Drayen opened his eyes as he had a slight headache. his eyes were still weighing. He slowly rubbed his eyes. He was in a totally unfamiliar place. He was in an unfamiliar bed. He started to remember the things. He hopped down the bed. He had drifted to sleep after four smokes of those nightmare realm's modified cigarettes. Oh my god. I can't believe it. I slept in Kira's house he thought. He was inwardly happy. But his phone rang.
Ring ring.
He saw more than 25 missed calls from his mom. Oh shit I totally forgot I hadn't told anything to mom and had disappeared. He panically opened the door. Kira had just brought some groceries to make breakfast.
"At last you are awake."
"I'll talk later. Sorry for the trouble Kira. Bye." He slided out of the door in a hurry.
His house was just two houses beside Kira's. He ran home. He panicked — what would he tell his mom? Will she scold him? He slowed down his steps as he opened the door quietly. He wanted to check the atmosphere before getting scolded.
Mrs. Wraithwing, his mom, was waiting in the living room. Hearing the door, she appeared before him. Worried and tense at first, but after seeing him safe, more than anything, anger flared in her eyes.
"Drae, do you only know how to make your mom worried?"
"Where the hell were you last night?"
"Why didn't you pick the phone call?" He could see her anger building.
"Mom, that is..." He didn't know what to say. He gave it a quick thought. "Mom, it's Leo's birthday. My phone got lost. So I was finding it. Before I knew it, it was late. So I drifted off to sleep." He lied.
Her anger flared even more. "So you can't even tell your mom by calling through your friends?"
"Mom, that is… that is…" Before he could speak further, a slipper flew toward his head. He dodged it. It took a while before he finally calmed his mother down. Not to mention his sister called right after and took another lecture of him.
He was in a very very bad mood if he had to say.
Ring ring ring ring.
Phone rang. He looked at the screen in an annoyed way. His lips had a little curve.
"Hello Drayen. Sorry to be bothering you, but I have run into a small problem." She coughed loudly as she spoke.
He straightened a bit. "What happened? Kira?"
A few moments later he was at her house again. She had burnt the whole cook pot of chicken trying to cook on the electronic stove. The entire house was full of smoke. Kira was standing there waving a towel uselessly, her face half hidden behind it.
"I swear it wasn't my fault," she said between coughs.
Drayen stared at the blackened pot. "Kira… this is literally charcoal."
He carefully turned the switch off. She had put the stove on high heat and the food had turned charcoal . Along with burning down. The stove keeping it very long. It was old model without any safety. It only had some scraps left before melting completely.
"This is a true mess. " He coughed.
He helped her clean up all the mess. She felt very sorry, " I am sorry, I know you had to absorb core i disturbed you."
He said casually, "I have already completed it. No worries."
She had a surprised look on her face. But her stomach rumbled at the same time. He turned to her. "You are also hungry, huh."
She smiled, "Also, so you're the same. Let's go eat. My treat for completing the assignment."
Drayen froze for a second. Kira gave him an annoyed expression, "Don't look at me like that. I am a generous teacher."
Drayen quickly waved his hands, "No no, you misunderstood. Hehehe. Let's go," he said.
They went to a simple fast food store 'BBFC'.
"Take a sit, I'll order." Kira went ahead to the counter.
A moment later, she brought a big tray with many fried chicken, burgers, etc. Enough for four people to eat. "Here, let's eat." She sat, and as she smelled the aroma, her eyes were already ready to devour the feast.
"Kira… isn't it a little too much?" he asked.
She had already taken a large burger bite as she spoke, "We .oooow. ooooow.oow."
He didn't understand a single word. Normally, he didn't like eating in a messy way. She had mayonnaise all over her mouth and hand. She was happy as she ate. Drayen noticed—she likes eating food, cute huh. He smiled to himself as he began eating.
In a corner street, where there were almost no people. Only three university boys. One was very short, with leaf-green hair. He was trembling between the two boys on either side of him. They were fat and wore a different university uniform than his.
