Edited by: ASaltedFish
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As Aster and Ellery arrived at the school, they were greeted by a lot of people. Aster, who had already met half of them at the hospital, did his best to greet them. In the end, he felt so exhausted, his smile was stiff and he looked like he wanted to go to sleep.
Everyone in the academy knew that the top-rated student guide of the academy had lost his memories, so no one faulted him for not knowing who they were. A lot of people also took this opportunity to introduce themselves as though they had been friends for ages.
It took forever for him to even reach the Guides department building. He didn't realize how popular Ellery was… Aster was so tired, he wished they could switch places so Ellery could take over for him.
Before he could even think too hard about it, someone called his name. It wasn't familiar to Aster, but it was extremely familiar to Ellery who wanted to choke the person half to death.
It was Darian Velenet, Leonard's (aka Ellery's ex) lover and childhood friend. Darian was a B-ranked guide with fluffy, wavy grayish-brown hair, and blue eyes. He had a koala quantum beast that was adored by many people and was the apple of the Velenet family's eyes. They were a rich family who owned seaside resorts throughout the Zevaria Empire. As Leonard's childhood friend, he had long since fallen in love with him since they were kids.
Darian had always been jealous of Ellery because of his maximum potential. While his potential was capped at A-rank, Ellery's max potential was S ranked! This drove him crazy.
If Ellery had control of his body, not only would he have slapped Darian so hard he would fall and hit the floor, he would have choked this person to death! Then he would be arrested for murder…
Thankfully, he didn't have control over his body. He couldn't help but feel that the universe was on Darian's side at this moment!
"Ellery! I heard that you were finally able to leave the hospital, are you okay?" The cutesy Darian asked without a hint of concern to be seen.
He reminded Aster of Ellery's former best friend... What was her name again? Air? Ari? It was something like that.
[Her name was Airi.]
'Oh, yeah.' Aster wasn't that good with names.
"Um… I'm sorry. I have amnesia so I don't really remember who you are," Aster said this sentence once again. He had been saying this so many times after he arrived, it was starting to hurt his own ears.
"Really? You aren't faking it are you? I heard from Airi that you told her that she made you uncomfortable and you didn't want to be her friend anymore."
[These fake ass bitches… Aster, let me take over! How dare these bastards slander me and my reputation, not only in front of the department, but in front of the whole damn school! Who the hell does this ass crack think he is?!]
To ensure the fuming Ellery didn't freak out any further, Aster did his best to stand his ground. "I don't know why she told you that, but she came into my hospital room crying about how I could not remember her; that is what made me uncomfortable. Since I can't remember who she was and she started crying, of course that would make me uncomfortable, not to mention someone else in my shoes. Then she wanted to come over every day to make me remember when all I wanted to do was recover in peace. Would that not bother you? Especially in an unknown environment with a person who claims to be your best friend; all she did was talk about how the whole situation made her feel sad!"
[Yessss, Aster! Keep going! You fucking tell them!] If Ellery was there, he would be cheering right next to him.
The people around them watching the show couldn't help but agree. Some people talked about how scared they would be if they couldn't remember anything. Others said that it was strange for someone to cry about being forgotten when the person who should be crying was the one who forgot everything!
Having Ellery cheer him on made him keep going.
"As for your slander when you said that I was faking my amnesia, here is the doctor's note that I was supposed to only show the instructors, but now I have to show you and everyone watching to prove my innocence."
He used his terminal to bring up the doctor's note that was not only signed, but encrypted to show the authenticity of it.
"I truly can't remember anything and I especially don't know who you are or why you are accusing me of faking it. So if you have nothing else to say, I would like to leave so that I can talk with my instructors about the plans moving forward."
Aster waited for Darian to say something but he just stood there, mouth grinding in frustration like he was trying to come up with something to retort with but he couldn't.
Before he could turn around and walk away, he saw Leonard walking through the crowd of people. Leonard was an S-ranked Sentinel with golden blonde hair and amber eyes. He had SS-ranked potential so many people were interested in him. He was 6 inches taller than Ellery and Darian, so Aster had to look up at him.
Leonard didn't show any signs of corruption in his spiritual sea, so it could be seen that he was regularly guided.
He stood next to Darian, comforting him before finally looking at Aster.
At this moment, Aster really felt Ellery's life was just like a drama-filled book. It was too much drama for him honestly.
