Pras’ dream that night was not a peaceful one, even worse than the past several nights. Dreams of his past kept recurring and woke him up several times in the night.

Those dreams were not a clear one, but a more vague and twisted version of them. Yet, the emotions felt truer than it ever was.

Perhaps, truer was not the correct word. It was… more intense and somehow worse than it should be. In one version of the dream, Pras somehow saw Mana nearby just sneering at him.

Pras was not sure how many times he had woken up with his heart racing anxiously. He finally decided to take a breather or cold water to drink.

A soft whimpering noise startled him as he rose to sit on the edge of the bed. It was the two hounds that quickly approached him and moved in a rather panicked fashion as if making sure Pras was okay. He didn’t remember if he had let the two hounds get in before he went to sleep, maybe he forgot to lock the door and his brother let them in.

“It’s okay, okay,” Pras told the two as his hands stroked them behind the ear to calm them down.

Galung then woke up, purred a bit, and then leaped onto Pras’ lap, forcing him to stay sitting on the bed for quite a while.

“Now, I need to get some drinks,” he said a few minutes later. He took Galung from his lap and put the cat back to his bed, which it responded in a soft protesting meow. As Pras went downstairs, the two hounds followed while Galung returned to sleep.

He saw his father and brother watching the Champions League match downstairs. It seems to be Barcelona vs Tottetham, none of which Pras had any interest in. However, since he can’t sleep anyway, he decided to join his brother and father.

Much later on, Pras felt his pace to school was much heavier than usual. He was not sure whether it was due to his lack of sleep or the other factor that started to haunt him. Every single day for the rest of semester he had to face Mana up close. He had now awoken from a sweet dream of having the girl he had fallen for sitting next to him. The reality was that person was not as sweet as she was supposed to be. Or so Pras thought.

I will always be waiting for you in Clashing Realms.

Those words… The false promise rang hard in Pras’ mind as if it was told again with a more sinister remark. Now, it felt like nothing more than the empty promises of his old team mates. Just a bait for fools like Pras to help them reach their glory.

Remembering such action was so nauseating that he couldn’t even enjoy the supposedly delicious breakfast prepared by his mother earlier. Fear and rekindled anger had enough fuel to move him forward anyway.

The chaotic pulses of emotions had accompanied Pras along the journey to school, making him unaware of his steps until he passed the school gate. He stopped for a moment, looking around to gauge if his deskmate had already arrived. To minimise interaction with her, he quickly dashed to the gym for some archery practice.

However, fate seemed unkind to him today. The archery room was locked. He discovered it mere moments before checking a message from Karina telling the extracurricular members that the room was subjected to extensive cleaning today. Pras could only curse himself for not heeding the message earlier. His bad intentions and malicious feelings were definitely the cause of this mistake.

Then he quickly moved towards the cafeteria. The place was not crowded in early mornings like this. Some of the stalls haven't opened yet. Only a few of the students were having their breakfast here. To avoid drawing attention, he bought a small traditional fried snack and an iced tea then sat at one of the corners of the cafeteria. Silently waiting for time to pass by. He only started walking towards the class when it's almost time to start the first lesson. Coincidentally, he met Pitoy who was definitely almost late.

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“You’re definitely not late,” Pitoy said as they climbed the stairs. “Avoiding Mana?”

“Sort of,” Pras snorted annoyedly. Pitoy’s presence reminded him of his own foolishness. He knew his friend couldn’t do much since Nubram was in a party with Manna. Nevertheless, he was brash enough to not take Nubram’s offer to open a portal to safety. It ended up with him being murdered by Slicer, taking another death quota.

And here he thought all this time that he was not keen on Clashing Realms. The truth might be far from the facade he kept using.

“You guys are deskmates, you know? You gotta sort it out in the end.” Pitoy commented. He stopped at the peak of the stairs and said while scratching his head, “You know what, I’m kinda hesitant to go to the class as well. I, uh, scolded her before logging out. Kinda uneasy now.”

Pras frowned at the statement. “For what?”

Pitoy shrugged and continued walking. He explained, “Let’s just say I finally lost my temper with her antics. Starting from that dangerous dungeon runs, then risking it all to ‘save’ us from Arkengrad after you tried your best to keep her safe and not to mention that we managed to pacify Arkengrad before she came, also… the one yesterday.”

Pras twitched at the mention of yesterday’s incident.

“I mean really,” Pitoy sighed, “Blocking all communication? For what? She’s such a brat sometimes, but when I think about it again, she is still a brat though. Younger than us.”

Pras knew there was some truth to that, yet he was still emblazoned by rage. “Is age always a good excuse?” Pras grumbled, “For someone to do as they please and get away without consequences?”

Pitoy shook his head. “Of course not. You deserve to be angry. However, you still need to sort these things out with her, you know?”

“Tch, I’ll think about it later.”

The arrival of the two managed to silence the loud class for a moment because they thought the teacher had arrived. Once they realised it was Pras and Pitoy, they turned loud again.

Much to Pras’ shock, Mana was not present on her desk today. As he reached his table, Eggi told him that she called for a sick leave.

“I just hope it’s not the usual thing, it's been a while,” Eggi murmured worriedly.

Pras didn’t understand the meaning of the word other than his concern. Nevertheless, Pras barely left any room for additional emotion. He pretty much felt nothing of it.

Yet, it might be another lie as one tiny corner of his heart wondered if his words to Mana were too harsh.

Later in the night, he still logged in to Zurefgar to level up with Nubram. The others were not aware yet of what happened yesterday, thus Nubram tried to drive Tier away from the others. Manna also didn’t log in, perhaps she was really ill.

On Friday, Mana finally came to school pale faced. She was usually pale, but on that day it was far worse than normal for her. When she saw Pras, she seemed to open her mouth to greet Pras or tried to talk normally. But, she stopped and sat silently next to him.

Pras didn’t bother to try. Though he wondered why Mana looked so pale and frail, her presence was as nauseating as the mention of Vertoc’s name. Despite knowing that Pitoy was right about him and Mana needing to sort it out, Pras was beyond lazy to perform it.

As experience had told him, people who are more popular would easily use their fame to turn facts upside down or counter with a more devastating harassment.

Not to mention, both the case in the past and the current, Pras’ rage had taken control. In the past he also committed the act of betrayal and in the current time he had roared his anger at Manna. Just like Vertoc who abused his popularity to take advantage of Pras’ action, Mana could use Pras’ rampage and her popularity to frame him as the ultimate bad guy again.

To be fair, he did bad things, but he at least knew he wasn’t the only one who’s guilty.

Pras wondered if, other than being more careful towards nasty people who gave empty promises, he should be more prudent about his anger. He learned to suppress it as much as he could. Yet, two nights ago, it just bursted out.

As the lesson started, Pras’s eyes wandered at Mana. The girl was still pale as when she came to class earlier. Though she tried to focus on the teacher, her eyes were unsteady. As if she was sleepy.

Was all of that an act? To regain Pras’ sympathy?

He couldn’t tell. Her sweet smile that she showed when she said that she would wait for him had twisted in his memory. It turned into one of those sinister smiles. Part of his heart wished that her smiles were genuine, something special for him.

Perhaps those earnest wishes were the cause of why Pras felt betrayed. Then, with a sigh he decided that people like him didn’t deserve to have such a wish.