It’s been two days since I was trapped in this cell. I finally learned what that vibrating was. Apparently, it was the ship moving. That’s right, I’ve been in a cell on a ship for the last two days.

I haven’t starved yet since I still get a meal delivered by the old gentleman every day, but it’d be a stretch to say I’m doing fine.

Most of my wounds still hurt like crazy, and I’ve been bored to the point I’ve started casting magic to pass the time. And before you ask, no I can’t actually cast magic. I’ve just been trying different combinations using magic circles I read about from my grimoire that Nia taught me when I asked her to teach me whatever. However, they’ve all ended in failure, but it’s better than just staring at a wall all day.

I couldn’t tell what time it was, but given I had just been delivered my food about half an hour ago, it was probably midday since that’s around the time lunches normally occur in this world.

I had already finished my lunch and returned to failing the same spell over and over.

I found myself missing the few people I was close to. No doubt Xara and Vey would be concerned about my whereabouts. And I wouldn’t put it past Nia to still be angry over the fact I’d forgotten to bring her with me.

Not that she’d probably still be in my possession. Along with throwing me in this cell, they took all my clothes and other stuff while leaving me with a pair of filthy ripped-up old clothes that made me look like a homeless person.

Thinking about all this, I couldn’t help but chuckle at how worthless I was to be in this situation. I really wasn’t anything without magic.

Continuing to entertain my boredom, I tried another spell combination that I was certain would vanish. However-

“Huh!?”

-my eyes widened as I felt a breeze blow into my face.

I stared down at the spell in my hand. This was the spell I’d been trying to cast for the last day and a half. It wasn’t anything massive. I was just trying to create some wind to cool myself down thanks to how hot this cell got.

Making sure what just happened wasn’t a fluke, I tried again. Once more, I felt a breeze flying into my face.

Still shocked, I checked my surroundings and sure enough, the barrier appeared to still be up. So how was I casting this?

Feeling my hopes rise, I tried another spell using a similar combination.

Almost instantly, a ball of water formed in my palm. A sense of excitement welled up from inside me. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.

Having come to a realization, I let out a loud laugh that echoed through the room. It actually sounded kinda sinister.

Gazing down at my hand, a grin grew on my face. I had just done the impossible. I had successfully figured out how to beat a magic-blocking barrier. With this weakness finally shattered, I knew there was nothing left to stand in my way if I wanted to escape.

Wanting to leave as soon as possible, I was preparing to use a teleportation spell when a thought dawned on me.

A couple of days ago, I’d stated how much I hated the fact I was looked down upon and how I wouldn’t be seen as anything more than a commoner. So if that was the case, how would those royal assholes react if I began showing off just how powerful I was compared to them?

When that thought occurred, a rather wicked grin spread across my face as I stopped my teleportation spell and turned to the front of the cell.

“Say, how would Lily react if I destroyed this ship and everyone on it? Would she be sad, angry, confused? I wanna find out!”

As I said that, a sense of excitement rose up inside me.

Making my way toward the cell doors, I decided to alter my wind blade spell a little bit and the sound of a chainsaw entered my ear.

I looked at my hands to find sharp, fast blades spinning therein rapid circles and I made my way to the front of the cell, I sliced through the bars with ease. I didn't have half as much strength as I did when I had Nia by my side, but what I had would do fine with the things I wanted to accomplish.

Applying wind magic to my feet, I began cutting through the ceiling at a rapid pace. Ready to tear this ship to shreds.

Something shaking below caused Lily to spill her tea.

She got up with an angry growl.

“What’s going on here!? Were only an hour away from the island!”

The gentleman next to Lily bowed.

“My apologies my lady. As I’ve been here with you, I am unable to answer your question.”

Lily was about to raise her voice at his words when someone burst into the room. It was one of the crewmembers of her ship.

“The prisoners escaped! He’s currently wreaking havoc across the entire ship!”

“WHAT!?”

Hearing this, Lily took a step back. Fear began to show in her eyes.

Seeing that, the gentleman stepped forward and grabbed the crewmember, and began to drag him off.

“I’ll punish you for scaring my lady later. For now, let’s go deal with the issue at hand.”

With that, the gentleman bowed once more and left the room as he closed the door behind him.

Lily tried her best to calm herself down as best she could. Knowing full well just how powerful the man who served her could be...

…CRASH!

