The mockery of fate, or the stars, or whoever it was, continued.
Lear woke up to the noise and movement in the room. His neighbors were starting to get ready for a new day at the Academy.
He couldn't help but groan.
"Get up, scarecrow," said Yuni's voice, and someone's foot intruded through the curtains and shook Lear politely. "You didn't let us sleep last night, and you're lying around like a princess."
Lear muttered something unintelligible, pushing Yuni's limb away, and wrapped himself tighter in the blanket.
"Either way, if you don't get up in time, Ruan will come here anyway."
A second later, Lear stood upright and made the bed as if by muscle memory. Yuni chuckled, but didn't comment on it.
This can't go on.
Lear needed to do something about Ruan. He was too attentive and strict. If Lear had stayed in the same faculty as him, Ruan would have noticed something was wrong sooner or later.
Especially considering the fact that Lear was no longer a servant of the star Fomalhaut, Lear thought, examining the sigil on his wrist. He put on a wristband to cover it.
Besides, he no longer wanted to have anything in common with Ruan.
In the bathroom, he gave himself a dissatisfied, sleepy look. Light red hair stuck out in all directions. Lear had already lost the habit of his natural color. In the past, which is now the future, it was black.
'A beautiful color, actually,' Lear thought, trying to smooth his unruly hair. 'And I wanted to be like Ruan. Idiot.'
Having dealt with all the morning procedures, Lear skipped roll call and went straight to the Academy administration. It shouldn't be a problem to convince them otherwise.
The Academy consisted of four faculties of certain stars - the Heavenly Guardians or Royal Stars in other words. They were Aldebaran, Antares, Regulus and Fomalhaut. They were once separate schools, but with the emergence of a single Empire, they united into one Academy. Lear was a student who served Fomalhaut. Its main color was deep blue, and its main aspects were strict adherence to rules and regulations, restraint, prudence, the desire for knowledge. In general, everything that Lear did not have before and which he definitely did not have now.
By breakfast, Lear transferred to the Antares faculty.
It was even easier than he expected. As if the whole world expected it.
The Antares star was famous for its unbridledness, rage and passion. Those who served it and studied in this faculty usually had a hot temper. In short, it suited Lear perfectly, even if he couldn't actually serve it.
The only problem was...
Having stashed the transfer order in his bedside table, Lear went to the refectory and sat down at an empty seat at the end of one of the tables. In the morning, the Antares dining hall, like Fomalhaut, was not very crowded. At the other end of the table sat a small group of sleepy teenagers. Apparently, they were huddled around their leader, Lear thought and looked closer. He recognized him.
It was Meyde Boenetri, a first-year, like Lear at the moment. Meyde was known for his terrible arrogant character and rich origins. He was light brown-haired, with honey-colored eyes and neat features. Despite his character, Boenetri was attractive to girls, so Lear concluded that they were attracted to his looks or his property, or both. All of Lear's Fomalhaut acquaintances who knew him couldn't stand Meyde, and he couldn't stand them.
Lear had never had to deal with him alone before. Before he'd returned to the past, he, Yunilai and Feste had occasionally had run-ins with the Antaresian and his friends, which usually didn't go beyond the usual teenage squabbles over the ever-vigilant elders and chairmen.
Lear picked up his tray and cheerfully sat down next to the group, which abruptly stopped the conversation. Everyone just stared at him, waiting for their commander to speak. Meyde first stared at the intruder, and then hissed:
"Lear."
So Lear had already managed to make an impression.
...The only problem was that the Antares and Fomalhaut students never liked each other and were always competing.
Smiling amiably, Lear answered, completely confident in himself:
"And you're Meyde, right? I heard you come from a wealthy family. It seems I didn't leave the best impression of myself, but I'm sure I can change your mind. And your friends."
Meyde leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. "Not everyone at the Academy is a lowly ragamuffin like you. Actually, this is a prestigious place for the very best, and apparently for those who were lucky enough to befriend one of the chairmen."
Lear's confidence had not yet evaporated so quickly.
'Does he really think that I'm here only because of Ruan?'
Lear sighed. He didn't really want to argue with a little idiot, especially from Antares, especially when the rest of the group was watching their awkward conversation attentively.
"Well, you're going to have to learn to tolerate me from now on anyway, so I figured why not start with something positive."
"What?"
"Well, you know, because from now on we're going to learn together."
"Wait, what?"
