"I knew it! You were a student here!"

The three all looked at the red-haired female student in front of them.

​​

"Do you know her?", noticing that the female student was pointing aggressively at Van, Beatrice immediately stepped in front of him, putting up a stance as she faced the female student.

For some reason, perhaps due to Van's small stature, Beatrice's body moved in instinct as if she wanted to protect him from harm.

"Yeah, What do you want with our friend!?", Harvey also stepped forward, both his hands were inside his pocket and his head was slightly tilted up. His eyes were full of arrogance and his voice full of angst as he stared at the female student straight in the eye.

The red-haired female student, Gemma, on the other hand, was weirded out. Was she also like this when she was a freshman? She cringed.

"I just want to ask how that boy is!", Gemma pushed Harvey's face to the side as she walked towards Van, who was currently being blocked by Beatrice.

"Are you alright, kid?", Gemme squinted her eyes as she tried to scan Van from head to toe, "Do… you remember me? Gemma?"

'Was he really the kid from the other day?', she hummed in her mind. The kid in the arena was beaten so badly he couldn't walk, so maybe it wasn't him?

But no, even though the boy in front of him right now looked much healthier, their scent was the same, not to mention they have the same small stature.

She was sure of it. This boy was the one in the arena.

Van was also looking at her with curious eyes, the girl did sound familiar. It was as if he met him somewhere before.

"Ah!", finally, after a few seconds, Van clapped his hands as he recognized the female student. He then retrieved something from his bag and presented it to the female student.

"This is…", Gemma tilted her head in confusion as she looked at the item in Van's hand.

"You... left this the other day", Van said in a soft tone.

It was Gemma's boots that fell off due to her almost slipping on Van's blood.

"Ah!", Gemma quickly grabbed the pair of boots, "I have been looking everywhere for these!

"S...sorry, I had to use it without your permission", Van said as he bowed. Seeing that the two seemed to know each other, Beatrice decided to put down her stance and step off to the side. She was, of course, still watching Gemma closely.

"Hm…", Gemma hummed in satisfaction as she hanged the boots on her shoulders, but then her expression suddenly turned serious as she grabbed Van's small shoulders.

"Wait!", she said in a loud voice, "That's not important right now. I saw you all beaten up the other day!"

"What!?"

"Is that true, man!?"

As soon as Beatrice and Harvey heard Gemma's words, they could not help but also grab Van's arms on each side, their faces full of worry.

"Who did that to you?", Gemma looked at Van straight in the eye, her eyes full of weight and inquisitiveness. "Was it a student here!?"

"W...well", Van awkwardly looked to the side as he was not used to being shown this much concern, he really didn't know what to feel, "I… I just slipped"

"What!? You expect me to believe that!?", Gemma leaned in closer to Van, "You were barely even breathing the other day!"

"That…", Van closed his eyes. He didn't really want it to be known that he was beaten almost half to death by Gerald and his group of thugs. He wanted a fresh start in the academy. If it was known that he was beaten by Gerald, and Gerald gets a hold of his information, then his life would surely be hard from now on.

'At least not until I get enough strength to fight back', Van sighed. And once he does… he will surely send him to the afterlife along with his father. And without even realizing it, a slight smile slowly crept on Van's face as the thought of the both of them being tortured surfaced in his mind.

"What the… why are you suddenly smiling?", Gemma could not help but back away. Was this boy some kind of pervert or something?

"S...sorry", Van quickly shook his head to repel his weird thoughts, "I… am just happy for the concern you are showing me", he then smiled towards Gemma, "Thank you"

Once again, Gemma could not help but back away. But this time, with a slight blush on her face. It was as if she was looking at a small puppy, she was trying her best to resist the urge of patting his head.

Finally, after much resolve, she shook her head. She should focus on the matter at hand. She was sure of it, a student did that to Van, leaving him half to death in the arena.

"Who did that to you--"

*DING*

Gemma was going to ask again, but the sound of the school bell interrupted her.

"Noo!", Beatrice shouted as she quickly pulled Van's hand, "We're going to be late for our first class!"

Beatrice then forcefully dragged Van as she ran, along with Harvey, who was grabbing Van's other hand.

...Was she really a Mage-type System holder? Van and Harvey thought as they felt the air rush through their face as they were being dragged in the air by Beatrice across the academy grounds.

"T...this…", Gemma blinked a couple of times as she watched the three's back disappearing in the distance. Did they really just leave her like that?

Gemma could not help but sigh. No matter…

'I will find out the truth of what happened to you, boy!', she released a quick breath as she looked at her boots.

Wait…

She forgot to ask for his name!

***

"We made it!"

Beatrice was panting heavily as she entered the classroom, her face full of satisfaction and pride. Harvey and Van, on the other hand, looked like they had seen a ghost due to their disheveled appearance.

"Do you really have a Mage-type System?", Harvey said as he tried to fix his hair, "It felt like a gorilla was flinging us into the air", he said as he waved his hands in the air, dramatically reenacting their situation earlier.

Van just slightly chuckled as he patted his loose uniform.

"G...Gorill--!"

Beatrice was about to rebuke, but then she noticed that everyone was looking at them. And so, she just cleared her throat and awkwardly took a seat on an empty chair.

Van and Harvey did the same.

Sadly, they were all separated from each other. This, however, did not stop Beatrice from glaring fiercely at Harvey.

Van quietly took an empty seat that was on the farthest corner beside the window. The brown-haired female student that was sitting beside him had her face down the desk, so Van didn't really want to disturb her that much by creating noise.

But soon, a loud noise interrupted the entire classroom.

"HAHAHA!", followed by a burst of laughter so loud that it almost ruptured the student's ears. Van could not help but wince as he covered his ears. He then looked at the sleeping female student beside him to see how she was. But to his surprise, the female student was still sleeping.

'S...she's not dead, is she?', Van put on a concerned face. There were a lot of cases like these in his home, people dying in their sleep due to hunger.

Van was about to poke her with his finger.

But fortunately, after a few seconds, the female student twitched as she slowly sat up. There were red markings all over her face due to being faced down for too long. But it seems like she didn't even mind as she just stared at the man that just entered the classroom, without even a trace of expression on her face.

"I will be the adviser to your class!", once again, the man's loud voice filled the entire room, "You may call me, Mr. Jacobs", he said while flexing his muscles that were almost bursting out of his clothes, revealing some of the tattoos that littered his body.

Van was completely speechless. Was this really a teacher?

Every person he has met in the academy so far has been full of colors, truly quite different from what he was used to.

"Now…", Mr. Jacobs' tone suddenly turned serious, "All of you out!", he shouted as pointed at the door.

"...What?"

All of the students started whispering at each other as soon as Mr. Jacobs said that. They just got inside the classroom, so why were they now being asked to go outside?

Their questions, however, were quickly answered with the adviser's next words.

"We are going to have a little showdown with the next class", Mr. Jacobs once again let out a robust laugh, "Don't let me down, fishes!"

Most of them heard that System Academies can get intense.

But... A showdown?"

Right on the first day of school!?