After what seemed like an eternity, lunch had finally arrived.
All the students left the classrooms with joy and made their way to the cafeteria with their friends.
Emmia was currently dragging a half-asleep Icarth along with Sefir towards the canteen.
"Why do I have to do this as well?" Emmia complained. This was technically Sefir's punishment for waking Icarth up for a useless class.
Sefir was holding Icarth with one hand, while the other rubbed his butt which was still fresh from getting kicked by Icarth.
"Do you want my notes?" Sefir shot back wincing with each step. That kick had really left an ... impression.
Shutting up, Emmia began to drag her brother with greater enthusiasm.
Luna could be seen walking behind the trio. Her face was as expressionless as always, but if one looked close enough....with a microscope they could see the sides of her lips quirked upwards.
Or it could be a figment of their imagination. Only Luna knew whether she was having fun or not.
Passerby's were much more vocal in their amusement, some laughed at the trio and others ignored them seemingly used to their antics.
Shui passed by with her friends with a weird expression.
"Is he dead?" She asked trying to contain a smile.
"Shui, don't ask. You know how he is." Emmia requested with a slight blush. All this attention was getting to her and embarrassment was promptly rising up in her.
Nodding sagely, Shui turned around before she could break into laughter and went ahead.
"Sefir...." Emmia started.
"Notes." He reminded ruthlessly. His sense of shame had long evaporated after being subjected to the creature that was known as Icarth.
The person, in particular, was no longer half asleep.
Dreaming peacefully, Icarth had once again demonstrated his ability to fall asleep literally anywhere and anytime and more importantly in any position.
A few meters away from the cafeteria, Icarth was hit by the overwhelming smell of food emanating out. Wrinkling his nose, Icarth was woken up due to the cacophony of smells that kept assaulting his nose.
Straitening himself, Icarth freed himself from Emmia and Sefir.
"Finally," Emmia huffed in frustration. Emmia opened her mouth to scold her brother even more when he cut her off by saying, "Let's eat."
Striding ahead, Icarth entered the cafeteria followed closely by Sefir who was hungry as well.
The final nail in the ignoring Emmia train was when Luna went ahead as well leaving Emmia standing outside without an audience.
Hanging her head in resignation, Emmia accepted her fate and went to join her friends in the cafeteria.
------
The group had each taken a plate of food and sat down to eat in a corner of the cafeteria.
Icarth ate the food like a machine. While the food was indeed good for being mass-produced in a cafeteria, it didn't taste anywhere as good as what Uncle Feng made.
Emmia and Sefir, on the other hand, didn't have such high standards and ate the food like any normal person.
"So what happened in the first two classes?" Emmia asked Sefir in between bites.
Next to Emmia, Luna opened her mouth and hesitated. But before anyone could notice, she scooped up a spoonful of food and ate it like she meant to do that.
"So first class we had Energy Control theory and the second one was...."
Icarth was only half listening to the conversation while he was zoned out in reality. His mind was on yesterday night's training session and what he could've done better.
'That beast was of a species that I hadn't seen before.'
'I should've done more research before fighting.'
The injuries that he had suffered, mainly a stab wound of 4 claws, throbbed in response to his thoughts. Wincing slightly while eating, Icarth continued his analysis of the fights he had gone through.
Although Icarth's insane healing was good enough to heal deep wounds like that one, it didn't prevent scarring.
That was one of the reasons why Icarth wore a full-sleeved uniform, despite it not being his style. It covered his scars and bruises so that he wouldn't have to go through the trouble of questions from his classmates.
While deep in thought, Icarth felt a tingling sensation. His instincts were acting up.
In his mind, Icarth felt a delayed reaction to the stimulus. Usually, he would've reacted immediately.
But due to the environment and because he was lost in thought, Icarth reacted later than he would've. That gave the adversary just enough time to do what they wanted.
A hand reached out from behind Icarth and stroked his chin.
"Hiii, Ica~" A female voice called out.
Going still Icarth didn't answer. He was afraid of what was going to happen next. The back of his head was tingling in response to an incoming danger.
"Hi, Nikita!" Emmia greeted cheerfully.
"Mia!" Nikita answered with the same energy. Seeing that Icarth wasn't going to move, Nikita lowered her hands in disappointment.
One hand was stroking his chin while the other was holding an ice cream cone that was ruthlessly aimed at the back of Icarth's head a few moments ago.
Seeing that she had let him go, Icarth sighed and slumped....and felt his back make a squelching sound with the back of the chair.
Dead-eyed, Icarth felt the material of his ruined uniform to find out that it was ice cream. Laughing, Nikita ate the remaining portion of the ice cream aside from the amount that had been used to prank Icarth.
Emmia laughed too, sometimes she felt that her brother needed to be taught a lesson. And in times like this, she enjoyed seeing his dead face when he had fallen for the prank.
Sefir chuckled to join in on the infectious laughter.
And Luna...just continued to eat her food, her chewing preventing people from observing her facial expression.
Finally finishing her round of laughter, Emmia complimented Nikita, "That was a good one. I needed that after what he did to us today."
"Ooh~ That sounds interesting. Spill the beans." Nikita asked excitedly.
Icarth stood up and started to leave to go change his shirt.
"You're leaving?" Sefir asked, still smiling a little.
"Yes," Icarth answered with his eyes twitching at watching his roommate try to contain his laughter.
Walking off with what little dignity he had left, Icarth failed to account that he had shown his back to the group. His blue uniform painted with a brown stain elicited another round of laughter from the group.
Cleaning Icarth's chair with a napkin, Nikita sat down to listen to the regular shenanigans of the group.
Icarth reached his dorm after a ten-minute walk where he duly ignored all stares and comments that were passed around at the sight of him.
In his room, Icarth removed his shirt and decided to take a bath to remove the stickiness all over his back.
Throwing his shirt into a pile of dirty clothes, Icarth stepped in front of the bathroom mirror. Scars riddled his body. Red skin marked his shallow wounds, and black marks made up the rest of the wounds on his body. The highlight was a purple line running from his left shoulder to his hip.
Staring into the mirror, Icarth saw a young man with pale red eyes and blond hair gazing back at him. His eyes seemed to carry a pain that no high schooler should have to. Blond hair hung, from his head without grooming giving him a wild look.
Gripping the sink, Icarth muttered to the young man in the mirror, "Get stronger. Use any means necessary to survive and then win."