The conflicting feelings of the soft bed and sharp sweat smell had Loter waking up after some twitching in his nose and a big snort. He got up and parted the curtain that encircled his bed.

There were three more empty beds in the room, with curtains hanging beside them. Orangish sunlight came in from the windows. Next to the glass sliding door, there was a tiny counter and a doctor sitting behind it. She noticed Loter as he approached.

"You woke up." She glanced in his direction and focused back on her computer.

"Uh, am I in HueCam Academy already?" Loter stopped before the counter. He was just tall enough to see the top of the woman's black ponytail over the counter.

"Yes, you fainted halfway, and Sayrine carried you back." The doctor tossed her wavy ponytail and let out a mocking giggle. "Not everybody gets to be carried to school by the vice principal."

"Uh, huh, huh, huh." Loter could only give her an embarrassed chuckle.

"Sayrine had taken your luggage to your dorm for you. Just stay here. I will find people to come and pick you up." The doctor just kept using her computer without even setting an eye on the landline beside her.

"…"

"…"

"You aren’t calling people." Loter pointed at the landline.

"I'm typing."

"Oh. Sorry."

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The Mountain Campus:

The campus was rectangular, with a 2-meter-tall wall surrounding it. The wall was about a meter thick and made of enhanced concrete thrice as strong as casual concrete. A layer of silvery plates was attached to the exterior side of the wall, releasing electric shock to whatever creature touched it.

All the buildings on the campus were painted glossy white, which became pretty conspicuous when not covered by the sky screen.

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Hiroku Kayama always thought it was a mistake that he got transferred to the mountain campus. Although it was the place for those strongest superhumans, Hiroku enjoyed living in the city much more than a tiny prison that could not even be seen on the map.

Under the white pavilion, Hiroku sat on a wishbone chair with his elbows on his knees. The chair was not facing the rounded table in the center but toward where the sun was setting. Hiroku's black hair was tied into two ponytails. One lay against the back of his neck, and the other was atop his head. On top of his forehead, two patches of wavy hairs parted from the center and formed an "M" shape.

Back in Cavium, he used to let his hair cover the sides of his face and neck entirely. Coral Cobble was just too hot for that. Yet, he still wore his long-sleeved, gray pullover beneath his purple crop top. It was his signature back in Cavium. He refused to give it up.

Hiroku Kayama just gazed blankly at the garden and all its decorated, flowery shrubs, thinking about how much his life sucked. He missed wandering down the streets and going to bowling alleys with friends.

Now, his only entertainment was zoning out in a garden. He could go play basketball with some other kids. Unfortunately, that was out of his consideration since it would result in him seeing the other Kayama. Hiroku irritated himself whenever he thought about interacting with that guy.

"Hiroku!" A call came to his ears from behind.

He raised his head and spotted Glacia waving and jogging at him. Glacia was a year younger, with her wavy bangs coming down the sides of her forehead but not over her cheeks. Her short ponytail was in the center of the back of her head, much more typical than Hiroku's. Her white tube top and flare jeans were also more ordinary when compared to Hiroku's two clothes.

Hiroku stood up and walked out of the pavilion, watching Glacia approach. She panted as she rushed toward him.

"What's up?"

"Why are you." Glacia wiped her sweaty chin with her arm as she blew out a puff of air and inhaled more. "Pretending to be depressed again?"

"I'm not—"

"Yes, you are."

"Whatever. So, why are you here?" Hiroku rolled his eyes, leaning against the pillar of the pavilion.

"To find you, duh-uh." Glacia wiped her cheeks with another arm.

"Why?"

"Mr. Dowii said the new kid has arrived. He's in the same room with you. Dowii wanted you to say hi."

This is redundant. I will meet him when I go back to my dorm tonight. What is Dowii thinking? Dinner is an hour away. I might even miss my dinner because of him…

Okay, that is probably a stretch. The campus is too small for that to happen. However, the thing is stupid. It is a waste of time…

Whatever.

"Fine." Hiroku rebalanced himself from leaning on the pavilion, ready to go.

"And I will accompany you."

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Dowii said it?"

"I said it."

Thus, the two started sauntering to the dormitory. They went past other students, in groups or not, on their way. Hiroku just faced away and ignored them, whereas Glacia waved and greeted every one of them.

Without seeing, Hiroku could tell some of them were eyeing Glacia's thin and perky body. He was never a fan of this behavior, but he never found a position to do anything about it, either. He just felt disappointed at these supposed future heroes' moral standards.

"Hey, where is the rest of the squad?" Hiroku suddenly asked out of the awkwardness of his silence.

"Key is in the training room or the basketball court. Ram is probably doing meditation," Glacia answered without answering, stepping in front of Hiroku and facing backward.

"You should've joined them." Hiroku purposefully looked aside.

"Stop shooing me away," Glacia said with a playful annoyance, which made Hiroku slightly less somber.

After around 5 minutes of walking, they rode the elevator to the third floor. There was a small vestibule before the elevators. The hallway connected to it had doors toward different units on its sides. Without leaving the vestibule, Hiroku could see his door was ajar.

Glacia got excited and tapped Hiroku in the back. "Quickly!" She hurried forward and pushed the door open, seeing what was inside slightly earlier than Hiroku.

She was stunned.