Suddenly, the gentleman was sent flying through the roof and crashing onto the ground in front of Lily. She let out a scream of terror before looking up at the ceiling to find Axel watching her with a grin on his face.

“Oh, there you are Lily! I was wondering where you could’ve been. Who would’ve guessed you’d be in the fanciest room on this ship?”

Axel, who was floating in the sky, made his way to the ground. As he did so, the crewmember from before burst into the room.

“HAAAH!”

The crewmember tried to charge at Axel, however, Axel didn’t even flinch as he lifted his hand up and pointed it at the crewmember. Sending him flying out of the room and towards the ship's edge.

Somehow seeing he hadn’t knocked the crewmember off the ship from a distance, Axel shot him with wind magic one more time and the crewmember fell off the ship as his screams were loud enough for even Lily to hear.

Shaking in fear, Lily tried to raise up her hand to cast a spell.

“By the god flames, I ask thou to scorch my enemy! Fire Blast!”

The ball of fire shot at Axel and Lily could feel her confidence returning. However, Axel simply blinked as the fire vanished right before reaching his face. As if the wind had blown it away.

“Did you seriously think that tiny ball of fire would be enough to stop me? How dumb could you be?”

Axel took a step towards Lily. But just as he did so, the gentleman jumped behind him with the intent to smash his head into the ground.

But just as his fist was about to make contact, Axel held out his own hand and grabbed hold of the enemy's fist. The gentlemen grunted in pain as Axel started to crush his hand.

“Geez. Reinforcement magic sure is handy. Glad I learned it,” Axel said as his hand shined like iron from having used the same spell he used for taking down Richie.

Without hesitation, Axel lifted the gentleman up into the air using wind magic before slamming him into the ground.

“Sorry old man. I’m not gonna let you take me down a second time. However, since you were kind enough to give me some decent food, I’ll make sure your death is as quick as possible.”

Upon saying that, Axel lifted his hand up into the air before smashing it into the gentleman's chest. Reaching his heart and crushing it instantly. The gentlemen let out a single scream before collapsing to the ground dead.

As it all happened, the smile never left Axel's face. It was almost eerie just how much he looked like he was enjoying this.

Lily stared in terror. That man was one of the few people she’d considered to be strong among her family's servants. Despite that, he lost without being able to land a single punch.

Lily felt her legs were about to collapse as she stared at Axel. This commoner who they beat before with such ease, had just taken down the best fighter she had on hand.

“What was up with this man!? He wasn’t this strong before!” She thought.

Seeing her terror caused Axel to chuckle.

“Oh? Why are you so scared all of a sudden? Is seeing me kill that guy really such a big deal? He was just a grunt. Or was he meant to be more than that?”

Did he just call her strongest warrior a grunt!? That term was only used to refer to someone who was weak and disposable! The complete opposite of that gentleman!

No longer able to keep herself standing, Lily collapsed to the floor as a yellow liquid leaked from under her. Seeing that, Axel gave her a rather weird look.

“People actually piss themselves when they’re scared? Gross.”

What was wrong with this man!?

“W…Why are you doing this!? If you’re really this powerful, you could’ve just left us be!”

As Lily asked that, Axel gave her a look of disbelief.

“Are you seriously asking that?” Axel shouted at he stood in front of Lily and grabbed her arm while she let out a small squeal.

“I guess the normal answer is too complex for an idiot like you, so I’ll spell it out in a way even someone as stupid as you can understand.”

Keeping his grip tight on her arm, Axel grinned.

“If you guys are gonna bash on me so much for being a commoner, then I’ll show you exactly what a commoner like me can really do!”

Activating a spell under his feet, Axel began flying in the air with Lily in tow. All the while, the ship Lily had been riding on slowly began to lose altitude and fall towards the ground.

I forced Lily to watch as her ship crashed into the land below. I had no doubt that everyone on that ship was probably already dead at this point. And even if someone managed to survive, they wouldn’t last long as the ship was probably gonna explode in a few minutes anyway.

Letting Lily take in the sight, I let out a sigh to calm myself. Despite my smile never fading.

“Take it all in Lily. Everything you see today is your fault. If you weren’t so greedy, if you weren’t so bent on taking my things and messing with me, you never would’ve gotten all those people killed. All this death is on you.”

It was clear Lily heard my words as tears were beginning to form in her eyes.

