Life didn't get easier, even in another world.

"Will this be enough?"

Tap Tap

Darren kicked The First's side.

"For now, yes. There are no more mana restriction devices at hand. We should hand him over to the headquarters as soon as possible. They can handle the rest."

"Hmm..."

Darren looked at The First one last time. They had treated his wounds a little bit to prevent him from dying but he was still unconscious. They had tied him up and restricted his aura with as many devices as they could. Darren looked away from The First and glanced at the one who had captured him.

Kairen was leaning against a broken pillar and was dozing off whit his head on his knees. Someone's coat was hung around his shoulders and someone else had given him a scarf as he said he was feeling cold. There were a bunch of chocolate wrappers all around him, in which the contents of them were forcefully stuffed into the boy's mouth. Some of the unit members were gathered around him. Some were staring at his sleeping face with a frown and some were checking him from time to time to see if he has finally died. There was also someone who was too scared he almost broke into tears.

"Psst! Team leader!"

Darren moved towards team leader Dains and whispered.

"What are we gonna do about that boy?"

Team leader Dains also glanced at Kairen before looking back at The First. 

"...I don't think there is anything else in my capacities."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"I can't change the report this time. We can't just walk into the headquarters with this man and pretend that we had captured him..."

He said that with a disappointed face as if he wished that they actually could pretend that they were the ones who were able to capture this man.

Deputy team leader Bray that was listening to them until then also joined the conversation.

"We need to give an explanation as to how we managed to capture a swordmaster... I don't think we can leave Kairen's role aside in this one."

All of them nodded at once.

Rai sighed.

"Poor Kairen..."

The small group of people all nodded their heads in unison again while looking at the boy who was deep asleep with pity. 

. . . . .

The students sat in their seats, waiting for the class to start. 

As time passed, more and more students entered the class and ran to their friends, excited. The class was full of children's voices, laughter, and excitement. Some were happily hugging each other and some were thanking god that their friends were all fine. 

It was only natural. The classes had finally resumed after a long break.

The schools were forced to be closed after the terrorist attack on the capital. It was most probably their first time seeing their friends in a few weeks so they were all full of energy. 

"Sigh..."

He put his face on the desk. 

'These people are too loud...'

How could they be so energetic? He wondered if it was natural because they were all teenagers. But he was also a teenager, how come he felt so tired? 

He raised his head again and looked at his classmates. Even though all the noise was making his head hurt, he didn't feel annoyed or irritated. He always liked to lean back on his seat and watch the others talk and laugh among themselves.

Creeek

The door of the classroom opened once again and another student walked in. But unlike the other times when the class would get louder when someone came in, this time the class went silent.

The boy didn't even glance at the others and just walked until he reached his seat and sat down. He grabbed his backpack and proceeded to take out his books.

"Hey, have you heard?"

Someone whispered from one side.

"Heard what?"

"About the Heartz family!"

Others answered him in a whisper.

"Oh, do you mean those rumors saying that say they are done for?"

"Yeah! With what has happened, the family will collapse in no time!"

"I heard the stock price of their companies is decreasing!"

The whispers were no longer whispers. 

"I also heard that the martial arts school they had was closed!"

"Oh my god! Isn't that horrible?"

"One rich family down! What is so bad about it!?"

"Who would think that such a family would go down in one day?"

"It is not only the family though, they say that the military and SMF both are a mess!"

"Obviously, with the commander gone, there will be some problems."

"They say there was a traitor among them!"

"I've heard that as well!"

The boy placed his books on the table, not caring about the 'whispers' behind his back.

"Seriously, I still can't believe that the commander is dead!"

"I know right? How can someone so powerful get killed so easily! No matter how intense the explosion, wasn't he the strongest swordmaster in the continent?"

The boy who was about to place his bag down paused for a moment.

"I agree! It was so sudden!"

"That explosion must've been really intense!"

