Destiny (Anime Style)

Chapter 10: Academy

The next day, Wire and Cybel stayed at home, while Ravi went out with Leah. First, they bought a brand new cellphone for Ravi, and then, they went in search of possible apartments to rent for him. On the way, they were discussing some other matters about the guardian academy.

"So, what exactly is the schedule for these classes?" Ravi asked, curiously.

"Mondays to Saturdays, we'll have classes and training from 8am to 2pm" Leah bluntly replied. "Any other time, including Sundays like today, we have free time to study or do whatever we want. However, there's one special thing that first-year trainees like us need to do"

"And what is that?"

"We need to accomplish at least 3 patrol requests by the end of each week"

"3 patrol requests?"

"Yeah, they are basically small missions just for trainees like us. You can find lots of them published at the board of the tower's main hall. In your case, you'll have to be fulfilling that quota starting next week. They aren't too hard to accomplish and they can even be done in teams, so they can be completed in 1 or 2 days"

"That means there are also missions with higher difficulty?"

"Yeah, and there are also missions in other planets, but we are forbidden from taking either of them since we are still new recruits"

"You mean we can go to other planets?!" Ravi asked, very excited.

"Of course, but as I told you, not yet"

"And what about transport? I don't have a ship"

"The academy can grant you one if you need it"

"And what could happen if you don't fulfill the 3 patrol requests quota? Would you get expelled or something?"

"If you don't do it for a very long time, yes. The least harsh punishment is a few less points in your semester score. However, I don't think you'll ever stop doing the patrols, because they are a great source of income"

"They pay you for completing missions?"

"That's right. How do you think I pay my rent?"

"That's a good point" Just then, Ravi made memory of the fact that Leah had been stuck in Old Russia with him for a week. "But, you've been absent for a very long time. Isn't that a problem?"

"Normally yes, but I explained what happened to the academy, and they let me go with a warning"

At that moment, Ravi remembered something else from yesterday... Something that startled him quite a bit given that it had to with some mistake Leah made. "By the way, what was Ikora talking about yesterday?"

"Huh?"

"I remember her saying something about a mistake. What was she referring to?

The human girl didn't know what to say. She certainly knew what Ikora was talking about, but she wasn't really sure about letting Ravi know about it. "It was... nothing"

"Nothing? Come on, you can tell me" the young boy added with a grin.

"It's nothing... D-don't insist"

"You know a lot about me right now. I'd really like to know more about you"

Ravi's insistence was now starting to annoy Leah a lot. "Stop asking! I don't wanna talk about that, ok?!" she finally replied with anger, startling Ravi and scaring him a bit.

"Ok ok, I'm sorry" the boy apologized. "I didn't know it was such a delicate topic. I won't ask about it again"

Leah felt bad for yelling to Ravi, but just imagining what he'd think of her if he knew the truth behind that mistake, terrified her a lot.

In any case, after uselessly searching for lots... LOTS of apartments, they finally returned home, tired and bored. And the next day... was Ravi's first day of classes as a full-fledged trainee.

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They both woke up very early, got prepared, put on their normal casual outfit, and then headed to the tower, ready to learn.

"Starting today, you'll attend classes with me, and you'll also have to start worrying about the quota. How do you feel?" Leah asked Ravi with a grin.

"Totally excited!" he answered, motivated and extremely euphoric.

On her side, Leah was very happy for his excitement. And then, as both teenagers finally entered the building, lots of people around immediately recognized them due to their amazing display of skill at entrance exam. What is more, when the 2 of them entered their respective classroom, a really big auditorium, and took a seat right next to each other, a girl who was already in there recognized Ravi instantly while getting all excited.

"LOOK! IT'S HIM!" the random girl yelled referring to Ravi as she immediately approached him in a hurry.

"Eh?" Ravi asked as he certainly didn't know what she meant. Though he then understood when lots of other girls rushed towards him, very happy and yelling like crazy. Seems like the bluenette was very popular.

The boys who lied around on the other hand, were just watching as Ravi was being ran over by a sea of young-looking cute girls. And at the same time, Leah was inevitably pushed off her seat due to that same sea of girls that suddenly appeared.

"Ouch! That hurt!" Leah complained after falling on the floor, only to then witness how the other girls began bombarding Ravi with lots of questions and compliments: What's your name?! How old are you?! You are so strong and brave! And handsome too! Could I have your number?!

For some reason, Leah didn't like at all the sight if Ravi being surrounded by all those pretty girls.

