Walking through the hall. People decorated the sides of the walls with their presence, glancing at the man who made their instincts to survive run wild.
Among them, another man with small, square glasses walked forward, blocking my way.
"....?"
"Nice to meet you."
He said, smile marred deeply onto his features. A certain pressure emanated from his gestures as he spoke to me.
"You're new here correct? And quite young at that. Uh...Your. Name?"
His hand calmly reached out for a handshake as he talked coolly and smoothly.
"Eliot Permassian."
"Ah, Eliot then!"
He shook my hand. Chuckling along the way.
Well, yeah? Who'd start calling me Permassian when Eliot is an option?
'A psycho maybe?'
I didn't really like this name. Eliot was fine, but my old name was....Wait, what was it again?
Anyways, shortly after, a well-kept voice cut my thoughts in half, shattering them into fragments, forcing attention to him.
"Eliot, since this is your first day here, please, ease up and relax for today. I'll tell you everything you need to keep in mind while still having the chance."
Brows furrowed, the air warmer than before.
Ho? He's talking quite naturally despite the blessing definitely affecting him.
His muscles were twitching at spurts, sweat drooled over to his chin as he motioned for me to follow.
Does he not realize it maybe? No, that's not it.
Thoughts converged, suspicions were adequately placed firmly. I followed him outside, the place where that arrogant white-haired brat likely was.
Walking down a flurry of stairs and reaching the exit in a matter of seconds, one of us decides to break the ice, that one of us being my upright, beautiful and not wanting to save the world, me.
"Excuse me."
"Yes?"
A reply came instantly. I push forward. Holding the idea that he might be an awakener as well.
"I'm sorry for asking this out of the blue but...."
"Please, talk in a relaxed tone, all of us are teachers, coworkers educating the future to the best of our abilities and to the best of what our budget can handle."
"Are you an awakener?"
He stopped at my question, clearly, he didn't like it.
The humidity in the air seemed to deepen as a chilling cold smeared onto my largest organ.
Finally, after dragging minutes he spoke.
"Eliot." He said my name, licking it with his tongue, wanting to remember the taste when it left his mouth.
"Are you saying that perhaps because you are an awakener."
"...."
I didn't settle enough to answer that.
"I don't care for what reason an awakener like you is doing here at this old, outdated school...But if the reason you're here, is because of the children."
The words hung in the air, pressure pressing against my lungs as my own words stuck glued onto the back of my throat.
Slowly, his face turned to me, icy glare attempting to shatter what I tried to hide from surfacing.
"Well, that's enough of me overstepp—"
"You're right."
My stomach churned wildly as the pot with mystery mixed in stirred. Lips parted, the next words cooling the room further.
"I am here for the kids, but not for the reason you believe it to be. That. I assure you."
The man in front of me, his joyful expression from before had been wiped clean off his face.
The wind from an open window blew against my hair blacker than charcoal.
"And while I can't prove to you that I genuinely don't have any ulterior motives...My actions will vouch for me, they'll vouch that I'm a sincere person that would protect and save those in front of me."
Rattle.
The surrounding furniture shook, porcelain rattled, its sound overlapping with others. The man with a face as cold as the frosty mountains scanned my figure.
Soon.
Smirk.
His lips stretched thinly into a smile, one rehearsed and molded by experience.
"Hahaha. I'm glad you're such a righteous young man, but I have to say, even I'd be embarrassed saying that."
To his soft chuckles. I chuckle back.
"Haha. Is it though? I mean, why would clearing your name be embarrassing? If anything, it should be admirable no?"
At my words, the man pushed his glasses deeper into his nose bridge. Glass reflecting the sunlight in them straight to me. We stood at about 2 meters, it was about at this time that I had also noticed that the occasional tremors in the principal's muscles stopped entirely.
My blessing was ineffective in other words.
'Interesting.'
As our eyes seductively locked to one another. Tension rose at its highest until eventually.
Trrr! Trrr—!
The school bells slammed on our ears, threatening to deafen us.
"Oh dear."
