Cleaning Routine 2.

"See you after the Awakening Ceremony. Good luck to all of you!" With that, Sir Reindolf left the classroom. The once quiet class became a bustling hubbub of different emotions being expressed. Joy, despair, curiosity, among others. As this was going on, Kaiden could be seen with a slightly confused and annoyed expression. Why? He just got a new notification concerning his job and he was given a partner to work with. That wasn't a problem for Kaiden, but the issue was the identity of his given partner: April Kaneko. It wouldn't have been much of a problem to work alongside another noble, but they had a bit of history. April was the childhood fiancée of Kaiden, which wasn't the cause of his annoyance, but what happened afterwards. Their engagement was canceled due to a feud between their families, the Arkonius and Kaneko families, after a dungeon expedition ended in the death of the 1st heir of the Kaneko Family. The Arkonius were blamed for the death of the heir. This issue turned from a small argument to a huge, full-out feud, which ended in some deaths from both sides.

The engagement was canceled, but the Kanekos weren't willing to let it go. They wanted the head of the heir of the Arkonius family, which was Kaiden, and no sane family would accept that. And that led to the current relationship between the two families. Kaiden's annoyance wasn't only because of this but also because of April's character. She was very arrogant, even for a noble. She was also very impulsive and always saw Kaiden as an animal she had to kill to cure her sick obsession with him. That's right - she was seriously obsessed with Kaiden, but the strange thing was she didn't love him. Her obsession was more of vengeance. She never wasted a moment to pick a fight with Kaiden, which mostly ended in her loss.

That would've turned anyone off, but not an obsessive Kaneko. She always came back, harder each time, and Kaiden knew this time was no different. He even had an idea of what she was planning based on the mischievous smirk on her face. This could be said to be the perfect opportunity to antagonize Kaiden for her, and she was going to make full use of it. She wouldn't be a cold-hearted Kaneko if she didn't do it, and Kaiden hated dealing with her the most. He would rather deal with ten Echos than deal with a Kaneko, more so, April Kaneko.

It was close to noon, and their next agenda would be after 2 pm, and they knew nothing of it. Kaiden planned on completing his job after they left the class. He wouldn't need to do it again unless after the awakening when they would start using the class. So he sat calmly in his seat and played on his mobile phone. Amidst the ruckus, a slim, tall boy with brown unkempt hair stood up and went to the front of the class. Climbing the podium, he shouted with all his might to draw the class's attention to him, and it worked excellently. Anyone would've chickened out from the gazes that were thrown at him from the class, but he just smiled confidently. "Cough! I wanted to suggest something. We all know that we must have a class monitor to represent the class. I suggest that instead of just voting for someone, we vote after the awakening. The one with the highest affinity rating and strongest combat strength from the pre-awakening duel will be the class monitor. The one with the rank after will be the assistant. What do you think?" He said, earning accepting nods from almost all the class except the arrogant nobles.

"And why should we listen to the words of a common commoner? You can't possibly be more talented than us." A noble guy with long blue hair said with a condescending expression.

"How can a filthy commoner like you compare yourself with nobles like us? Get off the podium before you infect it with your stinky, filthy commoner aura." Another noble chimed in with disdain written in all his being.

"Off the podium before I get you off myself!" Another said in arrogance. In no time, most of the nobles were openly expressing their disgust at the commoners.

"Tch! So irritating." Despite the noise, everyone heard it, causing them to shut it. The voice wasn't commanding, but it had a certain kind of commanding aura to it. The main reason they all kept quiet was because of the pure emotion of irritation in the voice.

"Who the fu..." The noble who started all this shut his trap the moment he started. The voice came from none other than Kaiden, who was silently playing King's Choice on his mobile phone.

"Ain't you a pathetic noble? You ain't even from a high-ranking family, and you got the guts to talk about you being a noble. Just shut up and find a place to sit and listen to sense." Kaiden said, causing the class to show different expressions ranging from shock to surprise. The instigator of all this just stood on the podium with a blank expression. This was seriously new to him, no, all the commoners. A noble standing up for a commoner? Never have they experienced it before. Not in their filthy commoner lives.

"What's your name, friend?" Kaiden asked the guy on the podium, shocking them again. Their reactions could be said to be exaggerated but they were genuine, as they hadn't experienced it before.

"M-me?"

"Yes."

"I-I'm Belthrox. Belthrox Gray." the guy answered with a slight fear in his tone. He was right to fear a noble, considering what he had been through. He was prepared for their insults when he made his suggestion, but this was completely out of his expectations.

"Okay Belthrox. I've accepted your suggestion. It's the most sensible thing that has happened in this class today, except Sir Reindolf's lesson. This is a good suggestion, and I will urge everyone to accept it. You have a minute to think about it. After that, we will make a vote. The majority takes all. Think about." Kaiden said in a calm and composed tone. He even ignored the looks of slight disdain thrown at him from the nobles.

"And who are you to tell us what to do?" the noble from before said.

"Who were you again? Not important. It will be better for you to shut up and sit and listen to common sense, which you clearly lack, than stand here and embarrass yourself. Your so-called noble lackeys are not even speaking up for you. Do you really want to do this?"

"You! Let's see how you talk after the awakening, Arkonius." the noble threatened.

"So you know me, interesting. I don't know you, though. You ain't that important for me to waste my energy on. Sorry." Kaiden replied in an indifferent tone.

"Hmph!"

"Finally, some peace." In no time, the one minute was up. Kaiden gave the go-ahead to Belthrox to lead the voting. In the end, Belthrox's suggestion won, as most of the nobles even voted for it. They saw no threat in it when it was a known fact that nobles were more talented than commoners. Definitely, a noble would become the class monitor and assistant, so why not. And that was going to bite them hard in the ass.

...

In a dark room with the only light coming from a large screen on the wall, 12 men and women sat in front of the screen with approving gazes as they watched the video of Class 1A, precisely Kaiden's interference and clash with the other noble. There were other smaller videos of the seven Class 1s playing, but Kaiden's own caught their attention the most. They were tasked with evaluating these classes till they awakening. Everything that happens in the course of the week is a test, which the cadets knew nothing of. The evaluator of Class 1 wrote something on his tablet, and they continued watching their videos.

...

In the class, after the vote, everyone went their separate ways. Kaiden stayed behind, and unsurprisingly, April also stayed behind. She stared at Kaiden coldly as he went to get cleaning materials to start his given job. He could care less for her feelings.

"I won't lose to you." April said coldly and determinedly.

"Mm."

"You! You just wait!"

"Are you going to do your job or stand there talking to the wind?" Kaiden asked with a confused expression.

"Hmph!"

With that, they started doing their job. No one talked for the next 30 minutes. Echo arrived in the 35th minute after doing his job, which was assisting Greg in cleaning the classroom. He just cleaned the board, though. After that, the trio went to have a quick lunch and headed to their next class.