Huff… 97… 98… 99… 100… Huff…" I gasped for breath, lying on the ground in the center of my room. My shiny black hair clung to my forehead with sweat, and my blue eyes stared at the ceiling as I finished my third set of 100 push-ups. After gathering my breath for a few moments, I sat up and glanced at the time on my phone before standing up with a sigh. I emptied a water bottle from my desk with a satisfied sigh, tossing the empty bottle into the trash can near the door.
It's been a month and three weeks since I woke up, and my body has been recovering at an astonishing pace. The first day I woke up, I couldn't even walk straight, let alone exercise. However, after a week of supervised physiotherapy, I could already run at an average speed and do a set of thirty push-ups. At first, I was surprised by how quickly I was recovering, but Dr. Hatori said that although my recovery is faster than average, it's not unheard of. That's when I deduced that the presence of mana in this world probably makes this a common occurrence.
I've also learned to feel my mana core and channels, and now I can enhance my body by up to 5%, which is decent considering my situation. All was possible thanks to Luna's aid. Speaking of Luna, she's pretty adept at using mana. By this world's standards, she's average, which I honestly didn't expect from a poor maid girl like her.
I decided to take a shower before heading to school. Yes, you heard right. After a month, I had already gained enough energy to be comparable to an average person. Since I was still fourteen, John had told me it would be better to continue my studies while helping out at his company part-time. I complied with the suggestion and decided to enroll in the academy as a high school student. And it's not like I needed to study hard to pass the tests since I had a straight-A mind inside a fourteen-year-old body.
Initially, I thought about contacting my parents directly to resolve the feud we had, but I quickly decided against it. Chances were, my parent would think that I was sent by the dimwit John and that I wanted to cause trouble for them and the chances of backfiring were too high. I needed to understand the situation first and I needed allies for that, and school was a good place to make connections. John, on the other hand, had been filling me with what I believed were mostly fabricated stories about how my parents didn't want me and how they did this and that to hurt me. Deciding to go with the flow, I pretended to believe John, who continued to act nice around me, making suggestions and maintaining his façade. Despite this, I could often see through John's expressions.
After showering and donning my uniform, which consisted of a white T-shirt and black pants, I styled my hair as I had in my previous life. My younger face added to my charm, giving me a slightly more mature look, which I liked. I ate the omelets Luna prepared for breakfast and headed to school, which was a ten-minute drive away. Since the driving age in this world was sixteen, John had hired a driver to take me to and from school.
'I don't know why, but John is trying too hard. If he wanted to get rid of me so badly, he could just kill me and make it look like an accident. Why go through all this trouble?' was what I thought. Deciding not to voice my thoughts, I continued to act like a spoiled boy and went with the flow.
Upon arriving at school, I noticed a signboard above the school gate with "The Elites Academy" written on it and I also noticed a lot of students in identical uniforms standing around and doing what normal teenage kids do. I got out of the car and nodded at the driver, who nodded back and drove off. As I walked towards the school's gate, I noticed a few glances. Ignoring the gazes, I walked in through the gate and handed my badge to the woman at the reception counter. She examined my badge before registering my name on the computer.
"Is this your first day here?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am," I replied politely with a smile.
The woman scrutinized me for a few seconds before smiling slightly. "Good. You have read the students' code of conduct provided by the academy upon enrollment, right?" she asked.
Awkwardly looking around, focusing my eyes everywhere but her, I replied, "Y-yes!" Squinting her eyes in suspicion, she stared at me for a few seconds as a drop of sweat rolled down my back. She decided to let it go and said, "Okay, here's your course list and schedule for this term. Try not to slack off in class," advising.
I nodded with a smile, took the papers, and left. After wandering through the corridors, I found a classroom with a poster reading E-3 hanging above the door. 'This is it,' I thought, taking a deep breath before entering. Inside, students were chatting with each other. As I walked in, all eyes turned towards me.
Feeling the awkwardness, I quickly walked to the nearest and sat down, a stressed expression on my face. 'Huff, this is why I hate school,' I thought. 'It's a lot easier to deal with old people who think they are smart than dealing with teenagers.'
As I sat there, keeping to myself, a young girl approached me. "Hi, I'm Nasha. Are you new here?" she asked. She was on the shorter side height-wise with brown hair, brown eyes, and a decent face, wearing a cheerful yet reserved smile.
"Hi, yes, I'm new. But aren't you all new as well?" I replied.
She smiled and said, "Well, yes, you're right. But most of us were in the same middle school and I haven't seen you before. I decided to come over and say hi," she introduced herself, extending her hand.
Nodding, I shook her hand. "I'm Ryan," I said with a slight smile.
Her smile widened. Just as she was about to continue, a man walked in wearing a white gown and carrying a handbag. The students quickly sat down and fell silent.
Acknowledging their behavior with a nod, the man spoke, "Hello, class. Welcome to your first year of high school. I'm your homeroom, Mr. Reed. You can call me a teacher or instructor while we are in school. Today, since it's our first class, there's no need to rush. We will start with introductions, beginning with the back row on the right."
After introducing ourselves, the first session ended. The following classes were similar, with teachers introducing themselves and outlining the course syllabi, and demonstrating mana usage in related courses to make the first class engaging.
Finally, it was time to go home. Most students chatted as they made their way out, but I sat quietly, waiting for anyone to approach me. Since it was my first day, I didn't want to come off too strong and scare off my targets. I wanted to take it easy and avoid actively approaching others.
As I was lost in thought, Nasha approached me again, "Hi Ryan, where are you headed?" she asked.
"I'm going home," I replied with a smile.
She nodded and asked, "Do you want to go to the arcade near Niyal Hotel?"
'Bingo!' I thought, pleased that my approach strategy had worked.