Book's Cover I

"Is he sleeping while standing?"

"Who the hell does that?"

"I can already tell he's gonna be the weird one."

"He just transferred here too, didn't he? What a shitty introduction."

The words of my apparent peers finally woke me from my slumber. Blinking a few times, I realized I was in front of a class with about twenty-nine seated students and the teacher standing a few feet from myself, separated by a wooden podium. Her arms were crossed under her chest, nails rapidly tapping on her sleeve with an intense glare shot my way. Her brilliant crimson hair was done up in a bun. If it wasn't for that hair style, she'd be a 10 in my book. I let out a sigh and turned to the board and wrote my name using a marker on the white board behind me. 

Turning around, I looked at a few students as I spoke. 

"Sorry about that. I didn't get much sleep last night since I just moved in yesterday." 

I tried making a decent explanation. None of it was a lie, and hopefully the semi-dark bags under my eyes showed that I was sleep deprived. Pushing up my glasses slightly, I continued my introduction. 

"My name is Alexander Kaine. I'll be a part of your class for the rest of the year."

The teacher, Mrs. Krieger, directed me to my seat. It was one next to the windows with one student behind me and three in front. 

Hushed whispers hit my ears the moment I sat down. Criticism was commonplace in schools like these. Ones where the rich found a place to rub their money in the faces of the poor and even the middle-class: the world I fall under in this wretched and twisted hierarchy the school system manufacturered many years ago. More than three-fourths of the school was made up of rich kids who often boasted their Regalia and Crests so much that even God begged them to stop. The rest of the student body consisted of what the upper-class deemed "the Rest." Anyone who didn't come from a well-known family was ridiculed on a daily basis.

As long as no one spat their words in my face, I had no interest in getting into some altercation that threatened my status in this new world I was thrown into. 

The next set of instructions I was given was to simply observe and see how my classes orchestrated themselves before being given any school work. That was to be done tomorrow. None of the current topics interested me, so I pulled out one of my books from my bag and started reading from where I left off. 

I found peace, at least for a little while. The rhythmic ringing of the bell stopped me from progressing any further for now. I simply slipped my bookmark between the pages and closed it. 

As I left the classroom, I walked down the long hallway to my next class. All the students collected within the halls, speaking to friends during the short passing period. The opened windows provided a soft and relaxing breeze as my shoes tapped on the floor, echoing in the midst of the slightly squeezing shoes and clicking of heels that filled the air amongst the incoherent jumbled mess of words spouted by almost every student. It sounded like a fight to see who was the loudest. 

Some clicking was loaded than most, though. I wasn't really expecting anyone to come to see me so early in the day, but it looked like someone bothered to see me. Suddenly, an arm hooked around my neck, and short locks of green covered the left side of my face. They had this wide smile on their face with bright green eyes. 

"Didn't sound like anyone's been giving ya a warm welcome! That kinda sucks, doesn't it?"

I was already pretty damn irritated with this man's general presence, but I just let him talk. He seemed to be going through some sort of act, so it was probably best for me to let him do his thing before speaking up.

"Name's Christopher Ignas. I was the guy that sat behind ya in class, by the way."

He finally introduced himself after so long. He wore this green jacket that wasn't zipped up with the sleeves having a number of scrapes and cuts and tattered cuffs. His pants weren't any better with a few holes here and there. They didn't appear to be made in that sort of fashion. Did this guy get into fights often?

Regardless, I was having my ear talked into while my neck was finally freed. Somehow my hair was all messed up. I took a while to make it look nice, too. It's usually unruly and spikes out in random directions, making me look like some blonde porcupine. I tried my best to keep it brushed to one side after applying gel to it and a lot of other things I basically threw together to keep it there. Now, it's all falling apart and my hair is returning to its natural look. All that work was for nothing.

I just let out an annoyed grunt and kept walking alongside this guy, who constantly switched back from talking to me to having a completely different conversation with another student.

Please, just let me get rid of this guy, at least for a little while. 

My prayers were soon answered as I finally made it to my next class, which made Christopher leave my side and venture off to get to his class. 

I had to reintroduce myself while making sure I didn't pass out in the middle of it this time. I said the exact same thing as before, then I was seated in the middle of the classroom. 

