The class dragged on.
Eventually, mercifully, it ended.
I hadn't paid much attention.
Could you blame me?
I already knew most of the curriculum, and not because I was some academic genius.
Soul Diver had simply given me the rather unfair advantage of having already experienced versions of these lessons through other people's memories.
So while Vaylna lectured, I occupied myself with something far more interesting.
The Constants.
Sora spent most of the class staring toward the window, somehow managing to look bored and attentive at the same time. Lucinda slept through an impressive amount of the lecture, while Sylphie caught me looking in her direction at least twice.
Both times, she gave me the same blank stare.
And Nia...
Well.
I might have looked at Nia more than was socially acceptable.
Not that she seemed to notice.
Or care.
Then again, I wasn't exactly the only person struggling to keep my eyes where they belonged.
Every so often, I'd catch someone looking at me. Some seemed curious, others nervous, and a few immediately turned away when our eyes met.
I tried not to think too much about it.
Eventually, Vaylna dismissed us.
Chairs scraped against the floor as students began gathering their belongings and filing out of the lecture hall.
Perfect.
Lunch.
And more importantly...
Nia.
I turned toward her.
"I was thinking maybe we could..."
I stopped.
Her seat was empty.
I blinked.
The chair was still tucked neatly beside mine, but Nia herself was nowhere to be seen.
...
What?
I looked toward the aisle, then the door.
Nothing.
"How the hell...?"
She'd been sitting right beside me.
I hadn't even seen her stand up!
How did someone disappear from a classroom without making the slightest sound?
Seriously.
That girl was a ghost.
...
Not literally, obviously.
I already had enough of those.
I sighed and joined the other students heading out.
Fine.
Lunch invitation postponed.
There would be other opportunities.
Probably.
Unfortunately, my trip to the cafeteria wasn't going to be as peaceful as I'd hoped.
Because apparently, I had a problem.
People were staring.
Again.
And not the occasional curious glance either.
Students turned their heads as I passed. Conversations grew quieter, and a group farther down the hallway stopped talking altogether when they noticed me approaching.
I frowned.
Oh, come on.
What did I do now?
"You know exactly what you did, idiot."
Lazy's voice came from somewhere above me.
My eyebrow twitched.
"Well, excuse me. Some people deserve to get smacked."
Several nearby students looked over.
"Who is he talking to...?"
"Maybe he actually is crazy."
"Didn't he beat someone unconscious this morning?"
I pretended not to hear them.
Sleazy appeared beside me, wearing his usual grin.
"You know he's right, Seer. This is what we call a consequence."
I clicked my tongue.
"Yeah, well, if these people have any brains, they'll take the warning seriously."
I deliberately let a little growl slip into the end of my sentence.
The effect was immediate.
One student stiffened while another grabbed his friend's sleeve and hurried toward the opposite side of the hallway.
Good.
Keep walking.
I wasn't interested in any of you anyway.
A grin tugged at my mouth.
"A villain's life for me..." I muttered.
Lazy turned his head.
"I sincerely hope you don't believe that sounded impressive."
"It sounded amazing."
"It did not."
I ignored him.
Besides, there was a reason for all this.
Mostly.
The reputation I was building wasn't entirely accidental.
If I wanted to prevent the future and help the Hero become what humanity needed him to be, becoming his best friend wasn't necessarily the smartest approach.
Think about it.
Whenever people talked about helping a Hero grow stronger, they always imagined the same things.
Supporting him.
Protecting him.
Standing beside him through every hardship.
And sure, those things were important.
But people didn't grow stronger solely because someone was there to hold their hand.
Sometimes they needed someone standing in their way.
A rival.
An adversary.
Someone irritating enough to chase and strong enough to make losing feel personal.
Someone who made them think about their weaknesses long after a fight had ended.
Hatred, respect, admiration, competition...
I didn't particularly care which emotion motivated Sora.
As long as he looked at me and thought, 'I need to be stronger than that bastard.'
Then I'd accomplished something.
Lazy stared down at me.
"You have thought about this far too much."
"It's a good plan."
