Ratsujin followed Draven through the Vanguard's lobby without Draven noticing him. Eventually, Draven led Ratsujin into the cafeteria.
Ratsujin saw Draven walking through double doors at the end of the lobby. On top of the doors was written First Year's Cafeteria in bold letters.
"There are multiple cafeterias, and this one is for my class?" Ratsujin was confused about whether this was the cafeteria he should enter.
Ratsujin hesitated momentarily to enter the cafeteria, but then he managed to gather his courage and walked towards the double doors.
As Ratsujin entered the cafeteria, he got stunned by the crowd there. The cafeteria was rather big, but it was fully crowded by the first-year students. There was no space for Ratsujin to stand. Every student in the cafeteria was thirteen to fifteen years old, which made Ratsujin the youngest student in the Vanguard Academy.
Ratsujin somehow managed to grab a plate of food for him and observed the cafeteria for him to sit. Ratsujin walked towards the end of the cafeteria, hoping to find an empty table away from the crowd.
Ratsujin looked to his left and spotted an empty modern table with three seats. Without wasting any more time, Ratsujin sat on the table and placed his lunch tray on it.
Ratsujin tray had a sandwich, a juice box, and a bowl of salad. Ratsujin put the straw in his juice box, but as he was about to drink it. He heard a voice, "Ratsujin, right?"
Ratsujin looked to his left and saw Damien and Ravern standing there with their lunch tray.
"Yes," Ratsujin said.
"Can we sit here? All the other tables are crowded." Damien asked Ratsujin.
"Yes, please sit," Ratsujin responded with a smile.
As Ratsujin said, both Damien and Ravern sat at the table. Ratsujin didn't mind Ravern or Damien's presence before him. He picked up his juice box again, but before he could drink it. He heard another voice.
"You two found a table already!"
Ratsujin turned back and spotted Alexia standing behind him, holding her lunch tray.
Alexia ignored Ratsujin's presence and gazed at Ravern and Damien. "I have been looking for a place to sit for a while now."
Raverm spoke, "Ratsujin found this table and offered us to have lunch with him."
As Alexia heard Ravern's words, she gazed at Ratsujin. "That's really nice of you."
"You three have your lunch. I'll go and find myself a place to sit." As Alexia said, she began to walk away.
But before she could take five steps away from Ratsujin, Damien called her out. "Alexia! Ratsujin is offering you his seat."
Ratsujin got confused as he heard Damien's words. "When did I?" He asked himself.
But before Ratsujin could respond to Damien's false statement. "Ratsujin, really! You are offering me your seat."
Ratsujin looked at Alexia's innocent face behind him. Then he looked back at Damien's face. Ratsujin wanted to tell Alexia the truth, but he didn't have the courage to tell her.
Instead, Ratsujin grabbed his lunch tray and stood up from the table, "You can have it. I don't need it." As Ratsujin said, he walked away from them.
As Ratsujin left, Alexia sat on Ratsujin's seat and said with a worried expression. "Did we go too far with him?"
Damien smirked and said, "Do not act innocent now! You agreed with our plan before. You also wanted to remove Ratsujin from this table."
"But...." Before Alexia could finish, Damien interrupted her.
"Besides, Ratsujin does not belong here. This Academy is only for students like us. Right Ravern?"
Ravern immediately responded, "Yes, you are right. Today is going to be his first and last day here. Mr. Samuel is going to the principal office to cancel Ratsujin's application."
As Ravern, Alexia, and Damien were talking. Ratsujin looked around for a quiet place for him to sit, but he could not find one. Every table he looked at had either had no space for him or had only one seat left.
Ratsujin didn't have the guts like Damien to ask anyone to sit with them.
"Looks like no lunch for me today." Ratsujin made fun of his condition.
Ratsujin returned his food tray and went back to his classroom.
************************************
Somewhere in the Vanguard Academy. Samuel was standing right outside the principal's office.
Samuel first knocked on the door gently and then slightly opened the door. "Sir, may I come in."
"You may come in, Samuel." Samuel heard the principal's voice and entered the room.
As Samuel entered the room, he saw the principal's table to his right and a chair turned backwards with the principal sitting on it. Samuel walked towards the table and stood across it, but Samuel could not see the principal's face as the chair the principal was sitting on was facing the other way.
Samuel tried to peek at the principal's face, but before he could do it. "Sit down, Samuel."
"YES! Sir," As Samuel heard the principal's words, he sat on the chair next to him.
The principal spoke, "I was about to call you Samuel. There's a new student I wanted to talk to you about."
"Sir, I am here to talk to you about Ratsujin as well," Samuel said.
The principal asked while facing the wall. "What is it?"
"Sir, I want you to cancel his admission as soon as possible," Samuel demanded.
"That's the complete opposite answer I was hoping for. I thought you were going to praise him." The principal continued, "Tell me, Samuel, why do you want Ratsujin's admission to get canceled?" the principal asked.
"Samuel, give me valid reasons only." The principal spoke in a cold voice.
Samuel spoke with confidence, "Sir, he is too young to learn Arcane Arts. He was late on his first day..."
Before Samuel could continue, the principal interrupted and said. "Samuel, I have asked for a valid reason. First of all, there is no age limit to learning Arcane Martial Arts. Alistair told me everything that happened today, how you lock the classroom door. Locking the classroom door is enough for me to fire you from this job right now."
"If you do not have any valid reasons, you can leave my room." The principal's voice sent shivers through Samuel's spine.
"Sir, I have one more reason. It is stated in the Academy's rule that with student admission, there must be at least a B-Rank hunter recommendation later with it only then a student can get admission in this Academy."
"Sir, Ratsujin's father is not even a hunter. He is just a loser." Samuel spoke.
The principal got angry as he heard Samuel's words. He spoke while looking at the wall. "Disrespecting a student's father, since when that's allowed in this academy."
The principal said, "Even if his father is not a hunter, you must respect him, and you will apologize to Ratsujin in front of the class. If you do not, you will be fired from this job."