Meeting Enemy At The Narrow Bridge

Ren sneaked in with the help of the system. Following the virtual 3-D map, Ren walked towards the left wing. He looked at the ground and searched the grass. He also took his shoes off and carefully inspected them. However, there was not a single notification from the system. A clear indication that all his efforts were in vain. 

The cub, "..." Not every clue gets stuck on the shoe, okay!

Before Ren could drown in the sea of his disappointment, a few whispers made their way toward Ren's sensitive ears. 

The cub's fluffy ears twitched as it looked at Ren to see his next action. Ren wore his shoes back and stealthily made his way toward the source of the voices. The voices were coming from the virtual reality laboratory.

As he approached the open window, the murmur grew clearer and to his surprise, he found his academy rival, Terim, hunched over a virtual cabinet terminal. Not that Ren ever considered this person his rival. Dorion didn't think of him as his opponent either. 

Firstly, Dorion was entangled with his own problems. Secondly, Dorion never even noticed that Terim, the class leader, was targeting him. It wasn't that Dorion was too dumb to understand. Rather, it was Terim's way of dealing with Dorion.

Terim is the son of an influential family, no less prominent than Xanders'. Due to his strict upbringing, even when Terim was angered by Dorion repeatedly surpassing him, all he did was speak harshly during class and ignore him. The introverted Dorion simply brushed off the harsh words and never suspected that the person who always gave him his personal space was angry with him. 

"I will make sure to learn everything in this chapter...." his hands moved swiftly across the controls, his expression a mixture of determination and anxiousness.

'Little god, this kid is too serious in studying. He ran here at the academy during the middle of the night to learn his subject. Really, what a model student.' 

The system searched the relative data about the person Terim. In the original plot, Terim wasn't present at all. The cub could only read the general information about him present in his database. 

'Terim is the second child of the Polaris family. His elder sister is known as a genius of the century in mecha designing. Growing up in an environment where he was constantly compared to a person ten years older than him left a shadow in his heart. Now, he tries to get first place in everything he does. All he wants is to make his parents proud. 

Looking at Dorion, who didn't want to show his picture at the 'honorary students window', made Terim furious. He has been trying his best to get that spot. 

Terim did get his picture there but as a second-rank holder. Now, whenever he sees that picture, it makes him furious. To him, this looked like a charity. His picture was there only because others didn't want this place. He was slightly relieved thinking about the fact that Dorion was using expensive tutors and he, Terim wasn't. 

However, the recent incident left Dorion's financial situation an open secret. It means that Dorion must be doing a part-time job, managing the house and other such things along with studies. 

The rank-obsessed kid got even more infuriated at his own low capabilities, and hence, we are witnessing the scene where he came to the school to practice more.'

Ren found it both distressing and amusing. What if, Terim came to know that Dorion didn't do anything other than studying because he wasn't allowed to do any part-time jobs by Uncle Derik? 

The poor kid might really explode right then and there.

If Terim is here, it means, he must have taken special permission from the teacher. This makes things difficult for Ren. He needs to be extra cautious to not get caught by this hardworking kid. 

Ren slowly turned and came face to face with none other than the male protagonist, Win Xander. 

Ren, "..." Is this what people mean by meeting your enemy on the narrow bridge?

Win came here after his aunt Silvia's lecture. Sure, Win improved his scores, but he was nowhere near the top students. Hence, when Silvia Yarx got an application from her student to get an additional revision class, she forced Win to join the kid as well. Win could still hear her sharp voice shouting in his ears, "Keep improving as you've been doing."

Reluctantly, Win made his way towards the lab, only to find Dorion in hospital clothes spying on Terim. Is their rivalry so strong that Dorion came for extra class despite looking so thin?

If Ren could hear his thoughts, he might have smacked Win.

'What do you mean spying? Do I look like a pervert to you?'

Good thing, Ren couldn't. He helplessly looked at the protagonist and thought about his next action. It's not like he can say ta-ta bye-bye to him and go off on his own now.

After the last blunder, Win has considerably calmed down. His heart no longer races at the mere thought of Dorion, nor does he feel the urge to bully him anymore. He might have ignored this silver-haired beauty if it weren't for the fact that the person appeared so fragile, as though a gust of wind could carry him away. Ren's hospital gown did seem out of place, but considering his financial circumstances, the scholarship must be incredibly important to him. So much so that he attends extra classes even while admitted to the hospital.

"Come in, don't catch the cold," Remembering all the things Win has done, his heart became heavy.

Ren followed Win with confusion. However, there was someone even more confused than him.

Terim initiated the program of the two cabinets as requested and was about to enter one when he saw Win, followed by Dorion, enter the room.

The expected shocking shouts of disbelief didn't enter Ren's ears. Yet, it seems that Ren's presence might have given Terim quite a shock.

 Ren watched as Terim stopped halfway from whatever he was going to say to them. Terim's sharp lilac eyes widened, his mouth, still half open, hanging in the air along with his raised right hand. 

The system floating in the air nudged Ren, 'You scared the kid.'

Ren didn't want to scare anyone. All he wanted to do was find some clues and go to dreamland. However, he has to communicate with two humans now. What a bad luck.

Shaking off his bad mood, Ren followed Terim's posture to raise his right hand, 'Little god, it should be fine to be friendly with him, right?'

The system didn't find any problem with that and agreed with its host's approach. 

Ren smiled as he waved his palm in a greeting, thinking to himself that it should be friendly enough.

Contrary to Ren's expectations of a hello from the statue Terim, Ren's wrist was grabbed by a warm hand, and he was dragged to Terim's side.

The sudden force startled Ren. Before, he could even think about doing something in his defense, Ren was forced to retreat in the corner by Terim, who still refused to let him go.

The system, 'Ren, our plan was to be friendly. Not to seduce him.'

Dazed, Ren shakes his head in denial, 'I didn't! Don't talk nonsense!'

When two kids were tugging each other, Win appeared unfazed.