The principal said, gloved hand scratching his bushy chin.
"I'm sorry Eliot. It appears my desire for wanting to know more about you has led to me wasting our time for a bit too much."
"No worries principal...."
"Ares. Ares Pearl."
I nod, showing respect, knowing I was sprinting on thin ice.
"Then, please excuse me sir Ares, and I apologize for the misunderstandings arising due to my presence."
Twisting my head slightly to the side, to the open window where the reflection of my coworkers huddling close together flashed in my view. I truly found myself in this moment baffled by the effects of just one mere blessing that could only be dubbed as the greatest bluff.
'Was I sleeping on this?'
It didn't have a lot of affect on Ender, so I just assumed it wouldn't be that important in the long run and not worth investing.
'Ain't no way this was the play all along. I refuse to believe it!'
Done with my small goodbye. I turn on my heel, shifting directions back to my class.
My coworkers had long since left the scene, probably frightened that I might've noticed them, well unluckily for them. I knew.
As my steps recoiled in the long hall. I couldn't help but glance outwards, at the tall, towering windows.
Children ran back in a hurry, some tripping over while others exercised and played sports. Soon enough, even those stubborn kids wanting to play more went back in the school when Ares himself stepped outside.
Ares Pearl...My tongue licked over the name unknown to most, my feet felt heavier as interactions with him were mulled over and over again.
'What's he doing here?'
To me, or at the very least to my old self when I still hadn't wiped my memories. Ares was a run killer, one so insanely difficult to overcome that death was almost certain the instant you met him anywhere, an apartment complex? The run's dead. Oh, you met him at a random restaurant? Dead.
He was such a threat that past me used a holy blessing in one of the runs solely to make sure he died before anything else happened. He even changed me fundamentally in how I could save information more accurately to make sure I knew what I was doing anytime that I'd wipe my memory, instead of archiving summaries in a diary. I'd implant new memories full of text, most of them expressing hatred towards Ares Pearl and his presence on the world.
To put the frame simply in place, he was fucking bad news. Even Ender, a monster rightfully herself had trouble even landing a good hit on him. His combat abilities surpassed the norm, the hard minimum expected from a side character.
And to add the cherry on top. This fucker wasn't even apart of the game, he was part of the DLC of the original version only, not the gacha.
So I didn't even know how the fuck he was that powerful. I just knew from my past self to never go to these certain locations.
Of course, this school I was at currently was most certainly not one of those certain locations.
"Haaa. Whatever, let's just get ready for the next class."
Shaking my head a couple of times to the sides, my pristine reflection shined from the glossy wooden floor. Any type of dust in this school seemed to be nonexistent, with the only low quality of materials being used for the desks for the children....Likely because they kept breaking them...
As I kept walking, the vintage vibe of the school seeped in me, the cold breeze making a draft below me as my clothes rustled in protest.
Soon, I faced a wooden door, one with a lighter color than the floor.
Creakkkk!
The door creaked open, slowly, with its rusty hinges screaming.
In the classroom.
There was no one. Not a single soul breathed.
Only the open window bringing in a refreshing breeze greeted me. Its curtains lifting ever so little.
Without much thought. I take a seat in my new workplace. Eyes absentmindedly flicking up to the ceiling.
"I wonder what the parents of this body would think? What they would think of their child giving up going to the Academy of Talents, just to teach some brats out of a whim to enjoy his last life?"
There were better ways to enjoy my vacation, that much I knew. However, the desire in my heart to do anything meaningful to those around me seemed to far overpower any other feeling of want and indulging.
"Does it matter? It's my choice in the end. If anyone's got a problem with what I want."
I take a sharp breath, crossing my legs.
"Well, maybe I should just kill them."
"...Eh?"
All sound seemed to stop at that singular moment where the voice of a tiny little child jumped at my words.
My head slowly shifted to the side, eyes blank and uninterested.
"Ah..."
Finally the little girl with short brown hair and hazel eyes exclaimed as she realized the royal fuck up she had just done. Clamping her mouth shut as