Raza wasn't as productive during his weekend as he would have liked to. Whenever he wasn't training with Raymond, he was spoiling his little sisters. He also helped his mother around the house. Raza was really particular about cleaning, so he cleaned the hard-to-reach places. He hated a dirty environment.
Before he knew it, it was Monday again. The painful reality of having to go back to the academy settled in… not like he was going to attend his classes anyway. Leora came to the Angovo household the night before, and then the two students met up with Drifa on the way there.
"Raza, it's not like you live close to the academy. Do you really plan to go home every weekend?" Leora wasn't enjoying their walk.
"Yes," Raza plainly said. "The academy is boring."
"Maybe if you actually took the time to be involved in different activities and classes, you would enjoy it," Leora sighed.
"I refuse."
Drifa giggled at their interaction. Leora and Raza argued back and forth about him staying on campus. Raza also stopped by a few shops to buy a few parts and small mechanics.
"What are those for?" Drifa asked.
"It's for the next gun I'm making. This model is called an assault rifle, and it should be able to shoot bullets in rapid session," Raza sounded proud of himself.
Drifa on the other hand shivered. She looked at Raza with wide eyes and a worried look.
"Why do you need another weapon of mass destruction?"
Leora never saw the destructive power of a gun, so she didn't understand the reason behind Drifa's concern. She was just excited to see what this assault rifle was. The trio continued their walk to school. When they arrived, they met a familiar face at the entrance.
"Ah! It's Raza! Excuse me, ladies," Alphonse tried to move past the group of women that was around him.
"Aahhh! I wanted to talk to him longer!"
"Why bother with that mean-looking guy? We can have much more fun!"
"I didn't even get to talk to him."
All of the girls pouted when they saw that his attention was elsewhere. Some of them gave up and left, but the others stayed to see how Alphonse's interaction with Raza would go. They were just as curious as they were jealous.
Leora moved behind Raza and grabbed his sleeve. She closed her eyes as she mumbled under her breath.
"My heart belongs to Raza. My heart belongs to Raza. My heart belongs to Raza!" She repeatedly said.
Drifa didn't know what was going on, but she didn't want Raza to become friends with Alphonse. She thought that they would get along better than she and Raza did because Alphonse was a guy.
"Hey there, Raza!" He waved.
"What do you want? If you want a rematch, I'm not interested," Raza sighed.
Alphonse laughed. The female students were mad at Raza for his blunt response to Alphonse's greeting. Raza's reputation was dropping at the MAP Academy.
"You're just as straightforward as you were last week! I just wanted to extend an invitation to you," He handed Raza a flyer.
Raza took it and read it. It explained the details of a Contest of Might. At first, he thought it was a tournament, but he realized that it was something else. The chance to fight the strongest student at the academy. Raza looked up.
"When we fought, we were handicapped. At the end of this month, there will be a Contest of Might where any student can come and challenge me. Heck, some teachers and civilians might try to challenge me too! Every person that wins has the chance to make a request to the Headmaster," Alphonse explained.
"A chance? That implies that not all requests would be fulfilled," Raza raised his eyebrow.
"Yup! If it's not within Sis's abilities or she simply deems it not worth the effort, she will decline the request. Not like many people get this chance anyways," Alphonse smiled.
"That seems like a waste of effort," Drifa spoke up. "Why bother putting in all of the effort just to be turned down in the end?"
"It's because people want hope. They need it," Raza smirked. "Then again, I would love to simply publicly humiliate you."
Leora and Drifa saw a side of Raza that they had never seen before. Something about his tone told him that he was secretly a competitive character. Even though he just expressed his disinterest in having a rematch, this offer was too good to pass up.
"I'll be there," Raza folded the flyer and put it into his pocket.
"I look forward to it. I didn't want the contest to be boring and mundane," Alphonse's smile went cold. "After all, I still need to pay you back for earlier.
"That implies that I also wasn't holding back," Raza returned the smile.
The two of them stared each other down as their auras made the mood heavy. The girls around them didn't understand what was going on. Alphonse usually had a sweet and gentle smile, but the expression that he had now was something completely different. It was like a predator looking at his prey.
'There it is again. The dead look in his eyes and the maniac smile. I knew it from when we fought the last time. Alphonse is a stone-cold killer, and that fake ass smile he does was just a front. It reminds me of the murderers I knew from my past life,' Raza thought to himself.
He felt the familiarity from the man before him again. This only raised Raza's suspicions, but the bell rang, bringing the two men out of their trance. Alphonse's eyes brightened, and his smile became more gentle.
"I guess that's the bell! See you later, Raza!" He waved as he ran to class.
Raza took a deep breath before sighing. His fists were shaking in anticipation, but he had to calm down… for now. He looked to Leora and Drifa.
"Let's go to class."
"What!? You're going to class?" Leora was surprised.
"Yeah. I need to know when our tests will be so I know when to show up," Raza explained.
Drifa wasn't as sporadic as Leora. She was still stuck on the interaction Alphonse and Raza had.
"Raza, what was that? Between you and Alphonse," She asked.
"It was a challenge. One that carried more weight than a friendly match," Raza turned around to walk to class without saying any more.
Drifa wanted to ask more questions, but she knew Raza would no longer answer. She only shook her head before following Raza.
Drifa split off from Leora and Raza. Leora planned on staying for all six years, but she chose to study Adventuring with Raza so that they would have the same class. Raza met his classmates and teachers for the first time, and he wasn't impressed. To him, they were all idiots. Once he learned the dates of the tests, he planned not to return any earlier than he had to.
Drifa's day was pretty boring. She just wanted to hang out with her friends, but she also knew how important it was to study and do her homework. After her classes, she went straight to her room. Since she lived on the top floor, she left her window open. It was convenient giving her father's form of communication. When she walked into her room, she saw a black crow sitting on her table.
"Hello, Crowy," She softly said as she petted the bird.
Caw!
Crowy seemed to enjoy her touch. Drifa took the leather pouch from the crow's leg. Once she did that, the bird flew out the window. This action told her that her father was not expecting a response back. She opened the pouch and read the letter.
"I have a mission for your friend."
That was all that was on there, but she knew exactly what it meant. She sighed to herself. She wasn't expecting her father to move this quickly, but she also knew that she shouldn't prolong relaying the message. She quickly disposed of all the evidence and rushed to Raza's room.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
Raza was in his workshop when he heard the knocking. He was just finishing up his first prototype of the assault rifle. He was proud of his work, and he planned to go test it out in a secluded area. He sighed as he got up to open the door. Raza was slightly surprised to see that it was Drifa.
"Hello," Raza said.
"Ah… Hello. My father said he had a job for you," Drifa told him.
Raza thought about it. He figured Alfred would move quickly, but this was his first day back. Raza concluded that there must have been a reason why Alfred decided to move to advance the plan at such a quick rate. He nodded his head.
"Very well. I will make my way to your house," Raza agreed.
"I'll come to," She eagerly said.
"Very well."
Raza went back to his workshop and grabbed his assault rifle. He checked over the mechanics once more before putting it into his inventory. He smiled.
"I hope I will be able to test out my new weapon."