Scanning the entire gym within seconds, catching every single detail, Lily couldn't help but smile and jump into the air like a child.
So much...potential!
Leaning over the railing of the second floor, Lily turned her head downward just as another teacher arrived, leading her group of students in.
With long, orange hair, a freckled face, and light-blue eyes, the teacher sauntered up the stairs and toward Lily.
Without even waiting for Lily to speak, she angrily stomped her right foot on the ground and exclaimed.
"How is this fair!? The top five students in the same class!? What do you have on the principal?"
Smirking and staring downward, Lily simply tilted her head and said.
"Nice to see you again, as well, Eren."
Calming down and standing beside Lily, Eren sighed.
"Well, you deserve it after...last time."
"..."
Ignoring her colleague, Lily's gaze slowly paused upon the center of the gym, upon a certain figure.
...he borrowed that 50,000 coin sword just to not use it?
Gazing at the boy simply...leaping up and down while pivoting fluidly, Lily could understand he was practicing footwork.
Following Lily's gaze, Eren glanced at the boy as well, immediatly pulling out a tablet and taking a picture of him.
Within a few moments, his student identification screen popped up, prompting Eren to mutter.
"Rank 1667 with D-rank potential? That's unfortunate, his movement is actually quite fluid."
Nodding her head in agreement, Lily lowered her gaze to the boy's footprints and subconsciously added.
"It's a shame his speed stat will never surpass D...if he's moving like that with G-E ranked speed, I couldn't even imagine him at A, let alone B-level. Must be his innate talent."
"Indeed...he should focus on his swordmanship."
The two S-ranked teachers silently concurred before shifting their gaze to the right, where a massive crowd had gathered.
Immediatly, Eren turned around, forgetting all about the dancing boy.
"That's the rank one...and five dueling!?"
Grabbing Lily's hand, Eren rushed downstairs, pulling Lily behind her, and excitedly yelled.
"Let's get a better look!"
However, they were too late.
By the time the two teachers had arrived at the dueling grounds, Leo could be seen pointing his katana at a disarmed Haerin.
*
*CLAP*
*CLAP*
"ONE MORE!"
Hearing a round of applause echo from behind me, I bit my lip, holding the urge to bow, and left the free training area.
Gripping my keychain, I sighed and silently slipped out of the training hall, immediatly sprinting to the dorm buildings in the distance.
After a quick elevator ride, I unlocked the door with my smartwatch and instantly threw the keychain in the air, watching it enlarge to painting size and attach to the wall.
Surprisingly, despite my act of simply dancing for three hours straight like a circus clown, no one had ridiculed me.
Instead, some students from other classes had simply started watching me?
One student had even tried replicating my actions, but failed on the first step, messing up the length of his leap.
Seeing my footwork, they probably assumed I was an expert with the sword.
Little did they know...I would probably lose in a duel to a 1700-ranked student.
Leaning against a wall, gazing at the two massive cardboard boxes waiting to be opened, I closed my eyes and groggily walked toward the painting.
Why would I waste precious time sleeping when I had the pond to recover me!
Within a few moments, I found myself standing on a familiar lilypad, recalling the white robed man's dance while allowing muscle memory to take over.
At that moment, my curiosity could help but culminate.
Those boxes...are they from "Athen's" parents?
...
...
...
Looking at the pitch-black sky outside the window, about six hours after my entrance to the painting, I grabbed a towel and dried myself off.
My tablet and smartwatch's message application had received 0 notifications since my transmigration, so I had assumed the worst.
Athen had no parents.
However...it seemed I was wrong.
Gazing at the two open boxes before me, I pinched my nose and grabbed a plastic garbage bag.
It seemed...Athen wasn't on good terms with his parents, to say the least.
Countless letters, marked with a disgusting odor, with contents along the lines, "NEVER COME BACK AGAIN," "WE'VE ALL FORGOTTEN ABOUT YOU," and "DON'T TALK TO US AGAIN," appeared in the boxes.
There wasn't just three, but, at the very least, fifteen.
No furniture or good-luck charms, just stacks of letters, each somehow infected with a putrid scene that made my nose scream out in agony.
...how could he possibly make his parents this mad?
They hadn't just sent letters filled with insults...they had stinkbombed his dorm room on purpose!
Worst of all, they hadn't given a reason. The closest was, "YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID. YOU'RE NO LONGER MY SON!"
Shrugging my shoulders, I scooped up the letters into the garbage bag and threw them out the window, immediatly running to the sink to wash my hands.
It was probably for the best.
If I met the real Athen's parents, they could possibly discover I wasn't actually him, and things could take a turn for the worse.
Returning to my dorm room, still smelling the disgusting odor, I sighed and muttered.
"Well, I wasn't planning to sleep here anyway."
This dorm room wasn't really a "room," just a holding place for the pond sub space.
Still, though, I was annoyed that this place now smelled like dog shit.
Just as I stood up, no longer able to bear the room's new smell, I spotted a single letter left on the ground.
I had used my nose to gather what I thought to be all the letters, so if this was one still here...that meant it didn't smell.
Leaning downward, I abruptly paused while reaching my arm out.
No...my own parents wouldn't send me literal dog shit, right!?
They had stink bombed me...so what if they decided to ruin my room completely by spraying dog shit all over it!