The classroom was filled with the excited buzz of students. Every grade met on Wednesdays for homeroom during PE class, but today seemed a little bit more special. Usually, the grade would watch a video on ethics, modern news, or even do a little survey on their school life.

Today, the mood was different.

Demund walked over to Riley and Rhyne who were standing at the corner of the room. Rhyne was looking through his phone quickly while Riley waved at Demund to hurry over. Other students were also huddled in groups, excitedly talking about something. That something was what Demund wanted to know.

“Hey Demund,” said Rhyne with a tired voice.

“Hey Rhyne, Riley. What’s going on?” Demund asked as he stood next to his friends. “Why is everyone so excited?”

“Oh yeah, you’re new here,” said Riley. “Our school does a sports tournament every year just before the beginning of fall break.”

“But I thought break started in October?”

“Yeah, but we need time to prepare. The teacher will probably go over the details.”

Riley looked at Demund’s puzzled expression and decided to explain more.

“Rhyne and I attended the middle school for TISE. It’s around a few kilometers away from this place. But for the main sports tournament or the school fair that’s held every year, all the secondary students come here. The fields at the back of the school are quite large, so it’s perfect for doing these events.”

“I see.” Demund suddenly got curious about something.

“Did Enariss attend that middle school too?”

“Yeah, she did. But we really didn’t know her very well. There was this time though…”

Riley shook his head and tried to remember.

“Nah, sorry. I don’t remember very well. But yeah. We went to the same school. In fact, the majority of the students here came from Tartis middle school.”

“That’s really cool,” commented Demund.

The class grew quiet as the homeroom teacher—Mr. Ruthel, a lean man dressed very professionally—entered the room and positioned himself at the teacher’s desk. He cleared his throat, and after making sure that the class’s attention was focused on him, he began the announcement.

“As everyone knows, the sports tournament is next month. We’ll be beginning our votes today for what kinds of sports we will participate in. Everyone has something in mind, right?”

The students unanimously replied ‘yes’ as Demund looked around him with a confused expression on his face. Had he been the only one who hadn’t known?

“The class president will hand out the paper you will use to write your votes in. And remember, don’t write anything impossible. Every vote counts towards the tournament. You wouldn’t want the school to force you to watch ballet, would you? At least write down one valid sport. Your limit is three.”

The class agreed harmonically. One year, way back in the day, there had been an instance where a whole grade had trolled their answers by not writing valid sports inside their sheets. That grade was later forced to present a wonderful ballet dance. The whole school and neighborhood had watched it, and its records were still left of the school’s home page. It served as a reminder to act wisely when determining the school’s future—and people did.

The papers went around the room and students took out their pens to write whatever sport they wanted on the sheets. MMA and Relay Racing were always present in the tournaments as stated in the school’s rules, so the students didn’t bother with that.

Riley nudged Rhyne to distract him from his phone.

“Hey, what are you going to write?” he asked.

“I don’t know. Maybe some e-sport?”

“You know they won’t allow that. If they catch you, you might have to dance.”

“Eh. I’ll just write down something I’m good at. Like soccer.”

Soccer was a popular sport that came out almost every year. Riley looked at Demund, who was tapping his head with his pen.

“You, Demund?”

Demund continued to tap his head. “Me? I don’t know. This is my first time, so I don’t know what I’d like. I’ll probably just sign up for the relay race.”

Riley crossed his arms together. “You guys are pretty boring, you know that?”

“What do you have then?” asked Demund and Rhyne simultaneously.

Riley smiled and proudly presented his paper in front of his friends’ eyes. It said:

[Three-legged race]

“Seriously? I’m disappointed,” stated Rhyne.

“No, wait. Watch this.”

Riley then removed his hand that covered the front of the paper, revealing two words, creating:

[Male-Female Three-legged race]

“Ohhh!!! I get it!” exclaimed Rhyne. Demund suddenly felt respect for Riley. He never thought the votes could be used this way!

“Riley,” said Demund, “you are a genius. I’ll follow your footsteps.”

“Me too, old friend. I didn’t realize your potential.”

“Hmph,” said Riley, proudly wiping his nose.

“But only three of us isn’t enough. Don’t we need to spread it to the other guys?” asked Rhyne.

“Don’t worry,” said Riley with an evil smile. “I came in early today. Guess what I put in everyone’s lockers?”