"Maybe... Maybe those words were all lies?"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, he must've not been that strong after all!"

"Hey! How is that possible?"

"Shhh! Lower your voice!"

"Why would I? That great commander was not that strong after all! He died so miserably and it led to so many people's deaths! One of the units was almost completely annihilated as well! How is that possible if those people were as strong as they were told to be?!"

"Now that you said it, I think the same."

"They must've been fooling people..."

"Yeah! I heard they earned tons of money each month!"

"True..."

RIIIIIIIIIIIPPPP

BANG BANG BANG

The students all had to stop talking and turn to the spot where several loud voices were heard. There, they could see a blonde boy looking down at the ground.  The backpack he was holding was ripped in half and his books had all fallen to the ground from the gap on the bag.

"...."

"...."

"...."

The students looked at the poor torn backpack on the blonde boy's hands and then looked at each other.

Creak

"Hey, guys!"

The door of the class opened again at that time and a man entered the class. The teacher closed the door behind him with a smile and walked to his desk.

"Good to see you again! It's been a long time!"

The teacher put his bag on his desk and then tilted his head.

"I thought the class would be beaming with noises? How come you are so quiet?"

The teacher who was looking at the students' faces one by one with confusion stopped at one specific face. The smile on his face faded for a few seconds, but he smiled again immediately and walked to the boy's seat.

"Look at this cruel boy treating his books so harshly!"

The teacher bent down and picked up the books one by one.

"You shouldn't throw your books away just yet! It's only the first day of school after three weeks, Reyan!"

The teacher put the books on Reyan's desk and walked back towards the blackboard.

"Anyway, sit down everyone. You've skipped school for three weeks and now have to study more!"

"Oh, no!"

"These teachers want to kill us!"

"Can't we skip studying at least for the first day?"

The students sat at their seats and opened their books and notebooks while nagging.

. . . . . 

Ding

Ding

Ding

After hours of studying, school was finally over. The students ran out of the class almost immediately. Some of them were planning to hang out with their friends while the others were worried about their grades and were heading to the library.

"Hey! Wait!"

As for him, he just stuffed his books into his backpack and ran to the blonde boy.

"...."

He was ignored. 

"Don't you need any help?"

"...."

The boy was trying to put his books and other stuff into his torn backpack. It obviously didn't work and his stuff would fall down each time. 

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

In the end, Reyan just threw the torn backpack aside and hugged all of his books. He stood up from his seat with his book in his arms and walked to the door.

"I can help you! Why don't you put your books into my backpack? It still has a lot of space!"

"...."

Reyan walked down the stairs without even glancing at him.

"But your arms will hurt if you want to carry that much stuff until you arrive home!"

Reyan finally stopped walking and turned to him. The boy was frowning so deep that he thought he would get murdered right away. Still, he didn't give up. 

He had been seeing this boy in those dreams of him for a few days now. He thought he had to at least have a conversation with this boy. He had already made up his mind. He smiled and pointed at the books.

"Those-"

"...Aren't you the one who fainted that day in the hospital?"

He closed his mouth at the mention of something he didn't expect to hear.

"Um... Uhm. Yes. But anyway those-"

"I heard you were unconscious for three days."

"...."

He closed his mouth again. 

This wasn't how things were supposed to go. He felt like he was being made fun of. How did this boy even know that he was unconscious for three days?

"Um... Yes... But anyway, let me carry those for you."

He pointed at the books and then at his backpack.

"No need."

Reyan turned away from him and started to walk down the stairs again.

"Hey! Let's just-"

He rushed to stop the boy, but the next second he found himself in the air. 

His foot slipped.

"Woah!"

How did he slip? He didn't know. 

BOMM

The only thing he knew was that the next second, he and the blonde boy, whom he grabbed his arm in hopes of preventing his fall, fell all the way down to the ground.

Bang Bang 

"Oww! Ouch!"

And a bunch of books fell down on their backs the next second.