Zeal Mastery Class: Immerse yourself in a transformative class designed to ignite your inner drive and unlock your full potential. Join us as we unveil the art of success, share our own triumphs, and engage in dynamic discussions that propel you forward. Delve deep into the latest achievements of remarkable individuals within the thriving eBunnee community, guiding you towards greater success.
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As I maintained a brisk pace down the corridor, carrying the pink cake, I slowed slightly to allow Larisa to catch up. I inquired, "Larisa, what just happened? Did you have anything to do with that?"
"Me?! I was just looking at the beautiful cake."
I came to a standstill and gazed at Larisa for a moment, a small smirk playing on my lips. Within seconds, we both burst into uncontrollable laughter. "Oh, those girls... They never fail to drive me absolutely crazy! Ha-ha!"
When we finally stopped laughing, Larisa popped the question, "Lilly, where are we going now?"
"Zeal Mastery Class, of course."
Larisa looked puzzled. "What is that?"
"Just wait and see."
As we entered the Zeal Mastery classroom, I saw Jess and Jyn already there, going through some of the books on the table.
The classroom was adorned with framed posters of the top 20 most-viewed eBunnee streamers of the week, alongside books written by some of them, as well as coasters, figurines, and video games. Larisa was overly intrigued and fascinated by the classroom and shouted out of nowhere, "Look! Kassy has written a book! Wow, what an intellectual she is!"
"No, it was ghostwritten for her."
"Kassy has a ghost friend as well?! Whoa! I need to meet them."
I didn't even want to dignify that with a response—I just facepalmed.
A male voice interjected, "Lillian, stop having a conversation with yourself! I get it, you don't feel like being social with us, but that doesn't mean you have to resort to self-talk. I'm sorry if we're not up to your standards for a conversation," Jess declared as he set down his book.
Getting overly excited, Larisa exclaimed, "Oh, it's the music guy! I wanted to hear what he played for Ashlyn! I really, really hope he shows us, too."
The guy sitting next to him spoke up, "Lillian, why not put the cake down over here? You don't need to carry it around with you everywhere. Come and sit with us!"
Lillian sat down next to the two of them and scanned the room, looking at all the posters.
"This class is about self-identity and finding yourself. Just relax and make yourself feel at ease..." Jyn urged.
As Jess glanced at the posters, he chimed in, "I'm just in my element when I'm around stunning women who can't take their eyes off me."
"Ummm... well, I feel like I'm in a horror movie right now with thousands of demonic eyes staring at me," remarked Lillian.
"Oh man, you won't believe this! Talking about supernatural stuff, this school is totally haunted, dude! I swear, I saw a ghost today—like for real—zooming out of the women's toilets, right in front of my eyes a few hours ago!"
He saw a ghost coming out of the toilet? Oh, we'd both completely forgotten about that incident when Larisa and I dashed through the walls. I hoped he hadn't noticed us or forgotten.
Jess continued, "I would have recorded it, but I'm not the type of person to do that when there are people around."
Lillian stared at him, giving him a judgmental 'I don't believe you' look.
"Maybe when the school is closed and everybody has gone home."
"Are you sure you want to do that when you're alone and nobody is there to protect you?" Lillian remarked, her face bearing a sinister grin.
"No, Jyn will be there, won't you?" Jess began to look extremely nervous, and then Larisa blew on the back of his ear.
"Argh!!!!" He jumped out of his seat and nearly knocked the table over. Jyn and Lillian both looked perplexed but then burst out laughing simultaneously.
"You really showed us how 'brave' you are, sir."
"Something touched my ear," winced Jess. He relaxed a bit after realising he had just made a fool of himself in front of them.
Jyn contemplated a perplexing thought: "Why do ghosts always haunt such gross locations?"
Larisa had her cheek puffed out full of air, as if she were about to scream something out. I gently nudged her a couple of times to prevent her from saying anything.
...he went on, "Like toilets, smelly swamps, abandoned warehouses full of rubbish, and debris."
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder," said Lillian. In this situation, she didn't believe a word she was saying.
Really, though, I would have said anything at that particular moment, and unfortunately, this was the first thing I could think of to say.
This elicited a collective chorus of "whaaat?!" from both Jess and Jyn.
The word 'beauty' prompted Jess to look at Ashlyn Starr's picture again, which was proudly centred in the middle of the room. I noticed Jess looking at this picture a dozen or so times since I arrived here.
