“Oh brother, what a bother.” Ryuga sighs as he looks at the huge line in the supermarket. Why is he at the supermarket? It’s because his mother asked him to bring home groceries since the groceries at home were almost finished. Ryuga sighs. “Oh hey, it’s Ryuga, right?” A familiar voice asks. Ryuga turns around and finds Yuri standing right behind him. “Oh hey, it’s you, Yuri. I didn’t expect to find you here.” Ryuga says. “Me neither…” Yuri looks a little concerned.

Yuri and Ryuga both pay for their groceries and walk out of the supermarket together. They were talking while walking, “So they weren’t kidding when they said that you completely recovered.” Yuri says. “Well, yeah. I mean, I told them that mother healed me completely.” Ryuga sighs, “But, they don’t listen to me and they want to check my body for injuries.” Ryuga said with quite some disappointment in his voice. “Obviously, if it was me, it would have been hard even for me to believe in that kind of miracle. I mean, miracles do happen but this kind of miracles…Yeah, no, I don’t think so.” Yuri looks like she is sweating. “Interesting…” Ryuga soon remembers something that he wanted to ask Yuri.

“Yuri, you go to the same school as Mayumi, right?” Ryuga asks Yuri. “Yeah, and I know you dated her as well.” Yuri looked at Ryuga with a deadly smile. “Yeah…Let’s just say that never happened.” Ryuga looks away. “Anyways, tell me how is Bleeds doing? I heard he was hurt pretty bad as well.” Ryuga asks Yuri about Bleeds. “Well yeah but there was this unknown Ghost who came out of nowhere and swooped the floor with that Crazy Scientist!” Yuri shows with a boxing action. Ryuga laughs. “The heck was that about?!” Yuri punches Ryuga in the back. “Sorry!” Ryuga apologizes but still continues laughing.

“Anyways, he's out of danger. He will be back and running in few days.” Yuri pouts and looks away from Ryuga. “Well, I never thought you were the type to get all dramatically angry and stuff.” Ryuga laughs. “HUH?! Of course, I am angry! You made fun of the way when I showed my fighting style!” Yuri says to Ryuga. “No, I didn’t, I just laughed at it. Plus, you don’t even fight, that’s what makes it funny.” Ryuga continues laughing. “Someday, I am going to kick your ass and send you to oblivion.” Yuri looks angrily at Ryuga. “Sure! Sure! For now, let’s just walk home.” Ryuga says with a smile. “Hmph!”

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~

Ryuga walks back home, “I am home!” Ryuga says as he enters the house with the groceries he bought. “Gotcha groceries mother.” Ryuga says and keeps those groceries on the table. “Yeah, dinner will be ready in an hour or so.” Kaori says who is standing in the kitchen. “Alright, I will be waiting upstairs then.” Ryuga says. “Alright.” Kaori says.

Ryuga walks up to his room. He opens his door and finds Alicia looking at the moon. “What is it, Alicia?” Ryuga asks as he takes a manga from his bookshelf to read. “Well, it seems the time is nearing.” Alicia says. “Hmm? What time?” Ryuga asks Alicia as he starts reading the manga. “The time to sacrifice.” Alicia says. There is quite a seriousness to her tone of speaking. Ryuga looks at Alicia. “There will be a sacrifice this year for sure.” Ryuga says. “Context, please! You’re not making any sense.” Ryuga says to Alicia.

