Van continued to stare at the piece of parchment in his hand. Flipping it to see the other side, examining every corner of the paper. But no matter how much he looked, there wasn't anything in it except,

[Testing. Testing. Are you sure this is working, Athena?]

​​

"..."

He even turned on his superspeed and [Time Perception] to see if he needed it to understand the words of the Gods, but alas, it was still the same. Did he just risk his classmates' lives… for this?

What does this even mean? Was there a hidden message contained inside of it? And who is Athena? Was that the message?

Van could only let out a long and deep sigh as he folded the parchment. However, before he could place it in his spacious pocket, it suddenly crumbled. Withering away into ashes as it was flown by the forest wind, never to be recovered again.

"..."

Heavy breaths started echoing throughout the woods as Van looked at the embers on his palm. He didn't even get to keep it to examine it more later? That was really it?

That was the message!?

First, they sent them to this unnaturally strong big-tittied spider to be toyed with, and now this!? Were these Gods some kind of immature pranksters that play with other people's lives? If Sarah's sister really was like him, then no wonder she turned insane.

Van wanted to pull his hair out from the frustration that started to drown his whole body, but before he could do so, he heard the rustling of the leaves behind him.

Van quickly backed away from the bushes as his thoughts were disrupted. Squinting his eyes to look more carefully, but even after a few seconds, nothing came out of the bush.

And so, with a tiny scoff, he decided to go regroup with the others, it would look suspicious if he was gone for too long.

"..."

"..."

"What are you doing, brother!?"

A few seconds after Van had gone, Harvey emerged from the bush, leaves sticking in his thick blonde hair. Gerald also emerged from the bush, patting away the dirt and the leaves that stuck on his new uniform.

"What were you going to do to Van, brother?"

Harvey once again repeated his question as he looked straight at his brother's eyes.

"Why did you follow him here? What were you trying to do?"

"Tch. Enough with your questions."

Gerald, however, only waved his hand as he stepped out of the bushes, kicking the branches away violently. In truth, when he saw Van suddenly walking into the forest, he quickly followed him. Of course, he wasn't able to chase him, but Van left enough tracks for Gerald to know where he went.

What he couldn't believe was how Harvey even managed to find him. I guess they really are brothers, after all. He let out a tiny chuckle as a sense of pride welled up inside him.

"Wait!"

Harvey suddenly grabbed his shoulder, tight, preventing him to walk any further.

"..." Gerald could not help but let out a deep breath as he glanced at his brother's hand. "And what are you trying to do?"

"Van is my friend, brother. Why are you so insistent in hurting him so much!?"

"...Because he is a beggar, Harvey."

"A beggar? Are you hearing yourself!? How is Van even a beggar!?"

"You should have seen him the first time I saw him. Desperate, poor, but most of all, weak. He wanted to go enroll in the Academy even though he belongs in the trash. Their kind does not belong in our world, Harvey."

"What!?" Harvey could not help but slightly let back away while shaking his head, "What do you mean our world, Gerald? What is that supposed to be!?"

"A world where only the strong reside! A world where there are no beggars that would sneak their way into our lives and stab us in the back! That is what your friend is, Harvey. He is a pest that should be eradicated from this world. He and his whore of a sister!"

"!!!" Harvey's twisted expression suddenly relaxed as his trembling eyes widened. "You… so it really was you that sent those people to his house?"

"They almost killed her, Gerald. They almost killed Andrea… she… she doesn't have a System. She's just a normal human. You...

…Who are you?"

"I am your brother, Harvey." Gerald grabbed Harvey's shoulders and looked him straight in the eyes. "Didn't I promise you? I will make this world a place that will be safe for you."

Harvey could only back away as he saw the look in his brother's eyes. Gerald believed it. Harvey could see it in his eyes that Gerald believed everything that came out of his mouth… and the anger that was gathering inside of Harvey quickly dispersed, replaced by loneliness and pity.

"I… am so sorry, brother." Harvey stuttered as a single tear trailed down on his face.

He wasn't there. All this time his brother was falling into the darkness, and he couldn't even see it. He was always looking at his brother's back, thinking that he was the strongest man in the world. He was so sure of it… that he didn't even bother actually looking at his face.

And now, seeing him like this… Harvey once again blamed himself. He wanted to say something, but once again, nothing was coming out of his mouth. The only thing he could do was shake his head and run away.

"Harvey!? Harvey! Where are you going!?"

"Brother of the year right there."

"!!!"

Gerald quickly put up his guard as he heard a voice coming out of the bushes.

"And you wonder why people call you a psycho?"

"...Jennifer. What are you doing here?"

"It's Gemma!"

"Hm…"

"And I saw you following Van into the woods. I have strict orders from the President not to let the two of you be left alone."

"As you can see, there's nothing to see here." Gerald lightly scoffed as turned around. Just how many people were actually following them, he thought. He would definitely lose his mind if someone else pops out from the bushes again.

"Have you tried actually having a conversation with Van?"

"What?"

"You know, like a normal human."

"I am a System Holder, not a normal human!"

"...That's not what I meant."

***

"Alright, is everyone here!?"

Back to the clearing, some of the members of the Standby Unit have already entered the Portal and started tending to the students that were injured during the unexpected Portal Upgrade.

"Sir, Gerald and Gemma still aren't here!"

"I see. I knew there was something going on between the two with how much Gemma was staring at the Lauder boy." Mr. Jacobs shook his head as he gestured for the students to start leaving the Portal one by one.

Hearing Mr. Jacobs' words, a flurry of whispers floated around the freshmen.

"What? Did she already move on from Van!?"

"I guess since she couldn't get Van, she went with the 2nd choice.'

"Is it really that fast!?"

"No, it was Van that was too fast for her."

And once again, Gemma has become the victim of baseless rumors.