"It sounds suspiciously like an excuse to behave unpleasantly."
"Two things can be true."
Sleazy snorted.
I shoved my hands into my pockets and continued walking.
Obviously, I didn't want Sora to actually hate me.
That would make things considerably more difficult.
And it wasn't like I personally liked him all that much either.
I only knew the guy through stories, memories, and glimpses of the future.
He was arrogant, lazy, annoyingly talented, and ridiculously handsome.
Apparently, he was also incapable of sitting near a window without looking like somebody's religious painting.
But...
This was still the Hero.
The Champion of Light.
The man everyone had believed would save the world.
And despite his shortcomings, he was kind. Respectful, too, when he wanted to be.
Of course I respected him!
Anyone in my position would.
It was only natural.
Professional respect.
That was all.
Probably.
...
No.
Definitely!
It wasn't because I was a fan.
I was not a fan.
"Fanboy."
"Shut up, Sleazy."
A few more students hurried out of my path.
...
Great.
Eventually, I reached the cafeteria.
Courtesy of the ever-so-kind staff, of course.
Most of them had been happy enough to point me in the right direction. A few, though, had trembled so badly while speaking to me that I was starting to wonder whether I should take it personally.
Whatever.
A problem for another day.
Right now, I had two enormous bronze doors standing between me and lunch.
I pushed through them.
And stopped.
Holy shit.
The cafeteria was enormous.
Two entire floors stretched out before me, with the upper level overlooking the main dining area. Rows of tables filled the space, while students crowded around long serving counters and moved between them carrying trays of food.
Massive pillars supported the high ceiling, where enormous chandeliers hung overhead. Gold-trimmed railings lined the second floor, and the smell of freshly prepared food drifted through the air.
The whole place was practically the size of a field.
I had to stop myself from saying wow out loud.
Seriously.
Was this where all my tuition money was going?
...
Actually, I knew why the place was so ridiculously big.
The Headmaster.
That old monster was a tier-ten mage whose Origin Spell revolved around spatial manipulation.
Which explained quite a lot about Valthrune's rather questionable architecture.
From the outside, the towers formed part of an enormous circular structure.
From the inside?
Well, apparently the laws of space were merely suggestions.
The Headmaster had expanded the interiors to such an absurd degree that, if I remembered correctly, each tower contained enough space to rival a small city.
A small city.
Inside a tower.
...
Gods.
Tier-ten mages were bullshit.
Anyway.
I had more important things to worry about.
Like lunch.
And my rapidly deteriorating reputation.
Although considering what happened this morning, deteriorating was putting it rather lightly.
Still, I'd already committed to the whole delinquent thing.
Might as well play the part.
I straightened my back, shoved both hands into my pockets, and pulled my face into what I hoped was a suitably intimidating sneer.
There.
Perfect.
Time to make an entrance.
I strode into the cafeteria with all the confidence I could muster.
The place was bustling.
Students laughed over their meals, cutlery clinked against plates, and conversations carried across the room.
Nobody paid me much attention.
At first.
Then a student near the entrance happened to look up.
He stopped talking and nudged his friend.
His friend turned.
A few students at the next table noticed, and before long, whispers began spreading through the dining hall.
Oh?
Word was getting around.
I kept walking, pretending not to notice.
My hands stayed in my pockets, my expression firmly in place.
Around me, conversations grew quieter. Some students leaned toward their friends, whispering behind raised hands, while others quickly looked away when I caught them staring.
By the time I reached the serving area, the noise around me had dropped considerably.
...
Huh.
I resisted the urge to smile.
Looked like my reputation was doing its job.
Fortunately, Vanguard's cafeteria operated as a buffet.
Which meant I didn't need to speak to anyone to get my food.
Wonderful!
Free food, too.
Seriously, these Vanguard kids got everything.
I grabbed a tray and started loading it with whatever looked appetizing.
Mostly meat.
Rare meat, to be specific, along with a few other protein-rich dishes.
Not exactly the most balanced meal, but there was a reason for my rather questionable selection.
Bloody.
For once, the bastard had offered something resembling useful advice.
