"Mana, mana, mana…."
Mark Fukuoka was muttering to himself as he slowly walked to his school.
"Tch! How on earth am I going to find the Gates of Gulos with just this tiny amount of mana?!" Mark punched the brick wall to his side as he finished speaking, and immediately regretted his actions.
"Aaah! Motherfucker!" He yelled loudly as he waved his hands in the air, screaming in agony once again. "God damn it! I keep forgetting that I'm a weak mortal! Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
"Mommy, mommy, that man is weird!"
"Shh! Don't look, honey. Or the weird man might notice us.."
"What the hell is up with that kid…"
"I don't know, man. Might be mentally… you know.."
His loud screams and incoherent words had gotten the attention of the surrounding crowd, who whispered amongst themselves, forming various opinions about the crazy young man in front of them before going their ways.
Of course, Mark could care less about what these mortals thought about him. After all, he would leave this wretched realm one day, and they'll once again be ants to him in his immortal form.
"I can't believe that I have to attend school as well.." Mark could care less about school, but he knew that he had to adhere to the rules of the world that he was inhabiting.
"Hey, Mark!" A voice came from behind him, followed by a light slap on the back of his head, which forced Mark to turn around and look at the culprit.
"What's up, dude?" The assailant was a young man who was similar in age to Mark, with curly hair and piercings on his nose and left ear.
"... Oh! Jacob, it's you.." Since Mark also inherited the memories of his avatar, he had no trouble figuring out the young boy's identity. Jacob Takahashi was one of the only two friends that Mark had in his class, and they usually walk to the school together.
"Do you have to sound disappointed every time you see me?" Jacob raised one of his eyebrows as he spoke with a pouting expression that was clearly fake, and Mark snorted before replying, "Are you kidding me? Of course I do. In fact, I'm thinking of making it part of my morning ritual."
"Wow, would you look at that?" Jacob was surprised as to how quickly Mark responded with a snarky reply. "You seem to be in a good mood today.."
"You definitely shouldn't become a psychologist," Mark shook his head, thinking of how wrong Jacob's analysis was of his mood.
"What? I was wrong? But you're usually only snarky when you're in a good mood.." Jacob was caught off guard by the sudden rejection of his analysis, but he soon had an expression of understanding, and continued, "Ah, yeah.. I forgot about the response that you got from Melissa yesterday. That would definitely bring anyone's mood down."
'There goes another wrong analysis…' Mark thought to himself. 'But Melissa, huh..'
Mark knew who Melissa was from the memories that he inherited from his avatar. Melissa Matsumoto was a beautiful young girl who was in Mark's class. With blue eyes, jet black hair and an appearance of a fashion model, she had captured the hearts of many young boys, including Mark.
'I can't believe that this dumbass actually tried to ask this girl out..' Mark shook his head with disdain as he thought of the disastrous results of yesterday.
'Tsk, tsk, tsk…' He clicked his tongue as he remembered the event as it had occurred. 'Anyone could tell by looking at the group of bitches that this girl hangs around with…' He said to himself. '...That this girl wasn't going to give you an easy rejection.'
"Asking me out? Seriously? With your looks and skills? Are you blind, loser?" Mark's thoughts were interrupted by Jacob's reenactment of the disastrous incident, and he turned around to give him an annoyed look, which made Jacob shut his mouth and reply with an innocent smile. "Come on, that's it? I definitely thought that you would kill me for that.."
"Oh, trust me.. I was really contemplating on doing so," Mark responded with a snort, but his expression said that he wasn't angry at all, but instead looked more annoyed, which confused Jacob, who definitely remembered Mark crying like a baby just yesterday after receiving the scathing rejection from Melissa.
"Did you really get over it? This quickly?" Jacob was still skeptical. He suspected that Mark was acting like he didn't care.
"Listen.. Jacob, buddy," Mark turned around and stood in front of Jacob, who halted his steps. Mark let out a sigh and then placed his hand on Jacob's shoulder.
"You've gotta learn that there's more to life than scathing rejections by a bitch who thinks that she's Angelina motherfucking Jolie or something. You feel me?" Make spoke in such a pretentious tone that it made Jacob roll his eyes subconsciously. "Uh-huh.."
"Good, good…" Mark gave two light slaps on Jacob's face, which made him take a step back as he was caught off-guard. "Now, we should probably head to school because we're already very late." Mark then turned around and resumed walking towards the school, and Jacob stared at him for a second before following him.
"So, Mr. Pretentious-Enlightened-Bastard, did you receive any enlightenment about how to handle Derek? No?" Jacob asked slyly, trying to make Mark lose his cool like the good friend he was. Derek was a fat young man with a goatee who was always picking on Mark.
"You know, it's funny that you should ask that.." Mark replied calmly, which once again confused Jacob. "..Because I happened to see a figure in my dream today."
"...Right.." Jacob said, still sounding skeptical. Mark ignored the reaction he got from Jacob and continued, "Yeah, yeah, he was a handsome young man. Called himself Irmes. Did I mention how handsome and beautiful he was? Because he definitely was handsome."
Jacob raised one of his eyebrows. "Right…"
"Anyways, the handsome young man came close to me and whispered softly into my ears.." Mark reduced his tone as he continued, "He said.. beat the crap out of the fatso, son. You won't regret it."
".... I don't get it. What's the joke?" Jacob said with a confused expression.
"The joke is that I'll punch you first should you keep trying to make me snap!" Mark said as he made a punching motion towards Jacob, who let out a loud laugh. "Hahahaha! I got you! I finally got you angry! Phew! I almost thought I couldn't do it!"
"Yeah, yeah, shut the fuck up." Mark shook his head once again before retracting his fist and resuming walking, and Jacob placed his hand over Mark's shoulder. "Haha.. but anyways," He said. "What you said about the fatso.. that's a joke, right?"
Mark let out a short chuckle through his lips, but he didn't reply.
"Mark and Jacob, you're five minutes late!" Gillian Roberts, the math teacher, said sternly as soon as they entered the classroom, and the two boys bowed their heads. "Sorry for being late, ma'am!"
"... Fine. You get a pass today since it's only five minutes," the teacher waved his hands, motioning the young boys to enter the classroom. "But don't be late again. This is the only time that I'll make an exception!"
The two boys quickly walked to their seats and sat down.
"To think there'd come a day where the great Irmes would have to bow to someone other than my father…" Mark silently muttered to himself as he sat down on his chair, upset that he had to bow to a mere mortal.
"Psst, hey, loser…" An irritating voice entered Mark's ear, and he narrowed his eyes. 'Ah,' He thought to himself. 'There's the fatso..'
Behind him sat Derek Watanabe, the class bully. "I can't believe you actually had the guts to come to school today.." Derek whispered under his breath, clearly having the time of his life as he was making fun of Mark. "You know, especially after Melissa humiliated you!"
Derek wanted Mark to lose his cool. But he didn't. Instead, Mark gently pushed his chair and leaned back a bit, whispering, "You know, I actually wasn't planning on coming to school today.." He paused for a bit before leaning back a bit more and continued, "... But fucking your mom hard in the ass all night really helped out!'