I woke up the next morning even more tired than the last, and I went through my morning routine so slowly that I was well on track for being late for school.
As I walked out the front door, instead of there being the usual purplish-orange hair that greeted me, this time it was a silver-grey. Aether looked at me with his usual straight face and nodded at me.
"We're gonna be late. So, let's make sure we're not." He motioned for me to follow him, and I let out a toothy yawn before following him. "Back straight, eyes forward!" I was too tired to even avoid the following kick, but I somehow managed not to fall down.
I'm too tired for this crap, I thought as I tried to stretch the tiredness out of my body, reaching for the already bright sky.
"By the way, we're running there," he said quickly before dashing ahead, grabbing my arm and pulling me forward.
Isn't he super unathletic? I thought as I ran next to him, trying to keep up the same pace. We managed to keep up that pace for 30 seconds before Aether needed to stop for a break.
Is he serious? He's even more out of shape than I am. I watched as he tried to desperately catch his breath and let out a weary sigh.
"Why were you going that fast anyway?" He didn't answer, still trying to catch his breath. "Fine, you wanna go my pace?" He managed to nod as he finally caught his breath. He stood back up, acting as if he hadn't just been worn out.
Luckily, at going at my far more reasonable a pace, we just barely managed to arrive to school before the final bell, both of us sweaty and exhausted.
"We, hah, made it!" I managed to say, walking into the school, trying to reach my first class before the bell rang.
"Indeed, knew you could do it Depra buddy." He patted me on the back, looking at the nearby clock. "We've got about a minute 30, so let's show these bottom feeders what's what."
I nodded in agreement. "Yeah, lets make it." We ended up going the same way, with both our classes next to each other. He waved me goodbye before entering his class, and I wearily opened the door, the teacher having not arrived yet.
"Oh, Depra! I thought you were gonna skip! Whoa, what happened to you? You're all sweaty, and even wearing the same clothes as yesterday." It was Hiro, who frowned as he watched me walk to me seat.
"Oh, I didn't realize I was," I murmured, practically collapsing in my seat. I thought I managed to get dress quicker this morning. Guess that's why.
"So uh, what happened?" He asked, trying to get a look at my face.
I let out a long, exasperated sigh. "I don't even wanna talk about it right now," I said, and put my head down as the teacher walked in, right as the bell rang.
And so my second day of Aether training began.
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It was lunchtime now, and Aether had taken me to where we had eaten yesterday, at the foot of the stairs leading to the roof. He had gotten his own lunch today, a club sandwich with a bag of chips, accompanied by a bottle of water. I had the same thing, except instead of chips it was two chocolate chips cookies.
"So, today we're catching the one similar to me," he said simply, ripping a large chunk out of his sandwich using his teeth.
"You still haven't told me who that is," I responded, taking a moderate bite out of my own sandwich.
He quickly chewed his food and swallowed loudly. "Trust me, I'll know him when I see him."
My trust meter for you has already gone down to danger levels, so don't make it go any lower. I opened my water bottle and drank a little before letting out a sigh. "Do you have a plan to catch this mystery man?"
"Of course, it's why we're here today. The plan is simple: I point out who the person is, you distract them, I capture them, plan successful." He took out another large chunk of his sandwich. "A simple plan works the best for those inferior to myself."
You actually managed to make my trust levels go lower. I let out a sigh and leaned back against the wall, staring up at the ceiling.
"Your plan is stupid."
"It works wonders for those inferior to me."
"Don't say it twice!" I looked Aether in the eye, who, as usual, had his usual straight face on. "Ugh, I say we come up with a better plan than that. Do you have at least some hints as to who this person? You make it sound like he's a dude, so is there anything else?"
He thought for a moment before nodding to himself. "He's like me."
"That doesn't help at all damnit!"
"I believe he has the same eyes as me, if that helps."
"Sky-blue?"
"Maybe slightly lighter, but they should look the same unless you're really close." He took another chunk out of his sandwich before opening his bag of chips and grabbing some. "You should at least know who they are too."
Eh? "I don't talk to that many people you know."
"That should make it easier." Wow, for once he had a point.