"H-Hey!" she yelled with a nervous tone while getting back up. "Stop! Th-that's enough! At least let me take a seat!" None of the girls listened to her, and Ravi didn't understand why that situation even happened, but he was trying his best to answer all the questions while slowly getting overwhelmed.

One of the girls who was there finally decided to control the situation. "OK, THAT'S IT! EVERYONE QUIET!" she then finally screamed as everyone around went silent. "You are all bothering him, can't you see? We are all curious about him, I know. But let him catch a breath at least"

Ravi was relieved that someone finally saved him. And then, this very same girl continued talking.

"Why don't we start by presenting ourselves" she happily proposed and leaned forward to Ravi only too offer him a hand shake. "I'm Liz Daniels, I'm 15 years old and I'm a student from this academy just like you" she added with a smile.

Liz was a human girl with short black hair and green eyes. She was slim, like Leah, and had about the same height as her as well.

"Uh... yeah... nice to meet you" Ravi muttered while shaking her hand.

After that, one by one, the girls began presenting themselves to him as well. Though there was one person who didn't seem happy about it... Not one bit.

"Mmmgh..." Leah groaned while pouting angrily. She was feeling annoyed, but didn't know exactly why.

Nonetheless, an awoken young girl who was from the same class, but was watching from the distance, noticed Leah's annoyance at that very moment. 'Oh? This is interesting' the mysterious girl thought with a mischievous grin.

A few seconds later, the class instructor finally arrived. "OK EVERYONE, GET ON YOUR SEATS. IT'S TIME TO BEGIN THE CLASS" he said out loud.

Everyone took a seat and then, Ravi noticed the instructor was none other than Cayde, Leah's mentor.

"Hey, that is..." Ravi whispered to leah.

"Yeah, it's Cayde" she whispered back.

Then, Cayde began talking. "OK, so... I believe we have a new trainee with us. Why don't you come and present yourself" Ravi didn't move at all at first, but then Leah told him to go down because Cayde was actually referring to him. "Go ahead. Tell us your name, age and some hobby you have" Cayde said to Ravi as this last one stepped to the front.

"Ehh... ok then, so..." Everyone present, especially the girls, paid close attention since they wanted to know more about the bluenette.

Meanwhile, Leah thought to herself with a worried face 'Please... please don't say anything stupid'

And so, Ravi finally introduced himself to everyone. "My name is Ravi Azarov, I am 16 years old, and my hobby..." He stopped mid-sentence to think about a hobby he had. "Normally I'd say repair stuff but... I haven't done that in a long time, so..."

"Come on, you gotta have a hobby you do often right?" Cayde asked. "It can even be something you've been doing recently"

"Yeah, let me think" Ravi kept thinking for a few more seconds. "Oh! I know!" he finally claimed with a grin. "For the knowledge entrance exam, I had to study every night without resting... So, I'd say my favorite hobby is to spend time studying all night with Leah at her house!" he then added with a smile.

Instantly, everyone present turned to look at Leah, and she... she got all red for what Ravi had just said.

"Ah... guh..." the young girl stuttered given that she didn't know what to say. "WH-WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! Y-Y-YOU?! AT MY HOUSE?! Y-YOU MUST BE CONFUSING M-M-ME FOR SOMEONE ELSE... HAHAHA...!" she claimed while laughing nervously in a poor attempt to make the situation less embarrassing. Though Ravi didn't get it.

"Eh? What are you saying? You helped me study at your house every single night for the last few days. You even woke me up whenever I fell asleep"

Leah slammed her desk with both hands and stood up. "N-N-NO! Y-YOU ARE CONFUSING ME FOR SOMEONE ELSE! S-S-SO JUST... S-STOP SAYING THAT!" She yelled while blushing like crazy.

Meanwhile, everyone just watched as those 2 began arguing for nothing.

"AHAHAHAHA... Ok... that's enough... pfft... hahaha..." Cayde said while laughing. "Just go to your seat, Ravi. Class will start now"

Ravi returned to his seat as everyone was still staring at him and Leah. "What's wrong?" Ravi asked her innocently. "Did I say something wrong?"

Leah was crazy red and covering her face with a book. "I-it's nothing. Just forget it."

The next hours were a total rush of embarrassment and shame for Leah, as almost every girl just kept looking at her and Ravi the whole day.

When classes ended, she decided to head to the library followed by Ravi since he didn't really had anything better to do. At any rate, they both grabbed some books, and found a table to take a seat.

"Woah! This is actually very familiar to me!" the blue-haired boy claimed out loud.

