaller. Soon enough, a light shower began.

The light received from outside was dimming even more due to the clouds almost covering the sun completely.

Klein’s eyes refocused on the small print letters of his book in the new lighting. The shadow of the fine drops from the window was shown on the pages of his book.

He turned his attention to the large window next to him.

The drops of water painted the world in reflection. It looked like the rain wouldn’t stop until it engulfed the whole world, drowning everything out.

-English Dictionary-
drizzle - noun
definition: light rainfall in fine droplets.

— ------------------------------------------ —

[3:40 PM]

The massive clock on the wall rang out, signaling the end of the period.

After putting the back books where he first found them, Klein pushed in his chair and gathered his belongings.

According to his schedule, he was going back to square one. Mr. Egger’s room.

‘Last class of the day: history.’

Room III-A

The classroom looked to be the exact same since this morning.

Klein pulled up a seat towards the middle. He had a few minutes before class began, so he glanced around his surroundings.

A handful of people were already seated, and the teacher wasn’t in sight. As he waited longer, more and more people filled the seats. A girl also took a seat next to him.

When the bell finally rang out, Mr. Eggers walked in as he closed the door to the classroom.

“Welcome, everybody, to World History. I’m Mr. Egger, and I’ll be your teacher for this class for this semester,” he announced with the command of a respectable position.

He calmly took his spot at the podium. He then asked, “Do any of you remember what you learned about the start of humanity in middle school?”

The class responded in quiet mutterings and an occasional “Yes” or “No”.

Mr. Eggers continued. “Of course, many theories have been made of how the first humans originated, but that’s not what I’m getting at.”

“The key to this class is discussion. I want you all to turn to talk to a fellow classmate and question the significance of humans in history.”

Almost awkwardly, a slow chatter emerged amongst them.

Since there’s no one to Klein’s left, his only option was to talk to this girl to his right.

‘First, I gotta introduce myself…’

“Hello, my name is Klein,” he said.

The girl nodded and meekly introduced herself in turn. “I’m Naya.”

“The significance of humanity on the world…” Klein slowly began. “We’re the most intelligent species.”

“We’ve evolved drastically in such a short time. We’ve changed ecosystems and advanced in technology and our knowledge of the world.”

Naya nodded. “I agree. Humanity has persevered through hardship and survived for this long. It’s proof of how resilient we are. It’s significant in itself. ”

She seemed to be just as focused as Klein. “Sometimes, we’re like an invasive species,” she continued, “ending the existence of other living organisms at the price of our own survival.”

“It’s like– we’re the unpredictable variable thrown into nature’s equation. ”

Mr. Eggers clapped twice, signaling the end of individual discussion. He smiled. “I hope your talk was fruitful.”

“In this class, we’ll have many group discussions just like this in the future, so this was just a nice preview,” he explained. “I heard some of you mentioning humanity’s advancements, nature, and many other things, but nothing lasts forever.”

“The existence of humanity could disappear in the future.”

Mr. Egger had silenced the entire class frozen still. The mention of the disappearance of humanity only brought unsavory thoughts. It seems that he had expected this reaction.

He chuckled, “I’d wish for you all to keep this thought in the back of your minds when we begin our studies. History gives us understanding of our past, helps us cherish our struggling lives. The fact that it could vanish at any moment. I’d like for everyone to have a bit of appreciation by the end of the school year.”

“Now, shall we get to what units we’ll be going through this semester?”

An hour of class passed just like that. Then, the time for extracurriculars came.

Mr. Eggers had just finished up with his final words to the class before the end of lessons for the day. Klein already felt mentally ready to start his personal assignment on getting more sleep. The jet lag was still weighing him down a bit.

Grabbing his bag, he prepared to stand up and leave.

‘What club should I visit first?’

His memory flashed from earlier this morning.

He walked over to Mr. Eggers and asked, “Sir, where is the Computer Science Department?

“It’s located upstairs in Hall D. You should be able to get there by the stairs in the corridor,” he answered.

Klein gave a small bow. “Thank you.”

