No Time

So we're at school. The school is for the rich and gifted. It seems quite accomplished and in Xiao Lai's terms, "Super Fancy".

Almost everyone came to the school in sports cars or limousines. Good thing we have those too. We're in one of Xiao Lai's sports cars. This is a red one that will instantly catch the eyes of any person. I designed most of it and engineers I hired made it. It's definitely an amazing original model. Xiao Lai was very reluctant to take it out until Xiao Bing complained that he was too childish and selfish. That riled him up and he let us take it out for the day. Those two are still very cute and childish.

We were parked to the side as we waited for every student to pass by the gates. We would enter last to see what the situation was like. After every car containing a young master or young miss passed through the tall gates, a very long limousine, the longest we've seen so far came to the gates and passed. It was colored an ugly yellow and had the words "School Bus" printed on it in a bold font.

Whoever made this definitely has terrible tastes...

(Far away in an office, the principal sneezes)

"Yu Ge, I want to go meet Xingxing, can I go?" Xiao Lai asked while preparing to get off the car.

I nodded to give consent and he hurried away with his backpack slung around his shoulders.

"Xingxing!" he yelled as he rushed towards the ugly "school bus". He was using his top speed no doubt, he reached there instantly.

The rich and gifted students who were getting out of their rides all turned towards the loud voice.

Xingxing, I mean Zhang Xing, turned around in confusion to see my little brother jump at him and hug him with full force.

"Lai, why are you here?" the boy asked. He looked pleasantly surprised and very confused.

"I transferred! Now I get to see you every day!" So many exclamations... Xiao Lai really seems happy.

Xiao Bing watching this from a distance said, "I can't take this anymore! Too boring! I'm going out to have a closer look!"

She strutted out from the sports car like a model and Ge helplessly followed after her carrying his and her backpacks.

I chuckled and told the car to go back home. All of our vehicles have the ability to listen to voice commands. Xiao Lai loved the cars mostly because of that.

As the car drove away by itself, I walked to my siblings' direction.

"Zhang Xing, sorry to trouble you. Xiao Lai will be in all of your classes, so please guide him, he's directionally challenged," I said softly with an amiable smile on my face.

"Ok, ok, Yu Ge you don't have to worry about me. I'll follow him around," Xiao Lai said in a complaining tone while having bright sparkling eyes that showed his excitement.

"Lai, you're directionally challenged?" Zhang Xing asked in incredulity.

"Yup, so you'll have to help me around. Got it?"

Zhang Xing had fallen for Xiao Lai's trap successfully when he nodded. Xiao Lai was directionally challenged, it was true, but he could still easily get around with the map he memorized of the school.

Zhang Xing walked away planning to lead my little brother to class. Xiao Lai gave me a quick hug and whispered 'thanks bro' and ran to catch up.

Ge smiled while Xiao Bing pouted at not being able to see what she called, "scenes" anymore.

All the students went into the school in uniform order, unlike the hordes we usually saw in our old school. They kept looking at us. It was probably because we haven't gotten our tailor-made uniforms yet.

Ge went to his 12th grade class on his own. He also memorized the school campus map, so he could get to his classes easily. Xiao Bing had it memorized as well, we all did, but she said that she wanted me to take her to class. And me, being her doting older brother complied as soon little sister asked him.

The school has all grades, starting from preschool up to college. It was a pretty well-known place apparently. I'm not interested in such things, but it's apparently like that.

The 5th grade classes were in the elementary school division, near the place where Zhang Xing led Xiao Lai to for their 8th grade classes, the junior high school division. I would later go to my 10th grade classes in the high school division after sending off Xiao Bing.

Xiao Bing seemed nervous. We haven't met many people during our 2 years of training and homeschooling. Zhang Xing was the only person that we knew well enough. I still have to contact the old man who taught me how to make jewelry and hidden weapons. As for Xiao Bing's potion teacher, she would let the car drive itself to her teacher's house. We were told not to pry or follow after her since her teacher wanted to keep their identity anonymous. So far, we haven't even met this poison arts teacher of hers yet.

Anyways, I led Xiao Bing to class. She clung to me and held my hand tight. Xiao Bing really wanted friends. The ones around her age, not the friends she had in the underworld.

"Yu Ge, when I make a friend, you'll make one too," she made a deal. But really, I had no friends to speak of... how do I make them again anyway?

"Mm, ok Xiao Bing," I replied back but I wasn't very confident.

"You promised, so keep it!" she made me do a pinkie promise.

Nervously standing outside her classroom's door, Xiao Bing knocked on the sliding door to get the teacher's attention.

