I followed the two and as I suspected, the red-haired student wasn’t taking him to the infirmary, but outside to some obscure area in the campus.

“You sure like to cause trouble, don’tcha?”

“What. You aren’t going to speak? Look at you.” He flung him to the ground.

His black hair was disheveled with traces of dirt clinging to it. But compared to before when he didn’t dare show the sight of opposition, he was now glaring dastardly at Red-hair.

“Hmph. What are you lookin’ at me for.”

Red-hair waddled forward and threw a blunt kick, showing his clear inexperience.

I half wanted Black-hair to do something if anything. But he ate the kick with his face and continued glaring quietly with gritted canines waiting to bite at any moment.

“You. You you. Ke- You asked for it!”

He gave another flimsy kick, knocking Black-hair down and started stomping on his head like a brute.

As the loud stompings continued, I watched hidden behind a tree, not knowing what to do.

‘What do I do mom?’

*Thump

‘What would Daniel do?’

*Thump

‘THINK.’

*Thump

‘think.’

*Thump Pff

“Haugh. Haauh. Haah. You-ha. Know your place you little shit-ha.” By the time it was over…

‘Did I come just to watch?’

I didn’t.

But that’s what I ended up doing.

“Heh, so you still wanna give me that look?”

The black-haired student continued with his condescending stare upward while the red-haired fellow continued trampling on him, albeit ineffective. He was out of breath, and more importantly, weak. Too weak to do anything over the top.

Like kill.

And I was too weak to do anything. I could, but I couldn’t at the same time. It didn’t feel right, almost as if I were intruding on someone’s privacy just by watching, not to mention interfering. And I know for sure now, some people didn’t need heroes. That black-haired student had eyes that could kill without remorse. Am I supposed to save him? That black-haired student? Because I am the Hero? So I need to follow in the path of all my predecessors and kill the Demon King? But why?

“You really have to do something about that foul stench of yours. I could smell it from across the world. Just who are you cursing for such an ominous aura to manifest itself?”

A white-haired man appeared out of nowhere, intruding on the situation. I could sort of recognize him from somewhere, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint it in my memory. Where have I seen a white-haired person before? On that note, it was strange that I couldn’t detect his presence but whatever.

“This has nothing to do with you,” the red-haired student spat.

“Shut up for a second, will you? I’m talking to someone here.”

The red-haired student was suddenly provoked into a newfound rage not comparable to before. It was almost as if the white-haired man did it intentionally.

“Do you have any idea who you are talking to with that foul mouth? Your appearance reeks of peasantry and you dare speak like this to—.”

'What?'

‘What just happened?’

I blinked, wondering if there was a defect in my eyes but the scenery remained unchanged.

Everyone had vanished without any indication. All three of them, magically gone; while I was left there, alone behind the tree.

I was enveloped by nature’s silence moments after with birds frolicking about where there used to be corrupt life.

“Sam?”

I turned around immediately suspecting a dangerous person, but my mind recognized the voice as anything but that.

“Daniel? What are you doing here?”

His eyes moved away from me after confirming that it was indeed me without responding. It was a habit he recently developed that I didn’t like one bit. He would always stop himself short from finishing sentences as if realizing he wasn’t supposed to reveal some hidden secret he was keeping from me.

Back then, he would ramble occasionally just like the old people who plowed the fields. I didn’t really understand them since they ended every sentence with, “Kids these days,” but Daniel talked a lot like them, especially when it came to his wealth of wisdom that did not match his superficial age.

Recently, he’s stopped doing that and has become a lot more reserved. I recognized the same sharpness in his eyes that peered through the essence of the world, but now, he chose not to share that knowledge with me. There was a reason he didn’t talk as much and I want to know why.

I wasn’t that smart in comparison to Daniel, but I’ve known him for a very very very long time. He always looked so sad, and hardly smiled day by day, not to mention holidays like his birthday. Back then, I could see his passion for swordsmanship so I decided to help him. I ended up becoming his sparring partner day-in and day-out.

I didn’t like it at first, but as I got better, I started to understand why he liked swinging a sword so much. And even though he said it was his first time holding a sword, the way he danced with it like a companion convinced me that he was either a genius or a Swordmaster in disguise that was also a genius. Even though I had never seen a Swordmaster, I believed Daniel to be one back then. He could even make a magical wind blade by swinging the sword!

In fact, he was so strong that I never actually won a sparring match with him until recently. But something has changed. He didn’t fight like he used to and was trying other things like that one time he hugged me. It wasn’t my first hug we had together but it was the first one where he initiated.

He doesn’t seem to look at swords the same way as he used to either. When we fought this morning, I cut his sword in half and he abandoned it. Was he really the same person?

“Daniel…”

It took a couple of tries, but after poking his squishy butt, I got his attention.

“What?”

It took me a while to realize that I didn’t know what I would ask him once I'd gotten his attention.

Chucking off my disturbance as me being me, he went back to daydreaming in Lala-land. He never did ask questions, unlike mom who would shoot several questions at once the moment I got home. “Did you take a shower? Have you eaten yet? Where have you been so late?”