In order to get to Hall D, it required him going through some exercise. At the very least, a few flights of stairs climb up.

‘I bet they put it at the top so computer shut-ins like me would have to exercise.’

By the time Klein had reached the third floor, Hall D, his knees ached a bit and his feet felt heavy.

There were a lot of stairs between the ground and third floors.

“Since this Academy’s so rich, you’d think there’d be an elevator,” he muttered.

Several other club rooms were located on the third floor. These clubs were all placed very meticulously, making sure the right clubs were neighboring each other so they wouldn’t disturb each other due to their separate interests.

Klein passed by the Literature Department and the Business Department, both had extremely spacious rooms, yet he still hasn’t found the Computer Science Department.

As he walked, two girls passed him by. Klein overheard one of them talking to the other, saying, “The Computer Science Department really is a weird group. Otherwise, why would their room be hidden in the corner, tucked away from the sun?”

Klein took this chance and asked. “Excuse me, do you know where the Computer Science Department is?”

One of the girls directed him where it was. She pointed from the way she and her friend had walked from. “Keep going forward and take a right. It’s hidden around the dead end.”

He politely thanked them and walked forward with purpose.

He continued past the long windows overlooking the courtyard. Until he reached the wall, indicating that it was a dead end. It really did look like the hallway was done.

When he poked his head out, he found a room that was neatly tucked away in the shadows.

‘How obscure. Do they not want people visiting the department?’

As he got closer to the door, he could hear vague sounds of cheering and typing.

“He’s breaking through!”

“Quick, deploy your shield!”

Through the crack of the door, Klein caught a glimpse of the crowd inside the department.

The room had barely any windows, save for the long vertical one that was in front. Leaving the Computer Science Department to look quite dark. To combat the dim lighting, several LED lights were placed strategically around the room to effectively create an ambient but focused atmosphere.

Though, one could argue that they simply crafted an environment suited for mold to grow (on themselves) in.

Bookshelves were lined up together against the wall. Beside it was a table that was half full with documents. Small cubicle-like offices in the middle were clustered together. A podium and a presentation board were situated next to the vertical window at the front. There also seemed to be other doors branching off into different rooms.

Judging by how much stuff was contained in the room, the inside appearance was more spacious than looking from the outside. Otherwise, this club’s working environment would be a strenuous squeeze like a cramped and poor office.

A crowd was gathered besides two people sitting next to each other in these cubicles. They were eagerly watching the computer screens of these two.

One of the watchers cried out, “He broke through!”

“Ohhh!”

There was a fierce sound of clacking on the keyboard, and the younger-looking guy seemed to be racking up a sweat.

“And… the Captain wins!”

The screens on both of their computers then suddenly turned either dark red or golden yellow. One had a ‘Victory’ and the other ‘Defeat’.

The audience clapped to the winner, who seemed to look older than the rest.

One of the watchers commented, “Captain finally got a chance to show off his abilities to everyone! Usually, you wouldn’t participate in any of these matches!”

“Our Captain is always so modest and humble,” praised another member.

The loser of the match resigned to his defeat with a smile and turned to his opponent. “That’s right, ‘Captain’,” he praised, “you’re truly worth your reputation.”

Said Captain shook his head. “You’re growing at a fast pace. As long as you’re diligent in working hard, the results will show in the long run.” He then asked the group of people, “Is there anyone else that would like to give this game a try?”

Few would dare to go up against such a force after what they had just witnessed. If they were wise, they would spare themselves of the humiliating defeat.

“Frye?” The Captain quickly turned his attention to the lone figure beside the bookshelf.

Frye didn’t move from his position nor did he spare a glance. “I’ll pass,” he said indifferently.

A latecomer to the event, who had just exited one of the branched-off rooms, spoke up and asked, “Wait, why are we playing Capture the Flag in the first place?”

Another explained to him. “We’re using Capture the Flag to showcase the abilities of our department to the first year students.”

“Mhm, we gotta recruit more members. We absolutely cannot let those Intis scums take first next year!”

“But we haven’t even had any first years come in yet!”

“Don’t worry! Maybe– they’re just shy?”

