Checking his holophone, it was an incoming call from Sherry. Sherry was a very good friend, he known her since 7th grade. She would always call him when she was feeling down, and somehow her innocence managed to gain a special place in Flynn's heart. Although their relationship had its ups and downs, Sherry always came back to him. She was a couple months older than Flynn, but somehow she never managed to get rid of her childlike heart. She was also a music mage. Music magic was a support type of magic, mages could influence allies or enemies with special tunes, causing discord amongst enemies or buffing allies. Music mages were much more emotional than normal people, since their tunes heavily influenced emotions. Although not as talented, her hard work and discipline allowed her to become quite a decent mage.
Accepting her call, Flynn couldn't hear anything. "Hello?" he asked, thinking that the holophone was somehow muted. He could hear a faint sobbing, and suddenly Sherry burst out crying. "Calm down, what's the matter?" Flynn asked. If his friends at school saw him treat someone so attentively, they would definitely think that Flynn had gone mad. Sherry began to talk while simultaneously breaking down, Flynn couldn't understand a single word. "Take a deep breath," Flynn said, trying to comfort the crying girl. Listening to Flynn and taking a couple deep breaths, Sherry finally managed to calm down. "I don't want to practice the guitar anymore," she said, as she bursted into tears again. Although Flynn had known her for so long, he was always dumbfounded for Sherry's reasons for her tearing up. Sighing in his heart, he asked, "What happened?"
"My mom... wants me... to attend a class after school," she said between sobs. "Is there a problem with that?" Flynn thought, but he did not dare to say it out loud. "You don't want to?" he asked in a soft voice. "I can learn it on my own, I don't want to waste three hours on a class that I don't enjoy," Sherry said. After a couple rounds of Flynn comforting Sherry and then her bursting into tears once again, Sherry was finally convinced by Flynn that everything will be just fine. "Want to hear me sing?" Sherry asked. "You'll start to sing no matter what my answer is," Flynn replied. "Yep, you don't have a choice, you have to hear me sing," Sherry replied, the sobbing lady completely vanished, switching up into a little girl who wanted Flynn to listen to her singing.
Sherry began to sing. Although she was not as good as the famous singers, she still hit every note perfectly. Flynn could feel his mana circulate body wit ease, the relaxing feeling spreading through his body. The relaxing feeling paired with the fatigue accumulated from the long day, Flynn instantly dozed off, snoring loudly. Sherry was definitely not a fan of Flynn falling asleep in the middle of her performance, she stopped singing. She begin to scold Flynn, trying to wake him up with empty threats.
Everything was dark, with a crowd slowly gathering around him. He could see their faces, but they were somehow so clear but simultaneously so blurry. "Where am I?" Flynn thought. More people began to appear from the darkness, giving Flynn an sense of uneasiness. He felt someone tap his shoulder, he instantly turned around in an alarming state. "You mages are the parasites of the century, treating us Earthlings like we're an inferior being! You exploit us, causing us to lose our homes and jobs," the man who tapped him said. Slowly, every person began to repeat the same words, the exact phrase that haunted Flynn all night. The phrase echoed through his mind, ricocheting off his head. "Shut up!" he screamed hysterically, as he fell on his knees. His breathing sped up, so did his heartbeat. He trembled, trying to escape from the viscous bog that he created in his own mind.
Convincing himself that this is just a nightmare, Flynn got back up on his feet. "You bastards, I've already put so much effort into helping every one of you! Why do you always want to cause conflict," Flynn shouted at the masses that were slowly approaching him with blank expressions. They slowly grabbed Flynn, as they began to pile up on him. At first, Flynn was able to fight back by relying on his enhanced strength, but slowly the throng of marching Earthlings managed to overpower him. They kept chanting the same phrase over and over again, slowly breaking Flynn's sanity. "Shut up!" Flynn yelled, as he woke up drenched in cold sweat. He was going to wipe the sweat off his forehead, but he a sound interrupted him.
