It’s the first day of April. Mikael woke up by the sound of his alarm clock. He reached the clock and turned off the alarm.  He got up, fixed his bed and took a bath. After that, he bandaged his somewhat burnt left hand then he put on his high school uniform. He went down the stairs and then headed straight to the kitchen.

“Good morning, Mikael,” said by a bearded stout-looking man who’s sitting on a chair at the dining table and reading a newspaper.

“Mornin’ Pops.” Mikael sat and took a piece of buttered toasted slice of bread and ate it. He then sipped on a cup of hot chocolate.

“So, it’s the first day of your senior high school life huh? Then do you best,” Pops took a side glance at Mikael and said it with a smile. He then continued on reading the newspaper.

Mikael just nodded, and ate another slice of bread and finished the cup of hot chocolate. He rested for like three minutes before he stood up and grabbed his schoolbag.

“Pops, thanks for the meal, I got to go,” Mikael waved on his old man.

“Yeah, take care.”

Mikael exited the house.

…

Mikael was walking on the alley, and then he looked at his smartphone. ‘Who am I expecting to even send me a text? I already isolated myself from people,’ he said to himself. ‘Am I expecting that girl?’ Mikael shook his head. ‘I’m blessed if she thinks about me too, but years have already passed. I shouldn’t be thinking on these trivial things,’ Mikael took a long sigh then turned off his smartphone and put it in his pocket and continued on walking.

Their house area was the rural part of the town, it has rice fields here and there and also people could see the mountains. People could even witness on how the sun rises on those mountains. Fewer people living in there compared on the urban area, so there weren’t many people walking in that time of the day. After minutes of walking, Mikael arrived on the railway station.

The station was so advanced that it contrasted the rural area. Few people from the rural area were also waiting for the train to arrive. Mikael took his wallet, and flashed the board pass on the entrance machine. The door opened and he entered the boarding platform.

After a few more minutes of waiting, the train arrived. Mikael wait until everyone ahead of him boarded the train. He also boarded the train afterwards and just stopped and grabbed the pole near the train door. When the people who just entered found there place and cleared the area around the door, Mikael looked forward and saw a familiar face…

‘Wait, is she that girl?’ He asked himself with an astonished face. ‘She’s also wearing our school girl’s uniform!’ He suddenly felt his heart beating so fast. He’s still looking at the girl until the girl noticed him.

The girl looked back at him with a sparkling wide eyes and a curious face. She’s around 160 centimeters, with light blue hair and eyes, a bit curvy body and she has a face akin to a celestial being. Her features appeared to be cute and she emitted a friendly-like aura. It seems like nobody could hate her by looking at her and just appreciates on how she looks.

“Good morning, Mr. Valiant!” The girl suddenly spoke in a cheerful tone at Mikael. She smiled slowly after she greeted.

Mikael suddenly realized that the greeting was for him and his head went cloudier than it was a few seconds ago. ‘This girl remembered me? Wait, how? It’s been like a decade already, how can she remembered me?’ He really couldn’t think well. ‘Also that smile, it’s so poisonous, I feel like my heart is going to explode,’ the girl smile was really beautiful; it could took a man’s breath away by glancing at it for a second. After a few seconds of self-battle, he looked at the girl and replied, “Morning too, Miss Fleetwood…” Then he turned his gaze away before their eyes could have more contact. His heart was still racing fast.

The girl, with the surname Fleetwood, still kept on looking at him. But of course, he couldn’t look back. He felt awkward for the entire moment standing there. ‘Is there something wrong with my face? I know I’m not good-looking, so maybe she’s kinda finding my looks funnier now after all those years,’ Mikael’s face went sour. The girl saw it, then her smile went away and she also looked away from Mikael.

…

The train went full after it visited several stations. Several students, with the same uniform as them and also from other schools, boarded. They made the train looked busy due to the influx of students on the first semester of school.

When the train stopped on the station where their school was nearby, the student all went out of the train like swarming ants. Several students who knew other students started chatting while they were walking out of the station. Mikael just kept on walking straight ahead and try not to collide with other students, he doesn’t want any attention. Suddenly, the Fleetwood girl struggled to keep her pace up to him, and when she caught up to him, she took a glance on him and smiled again. He felt very awkward, so he turned his face away from the girl and walked faster. The girl suddenly felt confused by Mikael’s reaction.

Several steps later, Mikael reached the school’s entrance. A few Cherry trees were blooming and gave color and life to the school’s old-looking buildings. The main building of the school is like any other’s; it has a big clock on middle top side.

There was a big electronic board on the ground floor of the main building where the students could check what class and room number they will be. Mikael waited until the earlier students finished looking before he looked. Due to hundreds for students, new and old, looking on the board, the girl lost Mikael on the crowd.

After minutes of searching for his name, Mikael saw his Section and room number. ‘1-H, room 4 at the second floor of building C,’ he muttered. ‘What about her section? Ugghh, why am I thinking of her, she’s out of my league now due to this defect,’ Mikael looked at his bandaged left hand and talked to his head again with a frowned face. He left that area and rushed to his room’s destination.

‘This is the room, right?’ He asked himself. Upon looking inside, he saw his new classmates. He went inside, the room looked big, and the seats were elevated per row, forming a half circle. He went to the uppermost row and sat beside window. He casually glanced on his classmates to kill time. Suddenly, he heard his classmates gossiping about a certain topic.

“I heard our class representative is from a certain fairy race, I guess she is beautiful, once we see her, we will definitely know it’s her,” said by one guy.

“Really? Are you sure about that?” Asked by another guy.

“Of course! My sources are always reliable,” boasted by the first guy.

