Earlier in Class 1-C, the students went out, excited to see what the cafeteria would offer them.
"Hey, you want to come and eat with me." the occult girl besides Keith asked to which he responded with a nod.
"Sure," he sounded composed, but Keith was internally excited by the thought of having a friend. This girl would be his first friend if everything went well. The only problem is that he doesn't know how to befriend somebody…
Do they confirm it with each other? Is there a contract to be signed? Should they do a specific ritual?
Keith had no idea.
'Lutze hasn't told me these things yet… but I think he doesn't know how too. That old man is weird, others have told me.'
Following the occult girl, Keith noticed Bunny doing nothing. Others had gone out or were chatting with a friend. Bunny reminded him of the occult girl.
Feeling obliged to ask, Keith tapped Bunny's shoulder, "Bunny, are you not going to eat?"
Bunny almost jumped from his seat.
"He's jumpy… or is that his personality?" the occult girl whispered to Keith but failed not to let Bunny hear her. His mood worsened.
Bunny wanted to rebuke her but failed to word his thoughts out. He gave up a second later before going back to Keith's question.
"No… I'm saving my money…."
"I see," Keith looked at Guleno and his groups but only saw their chairs. Like the others, they have gone out to eat. After a while, he asked, "Want me to help you?"
'Lutze said helping others is one of the ways in human society. To blend in, I have to contribute.'
Bunny looked at Keith with a surprised gaze. If Keith, the one who has the guts to slap Sir Adren in the class, went to Guleno and his group, a fight would certainly break out.
"No… I'm… I'm fine…!" Bunny forced out.
"Okay, then." Keith nodded. This is the cue for him not to further pry into Bunny's life. But, when he was about to turn around, he heard.
"But, thank you for the offer…."
Keith smiled a little before he and the occult girl went on their way.
"Is he your friend?"
"No"
"Huh? I didn't know what happened, but why did you offer to help him if he's not your friend?"
"Is helping bad?" Keith asked to which the occult girl shook her head in response.
"No, but you don't look like a person who would go out his way to help someone who's not even his friend." she reasoned, "However, at the same time, I don't know anything about you except your name." she laughed before realizing something important, "Wait!"
"Hm?'
"I haven't introduced myself, have I?" she then placed her hand on her chest and introduced herself, "I'm Natalie Grahm. You can call me Natalie or just Nat. Whatever works for you."
"Graham?"
"... you know my family?" Natalie curiously asked.
"No, I just felt hungrier."
Natalie frowned, "It's Grahm without the second 'A'! It's not food!"
Reaching the cafeteria, Natalie couldn't help but be in awe as the service and interior design seemed impeccable for a school canteen. This looks rather more like a restaurant.
"Each classroom is abnormally bigger, and now, this?" Natalie spread her arms before getting pushed away by others who glared at her.
Every freshman was excited to see the cafeteria. There are more than ten lines in front of the counter with almost five hundred students. The first arrivals were already seated on their tables.
It was chaotic, so it was stupid for her to spread her arms. She scratched her head and apologetically nodded. Soon, the two came out.
"There are lots of people in there, huh? I just lost my appetite."
Keith saw a second cafeteria and pointed, "What about there?"
"You're right, but weird… why are people just staring from the outside and not entering?"
The two went there for guards to block their path.
"Sorry, but only top students are allowed to enter this establishment." one guard then pointed out, "Don't worry about the long lines in the first cafeteria. It's only for this break. Next time, things will be more orderly."
He automatically explained as only God knows how many times he was asked about not having enough space in the cafeteria.
"Okay, we understand." Keith then turned around.
"Wait, really? But, I don't understand." after looking at the 'premium' cafeteria one last time, Natalie caught up to him.
"The results are not out yet, so their only basis of prioritization is who comes first," Keith explained, but Natalie still couldn't figure it out.
"Speaking of which," he continued, "You said something about the room being abnormally big, isn't that normal?"
"Of course not. Did you forget how big a normal classroom is back in middle school?"
Keith shook his head since he didn't go to a middle school. Fortunately, Natalie didn't think much of this reply.