Alicia sits in front of Ryuga, “Every ten years, there is one sacrifice. A sacrifice made to the lord of vampires, Alucard.” Alicia says to Ryuga. “I see, so?” Ryuga asks. “Every ten years, a noble with a massive amount of mana is selected as a sacrifice so that the vampire lord ruling at the time could get more powerful and live longer.” Alicia says. “Ten years ago, that ritual couldn’t take place because Madman stopped it.” Alicia continues. “I see.” Ryuga continues reading the manga. “This year, someone will be sacrificed for sure.” Alicia says. “It’s gonna be Ellie, isn’t it?” Ryuga asks Alicia. “Wha-“

Alicia looked quite confused. It was almost as if she wasn’t expecting that from Ryuga. “Since my mana capacity increased, I realized that I can read the mana of living people pretty easily. I saw Ellie’s body emitting a huge amount of mana from her body. That mana was massive. I might have a massive mana capacity but my mana control isn’t as good as Ellie. I mean, if I did not have this ring that Ellie gave me back then, I would have been quite troubling.” Ryuga explained to Alicia. Alicia understood.

“So, are you going to save her?” Alicia asks Ryuga. “Nah, that would be too much hassle.” Ryuga says. “Eh?” Alicia looked quite confused. “Unless and until she asks me to save her, I won’t save her.” Ryuga says. “You tried to save me even though I didn’t ask you to.” Alicia said to Ryuga. “That’s because deep inside, you wanted to be saved.” Ryuga says to Alicia. “But, for Ellie, it’s like she has already accepted that fate. She thinks that there is no one in this whole wide world to save her and if she thinks like that, I don’t want to save her.” Ryuga says. “That’s not very hero-like of you.” Alicia looks quite annoyed. “I never said I am a hero or a Ghost. I have powers but I am not gonna waste them on protecting someone I don’t find precious. If Ellie dies today or tomorrow, I wouldn’t care about that but if something were to happen to mother, father, Bleeds, Jau, Kirio or Marie, I wouldn’t hesitate even once to save them. As I said, there are very limited people I care about.” Ryuga says to Alicia.

“I see…Of course, you never wanted to be a Hero since the beginning. My bad.” Alicia said with a sad smile and left. Ryuga sighs. He walks to the window to look at the full moon. “Saving people huh? That’s not something I was born to do. I just want to live a normal happy life. Once I bring back Alicia, I will most probably transfer to another city and settle there.” Ryuga is talking to himself. “Back then, mother said if I save Professor Akuma, she will make sure that I don’t need to deal those Ghost business. She said that if I save Professor Akuma, she will make sure that we move out to some other City and settle there. She said all those stuff…After that, she was about to tell me her secret when I fell asleep. Once I was awake, she was nowhere to be found. That is why I shouldn’t pay attention to anybody from this city. Maybe a selected few is fine but I can ignore everyone else…”

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~

The leave Ryuga and the others had taken was over and so they attend class today, “So, you all know what happened with that Professor Jin Akuma. Since he was captured and taken into custody, the science lab has closed. Ryuga Aragi and Slips Kilgor here, both will be joining our regular classes starting today.” Freda announces to everyone in the class. Ryuga and Slips both stand in front of the class. Alicia is floating above Ryuga. “Of course, The Headmaster has given you permission to use the science lab but, you can only use it during free periods and after school. It will be like a club instead of a department. The science club.” Freda says to Ryuga and Slips. “Take your seats now.”

Ryuga sits near Kirio and Slips sits at the very back, “Welcome back, my dude.” Kirio says to Ryuga. “Thanks for having me, once more.” Ryuga says with a sad smile. Alicia hasn’t spoken a word since the conversation she and Ryuga had yesterday. “Cheer up man, I understand you have lost your only teacher but you know, you still have that lab of yours. You can go ham with your experiments. After all, he did consider you a genius, right?” Kirio asks Ryuga. “What do you mean?” Ryuga asks Kirio. “Hmm? You didn’t see yesterday’s interview of him?” Kirio asks Ryuga. Ryuga shakes his head, “No, I didn’t.” Ryuga says. “Oh, I see…” Kirio sighs. “Well, basically that Crazy Scientist said, ‘you might call me a Crazy Scientist but there is someone far greater than me. He is a true genius in and out. The name Crazy Scientist shouldn’t go to me but to him because he can pull off some crazy stuff.’ That’s what he said.” Kirio smiled. “I straight away knew he was talking about you. Cause, you know, you are the only guy who was crazy enough to save those Ogre sisters. You couldn’t save the little one but you saved the elder one. You truly are an amazing person...”