While they were conversing amongst themselves, Klein stood as an invisible spectator at the doorway. When the topic finally diverged too far from selecting another player, he finally decided to reveal his presence. “Uhm-”

“Well, we can’t beat those INTELLECTS if we keep fussing around like this,” a member sighed. “Let’s just play to see how our skills have held up since last semester.”

“So, who wants to go next?”

“Me.”

A voice suddenly directed everyone’s attention towards the doorway.

Klein instantly thought: ‘Who is that?’

He turned his head to see who had volunteered before him.

Behind Klein stood a tall and handsome guy. He leaned against the door frame and stepped inside, walking to the center.

He stood in front of the Captain and asked again, “May I try?”

“Are you a first year student?” asked the Captain. “Are you familiar with–”

“Yes and yes,” he interrupted him, not paying any mind. “Could I go against you?”

The Captain shook his head. “Why don’t you do it with the person behind you?”

Klein’s opponent suddenly turned and locked eyes with him.

Leonard nodded. “Okay.”

Then, before Klein knew it, he was swept away into a seat at one of the cubicles. He sat before a wide computer screen next to Leonard Mitchell, who calmly adjusted the height of his seat.

‘This really reminds me of internet cafés in my neighborhood…’ Klein thought as he also tried to adjust to this new computer set up.

“Are you a first year student as well?” The Captain suddenly asked Klein.

He was a bit flustered by how the upperclassman suddenly sprung in on him. “Ah- yes.”

The Captain nodded and asked no further questions.

Klein’s screen was already open to what looked like a game interface. It was a simple black screen with a couple of options in a row.

A department member took the liberty to explain the rules to the two. “Ahem, this game was designed specially by our department head for special curated practice. It’s quite similar to the ‘Capture the Flag’ in cybersecurity competitions, but it’s been modified to work differently.”

“There are several modes, but you two will be playing in the normal mode,” said the Captain. “You are given weak strings of code for attack and defense, but you are free to build upon the base of the text in order to strengthen its impact. The original base of the code is always intact, but there’s a ‘key’ that’ll break through the opponent’s wall. The goal is to find this ‘key’ of code by trial and error the fastest. By modifying your defense, you’ll deflect the enemy’s attacks momentarily, giving yourself more time to find out their ‘key’ as well. All in all, you are to protect your system from being infiltrated by the opponent and protect your ‘flag’, but also try to infiltrate the opponent’s system to grab their ‘flag.’”

“Got it,” said Leonard. “When can we start?”

“Both of you need to click on ‘Normal’ and then ‘Play’ to begin,” the Captain explained. “Your system base has a vulnerability, so it’s crucial to detect it first and protect it.”

“Whenever you’re ready, begin.”

— ------------------------------------------ —

[5:32 PM]

“I’m back! I got the drink–” a member called out, coming back inside the room.

His friend promptly shushed him. “Shh! Can’t you see what’s happening?”

The other was clearly confused at the scene he had just returned to. He quietly whispered, “What’s going on?”

“These two first year students have been battling it out for the past half an hour! Half an hour! Yet, no one has won! But I think it’s getting close because ever since that handsome guy just keeps generating these attacks faster and faster! I think he’s getting close to breaking through!”

“Oh… Then he’s most likely to win, right?”

His friend clicked his tongue. “You can never say for sure when it comes to these kinds of players. Even though ”

Everyone had crowded behind Klein and Leonard, watching them very closely and carefully. Klein’s hands were beginning to feel a bit clammy from all the attention. Well, his hands also began to feel tired from typing too fast.

Leonard Mitchell had even stopped slouching and leaned forward towards the computer, rapidly throwing out commands.

Currently, Leonard was on offense while Klein was focused on defending his fort’s weak point. Klein had been building his shields little by little, deflecting Leonard’s attacks while also sparing himself the time to go through trial and error to find Leonard’s ‘key’.

‘It’s about time. I should probably throw some attacks at him too…’

The two have been in a deadlock for the majority of the match. Sometimes, Klein would gain the upperhand and almost grab at Leonard’s critical point, and the opposite also went.

