Key held his arm vertically against Loter's, making a cross sign beside his shoulder. Blood glided down from the intersection. Had Key not deflected the punch, his chest would have already been penetrated. Tottering backward, he covered his abrasion with a hand and immediately removed it while gasping.

"Are you okay?" Loter quickly hurried toward him. "I don't mean to do it."

A layer of scorched blackness adhered to Key's pink, naked flesh. He took two to three seconds to evaluate it and said, "It's alright, for real; it's not your fault. I started the fight myself."

"Why did you do this?" Loter asked with a franticness in his voice.

"Just want to test your ability a bit since I'm the one good with brawling 'ere. Still pal, Lot?" Key forcefully set his injured arm aside and held a fist out.

"Yeah, K." Loter lightly bumped Key's fist with his own. He grinned in relief. A cold sweat went down his forehead.

"Though the tour 'as to pause. I'm going to the nurse."

"I can—"

"No need. That bitch is just going to mock me louder if you were also there. We will meet at dinner, alright?" Key patted Loter's shoulder sideways and squeezed an unconvincing smile on his sweaty face. "We are all bros. No need to worry."

"Okay," Loter answered. He was still anxious.

When Loter finally came back to the dorm, Hiroku was about to head out. They met at the entryway.

"What the Furn?" Hiroku sighed and pulled Loter into the unit as he saw the blood beneath his nose and on his arm.

"Key just sparred with me." Loter's melancholy was too visible with his eyebrows lowered.

Hiroku rolled his eyes, took a deep breath, and said nothing after opening his mouth. He faced away, turned back, and said, "Just go clean yourself. I'm going to the dining hall."

"Yeah." Loter shuffled into the bathroom. He cleaned the red stain off his nose and mouth. None of them withstood a single wipe. Not a trace was left behind.

Of course, no bruises or wounds could be seen in the mirror either, as if those strikes from Key had never happened.

Loter then washed his arm. There was not a scratch or graze. The attack that ripped Key's skin off did not even put a cut on Loter. Invulnerability was not a part of Loter's ability, so this phenomenon must have been caused by some mechanics that protected Loter from his own offense.

Such power, yet I still can't save my father.

It was when he was alone that Loter thought of his father and the numbness he felt.

Would I be able to save him if I was faster? Would I be able to save him if I did not hesitate?

Loter cleared his mind and walked out of the bathroom.

A problem quickly emerged: he did not know where the dining hall was.

Loter stood before his unit, scratching his head. As he finally decided just to walk out and believe in luck, someone called him from behind.

"Loder Sbawman, is id?" The one who called was a blonde boy with a huge pompadour. He wore a leather jacket and a white tank top inside. His eyes were blue as unpolluted sky, and his thick accent made every "p" sound like "b" and every "t" sound like "d."

"Kiznaq," Loter called the blonde by his name. He waved at Kiznaq DoLock, who was five years younger and a head shorter than him.

Despite Kiznaq's factual age, he acted older, not in a mature way.

"Whad are you doing here? I saw you sdanding for some dime." Kiznaq quickly approached and patted Loter in the back.

"I don't know where the dining hall is."

"Come wid' me. I'll show you d'e way." He scurried to the elevator, and Loter followed.

"Thanks." Loter entered the elevator after Kiznaq. He asked, "By the way, why aren't you going with your friends?"

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"My squad? Kayama and Dior are d'ere already, and Mina is sick, so she's nod coming."

"Kayama? You mean Hiroku Kayama? Isn't he in my squad?"

"I'm dalking aboud Kirane Kayama. D'e one from Haban." Kiznaq explained, walking out of the elevator after it arrived.

"Oh, are they siblings?" Loter followed behind with a short scurry.

"Cousins. Kirane is from d'e main branch in Haban. Hiroku's family is a side branch in MU."

"Oh, cool, so it's like one of those Haban clan things, right? I learned about them in history class."

"I guess, bud don'd dalk aboud id in frond of d'em, d'ough. Hiroku does not like Kirane, and Kirane likes do be referred do as 'Kayama.'"

"Aren't they close relatives?" Loter inquired, walking behind Kiznaq.

"Do you have any reladives? Besides your parends, of course." Kiznaq faced backward to talk with Loter and bumped into a pole.