"Hello girls, do you need something?" she asked with a bright smile.

Meanwhile, I instantly frowned and gave off a cold aura. Did I really look girly? Sure I've grown my hair to reach my shoulders but it shouldn't make too big of a difference, right? I was used to growing my hair since it was hard to find decent scissors much less hair stylist scissors and it was even harder to get a decent haircut during the apocalypse. Besides I was a water element user and could wash my hair properly no matter the length.

"Ah, teacher, I'm a transfer student. And this is my older brother," Shui Bing said with a cheeky grin.

"Oh my! I'm terribly sorry! Anyways, you must be Shui Bing? Welcome to class 5A!"

I watched as Shui Bing took her backpack from my hands and nervously walked up to the classroom podium. She was definitely nervous, but her voice was clear and smooth. Introducing herself neatly, she bowed and a quiet applause resounded from the classroom. The teacher assigned her a seat next to a shy looking girl with glasses.

Satisfied with how Shui Bing's class's attitude was, I calmly walked away to the high school division.

Well, at least, I seemed to.

Unfortunately, I had not memorized the school map. Besides, I would still have trouble even after I memorized the map... I had just put it away on my drawer and read an online novel instead.

Right now, I seemed to be on a small cobblestone path. I kept on walking as I decided not to jump onto the school buildings to scout the area. If there were sufficient trees here, I would just climb towards the tallest one and find my classroom. By now, instead of being closer to the destination, I felt like I was getting further.

I guess this is the fate of me and Xiao Lai. We're both directionally challenged. Unless I've been to a place multiple times and memorized the whole area, I can't possibly find my way... Xiao Lai is the same but he has it better since he can memorize a map instantly from his genius capabilities and photographic memory. I didn't memorize the map and I even forgot to take a picture of it.

For now, I could just wander around until I found a school building. I was in what seemed like a huge maze of bushes and roses. After a while, I spotted a glass dome. It sparkled brightly as the sunlight shined off it.

As a lover of pretty things, I had a massive urge to go forward. I didn't care about classes anymore, the apocalypse would ruin the system of education anyway. What did I need it for?

It was just too tempting seeing the shining glass dome. I just gave in to my urges and jumped lightly onto the rose hedges. Thankfully, I wore clothes that didn't weigh much, allowing me to step on the hedges and run on the quickly without any mishap. It would be much slower to run in heavy clothing and shoes.

In just a few seconds, I arrived in front of the large glass dome. It was absolutely beautiful and didn't have a smudge of dust on it. It was so shiny! I had gotten too obsessed with beautiful things during my second life. Fashion, jewelry, music, architecture, interior design. These were all ways to express the beauty of livelihood. During the apocalypse, it was hard to even survive, let alone have time for hobbies. The newer buildings were crudely made and aesthetic was found nowhere. This made me very grateful for my opportunity to gather up beautiful things and horde them.

All I could say about the glass dome was that it was breathtakingly beautiful. The way the sunlight bounced off the glittering glass... The way it was uniquely structured... The way it changed colors as light refracted...

I was already in the dome before I realized it.

So glisteningly bright and stunning!

The inside was full of plants and I could see a fountain a little further from me. I stepped up the shallow steps, three of them, and went forward.

The fountain had many tiny silver fish in the water. They swam around steadily and lazily. The fountain was made of white stone and looked like the ones from France where there's a naked cherub and such on the top as a decoration piece. Fortunately, the cherub wasn't pissing and instead was clothed and holding a flute that spouted water.

I went around the garden and spotted some tropical plants as well as normal ones. The glass dome itself was beautiful but the coordination of this place is really skewed, who would actually put flowers and trees that don't go together in the same place?

(Faraway, the principal sneezes)

Well, now that I see it, the glass dome can be copied. I memorized the aesthetic of this place so I'll probably get some people to build it in the backyard as a smaller copy of it. Ai, I hyperventilate whenever I see something beautiful. I just can't help it.

After I got out of the glass dome, I kept looking back at it until I couldn't see it anymore. Going to my classroom seems like a pain, but it'll have to do.

The cobblestone trail has a simple but comfortable feel to it. The color of the grass is a very pretty color too. This school is great in terms of appearance. I should come here more often. I was only planning to drop off my siblings and skip out on my classes, but it seems like I can just walk around and admire the school site while waiting for my siblings. But ditching class is a must! I don't want to learn the same old things over again and school's not important for an apocalypse anyways.

So, I'll head to my classes now I guess. Whipping out my schedule, I saw that I had 4 classes today. I don't know how many times the bell rang but checking the time, 2:37, it should be the last period. It's probably halfway in... Oh well, I'll just go just for the sake of giving the teachers some face. Besides, I'm slightly hungry, I should go to the cafeteria.

