12 Sorry, Mom...

Another round of laughter was going through the room once more after my little verbal error.

"I meant to say mam! I'm deeply sorry Mrs... Mrs... Sorry, what was your name again...?"

"Oh for god's sake! First of all, it's Ms. Turner, I'm not married! Secondly, just get on with your damn presentation already!"

Ms. Turner looked like she was just about to explode in anger, a dark aura already enveloping her attractive figure, almost making me question if it was actually her who would become the reaper who would descend onto the mortal world.

"Yes! My name is James Jackson. I like reading and playing games. My favorite food is..."

"James..."

I didn't even get halfway through my introduction before my teacher stopped me, reaching yet another level of anger. 'What did I do wrong?'

"Have you been listening at all to what I have been saying?"

It didn't take many microseconds before I realized that I was probably in some deep shit right now. I had, in fact, not heard a word about what she had been saying, nor did I hear a single student introducing themselves as I had been stuck in my own thoughts.

'There's no helping it, is it...'

There was no going back from this now. The only thing I could do was face the future straight on. And so, as a real man would do, I let go of my connection with my clone.

*Poff!*

*-Where did he go?!*

*-How did he do that?!*

Murmurs went around the room, everyone surprised that I had just gone up in smoke, probably incredibly impressed by my cool little trick. Everyone except for one person...

"James Jackson...!"

----

After about an hour of meditating, I had finally regained enough mana to call on my clone once more. Now sitting face to face with me on my bed, both of me were in very sour moods.

"It's okay, man. We did our best..."

"Yea... It just hurts man... It hurts so bad..."

I hugged myself, letting a couple of tears fall as I thought about just how socially inept I truly was. After just a little bit of time of doing a comedy skit with myself, I got on with my day and, once again, my main body got busy meditating while my clone went to further improve on our scythemanship.

****

[Sophie's Pov]

Looking around my homeroom, I couldn't help but feel a bit sad that I wasn't placed in the same class as Arthur or James. Luckily, I had at least one other person here that I knew and had talked with a bit at the girls' dorms. Anna Dubois, an incredibly cute girl who could be said to be a bit of a bookworm.

Looking to my side, where she was sitting, I couldn't help but feel a bit envious of her doll-like stature. She was just about the same height as James, with light-brown hair and big eyes, adorned with some elegant glasses. The one thing she didn't have going for her was that her body was carrying a pretty big absence of curves, making her the opposite of me.

"Now, settle down, please. I know that you are all excited for your first year here but please do contain yourselves until later."

Mr. Brown, our homeroom teacher, who was a big, burly man, neatly dressed in a black suit, stood in front of us and guided us through our first class of the year. "Now, let's start with introductions. To make it easy we will just start in front and then make our way to the back of the class. Little lady, would you care to begin?"

The student he was referring to was Anna, who on cue stood up and spoke with confidence, " Hi everyone, I am Anna Dubois. My combat role is a mage. A pleasure to meet you all!"

It was quite impressive how that small girl was so confident in talking in front of us all, even more so when I knew that I was the only one she had been speaking to at the academy.

"Well done, clear and concise. You all, please do follow the lead of Ms. Dubois here when you are making your presentations and we will get through it quickly. Now then, it's your turn little... I mean it's your turn Ms."

'I guess I'm not a 'little lady' in his eyes... Can't really blame him though...'

Standing up, I always carried myself with as much confidence as I could, "Hi, my name is Sophie Red. In battle, I am a close physical damage dealer. Hope we can all get along!"

And like this, we continued to go around the room, with everyone introducing themselves.

Adam Rue, the nice and pleasant twin of Bellatrix. A gray-haired youth with a slightly skinny, yet still athletic body, who told us he was an assassin.

Then we had the trio of douches in the form of Mike, John, and Bellatrix who had tried to bully Arthur as soon as they saw him. Looking closer, even though I disliked them, they were all pretty good-looking, with Bella standing out the most with her larger-than-average curves.

The next in line was Sarah Lindt, the royal heir to the kingdom of Mensch. She was an incredibly beautiful girl, with golden blonde hair and a delicate yet still very seductive body. Though she was, as we all were, currently dressed in very casual clothes which helped keep her beauty to a more normal level. Sarah was also a healer, something that was somewhat rare and incredibly sought after in this world. After all, no one wanted to die.

She carried herself with extreme dignity, her whole form screaming royalty as she spoke, "Greetings. My name is Sarah Lindt. Please do not mind the fact that I am the royal heir, in the academy we are all the same. In combat, I bear the role of a healer. Let's work together to make our years here worthwhile."

The last student in our class was... a complete edgelord...

"My name is Peter Harrow, but you may call me the Harrower. I bring destruction onto my enemies by using the power of death!"

"Umm... That's great... You may sit down now..."

I couldn't help but feel incredibly sad as my eyes were scanning the young man. Clad in complete black with black hair covering one of his eyes, it was such a complete waste. If one looked more carefully at the man, he was incredibly handsome, even to the extent of rivaling Arthur. Sadly, his persona completely ruined whatever attraction any sensible woman could ever feel for him.

"So, now that we have gotten through our introductions, I want us all to go to the stadium designated for freshmen to show each other a few of our skills and abilities so you have a better grasp on your classmates before you start going on dungeon dives and excursions."

Standing up, me and Anna walked side by side to the designated location that was now inputted into our smartwatches. Walking next to the petite girl did make me feel even more self-conscious about my height but it also served as good practice for me to get used to my situation.

After walking through the academy grounds for a couple of minutes, we arrived at our destination where the B-class had already arrived. Scanning the youths, there was something amiss. No matter how I counted, there were only seven students there instead of eight, with the one missing being James.

'What did you do this time...'

When my eyes locked onto Arthur, he noticed me and waved back with his lovely signature smile, once again melting my heart.

'Should I just kidnap him while he is weak...?'

"No! Get it together woman!"

"Sophie, did you say something?"

"Oh, no Anna. It was nothing!"

As I shook my head and forcefully exorcised my inner demons, we continued with our day, separating from the B-class and showing each other a bit of what we could do, which in my case was just my body enhancement without showing my transformation.

****

[James's Pov]

It turned out to be a pretty great day after all. Who could have thought that as long as I didn't go to class, it was all good?

Having finished yet another massive session of exercise and meditation, I dragged myself to the fridge and withdrew a packet of pre-cooked chicken, put it on a plate, and took my seat at the small table next to the kitchen area.

My clone also took the seat in front of me, and we let the food silence our mouths. Or at least one of my mouths. And right at that moment, I remembered one of the theories that I had thought of earlier. Without my having to speak, my clone also went to the fridge and mimicked my earlier actions, now also eating some pre-cooked chicken.

The theory was simple. If I had two bodies, couldn't both of them acquire nutrients to make my intake of food even more effective as well? Even though a body would have a limit on the number of calories and protein it could use during the span of a day, wouldn't two bodies have double the limit?

It would be hard to see immediate results but I was determined to keep experimenting with it.

*Knock, knock, knock!*

Once again, it appeared that I have company, "Is that Sophie again? Shouldn't she be out socializing and getting to know her classmates like a normal person? Can't be helped, I guess..."

Making my clone wander into my practice room, making sure that he brought his plate with him to make sure I didn't look like a sloth who kept dirty dishes around, I went ahead and opened the door. Surprisingly, I wasn't met by the big, pink-haired girl. Instead, a black-haired, gorgeous lady was standing there, eyes looking like they could kill.

"Mr. Jackson... Please explain what happened today..."