THE DORM MATES

"What family do you belong to?" Bobby asked with a curious tone.

"Yeah, your looks really give the feel of one from a power-house family." Joel added with an envious smile.

Stare couldn't help but chuckle a little, he could now understand the reason for the excessive sizing up on coming in here.

It was simply because he was handsome.

"Well I think I'm from the Johnson's family." Stare replied skeptically with a smile as he silently made a mental note on the features of Bobby as well.

'Quite lean, brown eyes, slightly taller than Joel, should be sixteen as well, looks like someone suffering from obsessive behavior.'

However, Bobby, upon hearing Stare's reply, seemed lost in thought.

"I can't recall a powerhouse family with a similar name," Bobby mused, his brow furrowed.

"...Maybe it's a lesser-known powerhouse family, or perhaps my knowledge has become a bit rusty," Bobby conceded after several seconds of fruitless memory searching.

"So, what's your 'fief,' Stare?" Bobby asked, curiosity evident in his gaze.

"Fief?" Stare responded, his confusion apparent.

'Was this a term he should have been familiar with? If only he had attended that convocation... Curse that guy!'

"Yeah, fief, like the powers you unlock after becoming a Prime," Joel explained, wearing an amused yet surprised expression.

"Oh, teleportation," Stare answered confidently.

Bobby seemed to be immediately lost in thought upon hearing Stare's response.

"Teleportation? Hmmm, maybe we can still make it work. Coupled with that guy's 'hardening' fief, I might still be capable of creating a proficient Hero team," Bobby muttered with a distant look before bursting into a fit of laughter.

Joel, on the other hand, paid little attention to Bobby's peculiar behavior and redirected his focus to Stare.

"Don't mind him; he's been muttering something about forming the perfect hero team since I got here. Maybe that's his quirky trait. My fief is 'hardening'; I can toughen my skin for a limited time."

Impressed by Joel's fief, Stare nodded and turned his attention back to Bobby, who still seemed lost in thought.

"What about you, Bobby? What's your fief?"

Bobby immediately appeared shaken, his expression visibly tightening. "F-fief... Oh, right, my fief. Well, mine is quite complex," Bobby replied, stuttering repeatedly.

Joel immediately seemed to be holding in his laughter after seeing Bobby's reaction to the question, his eyes turned quite red and his cheeks puffed up while his breaths seems to be held in.

"...Yeah it's called uhm…VocalisAffectus Mastery." Bobby added in a low tone, his face looking a lot paler than before, as his eyes wandered around the room.

Joel couldn't contain his laughter anymore, and it bubbled out while he slapped his knees. "Quite a fancy name for a power that involves manipulating emotions through singing, dude," Joel said amid his laughter.

"So, you basically have the same power as those mermaids in movies," Stare added, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. This only fueled Joel's laughter further, as he literally fell to his knees, tears streaming from his eyes.

"Yeah, yeah... And the funny and ironic part is that he doesn't even know how to sing," Joel managed to say between laughs.

Annoyed by their amusement, Bobby puffed his chest up with pride. "Mock me all you want, but many great Primes have ascended to power with the same fief as mine."

"Like?" Joel asked, still amused.

Seeing Bobby unable to provide an answer, Joel burst into another fit of laughter.

"Then I'll be the first to rise to power with this fief! I'll become the greatest hero this generation has seen; you'll see, all of you will see," Bobby declared with unwavering determination.

Stare was about to offer some words of comfort to the visibly disheartened Bobby when a voice resonated through the room.

[Lights off in ten seconds]

[Trainee Primes are advised to go to bed early in preparation of tomorrow's learning activities]

Immediately after the announcement, the room gradually dimmed until it was nearly pitch-dark.

'Had we been talking for that long?' Stare wondered, observing the clock on a nearby table, which read 9:00 PM.

'Somehow the duo reminded him of some particular set of friends he had during his past lives.'

Their destiny might have been preset by the Oracle ensuring they end up as companions of the protagonist from the beginning but despite Stare knowing this, he couldn't lie that he didn't quite enjoy their company.

Was this an effect caused by the Oracle…maybe.

Snuggling into a free bed by his side, Stare couldn't help but think of his counterpart.

Knowing he might meet that hothead tomorrow whom he had spent most of his life fighting, he couldn't help but feel anticipation.

Was this also an effect caused by the Oracle…maybe.

With those thoughts, Stare's eyes closed tightly as he drifted into the world of dreams.