Hearing what Kirio said made Ryuga feel guilty. He thought that he saved neither one of them. One Ogre was killed in front of him and he couldn’t do anything and the other one was also not his saving grace. He was humiliated. He was down and ground but…He wasn’t the one who saved Jau. It was someone else who saved her and he knew that.

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~

Time passed as Ryuga attended the class. There was no lunchtime since school left early. Due to the Akuma incident, schools were asked to leave before 12, and children were asked to come home before 5 until the whole incident calmed down. During this period, no school-trips, educational trips, picnics, or any of that stuff was allowed. The higher-ups were strict about the whole incident.

“Let’s meet up at the lab, what do you say?” Slips asks Ryuga. Ryuga nods. “You got some place for us two as well?” Kirio asks as he arrives along with Clayton. “Sure, I mean, it’s a club after all.” Ryuga says to Kirio and Clayton. “Thank you for having us.” Clayton bows to Ryuga. “Don’t need to be so formal.” Ryuga says. “Aight, let’s get going.” Ellie joins in with a smile. Alicia looked quite sad.

Ryuga and the others went to the club. Ryuga introduces Clayton and Kirio to the club, “This is our club which used to be our classroom, I guess…” Ryuga says. “Wohhh! It’s big.” Kirio looked quite astonished by the size of the club. “So, what are you working on Ryuga?” Kirio asks Ryuga. “That’s a secret.” Ryuga says to Kirio. “Wha-We are bros, right? There shouldn’t be any secrets between us.” Kirio says in a creepy tone. “Hell nah! I am not telling you any secrets!” Ryuga straight up denied Kirio. “Dude, that actually hurt my heart.”

Ryuga showed Kirio and Clayton all of the labs. The reason Kirio and Clayton couldn’t see Ryuga’s model that he readied as Alicia’s body was because he threw that model away. After seeing what happened to Akuma, he didn’t want to use that model but it does seem that he found some other way to bring back Alicia. Kirio and Clayton did visit the whole lab and poked around things. “So, what do you think? You guys wanna join in?” Ryuga asks Kirio and Clayton. “Of course, that’s why we are here, or else why would we be here?” Kirio looks at Ryuga with a ‘that’s obvious’ face. Ryuga sighs. “What about you Clayton? You wanna join in too?” Ryuga asks Clayton. “Yes, I want to hone my skills and surpass my current limits. I think that this will be a good place for me to train.” Clayton answers Ryuga. “I don’t think that’s how it works here…”

“Since you guys say it, Slips, Ellie, let’s welcome our new members, Kirio and Clayton.” Ryuga introduces Clayton and Kirio. “Who made him the boss?” Slips asks. “He was the closest to Professor Akuma, so I think it’s fine.” Ellie says to Slips. “But I was the longest with him.” Slips made her point. “If you want to be the leader, feel free Slips. I am just here to make fun stuff. That’s all.” Ryuga says with a smile. “Nah, too much responsibility, you take it.”

(That was a quick change of personalities.)

“Anyways, you guys have to help around while making gadgets and other stuff as well. You can’t just leave it all alone to those ladies, understood?” Ryuga orders Kirio and Clayton. “Yes!” Both Kirio and Clayton replied. Ryuga smiled and begun to move out of the lab, “I need to get home early, mother asked me to get some things from the supermarket. So, I will need to go there.” Ryuga says. “You two-“ Before Ryuga can complete anything, Ellie comes close to Ryuga holding his hand, “Can I come too?!” Ellie asked Ryuga. “Hmm? Sure…But I am going to the human world.” Ryuga says to Ellie. “It’s alright, I just want to spend some time with you. Talk to you…That’s all.” Ellie says to Ryuga. Ryuga hesitated and Alicia kept on floating over his head. Ryuga sighs, “Fine, just don’t create any trouble.” Ryuga says. “I got you!” Ellie smiles.