“You guys always talk about girls, what a bunch of perverts,” disdainfully commented by one girl.

“You’re just jealous because no guy is fancying you,” sneered by one of the guys.

“How do you know? Don’t say it like you know me. Heh, with that face of yours, it is you who has no female admirers,” mocked by the girl.

“You…” The guy couldn’t further retort. “I’m going back at you someday!”

The crowd laughed.

The classroom was filled up with students. His classmates were still chatting. ’It’s almost time,’ Mikael said to himself.

“Okay class, take your seats,” a sudden muscular voice filled the room. It was their Homeroom teacher. He’s a man with a toned medium body build, and with brownish complexion. His face was not striking nor it was bad-looking neither. “I’m Dirk Tom, I’m going to be your homeroom teacher for this year, and I hope we all have fun learning from each other!”

“Yessir!” Replied by the students.

After Mr. Tom nodded on their response, he looked at the classroom door and said, “You can now come in.”

Mikael, along with his classmates, went curious on whom their teacher called. When he saw her foot entering the door, Mikael’s heart skipped a beat.

‘It’s her!’ he said to himself.

She continued walking until she’s in front of them, in the middle of the classroom platform.

“My name is Lazuli Fleetwood, I’ll be your class representative for this year, I’m so glad to meet all of you and I hope we can get along with each other!” Cheerfully said by the girl.

Mikael, along with his classmates almost dropped their jaw on their tables.

“Woooooooooooooahh!”

“She’s really pretty!”

“Is she heaven sent?”

“I can trade half of my life just to be with her!”

“See, I told you guys? Our class rep is beautiful!”

‘Of all the numbers of classes, why is she in here?” Mikael pressed his palms on his forehead. He couldn’t believe on why that girl was on his class, and she’s even their class representative.

He’s still looking mindlessly on Lazuli and then Lazuli looked at him with a brilliant smile on her face. ‘What the…’ he turned his eyes away from Lazuli.

‘This is the worst April fools’ I ever had so far.’

…

“Ahem ahem, quiet class!” said Mr. Tom in a commanding yet calm manner. “Miss Fleetwood, you may sit here at front.”

Lazuli seated on the front as per Mr. Tom’s orders.

Mr. Tom checked the attendance and after that he discussed several things. “... Your smartphones are still gonna work on these buildings but if we entered in the cultivation areas, they won’t be useful anymore because communication signals can’t enter those spaces. Also avoid arguing with anyone, if you can’t avoid it, you guys can apply a duel so that fights won’t be fatal when it held on the duel stage. Fatally wounding your fellow student can lead to expulsion…”

“…Alright class, we tackled almost all the basic rules, now it’s time for you to introduce yourselves, we will start alphabetically. Starting from you Mr. A,” Mr. Tom ended explaining the basic rules and moved on to the introduction.

“Hello I’m… I’m an elf from… I cultivate the…”

“Hi, I’m… I’m a human… My element is earth…”

“Good morning! I’m… I’m a beastkin from…”

“Hello again, I’m Lazuli Fleetwood if you can still remember! I cultivate the Water Celestial Physique and I have dual Elements of Water and Wood. My race is a variant of the fairies, a Nymph. I’m so pleased to be with in your company guys!”

“So she’s really a fairy huh?”

“Wow, a goddess has descended!”

Their classmates suddenly went livelier again after Lazuli spoke. People from the fairy races were rare by now. They could cultivate faster and reach immortality easier than other races, especially compared to humans. They’re not as strong as the god races, but still, their unique physique gave them the edge on cultivation.

“I’m Mikael Valiant, you can call me Maek. I’m a half-dragon, half-human. My element is Fire. I cultivate the Dragon Whelp Physique.”

Mikael sat down immediately after speaking.

“Oh that guy is a half-dragon; he should have a strong body.”

“This class is solid, I think we could do fare in section competitions before the semester ends.”

‘These guys, if you only knew my physical condition, you will look at me with disdain, well I can’t do anything about this anyways, sigh,’ Mikael exhaled a long breath.

After they’ve all finished with their introductions, Mr. Tom dismissed his homeroom class, “Okay, class dismissed, no classes for today, you can now talk to each other and make friends, just don’t go running around on corridors as not to distract the other classes.” He waved his hand and exited out of the room.

Suddenly, their classmates swarmed Lazuli with enthusiasm. They wanted to talk to and know everything about her. Mikael, on the other hand, only paid a simple glance on the commotion, stood up, and left the room.

“I guess I’ll check the cultivation areas,” Mikael said to himself. There are several buildings he traversed before he arrived at his destination. “So this is the place,” he murmured. The place looked like a normal forest on the naked eye. Mikael stretched his hand, and it seemed like he touched something intangible, like an invisible barrier. Ripples emerged on the barrier. After he examined that event, he stepped forward.

After he entered in the barrier, he found himself on a vast, green landscape. Mikael saw several students, preferable in higher years, sitting and meditating, practicing their soul skills or their martial skills. It seemed like, on that area of the campus, a new world has emerged.

Mikael continued to walk, he passed students here and there, and they didn’t even bother paying attention to him. He stopped when he saw a wood land. “I guess I’ll meditate here,” he sat and meditated. The cultivation area of the school has large amount of soul power. It was better for cultivating physique and soul techniques than normal mortal places. He chose that place so that no one can bother him.

…

Lunchtime came, and after Mikael ate his food, he prepared himself to continue meditating. He heard footsteps going towards him. Abruptly, 3 guys appeared. “Well, well, well look what we have here, a newbie first year,” said the ugly-faced guy, who was preferably the gang’s leader.

