A new beginning [6]

Walking out of the classroom, I felt quite happy about what I had managed to accomplish, even though stress was eating me from the inside out when thinking about the meeting I would have to attend tonight.

It was quite weird suddenly having all these emotions; even weirder was the fact that they felt so incredibly clear and valid. As James, I had always felt as if my feelings were submerged underwater, blurry and distant, but as Zero everything felt so... alive.

It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. In fact, I had a feeling that if something was going to be the end of me, then it would be my own emotions. Humans were almost always their own leading cause of their demise, and if this continued, I would be no exception.

"Ah?"

Stepping out to the corridor, I was met by the faces of about half of my new classmates. Caroline, Akane, Stella, and Thomas had all seemingly been waiting for me outside of our classroom. With all of them hesitating, I felt like I had to say something, "Hello? Is something the matter?"

Thankfully, Caroline stepped up to the plate, doing justice to her last name, "Oh, no! We were just waiting for you. The others already went ahead, but I was thinking you might appreciate it if you had someone to walk around with. After all..."

"What do you mean, you were thinking?! Wasn't I the one who suggested we should wait for him?"

Stella was having none of it, quickly raising her voice to make sure I knew whose idea it really was to wait for me, making her blue hair rustle a bit. Putting on a small smile, the Rue girl quickly conceded, making it seem as if it was just an innocent mistake.

"Oh, sorry! I wasn't thinking it mattered whose idea it was, I just thought that our sentiments would be enough. After all, didn't we all wait for him? But you are right, it was absolutely your idea."

Unable to retort, Stella was put in a position where she got forced to keep her mouth shut. Meanwhile, I was quickly making some conclusions about what kind of people they were.

'There doesn't seem to be anything particularly interesting about Stella, she is just an ordinary teenage girl with a lot of energy... Caroline though...'

Caroline Rue... Although I had no idea about her circumstances, there was no doubt what kind of person she was. After all, she was the same as me. 'How did Adriana put it... A snake?'

Hidden underneath her innocent appearance, it was obvious to me that she was acting incredibly calculated. Even from this small interaction, I could instantly perceive her as a person that would take an arm if you gave her an inch.

Still, I didn't like it. Although I loved sub-me very much, I didn't particularly like myself. So why would I enjoy the company of someone similar to me? Therefore I couldn't stop myself from helping Stella out a bit.

Taking a step forward toward the blue-haired girl, I took her hand in mine and looked up at her face with a huge smile, "Thank you, Stella. It means a lot."

In a matter of a second, I was almost afraid that even her hair would get tinted with the color red, as she appeared to be having trouble breathing, "N-No worries..."

Having accomplished what I wanted to do, I turned to the rest of them, "Thank you all as well. As I said before, I have no idea how to act around other people, but I feel like if I have you around me, there will be nothing for me to worry about."

Even Caroline, who I knew saw me as someone that could be used, started blushing when she saw my innocent smile, captivating each and every one of their hearts in an instant. 'This is how you do it, stupid woman. If you don't believe in your own actions, why should anyone else?'

The human mind was interesting because of the fact that it always helped itself believe what one wanted to believe. Take this situation for example; by forcing my mind to believe what I was saying, my whole demeanor followed along. Right at this second, I truly believed that I wanted to get along with them.

Because these were the people who could become my first friends...

'Shit! No, don't believe it that much!'

Looking around at the people surrounding me, I felt like I could have quite a fun time in my new class. The energetic Stella, the snake of a woman Caroline and her follower Akane. There was just one thing that I felt was slightly amiss...

The big burly man on the side was now heavily blushing, desperately holding his eyes on the floor as if the sight of me would make him explode. 'Hmm... I might as well try and confirm my little theory right now...'

Walking up to Thomas, I put my small hand on his gigantic forehead, "Are you alright, Thomas? Do you have a fever or something? Maybe you should go to the infirmary? I can follow you there if you want, though I don't know where it is."

And just like that, my suspicions were confirmed. Now even redder than a second ago, he turned his head away, not wanting me to see the state of his face, "I-I-I'm fine! Hahaha! It's nothing! Don't mind me!"

'Hey, that's pretty cute. What a shame that you weren't born a pretty girl with a lovely figure.'

Taking a step back, I wrinkled my brows, "Hmm... Alright, if you say so. But don't hesitate to tell me if there's something wrong! We are all here to help each other, after all!"

"Ah...! Y-yes... I will do so..."

With that, we were now on our merry way around the academy, Caroline and Akane leading the way for me and the two tomatoes on my side. 'My first friends...'

****

[Arthur's Pov]

Sitting at the academy café, I was trying hard to regain control of my confused mind.

"So, the child of god is dying? And he hasn't told anyone but you?"

After Sophie had told me the story about how Zero had broken down in front of her, and what he told her after, I couldn't help but feel incredibly conflicted. "Yes, he did... And I don't think, no, I am sure that he hasn't told anyone else. It was just a coincidence that I met him while he was in that state. If it weren't for that coincidence I am sure he would have stayed silent about it, alone in his room..."

It wasn't hard to realize that a part of the responsibility Sophie felt was because of her connecting the appearance of Zero to James, but I still felt like it was a bit too much. They were, after all, just strangers.

"Oh, I forgot! I have an appointment with Anna! Sorry, I'll see you later!"

As she quickly got up and landed a small kiss on my cheek, I was left with my own thoughts about the matter. 'Blessed by Theia, huh? So there are two of us?'

There were so many things that didn't quite make sense in my head about this Zero, but the thing that made me the most disoriented was the fact that he told Sophie that the power of Theia was too much for a mortal body to bear.

As far as I knew, I wasn't about to die in the foreseeable future, so how could it make sense that he would? Weren't we blessed by the same god? And would the Theia I had met in my dreams really sentence someone to their death?

But what could he possibly accomplish by exposing this 'secret' to Sophie? 'Is he planning on using her for something? Does he want the [Dragoon] Manual?'

It was no secret that the Manual Sophie had was something a lot of people would kill for, but wasn't this way of going about it quite bizarre?

"Argh!"

Unable to stop myself, I let out a loud groan in response to my hurting brain, not minding the eyes of everyone around me. 'I'm not made to think about these kinds of things! No, who could possibly try and factor in all the small details just like that and come to a conclusion?'

"Hmm...? I guess there is one person who could do that..."

There was, indeed, someone who I felt could probably figure all of this out in a matter of minutes. Someone who I was now desperately trying to figure out what he was up to while hiding the process from Sophie. A man who seemed to have the world in his palms, who only saw people as tools to be used for his enjoyment.

'I guess there is no way around it... I am not James. I'll have to talk to this Zero myself if I want to know what he is up to.'