"Are you bullying Darian again?"
"Again? I don't know who you are nor do I know him."
"You don't know who I am? Hah. Ellery. Weren't you the one that said you wouldn't mind dating me after we got a compatibility test done? Since I said that I didn't like you, you're now acting like you don't know who we are just like that? ."
Leonard sneered because he knew that Ellery had lost his memories and wouldn't be able to reveal what really happened. If people knew what actually happened, they would make him out to be a laughingstock. He might as well throw Ellery under the bus and ruin his reputation. This would make both his family and Darian's family feel better.
Aster's mask cracked and his friendly face, that he was trying so hard to keep up, became indifferent. His social battery had officially run out and he no longer wanted to entertain these buffoons who seemed to live in their own little world.
He didn't want to be a part of it. Ellery also didn't want to be a part of it.
[This fucking bastard. Who was the one that was begging me to be with him when it turned out that we had an 89% compatibility rate? Who was the one that said that he didn't have feelings for Darian and that he only saw him as a little brother? So now that "I" lost my memories, you are going to try to make it seem like I am obsessed with you? In. Your. Fucking. Dreams. We may have put up the appearance that we "lost our memories" but we aren't fucking stupid. What did I even see in this useless piece of shit???]
"I don't care what happened before I lost my memories. Just because I lost my memories, doesn't mean I am stupid. You may have forgotten but we do have a document that shows when and why we got the compatibility test done. Should I air out your dirty laundry?" Aster sneered while he looked up at Leonard that seemed to be looking down at him.
"We may have a high match rate but seeing as how I only feel disgust without my memories, it seems I didn't even like you. So who did the begging? Only you would know better about the real situation." Aster looked like he wanted to puke. He was kind of influenced by Ellery's strong feelings of disgust, so he really did feel a little nauseated from looking at him.
Everyone in the crowd could see the disdain on Aster's face. It was a look they had never seen Ellery have. It didn't look like an act, the subconscious mind is powerful, so those were probably Ellery's real feelings before he lost his memories.
"Normal people would have tried to have a relationship, especially if they had such a high match rate, but I can see why I didn't pursue it further."
He glanced at Leonard first before looking Darian up and down as if to imply that the reason was because of him.
"If you are going to blame me for something like that, then I am glad we aren't together. Now, I'm going to leave since the two of you are wasting my time."
He may be an introvert but he would never let someone hear the end of it if they treated him like shit.
Aster rolled his eyes and turned around. He didn't look back. He didn't care that Leonard's face turned purple from anger and disbelief, nor did he care that Darian was stomping his feet like a child throwing a tantrum.
[Good job, Aster. The look on their faces was priceless! Well, if I were controlling the body, I would have beaten them up. I would have destroyed that bastard's spiritual sea while I was at it.]
'I'm not trying to get arrested… But I hope I was able to help you blow off some steam. I didn't like the way they were looking at us.'
[Thanks to you, I feel a lot better! But are you alright? I can feel you are a little mentally exhausted..]
Ever since the two of them began living in the same body, they gained the ability to sense each other's emotions and mental states. Lately, that feeling has grown a lot stronger. Now, they were influenced by one another's emotions, almost as if they were equally sharing the body.
'Well… I have a very short social battery and it basically died for the rest of the day. I can no longer keep up a smile to be polite. This made a lot of people in my past life think I was rude, that I didn't want to be there, or similar things like that. I don't know why I'm like this, but this is one of the reasons why I like being an introvert. I don't have to worry about people exhausting me, getting mad at me because I suddenly become rude in their eyes, and then they leave or end our friendship.'
[That means you didn't have any friends who truly understood you for who you are. Everyone has a social battery and some last longer than others. Mine last longer than yours but if I'm going out and hanging out with friends every day for a couple of weeks straight, even I would be exhausted. No matter where you are, some people will always seem obnoxious toward people they don't understand. Don't worry, Aster. Regardless, I am on your side. You aren't a bad person and you are nice company to have around.]
For the first time, someone finally understood and accepted him for who he was. Ellery didn't get mad at him, didn't talk down to him, didn't try to change him. Well, they had to compromise with some things because they were sharing a body, but it was all things in his limits.
Ellery may have a potty mouth but he was extremely empathetic and understanding.
Truly, he was grateful to have met Ellery.