“Alright Slips, I leave these two to you. I am sure you can handle them.” Ryuga says to Slips. “Understood…” Slips looked sad as Ellie and Ryuga left. “What a weird girl.” Clayton says. “Nah, she totally has a crush on him. But Ryuga has a thing for Jau, so basically it’s a love-triangle.” Kirio makes a triangle with his fingers. “That’s not the case…I guess Ryuga realized it too but, Ellie is soon going to be sacrificed. That’s the reason why she wants to spend her final days with someone who she can call a friend.” Slips says with a sad face. “What do you mean by sacrifice?” Kirio asked Slips. “What I mean is The Vampiric Mana Killing. She will be placed in a middle of a pentagram and all her mana will be sucked away from her. It will all go to the Lord of all Vampires, Alucard.” Slips explains. “I have heard of it but I have never seen it in action.” Clayton says. “That’s cruel man…Why does that girl have to be the sacrifice? Isn’t that against the law or something?” Kirio asked Slips. “No, vampire laws are different from us Elves just like Elven laws are different from you humans. It all differs.” Slips says to Kirio. “Fucking hell…” Kirio looked quite pissed off.

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~

Ryuga and Ellie both are in the supermarket. Alicia was floating over Ryuga. Ryuga is looking for milk. “So, why did you want to come with me to the human world?” Ryuga asked Ellie while looking for good quality milk. “It’s because it might be my last time seeing you.” Ellie says with a sad smile. Ryuga took milk off the shelf. “Hmm?” Ryuga looked back at Ellie. “I might not be able to see you anymore. Even though, I wanted to spend more time with you. I can’t. Then again, I spent three months as your assistant. I think, that was more than enough time to spend with you…” Ellie stopped halfway and she stopped speaking.

“Ellie?” Ryuga looked at Ellie whose face was covered with her hair. It looked like she was biting her lips. “It’s nothing Ryuga, I am just going away for a long time. That’s all.” Ellie says with a smile on her face. “Let’s get other products so that you can get back home.” Ellie says as she looks around the supermarket with Ryuga.

“Are you still not going to help her? She is your assistant, isn’t she? That’s what you said to her, right? Are you still not going to help her?” Alicia kept on questioning Ryuga. Ryuga didn’t answer any of them and kept on shopping.

After the shopping was done, Ryuga and Ellie waited for a train to arrive so that Ellie can go back. “Goodbye Ryuga…” Ellie said with a sad yet cute smile as the train left. “…Forever…” Ellie whispered as the train left. “She is leaving Ryuga…Are you not going to help her?” Alicia asked Ryuga again. “It’s in my best interest to just leave her and her family issues alone.” Ryuga replies to Alicia. “Is she not your friend?!” Alicia kept on poking Ryuga. “She is not my friend. She is my assistant. I can just replace her!” Ryuga said in a low whispering voice as he left. “That's wrong...That’s so wrong Ryuga…WHY THE HELL ARE THERE TEARS IN YOUR EYES?!!!!” Alicia screamed her question to Ryuga following him, “Shut up.” Ryuga said as he wiped his tears. “IF SHE IS NOT YOUR FRIEND, IF YOU DON’T CARE ABOUT HER, IF SHE IS JUST A PIECE OF SHIT TO YOU, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU CRYING?!!!!” Alicia screamed in Ryuga’s ears. “Shut up…” Ryuga said as he took a cab to his house. “Ryuga, you idiot…”

~GHOST WORLD ACADEMIA~

Ryuga reached his home, “I am home.” Alicia looked really pissed off at Ryuga. Ryuga was going upstairs when Kaori stopped him from the living room, “Oh Ryuga, look what I found when I was cleaning house!” She gave Ryuga a small statue of a masked man holding two swords. One a massive sword almost exceeding the size of his body and one a normal sword and behind the back was a scythe with a chain attached to it. There was also a shotgun on his back and two pistols on the left and right side of his hip.

