"I lost," Lumi admitted defeat.

I released her and stood up.

Clap–! Clap–! Clap–!

"Huh?"

I was surprised. I had forgotten that we were sparring in an open area. Of course, people would be watching us.

Among the crowd that stood around us, I saw some familiar faces.

A boy with hair as white as snow, Lux; beside him was a girl with the same hair color that people might assume them a twin, Ayano; another girl with chestnut hair with a face with mixed emotions both annoyance and shock, Seo Yeong-Ha; and the last one was a blonde-haired boy with knitted eyebrows, Leonardo.

The main cast was all gathered here.

"Can you get up?"

Ignoring the crowd, I put my priority on Lumi and offered her my hand.

"Thank you."

Her hand was so soft and small, it was cute to the point I wanted to crush it.

'What am I thinking?'

Putting the random thought aside, I pulled her up.

"You're quite good," Lumi said while patting the dust off her uniform.

"So, it's 'quite', huh?"

I guess she had a high standard for talent.

Though I felt disappointed, getting a 'quite good' from her was enough for now. I could get to the next step just with that.

"I will raise the evaluation once you have learned some techniques."

"Will I get some sort of reward if I get a high score from you?"

"There might be."

There was a subtle upturn at the corner of her mouth.

This was what I liked about her. Subtlety. Sly. She never outright told anyone if it was concerning her guild.

But, she was dense as fvck.

Just look at her ignoring these stares rained at us.

Hmm, maybe she was not dense but rather did not care about things like this.

Being an heir to the big family had her familiarized with the stares.

If it was me, well, this much was fine. But if the scale was as large as the whole world—a global scale, I don't think I could ignore the attention I getting from.

I would be nervous or act erratically.

"Hmm. I accept your challenge."

I smiled, unconsciously of course.

"Zio, Lumi!"

Right then, I heard a familiar voice, it was Lux. Walking with Ayano side by side.

From the same direction, precisely behind them were another two familiar faces.

"I finally caught you, rat."

Seo Yeong-Ha walked while fist-bumping her hands, the smile on her face was like a maniac.

"Lumi, do you want me to avenge your lose to this trash?"

Walking with a straight posture and a confident and smug face was Leonardo.

Someone who heard that would probably think that he cared for his childhood friend, but I knew better that it was not the case. That was sarcasm, one that no one could notice except me.

"Thank you for your concern, Leo. But, don't worry, we are just having a friendly spar."

He scoffed, and his smugness disappeared from his face.

At that moment, I felt a dark aura coming from behind me.

My gut told me that if I didn't move my feet, I would be left dead from the choking.

Yet as I was about to make my move, my neck was already wrapped in someone's arm.

"Where are you going, rat? We still have an unfinished business.."

I was caught! No way, I got caught! Why was she so fast?!

"Ahaha. I-it's you.."

"Yes. It is me, you rat.."

"Yes yes, it is you, I know you.."

"Of course, you know me. I'm your grim reaper."

I just smiled, a fake smile perhaps.

I knew that If I tried to release myself from her, I would pass out. She was serious when she said she was my 'grim reaper'.

Seo Yeong-Ha, why did I make her like this?

Haa.. the younger version of her was such an annoying fellow for me. She was probably much more annoying than Leonardo.

"Hey, trash. I hate you, let's spar with me!"

Nevermind. I take back my word about him being a better comparison to Seo Yeong-Ha.

"Shame on you, Leo. You should have picked an equal opponent."

"What did you say, genius? Can you repeat that again?"

Yo, Lux! Why did you even bother yourself with him?! You are not supposed to act like that, hey!

"Why are you so quiet, rat? Cat got your tongue? Oh right, I'm the cat."

God, please help me..

Why did I even get into this situation?

I would be traumatized every time I met one of the main characters and the situation suddenly turned into this again.

You all were ungrateful children!

"Uhh. Why are you guys acting like this?"

Oh? Looked like there was still someone sane among the main characters.

Looking at Ayano who seemed like to be the sanest person here, I eagerly waited for the group's angel to speak up her mind.

"..."

We all were looking at Ayano, waiting for her to speak.

But what greeted us was the stretched silence.

'I give up.'

..

Finally, I escaped from the hell circle.

"Huu.. What a bunch of kids.."