Why had I never noticed this photo of Ashlyn before? Before today, I had no idea who this person was, but now she seemed to be EVERYWHERE. Was this some sort of Mandela effect, and was I suddenly in a new universe where Ashlyn was a prominent figure? In my previous universe, she never existed.
Anyway, I broke the silence and asked, "Why do you keep looking at Ashlyn's picture?"
"For motivation. Isn't this what the class is about?"
"Motivation to do what exactly? Wear her dress?"
After a slight pause, he said, "I'm already wearing her white T-shirt," as he opened his jacket to proudly showcase a T-shirt with the words 'Proud StarrGazer,' featuring a portrait of Ashlyn Starr doing a cute wink underneath in a retro pop-art style.
"Well, go outside and stare at some stars, you geek!"
Lillian said even more, "I really, really hope that's the only thing of hers you are wearing."
Jess stopped acknowledging me and just started fiddling with his phone.
I asked, "She's a big fashion icon, and you are promoting her with a tacky white T-shirt?"
"I have my own fans," he said in a braggadocious, smug way as he held up his phone for Lillian to see, flicking through many pictures of people holding up banners with his face—some quite weird-looking and some really pretty women.
"That last person looks quite ill. Does he need medicine? And how is this relevant to the Ashlyn topic?"
He gave her a blank stare. "She did the cover picture for my latest album. She created a personal picture just for me without any copyright restrictions." Looking overly smug, he showed the picture to Lillian and then to Jyn, even though Jyn had probably seen it a thousand times already, most likely.
"I can never get enough of this picture!" sniggered Jyn.
"Easy there," he said as he quickly pulled the phone out of his sight.
Whoa, this is the photo he took of her in the archway today, I thought to myself. Wait a second... I am in the background! Whoa!! My face is clearly visible. How can I tease him about this? Lillian stalled before uttering, "Such a pretty girl there, Jess."
"Isn't she so?" he nodded in agreement.
"Super adorable! The most perfect lips ever!"
"Lillian?!"
"Look at the hair! Simply A M A Z I N G!"
"Lilly...?"
"And a body to die for!"
"LILLIAN!?"
"Jess, are you feeling a twinge of jealousy because I complimented her?" she continued. "I'm referring to her!" She pointed to herself in the photo, positioned behind Ashlyn in the archway.
"Dude, no way! I've stared at this pic tons of times and never saw you in it. How'd I miss that?"
"Maybe you need to focus on more than just one area of the photo, then?"
Jyn was heard snickering quite prominently in the background.
"You totally love her. You want her as your 'bae'!"
"She is a real babe."
"Bae?"
"Babe!" Jess corrected her again.
"Isn't 'Babe' the movie about a talking pig?" inquired Lillian.
"I've seen that movie! It was hilarious!" Jyn interjected.
"No! She is a 'babe'... as in, incredibly attractive!"
I had gotten a bit hungry and grabbed a piece of the French Bulldog cake.
Jyn and Jess looked disinterested in the cake and turned away as I put some of it in my mouth. Now, this was overly dry and chewy. No matter how much I chewed, it didn't seem to break down or become palatable.
"Lilly! Lilly! Bunny girl! Buns!? Can you kindly ask him to play the music for me? I've been dying to hear it all day! Pleeeasee!" Larisa was quite persistent.
You literally picked the WORST time ever to ask this, just when I was in the middle of eating.
"Lilly, please ask them... Pretty, please, muah. I'm certain it's going to be amazing!"
I spoke with my mouth full: "Muhh, shhow ush the muhusic then, muhusic man... scoff."
"Huh?" both Jyn and Jess said.
Larisa did a comedic, loud "huh" behind my ear in an exaggerated, caricature-like way, imitating both Jyn and Jess.
"With the cake still not going down, I tried again: "Lmme lsnn t yur msc, plsh... scroff scoff."
"I heard the word 'music' there," Jyn quietly said to Jess.
This fired up Jess. "As the intention of the Zeal Mastery class is to showcase and celebrate creative endeavours while offering guidance to everyone, I'll now present you with a new album. Following that, Lillian, we eagerly anticipate any contributions or creations you'd like to share with us."
He loaded up one of his music tracks and turned up the volume. Thumping, catchy, rhythmic techno music filled the air. The sinister, dark undertone sent shivers down my spine, yet strangely, I found myself drawn to it.
Larisa moved her hips to the beat but abruptly stopped. "Hey, the bassline kinda sounds like a fart."
