"Elmas?" Ramon was surprised, he recognized him.
The long black hair flowing down his shoulders and covering part of his face could not be mistaken, the abundant astral energy was also synonymous with only one person in his batch, Elmas Elden.
Elmas stared at his classmate with bloodshot eyes on hearing his name.
"So dirty!" He growled.
"So dirty!"
Elmas rubbed his face with his bloodied hands, with a look in his eyes like he was contemplating scratching his face out in frustration.
Seeing his classmate's condition, including his bloodied broken nails with which he still scratched at the wall, also hearing his repetitive phrases, Ramon felt concerned as he walked closer to him.
"Calm down, what's happening?"
Perhaps, seeing Ramon from afar, Elmas could not tell that he was a human as he growled initially on his approach but immediately after Ramon came closer, he seemed to calm down.
Calming down, he scurried to a corner close to his closed door as if in fear of the world as he ranted.
"So dirty".
"How dare they leave me outside?"
"How dare they lock the door and not leave a spare key for me?"
"Outside is dirty!"
"Outside is full of germs.
"I need to bath"
"I need to bath!"
"I've already passed my outside cultivation time; I need to be indoors".
"The germs, they're coming!"
"…" Ramon was confused.
At first, he thought Elmas probably had a mental problem but seeing him, he didn't look crazy, he only looked scared and traumatized.
Ramon was shocked. 'The Almighty Elmas, scared?!' He almost could not come to terms with it but evidence was before him.
Elmas was a favorite among the girls of the freshers this year.
He almost never talked to anyone, not even his roommates. He almost never smiled either, which improved his charisma and cool cold personality even more.
And not just that, he was the best student of the machete department.
Another green flag was that he was widely known as a neat freak.
His long black hair accentuated his beauty even more despite the fact that no one had ever seen the right side of his face, it increased his mystery even more.
But this night, probably due to his condition, Elmas no longer paid much attention to keep the position of his hair. For the first time since knowing this classmate of his, Ramon saw the right side of his face and he was shocked.
'Elmas is blind?'
This student's right eye was covered by a black eyepatch.
Ramon took a step closer and Elmas reacted, scurrying into the corner even more as he stared at his classmate. "So dirty!"
"I'm dirty?" Ramon scratched his head. "Hmmm, I didn't know".
Without saying another word, Ramon looked around and accessed the nearby water tap. Opening it, he drenched his body with water then thinking of something, he looked at Elmas.
"Are you dirty too?"
Elmas nodded. "So dirty! I hate germs!"
Whoosh!
Elmas was shocked.
He almost didn't finish replying when Ramon drenched him with water. With a grin, this classmate of his came back. "Hehe, you feel better now?"
Elmas was silent for a few seconds before reacting. "Y-yes," he stammered.
Ramon still had cultivation at the back of his mind, he wanted to increase his realm as quickly as possible but for some reason, he could not bring himself to leave this supposedly arrogant classmate of his.
His mother's voice played in his head.
'Ramon, you're a strong boy'.
'Never use your power to do bad, always do good'.
'The world is connected by the strings of fate'.
'Karma is real'.
'If you do good, you shall see good, it always comes around'.
'Never forget this, what goes around comes around'.
Ramon no longer hesitated, he sat beside Elmas and looked into his single shiny purple eyeballs. "Are you ok?"
Elmas looked down. "Outside is so dirty; I hate dirty place".
Ramon laughed. "If outside is dirty, why are you outside?"
Elmas did not answer, instead he bit his lips, as if hesitating to make a decision, then he suddenly looked up at Ramon. "Do you think I'm a freak?"
Ramon rubbed his chin. "You? A freak?"
"Hahaha," Ramon burst out laughing.
"…" Elmas was stunned.
Ramon stared at him. "It's because people call you a freak right?"
"People call me freak too; they call me a sword freak".
"My elder brothers once tried to beat me up because to them I'm a sword freak. They couldn't though, I escaped". Ramon grinned mischievously with pride.
"Huh?" Elmas was stunned as he looked up at this boy. "You don't think I'm a freak?"
Ramon shook his head. "What I think doesn't matter, it's what you think that matters, I don't care about the opinion of others".
Ramon suddenly brought his head closer to Elmas' ear, startling him as he whispered. "I want to tell you a secret of mine that no one else knows".