Just then, Leonard had almost quietly slipped past Klein’s eyes, just within reach of the ‘flag.’

[Infiltrator Detected!]

[******]

The crowd cried in anticipation and excitement.

Klein locked in immediately. He thought: ‘So this is his style.’

In return, Klein broke through Leonard’s last firewall while the guy was busy going through Klein’s to protect his wall. He rapidly searched for Leonard’s ‘flag’.

[you have successfully broken in!]

Everyone was sitting on the edge of their seats just to witness the finale of this match.

“I can’t believe this is just normal mode! Just imagine them competing in the difficult mode!”

The Captain quietly watched both Klein and Leonard. Their faces were of utmost focus.

He turned and asked Frye for his opinion. “What do you think of them?”

As stand-offish as he may have been, Frye had actually been paying attention to the match, quietly observing without any input. “Both are above average, but still could be polished around the edges,” he said.

The question that everyone was wondering at that moment was: who is going to steal the flag first?

[...decrypting…]

The clock on the wall was like a ticking bomb, raising everyone’s suspense further by each tick noise of the second hand with every passing second. Within that period, the victor finally emerged.

[WINNER → Player 1]

“Who’s Player 1?”
Everyone was dumbfounded. Did no one see who was which Player before the match had started?

A sudden squeaking of the chair wheels against the floor interrupted everyone’s focus. Leonard Mitchell scooted back and spun his chair next to Klein and leaned in, his posture akin to ‘The Thinker’.

He let out a satisfied sigh. “Hah… I haven’t had so much fun in a while.”

His grin made Klein doubt the sincerity of it.

“Shall we play again?” He asked.

Everytime this guy opened his mouth Klein could only understand half of what he said out of his mouth. Except, he could tell even without mentally translating it that this fellow wanted a rematch. Nevertheless, he maintained a composed facade and responded, “What does everyone else think?”

He turned around to look at the Computer Science Department to see their response.

The crowd parted off to the sides for their Captain to make a comment.

The Captain seemed to contemplate what to say first. Calmly, he said, “Both of you have great potential to grow to be the best here at the Academy. But, as much as you would like to continue, I believe this period is coming to an end. Students aren’t allowed to stay in the Academy after their classes end for the time being because the first years haven’t selected their extracurriculars.”

Leonard heavily sighed. “I guess we’ll just have a rematch later then.”

Klein watched his opponent get up and pushed his chair in with a clatter.

He felt at the very least, a bit stressed– no, perturbed? Klein has never met someone so….

He pondered it carefully in his mind: ‘Flirtatious?... No–’

“See you tomorrow,” Leonard called out with a smile. “Klein.”

Smooth and gentle, suggestive with an undertone of flirtiness to one’s imagination.

‘...I can’t figure him out.’

Klein heavily sighed and also left the Computer Science Department after giving his thanks to the Captain and members.

The crowd was momentarily distracted by the ending that they forgot to ask who had won the match.

“So who won in the end?”

“I think it’s that pretty guy, he definitely decrypted it faster.”

“No way, did you see the speed of that glasses guy?”

“Captain, what do you think?”

Their Captain merely shook his head for a response.

Everyone groaned. In the end, the two first years had left the Computer Science Department fumbling for answers.

Klein had already made his descent down the flights of stairs. Through the windows, he saw many students flurry out of the Academy building.

‘There’s so many students here…’

Not only did he see the flood of students coming out the building, he could also see the extremely dense rain clouds that had formed overhead like a dark omen looming above the world.

He recalled what Kenley had told him this morning. He let out a small mocking laugh. “Heh… Nothing to worry about, huh.”

He reached the ground floor and turned towards the lobby to exit along with his peers. Just as he was about to reach for the door, he heard the laughter of some girls nearby.

The Academy also had a small stationary store in the lobby. A small shop hidden away in the corner with a sign out at the front.

Loen Academy of The Arts

It was written with a fancy font, and ‘The Arts’ part was bolded especially.

Klein took a glance at the time on his phone.