"Ssshhhh... we are in a library. You can't talk so loud here" the young girl whispered to him while reading a book.

"Oh... I'm sorry" he replied with a less noisy tone. "It's only that, this reminds me of when I was a kid, and found this very cool place with lots of books. Are you here cause you want to study?"

"Well, in part. I actually come here very often to study, but also because there's a huge repertoire of amazing novels"

"You like reading novels?"

"Yeah... I love it. I really like books about history, adventure, art... I could continue all day!" Leah seemed really happy and excited while talking about this.

"Well, this is new"

"Huh? What?"

"It's the first time I've seen you so excited. And it's also the first time I learn something else about you. Now I know you love art and literature just as much as I love technology and science" Ravi finally claimed while smiling.

Leah startled slightly at his words, because she knew her friend was right. They've been together for a very long time now... and yet she never actually got to tell him about her favorites tastes and/or what she likes doing in her free time.

"Anyway, are you studying or just reading right now?"

"Oh, I'm... studying"

"And what are you studying?" Ravi asked while leaning closer to see Leah's book. It was a book about math. "I didn't know you liked math too"

"I don't like it. I'm just studying it because it's a mandatory subject, and honestly, I don't fully understand it" she muttered with a bit of concern.

"You don't understand math? But it's pretty easy. I actually got bored while listening to the teacher speaking, since I already knew all what he was explaining"

"Well, it's easy for you. Not everyone is good at everything. When I deal with science and numbers, I simply can't understand it. But with other stuff like social studies, I'm the best"

"You can't be serious. I don't like social studies. I'm terrible at it. I was trying hard to pay attention during class, but I just couldn't understand"

"See? That's what I'm talking about. Everyone has their own weaknesses" Leah took a long sigh. "I only wish I could do something about it. I tried finding someone to help me with it but... I just don't feel comfortable with a stranger teaching me"

"Mmmh... yeah... I would like to have someone close to me to teach me what I don't understand too"

At that precise moment, both of them finally figured it out.

"That's it!" They both claimed while turning to face each other.

"You can be my teacher...!" Ravi said, excited.

"And you can be mine!" Leah added with a smile.

Just then, Leah noticed their faces were too close to each other, so she backed up a little while blushing.

"A-anyway, it's a good idea but, are you sure you want me as your teacher?" She then asked, nervously.

"What are you talking about? You are already my teacher!" the blue-haired boy replied all happy. "If it wasn't for you, I would've failed the entrance exam. Let me repay you by helping you with this"

"Ravi..."

And so, that's how it went. Ravi and Leah became the teacher of each other, at least for those subjects that they didn't fully understand. What is more, he then spent the rest of the day helping the young girl with math, and incredibly, he ended up being a very good teacher for her.

"Woah! I had no idea this problem could be solved like this too" Leah claimed with a smile on her face.

"You see? It's not that hard" Ravi replied in the same manner. "You only need to see the big picture and find the best way to apply the concepts you learn in class"

Just then, Leah noticed it had been almost 4 hours since they entered the library, and it was starting to get dark. "It's getting late, don't you think?"

"Yeah, I think we should go soon"

"What about you? Don't you want me to teach you?"

"You can teach me tomorrow, and the day after that we can go and fulfill the patrol quota, we should worry about that as well"

"Yeah, you are right"

"Ok then, lets go"

"Uhmm... actually, I want to finish these problems before going home. But, you can go first" Leah said while giving Ravi the keys of her apartment. "By the way, you should choose an apartment to live soon. You can't stay in mine forever, okay?"

"Hehehe... ok, I'll worry about that as well. See you later" Ravi finally claimed while going out the library for good, leaving Leah alone.

Then, just as she said, the young girl focused on finishing the remaining last problems she had on her book. And thanks to Ravi, those ended up being a lot easier for her.

In any case, while Leah was busy with her studies, another person who had been watching both her and Ravi for a very long time now approached and sat right next to her out of nowhere. "Hi!" This girl greeted Leah with a big smile. She was a slim, young and quite pretty awoken girl with dark-pink hair and light blue eyes.

"Oh... Uhmm... hi" Leah answered with doubt.

"My name is Kadiah... Kadiah Dent"

"Uhmm... my name is..."

"Leah Polgaze... I know!" Kadiah interrupted. "We are in the same class, but I never noticed you before, which seemed weird to me. But then, I saw you the other day helping that other dude called Ravi with his exam. And because of that, I've been wanting to meet you for real!"

That's right, this cheerful girl was the same that was spectating the practical entrance exam. The one who thought it was weird that she never noticed Leah's presence before.

