“Yes, father…
…The One Cursed by God is here.”
In front of the Academy gates, the clamoring and murmurings in the air still whispered strongly as there were still students and families that had not headed to the respective housing provided to them by the Academy.
And among them, was a group of students from the South Africa Mega Academy; huddled up along with their families.
However, it was quite hard to determine whose parent is who, as all of them were only looking at one person– the one that Jamba calls his father. Their heads were all slightly bowed, perhaps not daring to have their eyes at a higher level than Jamba’s father.
But even if they weren’t bowing their heads; Jamba’s father towered even him, who was now probably the tallest student in the Academy, by almost an entire foot.
“Are you sure, my son?” Jamba’s father breathed out, the tone of his voice almost shook the ground from how deep it was.
“Yes, fa–“
“Call me Chief when the others are present.”
“Y… yes, Chief Abdalla,” Jamba slightly stuttered as his father’s domineering voice slightly crawled through his skin.
“I see,” Chief Abdalla placed his hand on his chest, “It would seem the time for us to do our duty has come. What happened to this place must also have something to do with the Ghost…
…Our fate is true.”
“Our fate is true,” Jamba and the other members of the group repeated Chief Abdalla’s words; their voices completely in sync as they hummingly whispered in the air.
“…”
“…The fuck.”
Duma, the SAMA student that Riley spoke to the night before the events, could not help but slightly squint his eyes as he looked at Jamba’s little gathering.
“Is something wrong, son?”
“N… no. Actually, yes,” Duma then quickly looked towards the man that patted his shoulder. And just like him, his father also adorned dreads on his head, “Those guys seem to be from some sort of cult.”
“That–” Duma’s father took a quick look to where his son was pointing, only for him to quickly move his head away with a slight wince, “Best not to get involved with them, son. I recognized the tall man in the middle, the one with the beard– he is some chief of a tribe or something. He was on the local news a few years back.”
“They… are talking about the One Cursed by God,” Duma then said, “I’m afraid they’re going to cause some trouble in the Academy.”
“Cursed by God?” Duma’s father could not help but let out a snort before grabbing his bags on the ground, “Just some old tales grandpa used to tell us. Most importantly, how is the Academy treating you?”
“…The classes don’t start until next week, I think,” Duma sighed, “We’ll kno–“
“Can you believe it!?” And before Duma could even finish his words, his father suddenly raised the bags he was holding in the air, “My son in America… never thought I’d see the day.”
“…I’m here because a whole lot of people died, dad.”
“Right, right. I don’t forget,” Duma’s father then shook his head as he started to head towards the bus that would take them to the Family Villa.
“I’ll see you around, fa–“
“What are you talking about!? You’re going to help me bring my things!”
“…Things?” Duma blinked a couple of times before looking towards where his father was pointing to… only to see a large refrigerator.
“You… brought the fridge?”
“Of course! Who’s going to eat the food!? Our neighbors!? Ah, no. No!”
“…Why did they even allow you to bring that?”
Duma could only let out a long and deep sigh as he started carrying his father’s things, but not before taking one final glance at Jamba and his tribe.
…It looks like he needs to warn Riley Ross.
***
“Agh! I can’t believe this!”
Hannah was now roaming outside the Academy’s Mall, which was now officially dubbed as Mega Mall. But no matter how mega it was, Hannah’s whispers of frustration were enough to cover the whole mall.
“What do you mean I need a boyfriend!?” Hannah then angrily muttered as she stomped her foot on the ground as she walked aimlessly, “I thought she was there to lecture Riley but then she star– Agh!”
And as she wasn’t looking where she was going, it was only a matter of time before she bumped into something… or into someone.
“What the fuck… Can’t you watch where you’re goi–“
“Are you alright, m’lady?”
And before Hannah could even release her frustration, a hand was suddenly offered to her.
“…” She stared at the hand for a few seconds, before turning her head towards its owner– A blonde young man, with a cane in his other hand.
“…Thanks,” Hannah then took the hand offered to her as she looked to the side while helping herself up.
“Oh, aren’t you… the one that was taken hostage?”
“…I am. What’s it to you?” Hannah furrowed her eyebrows as she tried to pull her hand away, but found that she was unable to do so.
“Ah, where are my manners,” the young man then finally let go of her hand as he suddenly bowed towards Hannah, “My name is Julius Reuben…
…I hope you have recovered from what happened?”
“…Yeah,” Hannah’s eyebrows began to lower even further as she decided to leave. But before she could even take 3 steps–
“You were splendidly beautiful during that horrific time, Madam Hannah,” Reuben’s words breezed through her ears, almost making her freeze where she stood from the cringe.
“W… what the?” She muttered as she tried her best not to look Julius on the face.