They just went back to Class 1-C, and Natalie whispered to Keith.
"So… are you really interested in the occult too?" she nervously asked. What if Keith is good at acting while he mocks her in his thoughts?
She wouldn't know why he would go that far if that's true, but… Keith's weird in her eyes. Why would she question his intentions?
"Yeah, it sounds interesting."
Keith answered, which removed Natalie's anxiety, making her sigh in relief. Although this didn't remove all of her doubts, it would be pointless to worry about it.
"A-alright… then, do you believe in the supernatural?"
She excitedly asked, trying to confirm if there's finally someone there who shares her interest.
'The supernatural?' Keith pondered, 'Right, common people's knowledge is limited, so everything out of that is supernatural for them.'
"Yes," he answered.
Natalie widely smiled, clenched her fists, and leaned forward from her seat further.
"And, what about magic? Do you believe in magic and witchcraft?"
'Well, Lutze is a master of magic and witchcraft. It's also why I'm in this world so-'
"Of course," Keith firmly answered.
"Yes..!" Natalie pumped her fist before asking more with sparkling eyes, not that Keith could see them through her long bangs, "T-then what about UFOs…!?"
"A yuefo?"
"Bigfoot?"
"What's that?"
"How about vampires?"
"Yeah, they exist for sure..."
The two talked until the school before rang and the morning break ended...
In front of the class door, Sir Adren stood with a state entirely different earlier this morning. His mood went from arrogant to frustration, frustration to anger, anger to satisfied, and satisfied to terrified. It was quite a surreal ride.
'I-I just hit a child from the After Beyond Cult… my life is over… how will my Reomal Family, a Rook-Level could compare to one of the three Great Cults…? I'm dead….'
With a ghastly expression and slumped shoulders, he entered the classroom. He first looked at the boy with all the accessories. This student suddenly felt bigger in his eyes.
Sir Adren respectfully greeted as a reflex. In front of his juniors, he looks down. In front of the higher-ups, he bows his head. This is his everyday life as an elder from a Rook-Level Family.
Don't get it wrong. A Rood-Level Family is ranked in the upper half of the global hierarchy. But in front of a Queen-Level or the so-called King-Level, the three major factions of Beos, Elder Adren from the Reomal Family feels little.
'Keep it together! Don't get so tense in front of your student!'
Noticing the stares from his students, Sir Adren tried to calm himself.
'Don't treat him special in public. All is fair on the surface…' he deeply breathed and finally controlled his emotions. He's not an Elder for nothing, 'Good thing these children don't know the importance of lowering one's head to another in this side of the world.'
Sir Adren's mind was preoccupied with these thoughts while he set up the laptop, connecting it to the monitor in front of the class.
"Alright, your temporary ranks are out. Remember them and always be updated so that you wouldn't look like a fool when you need them. They will change every after major exams or end of the quarters. Here it is."
The monitor opened and showed all the names of Class 1-C students. Besides them were four-digit numbers.
Sir Adren has yet to see the results and searched for Keith's name.
Meanwhile, at the Supreme Student Council Office, Flora looked, alone, at the reports she borrowed from the faculty.
"Keith Anton Estal, ranked 1504 out of 1532 students…" this surprised her. Upon reading more, what she found was disturbing rather than startling.
"Most of his scores on knowledge-based exams are the lowest among the freshmen… however, he perfected all intelligence-based. What pulled his rankings down so much is the fact that he made mistakes on elementary questions… who doesn't know the basic history of our country?"
Flora gulped, not knowing how to feel about this.
"I'm starting to feel he's the latest AI from the Realm Government with these scores. No, if he's a robot, he's easily connected to the large database the government is keeping… so how?"
There's only one thing that comes out of her mind.
"Is he trolling us? Even I, Flora Kaur, have scored 96% on the intelligence-based exam. The highest would be Alumnus Rowan Grant with 98%. But, there are some impossible questions there. How could he answer them? Did he cheat?"
With so many questions, Flora stopped thinking and deeply breathed.
"I don't have enough information. This is the perfect opportunity to test out my new Tutored, Byron Marco."