I tried to nudge Larisa for being rude, but my hand went right through her. I was so glad Jess and Jyn couldn't hear a word she was saying or see her—it was quite blissful for them.
Finally, all the cake went down, but it definitely didn't feel good.
"What is that bass sound?" I politely asked Jess. "It has quite the groove."
"Ah, that! It's just an 808 sound I use in a lot of my stuff," Jess replied.
"Seriously! I believe he simply recorded a fart sound to create the bass and loaded it into a sampler," Larisa quipped snarkily.
"I like it... it sounds wet." Lillian accidentally slipped up by saying "wet."
Darn, Larisa made me say that by dragging my mind down into the gutter.
"It's wet? What do you mean by 'wet'?" he asked.
I liked this track and really, really didn't want to insult him or his music. Desperately trying to cover up, I said, "'Wet' is just what all the cool people say these days! I really love your music."
"So 'wet' is like 'drip'? I'm not up on all the new lingo and trends lately."
"Yeah, I love it! This track has some serious drip!" Lillian exclaimed.
"Drip! That sounds like a toilet problem to me. Maybe he should see a doctor," Larisa whispered in my ear.
To prevent myself from laughing, I turned my head and covered my mouth with my right hand, pretending to rub an itch.
Jyn added, "I helped with it!"
"Yes, yes, you did! We make a great team," Jess said, giving Jyn a slight smile.
Larisa couldn't resist saying more: "He helped; how? He helped you by recording his farts into your sampler? Did he help with the drip? Did the drip make it very wet?"
Okay, that got me! I couldn't hold in my laughter any longer and burst out laughing like a madwoman! "Muahahahaha... the drip, the fart... oh my gosh, hahahahaha!"
Jess's emotions took a sudden and drastic turn as he felt the sting of being mocked throughout the entire exchange. Without hesitation, he abruptly reached over and turned off the music, fixing Lillian with an intense and stern gaze.
"So what did you bring to this class to share today? Since this is a Zeal Mastery Class focused on motivation, it's more of a club than a traditional class. It's important to bring something to inspire or motivate us. I don't believe you truly grasp the purpose of this class. Is bringing a cake the extent of your contribution?"
I started to feel a little remorseful for the way I was acting. "Um, actually, I have a video to share."
"I don't want to see that video you made in Heart-ling Forest last night! I've already seen it! I'm not interested in watching trees and grass in the pitch black!"
"Well... ummm, I have nothing else." I nervously fidgeted, unsure of how to break the tense awkwardness that lingered. "So... um... what did Jyn have to show us?"
"Jyn made this music with me! Were you even paying attention at all!?"
Should I try to get Lillian to do something, like make herself visible or engage in some paranormal activity? Considering she was the main cause of the conflict, I still wanted to maintain her secrecy, at least for now. Despite occasionally being a nuisance, I found comfort in her constant presence. Nonetheless, I perceived that she hadn't yet developed a comfort level when it came to meeting new people. I really needed to have a serious conversation with her.
She was quite a mystery. She hadn't displayed shyness when she interacted with Eliza and Kai, and she had even seemed happy while dancing for my viewers during the Heart-ling Forest livestream on my eBunnee account. It appeared that she had enjoyed the attention back then. However, she seemed uncertain, possibly feeling overwhelmed by everything.
"We will just move on to watching the top 20 most popular videos on eBunnee that week for some inspiration. The first video was of a cat lip-syncing to an aggressive rap 'song.'"
"I like the cat… the ghost cat that Eliza and Kai always record." Sensing his frustration, I threw in a compliment to ease the tension. "I thought it would be better if the cat were singing... your music!"
"My music had no words or singing in it, Lillian; I swear..."
"It could hum... lip-sync the tune." As the tension escalated between us, I found myself worsening the situation with every word. I desperately yearned to escape from this class for good. This class truly required a teacher to moderate us, but I supposed it wasn't worth their time, considering only five people had enrolled, with two of them rarely attending at all.
In the next video, a person frantically ran from an unseen threat, their screams piercing through Heart-ling Forest.
"Ahhh, ha! This is the exact place I visited last night," I exclaimed. "I told you there was something there. Anyway, who is that person running?"
"She's a popular ghost hunter on eBunnee," Jyn replied.
I whispered to Larisa, "Did you terrorise this person?"
"I did no such thing! This person ran away from Mr. Foxxy."
"Mister who?" I repeated it at a higher volume compared to what Larisa had said.
