Carter hummed as he strolled into the room with Lei and Yuzuki trailing him. How casual of him. At least he didn't look to have had as hard a time as Huo. Must've been because of those headphones of his. Maybe I could go shopping with Yen to find some for Huoyin. Though, first I would have to get his head size. Inviting wasn't much of an option given how crowded the mall tended to get at the start of the school year.

Huo looked up from his bowl. He had been eating slowly.

Sarah stroked his free hand.

"Didn't expect to be beaten here!" Carter exclaimed, walking over to the three of us.

Sarah glared at him and put a finger up to her lips.

"It's fine, Princess. I am feeling better now," Huo said. He leaned back in his seat and sighed.

"Are you sure? You still seem tired," I asked.

He nodded and reached into his backpack, taking out a book. His eyes skimmed through the pages. Each page flipped in quick succession.

"Uh, is he pretending to read?" Carter asked.

"Maybe?" Yuzuki said, blinking.

Sarah shook her head and put her hands together, moving them like the wings of a butterfly.

"He flies?" I asked.

She shook her head but then nodded.

"Oh, he's a fast reader," Lei said in a low voice.

The princess smiled and nodded.

"Wish I could do that," Carter said, sighing. "Would make studying quicker."

Huo closed the book and opened it back up to the first page.

"Huh? He's reading it again?" Carter said, blinking.

Huo looked up. "Can all of you stop staring? Trying to read here. Go gossip elsewhere."

Lei sat down and pulled out a manga from his own backpack.

"Orantu?"

Lei glanced back at Huo. "Yeah! It's my favorite manga! I've read it a million times by now! Wish I could meet this Asamu guy." He lowered his head.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He gripped his chest. "Asamu... guy sucks as much as you," he mumbled.

I stepped back as Lei's eyes glowed gold. The abysmal had awakened already?

Lei blinked and smiled. "Haha! And here I thought only Kun sucked at pseudonyms."

I sighed. "Lei. Didn't we tell you not to speak to your abysmal?"

He lowered his head. "Sorry. He seems to like to do that when I read this. Huh? Wait, my abysmal knows the author of this? Who is this guy?"

I gasped. Asamu... Could the writer be Queen Setsuko's father? While in Zionia, one of the pictures was of a man called Osamu. And the creator of Lei's manga was said to be from that realm. But, if so, what was their connection? Friends or foes? Hmm, the way he talked about him suggested friends...

Maybe I should get Eien or his father to help me get in contact with her...

"Say, why are you interested in that manga?" Carter asked, poking Huo.

Huo slapped his hand away. "Stop that! And I'm not interested in it. It's just..."

Sarah smiled and patted his head.

He grumbled. "It reminded me of Let."

"Let? Is she from the orphanage?" Yuzuki asked.

Huo nodded. "Yeah, but I've known her since I was in the womb."

"Womb? Oh, your twin sister?" Carter asked.

He sighed. "Yeah. She loves that manga."

Lei chuckled. "I see. Your sister has great taste!"

Huo shook his head. "No. Her taste from clothes to food is atrocious."

Lei's eyes twitched.

"Hey, don't start a fight now," I said, grabbing my brother's arm.

He turned away. "I wasn't going to do that. I'm not a little kid anymore."

I sighed. He once punched Aya and his pose when they called Orantu for babies. Kid couldn't take them all on, so I had to bail him out. We got some bruises to write home about after that.

"You say that, but you miss her, don't you?" Yuzuki said, giggling.

Huo blushed. "Maybe a little bit."

"Ugh, that line was so long!" Ulissis said as he staggered into the class.

Ms. Key laughed nervously as she grabbed him. "Easy there, don't fall over."

"Thanks, Mrs. Opus," Ulissis said.

"Uh, here I'm still Ms. Key."

"Strange seeing you without Arima and Alto," I said, grinning as Ms. Key helped Ulissis sit.

"They told me to go ahead."

Ms. Key sighed. "You should've rested on the stairs before making your way here. You're lucky I saw you."

Ulissis laughed weakly. "Yeah."