At some point, Daniel’s way of talking became the norm. He never asked questions and was always straight to the point, making me the one who usually asked the questions. And he used to ramble a lot but now he doesn't; always keeping to himself.

And maybe, if I asked the person himself… He was smart; and he knew everything, didn’t he?

‘Heroes.’

He should know about Heroes too.

“Daniel?”

As if expecting me to disturb his contemplation, he gave me a cold hard look. It was either one of annoyance or of love. I liked to think of it as love. The annoying kind of love.

‘Do you think I could be a hero?’

I wanted to know what he thought.

With a fresh gulp of saliva, I spoke, “Do you like heroes?”

‘Wait, I asked the wrong question.’

Having said the wrong thing, I was about to correct myself until I saw the look on his face. One I’ve never seen before—a face that wasn’t frozen still like usual.

His eyes scrunched while his jaws stayed locked as they were. Now that I looked closer, his hair was a bit longer than it used to be. One side was tidy and proper, maybe a little spiky here and there with the hair shoved to the side, but it added to the appearance. On the other side was in opposition to the tidiness, as if rejecting the look of a divine being, he had a small strand of hair growing faster than the others. That slight protrusion was in front of his ear, acting as a sort of accessory.

After however many minutes had passed since we both stared at each other in silence, he opened his mouth.

“Sure.”

“Sure?” I didn’t quite understand his answer. I did just ask if he liked heroes, right? If I became the Hero, would he like—Woah, I didn’t mean the question like that!

“Yeah, sure,” he repeated himself before glancing at the device attached to his wrist.

And I couldn’t help but ask, “Why?” He was always so annoying in this aspect, never elaborating unless I asked him directly.

“Well, does it matter if I say yes or no?” He looked up from his device, directing his gaze at me.

“Um… Yeah?” What did he mean if it mattered? Aren’t heroes supposed to be people that everyone cares about and venerates?

“It depends on what you mean by hero, why do you ask?”

“Because…” He already knew, right? I haven’t told him directly, but I did say it in front of him right before that evil lady—Melithear, was it?—flew him away. I admitted I was the Hero, right? That I was the one who inherited the legacy.

“Well, unless your definition of heroism is strict, then technically anyone can be considered a hero, can’t they? It’s not even a question of whether or not the person themself chose to be referred to as a hero because oftentimes, a hero isn’t self-proclaimed, but crowned by others. I don’t really care either way unless I am directly saved by said hero, because in my—hmm, well you get the idea.”

He stopped talking midway again as if something were restricting him.

“Anyway, class is going to start soon, let’s go.”

He motioned for me to follow with his eyes, but I still wanted to know what he meant by being saved by a hero.

“What do you think about heroes?”

He stopped. As if finally taking my question into full consideration.

“Mm, I guess heroes are just strong people who do whatever they want. The difference is that they feel a duty to do what they think is right while being recognized for it even if they don’t want to be,” he bluntly stated.

“What do you think about me—I mean…” I almost said something embarrassing there. Whoops!

“Tell me what you really think about heroes,” I repeated again. I knew he was still holding himself back from telling me the full truth. I could see it in his eyes. He had something in his throat that wanted to leap out but he didn’t allow it. Why did he want to be so secretive? He can’t make friends like this! Before was fine because he only had me… Well, I am fine with me being his only friend too… Ah! I- that’s not what I mean! I mean he should have other friends too, right?

“I already told you, come on,” he said, shutting down any further inquisition.

‘Hmph.’

I watched his back move further away as my eyes locked on a new target to release my stress on.

“...” I took the silence as him saying, “Seriously?” in a sarcastic tone.

“Can you stop touching my butt. The joke is getting old.”

‘Joke?’

I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that because he was being very annoying right now for not answering my question truthfully.

“Oy.”

“This isn’t funny, let go of me you peas—just let go of me already.”

He never screamed or yelled while complaining so cheekily. I don’t think I ever heard him doing so. But his voice and the way it changed from normal to extremely low pitch like a wolf’s grumble was cute.

“Heehee.” I let out a laugh while hugging him harder, not letting him go. I knew he couldn’t do anything so I was going to exact my frustration on his round and plump—

“OwO.” I let out a distorted "ouch" when his fingernails dug into my wrist trying to pry open my hug.

As we continued our banter, I knew for certain now: Daniel was still the same old Daniel I knew. There was no questioning it.

Even though he was a couple years younger than me, it was always so fun to mess with him when he talked like a lecturer unbefitting of his age. Come to think of it, his birthday was this week, wasn’t it?

But a hero… I wonder if I can be a good hero. And maybe if I get good enough, I will be able to tell everyone I am the descendent of that Hero without disappointing anyone.

‘Daniel…’

I spared him one more look before erasing the notion from my mind. He wasn’t in any danger, so he definitely didn’t need any saving… Not yet… Mhmhm, just imagining him praising me for doing a good job was—wait, no! I shouldn’t think of things like that!