"W… what are you doing!? What kind of indecency are all of you teaching in this school!? This is it, I am pulling all the funds my husband has placed in this school!"
"W… wait, please calm down, madam! And Mr. Baker, what are you doing!?"
This time, the faculty members that were completely letting the situation unfold were now getting themselves involved. Their involvement, however, was quickly cut short as they finally realized why Zac suddenly started to strip down.
Even Zac's mother, who was about to pull her son away from the mortifying situation, almost lost consciousness as soon as she finally saw the reason for what Zac was doing.
How could she not, when it was plastered all over his body?
Even the mother of the bully, who seemed to not run out of complaints, had her mouth completely shut as she saw the marks that covered Zac's entire torso like a map; like a diluted black ink that was showered over him and left to dry.
"M… Mr. Baker, this is--"
"Shut the fuck up."
The teacher that was previously trying to calm the situation down was about to say something, but before he could even finish his words, Zac raised his finger at him. Although Zac's memories of this time were almost completely overwritten by the scenery of the apocalypse, the memories of his body were still completely intact.
He was sure that the very reason he committed suicide 3 months from now was that his old self could no longer bear the pain of always getting beaten up by his classmates; but even without that, ever since his consciousness returned from the future, there was this tingling pain that crawled throughout his entire body, howling to be recognized.
Of course, for him who was able to survive the end of the apocalypse, that pain might as well be akin to a mosquito bite.
"..." But for his old self to let himself be beaten up like this-- just how much of a coward was he exactly back then?
"Do you see these bruises, woman?" Zac then took a step forward towards the mother of the bully,
"Your son, this fine gentleman, as well as another student did this to me," Zac then said as he glanced at the other student, before quickly returning his gaze towards the bully's mother.
"T… that's not--"
"How long do you think this has been happening for my body to almost be covered like this?" Zac continued to make his way towards the bully's mother.
"W--"
The bully's mother took a step backward, but as soon as her butt hit the desk behind her, Zac quickly grabbed her hand and placed it on his chest.
"These are cigarette marks," Zac then slowly whispered in the woman's ears, "Your son actually woke up one day and thought it would be a good idea to burn someone in school. Makes you wonder what else he is doing without supervision, right?"
The bully's mother tried to pull her hand away, but the more she did so, the more Zac leaned his body closer to her; her nose could already catch the smell of piss and shit on him, but the only thing she could do was look to the side, perhaps in shame.
Still, she tried to pull away again, but this time, Zac pinned her down on the desk with his entire body.
"L… let go of me," the woman then said as she tried her best not to look at the scars on Zac's chest. She decided to look him straight in the eyes, but as soon as she saw Zac's unmoving bright blue eyes, the only thing she could do was hold her breath.
"Z… Zac, that's enough!"
And as soon as Zac heard his mother's words, he finally backed away.
"Of course, it's not solely all your fault, beautiful madam," Zac then muttered with a smile on his face, "To think that a student could not only march inside the school bringing a pack of cigarettes, they could also freely smoke and burn someone with it…"
Zac then suddenly grabbed his phone and started waving it in front of everyone, "So…
...why don't we all just calm down before all of these get leaked outside?"
***
"Zac… if you had that video, why didn't you come to me? I would have come with you to the proper authorities."
"It's alright, mother," Zac let out a small chuckle as he took a bite of his dinner.
A few hours after his fruitful meeting with the members of the faculty, Zac was now back home in their apartment. He asked the school if he could take a 2-weeks break to recover from the trauma he received from their neglect, and surprise surprise, the school happily obliged.
And so, right now, his eyes were busy scanning his old home, but his eyes did not need to move that much though, as there truly was nothing to see inside their apartment.
A small kitchen, a single bathroom; the dining and the living room were merged… and there was only one bedroom — Zac's. His mother seemed to be sleeping in the living room; how his past self allowed this, he'd rather not remember.
"What do you mean it's alright!?" Nathalie lightly slammed her palm on the table, "Let me watch the video and I'll decide if it's alright!"
"I am afraid I can't do that, mother," Zac once again chuckled as he took another bite of his food; it was just a simple pork chop with barely any seasoning, but for someone like him who had been living in the apocalypse for more than 30 years, it might as well be a course from a 5-star restaurant.
"What do you mean you can't do that!?" Nathalie once again raised her voice, "Zac Baker, Give me. Your Phone. Now."
"There is no video, mother."
"W… what?"
"I lied," Zac then said as he finally rested his knife and fork on the table, "The only photos and videos I have in my phone are these things called memes, I checked."
"...Memes?"
"Yes," Zac then once again chuckled, "Do you want to see them? Some of them are quite funny."
"W… wait, so you lied!? What if they find out!?"
"I can just tell them I deleted it because of my good will," Zac then said with a sigh, "Seriously, Nathalie, you don't need to worry too much about other people."
"Did… you just call me by my name?" Nathalie stuttered, "We… we need to get you checked in a hospital!"
"Mother, please stop," Zac stood up as he approached his mother, gently holding her hand as he looked her straight in the eyes, "The only thing you need to be worrying about is you, nothing else, no one else. Because this time…
...I will keep you safe, okay?"
He might not have that much memory of his mother and home anymore, but it doesn't mean that he had lost all attachment to her. He meant what he said-- he will keep her safe, no matter what.
"Z… Zac."
"And also…
...Can I borrow your credit card?"
"...What?"
And so, with that, a week later, the power of Nathalie's card reaching its credit limit had shown itself to their doorstep in the form of several boxes, each of different sizes. Even his neighbor and classmate, Vanessa, could not help but visit their apartment as soon as she saw the boxes being delivered.
She was, however, quickly turned down by Zac and was gently asked to leave-- which she didn't really take well. But alas, the power of the apartment's door also showed itself as Zac shut it in front of her.
"Z… Zac. I know I told you that you could buy anything you want. But this is…"
But of course, the one that was most affected by all of these boxes appearing from nowhere was the owner of the card herself, Nathalie.
"How… How am I even going to be able to pay this off?"
"You don't have to worry too much, mother."
Zac, however, only waved his hand nonchalantly as he very slowly pushed all of the boxes one by one inside his room, which was now actually completely devoid of any furniture as he even threw his bed-- deciding to sleep beside her mother in the living room a few days ago.
"Zac… we can't pay for these," Nathalie's worried voice whispered in Zac's ears, "We still need to pay for rent, food… and… I would need to work overtime to--"
"Since you work from home, just sell the car, mother," Zac then said without any hesitation, "The only reason we have one is because you wanted to drive me to school, right? I can just run there from now on."
"But--"
"Mother, trust me. We're not going to need it."
"...Are you sure you don't want to get checked in the nearby clinic?" Nathalie then said, the worry in her voice getting even deeper, "What did you even buy?"
"Just some gym stuff to train my body, mother," Zac then opened one of the boxes with a cutter, but as soon as he did so, several large blades fell out.
"..."
"..."
"Wrong box."
"That's it, you're going to the hospital!"
It took quite a while to convince his mother that he wasn't crazy; but as soon as he decided to sell the car himself, her mother's queries and worries slowly died down.
Of course, Zac was aware of the possibility that the Curtains might not even appear this time at all-- and he even wishes that was the case. But he knew how cruel the world can be, the Curtains will appear.
But if it doesn't?
It didn't really matter. He wouldn't be alive to enjoy it as he would still jump. This world... he didn't belong here anyway.
And so, with rigorous and ceaseless training that made his body almost give up, as well as failing all of his classes and tests for the past months-- he was proven to be right...
...The Curtains once again blanketed the entire world with their beauty.