Thud.

The sound of bag dropping could be heard in the lonely room of dormitory as Belite slouched on the couch in exhaustion.

'Today's classes... No, my first time attending anything related to an academy... Or school.' Belite spread his arms around the backrest of the crouch as he sat while looking like he was half-asleep. 'Was undoubtedly hectic.'

A memory resurfaced from his mind, making him let out an exhausted smile. 'It is far too exhausting compared to when I decided to get part-time education to increase my knowledge a year or two ago.' He massaged his temples. 'Not bad, not bad. Constant activity of mind makes it sharper, better and makes it more able to store information of all sorts.'

Remembering that he still had an important thing to do, he let himself fall to the side in a playful manner as he propped himself.

With his head resting on the armrest and his legs on the backrest in a sloppy manner, he unlocked his mobile phone as he browsed the internet.

'Hmm... What should I search?' Being a part of the Superhuman society of Seekers, he already had access to websites that ordinary people didn't. It was provides by both, the Academy and BECRF. 'This.'

Going into a website named 'Trusted Finds', he went and clicked the 'Free Trade and Chat' section and started typing in the bustling chat.

– Me: Hello. I'm new here.

A few people immediately replied to his message as there were both positive and negative replies.

Locking on to the positive replies, Belite typed.

– Dear Seniors of mine, does anyone know why an Essential Heart beats too fast sometimes?

Displeased, he couldn't type the exact issues to avoid suspicions. Even though he was actually using a guest account and typed as anonymous, he couldn't be sure that his mobile phone wasn't bugged by those at BECRF.

'I couldn't trust them even more as it's a rest place and place of work for the Peace Keepers of the Alliance, who have a very complicated and differential opinions from the public.'

As the brightness of his mobile phone is reflected on his face, he started typing which went on for dozens of minutes until he recieved a text.

Ding!

Ignoring the reply of an user who replied inappropriately to his messages indifferently, Belite opened the message he had just recieved.

It was from Nanchoko, the kind Administrator of unit 302.

– Nanchoko: Are you free now?

– Me: Why?

He cut directly to the chase, and didn't bother with small talk.

– Nanchoko: The tranfer students that the Alliance has sent from Twilight City have arrived. If you're free, why not introduce themselves to you and your surroundings?At half past six, you choose the place.

'So fast?' Belite raised an eyebrow. 'Wasn't the entrance ceremony just this morning? And they are already here by the evening? From Twilight City that's afar?'

Belite pondered for a while before coming to a decision.

– Me: Sure. What about the cafe I used to visit at Lower Street District? Bright Days café.

The reply arrived after a few seconds, Belite guessed that she was probably communicating with the tranfer students.

Ding!

– Nanchoko: Okay! Half past six, Bright Days café at Lower Street District.

After confirming a few details from Nanchoko, Belite stood up from the couch.

'I won't get any information about the rapid beatings and the pain in my heart that surfaced today on internet. All I will get are unserious and playful replies... As expected.'

Knowing how online websites and free chatting places worked, Belite decisively looked at the time and barged out of his room while shoving a yellow coloured piece of paper in his pocket.

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Taking a short walk of 3 minutes, Belite opened the door to the library as the pleasant chimes of the ornaments hung on the side of the door rang in his ears.

Belite looked at the ornaments in slight surprise, wondering why noisy ornaments were placed in a quiet place like a library. But looking around, he noticed that the whole of library was empty except for a few spots which were occupied by students with solemn expression on their faces.

"Welcome, I presume you've bought your library pass with you?" A librarian stationed at the door to welcome students asked—wearing the formal librarian clothes given by the academy— with a pleasant smile on his face.

Belite nodded and took out the yellow piece of paper from his pocket and waved it in front of the librarian.

"Ah, a yellow pass. Please follow me."

The librarian gestured at another librarian to take over his place at the door to welcome others as he led Belite politely to what seemed like the counters at the local shops.

The librarian smiled and bowed slightly at the figure with plain features sitting in front of the counter-like table and chair.

"A yellow library pass, Mister Orsent." The librarian gave another bow towards Belite and the figure as he left, making Belite shift his gaze from the librarian's receding back to the librarian at the counter who wore more expensive clothes than the librarians who were the norm and were spread out throughout the empty library.