After we watched the ship fall for another minute or so, I then began guiding us back to my island. Sirin was there to greet me as I had her lock Lily away and we set a course for the estate Lily’s parents owned.

When we arrived, I immediately had them repay me for their daughter's actions.

They tried to pawn off the payment by just giving me Lily and letting me do whatever I wanted with her, but I wasn’t one to keep things like slaves so I just took their money and went on my way.

By the time everything was said and done, four days had passed. That meant the school week was over tomorrow.

I knew I wasn’t going to make it back by then, so in order to inform them I was okay, I had Sirin fly back to the school first to tell Nia about what happened and have her relay it to Vey who could tell the instructors and create a chain so that everyone knew I was on my way back.

Once everything was done, I collapsed on my bed inside my room on the island and let out a sigh of relief.

“Looks like I made it back safe and sound.”

“Master, I wouldn’t call all those wounds covering your body safe and sound any day.”

Oh yeah. I was still battered and bruised from when I was beaten to a pulp by those royal assholes. Honestly, I had completely forgotten about the pain. It was probably thanks to the adrenaline, but I wasn’t feeling anything.

The pain didn’t end up returning until the day after and then I ended up spending the next day and a half being tended to by some of the machines Sirin had created. Including receiving some replacement teeth to fill in the gaps in my mouth. Geez. I’ve already said this a few times, but I’m still lost on how something so futuristic could be in a game about fantasy.

In the end, everything worked out. And thanks to the realizations I had on that ship, I have a much clearer head, as well as a different worldview from before.

Now, I knew just how different my world was to those royal assholes. And it was about time I finally stepped up and embraced it.

Even if it makes the people I care about hate me, I don’t plan to sit by and take things anymore. From now on, I’m gonna become the villain in those jerkwad's stories. And I plan to enjoy it.

It had already been over a week since Axel’s disappearance. Xara’s been struggling a lot more in classes, and my own grades have declined little by little since I’m still struggling to deal with my emotions on the matter. I’d been hoping to get into contact with my father in order to send out a search party for Axel, but the officials of the school said that wouldn’t be necessary. That only caused my concerns to grow as I considered the idea that since this was the second time Axel had disappeared, the school would just clean him from their records and move on. I didn’t want to think that was the case, but I couldn’t deny the possibility.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

It was now the start of a new week. I had just exited my dorm and was approaching the gate with a grim expression on my face.

Hearing footsteps next to me, I turned to find Xara standing there trying to muster a positive smile.

“Hey there Dianne. Looking forward to another interesting school week?”

I could see she was trying to put up a front. She’d been like this since a few days ago. She wanted to pretend Axel’s disappearance wasn’t affecting her, but it was clear she was still worried.

Not sure what to say in order to bring up her spirits, I simply smiled.

“Yes. I suppose I am.”

Once I said that, I continued my trek towards the school building when…

“Huh? What’s that?”

Hearing Xara’s confused tone, I turned around to find a giant floating platform above the front gate of the school. Several other students looked up in confusion as voices muttered through the crowd.

Then, a loud sound shout echoed through the air. Like one of those voice amplification spells teachers used.

“You thought you could get rid of him, you thought he was a goner, but unlike what you all probably wanted, he is back!” shouted a voice through the air.

Confused, I continued staring at the floating platform.

Suddenly, the shadow of a person shined on top. At the sight, tears of joy entered Xara’s eyes.

I, however, felt a strange sense of concern as I was still unable to see the person's face. It sounded like a boy and looked familiar, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

Then, without warning, the person jumped off the platform.

“Oh no!”

Was this person about to kill themselves!?

I was about to run forward when a gush of wind blew behind me and the person falling began to slow down.

Finally, they reached the ground below and I got a clear look at their face. Upon seeing who it was, a sense of both relief and excitement rushed through me.

The one we were looking at grinned and shouted out for the world to hear.

“That’s right everybody! Axel Savoncho is back!”

Without hesitation, Xara spread out her wings and began to fly towards Axel. I was about to run over to him myself, however, his next words caused me to stop in my tracks.

“And whether you like it or not, I’m here to take you all down!”

"…Huh?"

Xara stopped as well. She seemed just as confused. In fact, several students seemed lost on his words. However, the majority just looked at him with angry glares.

“Wow. I can already feel the glares pinned on me. Oooh scary. Haha. Yeah, that’s not gonna work on me anymore. I’m done trying to play by your dumb rules. So if you want to glare at me, I’m not afraid to show you just how below me you all are!”

