*DO REI ME REI DO!*

The bell signaling the start of school rang throughout the campus.

“Make sure to meet me afterschool. I will tell you what I’ll need you to do for the plan at that time.”

“…I probably won’t be able to meet you right afterschool.”

“No. Make sure to meet me right after school! I will wait 10 minutes for you to finish your business and to meet me in the second courtyard bench. Well, see you later!”

“Wait! That’s not eno-“

Before Kieren could finish his sentence Aaron already ran off towards his homeroom and swallowed up by the sea of his ‘friends’.

(Haahhh. I can already tell that I’m going to have a lot of trouble. I’m going to have to solve this quickly.)

Feeling resigned, Kieren headed to his class to get things over with. The sooner he confronted the problem the sooner he would get things over with.

The academy had five floors where a floor was dedicated to each year and the top floor was the cafeteria, garden, greenhouse, hospital and recreation room. Kieren was a third year high school student which meant his classes were all on the third floor. As soon as Kieren steps into his first classroom, the chatter in the room quieted down.

(Most likely they were talking about Grandma Akiko’s death and the future of the Moonfury Corp with me as the heir. They were speculating that I will destroy all the work done by my predecessors. That’s fine. Let them believe in what they want, even if I said something now it would only look like an empty boast.)

Shortly after Kieren sat down a woman who looked to be in her mid-twenties entered the room. She had a blouse with a deep V-neck but unfortunately revealed only a small bust and a skirt that went slightly over the knees. Her face was on the more attractive side as most of the teachers in the academy were. The upper class were usually vain and liked attractive people, this never changed since ancient times.

“Everyone settle down and get to your seats. Class has begun and I’ll be starting roll call.”

Kieren looked out of the window in a daze. He didn’t believe the teacher could provide any useful knowledge he wasn’t already taught.

“Ai…Byem…Huen…-fury…..Moonfury!”

“Present. Ms.Coraline”

“You would do well to pay more attention in class Mr.Moonfury. You are already behind as is.”

*snicker* *giggle*

(You say I’m behind despite knowing that I am at the top of the year since I’ve entered the academy.)

There was no use even if he told the teacher this fact. He himself knew he wasn’t what most people would call an obedient student. So he knew that he wasn’t on the teacher’s good side especially since he is a student of this academy. The teachers were so accustomed to being looked up to by powerful young adults that they believed they were powerful themselves.

“Mr.Moonfury, since you have the leisure to laze around I assume you know that the national placement exam is coming soon. And the school has always had students placed in the top 50 ranks. Even if you do not care to be part of the elite but that does not mean you can be selfish and obstruct the hardworking performance of others.”

“Yeah! Some of us who are trying to EARN some recognition instead of getting it handed to us on a silver platter.”

(As if I care. The business world is all about trying to get rid of rivals. The ones targeted most feverently are the rising stars and those who show great potential. To complain about such a small issue shows how little experience you have.)

Kieren stayed quiet. He didn’t feel like wasting his breath on the deaf. He went back to ignoring the droning teacher’s voice and proceeded to think of solutions to deal with cleaning up his staff.

(First I need to figure out the scope of the corruption. I can assume at least the higher up of the kitchen staff is done and the maids are also in on it. If they weren’t then they should have poison tested the food first but instead they ignored it. The influence is not very strong though since nobody objected when I said I wanted to ride myself to school. This means that the enemies are few in number for now.)

*RINGGGGGGG!!!!!!*

“Alright everyone on to your next class and be sure to study for the national exam.”

Kieren was getting up from his seat preparing to go to his next class but before he could get past the threshold the teacher pulled him back.

“Mr.Moonfury, please stay behind so we can have a quick chat.”

“…hahhh, yes ma’am.”

Noticing the sigh, her expression soured.

“Ms.Coraline what can I do for you?”

“Mr.Moonfury, I know you just lost someone special to you but you need to get your act together. You’ve already been absent from school for a week. I am here to help you no matter how far behind or how challenging you find the material so don’t hesitate to ask me for guidance. There isn’t any question I won’t be able to answer when it comes to the national exam. You may not know but I scored in the top ten ranks. Not to mention that I took the exam among a cohort that was known as the golden age!”

“Yes Ms.Coraline. I’ll take your words to heart.”

(If I don’t tell her what she wants to hear I’ll be here forever.)

“It’s a good thing you understand. You are very fortunate that you have someone like me in your life. You can go now.”

“Yes Ms.Coraline.”

(Finally)

Kieren left the room in a hurry before Ms.Coraline could call him back for anything else she wanted to lecture him on.

“Hey Kieren! Glad to see you survived hell”

“Kieren?...um I, I heard…uh…about your Grandma…and um I know that we aren’t that close b-but y-you can…uh…you can talk to us. I! I know I’m not very strong myself but still. We, we want to help!”

Two of Kieren’s classmates were at the door to walk with him to class. The two were identical in looks but the aura around them easily let you tell them apart. A majority of the students didn’t like Kieren simply because they were raised to be someone great and were unable to restrain their feelings of jealousy. On the other hand there were a few of the more clever students that knew Kieren wasn’t just a talentless friend of Aaron Soleon. These two, Ash and Kai Huoinu were part of the minority.

(Thank goodness he looks like he’s back to the old Kieren.)

Ash and Kai shared a silent thought and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Don’t worry I’m fine. More importantly, Kai nobody bullied you while I was gone right?”

“N-No. I’m f-fine.”

“Yeah Kieren don’t worry about us. We’re able to protect ourselves!”

Kieren raised an eyebrow at Ash, seeing that Ash couldn’t help but avert his eyes.

The Huoinu family owned a huge ranching business that mostly dealt with domestic animals. Ash and Kai were different from the other students. They were not the children of the legal wife but since the legal wife could not produce twins, Ash and Kai were forced into the position. The Huoinu family tradition states that the heirs of the family must be twins. They do not have to be identical twins but never the less they must be twins. The wife and her children did not like the fact that Ash and Kai would have everything despite being illegitimate children so they bullied and harassed them at home and at school. Kieren was the only one who did not care for the Huoinu family children’s harassment and befriended and usually ended up standing up for the twins.

“Ash, Kai, you guys kept our promise right?”

“Yeah, me and Kai didn’t pick any fights no matter what we heard about you and we avoided trouble whenever we could.”

Kai nodded his head so enthusiastically that Kieren was afraid he would lose his balance and fall over.

(Normally we wouldn’t make a promise like this but we didn’t want to worry you when you were already so stressed out about your grandma…and the look in your eyes before you left…)

“That’s good. Let’s go to class, we’ll be late if we stay here any longer.”

“Sure.”

“Y-yeah, let’s g-go!”

The other classes went by without incident.

*Do Rei Mi*

“Guys I didn’t bring a lunch with me this time so I need to go to the cafeteria for lunch today”

Ash and Kai glanced at each other with a concerned look, their faces mirrored Aaron’s this morning.

“K-Kerien? Um…is everything…ok?”

“It’s alright; the situation isn’t something I can’t handle.”

“You sure? We might not be able to be much help but we can at least bounce ideas off each other if you need.”

“Yeah I’m sure. This is something I need to be able to handle myself or else I won’t be able to handle difficult situations in the future.”

“Well it is you after all.”

“Y-yeah Kieren w-we know you can…um do it. J-just let us know i-if you need anything.”

“Don’t worry guys I’ve already thought of a plan back in homeroom.”

Ash and Kai wanted to know what his plan was but no matter how much they asked Kieren kept silent. It was a part of his policy to never discuss a plan out in the open. Plans that were revealed too quickly could be avoided or worse have the plan backfire on him.