Loter tittered a bit and answered, "No, not really."

"I can dell," Kiznaq replied, rubbing the back of his head.

Shortly after, the two arrived at the dining hall, which occupied the entire first floor of a rectangular building. A long, blue food counter was across the room from the entrance. The rest of the place was filled with sparse, medium-sized round tables. Despite the sparseness, many seats were empty.

Loter and Kiznaq parted before the gate and went to their own squad. From far away, Loter could see his squad sitting together.

Glacia reached her palm high up to wave at Loter, and Key gave him an up-nod with his injured arm beneath the table.

Loter jogged to them and sat on the one remaining seat.

The moment he sat down, Glacia pressed her hands on the table. She did not make a loud sound or flip the table but faintly tilted it enough to gain the three boys' attention.

Hiroku was as listless as usual; Loter gave his full attention; and Key purposefully gazed at the empty table.

Glacia said with a straight face, "You idiots can't just randomly fight on the street. Key literally has to pause his training for half a month. You know how much Mr. Dowii would love to hear this news."

Key quietly held up his right arm, which had a thick sheet of artificial skin adhered to his abrasion.

Glacia pointed at the wound. "See, this is how bad things can be," she didactically told Loter.

While Loter apologized, Key impatiently said, "Just drop it. You know we are boys, and sometimes we get a bit physical. It's totally fine."

"Hey, not all males are as stupid as you." Hiroku finally raised his own complaint.

Glacia concurred, "Yup, your excuse is trash—"

"Just! Just stop! There's no need to exaggerate it." Key exclaimed in an angrily restrictive way since he did not want the entire hall to be staring at them. He then rotated on his chair to face away. His arms were crossed before his chest.

While Glacia was made speechless, Loter weakly said, "It's my fault. I'm sorry."

Simultaneously, Glacia and Key said, "It's not you—"

"You don't get it," Loter interjected both of them with his calm words, "that is not how bad it can be. I could have killed Key. I can crush bones like cookies…" Loter's volume gradually decreased. The dejection on his face was non-neglectable. "Just stop…" He had nothing to say but repeat Key's request. Loter propped his head on his hands, lying on the table.

All three allowed the silence to surround them: Glacia bit her nails, Key kept facing away, and Loter closed his eyes.

Why is it like this? Why do things have to progress this way? Everything just falls apart. It is my first day here! Everything just has to go wrong.

Drops of tears seeped through his eyelids silently. Then, he heard the plastic table come in contact with a metal tray. Loter raised his head. Above the tray sat four dishes: a bowl of ramen, a pack of poutine, and two sets of burgers and fries. Before the tray, Hiroku sat back down.

"Loter, the chef cooked you the default tonight since you only got here this afternoon," Hiroku said without any expression. He took the ramen off the tray and pushed the tray to the center.

The other two also stopped whatever they were on.

"Thanks," Loter said as he reached out his hands but could not tell which one was his.

"Yours is the burger and fries," Hiroku said as Key suddenly smirked.

"It's so sweet of you, Hiro," Key joked with a smile, and Glacia followed with her hammy acting. "Our Hiro boy finally learns to care about others." She put the back of her hand on her forehead.

Hiroku rolled his eyes with a faint upward curl on his mouth.

Watching this, Loter finally giggled, putting a handful of fries in his mouth.

After dinner, the sun had fully set. No twilight still hung in the sky.

Hiroku, alone, strode to the basketball court, where a black-skinned, muscular girl of 185 meters in height sat against the sports fence. She had her left leg laid on the floor and held her right knee with an arm.

Hiroku scratched his upper ponytail and called, "Ramiron."

"Aye," the brawny girl answered, not looking back. She stared at the cloudless night sky with her five stubby dreadlocks leaning on the fence.

"You didn't come to the dinner." Hiroku stood before the fence and behind Ramiron.

"Doesn't bother, does it?" she asked. Her voice was firm and low-pitched.

"You are up to something."

"How so?"

"I can feel it."

"What do you care?"

"..."

"Don't get too curious about me, Hiro. It will get you nowhere." Ramiron further tilted her head upward until she could see Hiroku upside-down.

"Don't get in trouble."

"I will never," she smiled.