"Mister what??!" Jess sighed exasperatedly. "Can you please stop mumbling nonsense to yourself?"
Jess clicked on the third video, which featured a young woman drinking a peculiar swamp-green potion and contorting her face in bizarre ways before the camera. I couldn't determine if she was painfully enjoying it, if it was scorching her throat, or if she was on the verge of vomiting. It was as if her face was possessed by a demonic force, causing her to display every conceivable facial expression.
"Jess, I absolutely need some of that in my life," remarked Jyn, his eyes brimming with fascination.
"The potion or the girl? Your face manages to do that without the aid of any potion. And the girl... she scares me a lot."
"It looks like a wild time! I'd try anything. And look at the crazy video views!"
"Whoa, you're right, Jyn! I want to try some, too."
Lillian, who hadn't much to say or contribute and had been consistently tapping her foot for the last ten minutes or so, grew bored and suggested, "Can we just watch the Pokémon movie, instead?"
Jyn and Jess both looked terribly annoyed. Jyn had begun to say, "We are trying to learn..." before Jess cut them off. Out of politeness and not wanting to compete with their voices, Jyn stopped talking and let Jess speak. "You can't watch movies like that during school time! This time is for education and building up your eBunnee presence."
"I want to switch classes... Let's switch to a video game class," Lillian declared, even though she wasn't particularly fond of video games. She simply yearned for a change and desired to say something—anything. The monotony of watching 'tripe' left her utterly bored.
Jess became visibly frustrated, feeling disrespected as the class leader who diligently organised most of the activities. He expressed his annoyance, "Nobody ever watches people play video games, especially not on eBunnee! Are you trying to jeopardise your future or something? It appears that you have no regard for the importance of this class whatsoever."
Jyn could feel the tension building in the room and decided to join in, saying, "It looks like the one thing we all share in common is our love for ghost stuff. Hey, Lillian, any plans for another one of those spine-chilling 'Heart-ling Forest' streams?"
"I haven't really thought about it, but Eliza did ask me to accompany her on one of her ventures later tonight."
"That's a start! I hope you'll share whatever you find with us next time we have this class."
"I forgot you were friends with her," Jess added. "Kinda makes sense that you're friends with her, though.
Why is that? It's not a bad thing to be compared to Eliza, but sometimes she does and says things that drive me up the wall. Now I have Larisa to 'literally' drive me through the walls.
"She's like a clone of you."
"I am absolutely nothing like her, not at all!" I resisted the urge to yak at them both, tempting as it was.
"Lillian, Jess is right. You are very much like her. Alright, for the remainder of this class, let's transform into a ghost-hunting club," Jyn declared.
Jess exaggerated his bravado, proclaiming, "Time to take down some ghosts! If I encounter another one, I'll Falcon Punch it, then deliver a roundhouse kick to its head."
Jess unleashed a flurry of kicks at seemingly invisible targets.
Larisa pointed at Jyn and exclaimed, "Here's a sidekick for Jess's sidekick!" She thrusted her leg forward near Jyn's face, but he felt nothing but a gentle breeze.
Jess continued throwing kicks haphazardly, some veering towards Larisa.
One of his kicks went through her chest, causing him to lose his balance briefly, but he continued his clumsy kicks.
"Hey! That was rude!" Larisa shouted.
"Larisa, let's leave before any incidents occur, like what happened in the last class. I don't want to be here when disaster strikes. Class for today is almost over, so at least we can chillax now."
We both left, me carrying the cake, looking forward to enjoying the rest of the day. As I walked down the corridor, I noticed Amii and Pensée passing by. Amii appeared slightly damp, but there was a distinct change in her expression. Instead of anger or frustration, she wore a proud and satisfied smile on her face. It seemed like something significant had happened, and she was clearly pleased with herself.
Amii confidently approached me and said, "I just donated my precious cake to feed the hungry. What have you done to contribute to the world? Exactly! Nothing!"
"We did! We both did!" Pensée pleaded, looking pleased and beaming with glee.
"We sure did, girl!" Amii exclaimed proudly, holding up her phone to show a video titled "Two Girls Walk 50 Miles Through the Rain to Give a Cake to the Homeless!" She paused to admire the screen. "Just look at all the views and clicks we're getting."
"That backstory is not exactly true, though," Lillian commented, her voice filled with longing. I really just wanted to go home. I had absolutely no desire to watch this video or engage with these two individuals any longer. Lillian let out a big sigh.
