Kieren’s eyes slowly opened as the morning sun attacked his face. He groans as he tries to turn away from the window. He laid like that for a couple more minutes, thinking.

(Starting now I will be waking up to a new day without Grandma Akiko…)

Kieren couldn’t help but tear up at that thought. But then he remembered Grandma Akiko’s last words.

(‘I will be in the air that caresses your face, the water that nourishes your strength, the ground that supports you and the fire that burns within your soul. So do not stand at my grave grieving because I will not be there, I will stand beside you as I watch you grow. I will not die.’ Right. I can’t stay trapped in my thoughts. I need to keep growing; I need to keep moving forward.)

He glances at the clock that read 6am. He couldn’t help but groan again. It was time to go to school. He had taken a leave of absence while his grandmother was sick. This would be the first time he was going back after a while.

*Knock, Knock*

“Come in!”

A maid came into the room with a trolley full of food and an assortment of beverages. The aroma of freshly made food was enticing as it spread across the room.

“Good morning young master Kieren, I hope you had a refreshing sleep. What would you like to eat for breakfast this morning? The chef recommended the strawberry scones with earl gray tea.”

“That sounds good. I will take the chef’s recommendation.”

“Excellent choice young master.”

The maid took out the food as Kieren was sitting up in bed. He was still in his funeral clothes when he went to bed. He looked for his school uniform as he rummaged through the closet.

“Young master, the meal is set.”

“I will eat by myself. You may leave.”

“Yes young master.”

After laying the uniform on the bed he brought up the scone to his face but did not eat. After a while he placed the scone back and picked up the tea and did the same.

“Sigh…so it’s already started with the chefs huh.”

He tossed the food out the window and poured the tea down the drain as he prepared to leave. He would have to get breakfast to go.

“I won’t be needing the car. I will take my bike to school today.”

“Yes young master. Have a good day at school!”

Since the chefs were already no longer on his side, until he could find the extent of the corruption in his staff he would try to use their services as little as possible, that included the drivers and the guards. All he had to just rely on himself until then. He checked to make sure the bike wasn’t tampered with and set off to school.

The drive was 20 minutes from Kieren’s resident to the school. He kept a lookout from his rearview mirrors to ensure nobody followed him. At the speed he was going, any pursuer would be hard pressed to catch him anyways. He relaxed a bit when he entered the school gates.

(I guess it hasn’t gotten so bad yet if nobody is bothering to follow me to school yet. At any rate the poison was an indirect attack so I guess they are afraid of ‘my shadow’.)

The school Kieren attended wasn’t a place an ordinary person could get into. The kind of school Kieren went to was a famous prestigious academy for important and powerful families. The school was a major customer of the Moonfury Corp. and usually took in the best they had to offer making the perimeter extremely secure with guards, security cameras, hidden wiretaps and cameras, and even magnetic force fields to keep out unwanted intruders that could harm the students. As a result, students were not allowed to bring in their own servants or bodyguards.

As the recipient of some of the best of the Moonfury Corp’s. security, Kieren was fairly confident in the security since he and grandma Akiko themselves were the ones to oversee the deal and were the ones to choose who and what was sent over. So Kieren was confident that at least it was safe in the school.

“Yo! Look what a fox finally dragged into the school.”

Waiting at his parking spot, was an 18 year old young man with blond hair and blue eyes in the same uniform he was wearing. He didn’t look big under his uniform but Kieren knew that he was toned underneath and with a height of 183cm and a friendly personality; he was very popular to both men and women. This person was Kieren’s best friend Aaron Soleon.

“Ha-ha. Do you have to say that every time you see me?”

Kieren and Aaron gave each other a high five.

“Are you really okay man? You know you can talk to me if you need anything.”

Aaron gave Kieren a concerned look. He knew that Kieren was very attached to his grandma and now that she was gone, Kieren lost a major supporter both politically and mentally.

“It’s fine. You don’t have to worry about me.”

Aaron studied Kieren’s face to make sure he wasn’t lying. Surprisingly although his eyes were slightly red and puffy his eyes were still firm. They weren’t the eyes of a person in despair.

(It looks like he’s telling the truth. He and his grandma must have parted with each other properly before she died. Thank goodness.)

“Well then I guess you are ready to help me out with a new plan right?”

“…What kind of mess are you thinking of getting yourself into now?”

“Oh come on! You know all my plans always work!”

“Even though your plans work they always throw trouble my way.”

“But you gain a lot of benefits at the end.”

“A fair amount of suffering too.”

“Nothing is for free in this world~”

“Says the one who wants me to help him for free.”

“We are practically family. Family are supposed to give each other a helping hand when they need each other especially since I consider you my little brother.”

“…That’s not fair and you know it.”

“I’ve only said the truth.”

“…"

“So it’s a…”

“Hahhh. Fine. I’m in.”

