3 A typical day, with unwanted surprises
Chapter 2 - A typical day, with unwanted surprises
"System?"
[Status]
Host: Carlos Dias de Andrade Correia Neto
Age: 13 years old
Abilities: None
Powers: None
Titles: Friend of Death
Trading Hall: blocked until payment (50,000 cruzeiros)
Store: blocked until payment (100,000 cruzeiros)
Arena: blocked until payment (500,000 cruzeiros)
Universal HR: blocked until payment (1,000,000 cruzeiros)
"What the hell is this?"
Carlos glanced at the screen for a moment, but before he could interact with it, his mother appeared behind him, startling him.
"Are you done? Go pack your backpack."
"Yes, ma'am."
Carlos noticed that the screen had disappeared and decided to set aside the matter for the time being. In his room, he glanced at his class schedule for a moment.
"History II, Portuguese, and Science."
After grabbing his books and putting them in his backpack, Carlos left the house only to find his mother already mounted on the motorcycle, a Honda RX 150 she had bought the previous year. After locking the door, he hopped on the back, and his mother headed towards São Marcos School.
At the school entrance, several cars were stopping and dropping off children who ran excitedly into the school. Others, like Carlos, arrived by motorcycle, and a small portion came by bicycle.
São Marcus School was a traditional school for the elite of Rio Verde, and Carlos's mother was one of the teachers there. Carlos was well aware that he was far from the level of many students, but due to his status as the "teacher's son," he could attend the institution by paying half the tuition.
Entering the classroom and looking around, Carlos took a moment to remember where his seat was before heading to a chair in the middle of the room. He sat in silence, looking around trying to remember who was who in the classroom. Although it was early, many children were already in their respective seats chatting with their friends.
"Carlos."
"Hm?"
Upon hearing someone call his name, Carlos turned and saw a boy who was behind him. He was an ordinary boy, with black hair and brown eyes, his skin was tan like Carlos's, but a little lighter.
"What's up, Jonas?"
"Did you watch Knights yesterday?"
"Knights?"
"You're not going to tell me you didn't watch. It was incredible, Shun's fight against Aphrodite finally ended and now..."
Carlos fell silent as Jonas recounted what had happened in the last episode of Knights of the Zodiac, one of the first anime series to arrive in Brazil, which allowed a new culture to establish itself in the country. He himself was a fan of the work, the only problem was...
"Knights wasn't aired after '94?"
Carlos pondered for a moment while Jonas continued talking about Shun's fight with Aphrodite. He was the son of one of the city's biggest merchants and a good friend of Carlos during his school years. Although inflation had made his father's business a bit more difficult in recent years, they were still quite rich and had a lot of money saved. In fact, most of the people who studied at São Marcus were heirs of a long lineage that had been present since the founding of Rio Verde.
Although it was a small town, Rio Verde had long been dedicated to the trade of imported goods and slaves. Founded in 1718, it was located in a privileged position between 3 of the country's 5 regions and had a direct connection to the Atlantic Ocean through a large river that ran through the city. Thanks to this, it was easier and cheaper for people living in more central regions of the country to use the trade routes that passed through the city, rather than using the roads that were connected to the coast.
Rio Verde thrived for almost 200 years before its economic importance began to decline due to environmental damage to the region, which made the river unfit for large vessel traffic, hindering the movement of people and the transport of goods.
However, by the time this happened, the city had already developed enough to become almost self-sufficient. Large rice and corn plantations and large cattle ranches surrounded Rio Verde, making it a city rich in agricultural products. There were also factories that took advantage of the abundance of babassu coconut in the region to produce everything possible; from the fruit, flour, charcoal, cooking oil, soap, or cosmetics could be made.
Thanks to this, many municipalities and villages nearby became increasingly dependent on the trade of Rio Verde. Of the young people who went outside the city to attend higher education, although they often decided to stay there in search of better opportunities, many still returned with the intention of 'improving the city,' bringing with them entrepreneurs from other sectors who also came to the city and generated jobs, making the city prosper.
However, soon all of this would change.
'The chaos caused by Collor is going to start in a few months. Unfortunately, I don't remember the specific date, just that it will be in August. And with that, the city will descend into hell.'
"Good morning, everyone."
"Good morning, Professor."
"How were your vacations?"
"Ha, it was..."
Before Carlos could think more about it, a man entered the room greeting the students with a smile on his face and chatting with them for a while as he organized the class materials. He was a young man, 22 years old, fair-skinned, short hair, and a bright and enthusiastic smile.
He was one of the History teachers, specifically History II. While History I mainly focused on the study of Brazilian history, its historical figures, internal revolts, and the like, History II focused on teaching World History. Things like the Industrial Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, American Civil War, Great Navigations, Colonization of Africa, Russian Revolution, History of the Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, and so on.