"It's a backstory to give it depth; it doesn't matter. Just shut up!"
Lillian let out an exasperated huff. "Why are you wet in the video, but Pensée is completely dry? You claimed to have walked '50 miles through the rain!'"
"Because... I said so!"
"You said what?"
And I recognised the location! It was only about a five-minute walk from the Academy, not a full 50 miles. Did her followers genuinely believe that she had carried that massive, three-layered cake, with a giant angel statue on top, for 50 miles in the pouring rain? It was truly hard to fathom that they had such unbelievably foolish fans. A quick glance at the comments on her eBunnee video confirmed, without a doubt, that they indeed did.
"I said..." a momentary pause, "Your disgusting cake... I wouldn't feed it to a dog!"
"It is a dog!" Lillian shouted. "Woof woof!" She pushed it close to Amii's face, causing her to step back and lose her balance.
If I fed this dog cake to a dog, would that be considered cannibalism or something?
Pensée could not resist the urge to add her own personal jab: "It looks truly revolting. I'd much rather go to McDonald's for 'higher quality' food. Even the plastic Elsa toy that comes with a Happy Meal is more edible than this... this so-called 'cake!'"
They were both giggling and happy with that remark. I decided to walk away as Jess exited the room, covered in sweat with it dripping down his forehead, and Jyn at his side. He had really worn himself out with those wild kicks; he looked exhausted.
"Oh aye! So what have you two been up to then? Care to explain why you're both sweating profusely?" Amii asked as Jess walked out of the room, still pouring with sweat, accompanied by Jyn. Pensée was sniggering in the background.
"Just leave... just leave... just leave," I muttered to myself, picking up the pace while they were distracted talking to each other. I'd had enough of very annoying people today.
"I see," Amii remarked as both she and Pensée glanced inside the classroom they had just been in, darting their eyes around the table and the framed pictures on the walls.
Jyn noticed that Amii had damp hair and inquired, "And why are you sweating? The same reason, I presume?"
"Eek! No! It's actually rainwater!"
"But it hasn't rained today and hasn't rained in over a week," Jyn replied.
"It was raining. You really need to pay attention to eBunnee more and see our video with over 500k views in just an hour."
"We were busy."
"Clearly!" they exclaimed, their gazes fixated on Jess and Jyn with a piercing, judgemental stare that carried an air of suspicion.
Pensée asked, "What do you think of talented girls who can bake?" It was very obvious what Amii was up to, but Jess seemed quite oblivious.
"The princess speaks at last," Jess said.
"Yes, I do. Now answer my question: What do you think of girls who can bake?"
"I don't think of them. Should I think of them?"
"Yes, you should think of girls who bake! We bake, you moronic fools... stupido!" Pensée snatched Amii's phone away so she could show them both the video of them passing a huge cake to a homeless person.
"You have a very majestic voice," Jess remarked. "Though it doesn't seem like that 'homeless' person is enjoying the cake. They take a sip of their drink every time they take a tiny bite, and it looks very dry."
"Peasants will appreciate the cake from royalty like myself. They get a taste of what it's like to be royalty in this world, even if it's just eating a little piece of cake," Pensée asserted.
After Amii let out a ridiculously loud laugh, she said, "You know nothing about something being dry. Just look at you, pouring with sweat. Seriously, the state of you."
"W-whoa!" Jyn gasped.
"So, what is your type?" Amii asked.
"I am blood type A."
"Why on earth would I be talking about blood? You are a true idiot! Like, wow."
Jess noticed Pensée staring at his open jacket, which revealed a bit of his T-shirt. She looked at it with curious eyes.
"You mean my type of girl?" he asked. "There is only one girl in the world for me." With a little hesitation to build suspense, he pulled open his jacket, fully exposing the white T-shirt featuring a portrait of Ashlyn Starr winking. As he opened the jacket, he mimicked the wink she was making.
"You seriously disgust me! 'Ashlyn Starr'... really?! You're truly clueless, as if she would ever be interested in you. You need a reality check. She's a renowned celebrity on eBunnee, while you're just an ordinary person." Amii looked at Jess with disbelief and annoyance.
"I am famous on eBunnee as well! I have over 240k followers, so there."
"What are you famous for... umm... known for?" Amii asked, her interest waning as she slowly walked away.
"My music."
"Oh, that. We both have over 400k followers, so whatever, peasant," Pensée commented, nonchalantly dismissing him.