The next day at school, Sai was walking through the long, winding corridors of the large high school building with his friend Kai. As they navigated the busy hallways filled with chatting students and the sounds of lockers opening and closing, Sai noticed that Kai seemed distracted and overwhelmed.
"You look really stressed out and overworked these days," Sai said with concern to his friend. "Is everything okay?"
Kai let out a deep sigh and replied, "Yeah, I've just been swamped with a ton of academic work and other responsibilities lately. Especially all this stuff I have to do with the Rings of United Nations group. My family forced me to join and contract with them, even though I didn't really want to. But I didn't have much say in the matter. Now I'm stuck doing all these extra projects and tasks for the RUN on top of my normal schoolwork. It's just really tiring me out."
Sai gave his friend a sympathetic smile, understanding the pressure he felt. "I'm sorry to hear they forced you into joining something you're not passionate about. But hang in there, I'm sure it will get easier to manage once you get into more of a rhythm with balancing everything."
Wanting to shift the subject to something more positive, Kai then asked Sai, "So I heard some crazy rumors that the Rings of United Nations has been totally demonizing you lately. They've been calling you the 'Morning Star' as some kind of insult. Is that true?"
Letting out a small sigh himself now, Sai responded, "Yeah, unfortunately there's some truth to those rumors. The RUN really has been spreading some false narratives about me and using that name in a derogatory way. I guess they see me as a threat for some reason." (Though Sai know why they are thinking as a threat.)
"That's so messed up!" Kai said angrily. "Aren't you furious about them spreading lies and trying to ruin your reputation?"
Shaking his head calmly, Sai replied "No, not really. As disappointing as it is, this kind of reaction from them isn't surprising to me. They've always been threatened by what I stand for. I'm not going to let their petty gossip distract me from my goals." (He included his gaming experience.)
Kai admired his friend's mature perspective, but still felt the actions were unjustified. "Well I really commend you for taking the high road. But still, you don't deserve to be treated that way."
Eager to talk about more positive developments, Kai switched topics once again, asking "On a happier note, I heard you started up a new club called the Crime Patrol? How's that going?"
Sai's smiled under the mask after hearing that. "Yes… It's been going really great so far. We just became officially approved last week. The goal is to help patrol areas around school and the neighborhood to prevent crime and look out for any suspicious activity. We've need a good number of members to signed up and start to organize patrols."
"That sounds awesome!" Kai said enthusiastically. "And really important for keeping our community safe. I'd love to join and help out too. Unfortunately with all my commitments to the Rings of United Nations, I'm not sure if I'll have the time and energy to participate. But I'll try my best to stop by some meetings when I can."
"No problem, don't stress yourself out even more," Sai said graciously. "Just focus on managing everything you already have going on. But the invitation is always open if you ever do get some free time to help patrol."
Later that day, Sai headed to the new club room that had been provided by the school's principal to serve as the headquarters for the Crime Patrol club. When he arrived, the club's advisor Professor Rebecca was already there waiting.
The two got settled in and started looking over some paperwork and beginning to draft up an official report about strange supernatural disturbances and attacks that had happened recently around the District XII. There had been two notable incidents involving menacing Dragons known as Vishap and Vritra.
As president of the club, Sai took the lead role in documenting the details of these occurrences and any clues that could help them figure out where the High Level Dragon Vishap came from and how to prevent future attacks. Professor Rebecca assisted with analyzing some of the phenomena and providing insights from her expertise.