A sharp scream came out of the unit at the same time. Behind the girl, Hiroku peeked into the room—an almost naked boy, wearing a shower wrap around his waist, covered his chest with his two hands.

Glacia palmed her eyes with one hand and tried to reach for the doorknob with the other unsuccessfully. Meanwhile, Hiroku locked his vision on the door. He lunged forward, bumping into Glacia; grasped the knob; and shut the door.

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"Alright, you can come in."

Hiroku heard it through the door and went in. Of course, he closed the door as he entered.

The unit contained a living room, an open kitchen behind it, two bedrooms on the left, and a bathroom on the right.

The boy was wearing a red T-shirt and black shorts. He sat over-formally on the sofa. His knees touched each other, and his hands were on his thighs.

"The girl has gone somewhere else," Hiroku said, sitting down on the sofa across the tiny round table.

"Uh, okay. Uh… My name is Loter Spawman. You can call me Loter." Loter robotically held one hand up from his lap, going for a handshake. That said, he did not reach out his hand.

Is he trying to shake hands with me? How am I going to hold his hand from here? Whatever.

"Hi," Hiroku halted his sentence. He stood up and stooped forward to do the handshake.

"..."

"..."

"..."

Sitting back down, he continued, "I'm Hiroku Kayama. Just call me by my first name. It's fine—"

"Excuse me."

"Hm?"

"Can you like, uh, you know?" Loter finished his sentence right there, waiting for Hiroku to understand by himself.

What?

Infected by awkwardness, Hiroku just sat there, maintaining his usual depressed expression.

"Hee, hee," Loter suddenly began repeating this weird syllable. He still had his stiff smile on, which made the situation a lot weirder than it was supposed to be.

Hiroku just let him continue his repetition while focusing hard on deciphering it. After the seventh "hee" sound, Hiroku finally said, "Hiroku. Just call me Hiroku. Hee-Row-Koo. H-I-R-O-K-U."

"Uh! Hiroku, cool name, cool name." Loter nodded rapidly. "Your hair." He pointed at the two ponytails. "Is also cool."

Can we just end this conversation? What is this?

"Thanks," Hiroku replied. His eyebrows lowered in an emotionally painful yet not angry way.

"Are you a Habanese?"

What? Why is he bringing up my ethnicity now?

"My bloodline came from Haban, but I was born in MU."

"I suspect I'm also a Habanese." Loter then switched his finger to point at his own black, curtain-like, unconstrained hair. It hung arbitrarily on the sides of his face and covered his cheeks. "You know? Black, straight hair."

Although I really do not want to admit it, he has a point. I can see him being a Habanese—relatively flat nasal bridge, light skin tone, and black hair. I can agree with him on that, yet that is not the point. The point is, why is he mentioning it now? I have to end this conversation.

"Maybe. I can show you around if you want to."

A sudden beam of smile emerged on Loter's lips. He exclaimed while jumping up from the sofa, "Yeah! Let's go. You lead, Hi, Hiroku."

The two silently exited their unit, 302. The one leading had a visage more listless than usual. The one following seemed to be anxious, like he was anticipating an interview. After entering the elevator, Loter asked, "Where will we go first?"

Hiroku, pressing the first-floor button, slowly answered after filtering any word that could ignite a conversation, "You will see."

"Okay."

The doors opened. They saw Glacia pacing beside the sidelight next to the glass gate. She strode directly toward the elevator the moment it opened. All her solemnness and seriousness were displayed in her straight face.

What? Why is she looking so serious right now? Am I in a clown show?

With his left eyelid twitching in frustration, Hiroku glanced at Loter. What a mistake.

Hiroku's frustrated yet slightly interested eyes met Loter's frantic and helpless eyes in midair. It was like a dying man asking an apathetic for rescue.

Hiroku turned away and buried his face in the elevator's control panel. He only peeked out with the edge of his sight when Glacia came forward.

Should I get out of the elevator? I probably should and leave this to themselves. This seems to be about the naked thing. I should probably go— Wait, she is here already. Whatever.

Glacia took a deep breath before Loter. She shut her eyes and said, "Sorry!"

"Hm?"

"..."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have opened the door so quickly. I don't mean to see you without your shirt, and I promise I saw nothing. I will never open any man's room's door without knocking again!"

The sincere apology struck both Hiroku and Loter by surprise, especially Hiroku. He had an additional admiration for it. He understood too well that, most of the time, a man being seen naked by a woman was considered a loss on the woman's end, like all men were lecherous monsters who took advantage in every sex-related scenario. Hiroku knew this too well as a Habanese male.

He looked at Glacia, who was staring over her own shoulder after the apology, with an appreciation he never had for her before.

Loter, on the other hand, sighed with a huge relief. He vigorously tapped both his palms on Glacia's shoulders.

Glacia started under the sudden weight on her shoulders.

Loter did not notice and began his speech whatsoever, "It's alright! I would probably act the same way you did if I were in your situation. Also, I am pretty sure I was fast enough to cover everything. So, it is alright. I don't mind at all. Apology accepted! I was actually more worried about you. I was afraid you would act awkwardly. Oh, also, my name is Loter Spawman. L-O-T-E-R. Nice to meet you!"

Grinning, Loter drew back both hands and held one before Glacia. This time, he remembered to reach his hand far enough.

Recovering from the stun, Glacia held Loter's hand, returned a genuine smile, and gave him a loose and light handshake.