My schedule was done for me, and it followed the electives I picked for my previous years. All my classes were just things I elected to do, none of them were required. I just thought it'd be easier to get things over and done with so I can do what I want. My first class was Psychology, and this one is Economics. My next three were Sociology, Art History, and then Roman Mythology. I have to compliment my counselor for choosing some pretty good classes for me. 

The same thing happened again, where all I did was read and listen to the many remarks made towards me in hushed tones. Like before, I just tried to ignore them all the way until the final bell rang. All my classes were on the second to fifth floors, and my fifth class was on the fourth, so I had to walk down a few flights of stairs before making it to the ground floor and exiting the school.

Just as I started walking along the cement path that cut through the greenery to the large gate that was the entrance, I heard a sequel riddled with fear rattle my eardrums. Everyone else around me was able to hear that, and our attention was placed on a few male students standing in front of a tree, staring down at something. 

Or rather, it was someone. A rather petite looking young girl with black hair with tears welling in the corner of her eyes. She wore a red sweater and jeans. Her sleeves were too long for her arms, and her hands were raised to catch the tears that were going to fall down her cheeks. I stared blankly at them. The other students were shocked to see the events unfolding before them. 

"Hey! Where the hell is that shit you owe us!? What happened to gettin' us that money, damnit!?" One of them yelled harshly as they punched the tree behind them just to scare her into saying something. The other just looked at her with this sadistic look on their face. The one shouting at her was far more aggressive and ready to lash out even further the longer this went on. They completely ignored everyone behind them. Their sights were set. 

Her words barely came out, she only stuttered and mumbled at the same time. Nothing was intelligible, but she was trying her best to come up with something to say. This reminded me so much of my previous schools. I had to deal with these sorts of things on a weekly basis in the past.

It happened so much that I became desensitized to it all. None of it was out of the ordinary for me. I had no reason to step in. The sight displayed before me was not something I wanted to get involved in. Not on my first day. Just as I was about to turn back to walk through the crowd of people, someone was coming out of the school in a full sprint. 

To my surprise, it was Christopher. I had assumed he already left to go get himself into a fight or something. But, my expectations were proven wrong. 

"Hold on a damn second, you bastards!" He yelled, his body turning to face them. His words echoed, and they struck the two bullies, stopping them in their tracks. It wasn't out of fear, but of surprise. One of them even laughed. 

Was this guy next to me some hopeful protector or something? The girl stopped crying, head raising to look at him with tearful eyes. 

"C-. . . Christopher!" She exclaimed as she slipped through the two men, quickly dashing away until she was behind Christopher and I, clutching is jacket tightly. The way she acted now. . . was she a close friend of his or something?

That didn't seem to matter now, as the two guys turned around, more irritated than before. Now that I could get a good look at them, they looked like twins but with different expressions and demeanor. They wore the same style of clothing and had the same straight orange hair. The one on the right was the stereotypical bully type character with an aggressive attitude and permanent scowl. The one next to him just had that same sadistic look in his eye and a large grin on his face. 

The right one cracked his knuckles while saying, "Get the hell outta the way, Chris. Like last time, this don't concern you in the slightest." 

Some green particles surrounded his hands, and progressed all the way up to his forearms. I couldn't help but grow more disappointed in how this interaction was progressing, but it only seemed natural that one of them was going to bother revealing their Regalia to the people. 

I sighed, warning Christopher in a calm tone by saying, "Brace yourself. He's really getting pissed."

"Huh? This isn't anything new. He always does this shit in the beginning," he soon responded, already in position to handle the coming release of power. 

In a sudden burst of energy that radiated outward to hit every student at once, the right brother was now wearing dark green gauntlets. 

[ Regalia Name: Devastator, Classification: Armament, Special Ability: Unknown, Parameters: Unknown, Wielder: Klaus Reincast. ]

Well damn. Just as I expected. His Regalia was something in the form of armor. I can only assume that it either provides a significant boost to defense or it adds to his physical strength as a special ability. 

It didn't matter what it was. He was already making his way towards Christopher, who soon guarded himself while the girl moved away. It was a good move, honestly. Both the guarding and moving away were obvious tactics. Does this guy next to me have something up his sleeve, like a defensive type Regalia? 

This assumption was proven to be false by the crunching of bones after hitting masses of metal head on. Blocking didn't help. He was sent flying into the wall of the school. 

Then, his eyes darted right to me. I was his next target after swiftly removing Christopher from his sight. Why did my luck suddenly turn bad?