Alves College Front Entrance.
Among the students entering the campus area, three guys walked side by side. Those three happened to be Austin's roommates, heading back after just buying breakfast.
"Hey, do you think Austin will show up?" Lester, a young man with a round face and three layers of fat under his chin, spoke with a meaningful expression. His bulging belly gave him the appearance of being five or six months pregnant.
"Didn't he mourn last night over the fact that today is Professor Smith's lecture? If he doesn't want to end up like one of our seniors kowtowing for Professor Smith's forgiveness for skipping his lectures, he should be on his way by now," replied Harry, a relatively tall man with broad shoulders and sharp features.
"I get that, but isn't the first time supposed to be painful? Can he even get out of bed in his state?" Lester mused with a serious expression.
Harry, initially puzzled by Lester's words, soon connected the dots and responded with an expression teetering between a laugh and a sigh. "You're still assuming Austin is gay? If he hears you, you might get beaten, you know."
"So what? He's not here, right?" Lester snorted.
Honk!
Honk!
Suddenly, a few loud honks echoed right beside him. When he looked in the direction, he saw an elegant, black Range Rover. The windows were tinted black, concealing the occupants inside.
"What's this jerk honking for?! There's still plenty of road available for him. Does he want to drive over the pedestrian road?!" Lester cursed, annoyed.
Miguel, who had been on his phone for a while, eventually lifted his head, attracted by the commotion, and scrutinized the car. In a hint of surprise, he said, "This is a Range Rover SV. My father owned one but forbade me from driving it again after I accidentally crashed it against an electric pole. It's a pretty luxury car, considering how much my father cared for it. I wonder who the driver is. If he's a millionaire, perhaps I might recognize them."
Miguel was a man of tall stature but with a lean build, sporting fashionably styled golden-dyed hair. Coupled with his handsome face, he looked no less than a prince depicted in the fairy tale.
The car owner continued to honk again. This time, even Miguel became annoyed.
"Who's this arrogant person?"
"This bitch! Let me talk to this guy. Does he think being rich gives him the right to do whatever he wants and harass us, the poor ones?" Lester fumed and took strides closer toward the car.
Before he had a chance to knock on the driver's window, the passenger door suddenly opened. A man exited the car, looked over at Lester, and said with a smile, "Yo, fatty!"
The man then rubbed his nose embarrassedly. "Fatty, I didn't know you were so concerned about me that you even went this far in welcoming me." He paused, looked at the wrapped burritos in Lester's hand, and naturally took one. "You even brought me breakfast. Thank you, fatty!"
Austin devoured the burritos in just a matter of seconds. All the while, Lester still hadn't recovered from his shock.
"Fatty, next time if you bring me breakfast, please also bring water too. Now, my throat is so dry." Austin complained and walked over to his other two roommates, who were pretty much in the same state as Lester.
He said to Harry, "What do you think of my car?"
"Your car?" Harry finally regained his senses and looked at Austin with widened eyes.
Fuck!
Wasn't this guy's skin tanned last night? Why has it become so pale now? It even looks fairer and smoother. Is Austin shedding his skin like a snake, and last night was his ecdysis period?!
"Well, it's technically my uncle's car, so it can be considered to be mi—" he was about to show off the car again when the vehicle suddenly drove away, leaving him behind in the dust.
He quickly coughed.
Looks like she understands my intention. And with that, the plan to commit one of the seven sins, the sin of envy, failed.
Austin let out a sigh.
Well, even if Alysia decided to help him by playing along with his act, he doubted if his plan would work. After all, the three people he wanted to show off to were kinda hard to impress.
Take Miguel, for example. He's the son of a conglomerate and never had trouble running out of money. So, showing off some fancy cars might not have much of an impact.
Harry, on the other hand, always remained focused on his studies. It's likely he won't display many emotions other than shock and admiration.
As for Lester, he would be more envious if someone had a girlfriend rather than owning luxury cars. That's the type of person he was.
...
It took Austin a few minutes to explain his entire situation to his roommates, especially the matter of the car and the abrupt change in his skin color. Fortunately, they believed the lie he had prepared, or more accurately, they just chose to believe his lies because the whole matter just too unbelievable.
Afterward, he returned to his dorm, tapped into a refreshing shower, dressed up, and finally headed to his class.
He was a bit absentminded as he had a lot of things to think about when suddenly a basketball flew toward his head.
It was so sudden and swift that anyone in his position would undoubtedly have been hit.
However, Austin, whose physique had grown stronger over time, found it quite easy to dodge the incoming ball.
It was as if he had just gained an Ultra Instinct. He deftly evaded the ball with just a tilt of his head.
Whoosh
The ball whizzed past him and ended up hitting another guy.
"Ah! Shit! Which moron plays basketball this poorly?!" cried out a man with thick eyebrows after getting smacked in the face.
"It's me," a dazzling blonde man with toned muscles declared as he appeared on the scene.
The man with thick eyebrows was about to scold him but paused midway after realizing who the man was. "You fu—. Eh? So it's you, William!"
"I heard you've got an issue with my play?" William remarked haughtily, his arrogance on full display.
"No, no problem!" the guy with the thick eyebrows shook his head vigorously. "Actually, you did me a favor. I was still half-asleep from getting up so early. Your ball smack really jolted me awake."