Carlos thought he was a nice person, and a good teacher. He regrets that in 3 years he would be arrested for getting involved with one of the high school students from another school where he taught. He ended up dead in prison, 3 days after his arrest, because they believed he was a rapist. It was a huge mess at the time, and it got worse after the girl confessed that it was consensual and that they had already discussed marriage, he had even bought the ring. She must have been around 16 or 17 years old at the time and after all the confusion she and her family left town, due to threats from the teacher's father.
"Well, everyone seated as it is the first day and I know no one really wants to be here, right, Jonas?"
"Why me?"
"Let's start with a simple activity. Prepare a summary of what the French Revolution was, it doesn't need to be anything big, one page is enough, you have until the end of class, which means 2 hours."
"Professor, can it be in pairs?"
"It can."
"Can it be a group of three?"
"Don't overdo it, Lucas."
The teacher then sat down and began reading a book while the sound of chairs being dragged sounded on the classroom floor as students formed pairs and began reading the history book.
Carlos sat with Jonas, and both began to read, but Carlos's mind was elsewhere.
'System.'
[Status]
Host: Carlos Dias de Andrade Correia Neto
Age: 12 years old
Abilities: None
Powers: None
Titles: Friend of Death
Trading Hall: blocked until payment (50,000 cruzeiros)
Store: blocked until payment (100,000 cruzeiros)
Arena: blocked until payment (500,000 cruzeiros)
Universal HR: blocked until payment (1,000,000 cruzeiros)
Carlos looked at the screen for a while and then glanced at Jonas, who was focused on the book. It seemed that no one, not even the teacher who occasionally glanced around, had noticed the strange floating screen in front of Carlos.
'Is it a hallucination? It seems like I'm the only one who can see this screen. But if it's not, and it's real, what the hell is a system?'
Carlos tried to interact with the screen, and to his surprise, he could actually feel something there. He was excited, but he decided to try again after he got home.
He quickly read and wrote a summary of the French Revolution and handed it to the teacher. After class ended, it was time for Portuguese class. Professor Suely was indeed, as Carlos remembered, a damn shrew. Why the hell did Portuguese have to be so difficult?
At 10 a.m., it was time for a snack break, and classes resumed at 10:20 a.m. After that, there was one more period of Portuguese and finally one of Science (chemistry and physics).
At noon, the sound of the bell indicated that the punis-, I mean, that classes had ended and everyone was free. Carlos walked home to his grandfather's, which was about a 10-minute walk from school, as his mother couldn't have lunch at home today.
On the way, he continued to think about the strange floating screen that appeared in front of him and what kind of functions it could have. After a while, he arrived in front of a modest-looking house and knocked on the door. After waiting a bit, he was greeted. The person who opened the door was an elderly lady in her 70s. She had a tired appearance, but had a gentle and cheerful smile that made you feel welcomed.
"Blessings, Grandma."
"God bless you, my child, come in. Go take a shower, lunch is ready."
"What did you make?"
"Green beans mixed with roasted chicken."
"Sounds good."
Carlos rushed to the bathroom and after taking a shower, he sat at the table. His grandfather served him a plate of rice mixed with beans and a roasted chicken thigh.
While his grandfather was serving himself, he noticed that Carlos had started to cry a little at some point.
"What's wrong, Carlos?"
"Nothing, I just burned my mouth."
"Eat slowly, it's hot."
"Yes, ma'am."
They both ate while chatting about some simple things. How Carlos's day at school was, which classes he had, and things like that. After a good meal, his grandmother went to wash the dishes while Carlos rested for a bit.
In the living room, while swinging in the hammock, Carlos opened the screen once again. He tried to interact with the lines, however, nothing seemed to really change. The only thing that changed was when he clicked on his 'Friend of Death' title.
"One who recognizes death as a friend. What does that exactly mean?"
Carlos pondered for a bit, but set it aside. Trying to interact with the other things and seeing that it was useless. He closed the screen and began to think about what to do next. Although he had been given a second chance and was determined, a part of him really wondered if it was worth it.
"Maybe I should just live a normal life? It wouldn't kill me to have a family and see my children grow up."
As Carlos thought, he turned on the television to watch something, however, once again he saw that there were strange things. First, the biggest television network in the country was not Globo, but rather Cubo Network. Where the hell did Cubo Network come from?
Other networks like Record didn't exist and SBT was still in its early stages, although it was growing thanks to the enthusiasm and charisma of presenter Silvio Santos, it was still a bit far from reaching the major networks.
"What the hell happened to this world?"
Although still not understanding, Carlos decided to tune in to Cubo Network and see what else was different.
{And in our next news, Wayne Industries' stocks continue to plummet in the stock market due to the unexpected death of Thomas Wayne and his wife Martha Wayne. The couple leaves behind young Bruce Wayne...}
Watching the international news, Carlos sat on the couch a bit stunned, before giving a desperate smile.
"Damn it. What the hell is happening here?"
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I've been searching for the age when Bruce took on the mantle of Batman, and the most likely date was at 24 years old, although I believe he should be older than that. So, Batman will only formally appear in 2010, at 28 years old. However, he will still interact with the MC before that.