"You told me to shut up?" a voice came from his holophone. "Oh God," thought Flynn, as his blood ran cold. "You told me to shut up," Sherry said once again, this time with a hint of sobbing. "No, I didn't mean it, I was just woken up by a nightmare," Flynn explained. "You fell asleep when I was singing?" Sherry asked. "A trick question," thought Flynn, not knowing how to answer. "That's not possible, I wouldn't dare fall asleep while you are singing," Flynn replied. "So you lied to me, you really told me to shut up," Sherry said, as she began to cry again. Cursing in his heart, Flynn spent another thirty minutes trying to comfort the crybaby. Finally, after an hour or so of some chatting, Flynn could hear Sherry's faint breathing as she fell asleep.
Taking a sigh of relief, Flynn checked the time. "It's already three in the morning!" he exclaimed. When chatting with Sherry, time always magically disappears. He needed to get up at six if he wanted to have any chance of getting a decent breakfast. Deciding to risk it, he sent a message to his mother's holophone. [Can you prepare breakfast tomorrow? I might oversleep tomorrow.] Yen was already asleep, but Flynn knew that she would check her messages first thing in the morning. Dragging his body over to the bathroom, he stared into the mirror. His eyes were red and inflamed, his hair messier than usual. He looked like a zombie who crawled out straight from the fiction books. Closing his bloodshot eyes, Flynn slowly drifted off, simultaneously praying for a normal breakfast.
With birds chirping, Flynn was woken up by his vibrating holophone on his wrist. Turning off the alarm, Flynn caught a whiff of a buttery smell. "Pancakes," thought Flynn, as his expectations began to rise. He never knew that his mother knew how to cook pancakes. He bounced down the flight of stairs with light steps after he finished brushing his teeth and washing his face. But when he saw the large stack of pancakes, he froze. The pancakes weren't drizzled with maple syrup nor whipped cream, it was ketchup. "Mom, you know that ketchup isn't exactly for pancakes, right?" Flynn asked, double checking that he didn't mistake perhaps some kind of strawberry sauce for ketchup. "But isn't ketchup sweet and sour? I think that would pair well with pancakes?" Yen replied, completely unaware of how absurd the words coming out of her mouth were. "Go on, try one bite," his mother said, pushing for Flynn to taste her creation. Looking at his mother's gleaming eyes, he knew that refusing to take a simple bite would hurt Yen's feelings. Controlling himself not to throw up, he forced himself to swallow a bite of the pancake. It was awful, even worse than Flynn originally thought.
"Mom, did you put sugar inside the pancake?" Flynn asked, confused. "Of course I did, I know you a have a sweet tooth, so I put in a lot of extra sugar," Yen replied, somehow quite proud of her "masterpiece". Pointing to a can of white crystals, Flynn said, "You added that if I am guessing correctly." "Yep, that is sugar, isn't it?" Yen replied. "MSG," said Flynn, sighing. "What's that? A new type of sugar?" "Monosodium Glutamate, a type of seasoning that adds umami and saltiness, not really the ideal seasoning for pancakes," replied Flynn, perplexed. "Thanks for the breakfast, but I'm actually quite full now," Flynn said, as he headed to school. "I'll buy breakfast from the school's cafeteria," thought Flynn, since their was no way he was taking another bite of the abomination that her mom created.
Flynn entered the classroom a little bit later than usual, holding a piece of chocolate toast he bought from the cafeteria. "Are you Ok?" Josh, who's seat was next to Flynn asked. "I'm barely alive, but I'm still alive. I guess I'm Ok," said Flynn, checking his pulse. He had dark circles underneath his eyes, and the pancakes seemed to have somehow aged him. "You should rest," Josh said, as he tried to help Flynn by transmitting some of his mana. Josh also wanted to become a healing mage, the path he chose being more like a life mage. Who is someone who could convert mana into stamina, washing away someone's fatigue. Flynn felt much better after Josh's help.