A dry sound echoed through the courtyard.
Everyone stopped. A body had crashed against a post.
It was Jânio.
Lauren's eyes widened.
His heart raced. Without saying a word, he stood up in a hurry, hugging his teddy bear Ash'vour tightly, and ran toward the fallen boy. His black cloak billowed, and his feet almost stumbled along the way.
Jânio lay on the ground, his cane a few meters away.
"Ouch… ouch…" he groaned.
Lauren knelt beside him. With trembling hands, he held Jânio's hand, which was still warm.
"What?" Jânio stirred. "I feel a hand on mine… Is anyone there?"
"Yo… Yo… You… are… okay?"
Jânio, still lying down, smiled faintly.
"I'm fine… Thank you so much for worrying."
Lauren looked away shyly, tapping his fingers together, his face turning red.
Suddenly, a blur passed by them with the screech of tires.
"Jânio!" Felix shouted, breathless despite all the speed. "Are you okay?!"
"Of course," Jânio said. "This person here helped me." He pointed toward Lauren.
"This is Lauren," Felix explained. "He doesn't talk much."
"Ah… I see why you barely talked to me," Jânio said with a smile. "Thank you anyway, Lauren."
Lauren nodded, trying to smile.
"But anyway," Felix said, "what happened here?"
Jânio adjusted himself on the ground as if he were about to tell a great legend.
"I was sitting peacefully when I heard students talking behind me…"
"I heard it too."
"About what?"
"Today they're selling lasagna in the cafeteria."
"But only for the first TEN."
Jânio raised his arms dramatically, as if he had won the lottery.
"LASAGNA?!" he shouted, as if the world were ending.
Everyone jumped at the scream.
"It's my favorite food! I needed to run! So I got up, aimed toward the cafeteria, and ran like a rocket!"
"But the cafeteria is the other way," Felix commented.
"Yeah… I went straight into the lamppost."
At that moment, Beatrice arrived in a hurry.
"I worried for nothing! I thought it was something serious!"
"But it is serious," Jânio argued. "They're only giving lasagna to the first TEN!"
Beatrice crossed her arms.
"Hmph. If I wanted to, my cooks could make as much lasagna as I want!"
"Oh, sure!""Rich, spoiled, and conceited!"
"WHO DID YOU CALL SPOILED, YOU BLIND MADMAN?!"
The two started pressing their foreheads together, pushing each other like quarrelling siblings.
At that moment, Lauren stepped between them with his hands raised.
He didn't say anything at first.He simply looked at both of them seriously and nodded slightly.
Beatrice stopped.Jânio stopped.
Lauren took a deep breath.
Then, with effort, he spoke:
"Le… Le… Let's… eat… together?"
Silence.
Beatrice's eyes widened.
"Mino… you… spoke again."
Jânio broke into a huge grin.
"Then let's go! If Lauren said it, that's a royal order!"
"Only if there's lasagna!" Felix joked, speeding up his wheelchair.
The four of them began eating together, side by side, laughing.
Far away, somewhere above the city…
A figure watched everything.
"Lauren Valenheart."