1 Metroville and Helen

Metroville, California

Metro Science and Technology University

"Remember everyone, there will be a test on this section next Monday! Make sure to study over the weekend."

RRriiingg!

With the bell and the teacher dismissing the class, all the students got up from their seats and made their way to the exit rapidly.

School had finally come to an end and everyone rapidly made their way back to their dorms.

All but one student…

Sitting in the back of the classroom with an uneasy look on his face, a 21 year old boy tried hiding behind his backpack.

"Heaven?"

The young man in question twitched upon hearing his name.

Lifting his head slowly, the young man revealed his face and his black eyes as deep as an ocean. The young man had an above average appearance but his black hair and eyes had a certain type of charm to them that made people look his way more than once.

It was a shame that he was rather timid and weak natured, making people feel awkward around him.

"H-Helen? What are you doing here?" Heaven asked after seeing who it was that called out to him.

Helen, a young woman that was two years younger than Heaven, sighed as she looked at him and asked, "Is Cameron still bullying you?"

Cameron was a muscular guy who would often like to flaunt his physical strength. He would often humiliate and sometimes harass the weaker and skinnier students who had no muscle.

One of them being Heaven.

"N-no! I just wanted to get some studying done…"

Hearing Heaven, Helen took another look at him and saw that he was holding a book in his hands and a notebook to the side filled with notes.

Looking at the book, Helen read the title of the book.

"Principles of Mechanical Engineering? Weren't you doing Biochemistry last week?"

Helen looked at Heaven curiously, wondering why he held a different book compared to the prior week.

It had always been like this.

She would always find Heaven studying a new subject every two weeks. It made her doubtful of whether he was really studying any of it.

"I was. I-I already finished studying all the books the school has to offer. I even had a few theories I h-had written out," Heaven said as he nervously scratched the back of his head.

"What about computer engineering from last month or Fine Arts?"

"Yeah. Studied and mastered the necessary skills."

"What about…"

"Yes…"

"And…?"

"Yup."

…

Looking at Heaven with amazement, Helen didn't even know whether to feel like Heaven was bluffing or he was telling the truth.

She looked at his earnest gaze and didn't say anything in the end.

Whether Heaven was lying or not didn't matter to her. As long as he studied and achieved good grades, she won't mention anything.

"You know, if you really mastered these different subjects, you can attain a Ph.D. for all those fields!"

Heaven smiled wryly and lowered his head back into the book.

He didn't mind the fact that Helen might be doubting him, but he knew that if he told others that he had already learnt all there is to these fields, they would kick him out of school.

There was no way that they would believe him, even if he entered the university with a scholarship attained with just his intellect.

"It's not that easy…" Heaven said with a murmur.

Heaven sighed and wallowed in his own thoughts when he suddenly felt a hand touch his arm.

"I believe you, Heaven! I'll be here cheering you on!"

Helen smiled sweetly and encouraged Heaven.

Blushing, Heaven turned his head to the side and evaded Helen's amused gaze.

"Let's go out to eat, Heaven," Helen said as she pulled Heaven up from his seat by the arm.

"Wait! Let me get my stuff!"

***

Walking across the campus, Heaven and Helen made their way out to a diner.

Heaven quietly looked down at the floor, trying his best not to worry too much about walking with someone beautiful like Helen.

Distracting himself, Heaven thought about his recent blooming in intelligence.

As far as Heaven could remember, he was always smart. However, as of late, his rate of learning had been increasing tremendously.

Even his other skills developed as well, critical thinking, analyzing, researching, theorizing, investigation, reflection, memorization…

All his thinking skills had become sharper and much more well defined as his intelligence increased.

According to his mother, he used to be pretty dumb back in kindergarten. He could never remember how to spell his own name until 6 months later.

Then, when he was in third grade, he started getting better grades until he entered the 8th grade and got all A's.

Since then, Heaven's intelligence had been on the rise and now, he felt like he was reaching a point where he could easily understand things with a simple glance.

Heaven looked down at his body and smiled wryly.

Maybe that's where his energy all went to, his brain. His body had always been rather weak and he didn't hold much strength either.

Despite being 21, he had the strength of a 14 year old. He would even faint whenever he tried running a mile and wouldn't even make it halfway.

All he could speculate was that the nutrition and energy of his body all went to his brain.

…

"We arrived, Heaven," Helen pointed out as she looked at a family diner before her.

"Heaven?"

Hearing no response, Helen turned and looked at the young man who seemed slightly absentminded.

Smiling, Helen leaned in close to him and blew a small gust of warm breath to his ear causing him to shudder.

"H-hey…" Heaven took a step back and looked at Helen with a red face.

"Come on, let's go inside," she said, dragging him inside.

Entering the fine family diner, Heaven and Helen made their way to an empty.

"Hello! What would you both like today?"

"Strawberry milkshake and pancakes."

"You got it sweetly. And you hon?"

The waitress turned to look at Heaven after Helen was done ordering.

Heaven grabbed a menu and looked at it seriously before sighing.

"I'll just get the same thing as her," Heaven said as he closed the menu and passed it to the waitress.

"I'll be right back with your drinks," said the waitress as she walked away.

Making some small talk, Heaven and Helen casually talked about school while waiting for the waitress.