According to him, eating blood-rich foods might help satisfy Bloodrend's hunger. Animal blood wasn't nearly as effective as the real thing, but apparently, the sentient mana didn't particularly care where its food came from as long as there was enough of it.
It wouldn't completely satisfy the thing, but it might take the edge off.
And after everything I'd experienced recently, I was willing to try.
Sometimes Bloody really could be useful.
Rarely.
But sometimes.
Once my tray was sufficiently loaded, I moved away from the serving counters.
Now came the difficult part.
Finding somewhere to sit.
Most students had already returned to their conversations, although a few continued sneaking glances at me whenever they thought I wasn't looking.
Seriously.
I hadn't expected punching some random guy to cause this much trouble!
Then again, a considerable portion of Vanguard consisted of high-ranking nobles.
Perhaps they weren't accustomed to seeing someone get beaten unconscious in the middle of a hallway.
Or maybe they were.
Just not by someone like me.
Either way, at this rate, I was never going to make any friends.
"I'd forgotten how shameless these pathetic maggots were."
Bloody floated beside me, his red eyes wandering across the cafeteria with open contempt.
"You should tear a few of them apart. That would teach the rest."
I rolled my eyes.
"Always so vicious, aren't you?"
"Only toward those who deserve it."
"Which, according to you, is everyone."
"Precisely."
I sighed.
Of course.
"Kamrik. Look."
Lazy's voice interrupted us.
I glanced toward the direction he was pointing.
At first, all I saw was a sea of uniforms, tables, and students enjoying their lunches.
Then something caught my attention.
A familiar mess of orange curls.
...
Flake?
I squinted.
Yep.
Definitely Flake.
And if Flake was here, Thomas probably wasn't far away.
I stopped walking.
Then, slowly, a grin spread across my face.
Wait a minute.
If I couldn't make friends normally...
Why not force people to become my friends?
...
I'm a genius.
With a newfound spring in my step, I started making my way across the cafeteria.
A few students noticed me approaching and quickly looked elsewhere.
I ignored them.
By now, I was getting used to it.
My destination was toward the rear of the dining hall, where the crowds grew thinner and the students seemed considerably less comfortable in their expensive Vanguard uniforms.
Ah.
This place.
I remembered it.
Most of Vanguard's social activity revolved around the central tables. That was where influential families gathered, where friendships formed between prominent Houses, and where the students with the best reputations naturally congregated.
But back here?
Well...
I'd personally designate this area as the Loser Zone.
Now, before anyone accused me of being an asshole, that wasn't entirely my opinion.
It was more or less how the other students treated the place.
Lower-ranking nobles tended to gather here, alongside those who lacked the wealth, connections, or overwhelming talent of their more celebrated classmates.
Not that any of them were weak.
Far from it.
Getting into Vanguard was an achievement in itself.
Every student here had proven they possessed something valuable enough to contribute to humanity's future.
But when your classmates included monsters like Sora Sornarius and Nia Dawn, apparently being merely exceptional wasn't impressive anymore.
I passed a few tables where students sat hunched over their meals, speaking quietly among themselves.
It was a little depressing.
Oh, and there was another reason this area had such a reputation.
BAM!
A student's face slammed against a lunch table.
I stopped.
"Where the fuck is my money?!"
A larger boy had the unfortunate student's head pressed firmly against the wood.
Two others stood nearby, watching with amused expressions.
"Yeah, you better pay him back," one said, leaning closer. "Unless you want things getting worse."
The third laughed.
The victim struggled beneath the boy's hand, but nobody at the surrounding tables seemed interested in helping him.
A few students glanced over before quickly returning to their meals.
Ah.
Right.
The Fishing Zone.
A place where weaker students gathered and local delinquents came looking for easy prey.
I watched the unfortunate student struggle for another moment.
Poor guy.
Although, considering what I'd done in the hallway this morning, I wasn't exactly in a position to lecture anyone about violence.
The ghosts seemed equally uninterested in intervening.
Bloody barely acknowledged the commotion. Lazy looked bored, and Sleazy was too busy examining the cafeteria to pay much attention.