"That's a rhetorical question, right? I mean, I'll be with you on Antares now. Please love and favor me."
Meyde paused for a moment, thinking. "Why did you leave Fomalhaut?"
Lear scratched his head. "For various reasons. Mainly, to no longer be associated with that very chairman you mentioned."
"Why? You're close, after all." The curiosity in the guy's voice sounded sincere.
"We were... I guess. But we won't anymore. And Fomalhaut was never right for me."
"You haven't been studying on it for very long."
"Uh, yeah, but it's better not to stall, don't you think?"
Several people from the company agreed and nodded approvingly. Meyde was still looking at Lear's face, as if trying to decipher the secret of his sudden change of heart towards chairman of Fomalhaut. Lear gave him his most patient smile.
"You're funny," Meyde concluded after a minute. He extended his hand. "Meyde Boenetri, let's get acquainted."
Lear was amused by the compliment, and smiled for real.
"Just Lear. Nice to meet you." He shook their hand, and then turned to the others. "And to you too."
In the end, Lear shook everyone's hand and only then was able to eat. But he didn't mind - new acquaintances and everyday chatter helped distract him from his worries, and the Antares boys turned out to be not as terrible as Fomalhaut's students imagined them to be. In Lear's eyes, they were ordinary children, perhaps a little annoying.
After breakfast, he said goodbye to his new acquaintances and decided not to delay the move. Luckily, there was one free place in the Antares faculty apartments.
Lear returned to the dorm and began to pack his things in a suitcase. Every student had one of these in case he was going home, on an internship, or somewhere else.
"Lear, are you still sleeping or something?"
Footsteps were heard from the hallway and soon Yuni looked into the room.
' What a bad time.'
"You're lucky that Ruan is busy today and didn't check... what are you doing?" Yuni came up and his gaze caught on the suitcase. "Lear, are you leaving? Where?"
"Uh..." Lear unconsciously began to look around the room for clues, but found nothing. "Actually, no. Not really. I'm transferring to another faculty."
"What?" Yuni said doubtfully. "Are you kidding?"
"No."
"Oh."
Yuni froze, looking at Lear.
"Ruan won't be too happy about this."
"What fucking difference does it make whether he's happy or not? Let him cry his eyes out. You have your own head on your shoulders. You should, at least."
Lear zipped up his suitcase. "Start using it. Bye, Yuni."
He was already coming to a conclusion when his friend grabbed his hand.
Lear was beginning to regret his sudden outburst of emotion.
"Wait, wait. I just don't understand. Why are you leaving?"
"Fomalhaut doesn't suit me, there's no point in fooling yourself." Lear wanted to break away, but he held back, instead looking pointedly at Yuni's hand.
"So out of the blue? Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"And you're going to leave us? Does Feste know?"
"He doesn't know, and I'm not leaving you." Feeling uncomfortable, Lear reflexively pulled out of the grip. "You are independent people, why the fuck do you need me?"
"It's just... we've always been together."
"Maybe it was in vain. The world doesn't revolve around a couple of people."
Especially people like you.
"So... bye, Yunilai. You can tell Feste the same. Good luck", Lear said in a tone that did not imply objections, and turned around.
Soon he left the Fomalhaut freshmen's dorm, leaving a bewildered Yuni alone.
Although everything did not go as smoothly as he wanted, Lear felt relieved as he left the Fomalhaut building behind him. For the first time in a long time, he felt as if a meaningless weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders.
The place that Lear was taken to the Antares dorm was almost empty. Apart from him, no one else lived in this room, so it was a little neglected. Unlike the Fomalhaut dormitories, the Antares dormitories were less tidy and more lived-in. Apparently, this house did not have a chairman as obsessed with order and cleanliness as Ruan. Small red pillows were scattered on various surfaces along with uncollected board games, leftover snacks, weights and other student belongings. It looked like normal teenagers lived here.
After a little cleaning in his new room, Lear plopped down on the bed, made of wood and decorated in red.
Even though he had managed to do nothing yet, Lear felt exhausted. In the back of his mind, he could not stop thinking about what had happened and was happening now, and, of course, he was constantly worried about the sigil.
Lear took off his wristband to examine it again. He was familiar with the symbol well enough, although he would have preferred never to see it.
Lear reluctantly stood up and trudged to the nearest observatory. Since all the students were training or busy with their own affairs, there was no one there. He took with him the books on cosmography that were lying at the entrance and began to adjust the star chart using a special panel, looking at the images from the books along the way.
