Kaiden's expression turned pale. What should he do now? Lost in thought, he stared blankly into emptiness with his mouth agape.

"Everything okay?"

a seemingly distant voice asked. Suddenly, it went too far! Fading into the various words, Zack finally spoke up. With a lowered gaze, he looked at Kaiden while lying on the ground due to his sister's punch and said,

"He had it coming. Sigh. Privileged and arrogant people need a lesson sometimes."

With these words, Kaiden jumped up and hurriedly ran towards Zack.

Meter by meter, the distance between the two young men decreased at an inhuman pace. Zack flinched at Kaiden's sudden rush, propping himself up to stand.

Just before Zack, Kaiden continued to run towards him. Zack, protective, crossed his arms over his body to shield himself from a potential blow. Jaw pressed against jaw, his entire body braced for the worst. Mark and Ren, with a slightly slower reaction time, also prepared for a fight to intervene.

Mary and Elly stood there bored, considering the whole commotion unnecessary. Tentacles reappeared towards Kaiden and Zack to separate them. Meter by meter, four unstoppable actions in one space. Tentacles, cover, running, and running again. Four actions that were about to collide in a matter of moments reduced to two encounters.

Mark, attempting to run into the collision to break them apart, jumped towards Zack, who was also ensnared by tentacles. But why? Kaiden's target wasn't Zack, who spoke condescendingly about him, but the waiting area where his treasure awaited. While everyone thought a new fight would break out, they were surprised when Kaiden made his move. He ran towards Zack, and as all attention was on Kaiden, he sidestepped, leaving Zack to be hit.

With the loud hiss of the modern door, Kaiden ran away, eliciting laughter from Elly. With a blush on his face, his brother shouted, "Why are you laughing now?" The answer was an even louder laughter from his sister. Wiping away the tear under her right eye, she looked at her brother Zack and then into the distance. It's going to be a fun year.

Huff, huff,

Regular breaths echoed along the long corridor. Confused looks were directed at him. Written on all their faces was the question of why he was running down the corridor. But the real question was why he was wearing regular clothes instead of the uniform;

after all, the newcomers should have been in their rooms and changed by now. Kaiden would have done so if they hadn't gone on an introductory round, leading to him getting beaten up. But the past couldn't be changed. The long and fast strides continued.

No pause, no slowing down, just Kaiden's steady movement, forging ahead.

A door within reach, almost there. Hand outstretched towards it, Kaiden reached for the door, only to be startled as it opened by itself. However, it was not opened by a sensor but by a person. Startled, both Kaiden and the stranger, an object fell onto Kaiden. It was his crafted bag made of Flexidur, along with its contents of liquid crystals.

"There you are, my treasure,"

Kaiden said with anticipation.

"Excuse me?"

Came from a male voice, confusion, and a hint of amusement in his gaze.

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With a broad smile, Kaiden repeated,

"My treasure."

Now, with an even more puzzled look, the roughly 2-meter-tall man looked down at Kaiden, casting a shadow over him.

Kaiden paid no attention to the man with a deep and calm voice, despite the strange words coming from Kaiden's mouth. Kaiden was just happy that his crystals had found their way back to him.

"Excuse me," the stranger said again,

"Is everything okay with you, or do we already know each other?"

Kaiden, recognizing the man after a moment, realized the foolish words he had uttered. Without hesitation, he tried to explain to the stranger that he didn't mean himself but the crystals. With a light laugh, the man, about one to one and a half heads taller, patted Kaiden's shoulders and said his secret was safe with him.

"No," said Kaiden,

"it's not like that."

Meanwhile, the man interrupted him, saying everything was fine.

"Whatever you have in your hand," he continued,

"you shouldn't call it a treasure. I was just on my way to throw away the trash, but now you're here and took it, so you can throw it away. Thanks in advance."

With a turning motion, the stranger tried to leave, but Kaiden interrupted him and asked why it was so.

Somewhat surprised, the man turned his head and explained that although it resembled a crystal, its liquid form rendered it worthless. Moreover, this ore was not rare at all compared to real crystals. Despite considering all this, Kaiden had continued to hope, as the probability of it still being valuable could be quite high.

With a lowered head, realizing it could change his life, Kaiden seemed gloomy.

"Did I hit a nerve?" thought the stranger.

Verbally, however, he suggested that Kaiden should go back to his room and put on his uniform. After a few moments, Kaiden's melancholic gaze lifted again. What he saw was an empty corridor with irregular black images due to his blinking. Sighing, he said,

"Looks like I'll have to go back to the others now."

****

Another hiss of the door;

this time, in a quieter manner and atmosphere. Eyes focused on Kaiden. Some with a smile, some with a neutral expression, and some disdainful.

"Back again," Mark said, to which a blunt "yes" followed from Kaiden.

Silence,

No one could utter a word. Earlier, they joked, but now there was a heavy air in the room. Mark and Ren, who got along well, just looked at each other, while Zack and Kaiden stared into emptiness. The girls sat on their beds and relaxed. Kaiden, who had been sitting on his bed for a while, looked at his uniform and remembered the words of the stranger.

"I think I should change," he said,

pulling up his T-shirt and removing his pants, socks, and shoes. All eyes were on Kaiden, looking somewhat shocked. While Kaiden had a scar over his eye, it was smaller and not immediately noticeable. Also, the missing eye was replaced with a prosthetic that looked real, so no one recognized his injuries. But now, all scars, whether on his back, legs, arms, or chest, were visible.

Silence,

With the uniform back on, Mark and Ren discussed secretly by whispering. Elly and Mary looked at Kaiden somewhat puzzled. But the most confused person in the room was Zack.

Gulp,

Zack swallowed hard as he couldn't process the scars.

'But he's the son of a rich person. He wears that unnecessary stuff with branded names on his skin. He talked down to me as if he was better. So why does he have these scars all over his body and prosthetics?'

Zack wondered with a lowered gaze. Did I judge too quickly? No! Even the rich can get hurt. However, he was so rude to me and spoke down to me! After Zack gathered himself and organized his thoughts, Ren asked the question of where his injuries came from.

Silence,

Was the question too personal?

Silence,

"Sorry for the question."

Silence.,

Kaiden listened and folded his clothes while not answering, simply because he didn't know how to start or what to say afterward. Eventually, he knew he would have to come clean, so he opened his mouth. But nothing came out.

Only tears.

He immediately thought of Leon and his friends. He opened his mouth again, but this time, sounds came out.

"During the explosion, I was in my school in Florida."

As soon as these words left Kaiden's lips, the simple eyes stopped seeing Kaiden as a person. In their eyes, he was a monster, not in a negative way.

Their eyes were practically about to pop out if they weren't connected to their brains. Even Mary, who remained calm in every moment, was astonished. The words that left Kaiden from this moment on sent shivers down the others' spines.

After Kaiden tearfully told his story, it ended as quickly as it began. Zack then commented, gradually tolerating Kaiden more, that at least he survived and awakened.

Kaiden looked melancholically toward his own feet on the floor and added, but not for long.

Silence.