We continued to eat in silence as I tried to think of who it could be. Let's see, I talk to the people in the Hidden Club, Lachesis' friends, Pandora, and the nice old couple out in the farmlands. Oh, and Luna. I can take out the old couple, since I doubt he knew I talked to them. All the ladies are out, and so is Aether.
"So that leaves, Hiro, Heracles, Caelus, Erebus, and Eros." Eros has hazelnut eyes, so he's out. Hiro has dark brown eyes, almost black, while Hera, well, I actually don't know, strange as that may sound. And I've only seen Erebus' left eye, which is red, so I'm gonna have to assume he has two red eyes. All that's left would be…
"Oh, I guess you guy's eyes are pretty similar."
"You know who it is?" He finished up his sandwich along with his bag of chips, looking at me expectantly.
"Yeah but catching him is impossible you know." I ate the last of my cookies, surprisingly finishing all my food for lunch. "Although, I do have an idea if you really wanna catch him. I'm not all too confident it'll work though…"
Aether finished drinking his water, letting out a satisfying sigh. "We'll go with it."
"Huh!? You haven't even heard it!"
He stood up, nodding to himself. "If it's you, then the plan will work, no problem."
The bell rang, and he looked at me, a small smile on his face. "Tell me what to do, and I'll leave the rest to you."
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It was the end of the day now, with everyone leaving to either their clubs, sports, or just going home. For me however, I had a plan I needed to enact.
I had already texted the person where to meet up, and I also enlisted the help of Hiro and Prez, for reasons you'll see later.
The meeting place was the courtyard, and I had arrived early to make sure it would work. There were couple students still around, but it shouldn't hinder the plan in any way.
"He's going to be late," I murmured, tapping my foot anxiously as I looked down at the grass. Could this really work? If he gets suspicious, then it's game over, and then no more plans afterward would work. In a way, he's just as hard to catch as Hiro.
"Hey, there you are!" It seemed he had arrived. I gulped, starting to get really nervous. Will this really work?
I sighed, knowing full well that I couldn't back out now. It's now or never.
I looked up at Caelus, who was grinning at me as he walked towards me. And suddenly, I could hear Aether screaming at me to keep my back straight and eyes up, and I stood up straight almost immediately, much to my surprise.
"You never call me out for anything. What's up, is something wrong?"
"Oh, uh no, not necessarily. I just had to ask you about something important is all." His light-blue eyes sparkled inquisitively. He stopped and gave me a knowing smile.
"Oh, is it about gentleman stuff? I can recommend you some good ones!"
"If I wanted to ask you about that, I would've just have you texted me links."
He laughed. "Good point. So, what did you need to talk about?"
Just talk normally until the preparations are ready. "I wanted to make a plan of attack with you against the Ass."
"Oh, I understand now. You wanna do something without him, right?"
"Yep, I wanna go to karaoke again with the Hidden Club, but I need to make sure everyone else is there but him. You have any ideas?"
"Well, besides using my trick?"
"As much as I would find that funny, let's avoid that scenario." I glanced up at a faraway window, where Hiro would appear to give me the signal. Still no sign huh? "Any ideas?"
"Well, we could always just tell him the wrong directions, or just plan it without him."
"Lachesis would stop us before we knew it though," I said, scowling. "I seriously don't know how she does it."
He raised his hand to his mouth, trying to think of something, and I glanced the window again, and this time I saw Hiro giving me two thumbs up, the signal. Good, now the hard part.
"Hmm, maybe we could try making him sick or something? No, because then Prez would wanna go on a trip to see him. Maybe if he's sick long enough?" Good, he was still distracted with my question. I did a small thumbs up with my hand at my side, and the plan was officially in motion.
As if on cue, the intercom clicked on, and we heard the next phase of our plan go into action.
"HELLO STUDENT BODY! IT'S ME, YOUR FABULOUS STUDENT COUNCIL PRESIDENT ONCE MORE WITH A SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT! IF ALL THE PEOPLE IN COURTYARD WOULD PLEASE TAKE A LOOK AT THE BOY WITH THE DIRTY BLONDE HAIR FOR ME, YOU'LL NOTICE THAT HE'S MY FABULOUS VICE PRESIDENT!"