There was no one mentions of this damned star or its sigil. It was also impossible to find it in the sky.
Lear slammed the book shut in frustration and put them all back in their place.
If he had been a diligent student, perhaps he knew something. Something that could explain time travel.
Or the impossibility of dying completely.
But neither the 'Uranometria' nor the 'Almagest', the applied books of any scientist studying the magic of the stars, contained information about such a thing. Even Lear knew about this, because all students studied these books from the very beginning of their studies.
Having achieved nothing, he went to lunch.
***
The Antares dining hall was buzzing with many voices. Students who had returned from morning training and classes took their places at the tables, banged trays, ate lunch and talked loudly.
Lear was standing at the entrance, looking around for Meyde and his group, when a tall guy who looked to be in his twenties approached him from behind.
"You're Lear, right?" he asked in a businesslike tone instead of a greeting.
It took a bit of a memory search to remember who it was. Kieran Shin, a senior and the chairman of Antares. Lear knew almost nothing about him, since they had never interacted before. He was dressed in casual clothes and looked shabby, as if he had just gotten up.
"Yeah, so you're Shin?" Lear asked, more out of politeness.
"Yeah, but my friends call me Shinki. It's a stupid nickname, but I've come to terms with it." Kieran's voice was already much friendlier. He ran his hand through his disheveled head of brown hair. "And for the younger guys, like you, I'm the captain."
"Okay, boss."
Kieran snorted good-naturedly and motioned for Lear to follow him. Shin greeted everyone on the way to the table. Once they were seated, Kieran began helping himself to food and continued:
"Do you know how surprised I was when I found out first thing this morning that that kid from Fomalhaut had defected to us?"
"'That kid'?"
"Yeah," Shin muttered with his mouth full, "the same one that Ruan dragged in at the beginning of the year. I thought you were completely loyal to him." Seeing Lear's face, he added, "Sorry if I was wrong."
"Eh, no, nothing, I just didn't know I was that popular." Lear quickly defended himself, but in his heart it angered him terribly when someone reminded him of his former fanatical devotion to Ruan.
Kieran chuckled.
"I think mostly only the chairmen and some of the administration know. In short, those who personally know Richrass. We were a little surprised when he returned from his charity trip with some child."
Lear wanted to interrupt him and say that he was not actually a child, but an adult, but he remembered in time and kept quiet.
"Of course, everyone knows that he is unusual, but to take a whole person from somewhere. And then we learned the details and understood him completely."
Lear's face unintentionally darkened. He did not like to remember the past, especially his childhood and the events leading up to how he ended up at the Academy.
"Oh, sorry about that. I wanted to answer the question, but I went somewhere else." Kieran put toast on Lear's plate. "Actually, I'm very curious why you joined us."
Ignoring the food on his plate, Lear fidgeted on the bench, trying to find a more comfortable position.
"Well, I've noticed for some time now that Fomalhaut isn't a good fit for me, but I didn't want to make such a big decision too quickly," he began, choosing his words with difficulty. Even if it was half true, he was terrible at this kind of thing. "Then it became clear that I wasn't in the right place, so I took matters into my own hands and transferred."
Perhaps he should have consulted someone first, at least for the sake of appearances, but given Lear's terrible speech skills, that would only have made things worse.
"Hmm... that was very independent of you, kid. I'd like to ask what event specifically cause you to change your mind, but I have to go now..." Kieran turned and grabbed the sleeve of a passing boy. Only then did Lear notice that it was the man he was looking for. "This is Meyde Boenetri, the first-year prefect."
"Oh, Lear, hello again," Meyde said simply.
"Oh, hi." Lear replied in the same spirit.
"Have you already managed to meet? Excellent. Meyde, please help him catch up. Start as soon as you eat."
"What about my classes? What about training?" the first-year looked slightly puzzled.
"You are excused from them for today. Explain to Lear what we have and how, and then I will figure it out myself. Consider it almost a day off for you." Kieran winked at the first-year. "Bon appetit, don't be lazy". He said goodbye, getting up from the table.
Lear and Mayde watched him go, and then turned to each other.
"Do I really need to explain everything to you?"
Lear shrugged.
"Is there some kind of beginner's guide to the servant of Antares?"
Meyde looked at him like he was an idiot.
"Then I have to", he sighed.