21 Forever alone

There were only 25 students in Nero's class, and he knew each of them well. 18 of the 25 were either orphans, or had at least one of their parents dead. This was a morbid detail, but the reason Nero knew it was because it was something discussed quite often and openly in class.

There were countless orphanages and government initiatives, so none of them grew up in hardship, but without parental supervision many students often developed bad, or even delinquent-like habits. But, even if they weren't friends with Nero, everyone at least avoided giving him trouble. After all, he was generally very friendly and easy to get along with - especially when they knew he could beat them up really badly if he wished. That made things a lot easier.

Silas, the kid Nero was talking to at the moment, was someone he gave special attention to at school.

"Nero, you know I… I can't do it… It's… It's just…"

"I have faith in you," Nero said, placing a hand on his shoulder, startling him. "I've moved into the hostel. Room 1G, come by directly after school. We can begin the project right after, so that you can be home before dark."

Without waiting for Silas to respond, Nero began walking towards Harold's table, but then suddenly paused. He bent down to his ear and whispered, "be careful of pretty girls with unknown agendas Silas. They'll try to use you."

Silas did not even try to respond. He only looked down at his lap, and tried to get his hands to stop trembling as Nero finally walked away.

"Is he bullying you?" asked Vanessa, her former energetic expression replaced by a solemn one. "I know schools don't always handle that kind of thing properly, but if he's bullying you, you can tell me. I'll help you out. We'll look out for each other."

Silas only shook his head for a bit, but then jerked as he realised something and looked up at Vanessa.

"No, it's… It's nothing like that. He's not bullying me, it's more like… tough love. More importantly, you're new, so you don't know. You shouldn't pick a fight with Nero. Instead, be friends with him. Your school life will get a lot better. Even… even I…" it felt like he had more to say, but the words eluded him. His mind kept on straying to what Nero had told him.

3 pm. 1G. He had to go there today. His thoughts started racing, and he even forgot he was talking to Vanessa.

The new girl, Vanessa, clearly aware that her conversation with Silas was at an end, returned to her seat, though her gaze kept straying to Nero. He was quite rude. He completely disregarded her handshake.

"You're Vanessa, right?" asked a girl sitting close to her, an amused look on her face. "You can forget about trying to attract Nero's attention that way. His heart is ice cold. He only has eyes for his spear."

Vanessa observed the girl more closely. She had blonde hair, a common trait in Aetherpeak, and was quite fair, forming a stark contrast to Vanessa herself. She was pretty, even with her shorter hair, and though she looked like she was finding amusement in Vanessa's apparent failure, she also looked like she wanted to help.

"Do you think I was trying to flirt with him? As if," she said, scoffing.

The girl shrugged casually. In Kolar, where military service was mandatory before 25, it was very common to find partners early. Many couples formed in high school or right after, as the future was unpredictable once service began, and would usually last a long time.

In fact, getting married before military service was a very common occurrence. Even Nero's own parents' situation was quite similar. This was because when faced with so much death, both the men and women of Kolar became more forward and upfront.

"If you're not interested in him then good for you, though most girls find it hard to say the same after gym or sparring class. But I was just letting you know that it won't work even if you are so that you don't end up wasting your time."

Vanessa's curiosity was piqued, though she only nodded and thanked the girl, before using this opportunity to strike up another conversation with her. As a newcomer, she couldn't waste any opportunity to make friends. Yet, out of the corner of her eye, she couldn't help but look at Nero, who was literally sitting on Harold's desk.

"You didn't even go to the fight, so why do you care?" lamented Harold.

"It's about the principle, Harold. Yesterday you ditched the boys at the fight, and today you've even changed your seat! I was going to invite everyone over to my new hostel room on the weekend, but now I'm not so sure whose room you'd end up entering if I invited you."

"Nero Grant, you leave Harold alone!" said Wendy who was glaring at Nero. They had been class fellows since Nero joined as a little kid, so she knew him well. In fact, she knew his whole family, as she had attended plenty of birthdays."Just because you're going to end up alone doesn't mean everyone else has to as well!"

"Wendy, how could you say such a thing?" Nero said in an overly dramatic fashion, placing a hand over his heart. "I thought we had something going between us."

"If you keep bugging my Harold, we're going to have a knife between us!"

"My Harold!" he exclaimed, mimicking her. But before he could continue his antics, the class room door opened and a teacher stepped in. Nero did not know her, so she was probably a substitute.

Nero gave Harold a side eye, but the lovestruck fool did not notice at all, for he only had eyes for Wendy at the moment. Shaking his head, Nero returned to his seat at the back of class, beside Gabriel.

"Who's the new girl?" he asked his redheaded friend as soon as he sat down, his voice barely a whisper.

"Foreign exchange student, from Nova."

"Foreign what? What is that?" he asked upon hearing the unfamiliar term.

"Foreign exchange student. It's a program to deepen diplomatic ties between allies, involving sending promising students with deep links to the establishment to foreign countries to develop connections and learn a bit about each other. She probably has a prominent background if she's here from Nova. She just got here today, you missed her introduction."

"The timing of her arrival is too unusual. She's likely a spy. I think… you made the right call about investigating the rumours about the ruins. If there are spies in places even we can interact with, then I can't even imagine how many more there are hiding. This 'ruins' thing might end up interfering with our plans, so gather as much intel about what's going on as possible."

"Don't you think you're jumping to conclusions?" Gabriel asked, looking at Nero sceptically. Where would one even get a fully trained, 15 year old spy?

"Gabe, there's a lot about the situation we don't know. But whoever attacked the AAB clearly knew something was going to happen before it did, and even foreigners from across the lake showed up just as strange things began happening in the city. This matter, whatever it is, is going to get bigger. We need to start taking precautions right now."

Gabriel looked at Vanessa as if trying to see through her disguise. Was she really a spy? If the situation in Aetherpeak was really reaching such a level, and he had not detected it at all so far, then he had been really lagging. He was not sure if Nero's theories were completely correct, but it couldn't hurt to be cautious.

Nero, meanwhile, put all other thoughts out of his mind and focused on what the substitute teacher was explaining. It would be extremely beneficial for him if he learnt everything in class the first time when it was being explained so that he wouldn't need to waste time in revision, and for that he could not be even slightly distracted.

He did not even let his thoughts linger on the fact he had been paying close attention to Vanessa even after he had walked past her. Although everything else about her seemed relatively normal, including the obsession with knives - who didn't like small knives they could hide all over their bodies - the thing that alarmed Nero the most was that she walked without making any sound.

He would continue to pay attention, just in case he was mistaken, but while she walked from Silas back to her chair, he had not heard the sound of a single footstep from her. It was extremely alarming, as that was a more difficult feat than it appeared to achieve completely subconsciously. She probably did not mean to do it, as it betrayed the extensive amount of training she probably received.

If Nero had to guess, he would say she had been trained in many fields, but had little practical experience, which is why there was the oversight.

One could ask why Nero felt he had the qualification to make such a judgement. The answer was simply because his no good father, who hardly ever went to work, had taught both him and his brother too many strange things. He could no longer judge what was supposed to be common knowledge among everyone else or not, for he knew all sorts of strange things.

Class continued normally, and nothing unusual happened after that. The substitute teacher left, and one of his regular teachers entered to conduct one of his regular classes.

It was nearly 11 am by the time Nero was finally pulled out of class. His new schedule had been made, and he was ready to attend his new mandatory classes.