The classes resumed after the class. However no one was actually paying any attention to the material or teachers, everyone was talking or discussing the event that occurred on the schoolyard during the lunch break. The ones who did not see it, but heard, could not really believe that this happened. Those who watched, could not believe either, even though they have seen it first hand. Rumors spread so fast, even the school staff already knew the details.

—---------

A certain woman was sitting at the desk in a large room. The room was large, yet the only desk that was there was hers. She was wearing a red formal jacket and skirt. Her bright scarlet hair was tight in a ponytail. She could probably be considered a very attractive person as her face, body, style and even movements were filled with grace. Yet at this very point, her face was covered in a big frown. She was carefully reading some papers and every now and then she had to stop and reread what she had just read.

“Atlas, what happened?”

The very innocent Atlas, one of her students that she knew for some time already, a student she had a soft spot for, did something she never thought would happen.

“With only one hand? Corey has no visible wounds or damage” she pulled her phone out and was looking at a certain video, where a boy stopped an attack of a well trained individual, with just one hand.

“Was Atlas always so strong? No way, never did he ever try to fight back. He would just usually say something and run as fast as possible. Yet here he is so serious. Atlas…what happened last week?”

—--------

Atlas was walking through a school hallway, thinking about all the things that happened today. This day was the day he finally stood up to his bully, to the one who was making his school life miserable enough, Atlas always looked for the reasons to skip it. And not only he stood up for himself, he won. He won in a fight against Corey, the one people feared. And still, he did not really feel much. He always dreamt of getting a powerful ability and finally kicking Corey’s ass. He imagined how he would stand tall looking down on a defeated bully, looking at his face showing only emotion of defeat. He then would throw in some smart phrases and comebacks and leave with full pride and glory. Yet nothing of that happened. Yes, he defeated Corey. He stood tall looking down on a bully, yet none of the hoped feelings were present. It did not even feel like victory. More like a mild annoyance.

“Am I getting numb to the routine of my life? After all that has happened there?” At this point, all that joy and happiness he felt when going through challenges disappeared.

That was when he suddenly felt fear. What if he was losing his humane side. All the things that made him the one and only Atlas d’Prince had just vanished? The last thing he wanted was to lose himself whilst getting power. He did not want to become like the ones who are at the top of this system. At the top of society, where one who was strong enough, could do basically anything, yet most of those were just doing one thing - making life hard for people down below…

“Are you still breathing?” A quiet voice said to the right of Atlas.

He stood in the middle of the hallway, looking at the floor, thinking. He was out of this world so hard, he never noticed the presence of someone who approached him some time ago.

Looking to his right, he saw a girl about his age looking at him with a rather melancholy gaze. She was quite short and was dressed casually. Her hair was short and dyed purple. Her whole appearance screamed as if she did not give a damn for anything. Atlas was quite shocked by her presence, since he did not see, hear or feel her coming. And that is with his newly acquired ability and better aura detection.

“Oh, no you are breathing. A relief.” She said with a monotonous voice and no visible change on her face.

“Who are you?” Atlas finally spoke. He was very curious as to who she might be. He had never seen her in school. However to be fair, he was never paying attention to others at times he was actually in school.

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“Bella, Bella Amou” she replied, looking at him with the most “poker face” possible. “This is the after school activity section of school, yet I haven’t seen you before. And it is too late to apply to any club. So, what is your business here?”

Even though she did not look dangerous or angry, something in her look sent shivers down Atlas’ spine.

“I…I was just interested in this area of school, since I have never been here” replied Atlas, looking her straight in the eye.

Initially, he was looking for scouts from Espada academy and was just walking around school. He himself did not notice how he ended up in this place.

“Oh, okay” the girl replied “Anyway, thanks for the talk and sorry, but I have to go. Some people from some “yespade” school want to talk to me. I promised the teacher I would. What is your name?” and before even hearing back from Atlas, she quickly left.

“What in the world just happened.” Atlas was confused more than ever “Yespade? She meant Espada? Is she one of the promising students? That would actually explain how she managed to sneak up on me… And that uneasy feeling as well…”

At this point his curiosity just grew more and more. He waited until the girl left and continued to walk through the hall, since he now knew that he was going in the right direction.

“I wonder, what is her ability?” he thought, looking at the walls of this hallway. They were mostly covered with different letters and medals.

Since Atlas has barely been to this area of school, he knew little of where to go. He continued to go down the hallway looking around. He was walking around for a solid half an hour peeking in different doors, looking for something interesting. Rooms were mostly empty since it was still early for the after class activities. Nothing that caught Atlas’ attention anyway.

That was when he was in one of the empty club rooms, he heard footsteps in the hallway. “About four to five people” Atlas said as he tried to sense the aura of people coming. He made no sound and was listening carefully. He heard as those people entered the room next to the one he was in. Carefully exiting his room, he was slowly approaching the room where mysterious people were.

“Bella Amou, you are chosen as one of three promising students of this school to be accepted into Espada academy…” one voice said.

“She is one of the best in this school” said another voice.

“What do you think, professor?”

“She is, indeed, one of the most capable. If not her, then no one really.” said the voice which was very familiar to Atlas. He tried to approach the door very quietly.

“I really should do something with my habit of eavesdropping” he thought while he approached the door.

“Oh, that boy again…” At that moment the door was opened wide, right when Atlas was standing in front of it. At this point, Atlas knew he messed up. A funny scene occurred, at least as Atlas thought. A wide open door. Five people, including the weird girl he met and a school vice principal, whom he knew very well, all were looking at Atlas in a very obscure pose in which he tried to sneak up.

“So, the weather is nice, isn’t it?”.

The weather was indeed nice. Yet no one seemed to take his question seriously, except for the purple haired girl, who looked outside the window as soon as she heard this question.

“Atlas? What are you doing here? It is still class time!” Ms. Scarlet was the first to break the awkward silence. Now fully standing upright, Atlas tried to keep his composure and think of what to answer. He looked at the people in front of them. There were three people he did not know. They were staring at Atlas, analyzing carefully, as if they were trying to make their verdict.

“Ahem, so, yes, I… I was… I was looking for a place to make a phone call. Yes, I needed a quiet place. Thus, I went there. Here” Atlas was smiling as he was trying to lie.

“Classes are still not over” Ms. Scarlet interrupted him, while her expression seemed rather worried than angry.

“I was never one to sit through the whole school day, was I?” Atlas said, now telling the complete truth. And before anyone could say anything, Atlas’ phone started to ring.

“See!” Atlas quickly used a very lucky opportunity. “They are already looking for me!” He showed his phone to his “judges” to prove the realness of the call.

“Alice?” Ms. Scarlet said, confused.

“Huh?” Atlas looked into his phone, and that was indeed Alice calling. “Well, anyways. Nice meeting y’all. Have a great day! Peace!” he rushed the sentence and left as quickly.

“Phew, she saved me here!” Atlas said as he was running away. Taking a deep breath he answered the call. “Hey Alice, long time no see!”

“Oh, give me a break Mr. Too busy to call back!” a single phrase that made Atlas mood slightly better.