Ephemeral

Chapter 4

YEAR 5009 - DAY 157

MANIA

"Room 204,"

Reeves spoke beside me; I took note of how close he was and walked a few paces from him before entering the room. He followed suit.

When we entered, the room was already packed with students and I was greeted with their stares. Some were sitting on their desks and chatting, but the moment they saw me they lowered their volume, their eyes smiling as they regarded me from head to toe. I tried ignoring it and let go of the wrist of the girl I picked from those students.

Then I saw a vacant spot and felt relieved.

"You're going to sit here, will you be fine?" I asked the girl behind me, she shyly looked at me but averted her gaze and nodded her head. She lowered that weird thing she's holding and sat down.

"What about you?" Reeves asked.

"I'd sit behind her," I answered and took the seat right behind her. She took a peek when she heard the sound of me seating on the chair but then focused on her fingers when our eyes met.

"Then I'd gladly take this seat beside you," he commented and made himself comfortable to the seat beside me. I looked at him and he winked at me. I ignored him and let myself space out.

"What pushed you to do that?" he started. I sighed and glanced at him. Is he not going to shut his mouth? He is the one to blame for why I was slapped in the first place. I can still feel my blood boil from remembering it.

I do know that she could have still slapped me even if Reeves did not butt in, however, what makes me question his action is his reason why would he step in and warn her not to do it only to urge her in the end. Is he a dumbass?

I'm guessing he is.

"Mission," was all I replied.

"Mission?"

"Isn't this some type of test? Perdere's trying to test me," I explained. Reeves stared at me for a few seconds before he threw his head back and laughed out loud. The students inside the room all averted their attention to us.

What does he think he's doing laughing out loud?

"Can you shut up?" I asked but that only made him laugh louder. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore him. I should have just ignored him in the first place.

"Testing you? For what? For being a good citizen? A hero?" he successively asked still laughing out loud while he's holding onto his stomach.

Should I kick him out?

"I don't know, Reeves," I answered and groaned. He's making my head ache. He reached out for me and wrapped his arms around my shoulder while laughing.

"Aren't you cute?" he said and laughed again.

I removed his arms around me and pushed him away. Right at that moment, a middle-aged man wearing a gray-colored shirt and dark fitted jeans greeted everyone with energy. His mismatched positivity and appearance are an eyesore. Right now colorful-happy-shining-brightly people are the least I'd want to look at.

I mean I'm dealing with one at the moment, I can't afford to have an additional.

"Good morning everyone!" he greeted.

"I'm not going to start the class this instant so don't worry. I would just like to ask each one of you to check your devtecs and confirm if you belong in this class. I'll be back before our period ends; I just have to handle some things outside."

He said and smiled before walking out of the room. After he left, everyone inside the class started to do what they were asked to do while chattering noisily. Some are roaming around asking if they brought their devtec with them.

Reeves stopped laughing when that man entered the room, which I was thankful for. However, he offered me that weird-looking thing that's been hovering behind him the whole time. I scrunched my nose and gave him a confused look.

"That's what they call a carrier or tc."

"Carrier? Tc?"

"Yep, you know what a bag is, right?"

"Mmm."

"Then this is basically a bag, with a lot more upgrades. Fish your devtec out of there and confirm your class."

"Can you do it for me?" I asked which gained a hateful stare from him.

What?

"No," he answered and stuck his tongue out.

"Why not? You basically do everything for me, my food, my bed, my bath, so why not confirming my classes?"

"Because we're both students here," he simply answered and turned his back towards me, completely shutting me out.

I stared at the devtec and waited for it to open itself but it did not. It kind of annoyed me so I put it down on my desk and casually glances at Reeves whose busy tapping on his devtec.

I let out a sigh and crossed my hands in front of me. I'll wait for him to be done with what he is occupying his self with. He would not be given any choice if he won't confirm my classes for me, Perdere would give him an earful.

After a few more minutes of him ignoring me, I gritted my teeth and was about to slam the devtec right on his face when someone caught my attention. A girl, sat down beside me and began to rummage her carrier. Her face creased making me curious about the reason behind it. She seemed to notice my curious stares as she slowly looked up to me, her big round eyes met mine and I immediately looked away, feeling a little burnt.

She's too bright, like imaginary stars and suns swirl around her and if you watch her a little longer than you should, you'd blind yourself.