Demund and Rhyne stared at Riley proudly smiling to himself. So he was the culprit behind the piece of folded paper they had found that morning. But the truth was a sad one.

“Um, Riley…” started Demund. “I also got one of your papers, but it was really small. It looked like trash.”

“Yeah. Me too. I just threw it away. Demund’s right; you made it look like confetti.”

Riley’s smile went away a little bit.

“Some people must have opened it, right? I spent two hours last night folding them all.”

“Let’s just hope that they did.”

Seriously, Riley’s ability was a scary one. It basically allowed him to be stress-free, allowing him to control his actions and emotions just like he wanted to. If he put his mind on something, he could do it without faltering. His ability didn’t make him better, but it provided him with the best mindset he could have. He was the one who had helped Rhyne through difficult times a lot. He always knew the correct, cool-heading thing to say.

But it looked like he made a mistake today.

“Okay, everyone! Times up,” announced Mr. Ruthel. “Fold your sheets once and put them into the basket.”

Demund and his friends submitted their papers to the basket that was passed around the room. They had all written what Riley had suggested—and genuinely hoped it would make it. They were desperate, young high school students.

Demund suddenly became worried about something.

“Hey, you guys…do you know if the special class is separated from the normal ones? At the tournament?”

“Nah. They just stick it together,” answered Rhyne. “The teams are created randomly with all the students of the school.”

“I see. That’s great.”

Demund looked happy and Rhyne returned to his phone. Riley with his clear head noticed what was up. Demund was clearly interested in Enariss. Who wouldn’t be? However, Riley understood it was not appropriate for him to tell that to Demund. He would wait until later and act oblivious for now.

“Is it because of Enariss?” suddenly asked Rhyne out of nowhere.

Riley turned to his friend in horror. You weren’t supposed to just say that!

“Yeah. It’d be nice having someone that great on your team. Plus, we’re friends.”

Holy—Demund just dodged a huge bullet there! How could he manage to answer so perfectly! Just then, Riley’s ability kicked in and he regained his calm and logical mind. He determined that Demund was interested in Enariss but was aware that she wasn’t into him, causing him to act natural. Demund was similar to himself in some ways. Some days, he even felt older than them.

But still, friends with Enariss? It was possible. They studied together. But Riley knew better than to assume things. Enariss was just outgoing naturally, not because she was kind. A memory of her crawled out from the back of his mind, but when he tried to grasp it, it fled away. What was it?

It was probably nothing. Being friends wasn’t a big deal, after all. If Enariss was smart, which she definitely was, she would have noticed Demund’s superb characteristics. It was what that had caused him to invite him in the first place. Looking back, his choice had been excellent.

The teacher collected the papers and started lecturing the class about the history behind the sports tournament, which everyone sighed at. They hoped lunch would begin soon.

Results would be announced next week.

〄 〄 〄

“Hey, Enariss?”

“Hm? What is it?”

Demund was stretching his legs while Enariss tied her long hair into a ponytail. Now that he knew about the sports tournament, he wanted to know exactly how capable he was. He wasn’t even close to Enariss’s level, but she didn’t count. She was the second-best fighter in the school.

“I’m planning on signing up for the relay race. How good am I at running in your opinion? Am I fast enough?”

Enariss finished tying her hair and placed her hands on her hips. Her ruby eyes glanced over Demund’s physique for a quick second. She didn’t really know where Demund ranked in fitness—she really didn’t care about those things—but judging from his running, he was not slow.

“You’re on the okay side,” she replied. “I’d say your speed is around 20th to 30th place within the MMA club?”

“Oh.” Demund hadn’t expected his score to be so low.

“But out of the freshman only, you’d be within the top ten.”

“Really?”

“At the back.”

“Oh.”

Demund became sullen for a second, which worried Enariss slightly. He wouldn’t possibly become depressed from this, would he?

To her relief, he recovered right away and stretched his legs more.

“Then I need to run harder, don’t I?” asked Demund. “Could we set the pace so that I can at least be included in the top five of my year?”

“Sure. If you want that.”

〄 〄 〄

For the first time in quite a while, Demund did not run home with his bike on his back. He went home on his bike. His legs hurt too much; he hadn’t expected the top five to be that difficult. He was barely keeping up with Enariss as she dashed across the neighborhood, panting behind her in desperation. He thought he had become fit, but today’s run made him realize the truth.