“Even in the utmost adversity, you never once cowered in fear. I truly admire that,” Julius continued,
“I believe that if I were in the same situation, I would have been filled with much trepidation as soon as I saw the bombs attached to the villain’s body.”
“…Right,” Hannah squinted her eyes.
“Very well, you seem busy. I am not going to keep you,” Julius then once again bowed, “My family is also waiting for me. But…
…perhaps we can share our numbers so we would meet again soon– and not in happenstance?”
“…”
“…No.”
“I see. Perhaps in our next meeting.”
“Y… Yeah,” Hannah could only awkwardly smile as Julius waved her goodbye. And as soon as he was out of sight, Hannah let out the biggest breath of relief in her life,
“What… what the fuck was that!?” Hannah breathed out. Was… was she actually getting hit on? Why was it another weird guy? Was that… her fate? Was she fated to be with a weird–
“Silv!”
And before she could finish her awry thoughts, she quickly raised her hand as soon as her eyes caught Silvie’s silhouette.
“…Silvie!”
Silvie, however, seemed to have not noticed her as she continued walking towards the mall. Thankfully, after a few more steps, she noticed Hannah waving at her.
“Oh… H… hi,” Silvie let out a somewhat dejected smile as she ran towards Hannah.
“…What’s up?” Hannah quickly noticed this, “Where’s… your father?”
“He… said he was tired,” Silvie sighed.
“I… see. Are you okay, though?”
“Yes,” Silvie then shook her head as she let out a small chuckle, “Just a bit disappointed. How’s it going with your mother? Why are you outside?”
“Ugh… please don’t ask me,” Hannah once again groaned in frustration.
“…That bad, huh?”
And with that, Silvie’s sighs of disappointment and Hannah’s grounds of frustration made an orchestra worthy of filling the entire parking lot– only stopped as soon as Silvie saw Tomoe walking towards the mall.
“Tomoe!”
Tomoe was wearing a pair of headphones. And even covered with a hoodie, it was quite obvious that it was her due to her unique face. And as soon as Tomoe saw them, she quickly hid the phone she was holding and ran towards them.
“I am very sorry for my tardiness,” Tomoe then bowed, “Have… you finished the meeting with your parents?”
“…Only my mom is there,” Hannah muttered.
“What about you, Tomoe?” Silvie then said as she looked around, “Where’s your mother?”
“I didn’t want to see her.”
“I… I see,” Silvie could not help but stutter. If only she had half the bluntness of Tomoe, then maybe she could have insisted her father to join them.
“…”
“…”
“…”
The three then looked at each other in the eyes for a couple of seconds.
“Should we head inside the shop?”
“Oh god, please no.”
“…”
“…”
“…”
Once again, the three just looked each other in the eyes, before their collective sighs almost drowned the entire Academy.
It would seem the three of them all had different problems with their parents.
***
A week passed, and the foreign students have more than acclimatized themselves inside USMA; most of the students have also started to loosen up and relax– a big credit from having their families with them during the trying times.
And finally, the Academy has once again continued their lectures, with the students back in their costumes. As for the foreign students, they were distributed to different classrooms, and although there were minor problems and altercations in the first few hours; they soon began making friends.
Everything was about to go back to normal… However, there was an announcement that shook the entire school. With 7 Mega Students in one Academy, the school had decided to revoke all of their titles and privileges temporarily.
“So… is there going to be a fight between the 7 of them?”
With Katherine sharing this news to Class 1-V, all the eyes were at Silvie, USMA’s Mega Student.
“Will there be another event to choose the Super Duper Mega Student, Miss Scarlet Mage!?”
“An event… No,” Katherine shook her head.
And with that news, came the biggest change in the Academy.
“As it was before, each one of you will have the chance to be the Mega Student… but each of your activities will now be broadcast to the outside world.”
“…What!?”
“But I thought our identities are supposed to be a secret!?”
“Fool, you should have known something like this would happen. They gave us phones for fuck’s sake.”
“Settle down, I wasn’t done,” Katherine raised her hand, “Even if you are not from the previous 7 Mega Students, or even if you’re not doing too well…
…you will now have a chance to become the next Mega Student.”
“…What? How!?”
“The Academy will no longer be grading you,” Katherine sighed as she shook her head,
“…But the people.”
“What!? That’s so stupid!” Hannah stood up from her seat as she pointed her finger at Katherine, “I want out! I want to withdraw from the Academy! This isn’t some kind of circus! I feel like the Academy is exploiting us now!”
There were a lot of mixed reactions inside the class; there were those that were amused, there were those that were angry, some were happy.
However, Katherine was only focusing on one– Riley’s fluctuating heart.
If Katherine was reading his heart right, then Riley…
…is furious.