The bus dropped off the students at the end of the bridge, then made a turn-around back to the Plant 13. It took quite a while given that the others had to unload quite a bit. Fortunately for me, I came with only one bag. Two pairs of boxers, casual clothes, soap, a toothbrush, my uniform and the shoes I wore. With these, I could go on for years without needing anything else.

The sea breeze blew mightily and the sounds of waves crushing against the base was now starting to turn into noise in my ears. When I tried to reach out to the edge, the person standing next to me cleared their throat.

Standing next to me was the girl from earlier. She had three suitcases next to her with a schoolbag over her one shoulder and her book in hand.

Honestly, was there a need for so many things? Maybe it was because she was a girl? They were “high-maintenance” last I checked. However, when I looked around, the other girls weren’t carrying as much as she did. This girl was really carrying a lot of stuff. Or maybe it was because the others were poor? Was I poor?

“What are you staring at?”

The rich girl decided that I was worth speaking to.

“Oh, um, I noticed that you have a lot of stuff.”

I told her, while pointing to her luggage.

“That is none of your business.”

I could feel my heart split in two by that response. Maybe I needed to talk more in this kind of situation.

“Do you need help carry-“

“No thank you.”

She cut me off when I tried offering my help. Was this the legendary tsundere? In that case, more persistence was necessary.

“I insi-”

“No.”

“Are you certain?”

“Very.”

“You sure?”

“Are you harassing me?”

She asked me something strange. I reflexively backed away the moment she directed killing intent towards me.

“Excuse me, then.”

I told her, then looked away. Now, I could feel even more glares at me, some coming from girls this time.

What did I do wrong?

While thinking to myself, an arm wrapped itself on my shoulder. It was the guy from earlier who was constantly harassing Goldilocks.

“Yo. I see you’re into blondes as well.”

He said proudly like we were old friends.

“Who…?”

I asked for his name.

“Name’s Julian Vans. Fifteen. Pleasure to meet ya.”

He introduced himself. I guess, the appropriate thing to do would be to introduce myself as well.

“Cid. Fifteen as well. Nice to meet you.”

I told him, stretching out my hand for a handshake. He looked at my hand, before grinning then putting his up for a fist bump. I folded my palms into a fist and we bumped them.

“Although, I’m not interested in harassing blondes.”

I tried to clear up the misunderstanding.

“Ha~ I don’t harass blondes, young one. I harass brunettes, I tease blondes, I flirt with red heads, I slay the black haired and I run from the silver haired. Always run from the silver haired. And remember, never fall in love.”

He gave me some unnecessary advice.

“I see that scum find scum easily.”

The rich girl’s voice came through, drawing both of our attention.

“You’ll break my heart if you call me scum.”

I cried to her.

“In that case, would you prefer the term filth?”

“That’s not better.”

“You can call me scum anytime you want, princess.”

Julian left me and went closer to her. The girl barely moved an inch, simply glaring at him.

“Who are you again?”

She told a blatant lie; however, it was very effective on Julian, seeing as he was on the floor in tears after hearing that.

I see. So, ignoring their existence is the key to making them stop bothering you.

I found out something interesting.

“What’s your name?”

I asked her.

“Isn’t it rude to ask for my name even when you haven’t given me yours?”

She made a valid point. I cleared my throat, and introduced myself.

“My name’s Cid. Now, may I know your name?”

“What an unnecessary detail. Could you refrain from bothering me?”

“Huh? But I told you, my name.”

“And so?”

“Custom demands you tell me yours.”

I countered.

“Custom died the day The Devils showed up. I’m sorry, but I have no interest in giving my name to the likes of you.”

This girl was not friendly in the slightest. I initially assumed that it was simply because she was harassed, but she actually had a bad attitude. At least, I could confirm that she would stay out of my way for a while.

