It was a brand new day, with another day spent at school.

Noel woke up particularly happy this morning, with a subtle smile on his usually cold face. Yesterday alone proved to be a generous haul after being given access to the royal library and reading the books sealed within those barricaded walls.

It injected a new stream of fresh blood into his veins that had already learned a lot about the current world. With his thirst for knowledge, the library of the royal academy could only appease his appetite for now and he knew he would want more later on, so having solved that problem much earlier was a big boon for the reborn archmage.

After putting on a calm and collected face, he took a deep breath and did his usual morning routine.

Get out of bed, take a shower, do some light reading while eating a healthy breakfast, check his magical instruments to see if they are still okay, and then head out for school.

Once outside, Noel took a step and flashed to a distant street in a single leap. In front of him stood a house with pristine white walls and a magically locked door, and with his magically enhanced senses, he noticed the peculiar abundance of spirits hovering around the general area of the random house.

Like clockwork, the spirits hustled and bustled around him with some going through the walls and sending a telepathic message to Anna who was still inside.

“Wait a sec!” Anna’s voice could be heard from inside the house, with her tone carrying a hint of panic and hurriedness.

Rapid footsteps echoed behind the door as the doorknob clicked open. A young girl with auburn hair and light brown eyes walked out as soft rays of light dawned on the opened door.

Noel eyed her up and down, scrutinizing the tiny details of imperfection he noticed on her outfit but decided to not comment on it.

“What?” Anna asked beratingly. “Can a lady not take time to make herself pretty?”

“Appearance is merely a trivial matter in the pursuit of power. Would those up above even worry about the judgements of the ones below?” said Noel.

Anna rolled her eyes upon hearing his incredibly arrogant quote but didn’t bother to retort. Instead, she fixed her hastily worn shoes and patted her clothes before standing up straight and properly.

“Let’s go then!” Anna exclaimed as she huddled right beside Noel.

The two then habitually started to walk down the familiar road and streets, with houses coming by and going into their field of view.

It has already been quite a while since the two had first met on that chance encounter up in the islands in the sky, with Anna being a suspicious little peeper that was caught by Noel who was coincidentally also there after having noticed the strange movement of spirits within the academy.

Before the two even knew or realized it, they had become quite the close duo. Anna now even knows of Noel’s little secret of being a reborn archmage from hundreds of years ago, which meant Noel now has to continuously hover around Anna like a wasp to make sure she doesn’t spill the beans.

Of course, Anna didn’t mind it as much since she had gotten used to his presence all this while with her being his test subject and all regarding her mysterious spirit magic.

“So… any news about those three?” Anna asked while playing with the invisible spirits of wind hovering around her body.

“They’re… okay,” mumbled Noel. “At least, that’s what I felt when interacting with Kain yesterday, but I haven’t really cared much about those children from the start, so perhaps my perception is a bit skewed.”

“Ugh,” groaned Anna. “Can’t you have a little care in the world for once? Who knows what that maniac who has considerable mastery over mind-warping magic can do? Maybe by the time you look up, everyone in the class is already a fragment of their past selves.”

"So what?” Noel scoffed in disdain.

“Tsk, I forget I’m talking to a psycho who only cares about magic and learning,” sighed Anna.

“It’s you who’s abnormal,” retorted Noel with squinted eyes. “You have a high degree of self-preservation, but also a high degree of selflessness. The only reason I even agreed on saving those three back then is so that I can get access to the royal library and I had sufficient confidence when dealing with him.”

“You, on the other hand? You can pretty much die with a flick of his finger if you aren’t careful. The deaths of those three would be inconsequential, even. It’s not the first time the empire had lost an heir, and it’s not like those three don’t have life-saving items on hand,” said Noel.

“But the dream? Hello?” Anna voiced out in return. “It’s not like you’re the one who was haunted by the same dream for days on end with the dream having an incredibly ominous feeling.”

“Besides, wasn’t Mammon there? You know what he has done, with hundreds of lives sacrificed for that strength of his. Who knows what he would have accomplished if he successfully killed those three back then?” Anna reasoned.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“There’s much more evil out there just so you know. Like those liches who had defiled the peace of the dead, or those mad kings that brought entire kingdoms to ruin,” said Noel.

As Anna was about to argue back with a statement of her own, she released a yelp of surprise as she accidentally bumped into another person.

Noel calmly stepped out of the way, causing Anna to land down on the ground with a soft thud as a sharp burst of pain came from her butt. She hissed and glared at Noel, before hurriedly turning to look to the side to see who she bumped into.

But, as she slowly did so, a strange sense of deja vu came over her. It’s like the time school started all over again as if the image back then was superimposed with reality.

It was another random boy, with a build of average height and an average face. He has light brown eyes and brown hair, and wore a white shirt with black robes on top, along with black pants and black leather shoes.

She felt her heart skip a beat for a moment over the feeling that she had just returned to the past, but quickly regained her bearings and gave an angry glare at Noel.

“Fuck, you heartless bastard,” grumbled Anna as she stood up with a gust of wind assisting her from behind. She then hastily reached out her hand to help the boy stand up, who looked at her with a grateful smile.

