The air outside the school felt like a breath of fresh air after the stifling atmosphere of the almost military-like school Jacob had just left. It was only one day back, and already his idealized fantasies about returning to school after his rebirth were shattering. Kids were weird in so many ways, and adults couldn't possibly understand the restriction.
As Jacob stepped out of the school gates, his system jumped out, directing his attention to a large car with three doors: two in the front and one in the back. He was puzzled by the lack of a fourth door but shrugged it off. Beside the rear door, he saw a girl in her early twenties, standing with a confident and expectant expression.
Jacob approached the girl with a respectful bow, addressing her with "hello." "Hello, sir," she said. "I am Anna, your newly appointed maid. Nice to meet you."
Taken aback by his formal and respectful manner, Jacob hesitated for a moment. But then, he decided to let it go. After all, it was just a girl in a maid's dress.
Anna was about to open the rear door of the car when Jacob stopped her. "No need, Anna," he said. "I'm going to the cafe right there for a study session with a friend. Can you please come back a little later to pick me up?"
Anna smiled. "Perfect," she replied. "I was thinking of hiring a group of people to work at the mansion and a driver for the car so I can focus on you, sir. Now, if you may, I'll take my leave. I'll be back here within two hours." With that, Anna bowed and went to the driver's seat and drove off.
Jacob stared at the cafe, a place that seemed to attract a predominantly female clientele. While it wasn't explicitly a girls-only establishment, the vibe and the chatter coming from inside suggested that women might feel more comfortable there than men.
He entered the cafe and found a seat, waiting for Sophia, the girl he had met during lunch. However, he had already forgotten her name and spent a few minutes racking his brain to remember it. "Sophia," he muttered to himself. "I'm pretty sure her name was Sophia. I feel like I've heard it before."
Then, he recalled Sophia's mention of his participation in a running competition that he had no memory of. Maybe he had never actually competed, but the confidence in her voice had convinced him that she was right. "Well, we'll talk about it when she gets here," he thought. "What's with girls always being late anyway?"
Jacob's heart pounded in his chest as he heard a familiar voice. "Is that so?" the voice asked, and Jacob's head snapped up. There she was, Sophia, standing with a warm smile on her face.
For some reason, a shiver ran down Jacob's spine, and he felt a sudden chill. "No...it's...not," he stuttered, trying to explain himself but failing miserably.
Sophia chuckled, and Jacob's face flushed with embarrassment. She smiled again, and it felt like the world around them paused. Flowers seemed to bloom around her, and Jacob was mesmerized by her smile. A small blush persisted on his face as he gazed into her eyes.
Sophia broke Jacob's trance with a gentle reminder. "We should start studying," she said, sitting down in front of him.
Jacob shook his head, still reeling from the encounter. "I...I never entered any running competition," he stammered, unsure of what he was saying anymore.
Sophia raised an eyebrow. "You really think you're the only one who can lie?" she asked. "You lied about your homework. I lied about you being in a running competition. Tell me, for a while, even you thought you might have participated in some running competition, right?"
Jacob blushed deeply at her words. He had been an open book to her, and she had read him perfectly. He pushed the embarrassment aside and asked, "Then how do you know me?"
Sophia's answer was simple, yet it left Jacob confused. "By luck," she said, her smile fading for a second and coming back, but for that one second, Jacob felt a strange aura, something colder, more calculated. Jacob couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the aura she just now exuded for a second felt foreign and unsettling.
Jacob decided to let the matter drop and pulled out his English book. This was the one subject he wasn't completely confident in, as it required reading stories and memorizing them. He was also a bit worried about the grammar test, which seemed to be stuck in the 150-year-old past. "I mean, in the book, they still use 'he,' 'she,' and other old-fashioned pronouns," he muttered to himself. "Now, we have 'helicopter' and other things as pronouns. This book knowledge is really old-fashioned."
Sophia chuckled. "You're right," she said. "But it's still important to learn the basics. Grammar is the foundation of language."
As they studied together, Sophia proved to be an excellent teacher. She explained things clearly and patiently, making even the most complex concepts easy to understand. Jacob was impressed by her knowledge and teaching skills.
After two hours of studying, Jacob and Sophia decided they had done enough for the day. Jacob was surprised at how easily he had memorized the all first nine chapters. Perhaps being an adult gave people a different perspective, or maybe it was just the way Sophia taught.
As they left the cafe, Sophia said, "My home is nearby, so I'll take my leave for now. That was a fun study session. We should do it again."
"Yeah, sure," Jacob replied, smiling. Sophia nodded and waved goodbye before walking away.
Jacob turned to follow the system's direction. System has been very eager to show him the latest reward he got. the car, the mansion, and the maid. He wondered if the maid was some kind of NPC. She acted so naturally, as if she was born to be a maid and enjoyed her role. Since she had also come as a system reward, Jacob concluded that she was probably an NPC character created by the system.