Poor guy. He looked and sounded as if he had his soul sucked out of him. It was hard to believe he was a Shard of Light at times. More so that he was part diety. Not that frail gods didn't exist. There was Iah who lost his powers, and his Uncle Hiruko who was born without bones. Then there was Hika who had low stamina too.

"We finally caught up!" Arima said, entering the room with Alto and the armored girl.

"Are you okay, Uli?" Alto asked, rushing over.

Ulissis put his head on his desk. "I will be... after a quick nap." He closed his eyes, dozing off.

Alto chuckled weakly. "Seems large gatherings still drain him."

"He wasn't that drained by the curry event Hide did at the end of the games," I said.

"That's because the faces were familiar," Arima said, taking a seat. "It's strangers that make him uneasy."

"I can relate," Huo said, staring at his book's dusty brown cover. Just how old was that thing?

Thankfully, he didn't seem too uneasy with us last night. Apart from when Nyima and Aban started shouting.

Mira hummed as she looked around for a seat. Sadly, they were all too small for her.

"I'll go find a chair for you," Ms. Key said, rushing out of the room.

"Okay. I'll wait in the corner," Mira said, her head down.

Did being inside that armor exhaust her? It would for most people, but then again, she wasn't exactly normal either.

I held my hand out and formed a stone chair next to Mira.

"Huh?" Mira said, stepping away.

I laughed. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you. I know it's not comfy, but you can use that while Ms. Key finds you a chair."

Mira sat down. "Thanks! Being in this armor, there isn't really a difference whether the surface is soft or hard."

"That doesn't sound fun," Carter said, frowning as he walked over to her.

"It's not too bad. It makes sleeping outside easy."

He flashed her a toothy grin. "Ahh, that sounds neat!"

I sighed. "How did he even get into this school in the first place? Or is he like me and loves to play the goof?" I mumbled.

"His friend gave him his spot," Lei said, glancing at Carter for a moment. He smiled. "It was rather sweet. Made me tear up a little." He returned his gaze to his manga. "Wish I could've been that good of a friend."

"Right, Robert gave it up," Hikaru said, popping up with my big sis.

Yen smiled. "He's lucky to have a friend as good as him."

"Did someone say Rob?" Carter asked, removing his headphones. How exactly did those things work?

Hikaru held his hands out. "Y-yeah. I did. We were recounting what a nice friend you had."

He frowned but then quickly smiled. "Yeah, Rob's the best!" He sighed. "But, I'm not sure if I can live up to his expectations. I already failed to fulfill my promise of winning the tournament."

"Hmph, at it again, I see," a voice called out. We turned and saw Ling walk inside, accompanied by Kanja and Nate.

"Huh?"

Ling crossed her arms and glared at him. "You are moping around again. Did you not say that you would defeat our class? Where did that spirit from last night go? Or are you truly just hot air?"

Carter smirked. "No, I'm not! I'll beat you and that pretty boy standing behind you!"

"P-pretty boy? Did he forget my name?" Nate said, laughing awkwardly.

"Hate to admit it, but it fits," Kanja said, chuckling.

"Y-yeah," Ling said, blushing a little.

Nate laughed. "You girls flatter me."

Kanja grumbled. "That said, why did he only mention beating you two? Is it because he already crushed me?"

Carter fidgeted. "W-well, yeah. B-but if y-you w-want a rema-match, we can have one."

"And his stuttering returned," I said, chuckling.

"We finally made it here! Thought homeroom would be over before we got out of there," An said, sighing as he entered with his harem of girls.

Ning patted his back. "Same here."

Ver giggled. "I told you we would make it here. Plus, homeroom hasn't even started. It's why we left early."

"Ugh, imagine if we left late," Ulissis groaned as he kept his chin against his desk.

Xue walked over to him. "Are you okay? You look worse than An."

"The crowd scared him," Arima said.

"One reason I wanted to come here was for small class sizes too," Ulissis mumbled.

Alto laughed. "We didn't get those in the first year. Some of our classes felt like college courses."

"You've been to one, or how do you know?" Carter asked, taking his seat again.

"Yeah. I went to one with my big brother! I remember being stunned as a kid at the sheer scope of the classes."

"I had no idea Zydeco went to college," Arima said.

