I was surprised to see Luke Reese and Kristina Steitz sitting alone in the park. If they knew that there was such a big park that even we could use the swings on, why didn't they think of telling others about it?

Who dislikes swings?

I would have spent all my days here...

Oh, ok, so that's why they didn't tell anyone.

{I mean, you could have found out yourself if you didn't spend all your free time in the library!}

Fair.

Very fair.

I walked over to the two of my classmates with a small smile and stopped in front of the swings. Luke got off the swing and grabbed my hands with a wide smile.

"Ralph! How are you?"

Ever since we were done with the special exams, he was pretty strangely kind to me. He was a natural pretty boy who got in everyone's good books with just a smile, his kindness, and caring nature were a further add-on. That said, he was also pretty cunning, with a mind fitting his strength.

It was slightly unsettling to be so kindly approached by someone like this, who held enough power to give me a fair deal of trouble even with my limiter broken. Just for the record, there was no way I could win against him with my limiter still on even after learning the basics of Skill Hacking from Isabella.

"I am surprised you guys are still here," I said. Eyeing the two.

"Well, we have nowhere to go." It was Kristina who spoke back. This red-haired girl who looked like she was uninterested in the entire world was Luke Reese's foster sister and the Rank 2 of the grade. On top of that, she was my companion in a criminal organization. Our relationship was pretty weird like that. "Our master is going to be busy with work this time."

"Master?" I asked. As much as I wanted to know more about them, the two of them were orphans. I only knew they were adopted as the children of the person who took them in for their registration in the Academy. I couldn't find the name of their parent though.

As I asked the question, I took a few steps toward the seesaw on the side of the swing. It was right next to the swings, so I took a seat on the side that was touching the ground and conversed with them.

"Yes," Luke nodded, slowly sitting back on the swing. "Our master is the person who raised us, she's connected with the association, so she is currently busy with handling that stuff. What would be a safer place than Agriche?"

For some reason, Luke dragged his words at the end there.

"What about you, Ralph?" Kristina asked. "I thought everyone in our class other than us and Leone had left."

"Oh well..." I scratched my cheek with a wry smile while pushing myself a bit up and down on the swings. "I just didn't go."

An air of silence enveloped us for a bit, and the silence immediately made things heavy. The pressure of an S-Ranked break was too great. If one of them could wipe out an entire race, what was one country against it? It was something everyone knew, but the rankings and the general strength of the Awakeners had been on an upward trend for a while now.

"Haah..." Luke sighed, kicking himself on the swing a bit. "Weird thing to come up during our break, huh?"

"Haha... completely ruined the vacation mood..."

The speed of his swing kicked up and I crossed my legs on the seat of the seesaw. Kristina was observing the both of us with a quiet gaze, but she never spoke much in the first place.

Suddenly, Luke planted his feet on the ground again and turned to me with a widened smile. "You do have plans for the break, right? You'll be going, right?"

"Hm?"

{What's that?}

"Uh..." I titled my head to the side. "I don't have any plans for the break...?"

Luke nodded and turned away with an 'I see...'

Going? Going where?

{Shouldn't you ask?}

I didn't want to make him uncomfortable and be blunt, so I decided to overlook it for now.

"What about you," I asked. "What are your plans for the break?"

Right then, the ground was taken away from below my feet and I was raised in the sky. I flusteredly looked around only to see that the seesaw was being pressured up.

"Luke Reese, your application to join the seniors has been approved."

Across me, pressing down on the seesaw from the other side, was a woman with an icy glare in her golden eyes and black hair that cascaded down her back like a river. She had her hands crossed gracefully as she stood upright on the seat of the seesaw across me, slowly pushing me up and going down herself.

Luke and Kristina stood up from their seats with widened eyes and turned to face the person who had appeared in front of us three, the plain strongest among the first years, without even a trace.

"S-senior Rin..."

"That Rin...?"

Luke and Kristina muttered, but the girl across me only acknowledged them with a nod and turned to me.

"Ralph Rubinstein," she said.

{OH SHIT! HOST LOOK IN FRONT OF YOU! WE GOTTA RUN!}

Perfect timing system. Very helpful. Thank you very much.

I suppressed the smile from the system's antics and faced the girl. Slowly pressing down my weight on the seesaw again, I started going down and she was lifted up from the ground.

"Sister," I said.

"..."

"...Eh?" A rather cute yelp came out from the side where Kristina stood. "Sister...?"