– Life in the countryside was forever peaceful and calm. And the lives of the children away from home were fickle: Busy, sometimes mixed with a bit of unreal flashiness. (Angus)
***
After lunch, Dallton and the others went back to their dorm. On their way back to his room, Dallton was suddenly pulled back by someone.
Dallton turned his head and saw a person with a friendly smile: "Hi! Are you students of Class K?" Then without waiting for Dallton to answer, that one continued to ask, " Where is Angus? I haven't seen him recently!"
Dallton answered unconsciously: "Leader is at the dorm... Who are you? Looking for our Leader for what?"
That one narrowed his eyes a bit: "Tell him... Tell Angus to come to the back gate of the Central Park one pm this afternoon! Someone wants to meet him."
Dallton winced. "Who are you..."
Again, that one didn't let Dallton finish his question but continued to say: "And, tell him that if he doesn't go, he will regret it! Thank you in advance!" Then that one... turned away and left.
Dallton: "..."
Three seconds later, Dallton shouted from behind: "Hey, who you think you are? Our Leader is the one you can meet such easily???"
What was the date of today? Why today he all met impolite guys?
First was a blue-haired guy! Now was an orange-haired guy!
Excuse me, meet at the park? The back gate of the park?
Were you trying to seduce our Leader for a dating?
Dream on! I would never tell Leader about you!!!
Ten minutes later...
"Leader, Leader, just now there was a guy stopping my way, said he wanted to meet you..."
Maddox and the others going with Dallton: "..."
Who had just swore not to tell Leader about that guy? Who?? Who!!!
At the time Dallton and the others arrived, Angus was eating his lunch at the dorm's common lounge. His movements were not fast or slow, his posture was comfortable as usual, without any tension or worry for the upcoming matches.
After Dallton finished the story, Angus became silent.
Dallton thought Angus felt bothered, so he hurriedly said, "Sorry Leader. If you feel bothered, I'll never tell you about those impolite guys..."
Maddox and the others: "..." Okay, let us see how long you could keep those words???
"What was his first question?" Angus suddenly asked.
"Huh?" Dallton regained his senses: "Ah, that... Are you students of Class K?"
"Next one."
"Where is Angus? I haven't seen him recently!"
Angus frowned. It was not 'Angus Farley'. Also not 'your Class Leader'. Just 'Angus'.
If so, then...
Angus narrowed his eyes a little, continuing to ask: "How does he look?"
Dallton tried to recall: "He... his hair is orange. His eyes seem to be orange as well... No! They're Blue. His eyes are blue! Well... so he's Metis, isn't he?..."
That one!!!
Angus smiled slightly.
Such fast action! He just arrived in the capital this morning and now that one came to see him!
Angus looked at his watch. It was twenty minutes past twelve already.
Dallton saw Angus clean up the table, hurriedly asked, "Leader, are you going to the park? Do you know that guy?"
These days were the important period! Only two days left until the first round! What if someone played dirty by secretly taking a squad to fight with Leader?
He knew that Leader was very strong, but what if they played "tricks"? For example, sneak attacks? Using anesthesia? Or... Using a beautiful boy or girl to seduce Leader? ➡ Within a second, Dallton's imagination had planned a thousand of dangerous situations for Angus.
Iris looked calmer, he suggested: "Or should I go with you?"
Angus shook his head: "No. You don't need to go. This person I know, you guys don't worry."
Angus walked from the bus stop to the back gate of the Central Park. From a distance, he could see a familiar figure – The figure that he had seen in the mirror countless times over a year ago.
Space and Time seemed to stop, then rotated around, returning to the old days he was on Earth. Until he had stepped forward, standing in front of that person, Angus could still hear his heart beat clearly.
However, when he opened his mouth, the first sentence he said was...
"Younger Brother. You're really good at picking time, huh?"
Pick noon for a meeting outdoor! It's dead hot!!!
Well... Although this time was said to be "Winter", in fact, the geographical location of the capital Aurora was in the tropic zone where was hot around the year. So while other provinces or cities had such low temperature during the winter, some even had snow, Aurora in winter was still hot as usual. If it was cold, it would only be cold in the first two weeks of the New Year, the temperature dropped as low as about twelve to fifteen degrees, and then returned to the thirty, thirty-two degrees as usual.
Alvin laughed with amusement: "Don't you like sun exposure a lot? Before you sunbathed every day!" After that, he suddenly remembered something important, he rolled his eyes: "What did you just say? Who is your younger brother???" This guy even emphasized the two words 'younger brother'!!!
In response, Angus smiled, which was a very mocking smile in Alvin's eyes.
Damn it! I never made that expression on his face when the two exchanged souls!!
Alvin glanced at Angus a few times, then cleared his throat: "Tell you, it was just to make naturalization easier. I'm the same age as you! Why do I have to be your younger brother?" He paused for three seconds, then added: "Even if we were brothers, I would be big brother!"
Angus didn't want argue over this boring issue, he directly came to the point: "Meet me for what?"
"Ah... Important thing." Alvin cleared his throat, "I want to watch the matches of First-year Match. Help me! Choose a VIP position! The first row of the stands will be perfect!"
Angus: "..." Well, this one was not only good at picking time but also excellent at asking for a favor!
Angus made a puzzled expression, "Aren't you Grandpa Silas's disciple?" Could it be impossible for the disciple of a Principal to enter the stadium stands?
Alvin said in upset: "I'm not a student of the Military course, nor a guest, so I don't have a ticket. It's okay if I go with Grandpa Silas, but I don't want..."
Speaking of which, there were two types of the tickets of the First-year Match:
The first type was tickets for students who had passed the Military Training course and for guests from the Army and Parliament invited. This type included all three rounds: physical strength, leadership, and power fight.