"Hey Zuko, after going to a new university, you completely forgot us, man." The fat guy on his right side spoke—he looked like a middle-aged uncle, but he was also a university boy, just from a different one than Zuko.
The other one, also fat but less than the first and not uncle-looking, spoke, "Yeah man, you totally forgot the boss. We were such good friends. Remember how we used to hang out?"
"Now he's beyond our reach. Hahahah. Anyway, what about the girl who used to hang out with you?"
"She has a pretty good body, if I have to say. Her figure is surely matured for our boss's taste. Hehehe."
"Yes, won't you convince her for a night for me? Won't you do a favour for your friend?"
Zuko was on the verge of crying, but when they mentioned Zara, anger and helplessness mixed in him. He couldn't control himself. Tears dripped from his eyes. He wanted to shut their mouths.
"Hey, you're making us look bad," the uncle-like guy said.
"Yes, the boss only asked for a favour. You're betraying our friendship." He kicked Zuko in the stomach as he spoke.
Zuko held his stomach helplessly as he groaned in pain.
The uncle-like guy spoke again, "You know I don't want to do this, right? Won't you ask her for us?" He took his phone out and pushed it forward. "Call her."
Zuko couldn't hold it anymore. "Fuck you…" His weak voice was almost a muffle.
The uncle-like guy froze. "What did you say?" He lifted his leg and kicked him again.
Zuko let out a cry as he fell to the ground.
Drayen was kicking a stone as he walked to his home alone. She had gotten a call, so they went to the university together. But after knowing she would be late, Drayen walked back. He wasn't thinking anything; his mood had calmed down. It's not like he couldn't understand his family. He made them worried. But scolding for hours does feel bad.
Suddenly he heard a cry from Road to his right.
He turned his head—bullying, huh.
He thought to himself—preying on the weak, that's what this was. They'd pick a guy and poke at every weakness just to feel superior. Either go to extremes and target their weakness… or if you're lucky, some minor psychological thing works, like getting better at something or becoming a bit popular. Bullies usually shut up when their toy stops being easy.
He hated it.
But he wasn't the hero-type guy. Anyway, as a matured person he knew society would bend them later.
He was about to walk away, but as he gave a final glance he saw Zuko.
It was his friend. They had only been classmates for a day, but because Fedric was close to Zara and Zuko, Drayen naturally ended up becoming close to them too.
Drayen's step quickened as he paced towards Zuko. He gave the bullies a slight push. The uncle-like guy almost tripped and fell. Drayen lifted Zuko; he was in a very bad state, with footprints all over his uniform, his eyes swollen from crying.
"Hey, who are you?" The minion guy swung as he shouted.
Drayen dodged; he had been training for weeks, this was easy peasy. He smacked his fist into the fat guy's stomach.
The uncle-faced fat guy, seeing Drayen beating his minion, tried to push Drayen against the wall. Drayen dodged, fortunately. But the next moment, as both attacked at the same time, he took a few punches.
Huh, it's nothing compared to Kira's fist, Drayen thought.
Drayen spun and kicked—the kick hit the minion's jaw, knocking him down finally. Without his minion, the uncle guy didn't want to fight anymore. He was about to back off, but Drayen saw the opportunity as his fist landed on the man's stomach.
The uncle-faced guy had no intention of fighting anymore. He reached for his phone that had fallen, but Drayen pushed him aside. Drayen stepped on his hand. The fat guy tried to pull and drag him down, but Drayen was quicker. He drove a knee into the man's face. The uncle-faced guy held his bleeding nose, his head spinning as he fell backward.
"Why are you in such a rush?" Drayen said. He turned around. "Is it yours, Zuko?"
Zuko shook his head no.
Drayen's blood boiled seeing the sorry state Zuko was in. He went ahead and punched the uncle-faced guy again.
"Let's go, Zuko." He left with him.
As they walked, Drayen looked at Zuko with pity. "You know… I can't guarantee they won't bully you again. But you can."
Zuko nodded quietly.
"Now, now. Just smile," Drayen said as he put his hand on his shoulder in a playful manner, trying to cheer him up.