Buji found solace in Instructor Hay's last statement: There will always be room for improvement. But he wasn't sure how he was going to improve on his own. Improvement seemed like a distant reality when he had no one to lean on. No student to certainly befriend. Except, perhaps, Emra. Their friendship would not last long enough since even Emra felt like a snake in green grass for him at the moment.
'Her presence is unreliable and her friendship is hollow.'
Once again, Instructor Hay stood in the middle of that circular platform, clearing his throat loud enough to stop the noise in the hall. Yet again, the hall went quiet and all eyes turned to him as he announced.
"So, we have come to the end of the awakening process. Every other information you will need, you shall get, but in your various rooms," he paused momentarily, scanning the crowd before continuing.
"You are going to follow the older students to know your dorms. Use the numbers provided earlier to locate your rooms. Those numbers are your room numbers and are posted on your door. This way, it will be easier to find," he stated, and looked towards Buji's direction.
"Inside your rooms, you're going to find a pamphlet which will help you understand how things were run here in this academy. It contains details about the academy and why you were selected to be a hunter. So, for the first week, you will be studying on your own."
'I guess that was the Pamphlet Emra used to read him some short story, or maybe some history that now seem meaningless.'
Instructor Hay's voice interrupted his thought. "The second week will be the day of another reckoning, where you are going to meet the tutors of this academy. And only then will you be assigned a tutor," he stated and with a low tone added. "Except if you haven't awakened any talent until then, you will be a self-tutor."
'Crap! He should have just called my name and not indirectly referred to me. Not like everyone in this hall won't relate to whom the statement was meant for.'
The indirect jab felt like a dagger to Buji's remaining pride. The students in the hall exchanged knowing glances, and Buji knew they would connect the dots.
It was time for every student in the hall, both old and new to find their way to their family dorms and locate their rooms. Buji thought it was not going to be hard for him since Emra was also from Zin's family and would surely be staying in the same dorm as him, except their rooms would be in different wings.
Instructor Hay on his own part had also left through the door from which he came into the hall. The hall became very busy again with murmurs, discussions, and sounds of laughter.
Buji could sense they all discussed about him and maybe, laughed at him when any of their group members made any jest of him.
Newcomers try to get along with each other, at least, this little time should be utilized for them before they get orders from older students.
Upon the humiliation he got from students, he still raised his eyes and searched for Emra amidst the crowd. Just when he thought he had seen a figure that looked like Emra, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
It was Zaki.
'What did he want from me now?' Buji thought.
"Hey weakling," Zaki greeted, waving at Buji's face with his smiley expression that clearly signified mockery. "Guess you had a great day."
Buji who had stood up to either leave the hall or look for Emra sat back down, folding his hands to his chest and looking away from Zaki's direction.
"That was better. We should not discuss while standing after a few days of losing contact," Zaki said, clapping his hands in mock applause before placing them on Buji's shoulders.
"I wanted to ask your reason for skipping school for four years then. Everyone at school really missed you, you know," he mocked.
Buji bristled but stayed silent.
"Oh, don't give me that look," Zaki continued. "The best part? The headmaster handed me my recommendation from the Wallos family."
'I just hope he mistakenly mentions what I want to hear.'
"What? I only wanted to add that our Headmaster had enumerated you for the honorable recommendation as 'the weakest'. What an honor! A great achievement!" Zaki blotted.
"Are you here to tease me, or do you have a point?" Buji asked with anger in his tone.
"Oh, oh. I guess you have been cultivating strength for the past four days you skipped school. That should explain the audacity, right? Oh my temper," Zaki mocked, squeezing Buji's cheeks, then suddenly letting loose his hands, he said.
"But you know what, I'm in a pretty good mood today. Awakening an A-Rank with Slayer talent was not a feat, right?" Zaki carelessly said.
'Exactly what I wanted to hear. You are going to be teaching me how to slay people like you, just watch and see.'
The casual boast made Buji's blood boil a bit, but he bit back his retort. He wanted Zaki to keep talking, maybe he will slip and reveal something useful.
"Oh, and that is your so-called strength approaching. Your knight in shining armor. She will probably congratulate me this time and yell at you for being a DISGRACE!" Zaki started with a soft tone but yelled at the last.
Buji's heart twisted as he turned toward Emra. Maybe Zaki was right. Emra was surely going to yell at him for being a disgrace, but not in their midst. She had always done that but only when they were alone.
His eyes widened with great expectation as he watched Emra approach closer with each step she took and at every second she spent. Buji was not yet surprised to see Emra walk among a group of students and stop right in front of him. The surprise had come when Emra started her speech.
"I told him not to expect much," Emra said, joining the group in the laughter her statement had caused.
Someone pointed at Buji from behind Emra, "Did you see his face? He almost became the star of the day until…"
"Snap it out," Emra interrupted. "Not everyone is cut out for greatness, although this little thing might be, but his bloodline had failed him.
"Bloodline? Bloodline?" was the question asked by the students at the recent scene.
"When I mean bloodline, I meant he had always been an orphan until he was pitied by my dad," Emra explained smartly to avoid any suspicion.
Even though students were going to be isolating themselves from Buji, she still shouldn't say what she knew. Let the higher-ups do as they have planned.
'Is she for real or just her way of behaving like a drama queen?'
She was actually real.
As if knowing what Buji thought about, she moved closer to Buji, slipping her finger from up to down softly on Buji's chest.
"My dad had always told me to be very careful with you, that he had his reasons. But I stood by you, fought for you, and even did things because of you."
'Why?'
"Because I only lived in doubt. Well, don't get me wrong, my dad had always been right. So, I only lived my life with you all in pretense and nothing more than that. All I did was to find evident proof which I did."
'The book?' Buji now finds everything more interesting. It seemed the book had said things about him, or maybe his father. He now hungered for the book but needed to be patient for the whole game to start well.
Even at that, if anyone must be surprised, call Buji. He was still not getting where the Emra that stood before him came from. She was not the real Emra, right?
"Yes, this is me, Emra saying all those things to you," Emra continued, noticing the surprise on Buji's face.
"Anyway, I might not have told you but I am here to finally welcome you into the academy. And please, forget about Emra Zin. You are nothing but spilled milk useless for the cats to feed on."
Buji's breath hitched. If the words came from anyone else, it might not hurt him much. But it is coming directly from Emra. He clenched his fists on his legs, his nails digging into his skin. The pain reminded him that it was reality.
"Is this real?" he murmured.
"Yoo man. And maybe you didn't hear, she asked you to have a nice day. Such a lovely friend she is," Zaki said and left Buji sitting alone.