Alex Richardson Jr, son of Alexander Richardson, also known as the Champion of Falter City, was the boy who was currently lying in the medical bay. He had been knocked out during a Gambit's Challenge against Zefer Zillian, a mysterious boy he had yet to even know the name of until a couple of days ago.
Alex laid there as he came to, recalling the entire fight until he passed out. "There is more to him than he has let on. I truly have missed a lot, haven't I?" Alex said to himself as he stared at the white ceiling. Ever since his confrontation with Zefer, he decided to look over what he had done over the past several years.
Alex realized that he was too focused on himself. He was too focused on improving his skills, becoming more substantial, and bettering himself that he missed out on everything that went on around him. It wasn't just with Zefer, but the people who tried to approach him. It wasn't like he hated anyone or disliked anyone.
No, he just felt like the time spent fooling around or messing around was better-spent training. That time was better spent becoming a better version of oneself and doing all they could to improve their life overall. It wasn't like he saw himself as better than anyone else or placed himself higher than anyone else.
No, he was merely just too focused on himself. Perhaps it was the by-product of being the son of a master fencer and an A-Rank Hunter. Regardless, he now seemed to realize the wrongs he had done and everything that went on around him.
His eyes shifted to the stand beside him to see many gifts from fruit baskets to flowers, even some notes with little hearts on them. "Perhaps I've been spending too much time focused solely on becoming stronger," Alex said as he sat up and took one of the envelopes from the stand. He wondered why the envelope was sealed with a heart sticker but opened it nevertheless and pulled out a letter.
As he read the letter's contents, his face became slightly pink before he folded the letter and put it back into the envelope. "Oookay..." Alex said before moving into the next envelope and doing the same thing.
Emotion filled ten letters, all ten of them with girls' affections, and that was just the envelopes. He had seen more within the gifts many seemed to leave him and couldn't help but sigh, "Does Zefer deal with this?" Alex wondered, rather clueless when it came to something like that.
"No." A grumpy voice spoke up as a man moved the white curtain to reveal Micheal and his baggy eyes showing many sleepless nights. "If you are all healed up, take your shit and get the fuck out already." Micheal said with a heavy sigh before taking a sip from the steamy hot coffee from his mug that read 'World's best nurse!'
"Instructor Micheal! Yes, I will do just that. Sorry for being an inconvience!" Alex quickly bundled everything into one of the larger baskets and hastily made his way out of the medical bay. Micheal sighed as he made his way towards the desk and sat down, placing the mug on the desk and massaging his forehead.
"Not only the strongest first year but three third-years. Just what the hell is going on with that boy." Micheal said, referring to Zefer as he opened up some files on his bracelet to begin working. He had a lot of work cut out for him but never had he seen anything like this before.
Alex was about to make a call to one of his butlers to let him know what was going on and why he wasn't home yet, but before he could, a voice spoke from beside him.
"Master Alex, would you like me to take those for you?" The voice was well-mannered, holding a noble sense and an aged one showing that it came from an older person.
"Willford. No, but thank you. I apologize for not contacting you, but I got caught up with something." Alex answered as he looked from the bundle of stuff towards an older man with gray hair and beard that was well-maintained to the suit the appearance of a professional butler. Not just any butler, but the head butler of the esteemed Richardson family.
"Of course, sir." Willford said before following up, "I have the car parked out front. Are you ready to leave?" Willford asked politely but not showing any impatience since he didn't know if his master was ready to leave just yet.
"I suppose we should. I am sorry you had to come to get me. I'll tell you all about it on the way home." Alex said apologetically since he knew how much Willford cared about him.
"It is no trouble at all, sir," Willford answered, and with that, the two of them left. Willford opened the car door for Alex before making his way to the driver's seat, and afterward, they went. Alex told Willford everything about Zefer, what he found out, what he realized about himself and how much he had missed.
Alex was a bit too self-absorbed with his storytelling that he didn't notice Willford smiling softly. Willford was happy that his master finally realized that there was more to life than training and becoming stronger. Forging bonds and making solid connections was one joy of life that his master had messed out on, but seeing how Alex was fretting over it, meant he finally realized it.
Willford listened to Alex as they continued home; however, Alex asked Willford to stop the car suddenly. "Willford, stop the car!" Alex's voice caught Willford off guard since he had never heard his master speak like that before. Yet, Willford followed orders and pulled over. "Is something wrong, sir?" Willford asked.
"I thought I saw a classmate of mine being dragged into an alley. Can you pull the car over to the parking lot near the grocery?" Alex asked, and Willford nodded, "Of course, sir." Willford followed Alex's orders and pulled the car into the grocery parking lot but parked away from the grocery.
"Would you like me to contact your father?" Willford asked as a safety precaution.
"There is no need." Alex answered as he unbuckled himself and turned around to see Maven making her way towards the alley. "It seems someone with a connection to the police force is already on it. Stay here until I get back." Alex said as he prepared himself for a fight and left the car.
"Of course, sir. May the flames of Ifrit always be with you." Willford said with pride as Alex left the car.
Alex made his way towards the alley, but he decided to snoop around instead of making contact. He wanted to see what was going on; from what he saw earlier, it looked like Zefer was walking with some people; however, the people Zefer was walking with looked unsavory.
Still, Alex didn't want to jump to conclusions, so he decided to watch while peeking from behind the corner of the building. It wasn't just Maven, but also Ruth was here. He hadn't caught Ruth earlier since the other men were masking him, but now he could see the boy. "Really, Ruth? What are you doing?" Alex thought.
He needed not wait long as he heard Ruth's retort to Maven and watched as Maven seemed to shut down. Alex shook his head since he knew that Ruth was up to no good, even if he was the second strongest in his class. That didn't make him any better than anyone else. "What a fool..." Alex sighed and shook his head, but his carefree and relaxed demeanor shifted when he heard words that he never thought he would listen to.
A cold sweat ran over his body as he eyed Zefer playing with a pocket knife. "You are joking, right?" Alex thought, but when he saw Zefer approaching the men, he felt like things would go south without his intervention, so he rushed in.
He didn't know if he could stop Zefer or bring him to his senses, but he needed to try. So, he asked Zefer if he wanted to kill these people. The response he got threw him for a loop, but he knew he needed to keep forward and not step back. Zefer wasn't the enemy here, and he wasn't evil; what he learned about Zefer's past showed that Zefer was the victim.
The events played out from there, and when everything seemed to settle down, Alex released a breath of relief. Still, before he could return to the conversation at hand, it seemed like Zefer was already leaving. He wanted to talk with Zefer, ask him about his past, and get an answer, but it looked like he was going to.
So, instead, he looked towards Maven, "Maven Sears, why are you here?" Alex wasn't hostile but rather curious. Maven was a third-year, so what did she have to do with Zefer? It wasn't a coincidence that she was in the area like him, right?