A new beginning [10]

[3rd Person Pov]

Disconnecting from his dear apostle that appeared to never stop producing quality entertainment, Loki, unfortunately, had other matters to attend to. Because, after all, there had been a certain goddess who had been working quite hard.

"How foolish of a woman she is..."

Standing up from his office chair, Loki's face was still hidden from the world as always, his white mask symbolizing the distance he had consciously chosen to take from everything around him. "Though I guess it's natural... like mother, like daughter..."

The matter at hand was something that even Loki himself hadn't been able to anticipate, and who could blame him? Who could have ever imagined that the ruling god herself would care enough for a single mortal to forcefully use enough divinity that she had to enter a deep slumber?

Straightening out his already flawless gray suit, the god of control didn't feel quite as content as he had done these last couple of months. With the heavens going into a huge uproar and turbulence running rampant amongst the gods, the feeling of things going out of control wasn't something he particularly enjoyed.

"Though I do wonder what she did to my dear apostle, I think I have no choice but to let him figure that out himself..."

****

[Zero's Pov]

Waking up, I couldn't be more excited for another day at the academy! Although yesterday had been stressful, I had gotten to meet with a lot of nice people, people I thought I wouldn't mind having at my side when the harsh future arrived.

"Sub-me, come out!"

With my clone coming out with a surge of bubbles, I somehow felt relieved to know that even though it was just myself, the fact that I had him meant I wouldn't have to face the future alone, no matter what happened...

"Hey... What are you doing?"

"Hmm?"

Somehow, my clone didn't seem to share my excitement for the day, my own face looking at me skeptically. "I asked, what are you doing? No, what are we doing? Snap out of it!"

*Slap!*

Slapping myself, or rather with sub-me slapping my main body, I finally woke up for real, realizing what I had been doing. "Ah, it happened again..."

Once again, the impostor had somehow gotten to the steering wheel of our body, this time without me even realizing it. Somehow, though, sub-me hadn't been affected at all, bringing me out of the trance in an instant.

"Ah, thank you..."

Putting up his thumb into the air, sub-me just gave me a victorious smile, "Don't mention it, partner! But man, that thing seems quite annoying to deal with. Though I wonder why this body wasn't affected..."

More and more things that I did not have answers to were piling up, and even with my research of the human mind, this was unknown territory to me. However, a part of me felt like this whole thing was quite interesting.

One of the requirements for my thesis to ring true, that all humans would always try to defend their actions, had to take into account that all beings were merely accumulations of memories and experiences, After all, if everyone was the same, that would be the only differentiating factor.

So experiencing this other 'Zero', there was absolutely a part of me that felt like it was fascinating to see a version of me devoid of my past experiences. At least that would be what it was if my theory was correct.

"Also, all these emotions really do make the world seem quite alive. When I turned back to James yesterday, it didn't feel like this at all."

"Mm, it's a pretty big difference. But it's not bad. Although I have been having fun as James, it's also entertaining to experience the world like this."

Even though I held the same ambitions as Zero as I did as James, it was as if my two versions were living in two different worlds, with James being a lot more disconnected. As Zero, on the other hand, I truly felt like I was a part of the reality around me.

"Hmm, but what do we do about that...?"

"About what?"

I had no idea why I asked sub-me what he was talking about when we were sharing the same thoughts, but I somehow felt like it was an appropriate response.

"You know, about Sarah? Thinking about it, the feelings we have for her as James, can we even feel them now?"

Though there was indeed a small seed of attraction inside of us toward the princess of Mensch, it couldn't be compared to the sensation that I felt as James when thinking about her. 'Wait...'

Suddenly, I had a feeling that I was closer to an answer to what was happening than a second ago, with Sarah being the biggest evidence for my theory. "Could it be that this form is actually not Zero, but a mix between James and Zero? And that would make this third person the actual Zero?"

"It sounds plausible, as then it would make sense that my direct feelings for specific individuals would be diluted and blurred, but shouldn't we have lost the feeling of camaraderie with Sophie as well then? Also, don't we have to get going to class? We have been standing here for almost an hour now..."

"Ah... shit..."

==========

"Please excuse me for being late!"

Making sure to bow in front of my new, old teacher, I didn't have to act for a blush to appear on my face. This was something that went directly against the ambition I had to act as a model student, now being late on the second day of class.

Luckily, I hadn't been all that late, but Ms. Turner still had to uphold the role of a teacher, even if I was the child of god, "Please take a seat, Mr. Adler. As you were only five minutes late, and it's only the second day, I will be lenient today, but don't let it happen again."

Nodding my head in confirmation and appreciation of her words, I sat down at the same spot as yesterday, the foremost center seat. However, today, something was different. Today, another person was sitting next to me.

"-Good morning, Zero."

Giving a small smile to the Rue girl who whispered to me, I acted like I was still a bit embarrassed about coming in late, choosing to not respond for fear of pissing off our teacher. Starting up the digital whiteboard, it appeared that role call had already been concluded and we were set to start the lesson.

"For today, we only have two things scheduled. Firstly, we will spend the morning with you choosing the classes and courses you want to attend. Keep in mind that basic combat training has now been made compulsory, so you may only choose three courses."

'Ah, she did say that yesterday, didn't she? Makes sense, there is a war coming after all.'

"Then, after we are done with that, we will spend the afternoon doing something that we haven't ever done in the history of the academy. Because of the circumstances, we will be pairing up the seniors with the juniors and the freshmen with the sophomore during some of the combat practice. Therefore we saw it only fit that you get introduced to them as early as possible."

"Yes?"

Raising her hand, Stella got the word, "So, does that mean we will be sparring with the sophomores today? Isn't that a bit early?"

"It's Mr. Brown, the teacher for the sophomores, who is responsible for planning what will happen during these sessions, but I don't think he would make you spar with the sophomores on your second day of school. From what I could infer from him, it will most likely be a chance for you to socialize with them and a chance to see what they are capable of as hunters."

"So they will be doing show spars and we get to spectate?"

"Yes, I do believe that to be the case. However, Mr. Brown is... Anyway, we will just have to wait and see. Don't worry though, I will make sure that you don't get dragged into sparring against your will."

'Ah, is that a flag? I wonder who I will have to fight...'

Then, another hand was raised into the air, a hand I couldn't see as the man who owned the hand was sitting behind me. "Yes, Mr. Evans?"

"Are we allowed to spar with other freshmen?"

"Hmm... I think that should be fine. As long as both parties agree, I don't see a reason to prohibit it."

'There we go.'

It was not really a surprise to hear the guy who should have held the spot of being the most popular amongst the freshmen, even if we weren't that many, come up with a plan to make himself stand out.

The man I regarded as a worse version of Arthur, wasn't this the chance for him to prove himself by taking down the child of god?