Alto sighed. "Well, community college. It was all our parents could afford to give him."

"Why didn't he ask Koukyuu for the money? I'm sure she would've lent it to him," I said. "I mean, she does seem close to him."

Alto scratched his head. "Zy likely swatted that thought from his mind if it crossed it. He's fine with accepting gifts and favors, but not he doesn't like to ask for them."

"So a more moderate case than our princess," I said, grinning at Sarah.

She narrowed her eyes at him.

I gulped. "I mean, the same as our princess!"

Sarah continued to glare.

An snorted. "Sorry, Rah, but I agree with Kun for once."

Sarah blushed, likely at the nickname.

I grumbled. Why hadn't I thought of that first? I was the nickname guy!

"You know, An. You're not much better. Sure, you ask for help, but when it comes to your health, you turn it down," Xue said, shaking her head.

Ver laughed. "Nor are you, Xu! Think only Hal has an easy time with accepting help."

An fidgeted. "I guess I do have to work on it. It's not really part of our culture, so it's a bit alien."

Ning nodded.

"But you two are helpful," Vermeil said, blinking.

"I'm an oddball even by Aief standards, " An said.

I sighed. Was that why Yanyu was so concerned about him? He really had no one at home to depend on...

"I was raised outside of Aief for half of my life," Ning said, moving her index and middle finger as if they were scissors. "Plus, it's usually in terms of helping those who are injured and accepting it when injured that's looked down upon."

"In that case, you do fit," Yuzu said, sighing.

"Why is it looked at as something bad? There's nothing bad with accepting someone's help when injured, or giving it to an injured person."

An scratched his head. "Remember what I said before? How healing magic isn't really a thing in Aief? It's because the strong should survive without such magic. It's that same line of thought. If one can't make it on their own, they're only a drag on society."

Sarah frowned.

"Sounds like H.E.H. to me," I said, shaking my head.

An smiled weakly. "Yeah, we aren't too different..."

"Ironic that it was you guys who took down Aida," Alto said.

"Yeah," Ulissis said, glancing at An. "I tried to help her out and she wouldn't accept it at all."

"Why did you do that? After what she did to Sarah and other people!" said An, hints of anger in his voice.

The red-head turned away. "I felt she was sad. Don't think she's all that bad."

Huo scoffed. "What a naive guy you are. Hierarchians are all evil people. Every single one of them is rotten to the core."

"Tammy?" Aurelius asked as they walked in together. Tamara looked jumpy as if something had scared her.

"Do you have a history with H.E.H.?" I asked.

Tamara shook her head.

Then, why had she reacted strangely? Maybe it was Huo's tone that frightened her and not his words.

"Huo, don't start scaring people," Kanja said, glaring at him.

"Not like I did it on purpose," Huo said, glaring back at her.

"Alright you two, break it up!" Aurelius said, getting between the two. He smiled at Tamara. "Everything's fine now, right?"

Tamara smiled back and nodded.

"It's not good to see everything in black and white, you know," Ulissis said in a clear voice as he sat upright.

I smiled. What a surprise. Thought he would've let it go.

"There is no reason to mix good and evil up. A fine line has to be drawn," Nate said.

"Woah, Nate's taking Huo's side!" Carter said.

"You could at least add something yourself," Ling said, sighing. She smiled at Nate and Huo. "As a Xianian, though, I must agree. One is either one or the other. That isn't to say that one can't go from one to the other. People do change."

Ulissis smiled. "I wanted to see if I could've changed her."

Sarah shook her head at him.

"Hate to say it, but think Huo was right about you," An said.

"Hey, don't speak that way to Ulissis," Arima said, trying to not snap at him, likely to not trigger Huo like how Nyima had done last night. She bit her lip and turned to look at her friend. "That said... I do think you guys have a point. That girl is too dangerous to befriend."

Ulissis sighed. "Maybe you're right... Plus, she didn't want my help at all."

Aida... she was one of us, a Shard of Light. Reforming her would've been for the better. Alas, I couldn't forgive her either. Not after what she had done to Sarah.

**Solar Note: Hope that you enjoyed the chapter ^^. Glad to get a look into Kun's head again after so long?**