…

Lazuli saw Mikael went out of the room but because of their classmates swarming her, she couldn’t even catch up. After answering several questions, she said bye to her classmates. “Oh no, where can Mikael gone into?” she asked herself while running out of the room.

Several minutes later, she arrived at the cultivation area. Unlike Mikael, students noticed her.

“Hey pretty girl, can we talk for a bit?”

“Young goddess, hang out with us sometime!”

When other guys heard the cat callings, they also looked at Lazuli. `Ehh, why are guys like this? I hope Mikael haven’t turned out like this,’ she continued to run and ignored those guys.

The cultivation area was so wide and Lazuli was running mindlessly. But she didn’t gave up, she rose her right hand up, opened her palms and chanted, “Great wood spirits, hear my call!” Several sphere-shaped spirits emerged from her palms and they emitted a glowing green color. “This is his aura signature, please find him,” she requested to the wisps.

After the wisps left her, she heard a shout.

Lazuli was slightly stunned on what she saw. Big tree roots were rampaging at the students. Experienced upperclassmen entered combat mode and were engaging the tree roots.

“Why are we having a cultivation raid at the very first day?!” shouted one freshman.

“I dunno!!”

“If you want to gain good resources, hurry and hit these roots!” a third year shouted to the freshmen. Cultivation raids were one of the events that happened occasionally in their school. Points were given to students who participate for the raid. Said points can be exchanged for cultivation pills, manuals and weapons. Of course, those who participated more can get more.

“Take this!” A girl’s voice caught Lazuli’s attention. It’s one of her beastkin classmates. If Mikael saw her, she was the girl who mocked the boys who talked about Lazuli before they’ve met her.

The beastkin girl jumped high and her claw-like palms hit one of the roots. “Oh mother, this root is tough!” She said in astonishment. The root attacked while she’s still on her recovery phase and she couldn’t dodge on time. She was still hanging in the air; she crossed her arms to cover his upper body and face and raised her left knee. The root hastily lashed on her body and she hit the ground heavily.

Lazuli ran towards her before the root hit her. “Miss Clarina, hold on!” she said at the beastkin girl. She stretched her opened right palm at the girl after the beastkin’s girl’s knockback to the ground and chanted, “Great water spirits, hear my call!”

A series of tiny water waves went into the girl’s body. Her wounds suddenly disappeared.

“Whoa! The class rep is so cool!” the beastkin girl uttered in amazement. She jumped to stand up. She checked her arms and looked back again at Lazuli with a smile. “You can just call me Lily, class rep,” she said to Lazuli while smiling with her small fangs and her pair of fox-like ears was casually moving.

“Then Miss Lily you can just call me Lazuli,” Lazuli also replied with a smile.

“Do you have any defensive spells, Laz?” Lily asked.

“Yes,” Lazuli chanted again and pointed her right palms at Lily. A water-like spherical barrier enveloped Lily’s body.

“Okay, thanks Laz,” Lily nodded with satisfaction and rushed again to the battle.

“Miss Lily be careful, I can heal you but do not get yourself injured,” Lazuli said with concern.

Lily looked sideways and just raised her right hand.

Few minutes later, more students arrived at the cultivation area. The battle was getting more intense, with the students unleashing all their martial and soul skills against the roots. The roots were retaliating, but with the students supporting each other, its movements became more and more limited. Lazuli was also throwing offensive water spells on it while assisting Lily. With hundreds of students attacking the roots, it took around two hours to take it down.

The raid was over, light appeared on the plains and the cracks on the ground were magically repaired. The students roared in victory. The light also enveloped their bodies, signifying their acquired raid contribution points. Third years and second years just casually nodded at each other while the first years jumped in joy.

Lily approached Lazuli, “Thank you Laz for assisting me, I think I got many points for participating, teehee,” she giggled happily.

“Miss Lily is so humble, I only helped a little, your own efforts were the major factor on your participation, you’re strong,” Lazuli replied earnestly.

“Hehe, Laz you’re making me blush, I want to be your friend, can I be your friend?” Lily asked.

Lazuli smiled her sweetest and replied with sparkling eyes, “Yes, we can be friends!” Lazuli responded excitedly.

“Level 1 Root raid has been finished. All participating students can check their acquired points at the Rewards Center. This raid is for our April fool’s event. Stay alert for more raids to come in few more days.” A system voice filled the area.

“So that is why, it’s April Fools’!”

“This school is so much fun! I’m looking forward for more surprise events!”

Students realized and became happier. The majority of them dispersed and went towards the Rewards Center direction.

“Ahh look at this, we’re too late.”

“It’s because you enjoyed too much.”

“Shut up you two, let’s get some booze.”

The trios caught Lazuli’s attention. The wisps she sent to looked for Mikael sent updates to her during the raid. The trios’ auras matched the auras that were near Mikael during the raid. Lazuli frowned while staring at the trio.

The second man, which is the thin and tall one from the trio noticed Lazuli, “Hey little beauty, will you go drink with us, it’s our boss’ treat,” the fat and small guy, and the ugly-faced leader of the thugs also looked Lazuli.

Lily sensed danger from the trio and replied to them, “you ugly seniors, don’t you dare think of anything bad against our class rep, do you guys want to get into trouble? Hmpf.”  

The trio looked at Lily with killing intent. Then the leader spoke facing Lazuli, “my friend here is kinda playful, please pardon him, I’ll take care of him later for you.”

“Little beauty I didn’t know that you’re a class representative, please accept my apology,” lied the thin and tall guy.