The second type was common tickets for the public, sold out a month ago. This type only for to see the last round of power fight, and for the previous two rounds, you had to watch via TV or the huge LCD screen located in the Central Square ➡ Sounded not interesting at all!
Currently Alvin was the only official student of the Military Technical Academy. Perhaps there had been no case like his for a few years, and his information had not been made public, so the ticket publishing department just followed the needs of every year. As a result, Alvin had no tickets at all!
As mentioned, Alvin could go with Grandpa Silas, who now was his master. But he didn't want. Because when going with Grandpa Silas, definitely he would have to meet a lot of guests from the Army and Government, then he would be observed and evaluated by those guests.
Sitting in the same area with the Big Bosses? Just heard that... he was dead scared!
Alvin wanted to sit together with the students. Although he knew none of them, he could be sure that he would feel more comfortable.
In the case he was so excited and screamed out, it would be not be a big problem!!
"In short, I want you to help me. Will you help?" Yes or No, just say in a word!!! Alvin winced.
Angus glanced at him, "Younger brother, are you asking for help with that attitude?"
"Well, I said wrong. It's not help, it's an exchange. I have the advantage." Alvin jerked his chin, "And, for the hundredth time, I'm not your younger brother!"
"Oh, what's the advantage, younger brother?" Angus smiled, skipping the last sentence of Alvin.
"..." Alvin needed to take a deep breath to cool down, then he said: "When the "Space – Time Management" sent me back to Pacific, they also sent another "thing" not belonged to the Earth with me. You guess... what is that?"
Angus' expression quickly changed. This time he was serious. In his blue eyes, there was an unnoticeable excitement.
"Is it... Onyx? Did you really bring it to Pacific?"
Alvin raised an eyebrow, then he nodded.
Almost immediately, Angus replied firmly: "I'll help you. Now give Onyx to me."
"I don't bring it with me." Alvin showed both hands, "Don't hurry! After the match I'll bring it to you. Aren't you busy practicing for the match?"
"I'm not busy."
Alvin insisted: "I said No! In short, I'll hand it to you after the match. Geez! Don't need to worry, I'll look after it carefully."
Hmph! What if I handed it to you and then you wouldn't help me? I was not that stupid!!!
Obviously Angus had no choice but compromised with Alvin.
The two walked in the park. After setting his foot on a wooden bridge across a large lake, Angus suddenly paused in the middle of the bridge, turned his gaze to a distance far away.
As if there was some kind of common sense, Alvin also stopped his steps. He stood in the opposite direction with Angus, leaning his back against the bridge's wall, looking comfortable.
"When did you come to the Capital? How are Grandpa Hubert and the people in the village?" Angus asked.
Five months.
From the day Angus entered the Military Course till today, it had been more than five months.
The communication between inside and outside the base was limited – or to say, the students were nearly isolated from the outside world. All contacts from the family was converted into paper letters with limited number of words. First, the family wrote a letter with student's name and the base number on the cover, then sent to the Ministry of Education in the capital. The Ministry of Education gathered all letters, classified them and sent them to each base every two months.
Thus, during the military course, there were only two times that freshmen received letters from their family. And it was a one-way communication. Freshmen could not send their reply back to the family. Families clearly knew the rule, so the content of letters usually about ordinary news to comfort their children, not to talk about serious things.
The letter of Grandpa Hubert which announced Angus about Alvin's return came a month ago, in the second letter distribution time. Based on the date of the letter, Angus could know that Grandpa Hubert had written and sent it earlier, but it was due to the regulation above that the letter arrived late.
"It's been two months since I came here. Before I moved here, Grandpa Hubert and the others were all good. Their daily works were the same as before. No one had changed job." Alvin replied.
Angus nodded.
Life in the countryside was forever like that. Unless you switched to another job, the daily activities would always be repetitive. It's peaceful and calm.
Only the lives of the children away from home were fickle. Schoolwork, examinations, accommodation change, job change, friend-related stuffs, colleague-related stuffs and so on... In short, it's busy. Sometimes mixed with a bit of unreal flashiness.
"How is your study?" Angus asked.
"Don't ask with that voice, as if you were my big brother!" Alvin snorted, "Now I'm an official first-year student, unlike you who are still unofficial."
Angus nodded: "Yeah. The official first-year student doesn't have ticket to see the match."
Alvin was speechless: "..." Okay, you won!
Angus continued with a smile: "If you don't want to be younger brother, why did you agree to be registered like that?"
Alvin was speechless again: "..."
Could I say that it was Grandpa Hubert who did the registration from the beginning to the end, and then I signed without knowing anything?
Angus went on, "But that also makes sense. Although me and you are the same age, you entered our family later. Also... I heard that your first-time of transformation was a bit slower than me. So, it's fair that you're younger brother."
Alvin was surprised. First-time of transformation? How could this guy know?... Well, perhaps Auntie Thien Y told him!
Alvin suddenly asked: "When is your birthday?" If my first-time of transformation was later than you, how about birthday?
Angus answered without hesitation: "November third. You?"
Alvin was speechless for the third time: "..." Did not want to answer that it was December fifteenth 😑.
Looking at Alvin's expression, even though he didn't speak, Angus still understood. The corner of his mouth curved up slightly, revealing his satisfaction. Ahaha, accept your fate, younger brother!
But Alvin didn't give up yet. He asked one more time: "Forget about birthday! Let's talk about the egg incubation time until the born date!"
Angus raised his brow. Well, this one, Auntie Thien Y also told him already!
So the smile on his face got deeper, "Okay. Me, five years. And you, ten years right?"
Alvin : "..." Didn't want to open my mouth anymore.
-------