I arrived in my room, complaining about the recent event.

"What happened?"

Zia, again. She sat on her bed, combing her hair.

Did she ever get tired of her combing hair routine?

Her ruby eyes stared at me affectionately. Something more like when you saw a cute wild cat on way back home?

"Nothing serious, just playing with a bunch of excited kids."

Her eyes widened a little bit.

"Hoo.."

And then she pouted.

What? What happened? Was she jealous because I got new friends?

"You should meet them sometime."

She stopped combing her hair and shifted all of her attention to me while I walked past her then sat on the table by the window.

Feeling her intense stare directed at me, made me awkward. When I turned my head, my eyes frowned as I saw her expression, she looked like someone who was about to cry.

"Umm, Zia?"

"You shouldn't have befriended them.."

Her voice cracked.

I could sense the sadness and jealousy in her voice. It was not like her to be emotional.

"What's wrong? Why shouldn't I have befriended them?"

Something's wrong. Why did she suddenly like this?

Zia looked down at her lap and fidgeted with her hands.

"I'm just scared that they will replace me, that you will like them more and forget about me.."

I was taken aback by her words.

I had never thought that she would be insecure about it. She had always been so confident and self-assured.

But again, why would she be jealous? She had a lot of friends on her side too, right?

Maybe. Maybe she had, or maybe she had not.

I realized that I had never asked her about her friends.

"No one replacing someone, you will still be my friend, and I will never forget you."

She looked up, her ruby eyes stared depth at my soul, almost bewitched.

"You have forgotten me once, though!"

Uhh... That was a different situation.

It wasn't me whom you met back then, it was Zio Varrez, not me... darn it! What was my name before I arrived here again?!

Forgetting about my past self is something that I despise.

I mean, if God or whoever brought me to this place, they should have either preserved my memories of my past life or erased them entirely!

Having a half-and-half memory like this is what I find frustrating.

What I only knew was about the future of this world, every event that would be happened, and such.

Though I was glad about that. But still, I wish I had my memory of my past life.

Looking at Zia who now had translucent tears falling from her eyes, I tried to cheer her up (was what I thought).

"That is a different case.."

Feeling overwhelmed by her teary eyes, I changed the topic.

"Aren't you have a friend yourself too in class?"

"No, I'm not! You're my only friend! I will never betray my friend as you did to me!"

I stood frozen in place, not knowing what to do about the situation.

In the first place, I was not the best person when it came to comforting others.

Zia swept the tears around her eyes.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have reacted like that. It's just that... our friendship means so much to me. We've known each other since childhood, and I don't want to lose that."

After saying those words, she got up and left the room with heavy footsteps.

I was left dumbfounded.

"..."

Why..

Why did her bedsheet look untouched even though she had just been sitting on it this entire time?

'Ouch!'

I felt a sting of pain inside my head suddenly.

'The pain is coming back..'

The throbbing pain came back, but it was not severe as before.

I shifted my attention to the door where Zia had left when the knocking sounds were voiced.

Knock–! Knock–! Knock–!

'Is she returning already?'

I chuckled. She looked like a kid who said that they would leave the house after getting scolded by their parents, and 5 minutes later they returned back home.

I walked toward the door and opened it.

"Zi–"

But what I found behind the door, standing on the corridor was not Zia but..

But who?

There was no one in front of my room. Was someone doing a prank on me?

I stepped outside, checking every corner of the corridor to look for someone alive but the result was nothing. No one had ever stepped foot in the corridor..

'What the hell? Someone really doing a prank on me.."

pαndα,noν?1,сoМ Returning to my room, I put the thought aside and carry out my routine.historical

Before I learned how to meditate, I would practice my physical being in the training center. It had reached <E-> rank thanks to that.

It was good and all to train one physical power, but I would rather prioritize my spiritual power first such as my magic!

I sat in a meditation position and began my magic training.

I seeped in deep inside my subconscious world as time went by.

After some time, I felt my connection weakened..

The soul!

My soul, I felt the string that held my consciousness to my body was weakened, it became thin as I fell deeper and deeper into my subconscious world.

I can't get out!

I could not bring myself back to the real world..

'Ah, shit.. why is this happening..'

Before I could finish speaking, the world in front of me turned white.