Astrea Academy [3]

After the Combat Class ended, a crowd had formed around Brandon.

He was barraged with a multitude of questions by the students.

"Hey, you're Brandon Locke, right?"

"Where did you learn magic?"

"Are you currently single?"

"If you don't mind… could you give me some private magic lessons?"

"Hey! Don't make him uncomfortable."

These were the kinds of words that reached Brandon's ears.

It's not like lightning magic was rare or anything, but they could all agree that Brandon was really skillful with it.

There were some students–mostly male, who did not chime in, and called Brandon a fluke.

In all actuality, it was mostly the female students that surrounded Brandon.

In this new body, Brandon was considerably handsome.

The moment he entered the first lecture, he instantly became the topic between the girls.

It was the start of his popular phase.

He felt more like the protagonist, than the protagonist ever did.

'Aren't I supposed to be an extra?'

But since Brandon was a down-to-earth virgin, he didn't know how to react to it.

Stuttering and fidgeting, all Brandon could ever utter was, "I– uhm–".

It was then when the Professor noticed this, and had to put a stop to it.

"Everyone, give the boy some space!"

At his instructions, the girls that surrounded Brandon immediately gave way.

Brandon fixed his gaze on the Professor and nodded as if saying, "Thank you!"

With that, they were officially dismissed.

As Brandon was making his way towards the exit, he was abruptly paused by a male student with jet-black hair, and ocean-blue eyes.

It was Raven Blackheart.

"Hey, Brandon, wait up!"

Brandon turned around to meet his gaze.

It's not like they had become close friends. After all, they had only been acquainted recently.

But this wasn't so bad, if Brandon were to stay close to Raven, then protecting him would be easy.

Since Brandon was an anomaly, he wasn't sure just how much his appearance would impact the story.

The events during the Combat Class definitely didn't happen in the main storyline, and Brandon knew that.

'It was supposed to be Amy Ashfield to have shattered the magic orb first.' Brandon thought to himself.

But because of his performance, Amy came in second instead.

As Raven made his way beside Brandon, they both headed out together.

***

Walking side-by-side, Raven spoke up, "You were really cool back there, man."

Brandon scratched his cheek, feeling embarrassed.

Having this kind of conversation, even getting complimented by someone he had closely followed for a long time still felt surreal for Brandon.

For the entirety of his first year in high school, Brandon had binged read Path to Ascension.

And now the character he'd read about was now standing beside him, giving him compliments and such.

"You're even more amazing than me, you know?"

"Haha, thanks, but I didn't even shatter the magic orb."

It was the truth.

Raven gave it his all, but he had barely scratched the magic orb, no matter how much force he swung with his sword.

But Brandon didn't care, he knew Raven was the typical weak to overpowered protagonist.

And despite all the struggles he faced in the earlier chapters, Raven never lost his way.

A real hero through and through.

It was then when Brandon's phone suddenly buzzed.

Brrt… Brrt…

Retrieving his phone from his pocket, he realized he was receiving a call.

Brianna Locke.

'Who is this?'

Curious, Brandon accepted the call, and placed the phone near his ear.

As soon as he did that, he could hear a woman's voice coming from the phone.

[My baby boy! How are you? Are you settling in well? Have you been eating properly?]

Brandon was taken aback at the sudden interrogation, it seemed like the woman closely knew him.

From just the last name, and the way the woman spoke to him, he concluded that it could be Brandon Locke's mother.

But he had to confirm, if he were wrong, then it would arouse suspicions that he wasn't Brandon Locke.

"Hello, who is this?"

[Jeez, stop joking around. Don't tell me you've forgotten the voice of your own Mother?]

It seems like Brandon was right.

"I'm only joking around… Mother? Mom?"

He was unsure how Brandon would refer to his own mother.

[Mother? Hahaha, don't tell me those noble kids finally rubbed off on you, Brandon?]

'...'

Brandon tensed up, it seemed like his new mother had quite the personality.

"Of course not, Mom. Anyway, why did you call?"

[Am I not allowed to call my own Son–who moved out two weeks ago?]

'Two weeks ago, huh?' Brandon thought inwardly.

"Of course you can, I was just curious, since you haven't called recently"

When Brandon checked his contacts, he noticed that he hadn't received any call within the past two weeks.

Of course, he didn't know any of the contacts that were saved in his phone.

At first, he thought Brandon Locke was an orphan, since it seemed like no one was looking for him.

But now, there was a woman who introduced herself as his mother.

Because of this, Brandon once again remembered his mother from his previous life.

It made him feel sorrowful, but there was nothing he could do anymore.

There was no way to go back.

Snapping him out of his thoughts, his mother continued,

[Things have just been busy recently… Anyway, have you finally met up with your Sister?]

'Sister? So Brandon Locke had a sister, huh?'

"No, I haven't yet. Do you know where she is?"

[Did moving out finally made you forgetful? How could you forget where your Sister is, when she's supposed to be there with you in the Academy?]

"Yeah, but I haven't seen her, maybe she took the day off?"

Brandon was a master at bluffing.

[That's impossible, your Sister is an honor student. She must've been busy.]

"Ah, you're right, I'll meet up with her later."

[Mhm, I'll end the call now. Make sure to attend your lessons, okay?]

"Of course, you don't have to worry about that, Mom."

[Good, anyway–take care, Brandon.]

"You too, Mom."

Beep-

"Haa…" Brandon let out an exasperated sigh.

Just that phone call alone drained his entire being.

Bluffing with the taxi driver was one thing, but pretending to be someone's son made him feel guilty.

It didn't occur to him at first, but now that he thought about it…

'What happened to the real Brandon Locke?'

Snapping him out of his thoughts, Raven spoke up once again,

"Was that your Mom?"

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"It's fine, it seems like your relationship is really good."

At those words, Brandon felt like something tugged at his heart.

He knew just what kind of past Raven had, and he could say that it wasn't a pleasant one at all.

Hence, Brandon tried to change the topic.

"We'll be late at this rate, let's head to the next lecture now."

Raven nodded in response.

The two quickly made their way towards the lecture room for their next class.

Physical Training.