“Thanks,” he said with a pained voice. He also rubbed the backside of his pants to wipe away the dust and dirt.

“It’s no problem! It was my fault anyway for not looking at the front of the road.” Anna rubbed the back of her head bashfully. “Sorry about that.”

“No, it’s fine,” said the boy. As he said so, he gave a surprised look at Noel and muttered, “Ah, Noel! I didn’t expect to meet you out here!” he flashed a toothy grin as a glint of gold appeared in his light brown eyes.

He knows him? Anna thought.

Who is he? Noel wondered.

“Right… It’s nice to see you too…,” said Noel, slowly and carefully.

“Wow… you actually spoke to me…” The boy appeared rather surprised by Noel’s greeting and stood still for a moment, with the golden hue in his eyes deepening.

Noel didn’t seem to mind the mildly rude comment the boy gave and just remained observing, staring, analyzing.

“Well, uh… I guess I’ll see you guys later!” The boy appeared to have noticed Noel’s lack of interest in communicating and decided to leave by giving an appropriate goodbye.

“Uh, see you later too!” Anna bid her goodbye and watched as the boy ran off into the distance. As soon as he disappeared from view, Anna turned to look at Noel and asked, “So…”

“I have no idea who he is,” said Noel before Anna could ask.

“Then how does he even know you? Like, at an acquaintance level of closeness,” wondered Anna.

“I don’t know,” mumbled Noel. “And I don’t care.”

“…” Anna paused and released a cough only after a while had passed. “Fair, fair.”

…

The two soon found themselves arriving at the grand gates of the royal academy and stepped in alongside the swarms of students walking right beside them.

The grassy plains were the same as ever, with magical familiars and mystical creations either roaming around or being tested by the upperclassmen early on in the morning.

Noel eyed those magically imbued contraptions with a passing eye, but Anna easily noticed the clear disdain in his rainbow-colored gaze.

Anna was already used to his condescending stare though and simply tuned it out of her mind. When the two finally arrived inside a building and arrived at their respective classes’ entrances, they paused and gave one last brief look at each other.

Since Noel was in Class 1-A and Anna was in Class 1-B, their rooms were located side by side and were only a few meters away from each other.

Noel bid her a quick farewell and promptly entered his room, while Anna remained outside for a while and looked to the nestled hallway as if she was waiting for something.

And, just like she expected, a group of three, one boy and two girls, each radiating beauty and charisma arrived with smiles on their immaculate faces. The other students in the hallway subconsciously quieted down as they gazed upon those famous trio, but those three didn’t seem to mind the gazes they were receiving.

Fuck! Rob and Elaine… You guys are just ruining the cannon! Argh! So much work, so much stress! Anna harrumphed inside her mind and walked in so that she didn’t have to see that gruesome sight anymore.

…

Upon entering the room, Noel silently cast a gaze at Kain, Alice, and Rhett respectively to see if there were any abnormal signs that could be seen while walking up to the empty seat at the very back of the class.

His seat was strategically placed in an area where he could see everyone including the teacher, while being ignored by the teacher since he was at the far back and had zero presence using certain techniques he learned back in his first life.

The three that he saved seemed to know that he didn’t want to be disturbed and unanimously gave cursory nods as a sign of thanks, and moved on with their life.

He quickly unpacked his bag, took out a thick book, and opened it to a certain page. The concepts and formulas written down inside the thick book were dizzying and complex for the ordinary first-year student, but for Noel, this was simply a light read and review of what he had already learned.

The day was going on as usual. He enjoyed a light read in the morning and paid enough attention to classes that he could maintain his grades, but he would soon find that relaxing morning coming to a halt.

With the familiar sound of the wooden door opening, Noel casually looked up to see which student was entering, and a hint of surprise appeared in his originally indifferent gaze.

A boy with light brown eyes and brown hair walked in, with an ordinary face and average presence that blended in with the crowd, but his following actions bewildered Noel.

The boy walked to the back of the class, on the same row as him, and sat right in the lonely corner of the large room, ignored by everyone else and living in his own small world.

Everyone seemed to have ignored his presence as if this was perfectly normal, but Noel knew for a goddamn fact that this guy wasn’t his classmate.

As uncaring as he may be to his social life and to the ongoing situation of his class, he still remembered the names and faces of all his classmates through passive and active listening over the course of months.

He even knew students from other classes and different year levels, but this guy? Nada. None. Nonce.

There was not the faintest bit of memory or knowledge in his mind that reminded him of who this guy was. But, it seems like he was the crazy one because everyone else didn’t seem to notice that this guy wasn’t their classmate at all.

It was as if he was their classmate since the very start…

Wait. Noel blinked his eyes as he glanced at a random boy in the corner of the room, bewildered and confused. What was I thinking about again?

He rubbed his forehead and blinked his eyes a couple of times again as if he were trying to extract a forgotten memory, but was met with eventual failure.

Forget it. If I don’t remember it, then it’s probably not worth remembering.