After saying that, Axel tapped his foot on the ground and began floating in the air.

“For those I consider my friends, don’t get all freaked out by me now. I promise I’m still the same as before. However, after facing a rather irritating annoyance, I’ve decided it’s finally time I start standing up for myself. So if you’re cool with that, I’m just gonna start doing what I want.”

Having said that, Axel was immediately met with scorn.

“Screw you!”

“Go to hell you filthy commoner!”

“Leave and never come back you pig!”

Feeling my own anger growing, I was about to turn and shout at the students who were insulting Axel. But to my surprise, Axel began to let out a rather creepy laugh.

Then, almost instantly, he appeared in front of the students who were insulting him and gave each of them a slap hard enough to slam them into the ground.

I gawked in surprise as Axel flew back into the air.

“Did you literally not just hear me? You really are a bunch of idiots!”

His grin grew wider, Axel seemed to spot Xara and me among the crowd and left everyone off with one final set of words.

“I’m sick and tired of your pointless mockery. If you want me to be a filthy commoner so badly, then I’ll show you just how filthy I can be!”

Having said his peace, Axel moved towards the ground and bowed in front of me and Xara.

“Greetings you two. I’m glad to see you’re doing well. How was the school trip?”

“Um…It was fun,” I managed to mutter.

“Good to hear.”

Giving me a smile, Axel walked up in front of Xara who looked like she almost wanted to take a step back.

However, she was immediately caught off guard as Axel prostrated himself on the ground.

“I’m really sorry if that freaked you out! I just needed to get my point across and that was the best way I could think of to do it!”

The change in tone was so abrupt, that I found myself struggling to believe this was the same person boasting mere moments ago.

“Um…So it really is you Axel? Right?” Xara asked.

Axel got up onto his feet and nodded.

“Yeah. It’s me. Again, sorry if I scared you. It’s just that a lot has happened over the last few da-!”

“I’m so glad you’re okay!”

Xara instantly embraced Axel in a hug to which he responded with by hugging her back.

“I hope I didn’t worry you too much.”

“Heh. You jerk. Please don’t ever scare me like that again.”

The two continued to hug each other tightly as I held a strained smile.

I couldn’t explain why, but something about this sight irritated me. But at the same time, it felt quite wholesome.

After a few minutes, I realized what time it was and peeled the two of them off each other so we could get to school on time.

Then, Axel and I made our way towards class while having a nice chat. And finally, things looked like they were starting to return to normal.

“So you confirmed who tried to kidnap him?”

“Yes Sir. She goes by the name Lily Acantha.”

“A member of the Acantha family huh? Wasn’t she one of the students who got expelled?”

“Yes Sir. If I were to guess, she was trying to steal Sir Savoncho’s island as compensation for her own wrongdoings.”

A man who looked like he was in his fifties sighed.

“First the stuff during the Hunter Games, and now this? That Savoncho guy can’t catch a break. Though knowing Alister, he'd be thrilled to hear what the boy is doing.”

The man rubbed his eyes as he looked out the giant window behind his desk as the one reporting to him remained silent.

After several moments of pondering, the man turned back to the person giving him the report.

“Get me in contact with the head of the Acantha family. There’s something I’d like to talk to them about.”

The one who gave the report responded with a bow.

“Yes sir. I will arrange it immediately.”

Once they finished saying that, the person left the room and the man relaxed into his chair.

“I swear. Who would’ve thought things would escalate this much?” muttered the man as he got back to work on the papers on his desk.

Sitting in my seat, I couldn’t help but chuckle at all the glares I was receiving.

“What? Mad I’m not dead?”

None of them responded and just continued glaring at me. Talk about a bunch of sourpusses.

“With how much you worried me, I almost wish you were,” Nia said to me telepathically.

Hearing her say that reminded me of her reaction when I got back to the dorm to pick her up. She looked both relieved and angry at the same time. She even tried hitting me in the chest multiple times as punishment. But since she wasn’t exactly strong, her punches felt more like gentle taps. It was honestly kinda adorable.

As class began, I was given a stack of papers that apparently contained all the stuff I missed.

Normally, I breeze through things like this thanks to Nia giving me all the information beforehand. However, since I only got back this morning, I wasn’t able to memorize anything.

