"I met Professor Howard a few days ago," Alec suddenly said out of nowhere. The library had been silent for the last few minutes, so his sudden speaking caused Evan's ears to hurt for a second.

"In class? I doubt you would tell me about that if that was the case though..." Evan muttered. Alec recalled his encounter with the awkward fire mage for a moment before continuing.

"No, I went to a place accidentally," he started. His gaze brushing past his journal, he collected his thoughts and continued. "I think it was where the infirmary was supposed to be."

"Is that a guess?" Evan interjected. He seemed interested in the infirmary. "Or do you know something?"

"I'm not sure," Alec answered. He thought with his hand on his chin for a few moments before continuing. "Though, if I had to pick, I guess I would call it a strong hunch."

"What do you think actually happened to the infirmary?" Evan asked, curious. This was one of the topics they had touched on briefly before but hadn't gotten further into the discussion.

"It's kind of hard to say, but from what I understand, this anti-memetic entity rarely – if ever – destroys things. However, it does permanently shroud them in instances. That's what the journal means by 'anti-memed' people and places. The infirmary is probably still there but we just can't perceive it."

"Isn't that... Really weird?" Evan asked. Alec raised his brow, signaling Evan to continue explaining. "What I mean is, how can it anti-meme 'people' of all things? Can't they just, interact with you? What if one came along and, I don't know... Punched you in the face?"

"That's a good question but you will figure out the answer if you keep thinking about it," Alec said. He didn't give Evan time to think before continuing, though. "Let's say I get anti-memed today. What happens then? There is a chance I get completely mind-wiped, unable to understand my surroundings."

"If not?" Evan cut him off. "What if you do remember?"

"If I do remember, I go and try to interact with you, for example," Alec took over. It seemed like he was ready for Evan to bring up that particular question. "But I can't. You can't perceive me. What then?"

"You interact more intensely. Hold me in place?" Evan guessed, to which Alec nodded in answer.

"Yeah, sure. Then you notice something is weird. You either get disturbed and try to fight back, or run away. Or you actually notice me. Then what?" Alec continued the discussion. However, without waiting for Evan to answer, he explained. "Then you forget it when the interaction is over. So, as the anti-memed person, you have to try and intensify the interaction more and more. You also try to make it long-lasting but the anti-meme can just blot out the person's senses."

"Oh..." Evan muttered. He seemed to be getting the picture slowly. With a frown, he took over from where Alec left. "You are anti-memed, and the only possible way is to leave a noticeable effect on them. But anything you try will get deleted. The only viable way is to wound them, but you don't want to do that."

Nodding, Alec added.

"Exactly. There's also the possibility that you just cause them to get anti-memed too. So the anti-memed person trying to interact with others will only result in harm for others," he said with his hands raised to his sides. "Though, if they did some devious things, nobody would be able to stop them I guess..."

"So they can only sit and wait or do bad things?" Evan asked. The fact that they wouldn't know even if the anti-memed people did bad stuff worried him.

"Possibly. Oh, thinking about it, the infirmary might have been prepared for the anti-memed people," Alec muttered with his hand caressing his chin.

"What do you mean?" Evan asked. He was missing an important piece of the puzzle, which made it really hard for him to understand.

"Professor Howard was talking about building an infirmary. Apparently, he found such an order amidst some notes written by the headmaster," Alec explained, causing Evan to frown.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"He wants to build it in the place where it previously was?" Evan asked.

"Probably?" Alec said. He still wasn't sure if it really was the previous place. "He apparently wanted there to be food ready at all times too. That probably confirms the theory."

"The headmaster knew about the anti-meme but couldn't stop it? So he had to take some other measures?" Evan said. "Let's write that down. We might learn more later."

He and Alec took their respective notes before continuing their discussion.

"What happened with Professor Andrew?" Evan asked. Last week, Professor Andrew had shown Alec his research on gravity magic, which he had preemptively submitted. Unfortunately for the two, the research was incredibly flawed and was actually of no worth. Although Alec could understand how it might have seemed logical to the reviewers, if the rest of the gravity spell was completed using that research, it would fail catastrophically.