[5:34 PM]

‘It wouldn’t hurt to take a look. Besides, I need some school supplies too.’

The corner store’s doors slid open as soon as Klein approached. The interior was a blast of the Academy’s colors black and gold, but also different splashes of hues were mixed within the palette to make the store seem less cold.

The walls hung the Academy banners and the floor was glossy black with sparkling golden fairy dust. The tall shelves beside the walls were filled with school merchandise, and the columns at the front of the store were filled with an array of stationary. In the middle of the store was a round sectioned tub of pins with a large ‘L’ statue in the center.

A few employees were working around the small shop. It resembled those luxury stores at the Viridescent Shopping Centre with every shopper having a personal employee acting as their attendant.

Klein’s eyes first went to the shelves with extravagant Academy clothes and then to the columns of stationary.

The clothes weren’t cheap looking, few looked like merchandise of the Academy and instead looked more like a chic high class clothing brand. The only way one could tell that it was an Academy brand was the print of the school. The logo was more discreet and unlike other schools’ merchandise where the print was located big and proud at the front or back for obvious view.

Klein lifted a price tag from a black sweatshirt and his eyes widened, almost to the size of golf balls.

‘I’m probably never going to buy any clothes from this school…’

He quickly let go of the sleeve of the sweatshirt and went off to look at the stationary the store offered.

The notebooks were modest and clean, ranging from sizes of compact; being in fitting a pocket, to normal. Some were waterproof, and some had a string on the back cover to secure the notebook.

Klein already had a few notebooks, but a few more couldn’t hurt, right?

He turned a normal sized notebook in his hand, checking the price.

‘Why is everything in this store so expensive?’

He first put the book back before making any decisions. A look at the writing utensils was in order.

Carefully looking over the price tags on the variety of pens, pencils, highlighters, and etc, he decided on a few that he deemed ‘worth the cost’.

In the end, he had purchased a small arrangement of highlighters, some tabs and pens, erasers, and even a notebook.

Originally, he didn’t want to get that overpriced book of paper, but the quality was too good. Not to mention that it was waterproof, secure, and had a good quantity of paper within.

Klein walked out the store with a small bag akin to a luxury store’s shopping bag. He lifted the bag up and let out a stressed sigh.

‘I couldn’t help myself in the end. This company’s products really couldn’t be found back home. It would’ve been a waste if I never got to experience how good their products really are.’

Looking over the digital receipt on his phone, he quietly hissed, slightly hurt at how much he spent.

‘How much have I spent since I’ve arrived here…’

Klein recollected his memories and calculated the total cost he’s spent since arriving in this foreign place.

‘...’

‘How has my mom not called and scolded me yet?’

He expects that a phone call about his spendings will come up very soon in the future.

Other than his worries about his bank account, the small storm outside only grew more intense. The thudding of raindrops against the glass windows of the building only grew louder the longer he stayed inside.

“It’s raining again?”

He was the only one standing in the lobby. Although the lights overhead were illuminating the building, he still felt that it couldn’t shrink the quiet gloom that the storm clouds gave off.

The damp thudding of droplets on the glass doors resounded in his ears. Klein stood there for a moment, gazing at the weather outside.

He felt alone for a moment. Perhaps it was the gloom, or the ambience of being the only one in the lobby.

Alone in the quietness of the squeaky clean floors of the Academy. Alone in this foreign country where he had no friends nor family. His new name was also a new change.

All this time, he had been thrown into the rush of new things. He hadn’t had the time to come to terms with everything that was going to change.

Late night trips to the convenience store with only slippers on.

Homemade hotpot with his family during the weekends.

Helping out the neighboring aunties and uncles with their electronics.

‘Klein’ stood in solitude, thinking of how isolated he really felt in the rush of youth.

He shook his head.

‘Ah, what’s wrong with me? I should enjoy this new experience, so I can go back home to tell others how it was.’

He swung his bag to his shoulder and looked through it, hoping to find the small umbrella he supposedly packed inside.

“Ugh- where is it?”

‘I really don’t want to run out in the rain!’

