14 Alex's Perspective

"Do not dishonor the Monete family name," My father ingrained into me since I was able to talk.

Ever since I was born, I had strict tutors attending to my education at the age of one which was the age where I had learned how to talk. Both Luke and I were born into strict families where our families would take advantage of the expensive space-time rooms so that we would get into a prestigious school that would fit our family names.

Luke frequently visited my house before he entered kindergarten due to his parents not having enough time to care for him. I felt worried for Luke when he failed to get into the same school as he got matched with Rika. While the Roselia house was disappointed with Luke failing to get into the school that they wanted him to attend, his family was satisfied with his partner.

The reason being was that Rika had an unusual high amount of mana. It was outstanding to the point that no one in the first district could come close to her level of mana except for Luke who was praised to have the greatest amount of mana in his family. The Roselia house's honor and prestige came from their reputation of creating a powerhouse of people with extremely high levels of mana. Since a prodigy son like Luke was matched with Rika, they were pleased that it would greatly secure the wealth and reputation of the next generation of the Roselia house.

I stumbled onto the floor from shock for the first time in my life. -110 000 points. I received Allan's help as he supported me back up. Allan didn't appear to be surprised as he went through the same experience two weeks ago. However, I couldn't predict how different it was when you were the person that landed in the same situation.

I already had a massive headache forming as I could imagine my father's disappointment in me for sullying the Monete family name even though it was temporary.

Even worse, I was the one of the aggravators of creating this result. I refused to give Rika a one hour nap when she asked for one as I was determined to not be the one in Allan's position. I ignored her as I sprayed more water so she wouldn't fall asleep with panic.

I could have never predicted that it would lead Rika to get a bad cold. Our bodies were stronger than the normal human due to possessing mana. I sighed as I didn't show my exhaustion after pouring as much mana into her as possible to get her healed before writing the exam.

I knew that the last-minute healing wouldn't help much, but I was still shocked when she got even worse grades than last time.

"She has a fever," the doctor sympathized with me as I went to check up on Rika.

I hid the trembling waves of guilt coming towards me as Rika was noticeably flushed in shades in red from her pale skin.

She struggled to breath as she muttered she was in pain while occasionally coughing.

I suddenly felt really ashamed of myself for trying to keep Rika awake with a water gun. I knew I had to apologize sometime, but I didn't know how. At that time, I was desperate to not get -100 000 points like Allan did. However, I knew it wasn't an excuse to not take responsibility for the scene in front of me.

I silently walked out the infirmary to earn twice of the amount of points for the both of us to quickly get rid of minus points. That was the least I could do for Rika so that when she returned, she would be coming back to a decent room.

I started to pity Luke as I guessed this was how Luke felt when Rika got sick last time. I had wondered why Luke had declined my invitations to spend most of his time with Rika. Even though Michelle and I were both school and political partners, we only talked to each other when it was necessary.

We both knew our families obeyed the council's wishes and we followed the unspoken rule like many others where we would only spend time together when we had to. My questions were now answered to why Luke volunteered himself for many events when they had a stable amount of points. There was no way his points were safe with a partner like Rika.

No wonder Luke spent almost all his free time teaching Rika while watching her health to make sure it didn't backfire on him. It was the only way it wouldn't sully his family name. I could have never imagined it was for his own survival rather than an illusion of choice.

I started to walk to the billboard that had posted events for those who desired to earn some points. I hid my surprise when I found an event where I would instantly receive 80 000 points in the top right of the board.

[Teacher's Assistant Wanted for One Day!

Description: Basic duties include preparing all the classroom materials and doing whatever the teachers need help on]

I instantly pressed [accept] as the notice immediately disappeared.

This was how I ended up with piles of class materials in my hands as I trailed after the teacher into her office. I hid my exhaustion from taking part in the research study where the teachers experimented with mana not too long ago. For the entire day, the work I did for the teachers never ended. I made to sure keep my balance from carrying the fragile materials as I instantly understood the reason for the high compensation of 80 000 points.

However, I released a breath of relief when the balance of points on the tablet was up to -30,000 points.

"Did you get ready for the exam today?" Luke appeared to be worried for me.

"Somehow," I didn't hide my exhaustion from him.

I confidently wrote the exam as I had my family tutors who taught me the class materials ahead of time before I entered middle school.

I couldn't hide my smile when I finally had 10 000 points in the balance of the tablet in the cafeteria. Fortunately, I had received 40,000 points from the exam earlier today.

I tapped on a cheap tray of food as I happily bought myself a meal from the cafeteria for the first time in five days.

"I bought myself a meal already with the points I earned." I told Luke when he was about to share some of his portion of food as usual.

A filling meal at the cafeteria cost about 100 points. After struggling from the lack of points, I knew I would never take points for granted again. I never thought how grateful I should have been all this time for being partnered with Michelle.

When Luke appeared greatly surprised, I told him about the points I earned from the exam and the unique event.

"I guess the teachers felt bad making Rika write an exam when she was really sick. Maybe that's why they posted an event like this for the first time ever." Luke came up with an explanation for that unique event.

"How do you know that this event never existed before?" I curiously asked him.

Even though the event was a bit particular, I had assumed there were always some events like this posted on the board. Although, I never did take a single glance at the board until yesterday.

"I went to the billboard almost every single day in elementary school when Rika got sick for a week." Luke appeared as if he was recalling a bad memory.

"It must have been hard," I tried to console him for putting up with Rika.

"I'm used to it." Luke sadly smiled.

"I'm just waiting till Rika grows up a bit so I could get some more free time of my own like I have right now." Luke tragically added.

I patted Luke to comfort him to indicate that I understood what he was going through. I could imagine what Luke had to experience to become this way.

After eating my dinner, I encountered Michelle talking to someone using her translucent marble while walking to the mana practice room.

"Sure, I'll transfer the files over right now." Michelle cheerfully answered.

"Thanks!" The person on the other side of the call replied.

"Where's Rika?" I asked Michelle after pondering whether I should reveal myself.

I decided to apologize to Rika after the memory of her suffering from her fever flashed across my mind during the phone call. Rika didn't appear to be in the infirmary anymore from her background even though she looked like she would faint at any moment.

"Near the café," Michelle coldly answered me as she left me standing in the middle of the hallway alone.

I hoped Rika wouldn't overexert herself before she got better, or else I would have to continue earning enough points for the two of us.

I ran to cafeteria to find her enjoying the scenery in one of the window seats inside the café.

Even though we had barely talked to each other while we were classmates since kindergarten, my impression of her was strong due to her eccentric behaviour.

The most recent planted event from her unique personality was when she made Allan kneel down at the field for about six hours.

Both Helena and I knew that Allan threw tantrums by not moving after kneeling down in one place until he got what he wanted.

This was the same tactic that Allan used to persuade Rika when she decided not to attend any classes as a very 'Rika-thing' to do. Anyone who grew up in the first district couldn't imagine skipping classes due to our strict upbringing ingrained within us ever since we were born.

I hesitated to enter the café as I rarely apologized to other people due to my family who had a high standing even in the first district. The only families that could rival our status and power were the other top five families in the first district like Luke's family.

'Stop hesitating,' I urged myself as I took one big step towards her.