But when the boy saw Rondo's face, his expression changed, staring at Rondo with a cynical look.
Rondo stared back sharply. However, they quickly ignored him, turning their heads forward and continuing their walk. Tira, who had been fiddling with Rondo's Orla device this whole time, noticed Rondo was still watching the steps of that boy and the blonde girl.
"Sup? You look super focused on someone." Tira looking at Rondo.
Rondo snapped out of his trance.
"Ah, no. I just feel... weird about those two."
"Oh, is that it? Are you starting to hate someone here?" Tira asked again. Her hands were still tinkering with Rondo's Orla.
"Nope, not hate. I just feel strange about them."
"Hum... do you hate popular people?"
"Not really. Like I said, not hate, just... uneasy."
"Oh come on, you definitely hate the vibes of popular people, right? It's okay, just be honest and admit it. I'm the same way, actually."
Tira laughed for a moment. Rondo joined in, laughing awkwardly.
"Are they actually popular?" Rondo asked.
"You don't know? When that guy and girl walked to the Food Court, all the other students were staring at them. They walk like models and are always side-by-side. That guy, lots of girls have a crush on him because he's handsome and tall. The girl too, lots of guys are into her because she's pretty," Tira explained in a whisper, watching the boy and the blonde girl from a distance.
"Is that so..."
Tira smiled. She stopped her hands from fiddling with Rondo's Orla.
"You know, sometimes there are situations where you have to be honest with yourself. I was like that at first too—hating honesty cause of embarrassment. But, well... how long do you want to keep pleasing other people, right?" said Tira.
Rondo looked at her. "You promise you won't be a blabbermouth?"
Tira smiled and held up her little finger. "I promise."
Rondo glanced at the pinky finger, confused. Then without thinking, he covered Tira's entire hand with his own palm.
"You alien, you don't even know a pinky promise? Ah, never mind. Anyway, congratulations, your Orla can now take pictures with a camera," Tira said as she let go of Rondo's grip.
"O-oh, really? Thanks, ahaha."
"Aight, I'm going home first. I'm already sleepy. Byee." Tira waving her hand at Rondo.
Rondo waved back at Tira. He checked his Orla UI, which now had a 'camera' menu available. He opened the camera, and then accidentally snapped a photo of Tira from afar as she was walking home. The photo result popped up. Rondo panicked and wanted to delete it. But he didn't know how. Finally, he just closed the Orla UI abruptly and walked home.
Arriving at home, he turned on the lights, then immediately fell asleep on the soft white pillow, completely exhausted.
---
*Bzz... Bzz...
The vibration of the Orla on Rondo's arm buzzed repeatedly. Rondo, still asleep, started to wake up slowly. He stretched and realized that last night he had fallen asleep with drool dripping onto his pillow.
He opened his Orla, which had been vibrating for a while.
[1 new important notification!]
[Go to class immediately! Class started 15 minutes ago.]
"E-ehh, am I late?!"
Rondo rushed to shower quickly, and after finishing, he put his uniform back on. The uniform shirt was so crumpled, but he didn't really care. He quickly rushed out of the house and locked the door. He opened his Orla UI and followed the GPS to class.
---
"So, that is more or less the explanation regarding Nexhile School. Anyone want to ask a question?" asked a teacher wearing formal clothes in front of students who were sitting in groups at round tables.
A male student raised his hand.
"Okay, you with the round glasses. Go ahead, what do you want to ask? Don't forget to introduce yourself to your friends first," said the teacher while pointing at the male student. The student immediately stood up from his chair.
"Hello guys, I am Eguchii Kenta. I want to ask, sir, can Growth Points be transferred, requested, and shared to many other students?"
"Yes, very good question, Kenta. Correct, GP can be transferred, requested, or broken down into a sort of mass envelope of change that you distribute to other students. The condition to open that feature is you must be able to generate GP with a total accumulation of around 500 GP. After that, the feature will unlock by itself. I will explain this topic regarding GP in detail later. But before that, let's give a round of applause to Kenta for his courage and his good question."
The whole class gave enthusiastic applause for Kenta. Kenta bowed slightly, thanking the whole class in his own style. After that, Kenta sat back in his chair.
*Ding-dong
The sound of a bell rang from behind the door. The automatic door slid open. The gaze of all students focused on the person behind the door. Rondo appeared, gasping for air while holding onto the wall. Several students immediately whispered to the friends next to them.
"Rondo?" said Kenta. His eyebrows lifted.
"Hey young man who is late, please come in. Come on, you are already 23 minutes late. Come stand here beside me," invited the teacher to Rondo.
Rondo entered the class with his breath still ragged. He slowly started to control it better. Rondo stood beside the teacher, and then the teacher held Rondo's shoulder.