“Please excuse us,” the leader waved bye to the two girls. But before they could leave, a boy suddenly emerged from the forest’s direction.

“Mr. Valiant!” Lazuli uttered when he saw Mikael. Mikael’s clothes were dirtied and his face was full of wounds, his right hand supporting his left biceps. She suddenly ran towards Mikael.

Lazuli examined Mikael’s condition and with a worried face, she stretched her palms but before she could chant her healing spell, Mikael interrupted her, “Don’t even bother miss class rep, I’m fine.”

“But...” Lazuli wanted to retort, but Mikael continued on walking away.

“We want to help him, but he’s so stubborn,” interjected by the fat and small guy.

“Yeah kid, you’re just a rank five Martial Squire, you know it’s dangerous around here, if your seniors wanted to help you, you should accept, look at you, you looked like a trash now,” smirked by the thin and tall guy.

“That’s enough let’s go,” said the ugly-faced leader.

The trio walked faster and gone within seconds. Lazuli ran to catch up with Mikael.

“I have a hunch of what really happened…” Lazuli glanced at Mikael.

“What about it?” Mikael replied.

Lazuli’s face became more worried, “can you at least let me help you with your wounds…”

“Do I need to repeat myself? Like I said, don’t even bother,” Mikael uttered with a slightly raised voice. He continued walking towards the cultivation area exit.

“…”

“Haaaa, that guy’s full of it, Laz, don’t mingle with those kinds of guys, they’re also bad news like those trios,” Lily frowned on how Mikael acted and tried to appease Lazuli.

“…” Lazuli, with a sad face, while touching the ring on her left hand, said, “But… He’s my childhood friend…”

“What?!”

…

It was around 2pm in the afternoon, but Mikael doesn’t have the mood to continue cultivating at school. He decided to skip the afternoon school session.

‘What’s with those guys anyway, damn it still hurts,’ Mikael gritted.

He continued walking until he’s a few blocks away from the school where the residential areas were located. Few minutes later, he arrived at the city center. The city center was full of commercial buildings, and several people were walking at that time of the day.

`I guess I’ll just play my favorite game,’ Mikael saw the gaming arcade and went in there.

Mikael entered and the shop owner, a thin guy with eyeglasses, greeted him and noticed his injuries. “Oh it’s you again, what happened to you? It’s the first day of school and you had it bad already huh?”

“Give me tokens, all of that,” Mikael ignored the shop owner and handed a paper bill.

The owner gave him the tokens and he chose a machine to play.

…

Mikael finished his nth battle. `Oh great it’s 4:30pm already, I really should go home,’ he said to himself.

“Done already?” Asked the shop owner when Mikael was walking towards the exit.

Mikael nodded once before he finally exited the arcade. He traversed the path heading to the train station. He was back at the residential area when he suddenly noticed the clouds in the sky turned dark and swirled, forming a circle-like vortex.  

Seconds later, a terrifying purple light flashed from the vortex. ‘What in the hell is that?’ he asked himself. Objects emerged from the vortex, and were heading towards Mikael’s direction. `Oh-oh, this is bad!’ Mikael started to run away. He continued on running and looked back often to see what were those objects. It only took a few seconds for the objects to tail him.

They were meters away from him and he noticed they were like robotic puppets. Their paint was gray, and they only had one eye with purple lights. The puppets surrounded him and he stopped running.

The puppets locked their eyes on him, “Target sighted, entering annihilation phase…” One puppet said in a robotic voice.

“What the…!” Mikael sensed the incoming danger, formed his battle stance and began to move. He stomped his left foot heavily on the ground to gain a momentum and jumped.

“Dragon Leaps into the Clash!”

Mikael unleashed a dragon martial skill and charged towards one of the puppets. His right fist hit the chest of the puppet, but the puppet didn’t budged a bit.

“@#$#%#$ IT HURTS!” he shouted while holding his right hand with his left. His right hand went numb after the punch.

The puppets aimed their fist on him, and it started to glow a purple color. “Engaging target… Fire!” The puppets released the charged purple light at Mikael. Mikael was on high alert and miraculously dodged the purple beams. He rolled on the ground, stood up and continued to run.

The puppets pursued him, and continued on firing at him. They continued on blocking the path he was going to take, until they made him ran into a dead end.

“Is this how lame am I going to die?” His face was panic-stricken and his sweat started to drop from it. He stepped backwards until he hit the wall.

The puppets stopped walking towards him when they reached the three meter distance. Their right fists were still aiming on him. They began to charge the purple beam.

“Pops thank you for raising me… Lazuli I… I’m sorry for everything…” Mikael’s face became calm and closed his eyes, signifying that he already surrendered to his fate.

“Fi…”

“Blazing Dragon Leaps into the Clash!” An unfamiliar girl voice suddenly caught Mikael’s attention and interrupted the puppets.

A pink beam cut around ten puppets after the girl’s shout. The girl landed in front of Mikael. It was a girl of around fourteen years old, wearing a plugsuit, wielding a beam saber on her right hand, with short, pinkish red hair and red eyes just like Mikael’s. Their eyes met like a few seconds, and the girl turned her back on him and ran towards the puppets.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

“Blazing Dragon Rends the Crowd!” The girl shouted once again. She slashed the puppets horizontally and the puppets’ bodies turned into two pieces. She then quickly moved and continued on hacking the remaining puppets. Seconds later, she destroyed all of them.

She then turned her attention to Mikael.

Mikael quickly regained his senses after their eyes met again. “Uhhh I met my childhood friend again today, became classmates with her, got bullied at school on my first day then got chased by those weird puppets… If this is your kind of joke on April fools’, please, please stop.”

