"..."
Nephis was looking down at him, while Aelon was just frozen.
After a few moments, he finally managed to form rational thought, and answered.
"I-I won't be as strong as yesterday."
The white-haired girl's eyes narrowed, but she still answered.
"I want to fight you."
Aelon's gaze fleetingly turned towards Sunny, but he just shot him an apologetic smile.
"When?"
"In combat class."
Aelon recalled how she beat the countless sleepers yesterday, and a shudder ran through him. Not wanting to antagonize her, he just replied by nodding.
***
Combat Class started.
Aelon found himself standing before Nephis, who had her eyes locked on him.
They had been told to choose a partner to fight with, and practice their combat skills against them. Caster had first offered Nephis that he could be her partner, but she rejected him, and told him that she already had one.
The fight initiated.
Aelon's augmentation through the other students was in it's fullest, but his flaw didn't act up as much since they were all focused on their own battles.
In a blur, Aelon vanished, and hit the girl, square in the stomach.
Shortly before his fist connected with the fabric of the compression shirt she was wearing, Nephis turned sideways, causing the fist to meet air.
Even though his physical abilities were enhanced to their fullest due to his innate, Aelon's mind still thought at the same speed, causing him to be forced to lower his speed.
Aelon immediately followed up with another attack, but she dodged and caught his wrist, when his arm fully extended.
The next moment Aelon found himself on the floor. All air was knocked out of his lungs.
Nephis didn't let go of his wrist, even though their fight was over.
Then her grip tightened around it.
'I swear to god it'll break!'
"S-stop!"
The silver haired girl didn't falter.
"Where do you have that bracelet from?"
'My bracelet?'
"I-I'll answer please stop!"
Only now did her bone crushing fingers stop tightening around his forearm.
"I-I've had it as l-long as I can remember, I even t-tried to cut it off, but it just wouldn't stop... I don't know where I got it from... it was just always there."
When Aelon looked up, he saw the usually taciturn grey eyes widen.
"It can't be..."
Only then did Nephis' hand finally stop clutching his forearm, and let him go. Just as Aelon was about to relax somewhat, she grabbed the collar of his shirt, and pulled him up.
Then forcefully she parted his hair away, so she could see his face, and looked him deep in the eyes.
"How old are you?"
"Th-thirteen... I don't know the exact date."
Nephis turned around, and just walked away.
'What the heck was that?'
Now without partner, Aelon sat down, and caught his breath.
After he was done resting, he looked around to see if anyone was free to spar.
His eyes met Lyra's.
To his misfortune, her pupils dilated. She was currently fighting Caster, who seemed to have some sort of ego issues after loosing to her yesterday, and ran to her after being rejected by Nephis.
The moment she saw him though, she delivered a liver-shot to Caster, and ended the fight.
Then she walked over.
'Oh... fuck no.'
He just wanted to walk away in that moment.
After a few seconds, she finally reached him, and stopped, standing right before Aelon.
'Seems like she got good nutrition while I was dying in the outskirts... no stop being stupid! You should be happy for her.'
It was still quite comical to see her standing before him. She was older than him, and had already went through much more of puberty than he did, but the difference between an outskirts rat and a well-fed and adopted outskirts rat... well you couldn't really call her that anymore. Anyways, the difference between them was really not something Aelon was overjoyed about.
"Aelon?"
Aelon looked up, and met her eyes. She on the other hand just stared at him in disbelief.
"You're still alive?"
'Are you serious? That's the first thing she tells me?'
Aelon wanted to get away.
'No no no. This is too early, I'm not worth it.'
Just on time, as he was about to turn around, he felt her grip on his shoulders, as if she just read his mind.
"You didn't eat well."
Aelon just nodded, and stared at the floor.
Lyra tilted her head slightly.
This wasn't the reaction she expected.
The boy she remembered used to follow her everywhere. He used to grab her sleeve whenever he was scared, and smile whenever she praised him.
This boy looked like he wanted to disappear.
"You got shorter."
Aelon blinked.
"W-what?"
"Not literally."
Her eyes moved over him.
"You are thinner. Your posture is worse. Your muscles are underdeveloped."
She paused.
"You look like you were starving."
Aelon clenched his fists.
"Sometimes."
The answer came out quieter than he expected.
"Why are you avoiding me?"
Aelon froze.
"I'm not."
"You are."
Silence.
"Did you hate me?"
That question would have been impossible for anyone else to ask so directly.
Aelon looked up.
"What?"
Lyra's purple eyes stared into his.
"You disappeared. I disappeared. Then you looked at me like I was someone dangerous."
Aelon's throat tightened.
"I thought..."
He hesitated.
"I thought you wouldn't want to see me anymore."
For a moment, Lyra was silent.
Then she stepped forward.
Aelon tensed.
She placed a hand on his cheek.
The gesture was familiar.
Too familiar.
His eyes widened.
"You're still the same."
"No I'm not."
"You are."
She paused.
"You still think you're worthless."
Aelon looked away.
Lyra frowned slightly.
She didn't like that.
"Stop looking away when I'm talking to you."
"..."
Aelon looked here in the eyes, then immediately averted his gaze again.
"I... I need to train. We can talk after this."
Lyra stared at him for a few seconds and then shook her head.
"You're not leaving me again. You'll train with me."
The black haired boys fleetingly looked at Caster.
"You don't need to worry about him, he won't want to stand up for a while."
Aelon just nodded in response, and then hesitantly got into a fighting position. Lyra followed and their fight started.
Aelon knew not to hold back, after all she had defeated Caster, who had defeated Nephis, who had defeated him.
But even going at her full-force didn't save him.
Even though he moved at speeds even incomprehensible to himself, she reacted with textbook form–– almost perfectly, and when he threw a jab, she used the force of his own strike to make his face kiss the floor.
'That fast?'
When he looked up, he saw her eyes flicker with frustration.
"W-what's wrong?"
"You don't fight like you were taught. You fight like you learned from survival."
Immediately Aelon's eyes found the ceiling very interesting.
"M-maybe because I did?"
Lyra's eyes narrowed.
"I'll make sure to teach you correctly, and after you return from the dream realm, you won't need to fight anymore."
Aelon looked confused.
"Why?"
"I won't allow you."