He was just slightly above-average.

He quickly went home and took a shower. When he came out, it was 8:33. After saying goodbye to his parents, he biked to Enariss’s house to catch a ride for the study they were having tonight. He waited outside as Enariss finished dressing. She had kindly allowed him to get a ride with her to Rhyne’s residence on her driverless vehicle. He had never ridden one before, so he was looking forward to it very much.

Enariss came out, looking better than ever. Demund tightened his breath as the floor to the right of the house lifted up, revealing an entrance to the parking lot. Enariss pressed some buttons on her phone, causing a small car to automatically appear from the underground. The garage door closed shut after the square vehicle stationed itself in front of Demund and Enariss.

Enariss pressed her thumb on the side of the grey car. It made a small *beep-beep* noise as the doors slid open. Enariss beckoned Demund to enter.

Demund, for the first time in his life, got on a driverless vehicle. It was small, meant for one or two people. He sat next to Enariss and watched in amazement as the doors slid shut automatically. Enariss punched the address to Rhyne’s house on the screen in front and pressed ‘Go.’ The car started to move, and the house gates slid open to let it exit.

“First time in a car like this?” asked Enariss.

Demund nodded. The car proceeded to move smoothly across the roads, heading for its destination. The inside of the car was dark, and Demund kept his eyes beyond the window, counting the number of street lights that passed by.

Rhyne and Riley lived closer to the central district of the region. Demund started to see tall buildings tower over the vicinity after a few minutes. They lit up the night sky along with all the shops, signs, other cars, and increased streetlights that the city encompassed. The air glowed with blue, yellow, pink, gold—and any other colors you could imagine.

Demund rarely came to the central district. He and Jothan always hung out in the suburbs. There was no need to come out this far; although the city was much more advanced, the suburbs rarely lacked anything. It was easier to bike around than call a driver.

So Demund was pretty impressed when he spotted all the robots and driverless buses move about in the city. It felt like entering a new world of technology. He didn’t let it show on his face—he wasn’t some country bumpkin.

They finally arrived at Rhyne’s home after twenty minutes. The time was 9:04 when Demund dialed the skyscraper’s entrance communicator to the number that was listed on the group chat.

Gosh, this place was big. A large, golden 'EXCELENTIA' was written on the building's outer wall.

*Brp-brp-brp-click* “Yes, this is the Talonina residence,” said a female voice.

“Hello?” asked Demund. “Is this where Rhyne lives? We’ve come over to study.”

“Oh, yes. Come right in.” *Click*

The intercom disconnected as the glass doors of the skyscraper slid open. Demund and Enariss stepped inside and headed towards the elevator.

“I’m getting nervous all the sudden,” said Demund.

“Why? First time in a building this high?”

“No…it’s just…doesn’t this place seem a little too…prestigious?”

Indeed. From the moment Demund looked at the building, he could tell right away that the price here would be outrageous. Sleek, marble walls decorated with polished stone. The shiny stone floor of the building. The thick glass doors that were rimmed with gold. The vases and paintings that decorated the large hallway to the elevator. The giant, black pillars that supported the first floor.

This place was like a 5-star hotel, minus the reception desk.

“Not really? I guess it would feel like that from your perspective.”

Of course it would. He had momentarily forgotten the extent of Enariss’s house. Compared to that, this building did look less impressive. It could be even called plain.

“Yep,” replied Demund as he pressed the silver button to call the elevator down. There were others besides this one at the sides of the lobby, but this had been the one Rhyne had instructed them to take. The building was huge.

The large doors of the elevator finally opened with a *ding*. Demund stepped in first with Enariss behind her. He pressed the 24th floor as told and turned around. He felt awe again.

The elevator provided its customers with the full view of the outside of the building. The back portion of the elevator was made completely out of reinforced glass. Demund gaped both his eyes and mouth as the machine took them smoothly upwards at a high velocity, making the cars on the ground look like toys in an instant.

He overlooked the city and fixed his expression. This was nothing special. He had to stop embarrassing himself.

“We’re here,” said Enariss as the doors slid open after a *ding*. Demund nodded and followed after her.

They moved through the long halls and finally arrived at room 2413. Demund rang the doorbell.

After a short moment, the door swung open. Rhyne’s head poked out from inside.

“Come in! We were waiting.”