So while I still had some hesitancy, I began flipping through the papers and studying them as best I could until I was able to memorize them through Nia later.

As I did so, I could still feel several students eyeing me with bloodlust.

Calculating ground proximity…safe water level found.

Wanting to mess with them, I used my extended thinking to prepare a water spell and instantly caused water blocks to appear under several student's feet and let it seep into their shoes. The class was immediately filled with the angry shouts of several students getting mad at their now moist socks and I chuckled to myself before making the water disappear…except the water in their shoes which I planned to let stay there.

I mentioned this before, but after obtaining my grimoire, my magic power grow's exponentially to the point it's just as powerful as a third year students. And even that’s straining it. Now does that mean I’ve become an overpowered character? Yes and no. If I were to go against an average person in this world, I’d beat them no sweat. But if it was someone who trained in magic consistently throughout the school’s entire three year course, I wouldn’t stand a chance. Meaning, as I am now, I’m probably the strongest first year, but not the strongest among the third years. What about the second and third years, you ask? I dunno. The only person I’ve faced on that level was probably the MC and I beat him pretty easily. He was actually kinda too easy. Was he really the same MC I played as when going through the game? Meh. Whatever.

As I continued working my way through the papers I was given, I felt a presence different from the others looking at me.

Quickly lifting my head up, I noticed Dianne staring at me. But rather than having the normal, kind smile she’d given me pretty much every time since we met, she now had a look of both curiosity and concern. It was actually kinda strange seeing her giving me that look. Not that I blame her since my entrance this morning was quite eccentric for someone like me. Especially if you consider how the first time I came back after nearly dying I just kinda showed up and didn’t explain myself. And as much as I wanted to continue living the life I did before, I couldn’t do that anymore. Not with these royal assholes continuing to pick fights with me. That’s just how the cookie crumbles. If she’s got a problem with it, then she has to come and say it to my face.

Watching Axel, I found myself feeling conflicted. I was happy to see he was alright, but I got the feeling he was a somewhat different person from before. I didn’t think about it much this morning, but his entrance was quite eccentric compared to what happened the last time he went missing. And when he did arrive, he acted quite odd. Even after he talked about it with Miss Xara, I could tell he wasn’t the same. Not to mention, what he did just now wasn’t something I could ever have seen him doing before. He always said how he’d never hold a petty grudge whenever I talked to him about the other student's words. But just now, he decided to get back at them by causing small pools of water to appear and soak their shoes. The exact opposite of what he'd do previously. Not to mention, he was grinning the whole time he did it. Like he was having fun messing with the other students.

Being completely lost, all I could wonder was, what happened that led him to this point?

Taking a gulp from the milk in my school lunch, I put it down and let out a happy sigh.

“Man. Was the milk at this school always this good? Maybe I should’ve tried it out sooner.”

Up to that point, I only ever had water with my school lunch as any other drink was too much a risk to afford. But after getting paid compensation for Lily’s stupidity, I made a ton of bank and had enough dough to last me at least two years. What a great way things turned out.

In front of me, Roy and Flynn looked like they were struggling to accept the idea that the one in front of them was me. Even after I told them what happened, they still looked like they were at a complete loss.

"You seem way more carefree and yet dangerous at the same time. It's kinda putting me off," admitted Roy. To which Flynn nodded.

“I agree. It's hard to believe how much you changed in such a short period of time. The trip was only a week ago yet you’re attitude seems somewhat different from last we met..”

I shrugged.

“Just call it a wake-up call. I’ve finally realized that rather than letting things play out the way others want, I’ll do things my own way.”

That’s what I said, and it wasn’t entirely wrong. I was sick of letting others use me like a punching bag. From now on, I plan to do things the way I want.

Still, that didn’t mean I wanted to ruin the relationships I already had.

Thankfully, most of my friends seem to be willing to accept the new me. Although, there are still a few I don’t know about.

Glancing to the spot near me where Dianne would normally sit, I sighed.

“Guess she really doesn’t know how to feel.”

Flynn gave me a confused look.

“You mean Miss Riosha?”

I nodded.

“Yeah. I figured there would be a few people I knew who wouldn’t be able to handle my sudden change in attitude, but she wasn’t one of them. In fact, I thought she’d be the first one to accept me. So it’s a little bit surprising to see her so hesitant.”

I picked up some of the food from my tray with a fork and put it in my mouth.