“Noob, what are you talking about?” The girl replied with a pissed tone. “Anyways, you’re still quite lucky, I’ve arrived on time. Plus, these are all just level one to three Martial Knight Droids anyway. Tsk, I expected better,” she said while stabbing one of the destroyed puppet’s head.

‘Just level one to three Martial Knights? The heck is wrong with you kid? I’m just a level five Martial Squire. Can you please give me a break?’  Mikael retorted on himself.

The girl walked to him and grabbed his waist.

“You! What are you doing!?” Mikael suddenly got embarrassed by the girl’s action.

“Shut up! If you want to live, behave like a good boy and comply with me!” the girl raised her tone. Mikael was clearly taller than the girl and he was just being carried by the latter like a tiny little puppy. He couldn’t fight back for the girl was stronger than him.

The girl stomped heavily on the ground then jumped and activated the thrusters under her feet.

...

“I can’t still believe that my beautiful class representative is childhood friends with a weirdo guy like that.” Lily snorted.

It was around the time after Mikael went out of the cultivation area. The two girls were back and talking in their classroom again.

Lazuli frowned and look at her, “He isn’t bad…”

“Well, he might be like acting good coz you’re a fairy, he wants to take advantage of you and take your primordial yin back then.”

“What are you saying?!” Lazuli blushed.

“But if you think of it, I still make sense, no?”

“A six-year-old boy won’t think of those kinds of things…”

“.. Yeah uhh, I’m sorry. Hmmm are you going home after this? We haven’t taken lunch, I’m hungry, I know an awesome cake shop at the city center, let’s take a look!”

“Really! A cake shop! I like cakes!” Lazuli’s face suddenly lightened up.

“Yeah! My father visited this place a lot before I enrolled here; he brought us cakes from there. So now that I’m here, I want to visit it myself.” Lily proudly stated. “So, let’s go?”

“Okay…” Lazuli’s face frowned and touched her ring again. ‘Where are you now Mikael? I’ll just visit you later at Mr. Beetle’s, no, pops’ place.’

The two headed at the city center’s direction. They stopped at the fork where Mikael went to the left side towards the Arcade. “Let’s head right, the cake shop is just a block away from here.”

They continued walking and Lazuli was fascinated with the two-three story buildings that they were seeing along the way. After a few seconds, they arrived at the cake shop.

“Whooaaaa, I never thought this shop looks this good, and it’s quite big!” said by the astonished Lily. The cake shop had a white paint on its walls and some pink linings, the glass windows were quite big, and people from the outside could see the customers eating inside. “What do you think Laz?” she asked while turning her eyes to Lazuli.

She saw Lazuli with her clasped hands on her chest and her eyes sparkling. “Heh, I told you it’s awesome, you can count on me for things like this,” Lily boasted. “Shall we go in?”

Lazuli nodded.

They entered the shop and were welcomed by a female waitress in a maid’s costume.

“This shop sure is fancy,” Lily commented. “We would like a table for two please.”

The waitress accompanied them to a small circular table with 2 chairs. They seated comfortably afterwards. The waitress gave the menus on the two girls. Lazuli was still fascinated by the place and people. She casually glanced and smiled at every person on the shop.

“You really looked excited,” Lily noticed Lazuli’s childlike behavior.

Lazuli slightly made her eyes wide then smiled, “I’ve never been in mortal places like this,” she explained.

“Really? Let’s take our orders,” Lily flipped the menu pages, “Uhhhhh, I planned to treat you but I don’t think I can afford these prices….” Lily said with troubled-looking face looking at the menu.

“Then let me treat you instead!” Lazuli happily said to Lily. “Madam gave me a lot of money so… I might spend a bit.”

“Wow! As expected to a genius student, you really have a big background, well I guess I’ll be shameless, hello I shall order a slice of this and this…” Lily merrily turned her attention to the waitress waiting for their orders.

“I’ll order a slice of this chocolate cake,” Lazuli said after Lily ordered a bunch of cakes. The waitress excused herself after getting their orders.

“I never thought you like chocolates!” Lily commented.

“I just want to get inspirations for a recipe,” Lazuli replied. She touched her ring again.

“So you bake?”

“Yes, I just started, I’m not good though.”

“Then let me taste some of your baking to see if you’re good or not one of these days.”

“Okay.”

They chatted while waiting for their cakes to arrive. After several minutes, the slices of cakes came and the two happily ate their shares. Then suddenly, a tall armored-clad person resembling a somewhat futuristic knight entered the shop. The people eating at the shop noticed him.

The waitress approached the tall guy, “Hello sir… Would you like to take a seat?”

“Pardon the intrusion, I’ll leave quickly after this.” A young man’s voice came from the armor.

The people were still looking at him as he continued to walk toward Lazuli’s direction. He stopped in front of Lazuli and half kneeled before her.

“Fairy Gran... Young Lady Fleetword, my excuses for disturbing young lady, but my master wants to see young lady, will the young lady please follow me?” asked by the young man.

Lily, like the people at that shop, awed by the armored-clad guy’s presence but she quickly regain her composure and said, “Wait knight-in-shining-armor guy, how can you even asked my class representative and friend to go with you? I mean you’re a complete stranger and we don’t even know you,” she skeptically asked.

“I cannot reveal my identity or my face here, I’ll just have the young lady to put her trust on me,” the young man simply replied.

“But,” Lily wanted to retort, but Lazuli politely waved at her.

“I can trust him,” Lazuli smiled and spoke.

The armored-clad young man stood up. “Young lady, we should depart quickly, we cannot delay any further.”

“Okay.” Lazuli agreed.