Rondo could now see the whole class full of other students with his own eyes. Some students were still whispering while staring at Rondo.
"So young man, please introduce yourself to your classmates so they know you. Who knows, maybe someone will like you, right?" The class laughed for a moment. Rondo joined in laughing too, awkwardly.
A few minutes later, the class atmosphere slowly started to get quiet.
"Hi I'm uh... My name is Rondo Ernias, I'm usually just called Rondo. I'm from Exion City, and I kinda like eating." The class laughed a little hearing Rondo's words. Rondo glanced around at several students at each table.
Isn't that Tira, and at the next table is Kenta? They are laughing too, huh?
Rondo thought.
"So Rondo, try to tell us how you got into this school. And how your brief life was before," said the teacher while patting Rondo's shoulder.
Rondo was a bit hesitant to tell it. He swallowed his spit. His gaze darted around, unfocused.
"Um... I got here 'cause of an old computer. Then I was picked up by Jay in a car, after that I don't remember what else. I was suddenly in front of this school gate. I used to be a collector of scrap metal goods. I sold that iron to collectors. Uh, yeah, that's more or less the story," explained Rondo.
The class atmosphere went silent again. Rondo looked at the class with total confusion. His knees started to shake a bit, but he tried to calm himself.
The teacher suddenly clapped his hands loudly. That clap was followed by Tira, then Kenta, then the other students. The sound of the class became noisy with applause. Some students even whistled in appreciation.
"Wow Rondo, thank you for sharing your inspirational life story. I know exactly how you feel. But anyway, that's a good first step," said the teacher softly while looking at Rondo, accompanied by the sound of other students applause that could still be heard.
Rondo looked at the teacher, then thanked him. Slowly, the lively applause started to stop. Rondo was then directed to sit and join the other students at the round table. He sat in the empty chair right next to Kenta.
"You're really cool, dude," whispered Kenta to Rondo.
"A-haha, thanks, Kenta."
Rondo then turned to Tira. Tira gave a thumbs up to Rondo.
"Okay, let's move to the next topic regarding Growth Point or what we usually call GP. Oh yeah, before that for Rondo. Hello, welcome to Class E. I am your homeroom teacher, you can call me Ken, or Mr. Ken. I will provide direction and guidance for one semester in this class. Maybe there's some material you missed, later you can ask your friends here, okay? Is that clear, Rondo?" asked Mr. Ken with a loud voice in front of the students while looking at Rondo.
Rondo nodded. "Understood, sir."
"Good. Growth Point or GP, does anyone know here, maybe can explain it in detail or briefly?" asked Mr. Ken.
Tira raised her hand.
"Yes, you with the short hair. Please introduce yourself briefly and explain what GP is as far as you know to your friends," said Mr. Ken while pointing at Tira.
Tira stood up. "Hello everyone, I am Chantira Ploy, you can call me Tira, just don't call me Ploy because that is my family name. Later you'll end up calling my parents too." The other students laughed loudly.
"So, GP is a fintech system that lets us shop or buy many things at this school. But as far as I know yesterday, it could only buy food. This system seems integrated with the school system and monitored directly by the IT team super strictly. Payment usually uses fingerprint via hologram. Then Mr. Ken also said earlier that GP can be shared, right? That means this GP is very flexible? Well, I'm quite curious how GP works fully. And that's my slightly know-it-all explanation regarding GP," explained Tira.
The other students laughed. Their gaze was so focused when Tira explained the details regarding GP.
"Haha, good Tira, the explanation and observation. You are quite detailed with the technicals too apparently. Let's give a big round of applause for Tira." A loud round of applause was heard for a moment.
"Tira is right, GP is a fintech or financial technology system in this school. Its use is for shopping, buying food, or even to help your friends. Here there are many districts that you can explore to spend GP. But besides just being used, GP can also be earned. The way is quite easy—you just have to be productive in your life like going to the gym, reading academic books, light research, or exercising on the field is also possible. Jogging is also included.
However, for playing ping pong, billiards, or bowling, that will not get you GP. Instead, you have to pay for it. Oh yeah, chatting with other students including other classes besides this Class E also gets GP value, okay. But the portion is certainly very small compared to being productive. For the values obtained from GP, I cannot mention them. Please take notes and explore for yourself," explained Mr. Ken.
*Beep beep beep
Mr. Ken glanced at the Orla on his hand.
"Okay students. Thank you. That is enough for today's class. Now you can explore all the districts here. Please explore Nexhile School as freely as you want and take care of the facilities here. Thank you, and see you in the next class."
Mr. Ken then walked out of the class while holding his Orla.
All the students started to get up to go out of the class. Rondo did the same, wanting to leave his class. But when he wanted to go out the classroom door, he stared at Tira chatting with someone next to her. Tira seemed like she didn't want to leave the class.
Who is she?