Space Knowledge had been an incredibly long class, lasting for almost two hours, there had been a lot to be covered in it and a lot to learn.
After two hours of racking the gears within their brains, many students had been exhausted mentally and needed a well-deserved break.
Hence why the students had an hour's break to rest or eat to regain their energy.
"This way, come on!"
Cole, as usual, tried to be the leader of their little group.
"Stop dragging us around everywhere man, we get it. We're coming. We don't need to hurry now, do we?"
An annoyed Vasil complained to Cole, trying to get him to calm down, his efforts being mostly in vain.
Vasil and Cole had been polar opposites, through and through. Their opinions clashed more than once throughout the day, and they really were like sun and moon, in a sense.
Yoel believed that it was an interesting duo, and he was quite intrigued by their unusual synergy.
Throughout numerous times of the day, they both answered questions at the same time with completely opposite answers.
And then, there was the trio from the alliance.
Those guys really know how to squeeze into other groups, don't they?
Yoel had realized that they often walked away to speak with other people, talking to them as if talking to old friends who had just reconnected, it really amused Yoel.
Not to say that he kind of feared that kind of communication skill.
"Get in line before we have to wait our whole break to get food!"
Cole hurried to get in line at the cafeteria, the food here was free as opposed to the rest of the campus, and Cole was not one to say no to free lunch.
As the boys each got in line, Yoel felt a sudden weight pressing on his back. It only took a split second for Yoel to fall down abruptly, while also feeling something squishy on his back.
Whatever it was, Yoel couldn't really care. All he cared about was the pain that assaulted his head. Because of the abrupt fall, Yoel didn't have time to put his arms in front of his head, resulting in him slamming his head down into the cold floor.
Fuck… Do they also recruit children here?
Yoel cursed openly within his mind and swallowed down his words when he laid his gaze on who was sitting on top of him.
Even disoriented, Yoel could make out a few features on the person's body. It had been a short girl, her brown hair tied in twin tails, and she used both her hands to hold onto something.
As pain slowly left his body, Yoel began to recognize this girl.
She was the one who bumped into him moments before the important announcement from the vice principal.
"Um, could you get off of me, please?"
Yoel was the first to break the silence, he could already feel the curious gazes of his group, and also the rest of the people present slowly finding him.
"S-Sorry! I was trying to make my w-way to the cafeteria line but I tripped on a spilt drink!"
"That doesn't change the fact that you need to get off of me."
Yoel felt a weird sensation flutter from within, he slowly began to recall that squishy feeling on his back and realized that some semblance of it still remained there.
He was not sure as to what the cause of this squishy feeling was, however he had made a guess.
Turning his head back as much as he could, his eyes traced over the girl's lower half, and at the sudden realization, the girl clumsily tried to cover her privates.
Upon realizing what he was doing, Yoel immediately reeled his head back into position and began to slowly shake the girl off.
That explains it, I guess. I don't know why I had to look to confirm it, but I did. Holy fuck, did I mess up. Please tell me no one saw.
Yoel gave a glance at the small crowd that had formed a circle around them, and from their expressions, he could see that nobody had realized, and if they did they did not show it.
With an inward sigh, he felt the weight pressing on him slowly lessen until it was no more.
He stood up, albeit with a bit of difficulty; he had hit his head quite badly on the pavement.
"Again, I'm so sorry!"
The girl kept on apologizing, unaware of the crowd surrounding them and creating an awkward situation for Yoel. She was prompting him to accept her apologies without realizing it.
"Hey, hey. It's fine. Come on, stand up. What's your name?"
The girl took a second to properly come back to her senses, still spouting apologies here and there, but eventually, she calmed down.
"Sorry, I can't really handle big crowds."
She spoke in a low voice this time around, trying to make sure the other students surrounding them didn't hear.
"Well, if I remember correctly, this isn't the first time we bumped into each other, is it?"
"Ah, yes. It happened moments before that one important announcement."
From the outside, it looked like Yoel had been speaking to himself since her voice got quieter as time went on.
"Can I have a name perhaps, then? We've already bumped to each other twice, so I don't think we're going to stop seeing each other soon."
"My n-name's Selene! I'm in the class right next to yours, A2! Sorry. I have to go. S-See you later!"
At the last words of her sentence, her voice became something akin to a yell, it sounded as if she was gathering her courage to speak up.
However, she never managed to look him in the face. Shortly after she told him her name, she left without waiting for his response.
"Wait! My name…"
Yoel couldn't even finish his sentence before he watched her back vanish behind a corner of the cafeteria.
"That was some scene, Yoel. I guess you really are a girl magnet, if you get what I mean."
Cole tried to approach Yoel with a joke that didn't quite make him smile, rather it made him realize that the whole ordeal looked way worse to everybody.
His face turned pale at the revelation, there had been so many eyes watching, what kind of rumors would stir within the school now?
From an outside perspective, it totally looks like something weird is going on between us.
"Hey man, I was just joking. You don't have to react like that."
Cole tried consoling Yoel, with little of it actually reaching him. Yoel was deep in thought right now, trying to formulate a view from an outsider's perspective.
What was set in stone however, was that he probably shouldn't go out of his way to speak to this Selene person again.
"No, I'm fine. Let's just go get our food. We've already caused a lot of commotion here."
I just want to get my food and leave.
The feeling of multiple eyes on him had only just begun to scratch at his mind, and he didn't quite like it. He wanted to be away from this place as soon as possible.
***
"Oooh, first day of the year and some interesting events are already happening!"
One of the girls at Lilith's table exclaimed in an excited manner, and the rest of the group chimed in.
It was a girly thing to do, and Lilith would have definitely joined the gossip and giggled like an oblivious girl just like everyone else.
If it had been any other person, she would have.
That damned skirt-chaser!
Lilith was sitting down at a table with her new friends, all of them girls, and she had started to forget about her own problems throughout the day.
She even attended classes as normal, and even after giving Yoel a few glances, she realized that Yoel really was really just a normal person.
I really thought he was someone respectable, and then he just goes and does this!
Since Lilith wasn't necessarily tall, she couldn't really see well through the many people in front of her, but what she did see was all that she needed to to know that Yoel was not who he seemed to be.
So he casually just takes out some big strong gorilla, and now he's chasing after women? The damned bastard.
For Lilith, strength had always been something she had sought out even before she learned about the world of enigmas and avon.
She also believed that people should act in accordance with their strength, showing an example to everyone and making sure they treated them with as much respect as they deserved.
But.. Yoel had been the opposite of her ideals.
Despite his incredible power, he prioritizes mingling with some random woman he has just met instead of further enhancing his abilities.
A storm of emotions was welling up within her, just as it had calmed down. She was not sure if there was something wrong with her, or with the world.
I can't talk to any of them while he is in the vicinity. I feel like I'll really kill him accidentally if he does so much as speak.