The door of the old car opened with a metallic creak. A boy of only ten years old climbed out with difficulty, limping, his face dirty and a cut open at the corner of his mouth. His scraped knees and the bruises hidden beneath his clothes said more than any words could.
The man behind the wheel, a cold and impatient-looking man, held out a wad of crumpled bills to someone outside.
"He did well today."
The man said as he took the cigarette between his teeth.
"He made more than expected."
Saul, the boy, raised his eyes when he saw his father approaching. The man took the money with a cold but satisfied look and placed his heavy hand on his son's shoulder.
"You work hard. Your mother will be happy about that."
The boy smiled despite the pain. A pure smile, still innocent.
They entered the small house with worn walls and dim lighting. In the back room, a pale and thin woman waited for them lying in bed, with sunken eyes and a scarf wrapped around her head. Saul's father went to the table to count the money, while Saul ran to sit beside his mother's bed, gently holding her hand.
"I did well today, Mommy."
The woman smiled. It was a smile that seemed fake, almost like a mask of tranquility. At that time, Saul didn't notice. To him, that was the most beautiful smile in the world.
"That's good, my love... With this, we'll have a little more money this month..."
Saul simply nodded, feeling his heart warm from having managed to help. At that time, he knew... he knew that what he was doing was wrong, but...
"I would do anything for her."
Then, like a wave of reality invading the tide of memories, Enrico's eyes suddenly opened.
The infirmary's light blinded him for a moment, and the pain caused by Fire Cancer still remained in his body, although it was much weaker. He took a deep breath, trying to understand where he was. When his vision finally adjusted, he noticed a pink-haired girl sitting beside him. She had a worried but serene expression and kept one of her hands resting on his forehead.
The touch was gentle.
Enrico didn't know why, but it gave him a strange feeling of comfort. For a few seconds, he simply stared at the ceiling.
'Too innocent... I was too innocent.'
Enrico tried to sit up, but the girl immediately noticed the movement and called the nurse. She approached and began checking his condition, asking a few questions before quietly sighing.
"Please, don't move too much."
"Alright."
He looked at the girl with curiosity.
"You're not the girl who bumped into Serenya that day?"
The pink-haired girl looked surprised.
"You remember?"
"It's hard not to remember when you're the only person with pink hair and pink eyes in this academy."
The girl thought for a few seconds and nodded.
"That makes sense."
While the nurse continued examining Enrico, he remained silent for a few moments. Then he took a deep breath and carefully stood up according to the nurse's movements.
"I'd like to ask you to keep my Fire Cancer a secret."
The two were surprised.
At that moment, the door opened and Elaris entered the infirmary.
"Are you afraid of worrying your friends? Don't worry. At most, only the director will know, besides the people who are here. And he has already ordered your room to be repaired."
Enrico noticed Angela drinking tea on the other side of the infirmary.
'Damn... I wanted no one to know. Now it'll be difficult to come up with an excuse... No, wait. It won't be.'
Elaris continued:
"The director also said he'll send you home for a week to rest. Your parents should be the best people to take care of this."
Enrico looked at Elaris.
The excuse was already prepared in his mind.
"No. They wouldn't know, because they never saw me grow up. And the person who took care of me when I was a child has already died."
Enrico was telling the truth. His parents had stopped caring about him after discovering that his potential was extremely low.
Since he was a baby, he had been placed in the care of a maid, while his parents only called for him in three types of situations.
The first was family meetings because the family's rules required all dependents to be present. On those occasions, Enrico was constantly compared to Lan, which only reinforced the feeling of inferiority he already carried.
When he noticed that everyone was looking at him differently, Enrico noticed something that bothered him even more: pity.
'Damn... Now they're seeing me as some poor little guy.'
"Don't look at me like that. I don't like it."
Everyone looked away, making Enrico sigh. Angela then stood up from her chair.
"I'll inform the director that you've already woken up."
"No need. I'm already here."
The voice came from near the door.
Everyone turned at the same time and found Director Hao standing there. He was looking at Enrico's back, where the mark left by Fire Cancer could still be seen. The director's sudden presence startled everyone.
"I have to say, boy... your life is difficult. Having this since the day you were born and resisting for this long should be considered a miracle."
Hao observed the size of the mark with genuine surprise. He had already seen people develop Fire Cancer at the age of seven, but this was the first time he had encountered someone with a mark of that level.
"But you've managed to resist it until now and stay alive. At least, you should be able to endure until you're nineteen. Even so, I still have one question: why didn't this happen during the previous months?"
Hao stared at him seriously.
Enrico held his gaze without showing intimidation.
"I can always endure it. What happened was that this month ended up being much more difficult."
The atmosphere remained heavy for a few seconds until Hao smiled. He looked at the mark on Enrico's back with interest again. That excessive curiosity was a trait he had inherited from his older brother, a man who, in the future, would help the academy precisely because of his enormous curiosity.
Enrico then turned his gaze toward the pink-haired girl.
"And what's your name?"
She answered quickly, as if she had been waiting for him to ask.
"Seraphina Liris."
"Pretty name."
Seraphina scratched her cheek, becoming slightly embarrassed.
"Thank you. And thank you very much for saving me back then."
Enrico simply nodded with a smile before looking back at the director.
"About staying away for a week... I accept, Director."
Hao nodded and began talking through a communication stone with someone who could safely transport Enrico.
"How long was I unconscious?"
"Ten hours."
Elaris was the one who answered.
Enrico became thoughtful. The first thing that came to his mind was Class A.
'Has Professor Virelle already taken over the class?'
Elaris noticed his expression.
"Don't worry. We've already informed the teachers and they gave permission. They wanted to know the reason, but we told them it was a personal matter of yours."
Enrico nodded gratefully.
Then, he turned his attention back to Seraphina. Upon noticing the Rank indicated on her uniform, he became curious about how she had advanced so quickly. When he asked, Seraphina immediately became excited and began telling him about the day Enrico had helped her with Serenya, Elian, and Caelan. Since that moment, she had started training much more, and little by little, her Rank had risen.
"Today they increased my rank along with another student. From what they said, we had enough of a level to enter the class, and since there were many vacancies, I was able to enter without any problems. I was going to fight someone from Class B, but I ended up losing and canceling it."
"...Sorry."
"You don't need to apologize. I did it because I wanted to."
Elaris silently watched the conversation. Her thoughts were focused on her own kingdom and the need to find strong people capable of helping it recover some of the power it had lost. Enrico was one of the most promising candidates for that, and it would be a waste to let someone with so much potential die because of that disease.
'I'll help him. As much as I can, so that he can accept more easily when I ask him to join me...'
Meanwhile, Angela had already sent the information to Virelle. Her loyalty belonged exclusively to the teacher, and she knew Virelle needed to know what had happened to Enrico.
In the teachers' room, Virelle received the information and clenched her teeth.
She remained silent for a few moments, thinking about all the possibilities.
"A disease... in the very student who interested me the most."
She needed to find a way to make Enrico reach the Eighth Circle before he turned twenty.