Following Stare's instructions, the hovering car soon pulled up in front of his apartment building. They took the elevator to his floor, where both Stare and the frail man stood outside his apartment door.
Stare paused, clutching the handle, and turned to the frail man. "You mentioned having powerful friends right? Can they ensure my admission to Phoenix Hero Academy?"
The frail man was momentarily taken aback by the sudden question. He smiled, though, and said, "That's quite sudden, especially for someone who was initially hesitant about joining any Hero Academy. Let's talk to your parents first."
Stare nodded and pushed the door open after inputting the code.
Seated in the living room were his parents, Doush, and his younger sister who for some reason had a pout on her face the moment she saw him.
As Stare's worried parents saw him, their expressions shifted from concern to something unexpected. He was already expecting them to attack him with a barrage of questions, unfortunately, he had never expected what would happen next.
His mother stepped forward, her relieved look masking underlying anger. "Stare Richardson Johnson, you have a lot of explaining to do, boy."
'She called me by my full name…she's definitely angry.'
Staring at his mother's relieved expression slowly warping into one of anger, Stare suddenly felt his entire body shudder from fear.
'But weren't they supposed to ask how he had suddenly disappeared first, before hurrying to anger? It was almost as though they knew where he was from the beginning…wait.'
Stare immediately looked toward his friend, who for some reason was trying to avoid eye contact with him.
Doush feeling his friend's gaze still fixed on him, eventually relents and stares at him with an apologetic smile.
"I tried to keep shut, but you were strangely taking a whole lot of time to come back. I was worried you might have run into actual trouble so I came clean and told your parents everything so we could go ensure you were alright."
Stare really had the urge to facepalm, but then again he couldn't really blame his friend, the whole robbery and forcefully drinking liquid Algos scenery had taken a whole lot of his time, so it was normal his friend got worried.
He stared at his father and noticed him looking the other way, most likely angry with him as well and not intending to help him out on the scolding his mother was about to give…even Aila was looking the other way with his dad, on her face was still a pout.
With an exhausted sigh, Stare decided to accept his fate. He stared at his mother, whose furious gaze seemed to bore holes in every part of his body.
"We're all still awaiting your explanation boy, 'cause then I can decide on what level of spanking you'd be getting."
Stare opened his mouth as though he was about to say something. Although he wasn't aware of what to say, at least saying something was better than saying nothing right?
Just when his last-minute constructed gibberish was about to leave his mouth, the frail man who had been observing the whole scene from behind suddenly came up to his front.
His signature smile still on his face, he faced Stare's mum.
"Ehmm, who are you please?" Stare's mum asked, obviously confused by the sudden appearance of the man.
Even Stare's father and Aila who had since kept their face turned away from Stare, looked at the man with curiosity, also evidently confused by his sudden appearance.
It seemed they had been so focused on scolding their son, that they didn't even notice someone walk into the house with him.
The man's smile just grew further, as he fished out a virtual I.D card from the watch on his hand.
"Just A Guy…Vice Rector of the prestigious Phoenix Hero Academy."
"What!"
Doush was the first to react as he suddenly jumped toward the man, scanning the virtual ID Card which was still hovering over the watch.
"He's…he's actually the Vice-Rector."
Although it seemed like Doush was the only one having this exaggerated reaction to the revelation, even Stare's parents had their mouths slightly opened from shock as well.
This was after all the most prestigious Hero Institution in the whole of New Earth, a place where most of the world's best heroes originated from. Imagine the amount of connections and power the Rector and Vice-Rector would have.
It wouldn't be too wrong to say their power might be the closest to that of the president of New Earth. So having such a figure suddenly visit them at their home was quite unexpected.
While everyone was shocked by the position this man had, Stare seemed to be interested in something else.
'His name is actually Just A Guy and he dares calls my name odd.' Stare scoffed at the thought and then stared at the man who was still standing in front of him.
Stare asked, "So, enrolling me in Phoenix Hero Academy was the plan from the beginning?"
Just A Guy chuckled and confirmed, "You could see it as a form of scouting."
"As expected," Stare replied casually, further intriguing the Vice-Rector.
He stared at the boy for a while but seeing he had no plans of speaking further he turned his attention back to his parents still looking up to him in awe.
"Well Mrs. Johnson, Mr. Johnson, I'm sure you might be wondering what I might be doing here, especially with your son."
"…Well you could say I bring some kind of good tidings. I am here to inform you of your son's admission into The Phoenix Hero Academy."
"Phoenix Hero Academy?" Both Stare's parents, Aila and Doush, all asked simultaneously in surprise.
Shaking his head, Stare's father was the first to shake off the odd expression he had on his face.
"What we meant was…aren't Primes the only ones accepted into Hero Academies, cause I'm sure Stare here had just missed the Public Testing."
Just A Guy chuckled a little.
"Well you could say he missed the Public Testing but the Testing still found him regardless.
"Stare's a Prime?" Stare's parents, Aila and Doush asked again in shock.
Seeing the man slightly nod, each of them had different emotions ranging from pride, happiness and slight doubt, extreme happiness, and happiness with slight envy.