"I can't believe my baby boy grew up so fast,"
Dad sniffled, wiping his tears with the back of his hand.
I looked at him flatly. "Dad, you're a crybaby,"
"Once you have a kid on your own, you'll get it, son," Dad mumbled, pinching my cheek. I giggled at that.
Today will be my first day of school. Well, kindergarten, specifically. I'm five years old now!
I rarely paid any attention to how human life works when I was a Demon Prince. I was too busy slaughtering and conquering everything I laid my eyes on.
And apparently, getting an education by attending this school every weekday is a must for kids.
Given how this world operates, hierarchy within the school would become even more apparent. Since I won't have my Mom and Dad to protect me later, I'll need to deal with those snobbish high-ranked kids by myself.
I smirked darkly, clenching my fists.
It's not like I'm going to let them walk all over me. Not anymore.
Why?
I glanced down at my hand, seeing a rapidly swirling black gas forming on my palm with a hint of crackling red static around it.
Because my magic is stronger than theirs.
"Why are you smiling so creepily like that, Riven?" Dad narrowed his eyes at me. "You're not going to cause some trouble at school, are you?"
"Am not,"
"I feel like you will,"
"Nyo!"
"Haha! You still can't say no properly!"
I gasped, offended. "I'm telling Mom! MOOOM—" He clamped my mouth with his hand.
"Shh! She'll kick me if you keep telling her that I've been teasing you," Dad shushed, pinching my nose.
I flailed my arms dramatically to shoo him away.
Mom finally stepped out of her room, dressed for my first day of school. She smiled at me, cooing.
"Aaw, my baby is so handsome in his uniform,"
Heh.
Thanks, Mom.
"What about me, dear?" Dad piped in.
"You look okay,"
Ouch.
Dad hunched his back and walked sluggishly outside of our house, mumbling about how his own son took his wife away from him.
Mom crouched in front of me, fixing my collar and kissing my forehead. "School might be difficult at first, but I know you're my strong, brave big boy, and you'll be able to get through it easily. Right?"
"Yeah!"
"And don't forget to wait by the school gates for me and not follow anyone home,"
"Yep!"
"And—"
"Honey! We're going to be late!" Dad hollered from outside, already in the car.
Mom huffed, scooping me up and grabbing my bag from the floor. "Alright. Are you ready?"
"Mom, why are you more nervous than I am?" I tilted my head to the side, smiling.
"Ugh," Mom groaned. "You're too smart for your own good. I can't even lie to you anymore since you figured it out already, Riven,"
I smooched her cheek.
We both went inside Dad's car and drove off. Mom and Dad looked extremely anxious, blabbering about nothing at all, to telling me that I can always tell them if too many kids bothered me.
When we reached the school, they both cried, and I needed to calm them down by patting their backs.
Babysitting adults is tiring.
"We love you, sweetie!" Mom called out when I walked toward the gates with the other kids. Dad was crying on her shoulder, waving his hand toward me.
Some parents around them gave them weird looks.
Silly parents.
I take a good look at the kindergarten building looming in front of me.
So this is a kindergarten—a school.
I mean, I'm pretty sure my parents are just being dramatic. Just how terrible can schools be anyway?
I walked inside the building, ignoring the kids throwing tantrums and crying loudly because they were separated from their parents, and followed the grown-up—a teacher—to a classroom.
When I took a seat, I noticed some girls around me were giggling at me. When I looked at them, they began to squeal, their chubby cheeks turning red.
What's their problem?
"Good morning, everyone!" The teacher exclaimed cheerfully, clapping her hands together after she closed the doors behind her.
"Morning!"
"Today is our first day together, I'm so excited! Who's excited?"
"ME!"
"I WANT MY MOMMY!"
"Teacher, this kid stinks..."
I narrowed my eyes at that.
"That's wonderful!" The teacher clearly ignored the last comment with a practiced smile. "But before we start, all of us need to get to know each other. Including our ranks! Let me go first. My name is Jessie, and I'm a C rank. Now, who wants to go next?"
Oh, great.
"I'm ranked C!"
"I'm C too!"
A chubby kid, looking all arrogant and annoying with his stupid smirk, let out a loud humph. "I'm B,"
The kids around the class gasped loudly, saying he's really cool.
Some kids didn't speak out, but they know they have to.
"I'm a D..."
"Me too,"
"M-Mommy said I'm an E..."
The teacher forced a smile, and it didn't quite reach her eyes. She memorized the faces of those kids with low ranks, and I couldn't help but roll my eyes.
"It's okay to be honest, everyone. And you," The teacher suddenly looked at me. "What's your rank?"
"F," I said calmly.
The classroom became silent.
And then, everyone burst out laughing.
"I have never seen an F before!"
"My Daddy said F-ranks are like bugs!"
"But he's a handsome bug..."
"Hah!" The B-ranked kid scoffed loudly, pointing his stubby finger toward me. "I don't want to be put in the same class as him, teacher!"
The teacher hummed. "Unfortunately, Mr. Toby, we can't assign students to specific classes in kindergarten. But that's okay!"
And then, her smile turned sinister as she glanced down at me.
"That means, we all do our part to make sure he fits in. Okay, everyone?"
The higher-ranked kids definitely understood the teacher's implication, because they started snickering and glared at me darkly.
So even the teacher encouraged other kids to bully me? Wow.
I didn't flinch. I'm not scared of these brats.
That only means I can finally test my magic on them.
Although it'd be bad to end their lives accidentally.
So I'll control myself for now. Heh, unless they tested my patience first.