“I knew I could count on you!”

“Yeah, yeah, hurry up and tell me your plan before I change my mind.”

“Uh-uh. Not yet. The plan won’t start til the next week. I want you to first get yourself back into the school mood. It’s essential to the plan. Once I’m ready to begin I’ll let you know.”

“Sure. We should get going, it’s never a good idea to stand in a parking lot for too long and I haven’t eaten breakfast yet.”

“You haven’t eaten yet?...Do you need my help?”

Aaron’s eyes darkened. For Kieren to not have eaten meant he was either unwell or someone was interfering with his daily routine. Judging from Kieren’s eyes he wasn’t sick and due to the situation it was likely caused by someone who messed with his friend’s routine with bad intentions.

(Looks like I need to look up some things when I get back…)

Aaron is the heir of the country’s intelligence agency. Unlike positions such as prime minister or president that needed to win elections to be instated, the country’s intelligence agency held sensitive information that was restricted only to a single family sworn to protect the prosperity and well-being of the country. The power held by the Soleon family was an object of envy, as a result as the heir Aaron was familiar with almost every ploy, scheme, and conspiracy one could think of. The Soleons relied on the Moonfury Corp for protection and the Moonfury Corp relied on the Soleon family for intel to better protect special clients.

“No I’ll handle it myself. It’s just the start; if I can’t manage my own situation I won’t be able to manage problems in the Moonfury Corp in the future.”

“Sure. If you insist.”

Aaron gave a nonchalant shrug. To be honest he knew Kieren would be able to handle it himself but he didn’t mind giving him a hand if he needed it.

(That doesn’t mean I won’t look into on my own though.)

“Enough of this. Let’s go to the cafeteria already, I’m starving.”

“Yeah~ yeah~ I’ll race you!”

“No way, you can race yourself.”

“Aw~ party pooper!”

Kieren and Aaron walked into the cafeteria. It was more appropriate to call it a first class restaurant than a cafeteria. But it was expected as it was meant to cater to the students who were used to top quality food. Despite that most students chose to eat meals prepared by their personal chefs so the cafeteria wasn’t filled with many people.

The few students present noticed Aaron and Kieren’s presence, more specifically Aaron’s presence. Kieren was acknowledged as a the heir of the Moonfury Corp but the Moonfury Corp was a fairly new corporation and although they were powerful, they were not influential nor did they have a prestigious bloodline like the Soleon family. Added to that, Aaron himself was outgoing and popular whereas Kieren tended to stick to himself if he could.

Immediately students started to drift towards Aaron to greet him.

“Hi Aaron!”

“Yo Aaron!”

“Aaron~”

“Good morning Aaron.”

“Aaron my man, how you doing?”

As a crowd started to form around Aaron, Kieren who was ignored didn’t bat an eye as he went to order some food. He already knew what he wanted so it didn’t take long for him begin eating. In the middle of his meal Aaron sat in front of him with a tint of fatigue on his face.

“Pweh. Sorry about that. I finally sent off all of my ‘friends’”

“No problem. I saved you a croissant.”

“Thanks.”

Kieren and Aaron proceeded to eat in silence. Once Aaron sent away his “friends” the crowd could only stare off from a distance. The students were educated in social etiquette and understood if they were to tactlessly bother them to try to connect more with Aaron it would only backfire. Feeling frustrated, they could only unreasonably direct their feeling towards Kieren for getting in their way.

[Tch. Aaron is with that upstart loner again.]

[Shh! Lower your voice! You’ll get on Aaron’s bad side!]

[Hmph. That guy doesn’t even have a notable record. He’s plain and doesn’t have any achievements to his name. The only benefit he can give Aaron is to highlight his greatness!]

[That’s true but you shouldn’t say it so loudly. Aaron and Kieren are childhood friends so they are pretty close.]

[That loser better not get a big head just because his family got lucky and the Soleon family forced Aaron to play with him when he didn’t know any better.]

Kieren took a glance at Aaron. He personally didn’t mind the negative chatter surrounding them. Afterall, although most of the students were heirs and were intended to become powerful people in the future but in reality only a small elite portion of the students would be able to take hold of a seat of power so he didn’t bother with talentless small fries. Aaron on the other hand was taking note of who was saying what and he would make them regret it. He was doing so without so much as changing his expression.

(It looks like Aaron is used to controlling his expressions now. Somehow he doesn’t have any tells but I can still tell he is angry. He’s always got angry when he found someone wanted to pick on me because they were jealous. Pitiful fools; they don’t know what coming to them making an enemy of the Moonfury and Soleon family.)

(These motherfucking idiots! I know this happens occasionally but for these morons to do this when I wanted to cheer up my little brother the day after Grandma Akiko’s death is infuriating! When I’m done with them those bastards are going to fall into the pit of despair…I’ll make sure of it.)