21 A Friend

After entering his dorm for the day, Michael was greeted by a small room with only the essentials. A small bed beside it was a desk, and in front of the bed was his luggage that was transported here by the academy staff once it was known that he had passed the first test.

Even though it was not late, he decided to sleep briefly and head out to the academy cafeteria to eat his fill and rest again. With that thought in mind, he closed his eyes and drifted asleep.

After about an hour of sleeping, he woke up and saw that the time was 7 P.M, so he dressed casually and got ready to go to the cafeteria. He opened the door of his room and started walking, but after a couple of steps, he heard another clicking sound behind him, probably from the closing of a door. Looking back, he once again saw Elina looking at him with a 'surprised' expression.

'Her again? Is she stalking me, or what? How can I bump into her every time?' thought Michael while looking back at her.

"What a surprise seeing you again. You are probably going to the cafeteria too, right?" said Elina to Michael with a smile on her face.

"Actually no. I was going out to find my friend since I haven't seen her today even though she also applied here," lied Michael.

"A friend, huh?" said Elina under her breath and then continued by saying, "I can accompany you to find her, it would be more efficient this way, and you won't be alone," suggested Elina.

"Thanks for the offer, but even if I cannot find her, I have made plans with my sister that I'll find her after I pass the first test. We can make raincheck.," lied Michael once again.

"Yeah, sure, raincheck another time," said Elina. This time, her smile during the conversation was replaced with a more stern face.

'This girl is really shady. I can't get close to her until I figure out what her role is. Also, she gives me creepy vibes,' thought Michael while walking side to side with Elina to exit their underground dorms.

After an awkward and silent walk, they said goodbye, and each one went their way. Even though Michael lied about wanting to find Anne, he indeed was curious about her whereabouts. Hence he went to the dorm manager that he had previously asked about the underground dorms and asked her if Anne was in any room of the dorms.

"I wanted to ask if an examinee named Anne Rosewood is residing in the underground dorms," said Michael to the lady.

"Let me see… yes, she is at dorm 097. She left a while ago towards the cafeteria. If you want to find her, you can go there. Oh, and she also asked about a student named Michael Dacre. I guess that's you," informed the lady, Michael.

"Yes, that's me," replied Michael with a smile towards the lady, "And thank you for the information," said Michael, and then left the dorms and headed to the original place where he wanted to visit the cafeteria.

After walking for around ten minutes, he found himself before the cafeteria building, buzzing with students, even outside. He stepped inside and saw that many, if not all, of the tables, were already occupied, so he thought that he would just share a table with someone. He got in the line, which was moving quickly despite the long queue, and soon his turn was here. He got the food, and his eyes scanned the place for any unoccupied seats when suddenly someone called for him,

"Michael, here," called Anne, Michael waving her hand.

Michael saw her and walked towards her table, and sat there.

"I didn't see you at all today. I almost thought you failed," teased Michael.

"I thought the same about you," Anne teased back, "I was in the city near the academy from yesterday, so I was one of the firsts who got tested, and after that, I just familiarized myself with the academy and got to my dorm and slept. That's probably why we didn't bump into each other," said Anne.

"Oh, I see. But honestly, I haven't even seen anyone from the other noble families, did you?" asked Michael and started eating his food.

"No, I haven't now that you mention it. The academy is huge, and the number of applicants is also big, so no wonder we didn't spot anyone. Anyway, we haven't seen each other in a while, even at your birthday party we didn't talk much," said Anne with a slight annoyance remembering the events that transpired that night and the responsible one for that outcome.

"I'm sorry about that. The royal family attended so I couldn't just ignore them, you know," replied Michael while being reminded of a certain princess and his 'mission' to befriend her, now even more since it seemed that this world that he had been reincarnated had an actual protagonist.

After some time of them catching up and finishing their food, the sound of a falling tray reverbed in the cafeteria, making all eyes turn to the place where the noise came from.

"Oh, I'm sorry I didn't see you passing from here," said a young man while snickering at the other young man that now lay on the floor.

'Isn't that the protagonist and his bullies,' thought Michael as he attentively saw the scene unfolding in his eyes, hoping to catch a glimpse at maybe the person who could help the protagonist out of this predicament.

"It's okay. I was also careless there," replies the protagonist with a slight smile on his face as if falling wasn't a big deal.

'He seems pretty rational and composed for a protagonist,' commented Michael on his thoughts trying to draw a profile for the protagonist.

"As long as you know your place, it doesn't matter," commented the young man, and then turned his attention towards his other friends sitting at the table, and then they started laughing and making fun of the young man on the floor.

After the anti-climactic turn of events, the protagonist just got up and took another plate of food, sat down, and ate it in silence, not bothered by the mocking words of some of the people in the cafeteria.

'I was expecting something more, but it's okay. I have time to find out everything about him, and as soon as I learn of his name, I'll send a message to father to investigate his past,' silently planned Michael in his head.

"Should we go back? The second phase begins early in the morning tomorrow," the voice of Anne brought him out of his stupor.

"Yeah, we should let's go," said Michael, and then both stood up from their table and left the cafeteria, heading towards the dorm. What both didn't know was that someone in the crowd was watching their every move, especially Anne, as if watching her next prey.

'So that's his friend, huh? I guess she won't be much of a challenge. Anything can happen in the third part of the test,' thought the young woman, Elina, while a smile slowly formed on her face thinking about the upcoming event.