Alec had told the man to take down the papers. After all, he could always have realized he had made a mistake in his research and taken it back, right? Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for magical academia. A submitted paper could not be revoked – which Alec assumed to be a rule caused by the possessive attitude mages had toward their knowledge –. So they would have to improvise.

"It should be okay. The thesis defense will be tomorrow," Alec said, thoughtfully looking at his bag.

"Okay? What did you do to make it okay?" Evan asked. He knew that Alec was a cautious person and had probably already thought of something.

"Well... Not much, really," Alec answered. "Me and Professor Andrew are going to cause a little bit of ruckus tomorrow, that's what."

"Huh, should I be excited?" Evan asked with a smug smile. Although Alec was speaking somewhat cryptically, he could understand the intent behind his words.

"Yes, you can," Alec confirmed. "Lately, nothing cool seems to be happening inside the Academy. Why not have some fun?"

"Yeah," Evan said. He seemed almost childish while doing so, a glint of excitement in his eyes. He looked around hazily, seemingly trying to remember something. "I have really been missing the good old days..."

Hearing this, Alec's ears perked up with curiosity. Albeit having been friends and now pretty much life-bound comrades for a long time, he didn't know much about Evan. Not at all.

"What did you use to do when you were younger?" Evan asked, seemingly wanting to hear about Alec before continuing himself.

"Hmm..." Alec thought for a second. Obviously, he couldn't answer for the real Alec Greenwood. However, he didn't think it would pose a problem for him to use his own past to answer the question.

"I don't really remember much about my father. My mother is a bit better as she was there while I was growing up..." Alec started by muttering. For some reason, those memories of his previous life felt distant now. Maybe the time he had spent in this world was so eventful that it felt longer than it really was.

"I was a troublesome child, to be honest. I got angry really easily and fought a lot with children my age."

"Interesting. You?" Evan asked. He had found Alec to be a calculative and calm person. Although he was a bit cynical in nature, he couldn't really imagine him as an emotional person.

"Yep. Well, I changed around when I was... 12, I guess?" Alec continued. "I started reading books more, and I surrounded myself with people who made me less angry. I learned how to control my emotions... And all throughout that, reading must have been my favorite hobby."

"Reading huh..." Evan muttered. His eyes glanced over the journal in front of Alec. "I can kind of see that. You have that... How to say it? Scholarly nature to you. Not to say, your writing style is a bit weird."

"What?" Alec asked, his voice rising a little bit in confusion. Amidst all, he hadn't expected Evan to talk about his writing.

"Your journal..." Evan said, making Alec defensively hug the notebook. "You write it as if you are writing a story or something. It's too flavorful to be a simple journal."

"Huh..." Alec exclaimed. He looked at the journal and involuntarily chuckled. "Is that so..?"

Feeling baffled at Alec's childish giddiness, Evan sighed.

"So, what about you?" Alec asked after calming down. Now that he was done telling a bit about his past, he wanted to hear more about Evan's. Hopefully that way, he would be able to circumnavigate the anti-meme's blockage of the outside world and learn something.

"Heh... My childhood was-" Evan started speaking. However, before he could even finish his sentence, the blue sparks around his head suddenly intensified in amount. Noticing this, Alec's brows furrowed. He got up and started walking to his friend's side. "My... My childhood... Family..."

"Stop, Evan!" Alec shouted. As the blue sparks intensified, Evan's eyes started getting redder and redder.

"I have... My parents were..."

"Stop! Don't think about your past!" Alec bellowed with terror. Whatever Evan was about to think, it had seemingly infringed upon the anti-meme massively. This was a reaction far beyond Alec had ever seen.

'If I don't stop him now, he might be memory-wiped like me! Or worse...' Alec thought. However, it seemed like Evan had put himself into a loop. He was constantly trying to access some forbidden information, then forgetting that he was trying, and then forgetting that he forgot...

With just as much force as needed, Alec slapped Evan's face repeatedly. He hoped to snap him out, however, it wasn't working. Which left him with only one choice.

Placing his hand on his friend's head, Alec started injecting mana and coursing it through his brain. His other hand a blur, The Author’s Pen wrote down on Evan’s forehead. Quickly after, a second circle mind spell appeared around Evan's head. Fortunately, Evan's mental defenses were completely down.

"Hold on, Evan!"