'Thank you, Ellery. I'm really happy to have met you and that you are in my life…'
If Ellery could, he would have brought Aster into a bone-crushing hug and told him how precious and amazing he was.
He continued to chat with Ellery in his mind as he walked into the elevator and made it to the sixth floor where most of his professors were. Ellery was the top student of the guide department for his year, so most of the instructors he took classes from reflected that.
He talked to all four of his instructors and they basically said the same thing. They told him to rest up, recover well, and even if he didn't remember, he could take his time. He basically finished schooling and only needed to wait for graduation. During the next couple of months, he should continue to look over all the things he had learned at the academy and then reevaluate what he wanted to do afterwards.
After leaving the last instructor's office, Aster walked down the hall toward the elevator but saw a tall figure standing in front of it. Aster felt he looked familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it.
He was really bad at putting names to faces.
[That's Marshal Edros Caecius. There's not much information on him because he's in the military, but he's the second child of the Imperial Family. His older sister is the Emperor. Her Majesty is a powerful Sentinel and she's made big but better changes to the Zevaria Empire. The Marshal has a good relationship with Her Majesty and is her biggest supporter. They come from the same mother too.]
Aster also knew that the Imperial family had a unique quantum beast that was passed down in their family. They had dragon quantum beasts. The Emperor's quantum beast was black and purple with gold eyes. The quantum beasts looked like western dragons with large wings and sharp claws. It basically screamed royalty.
Marshal Caecius' quantum beast was the same type as the Emperor's but it was a silver and purple dragon with gold eyes. Similarly, Marshal Caecius had silver hair with a small amount of purple streaks and gold eyes. The man had horns sticking out of the top of his head, and he even had silver and purple scales along the sides of his face and neck. One could see that he hadn't been guided since becoming a Sentinel.
Like every other guide and sentinel, Marshal Caecius looked just like his quantum beast. His face was expressionless and frigid, but strangely enough, even if dragons looked cold, it was an open secret that the dragon quantum beasts and their sentinels were like large puppies who liked shiny objects, especially gems, and they were extremely possessive over their loved ones. The sentinels in the royal family were dream lovers for most guides.
Since it was Marshal Caecius, it was a relief that Aster could meet him early. He also kept the thank you gift on him just in case he could run into him.
"Excuse me, Marshal Caecius?" Aster spoke up when he got to the elevator, he tried his best to be polite, but he had no energy. He didn't smile or anything and his voice seemed a little indifferent. He was just tired.
Marshal Caecius looked over at Aster and saw that it was the person he had saved back at the excursion. He had heard that the young man had gotten out of the hospital, but he didn't expect to run into him so soon.
A chaotic energy swirled around the Marshal, which normally made people want to avoid him. For some reason though, it didn't repel Aster.
"Is there something you need?" Marshal Caecius was also a person who didn't conform to society's decorum when it came to holding conversations… Basically, he didn't talk a lot with people, not only because of his status as a royal but because of his strength.
Aster didn't take it to heart and acted the way he wanted to act. "I would like to thank you in person for saving my life. Please take this as a thank-you gift."
His voice was not flattering at all. He almost sounded like he was just doing it out of obligation.
He handed him three bottles of A-ranked stabilizers. "I didn't know what else to give you but this is the most valuable thing I have. If you can't use the stabilizers, feel free to give them to someone else."
He basically shoved the gift into Marshal Caecius' hands and didn't give him room to reject it. Aster didn't like owing people. If the Marshal could use it, perfect, if he couldn't, well, one of his soldiers could use it. A win-win situation if he had to say so himself.
Aster pressed the button of the elevator to get to the second floor where his first class would be. Well, they said it was a class but it was essentially a period of time where guides would come together to practice how to guide people hands-on. It was also a way for the military to get their sentinel soldiers guided.
Marshal Caecius also went into the elevator but he pressed the ground floor button. He was in the guide building because he was meeting a close friend of his. This friend was his subordinate's wife and the Marshal was just running an errand for the two love birds…
He had to go back to the sentinel department to teach a class.
He couldn't help but look over at Ellery who said one thing but sounded like another. He has also seen Ellery a few times but felt he was different this time around. It seemed the amnesia really changed his personality.
Still holding the stabilizers in his hands, he walked out of the building in a daze. He wondered why he couldn't reject the gift even though he knew that there were no stabilizers or guides in this universe that could help him…