His frantic search was interrupted by a sharp jab on his shoulder by a tube-like object.

“You’re still here?” a light and surprised voice appeared.

Klein turned his head.

Who would talk to him in this familiar manner and also stay behind in the Academy as late as him?

“You-”

Klein struggled to form the words out of his mouth.

“Me? I’m also equally surprised you stayed behind as well,” the perpetrator replied.

His green eyes seemed deeper in the dark and even more suspicious in Klein’s eyes.

Klein retorted in his mind: ‘Suspiciously gay, that’s what.’

Somehow, Leonard Mitchell and him just keep ‘bumping’ into each other today. It was raising Klein’s levels of annoyance.

Leonard had just poked him with a small collapsible umbrella in his hand. He pushed it forward slightly, indicating he’s offering it to him.

Klein looked down at the umbrella in his hand. A simple black one that anyone could purchase at a convenience store. It didn’t look like an expensive one that he originally believed all the rich kids at this school would use.

The hand holding the umbrella was pale and strong looking with long fingers and visible knuckles popping out. A sturdy wrist and slightly visible veins.

Klein looked back into Leonard’s eyes. “How would you go out then?”

The boy explained with a tone of a matter of fact. “I don’t live far from here.”

“But– if it really bothers you,” he said, eyes staring at Klein. “I could always walk with you.”

Klein raised his eyebrows, dubious at his intentions.

‘I don’t live that far away from here either, but that doesn’t mean a short run will guarantee that I won’t be soaked.’

He sighed, then searched his bag once more to find his umbrella.

Finally, he pulled out a deep maroon umbrella. It was hidden beside the Academy laptop.

“Thank you,” he said to Leonard. “But I have my own umbrella.”

Leonard retracted his hand and shifted the weight of his bag on his shoulder. His eyelashes fluttered as he slowly blinked.

“Bye, Klein,” he said.

Klein wanted to give him a stink eye.

Just why was his name pronounced so irritatingly tender?

The youth walked past Klein and out the glass doors into the rainstorm outside. Opening the dark umbrella, his figure seemed even more attractive and tall with the backdrop of the empty school grounds.

Klein sighed and followed suit, exiting through the glass doors. He pushed his umbrella open and was just about to step out into the rain until his phone vibrated in his pocket.

-Moretti Family-

Melissa Moretti:
I didnt bring an umbrella today and I have some things to finish up for my classes as well so I wont be able to get home in time to get dinner ready

Benson Moretti:
No worries
I’ll grab some takeout from a restaurant on the way home

Melissa Moretti:
But there’s already so many ingredients in the fridge
Just think of the expiration date!!
How long are we gonna keep them there?
Also Benson, you promised me that we were going to quit this takeout resolution for at least a month

Melissa’s long string of texts popped up every second, filling Klein’s screen with even worse grammar than the next.

Klein:
How about I prepare dinner tonight? My cooking isn’t too bad.

Dots appeared on his screen from Melissa, disappearing at times and reappearing.

Melissa Moretti:
Are you sure? I don’t want to take too much of your time! You only just arrived so you still must have jet lag from the flight
Benson could always just buy something healthier from a restaurant

Klein:
It’s no problem. I won’t be cooking anything too complex, so it won’t take much time.

Melissa Moretti:
Thank you so much! I promise Ill try to get home as soon as possible to help out!

Klein:
Try to get home before dark and stay safe while walking back home. I can walk to pick you up if you’d like.

Melissa Moretti:
No no it’s fine!
It’s a relatively safe area so Ill be okay

Klein looked at the time on his phone.

[5:53 PM]

‘I better start heading home now if I want to begin preparing dinner in time for them to come home to a nice meal.’

He stepped into the water-filled world. The puddle on the paved ground reflected his lone self walking amidst the storm.

Evernight had once said: “To live free from troubles is to embrace the storms.”

At that time, he had figured that she meant it both literally and figuratively somehow, but he couldn’t grasp it completely.

That is until he experienced plenty of sporadic storms himself.

A faint sound of thunder from faraway urged Klein to speed up the pace.