The middle-aged man, who the librarian called Mister Orsent looked at Belite and nodded slightly. "The pass."

Belite passed the pass, the yellow piece of paper away to the middle-aged librarian, Mister Orsent, as he seemingly typed rapidly on the keyboard in front of him and stared intently at the screen.

"Your yellow library pass is a twenty-four stars pass. Meaning it can be put in use for twenty four hours." Mister Orsent looked up from the screen. "You can either use it per minutes or hours until all the twenty four hours are depleted. After which you'll need to renew the pass."

"Please remember that if you choose minutes, it should be above atleast thirty..."

He said in an almost recital manner as if he had repeated the same sentence over a thousand times.

Belite glanced at the time from the lockscreen on his mobile phone and said thoughtfully. "A hour."

Mister Orsent nodded as he stapled a star on the yellow library pass and handed it back to Belite.

"Even if you don't use the library, or if you have to go out of the library due to certain reasons, the one hour that has been used from your pass won't change." He smiled suddenly. "If you want to renew your pass or extend the time even further, or for membership plans, please contact me."

"Okay." Belite folded the library pass and placed it in his pocket as he left the counter-like place, his gaze wandering over the library.

The library was quite clean. There were books neatly placed on the shelves with numericals and alphabets below them to make the rows easy to remember.

The bookshelves even had narrow gaps that separated them from each other while providing space to move for the people.

Belite wandered off for a minute before he found a librarian, then, after asking for directions and topics related to Essential Heart, he arrived at the section 'E-1'.

Tiptoeing, he picked the book atop of the shelf that was two heads taller than him as he looked at the cover, which was quite familiar.

"Tale of Last Embers, The Black Dragon's Wrath: Part 7."

Flipping through the book aimlessly — which wasn't the one he originally wanted to find — he reminisced on the times when he used to pick up pages of the book found on streets and garbage bins and collect them, eventually sticking them with glue to make sure that they wouldn't part and resembled a coverless book.

'It had taken me years to even come across a real book. Knowledge surely became more scarce after recent events even if it's a fantasy book.'

Belite chuckled and turned his head, looking for a quiet place to sit and read at, when suddenly his smile and expression froze.

Thud!

His heart, which had been calm and serene all the while showed abnormalities for the third time of the day.

His heart, which had no issues for the past sixteen years of his long life, burst into short bouts of pain with each heartbeat as he slowly inhaled.

His gaze — which had frozen upon a quiet table with a young and slender girl sitting on it, suddenly regained it's liveliness as his pupils quivered slightly.

'That girl again...' He sighed, his gaze fixated on the girl with light-blue hair which resembled the serene sky as he leaned slightly against the bookshelf.

'I haven't found any answers on the internet about my abnormality. And I doubt I will find answers in this vast library too.' He thought. 'Even though I can just ask the librarians, what if... It's a mystery that shouldn't be revealed just like that "friend of mine". It's just unnecessary trouble.'

'But...' His lips curled up slightly. 'Even though it's a bit risky and is similar to confronting the eye of the storm directly...'

'Why not pluck the root at the source of it's problem?'

Humming a tone nonchalantly, he took short strides as the bouts of pain in his heart intensified at rapid succession, making him feel rather troubled at maintaining his composure.

Even worse was, his breathings were affected the nearer he went towards the table lit up by a lamp.

He needed to gasp more air as if he was performing an action that was burdening his body and needed more air to maintain his stability, even though even breathing became slightly painful.

'Is it even affecting my lungs?' Belite forced a smile. 'Wow. I wonder if this is how a heart-attack feels like.' As he neared 3-metres from the table, every heartbeat of his came with intensified pain that made him clench his teeth to not scream out loud.

'I even feel slight pain in my ribcage... Will my heart really jump out of my mouth or something?' He chuckled hollowly.

At this point, due to his sluggish moments and uneven steps, the girl with light-blue hair at the study table raised her head and stared at him incredulously.

Belite, whose moments resembled a drunkard, nonchalantly flashed a forced smile as he returned her gaze.

"Hi. Mind if I grab a seat?" He said through gritted teeth as he instantly shut his mouth after the words left his mouth, forcing his mouth shut.