"Huh?" Elmas' eyes widened.
"Actually, I want to become an astral traveler in the future".
"The future King of astral travelers".
"…!" Elmas was shocked.
Seeing his reaction, Ramon chuckled. "Promise to keep my secret".
Silence.
"Promise me!"
"Ah!" Elmas was startled, then he smiled for the first time in a long time. "I promise".
"Good". Ramon rest his back against the cold stone wall and looked up at the night sky, admiring the moon and the stars without saying a world.
For some reason, Elmas suddenly felt at peace.
He no longer felt frustrated, he smiled. "Thank you," He muttered.
"Huh?" Ramon looked at him.
"Nothing".
"Ok".
Elmas chuckled, then he whispered to Ramon. "Since you told me your secret, let me also tell you my secret".
"I have a disorder".
Elmas looked keenly at Ramon's eyes to see his reaction.
The boy's face didn't change though, Ramon looked at him. "Huh? A disorder? What's…"
"Shhh! Lower your voice".
"Oh, yes," Ramon looked around suspiciously as if looking for a spy, then he whispered. "A disorder? What's that?"
Elmas laughed. "It's something that's not normal".
"Oh!"
"I once met a wandering Doctor when I was 7, he met me on a night like this when it was coming up again, he identified the disorder".
"He told me its name".
Elmas looked at Ramon. "It's called obsessive-compulsive disorder".
Smoke filled Ramon's head. "???"
Elmas chuckled. "For short, it's OCD".
"I hate and fear dirt and contamination, it makes me sick. I also feel frustrated when things don't go my way, this is when aggressive and horrific thoughts of losing control and harming myself and others come".
Elmas looked at Ramon. "Can I trust you?"
"Of course," Ramon replied in a matter-of-fact manner.
"I once killed someone due to it, a man, he tried to harass me". Elmas hugged his knees but looked back up on noticing Ramon shaking.
Looking up, he saw rage on this boy's face as he shook in anger for something that was not related to him. "How dare he?!"
"He deserves to die!"
"Shhh!" Elmas grabbed Ramon's mouth.
"Oh!" Ramon calmed down, then he whispered. "But he deserves it".
Elmas chuckled. "You're so funny".
He looked at the sky. "By the way, what's your name? I'm Elmas".
"You don't know me?" Ramon was shocked. "You're truly a hermit like they say". He laughed. "My name is Ramon".
"Nice to meet you Ramon".
"So, why are you outside?" Ramon asked again.
Elmas looked at Ramon, finally noting the anomaly. "Why are you here? Today is the freshers welcome party, you didn't join them?"
"Welcome party?" Ramon was stunned.
"No wonder no one is at home!" He slapped his head in realization.
Without asking each other, they knew the reason why they didn't go. To them, it was a waste of time, they wanted to get stronger faster.
They were speaking for the first time today but both boys resonated with each other, they felt like they could become friends.
Without saying a word, they just watched the stars together.
When it was past 12, Elmas finally stood up. "I need to cultivate".
"Me too". Ramon grinned and stood up, then in one quick draw of his sword, he cut the padlock to the door open. "See? Done, easy". He grinned.
Elmas' eyes widened. "Why did I not think of that?"
Ramon laughed. "See you later!"
Finally, he rushed to his room to cultivate.
As he left, Elmas looked at the disappearing figure of the boy who managed to calm him down. "What a strange boy".
…
The next morning, the effects of the freshers welcome party that was a blast wore on to now as most students were unable to attend the morning class.
Like usual, Ramon went on with his day but something was different.
"Hey Elmas!" He greeted on seeing him.
"Hey". Elmas replied coldly before leaving.
"Huh?" Ramon felt wronged, he tried to confront Elmas who only replied coldly. Angrily, Ramon went about his business.
It was like yesternight didn't happen at all.
Obsessed with his determination to get stronger, as the days passed which slowly morphed into weeks then months, Ramon soon forgot about Ramon as the semester slowly came to an end.
Towards the end of the year, the semester finally came to an end.
Finally, the 2nd semester exam was here.
The promotion exam for this freshers batch was an inter-weapon department duel.
With this format, half of the freshers were guaranteed to pass, and half were doomed to fail and repeat their first year in Centerpoint Astral Academy.