"Did you hear about the science fair? I heard that there's a famous engineer coming to judge," Helen mentioned as she looked at Heaven curiously.

"A science fair? Really?"

The second world war was on the verge of erupting after America had discovered that Germany had been training and conscripting various soldiers. They were going through a reform and they were being very hostile to the Allies.

Due to these tensions, most events in America and school activities had been put on hold.

It was a miracle that they were still allowed to attend school considering the worrying times. Nonetheless, the atmosphere in school wasn't that relaxed as some of the students were restless.

Worried that they might be attacked at any moment, some directly left the school while others joined the army.

Now they were holding a science fair?

Heaven frowned, feeling like there was an ulterior motive to the science fair.

"Yeah. I heard that the one who wins gets to study under that famous scientist and even gets 10,000$ as a reward!"

"Really?"

Heaven raised his eyebrows in surprise, feeling tempted for the chance to earn 10,000$.

It was a lot of money and Heaven could use it to fund his research and various projects he wants to build. Not only that, but he could even send half the money home to his mother and younger brother. (10,000$ in the 1940's was the equivalent of ~200,000$ of the present.)

"Yes! You should definitely join. You will easily clinch first place," proudly said Helen.

"Right! Like if this scrawny nerd could win anything like that."

Suddenly, whilst Heaven and Helen were talking, a mocking voice erupted from behind Heaven.

Shrinking his head, Heaven kept quiet, already knowing who it was.

Cameron.

The bully of the day.

"Cameron, keep you and your witch nose away from us," Helen said as she looked at Cameron with anger.

Cameron shifted his gaze to Helen and frowned. Despite having a strong and athletic body, Cameron was always self-conscious about one this.

His noses.

It was long and pointy and even had a big mole on it. He would always be called witch by the various kids who had just found out what witches look like.

It angered him.

"Helen! Keep your mouth shut! A woman like you shouldn't even be attending school, much less university."

Bang!

"Stop it! Don't say stuff like that! She deserves to be here as much as the rest of us, Cameron," Heaven finally stood up.

He defended Helen and her dignity, her right to pursue higher studies.

Heaven didn't care how much he was bullied or humiliated, but he wouldn't support the same thing for the girl he has feelings for.

"Damn nerd. You're so weak and scrawny!" Cameron looked at Heaven and scoffed before continuing. "With your strength, you would be lucky to even leave a scratch on me."

"Cameron!"

Helen yelled his name once more, but before she could say anything, she caught sight of an anxious waitress and a furious boss.

"Get the hell out of my restaurant, young man!"

The instant the boss appeared, he glared at Cameron and let out a thunderous voice.

"You can NOT be disrespecting my customers like this. We will not tolerate this sort of behavior!"

The boss stood firm and looked at Cameron.

Seemingly stunned and afraid, Cameron backed up a little. He frowned and turned to leave before turning to look at Heaven with anger in his eyes.

'You're dead meat Heaven!'

…

"I'm sorry for that outburst. You kids can relax," said the boss as he turned to look at Heaven and Helen with a relaxed, but tired, expression on his face.

"Thank you!"

Heaven yelled as he waved goodbye to the boss.

The boss didn't turn around and simply left, tired after what he had just done.

"What a nice man," Heaven remarked after the boss left.

The waitress heard him and nodded, "He's the best boss in the area."

***

After enjoying their meal, Heaven walked Helen back to her dorm building.

"Those pancakes were delicious," Helen mentioned with a satisfied look on her face.

Heaven nodded and stammered, "W-we should go there again, sometime…"

"Hmm… maybe," Helen teased as she looked at Heaven.

The duo entered the school grounds again and Heaven led Helen to her building as they made small talk.

Sadly for him, the building wasn't too far away and he soon found himself telling Helen goodbye.

"I-I'll see you tomorrow… Helen…" Heaven said in a barely audible sound.

"Thank you Heaven. It might have been a normal day like any other, but you made it memorable," Helen said as she recalled Heaven's valiant action of standing up to Cameron.

"I-I… n-no problem," stammered Heaven with a red face.

Mua!

Suddenly, while he wasn't paying attention, Heaven received a kiss from Helen. A smile spread on his face and his hand unconsciously rose up to his cheek.

"Ehehe…" dumbly laughed Heaven.

"Hehe," giggled Helen as she watched Heaven act silly. "Goodnight! I'll see you tomorrow!"

With a light step, Helen made her way to the inside of her dorm building.

"So soft…" muttered Heaven as he turned around and walked away slowly with a silly look on his face.

Making his way back to the dorms absentmindedly, Heaven failed to notice a dark shadow following close behind him.

"Well if it isn't Mr. Scrawny Nerd!"

Jumping in fright, Heaven turned around to look at the source of all his terrible, Cameron.

Looking at him, Heaven could see that he wasn't alone as he stood next to two other guys. They looked at Heaven and snickered as they slowly encircled him.

"Wh-why are you doing this?! Cameron, I've never done anything to you!"

Heaven stammered heavily as he looked at the two guys surrounding him. His heart was pounding loudly and his every muscle and bone told him to run away, but he was scared stiff.

He turned his gaze back to Cameron and fell on his behind.