After a few more minutes of waiting, a man walked over to the bridge from the other side where there was supposed to be nothing more than sea. The man wore a white lab coat over a white shirt, with black pants and red tie. His dirty blonde hair had been combed back sleekly, giving it a vibrant allure. His face looked Chinese and was by all means, average, but he wore shades over his eyes. Under his armpit, there was a pile of papers.

He lifted the shades for a moment to get a good view of all of us, then dropped it.

“Sheesh.”

Julian muttered and I could understand why. From the looks of his bloodshot eyes, the man was dying of exhaustion, yet here he was. Then again, given the kind of project they were undertaking, there was probably no time for sleep.

“When I mention your name, you come over here for a paper, read over the documents, sign then stand to my right side. Once done, I will give you all a very special watch and then we go to the school. Understand? Nice. First up is, Agnes Laurene.”

He gave a very short and simple explanation of the process and proceeded to start mentioning names. One by one, he mentioned everyone’s name, till my turn came.

“Cid… Just Cid? Ok.”

I went up then took a sheet of paper from him. I felt a weird shock in my palm the moment I grabbed the paper, however I didn’t show it. The man observed me closely, before letting me go. I scrolled through the documents of the paper. There were several things to be read over, clearly not something we could do in a short span of time. Still, it wasn’t like anyone here was actually going to read through this.

Him telling us to read over was more of a formality. We had all been sent drafts of this contract before coming here. If we hadn’t agreed before, they wouldn’t have even allowed us to get this close to the school.

I signed the papers, then the man gave me a watch which I immediately put on my left wrist, as was normally done. Eventually, Julian also came over, signed the papers and received his watch.

“Wallace Ella.”

This particular name stuck with me, since it belonged to that of the rich girl from earlier. She took her paper then signed it, later receiving her watch as well.

“You’re staring.”

Julian told me, breaking my concentration.

“Aww, already in love?”

He teased me, but I shrugged it off. Ignoring them was the best way to get them out of your hair, like the vicious lice they were.

“Hey, don’t tell me you’re ignoring me too.”

He poked my cheeks annoyingly after discovering my secret.

“I tried to ignore you.”

I admitted, but this only made him laugh.

“Quiet over there you too.”

The man from earlier had finished the roll call he was performing. He cleared his throat before straightening his back.

“Sorry for not introducing myself earlier. My name’s Professor Luke Wang. As you can tell, I’m part Chinese, not that it matters.”

He finally introduced himself. At least he wasn’t as rude as he seemed to be initially.

“Due to security reasons, I could not reveal this information till we had confirmed that all of you were students of this school. Anyway, from the looks of things, your luggage will slow you down. Using the Storage function of your P.A.s, you can store your items in a set amount of space allocated to you. So, if you believe your things to be numerous, I would advise that you carry them into your P.A.s before we go. Simply double tap the P.A.s screen to scan the item and store it.”

He gave us yet another short explanation. My bag wouldn’t slow me down, but I was curious as to how this would work, so I tested it out on my bag. After double tapping, a blue machine floated off the watch. It scanned my bag slowly.

[1 School Bag will be absorbed.]

[Would you like to proceed?]

It asked.

Hmm? 1 school bag will be absorbed? What about the internal contents?

“Oi, what are you waiting for Cid.”

Julian asked, seemingly done with his.

“What did you scan?”

“My suitcase and school bag.”

“I see.”

I cancelled the scanning and left my bag on my back. I wouldn’t mind carrying it with me like this.

“Hmm, if we’re all ready, then let us head over.”

Professor Wang walked right towards the point where the bridge was cut off. All the students were hesitant and with good reason. It was one thing to see a man walk through nothing. Certainly, you could say that it wasn’t shocking given the circumstances in the current world, but that didn’t change the fact that at heart, the normal human was scared of the unseen.

The first one to take powerful steps towards the edge was none other than the haughty Miss Wallace.

She walked past me in an elegant, regal march. She didn’t even spare me a glance, but that didn’t feel too bad.