I supposed none of them cared.
This sort of thing happened everywhere, after all.
There was only one ghost I could imagine having something to say about it.
Knight.
My gaze drifted toward the empty space beside me.
Come to think of it...
Where the hell had he gone?
It had been a few days now.
Usually, he'd appear the moment I started doing something stupid.
Which, admittedly, gave him a pretty demanding schedule.
Still, his absence was starting to feel strange.
I frowned.
Then shook the thought away.
I'd worry about Knight later.
Right now, I had an entirely different problem to deal with.
Or rather...
Two problems.
Because sitting a little farther down, at a table near the rear wall, were the two students I'd encountered yesterday.
Flake V. Minera.
And Thomas R. Storcaine.
My grin returned.
My future friends.
Whether they liked it or not!
Neither noticed me approaching.
Too bad for them.
I slipped around the table, pulled out the empty chair beside Flake, and dropped into it before either of them had a chance to object.
Their conversation stopped.
I gave them both a friendly nod.
Then started eating.
Sorry, gentlemen, but your fates are already sealed!
For several seconds, neither said anything.
Flake sat perfectly still, while Thomas stared at me like I'd grown a second head.
I chewed thoughtfully.
Not bad.
The food here really was something else.
Then Thomas apparently remembered how to speak.
"HEY!"
BAM!
Both his palms slammed against the table.
Blue sparks snapped between his fingers, crawling across the wood before disappearing with a sharp crackle.
I slowly looked up from my food.
"Hello again."
I gave him a little wave.
His face twisted.
"The fuck do you mean, hello?!"
I blinked.
"It's a greeting?"
"You're not supposed to be here!"
His shout carried across several tables.
I sighed.
Seriously.
Couldn't a guy eat lunch in peace?
I glanced toward Flake, hoping to find someone with a slightly more reasonable reaction.
Then paused.
...
Oh.
Flake was shaking.
Not dramatically, but enough for me to notice the faint tremor in his shoulders.
His orange eyes were fixed on me, wide and uncertain. A thin sheen of sweat had gathered across his forehead, and his hands rested stiffly beside his untouched meal.
He looked genuinely frightened.
Of me.
Woah.
I'm not that scary, am I?
Considering I'd only come over to make friends, this was turning into a rather unfortunate misunderstanding.
Sleazy appeared behind my shoulder.
"Pfft!"
He covered his mouth.
Then immediately burst out laughing.
"Oh, Seer! You're terrible at this!"
My eyebrow twitched.
"Look at him! He's practically trembling! What a wonderful first impression!"
Lazy, lounging somewhere above us, let out a suspiciously timed cough.
I looked up.
He turned his head away.
...
Traitors.
All of them.
I was about to give those two dead bastards a piece of my mind when Thomas suddenly stood.
His chair scraped against the floor.
Before I knew what was happening, he lunged across the table, grabbed the front of my uniform, and yanked me toward him.
My tie tightened against my throat.
"Oi!"
"You think you're hot shit now, huh?!"
His face was inches from mine.
Blue sparks danced along his knuckles, briefly illuminating the furious expression beneath his messy blue hair.
"You think because of that stunt you pulled this morning, you can just stroll over here and intimidate us?!"
Oh.
That.
Right.
The guy I'd beaten unconscious.
Apparently, people weren't going to forget about that anytime soon.
Thomas tightened his grip.
"Listen here, you bastard. I don't give a damn what you did to that idiot."
His glowing eyes narrowed.
"But if you think you can pull that shit on us, you're dead fucking wrong."
A sharp crackle ran down his arm.
"I'm giving you one chance to get the hell away from this table before I fry every nerve in your body!"
...
Woah.
This guy was crazy!
Then again, I knew enough about Thomas to understand why he was reacting like this.
Unfortunately, explaining that I knew things about him he'd never told me would probably make the situation considerably worse.
So instead, I reached up and caught the hand gripping my collar.
I gave it a light squeeze.
"Dude."
He glared at me.
"Relax."
Somehow, that made him angrier.