“Laz, are you sure about this?” Lily asked with a worried face.

“Miss Lily, don’t worry about me, this will be fine,” Lazuli answered with a smiling and assuring face.

“Thanks for your treat today, I will see you in class again tomorrow, right?”

“Of course, I’m still your class representative. Bye for today Miss Lily.”

“Bye, take care!”

“Then mister knight, please lead the way,” Lazuli glanced and instructed the young man.

The two quickly left the cake shop.

…

The armored-clad young man led Lazuli in a remote alley.

“Princess, the young lady is secured, we will immediately go to the rendezvous point.”

The young man talked to someone on his communicator.

“Young lady, I’ll block the mortal’s perceptions, we’re going to fly,” said the young man.

The young man’s facial armor suddenly moved and it was gone in seconds, revealing his face. ‘He’s really young.’ Lazuli said to herself. The young man looked like he’s around fourteen years of age, has a blond hair with a duck tail and his pair of eyes were blue like ice. The young man stood at around 180cm, so it’s kind of unbelievable that he’s still young with that height.

“I have to carry young lady,” said the young man.

“I can fly,” Lazuli stated.

Lazuli’s body glowed. Her pair of ears grew longer up to fifteen centimeters each. Three pairs of glowing detached blue wings emerged from her back. If Mikael saw this, he will remember that this was Lazuli’s true fairy form.

“Continue leading the way, mister knight.”

“As you wish, young lady.”  

The two flew afterwards. They traversed through the skies of the city until they reached the city’s port area. The two landed and entered one of the dock’s buildings. Then Lazuli heard a familiar male voice.

“How long are you gonna let me stay on this place? I’m just a nobody, why are you wasting your time on me? I even got a class tomorrow, you even took my phone!”

“Shut up! Why are you so noisy! If I can tear you up to a thousand pieces, I already did! You are so annoying!”

“Is that how you treat your seniors? Little girl you’re still young and yet you’re so arrogant!”

“Shut up! You’re just a few years older, one more word from you and I will really cut your mouth!”

The scene of two persons arguing with each other, one boy and one girl, emerged to Lazuli eyes. If strangers saw them, they will think the two were siblings, one has full red hair and the other has pinkish red hair. Both have also a pair of red eyes.

“Mr. Valiant!” Lazuli called out Mikael.

“Oh it’s you class rep…” Mikael replied to Lazuli after noticing her. “Wait, why are you also here?!”

Lazuli only forced a smile.

“Reporting to the princess, phase three of the mission, completed,” the armored-clad young man approached the red haired girl. He then turned to Lazuli and stretched her left hand to the red-haired girl, “Young lady, this is my master.”

Lazuli nodded.

“I told you not to call me that when we arrived here! Have you contacted Adel and Nica? I’m seriously mad right now!” the girl said in a high tone.

“Uhmmmm, nothing will come out good if you let yourself be mad, so miss, please calm down,” Lazuli suddenly spoke to the girl.

The red-haired was still baring her small fangs due to anger but she blushed and looked like she was ashamed of herself when Lazuli spoke, “I’m sorry Gran… uhh… La… Lazuli…”

“Thank you young lady for calming her highness—errr---Gen,” said the armored-clad young man.

“It’s okay, but can you please tell us the situation?” Lazuli asked Gen, the red-haired girl.

The young man looked at Gen. “Nitro, explain it to them,” Gen said to Nitro which is the young man.

“Young lady and young master over there have threats to your lives, and our mission is to protect both young lady and young master. As for who wants to kill young lady and young master and for what reason, it’s classified, I’m afraid I cannot tell that to the young lady,” Nitro explained.

“Then, by all means, we have to thank you guys for saving and protecting us,” Lazuli didn’t ask any further.

“Why do you trust them that easily, they may have ulterior motives on why they’re saving us, or are they really saving us or pulling a grand joke on us?” Mikael grunted.

Lazuli walked towards Mikael. “Mr. Valiant you still have wounds, we really should treat those.”

“Are you even listening?” Mikael sat on the cold floor.

“Yes, but can we do anything about it? Just by looking at their battlesuits, they’re strong, if anything, we are at their mercy. And please you also need to listen to me.”

“…”

“At least Lazuli here understands, unlike some unruly person there,” Gen commented.

“You little beast!” Mikael reputed.

“What did you just call me? I dare you to repeat it again!”

“Little beast!!”

Gen activated her beam saber, and planned to slash Mikael.

“Will the both of you please stop? Miss Gen, please accept my apology for Mr. Valiant’s rude behavior,” Lazuli interrupted the two.

Gen retracted her saber and turned her back, “Hmmpf, if not for Lazuli, you’re already dead.”

“Class rep, why are you apologizing for me? Clearly she’s the one that’s being rude, and not me! Also, if what they say is true, they can’t kill us, for it will waste their efforts on saving the both of us.” Mikael explained.

“You can try me,” Gen spoke again.

“Okay both of you, stop already… So you believe them? Hehe, now let me treat your wounds.” Lazuli sat beside Mikael.

Mikael moved away a bit due to reflex, “When did you become so stubborn? Fine, do as you wish.”

Lazuli pointed both her palms on Mikael and chanted her healing spell. Mikael’s body glowed in blue color and his wounds suddenly went away. His clothes were still cut and damaged, but the skin under was now completely fine.

“There, there’s nothing I could do about your uniform, but your external body is fine now, Mr. Valiant,” Lazuli happily said.

“Mikael,” said Mikael.

“Uhhh, what?” Lazuli honestly asked.

