I watched as Grai left the room. I still couldn't shake the thought about what happened in the training room.
"What the hell was that?!" Jay asked. I said nothing, and went to go check on Nico.
"You were asked a question." Mune spoke through gritted teeth. "What in the damn world was that?"
"Grai's output of his short temper. Now will you shut up?" I snapped at him. I continued to check on Nico. "Hey. Hey, Nico. Wake up. You ain't dead, so quit acting like that."
He groaned. "How the hell did that happen?" His voice sounded hoarse.
"You of all people know how that happened." I whispered-yelled. "Your highness."
Even in his current state, he still gave me a daggered look. "If you tell anyone, I will kill you on the spot."
"Don't you think I would've told them I was Carthyan before explaining the fact that you were the prince of Lorian?" I argued.
"What are you talking about?" Oni asked. Nico said nothing, but his eyes were all that I needed to read; You tell them, I kill everyone in this room.
I sighed, and got up. "Nothing. He's fine. Why?"
"Because you've been talking to him for about five minutes now."
I pretended I didn't know. "Really? Oh well." I ushered them to follow me out the door. "Come on. We don't have all day."
~~~
"So there are about forty rooms in this place?" Jay asked as we headed to the cafeteria. "Man, I'm gonna need a chart for all of this."
"So where are you taking us now?" Lina asked. Everyone seemed to relax by this time, even Oni. But only a little bit.
"The last room," I informed her, opening the room. "At this time, it would be lunch." They all gawked at the sight. I smiled. "I suppose you don't see this many people in your school, hm?" I asked. They nodded in unison.
A chuckle escaped my mouth. "Are you going to stand there?"
"We're allowed to eat with them?" Mune asked.
For a moment, they all seemed to ask the same question. "After you change into your uniform, yes." I told them, handing them black sweaters with white sleeves and pants. "Two minutes. That's all you guys get before coming here, understood?" They took the clothes and ran to their temporary rooms.
I walked through the halls, now empty, looking for Grai. I opened the door, and remained still. Grai was curled in a corner, blood covered all over his face, hands, and clothes. He looked at me, fear plastered all over his face, "I-I didn't mean to . . ." he spoke, regret throbbing in his voice. I walked to the dead body.
I bent down and examined it. "Relax. It's not him." I looked at him. "It's one of those simulator bots. You passed." I walked up to him and tried to comfort him. It didn't seem to work.
"Passed? Passed what?"
"A test that defines your fighting level." I answered. I pointed to the computer nearby. "That holds your results." I got up and searched through it. "If I'm lucky, it should-huh."
"What? What is it?"
"You're an elite fighter." I replied.
Grai looked at the results, scooting me on the side. "Why is it important to know which level anyone is on?"
"It determines which group you belong to," I pulled up the elite team. Few names came up, including mine. "The elites are the strongest people in this crowd of people. The kids we took two days ago? They'll have the same thing too."
"Huh." Before he could say anything, he took a few steps back before falling to the ground and coughing, his hand covering his mouth.
"Grai? Are you alright?" I asked him, kneeling in front of him and taking a glance at his face. He removed his hand to show me a fresh amount of blood on his hand and ground.
"Yeah," He coughed. "I'm fine."
"Then why is your hemoptysis acting out again?" He sat up, and stared at the ground where his blood was spilled. He said nothing. "Is it because you've been changing to your form more often?" Still nothing.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" Someone said. The door opened, revealing Ian, one of the advanced fighters. He stared at the mess. "What the hell happened?"
We stared at him, then Grai replied bluntly, "Fighters' test."
~~~
We walked into the cafeteria, causing everyone to quiet down and stare at us. Grai looked at the floor, the weight of their eyes clearly too much to handle for him. He always looked down every time he felt he did something wrong. Ian spoke up. "What are you looking at? Back to your work!" He hollered.
Within seconds, everyone was back to chatting and gossiping and whatnot. We all sat down with the rest of the elites. Crimson smiled at us. "So who's the new kid?" She asked.
"I'm not sure if we should call him new anymore, Crims," Eli pointed. "He's been here for at least four days, so he's basically one of us now."
"By 'one of us', you mean one of the people in this crowd of people, right?"
"Cut the crap, Crimson. You're not fooling anyone here." Grai argued.
"He's not wrong, you know." Zane agreed, popping a berry into his mouth. "So what brought you to this hell of a place?" He asked.
"Dākushi is going to be coming in about three weeks or so." Grai informed. "I thought I might tag along with Vanitas, him being my cousin and Dākushi's son."
The three of them nodded. "So it's just him? Or will there be more ships?" Crimson asked.
He shrugged. "I can't say. All I know is that he'll arrive later this month. 'Till then, we have to blend in with the rest."
"So is it true?" Crimson asked us. "Is Nico here too?"
I hesitated. I wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. Yes he was here, but his actions seemed to prove the fact that he was more human than Lorian. Good acting? I questioned myself. Maybe. Or he might have forgotten at some point.
"Grai, did Nico end up in an accident or something like that in the past?" I asked. He thought about it before answering.
"He was in a collision when he was around eleven."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Eli looked at me suspiciously. "Is he here or not?"
"How do I explain this," I thought aloud. "Physically, he is here. Mentally, I'm not sure."
"He did suffer from retro amnesia after the crash." Grai continued. "The doctors were able to regain his human life, while I assisted in regaining some of his normal life."
"This sounds like we're talking about a robot rather than a friend." Zane spoke up.
Eli stuck his tongue out. "I came here for lunch, not for a science class."
"Sorry buddy," Crimson patted his back. "But it's always a science class when Zane is around."
Zane glared at him, but continued to eat his food. "If your micro brain can't handle such simple things, I suggest you leave then."
"That is the most boring comeback I've heard in my entire life. On Drakon and Earth." Grai told him.
The rest of our lunch went quietly, with a few chatters here and there, until a familiar voice screamed, "FOOD FIGHT!"
I turned to see Jay throwing a bowl of soup at Nico and getting spattered with porridge.
The five of us ducked underneath the table, waiting for this to end. "This is the fourth time this week they started a food fight." Eli informed Grai.
"Well, I guess this couldn't get any worse," Crimson said weakly. "Right?"