“Holy shit! That looks so good! It almost looks like a hero!” The statue piqued Alicia’s interest. “I remember, you and Hiro made this statue. I remember how you made this statue as a kid and got all excited saying here he is, the hero who will save the future, the hero called Hope!” Ryuga took hold of that small statue, “The hero…Called Hope…Ryuga, you said you had no interest in Heroes and Ghost yet-“

Alicia noticed that every single weapon and even the hero costume the statue is wearing are all from different heroes who were known as the first-gen heroes. The first heroes to ever emerge in the world. Alicia came to understand that the heroes Ryuga admired aren’t the heroes of the current generation who work for fame, money, recognition, and nothing else. Ryuga admired the heroes who protected people without the need for fame, money, or any of that bullshit. The thing that they protected were the people precious to them.

“Those heroes…You admired them, didn’t you? That’s the reason why you knew so much about every race, you say you have no interest in them but the reason you have so much knowledge about different things, the reason why you know the ranking of the heroes and the reason why you cried when Ellie left…It’s all because you wanted to become the people you have admired!” Alicia said to Ryuga.

10 YEARS AGO,

“There are heroes I admire but the real hero that I admire is Athena. She was said to be the most powerful hero in the whole god damn world. I admire her the most. So, Ellie 10 years is more than enough for me to become a hero and when I become that hero, I will change your fate and save you. I promise you, I will save you.”

PRESENT,

“Ryuga, you used to be such a fanboy back then. Look at you now, you don’t even show consideration for those Ghosts you admired.” Kaori said to Ryuga. “Ryuga?” It seems like Ryuga wasn’t saying anything and was looking on the ground. “Can I keep this, mother?” Ryuga asks Kaori. “Yeah…” Kaori looked quite confused. Ryuga went upstairs and laid his bag on the bed. “Ryuga? Hey, wait!” Ryuga went out of the house and Alicia followed him. “Where are we going Ryuga?!” Alicia followed Ryuga. Ryuga stopped at the park where Alicia had been killed.

“ALICIA!” Ryuga screamed. “Wh-WhaT?!” Alicia looked totally confused. “I am weak, aren’t I?” Ryuga asked Alicia. “Well, not really…Not if you have that suit at least.” Alicia said to Ryuga. “Alicia, I want to use my own strength to save Ellie. You said that I want to be like the heroes that I admired but the only hero I really admired was my father. I can’t be like him but, I want to be someone he can be proud of.” Alicia’s eyes widen as Ryuga puts his fist in front of her, “So, lend me your strength. Train ME and make ME stronger to fight for Ellie. I want you to guide me while I protect Ellie. As a teacher, I am sure you can do that much, right?!” Ryuga asked Alicia. “I, Aragi Ryuga, the son of Aragi Kaori and Aragi Hiro, request Miss Alicia Shiezel to become my personal trainer and make me into a hero that my father would be proud of!” Ryuga requests Alicia in the language of Ogres. “Pffft!” Alicia chuckles. “Eh?!” Ryuga looked confused. “Did I mess up?” Ryuga asked Alicia. “No, it’s just funny to see a human use the tone of an Ogre. That’s all.” Alicia says as she laughs. Ryuga looks annoyed. “I will help ya. After all, I did vow to always be by your side.” Alicia smiles. “Thank you, Alicia.”

THE HERO INSIDE RYUGA HAS AWOKEN

"Umm...I have a question why don't you just use your suit? That's your own creation, right?" Alicia asked Ryuga. "That suit was created in under 30 minutes and it was specifically made to fight Akuma, so in other words, it's a pretty weak suit in compare to Jau, Ellie, and other people who have massive mana or strength." Ryuga replied. "That's...Such a Ryuga thing for you to do." Alicia sighs.