"So, what do you say when someone helps you out?" William inquired.
"Thanks...?" the man with thick eyebrows managed a forced smile while his hands instinctively reached to soothe his throbbing cheek.
"Hand me over the ball," William ordered.
But before the man with thick eyebrows could comply, Austin swooped in, grabbing the ball. "You should go; I'll take it from here."
The man with thick eyebrows looked like he might cry tears of gratitude and hastily bowed before making a quick exit.
William's expression darkened as he watched the man flee as if he'd seen a ghost. He then turned to Austin and became slightly surprised.
"Did you just undergo skin surgery?"
Mouth twitching, Austin was about to retort when William continued wearing an ominous grin. "Nevermind, this skin suits your fragile personality better. Anyway, why are you interfering with my catch like that?"
"Your catch? Come on, William, when are you going to grow up?" Austin laughed mockingly.
"I might not grow, but your little sister sure does. I wonder how she looks now. The last time I saw her, I was instantly captivated by her huge breast and plumpy ass. She always presented herself in modest clothes. I never imagined she would possess such a sultry figure. Clearly, she conceals her assets skillfully." He licked his lips suggestively.
"She might be the type who seems shy on the outside but is wild in bed. I wonder what she would taste like." He glanced over at Austin, eager to gauge his reaction.
However, what he witnessed left him in disbelief as his eyes widened almost comically.
Austin suddenly exhibited inhuman agility, soaring nearly three meters into the air. With a swift and powerful motion, he then slapped the basketball as if it were a volleyball.
The ball, now visibly distorted from the powerful impact, seemed on the verge of bursting at the seams. It hurtled toward William with an alarming speed, the air around it buzzing with kinetic energy.
The scene unfolded in a split second, with William barely having time to react as the stretched ball closed the distance in a flash.
Swish~
Bang!
The basketball whizzed perilously close to William's ears, its trajectory so tight it seemed to graze his skin, before landing on the ground with a loud bang.
The impact was so powerful that the ball, now resembling an overinflated balloon, exploded into fragments, the rubbery remnants scattering in all directions like confetti.
"The only reason that ball missed is because I don't want to become a criminal. The next time you dare to insult my sister, it won't be a ball flying, but your head!" Austin growled, his dark eyes gleaming.
William finally regained his senses and burst into laughter like a maniac. The commotion they caused had now attracted some attention, and a few students began to gather around them.
"Hahaha! Austin, do you take me for a fool? How could a basketball just explode like that? There's surely some trick you pulled off there. But I must admit, you did manage to surprise me for a moment." William smirked as he quickly assessed Austin's palms and shoes.
'Surely, his jumping trick involves those shoes. But what about the ball? His palms were bare, so if it's not from his side, then...' William thought to himself as he turned to his lackeys. "Hey, who brought the ball earlier?"
"It's me," one of William's lackeys raised his hand.
William gestured for him to come closer, then slapped his palm hard onto the man's head.
"Are you stupid?! How can you mistake such a frail ball for a basketball? No wonder I felt my performance today was just so-so; the ball wasn't even genuine. Bring me another one," William scolded.
"Yes, boss," the lackey answered respectfully. He refrained from rubbing the spot he got slapped on in front of his boss, fearing further reprimand.
"Your skills have always been abysmal. The sole reason you wormed your way onto the basketball team was through your connections. How shameless can you be to shift the blame onto the ball? You're undeniably the most shameless and delusional person I've ever met," Austin spat.
The grudge between him and William had been brewing for a few years. Their paths initially never crossed. Austin was the type of guy who rarely hung out, was more focused on his studies, and enjoyed playing video games for entertainment. Most of his time after school was spent at home.
On the other hand, William lived the typical rich kid's life, hanging out with different people every day at school and frequenting nightclubs. Austin learned about this through classmates who followed the school gossip.
Their paths collided when one day, Austin's little sister decided to pick him up from school. William, attempting to flirt with her, sparked the beginning of their ill-fated relationship, a feud that persisted even after they found themselves in a different city.
"What did you just say?" William seethed. How dare this guy question his capability? He turned to the other members of his team, only to find them avoiding eye contact with him.
'Damn! These guys are truly unreliable! They dare to side with an outsider like Austin?!'
"See, even they unconditionally agreed with my statement," Austin pointed out with a laugh.
William gritted his teeth and continued to glare at Austin. "Since you claim my skill is poor, why don't we have a match to prove whether it's my skill or yours that's lacking?"
"Why are you offering a challenge to me? I'm not even part of the basketball team. Surely you're not that dumb to think you achieve anything by either winning or losing against me, right? If you can't even handle criticism, then you better quit the team," Austin clamored.
'Darn it! Darn it! I have to admit that he's actually right. What will I achieve if I win the match? People will say it's natural because I'm part of the basketball team while he's not. They might even think I'm the petty one for being unable to endure criticism.'
"Well, on second thought, I think I will accept your challenge, just not in a basketball match." Austin suddenly said.
William quickly snapped back to reality and mocked, "Don't tell me you want to have a match in video games? I know you're a nerd."
"Marathon."
"Huh?"
"Let's have a match in a marathon," Austin smiled.