"You... sure are very energetic... hehehe..." Leah muttered with a grin while a bit weirded out.

"Yup, they tell me that a lot" Both girls stopped talking for some time and Leah returned to her math problems, until Kadiah interrupted her yet again with a very unexpected question. "So, Is he your boyfriend?" the awoken girl asked out of nowhere, to which Leah couldn't help but to deop her book from embarrassment.

"Wh-wh-what?! B-boyfriend?! Who are you talking about?!"

"I'm talking about Ravi of course! Back at the exam, you defended him and held him very tightly as if you were a couple. And when the girls at the class were surrounding him, you were jealous, weren't you?" That's right, Kadiah was also the one who noticed Leah's annoyance back at the classroom.

"Of... of course I wasn't jealous! If the other girls want to spend time near him, that's their problem. It doesn't bother me at all" Leah claimed while blushing and crossing her arms"

"Hehehe... you sure aren't good to hide your embarrassment" Kadiah replied back.

"I... I'm not embarrassed. Anyway, why do you even ask me if he's my boyfriend?"

"Oh, don't worry. I didn't ask because I wanted to steal him from you, I was just curious. Besides, I'm already in love with someone else" the awoken girl muttered with an eager expression.

"You... you wouldn't have stolen him from me, because we are just friends! Ok?!" Leah yelled. She completely forgot she was at the library, and everyone around told her to stay quiet. "A-anyway, I must get going" she then finally added while standing up in order to leave.

However, Kadiah had one more thing to say. "It was nice to meet you, Leah! Let's be good friends from now on, ok?"

"S-sure" Leah nervously muttered before leaving for good.

'Hmm... what an interesting girl... hehehe...' Kadiah joyfully thought. 'I didn't realize she even existed before. But apparently, after this Ravi appeared, she's starting to be noticed more...'

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'...I wonder how they know each other'

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And so, the days passed. Ravi slowly got used to his new life at the Last City, and what is more, he even got to experience one of its many fascinating holiday celebrations: the Crimson Days. Though this... is a story for another time.

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After that, almost every day was the same for Ravi and Leah: they went to classes and training sessions, and in the afternoons they helped each other study. Some days, they chose and completed the patrol requests which ended up being very useful just like Leah said. Thanks to them, Ravi and Wire were finally able to move from Leah's apartment and into their own. It was very close to Leah's and it wasn't really anything special. It just had 1 room, 1 bathroom, and a living room/kitchen just like hers.

At any rate, Ravi and Leah would meet every day in order to go to the Tower together. People at their class even started to notice how close they really were, though the young girl wasn't bothered by that as much she used to anymore. In fact, she felt really comfortable and more than happy with Ravi around.

Nonetheless, they weren't the only friends each of them had. They both began making new ones. Other girls like Liz and Kadiah began spending time with Leah. At first, she was kinda shy when talking with them. But little by little, she opened up more and more, until they finally became close friends.

For some reason, Leah was never good at meeting new people. But ever since she met Ravi, her life began changing for good.

On his side, Ravi started spending time with the boys too. He was learning more and more about interacting with people, and just like Leah after meeting him, the bluenette's life also changed for the better after meeting her.

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One morning however, something unexpected happen... Ravi didn't wake up as early as always.

"HEY! RAVI!" Wire yelled at him. "It's almost 8am! You need to go now!"

Ravi startled and then woke up in one go, only to then get ready immediately. Leah on the other hand, was already at classes given that she couldn't wait for him any longer.

Nevertheless, the boy was so used to Leah guiding him all around the Tower that he then inevitably got lost inside it and accidentally ended up in some kind of special room... Like a huge observatory with lots of shelves around carrying books, documents, etc. There was also a really big gyroscope-looking thing at the very middle of the room.

"Well, it's official" the bluenette muttered, a bit discouraged. "I don't know where I am. I don't even know how I ended up here"

"Perhaps it was fate" a mysterious male voice added out of nowhere.

Ravi looked to one side and saw a man wearing a very long white robe accompanied by nothing else that a white mask of modern design. "Who... who are you?"

"I'm the Speaker" the mysterious man said while approaching him. This Speaker was the same person who sensed that some kind of change was about to happen soon. And what is more, after meeting him, Ravi didn't feel like going to class anymore. In fact, he decided to stay there, because he felt like he could learn something amazing from this person. "Why don't we take a seat and talk for some time?" the Speaker finally proposed as Ravi did as he told.

Meanwhile, Leah was in class wondering where the blue-haired boy could've gone.