“Call me Mikael, like how you used to years ago, calling me Mr. Valiant is so annoying,” Mikael pouted while looking at the opposite direction of Lazuli.

“I’m sorry for calling you that, I just thought that you don’t remember me so I just called you that earlier today at the train…” Lazuli explained with a sadden face.

“Don’t apologize, you haven’t done anything wrong, class rep,” Mikael felt more guilty so he tried to appease Lazuli. `How could I even forget you?’ he asked himself afterwards.

“Then call me Lazuli again too! Stop calling me class rep okay?” Lazuli turned slightly energetic.

“Okay...”

Lazuli smiled happily while talking to Mikael. Then suddenly, female voices sounded through Gen and Nitro’s communicators.

“Nitro, your highness, can you hear us?”

“Yes, we can hear you. Adel, Nica what’s your status?”

“Reporting to princess, these subjects are still currently stuck at the space storm we created, these subjects managed to clear out the droids following us, but the squires are all dead due to…”

“Adel, Adel, Nica! Oh crap, we lost them again!” Gen angrily said.

Abruptly, an explosion occurred on the building they were at. Mikael was shocked by the explosion, but he quickly regained composure and gritted his teeth.

He noticed the other three and they were all in their battle stances. Purple lights with sparks formed a spiral vortex and appeared at the area where the explosion occurred. A few seconds later, a big mechanoid appeared before them.

“Princess, it’s a rank nine Martial Knight Droid,” reported by Nitro.

“Protect both of them,” Gen replied to Nitro while doing a simple glance at Mikael and Lazuli.

The mechanoid’s eye flashed a purple color and looked at them. Mikael was shocked by how big it was; it stood for like ten meters.

“Four main targets sighted,” the mechanoid spoke robotically.

“Activate now!” Gen shouted and green lights emerged from the corners of the buildings and shoot straight to the mechanoid and hit it. The mechanoid’s body moved like it was being electrocuted. The lights stopped hitting the mechanoid who has lost the purple light on its eye and afterwards, the green lights formed a barrier on the building.

“Princess, the trap only managed to suppress two cultivation ranks…” Nitro observed.

“Rank seven now huh? It will be hard, but we shall destroy it,” Gen firmly said.

Suddenly, the mechanoid moved again and its eye regained the purple color. It aimed its left arm-like gun at them.

Gen activated her saber and suddenly moved towards the mechanoid. The mechanoid shot purple beams at her continuously and she deflected it all with her saber. She didn’t notice that the right gun arm of the mechanoid was charging and when she’s on point-blank range, the mechanoid shot at her.

“Your highness!” Nitro shouted. Nitro activated his armor’s thrusters and dashed towards Gen. He still didn’t make it and Gen was hit.

Gen got thrown and Nitro caught her.

“Princess, are you alright?” Nitro asked.

“Ugghh, yeah I’m fine, I’m really gonna tear that droid a new one,” Gen stood while rubbing the blood on her mouth with her left fist. Her face has shallow wounds and her suit was slightly damaged.

The droid didn’t waste a second and aimed its guns at Mikael and Lazuli.

“Nitro!” Gen shouted and moved at full speed towards Mikael and Lazuli direction. Nitro followed and realized his mistake.

The two didn’t make it on time and the mechanoid shot at Mikael and Lazuli. Explosion occurred afterwards.

“Your highess, I…” Nitro spoke.

“Tsk, I didn’t expect this droid to be this intelligent, I admit that I’m impressed,” Gen commented with a worry-free face.

“Princess, their auras…”

The smoke thinned and they saw Lazuli. Her left palms were pointing straight and her right hand holding her rod weapon. A transparent blue barrier was shining in front of her and it suddenly deactivated.

“This time, I’ll be the one to protect you,” Lazuli glanced at Mikael.

Mikael was still terrified but regained his wits after Lazuli spoke. `Crap, I thought I was a goner. She really blocked those shots from a rank seven Martial Knight. How strong is she now?’ Mikael awed at what Lazuli did.

The mechanoid’s body glowed in purple. Gen ran towards the mechanoid again. The mechanoid shot greater beams at Gen but she evaded them all.

Suddenly, roots emerged from the ground where the mechanoid was standing and it entangled almost half of its body. “Let me help,” Lazuli said after casting her soul skill.

“Wind Slicer Edge!” Nitro executed his martial skill.

“Blazing Dragon Raises its Claws!” Gen did the same.

The skills hit the mechanoid’s left arm and severed it. The mechanoid was still functioning and shot Mikael. Lazuli casted her water shield and blocked the shot.

Lazuli with her shield got hit and the impact blasted her. Mikael caught her, but he didn’t realize that the shot was way beyond his power and the two skidded and hit the green barrier.

“Ugghhh, Lazuli are you alright?” Mikael asked Lazuli on his arms.

“Yes, I’m fine,” she smiled slowly and answered Mikael. She didn’t lie for her appearance was still okay.

`That smile again… and she still smells so good like how she did years ago,’ Mikael blushed while looking at Lazuli. `Crap, if she hears that, she will think that I’m a pervert!’ his face turned redder. “U-uhhh can you stand now?” she asked Lazuli while he turned away his eyes.

“Oh sorry,” Lazuli blushed and stood up on her feet.

The two looked at Gen and Nitro’s direction. The mechanoid charged its right gun again. Gen’s body suddenly glowed red.

“Princess, no!” Nitro shouted.

Gen activated her suit’s limit. She dashed at full speed and aimed her saber straight towards the mechanoid.

“It’s over!” Gen shouted.

The mechanoid shot its charged beam at Gen, but Gen’s saber broke through it and she continued on rushing towards the mechanoid’s body.