"I wasn't trying to intimidate anybody."
"Bullshit!"
"No, seriously."
I gestured toward the table with my free hand.
"I was hungry, needed somewhere to sit, and you two happened to be the only people here I recognized."
Thomas looked at me as though I'd just insulted his entire bloodline.
I gave him my most reassuring smile.
"That's it. I'm not trying to menace you guys or anything."
Behind him, Flake shifted uncomfortably.
His gaze moved between Thomas's hand and my face.
For a moment, I thought he might say something.
He didn't.
"Bullshit," Thomas repeated, quieter this time.
The sparks around his hand grew brighter.
I looked at them.
Then back at him.
...
Great.
All I wanted was to make a couple of friends.
Was that really so difficult?
Around us, students had started paying attention. A few people at the neighbouring tables quietly gathered their belongings, apparently deciding lunch would be more enjoyable somewhere else.
Thomas barely noticed.
"You think just because you beat one of Johnston's crew, you're hot shit?!"
Johnston?
Who the hell was Johnston?
"Who the hell is th..."
Thomas yanked me forward.
His other hand curled into a fist, electricity snapping around his knuckles as he pulled it back.
Oh.
He was actually going to punch me.
Before he got the chance, a dark-skinned hand shot between us and caught his wrist.
"Thomas, relax!"
Flake had finally moved.
"He's new here, remember?!"
He grabbed Thomas by the shoulders, trying to pull him away from me.
Finally!
Someone with a functioning brain!
"Yeah, dude, I'm new he..."
"SHUT THE HELL UP!"
...
Yessir.
I closed my mouth.
Flake planted his feet and gave Thomas another firm pull. After a brief struggle, he finally managed to drag the furious blue-haired bastard away.
Even then, little sparks continued dancing around Thomas's fingers.
Gods.
What was his problem?
I straightened my brand-new uniform, smoothing the wrinkles around my collar.
Honestly.
I'd only had this thing for a few hours!
I let out a tired sigh.
"Sorry. Didn't realize I was so unwelcome here."
I pushed my chair back and started to stand.
"It's not that, Kamrik."
Flake spoke before I got up.
"It is exactly that," Thomas growled.
I stopped.
Looked between them.
Then slowly sat back down.
"Okay. What the hell are you two talking about?"
"Tsk."
Thomas turned away.
...
Thanks.
Very informative.
Flake scratched the back of his neck.
"It's..."
I raised an eyebrow.
He sighed.
"It's just that the guy you beat up this morning was friends with..."
His voice trailed off.
I waited.
Friends with who?
"He's talking about Johnston," Lazy supplied from above.
Oh.
I leaned forward.
"Wait. Is this Johnston guy bullying you or something?"
Flake's orange eyes widened.
"N-No! That's not exactly it!"
Oh?
So I was onto something.
"It's actually because of something Johnston said this morning..."
I blinked.
"Something he said?"
Flake nodded.
I scratched my cheek.
"Well, what did he say? I went straight to class after roughing that guy up."
Flake flinched.
"R-Roughing him up...?"
He repeated the words so quietly I almost missed them.
I raised an eyebrow.
"What?"
Thomas turned back toward me.
For the first time since I'd sat down, he wasn't shouting.
He simply looked exhausted.
"You sent that guy to the infirmary, dumbass."
I stared.
Thomas's expression darkened.
"You messed up his whole fucking face. He's going to be stuck there for a while."
...
What?
I mean...
Okay.
Sure, I'd punched him a few times.
But still.
Thomas looked about two seconds away from launching himself across the table again.
Fortunately, Flake intervened.
"Yeah, you... really messed that guy up, Kamrik. And when Johnston found out about it..."
He stopped.
I waited for him to continue.
He didn't.
...
"What happened?! Stop keeping me in suspense!"
Seriously!
This guy was getting way too comfortable with these cliffhangers.
Flake flinched at my outburst, his orange curls bouncing as he hurriedly straightened himself.
"H-He said he was going to destroy you!"
I blinked.
"And that anyone who associated with you was going to face hell for the rest of the school year."
...