I glanced at her when she cleared her throat.

"Uhm hi, I'm Celestia Lavote. I'd prefer it if you'll call me Les. Uh- how may I help you?" She asked, smiling brightly, her face brimming with innocence and genuine happiness - a combination I never thought I'd ever witnessed. She has long wavy hair that almost touches her hip, her eyes gleam with delight as she placed her carrier on the armchair.



"I think you made a mistake."

"Huh?"

"Sitting next to me is a mistake that you still can correct."

She stared at me for a minute before she pressed her lips together and glanced at her sides. She appears to be taken aback by what I've said based on how her forehead would crease and her mouth slightly agape, mumbling phrases to herself.

"You should stay away, you do not belong here."

She looked up to me, her eyes questioning. Her smile disappeared and I wondered what she is thinking as her cheerful personality slowly crumble in front of me.

I heard Reeves chuckled and so I faced him, he's watching us eagerly, even motioned me to continue. I don't get what he's trying to imply so I ignored him.

Is he treating me like his entertainment?

"Um- am I not— allowed... here?" she asked, her voice cracking like she's about to cry.

"I did not say that," I answered.

"Huh?"

"I was merely giving you a warning. From what you can see, someone is sitting next to me. He's a dumbass and I think he will only distract you the whole academic year resulting in a poor academic performance that can very much affect your future. He might ruin it for you and I don't want that to happen. I am giving you the chance to save your future."

Reeves scoffed beside me.

"I'd pretend I did not hear that," he said but I did not even bother facing him. Les, who preferred me calling her with that name, casually glanced to Reeves and the moment her eyes reached him, she sat frozen on her seat.

I sighed and rested my back on the chair.

Great, now she's also charmed by the devil beside me.

I don't know how long she's been staring at him because I did not talk or look at her again. Reeves went back to his devtec when he realized I am no longer giving him entertainment. He even groaned and grumbled while he's on his devtec, mumbling things like,

"What a softie,"

"Why won't you make her cry?"

"Boo,"

— and everything similar.

I didn't mind his childish remark and decided to sleep.

***

POST NOTES!!!

To avoid confusion, we provided meanings for these novel words that you will continue to encounter along with the story. At the same time, provided is a description of what it looks like and how it usually functions.

Devtec: are gadgets that the students use for their classes. Unlike smartphones, it is equipped with complete features, from everyday usage of a regular phone to confirming class and taking notes to pass school works and answering quizzes and tests. It is a rectangular shaped gadget that can be operated even without the main screen. It can also be utilized even without holding the actual gadget (with its anti-gravity components, devtec can hover as long as it connects with its user) it also has its voice command giving the students the luxury of not bothering to type everything that the teachers said, devtec summarizes it for them.

Nevertheless, phones still exist in their world however they are barely seen and used for Touch-dev offers every smartphone can do therefore making it useless and irrelevant.

Carrier or Tc: simply a handbag, shoulder bag, or even a suitcase but with advanced features. Contrasting from an ordinary bag, a carrier has the capacity to hold up to 50 kilograms. It is equipped with voice command and can be moved and carried without even strapping the bag on the user's body, all it needs is to connect at the back of the user and it won't be open unless commanded or detached.

Currency:

Elmcy: for a better understanding, 1 Elmcy is equivalent to 100 pesos. It is used electronically therefore it doesn't have any paper or a coin value. Usually used when it involves a big amount of transaction (for example certain amounts that exceeded 10 Elmcy [10,000 pesos] can only be transacted electronically)

Gold Coins: 1 gold coin is equivalent to 50 pesos

Silver Coins: 1 silver coin is equivalent to 25 pesos

Bronze Coins: 1 bronze coin is equivalent to 10 pesos

Coins can only be used when dealing with a small amount of payment. As was mentioned above, if the transaction involves a larger sum of money, coins cannot be accepted (that is why devtec is vital when it comes to transactions) however despite this, only about 1/3 of the population have the privilege to acquire devtec given that it is costly, therefore people use coins in common markets. This sums up the vast difference between the rich and the poor.

As for the reason that the resources in the new world aren't enough to even with a smaller population, paper-money would be quite a handful for them. This is also why the market cannot accept bigger amounts of coins because it wouldn't be enough in the first place. To cope up with this, the One-Regime made use of the technology they currently have and settled with electronic payment.