“Actually, now that you bring up Riosha not being here, I notice Femashito isn’t here either,” stated Roy.

“She said her clubs reorganizing everything for the new year so she couldn’t join us. She seemed pretty upset about it too,” I explained.

“I see. I guess it is that time of the year already.”

Yep. As crazy as it sounds, we were approaching the end of the first year. Normally, the MC would’ve picked a girl by now and already set down a route to begin during the second year. But right now, the only girl I’ve seen who’s had a mild interest in the MC has been Dianne. Other than her, I haven’t seen him interacting with any of the love interests.

Since we have some time before second period starts, I might as well go over the other heroines since I haven't really talked about them much.

With where I am now, I’ve already met with the first two heroines. Those being Xara Femashito, and Dianne Riosha. I’ve also already obtained the grimiore that was originally meant to be the MC’s which contained the sixth secret heroine Nia. That leaves three more. If we were to go in order, then the first one to go over would be Talia Yergonu. She’s a half elf who hates men and also acts as the leader of the disciplinary committee. She’s also a grade higher than the MC in the game which would make her his senior. If I remember correctly, something happened in her past that made it hard for her to be around men and she consistently punched the MC whenever he accidentally touched her before going down her route. How did the MC win her over then you ask? It was all thanks to his face. You can’t really tell due to how hard it is to see most of his face through his hair, but he actually has a lot of surprisingly feminine features that make it easier for Talia to be around him. That leads them down a path where she tries to understand men better through the MC and she eventually falls for him.

Actually, if I remember right, she also has ties with the next heroine. That being Haiko Ariyama. Haiko is the student council president and has such a cold and calculating attitude that I thought she was some kind of humanoid robot when I met her during my first playthrough of the game.

Unlike a lot of the other heroines, I don’t remember her route too well.

It’s not like I can’t remember anything, I just can’t remember all the details of her route. For a basic description, I believe she was experimented on by her parents when she was young which led to her current personality. After that, she distanced herself from her parents and the MC helped her reconnect with them. Bringing the family back together.

I can’t recall everything leading up to that point, but that was how her route ended. Sadly, I can’t remember how she and the MC met in the first place so I highly doubt the two of us will ever meet.

Then there’s the last heroine I have yet to meet…kinda.

Well, I have met her, but the two of us haven’t interacted much. And that person is Kimichi Romaiyozu.

Kimchi is a tiger demi-human girl who continuously pushes her goals forward. She always had a tomboyish nature and didn’t really seem like one for romance. In all honesty, I hated her route the most. Not because she was a bad person, but because of the message the people developing this game decided to do with her character.

You see, she was one of the few remaining tiger demi-humans in the world and she aimed to prove how useful her people could be in society by pushing herself as far as she could. But in her route, the MC seems to think it’d be better for her to give up on that goal and instead take things slower. And after a bit of rather weak convincing, she caved in and decided to focus on a single specific goal in hopes of reaching as far as she could in one field.

Now I know plenty of people on the internet would’ve hated me for saying this, but I found the whole plot dumb.

Not only is her route the shortest in the game, but it’s also the most poorly written. For one, she seemed quite determined when she talked about her goal to show how useful tiger demi-humans could be. But the minute the MC tells her to stop and only think about her own future, she suddenly loses all that determination and goes off to hook up with him and join a single field of study. Such a frustrating route.

If it were me, I’d encourage her to push as much as she could to accomplish what she set out to do. But I guess the developers were going for a work smarter not harder message and that ruined the story for me.

Anyway, that’s enough talk about the heroines and their routes for now. The bell clarifying we needed to return to class just rang and it was time to get back.

Doing what I’d done several times at this point, I jumped off the roof and some wind magic kicked up beneath me right before I reached the ground. Then, I tucked my hands into the pockets in my pants and made my way back to the classroom. Humming my favorite anime themes while I walked.

Watching Axel jump off, Roy sighed.

“I guess he’s not totally different.”

Flynn rubbed his eyes.

“Something up?” asked Roy.

“No. Just still trying to take in the change. I mean, he still looks the exact same, but the air around him feels completely new. Nothing like how he was before.”

“I get what you mean. He feels a lot more confident and carefree. Quite different compared to his old serious and suspicious air that was there before.”

Having both agreed Axel was different, the two sat in silence. Pondering what to say next and completely forgetting about the next period they needed to attend.