“Blazing Dragon Stabs the Heart!”

Gen stabbed through the mechanoid’s head and she continued on and broke through the mechanoid’s body.

She stopped and the mechanoid exploded. Her plugsuit glowed red and became dimmer and dimmer until it was gone. Her body glowed white after and she appeared wearing a red hoodie and a pair short denim pants.

Nitro ran towards her, “Princess, are you okay?” he asked.

“Yes… grandpa will be mad at me, I destroyed my suit,” Gen replied.

“Nitro, Nitro can you hear me?!” Nica’s voice suddenly sounded through Nitro’s communicator.

“Yes, 1st Lieutenant Silvermaine, I can hear you,” Nitro replied.

“Only your communicator appears, what happened to the princess?” it was now Adel’s voice.

“Reporting to 1st Lieutenant Eisenhower, the princess’ suit has been destroyed but she’s fine,” Nitro answered while looking at Gen.

“Oh good then, it appears that we cannot escaped this space storm yet, so we cannot meet the two of you there, you still need to do the missions but the princess’ well-being is still your priority.”

“Yes,” Nitro waited for the reply. “They’re gone again.”

Gen was only observing the situation because she was already too tired.

Lazuli approached Gen, “Miss you depleted too much of your mana, are you still okay?”

“Thank you Gr... Lazuli but I can still manage,” Gen replied and then took a pill from her interspatial ring and tossed it on her mouth. “I think there will no more incoming droids at least for now, so Nitro and I will escort you both home. Let’s go before your authorities discovered us.”

“Okay,” replied Lazuli and she glanced at Mikael. Mikael turned his head away while he blushed.

…

“That geezer will really be mad,” Gen frowned.

“Well, he said you should take care of your battlesuit but you destroyed it already, what a careless princess you are,” Nitro teased Gen.

“Hmmppf! I hate you!”

The four was now walking into a residential area. The moon was already shining brightly. Nitro and Gen at the front while Mikael and Lazuli at the back. Lazuli was back to her human disguise. Mikael noticed Lazuli occasionally looking at him again.

“You know, if you want to say something, say it,” Mikael broke their silent awkwardness.

Lazuli blushed while she gripped her ring tightly, clasped her hands and put it unto her chest.

“Is that an interspatial ring? Madam is really raising you well,” Mikael commented.

“Yes, but it’s inferior to the princess and her knight’s rings...”

“Still it’s an interspatial ring, it still costs a lot of fortune. And you believed her to be a real princess? She’s just a spoiled brat.”

Gen looked back and glared at him.

“You’re not afraid for her to hear you? Now look she’s now mad,” Lazuli regained a bit of her composure and smiled.

“Heh, she’s now tired, she cannot hurt me.”

“You! I will take my revenge after I recover! Hmmpf.”

“By the way, if it isn’t rude for me to ask, what is your current level of cultivation right now?” Mikael ignored Gen and asked Lazuli.

“Currently? I’m a rank five Martial… Knight,” Lazuli replied a bit hesitantly.

“What? Well, you’re not a going to be a class representative if you’re not a monstrous genius like that anyway,” Mikael was shocked but quickly regained himself.

“If I am a monstrous genius, then what about the two of them? They’re younger than us but both of them are also rank five Martial Knights.”

“Really? Oh crap I think I’m really should feel sorry for provoking her,” Mikael obviously believed that Gen and Nitro were way stronger than him but the truth was always shocking when revealed.

“Yes, you don’t look like you’re sorry though,” Lazuli giggled and answered.

Mikael kept a poker face and looked straight ahead. `This is not good, I’m too much inferior compared to Lazuli. She’s a whole tier ahead of me, how can I even catch up? She even told me earlier that she will be the one protecting me now, man, that’s not cool!’ Mikael frowned.

Lazuli noticed the change in Mikael face and the atmosphere became awkward once more.

…

Lazuli occasional glanced at Mikael again.

“What?” Mikael suddenly asked because he became conscious on himself due to Lazuli’s action.

“Uhhhhh… Nothing…” Lazuli said while she gripped her ring.

“Tsk, you’re still that little fairy girl, you haven’t changed, come on, I know you want to say something.”

“If you’re going to say that then you’re still that stubborn and importunate young boy… so persistent… Sigh... It’s one day late but…” Lazuli pulled something on her ring and quickly gave it to Mikael, “Happy belated birthday!”

“I’m not stubborn and importunate… wait what’s this? WHAT?” Mikael got shocked by Lazuli’s fast actions.

He then looked at the thing Lazuli gave him. It’s a small transparent plastic wrapper with a red ribbon tied on it.

“Those are chocolate crinkles, I baked them…” Lazuli slightly blushed.

`To even remember my favorite confectionery…’ Mikael also blushed, “t…thank you…”

Mikael opened and the rich chocolate aroma rose from it.

“A-are you gonna eat those already?” Lazuli, blushing, asked.

“What am I supposed to do with this anyway, also, I’m hungry so I should really eat these,” Mikael replied casually and bit one crinkle after he spoke.

`Man, this taste so good! I bet she used top quality ingredients for these. She can bake now too!’

“H-how is it…?”

“Not bad, you need to practice some more,” Mikael lied.

“I thought so…” Lazuli looked sad.

“But I like it!” Mikael suddenly got embarrassed with his lie.

“Really?”

“Yes, yes!”

Lazuli smiled with sparkling eyes.

Mikael turned his eyes on the opposite direction and continue to eat the crinkles until he finished all of them.

“I guess this April fools’ isn’t the worst after all.” Mikael also smiled while looking at the vast starry night sky.