Over the years, I've trained my siblings to eat only lunch and dinner. Dinner should be eaten in large portions while Lunch, small portions. This was proven to be able to keep your body less fat and with more stability. But for water, I told them to drink lots because water could be provided easily with me as a future water user.

My siblings and I are still not sure on how to live normally since Xiao Lai is a hacker and Xiao Bing is a thief. Ge has gotten too used to violence and doesn't really feel much emotions concerning their jobs. I think that he's still very innocent but to the point of it being a little terrifying. Well, I won't explain it further, but there was a situation when we were still in the capital, we saw a lady get harassed by three guys. We saw it but avoided it since we knew the three guys were harmless and wouldn't do anything to the lady. Besides, the three guys were quite friendly to us since we bought fruits and vegetables from their family's stalls all the time. They were brothers who just joked around every day.

But the lady didn't know that, so she called the police. The police were not from the town, so they didn't know much about the three brothers either. They tried to take the three guys to the police station so we were going to step up and be witnesses. Ge went towards the police, so we thought it was going to be ok, but he started pummeling the lady and the police. They were a bloody mess of deformed limbs by the time Ge calmed down with my coaxing.

The three guys had seen and were terrified. They ran away as soon as possible. I asked Ge, "Why did you do that?" and he replied with, "They were wrong." Xiao Bing retorted, "Jing Ge, but you can't go beating up every bad person, can you?" Ge thought for a while, and then said, "Why? Every bad person should be punished." Ge really had a weird sense of justice at that time. He was only a middle schooler at that time after all.

There were many more situations in the past that had Ge conducted and most went like that, where he beat up people. He still does it but now only after he properly sees the situation.

Anyways, back to school. I arrive at the school building once again and began walking up the stairways to my classroom. Thankfully there were signs on which letter and grade classrooms were located in. My class should be 10A. This school was nice in a way that they had recess for 30 minutes in the middle of the day and the teachers switched classrooms, not the kids.

I heard people inside the room, so I opened the door and went in. There were a few kids who were writing on paper and a supervising teacher.

Staying silent, I just randomly sat at a corner at the back and ignored the stares I got. The window was two seats next to me and the view was quite beautiful, showing a garden, so I moved to the seat next to the window. Mm, the view was quite pretty.

"Student, why aren't you in the auditorium? If you're a new student, they should be mentioning you right now," said the supervising teacher.

I only gave an "oh" and fiddled with my phone. I guess that probably left a bad impression on the supervising teacher. The few students left in here, 3 of them, looked at me curiously. Meanwhile, I turned on my phone and notifications started ringing out. They were from my siblings who were wondering where I was.

Ge called me and I accepted.

"Xiao Yu, you finally turned on your phone. Keep your phone turned on at all times, please! And where are you? Xiao Lai and Xiao Bing are here waiting for you. The principal has yet to mention your name and is still making a speech. We're going to be introduced soon, are you going to come over?" he said in a concerned tone.

"Yu Ge, did you get lost after dropping Xiao Bing off? You shouldn't have bothered to drop of that girl!" came Xiao Lai's voice from the background.

"Hey, that's mean! Yu Ge, don't worry. You can miss out on the introduction. We'll just tell the principal that you aren't participating," said Xiao Bing.

After listening to them rant for a while, I realized that it was on speaker. I always put it on speaker by habit since it's easier to train not holding the phone. Besides holding a phone will affect the flexibility of your wrists. But no doubt about the fact that the 3 students and the teacher heard my siblings persuade me not to come since I would get lost again.

"Ge, Xiao Lai, Xiao Bing, I'm not coming. Tell the principal that for me. And do you know where the cafeteria is? I'm a bit hungry."

Ge sighed over the phone and told me to go down to the first floor and head to the double doors that were colored in gold. But then Xiao Lai reminded me that lunch would usually end at 1 pm. I guess I can't get lunch for today.

"Yu Ge, don't worry. I brought some snacks in my backpack. I have dark chocolate, mint chocolate, caramel chocolate, almond chocola-

"Xiao Yu, I brought snacks too. I have some chips and gummy. Don't eat the chocolate that Xiao Bing brought. They're too sweet anyways," Ge cut off Xiao Bing's rambles.

"Mm, I'll wait in my classroom then. Good luck with the introductions. And introduce me to the students briefly if possible. Thanks."

I ended the call as I could hear the claps resounding probably from the principal finishing his speech.

I wonder if I could be excused from the introduction so easily though. Oh well.