The Earth After Rebirth

"Remind me again, why do we need to accompany you guys?" Nikolai asked.

"Obviously we have to leave together Friday morning." He answered a bit agitated, this was clearly getting on his nerves.

The door swung open. The dean was standing right at its frame, his eyes looking from student to student. For a moment, they thought they saw a relieved expression on his face. His tense body slightly relaxed too.

"Are you going to keep whispering outside my door? I have so much work to do. If you have no business with me, get!" He shooed them away.

"Sir, please, we have business with you."

He sighed, as if already exhausted by whatever they were going to ask him. They entered the office, unwillingly but they knew it had to be done.

"Absolutely not. Can\'t this be done on Saturday?"

"It\'s important Sir, it cannot be done on Saturday." Kiro said, showing himself the email.

He read through it rather fast. He was impressed that the young Waynworth cub managed to snatch the company right under Blakeson\'s nose. Seeing the email, his heart softened, but only a little.

"I don\'t see why you need bring an entourage with you, are you trying to get me fired?"

"Well Sir, I\'m sure you know that I was once kidnapped..."

"And you handled that well." He cut him off.

"I actually almost died back then. If it wasn\'t for Felix I would\'ve been a goner. To ensure that it doesn\'t happen again, I do need my friends with me. We can protect each other."

\'He\'s a decent liar, his story isn\'t too exaggerated but he\'s still a greenhorn. I\'ve lived so long it doesn\'t take much to see through lies, well crafted or not.\' He mused.

\'There\'s definitely more to this than it meets the eye. Did Eldric really leave something to this boy? Is this his first step to a revolt?\' He stopped the smile from forming before they could catch on.

He cleared his throat, and put on one of his best stern faces and voice. "I could get in trouble for this, if I so much hear that you guys did anything other than this, you will regret it."

"Does this mean?"

"Yes, you can have Friday off but I want you back immediately. Monday better not miss the lot of you." He said seriously.

They couldn\'t look relieved yet. They had to keep up the act until they were out of his office. Kiro attempted a smile and uttered his thank yous. They didn\'t want to linger, the atmosphere in that office was too thick so they excused themselves.

\'Better put someone on them, in case.\'

When the door shut, they finally let out sighs of relief. Now that, that part was done, the only thing left was to train without missing dinner or classes. Everything else rested on their shoulders now, it was a heavy burden but it was one that was shared amongst friends and they were grateful for it.

"I thought I was gonna choke to death." Ishaan said, having tried to make himself invisible in the room.

"Yeah, why\'s that old man so scary anyway? He exudes a kind of pressure, I could only describe as supernatural." Kiro said thoughtfully.

"Maybe he\'s a god?" Ishaan suggested.

Causing the others to laugh and make fun of him for saying something so ridiculous. If gods were real, why would they choose to spend their days babysitting children, was their thoughts. And when they put it like that, it made Ishaan embarrassed.

"Time for class, see you two later."

They parted ways, running to their classes so as not to be late. They walked in a second late, which Dr. Ramirez forgave them for, asking them to be better next time.

"Tardiness at your age isn\'t a very good, well respected trait. If you don\'t clip its shackles from which it binds you, I\'m afraid you won\'t make it far in this society." She may have forgiven them, but she made sure to teach them the lesson anyway.

"And I see you guys have Friday off? Unbelievably shameless!" She shouted.

\'Already? The dean is fast.\'

They looked at each other surprised, then at their teacher, giving her apologetic smiles. They took their seats and listened to a very boring lesson. The lesson was about the people who invented virtual reality.

It was obviously something that happened before their time, but books somehow survived the storm their world suffered from and many years later they were still learning about them.

Kiro didn\'t understand why they had to learn technologies of the past, when their was much more advanced. He didn\'t think they had anything to learn from the old people.

The only reason he didn\'t drop out of school was his parents. And the fact that studying this course would make him a great asset to Waynworth Enterprise. So, in a way, he was stuck there.

"Can\'t wait until we learn how to construct our own pods." Hiro said under his breath.

"Very true, that part seems to be more interesting." Kiro agreed.

They listened attentively, well as attentively as they could. By the end of the class they were fatigued. Kiro had been scribbling on his sketch book for quite some time.

"We\'ve done the theory. The next part would be a project. In groups of fives, you\'ll sort yourself. The requirement is to construct a gaming pod, it doesn\'t have to work, you\'ll be graded whether the right parts are used and in the right places. Good luck." She didn\'t wait for them to complain, as her heels reached the door before anyone could utter a word.

Kiro quickly beckoned Isla and Saanvi to their group. He didn\'t want anybody new. The getting to know each other stage wasn\'t something he fancied. He much preferred the known.