Caelus face warped into shock. "What the hell is this!? What's she up to now?" Ah, but it was only the beginning.
"THE FIRST ONE TO TOUCH HIM GET'S TO PUNISH HIM FOR ALL THE MISDEEDS THE STUDENT COUNCIL HAS DONE! WELL, GO AT HIM GUYS!"
While she was talking, out of nowhere, it looked as if everyone who hadn't left school yet had been put into the courtyard, and they were all staring at Caelus eagerly.
And with that, my plan was almost complete. All I needed now was Aether to pull through, otherwise it would get very messy, very quickly.
"Hey, Depra, did you know about this?" Caelus asked, on guard as everyone started to inch closer to him.
"Well, I didn't know what she was gonna say, but for the most part," I said sheepishly, scratching my head.
"Don't act all shy about this! I'm a dead man, you hear me!? A dead man!" If Aether's going to do it, now would be the time.
"Hmph, I expected better from someone so similar as me." Caelus whirled around to the unexpected voice right as Aether's hand touched his shoulder.
"Check and Mate." And suddenly, just as quickly as they appeared, all the people disappeared, and in the distance, I could see Hiro and Prez walking to the three of us, with Prez cackling.
"Oh man, I didn't expect Depra of all people to come up with a crazy plan like that!" She said, laughing to herself.
"Easy for you to say. It was a pain in the ass for me I'll have you know." Hiro sighed before grinning. "Still, it does make sense that it would work. After all, he couldn't exactly do anything with all those people watching. Smart play Depra."
I couldn't help but feel slightly embarrassed from all the praise I was getting. "It really wasn't that big a deal you know. It could've gone wrong if he suspected something from the beginning, and then what would I have done?"
Aether was still staring at Caelus, and vice versa, as if they were reaching some sort of silent understanding. And then…
"Plebeian."
"Huh!?"
Aether let out a rare smile. "It was a joke. I wish to speak to you more, now that I've captured you." His hand was still on Caelus' shoulder.
"Um, I guess so?" He shrugged and looked back at Prez. "Sorry, I won't be able to come to the club today."
"Eh, I figured as much. C'mon Hiro, I'll race yah to see who's first!"
"A race you'll never win," Hiro snorted, and the two rushed off as soon as they came.
I guess my plan actually worked. "I guess it ended out okay." I sighed and was about to leave before I felt Aether grab onto my shoulder.
"Thank you, Depra King."
I turned back around to see hints of gratitude in his face, and he released my shoulder to whip out his phone. "I never give those beneath me my phone number, but you are an exception. Let us exchange them."
Oh, I guess I don't have any of Lachesis' friends' phone numbers, do I? I nodded, not really sure if I should give my phone number to someone like him, but I relented all the same.
We quickly exchanged them, and he put his phone back into his pocket. "I have nothing to else to teach you. You have learned how to look down on others spectacularly."
"Hey, don't put it like that," I grumbled, and he let out another rare smile.
"You'll be alright, Depra King. If I ended up okay, then you can too. Now come on Plebeian, let's get a move on."
"Do you have to constantly hold onto my shoulder like that!?" I watched the two of their antics as they walked back into the school and I let out a sigh, not of sadness, but of relief.
"I owe you so much! Thank you! I'll never forget it!" I froze as I heard a kid's voice echo through my head, the unfamiliar voice bringing in a massive wave of nostalgia, and although brief, I could've sworn the two walking away were replaced with two kids, one with black hair leading the way, the other with silver-grey hair holding onto his shoulder.
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I decided to head on home after my plan of action, and as usual, I saw the girl whose hair blazed in the sun, Pandora.
"Yoo-hoo! Miss me?" She was teasing me again, having a sly smile on her face.
"If I say yes, what do I get?"
"Nothing!"
"Then I didn't miss you in the slightest."
She laughed, and I couldn't help but chuckle along with her.
"You ready to go?"
"To sleep? Yep, I'm dead tired."
"Aw c'mon, just two more days until the weekend! You can make it; I believe in yah!"
And so, the boy's greed was replaced with confidence.