After his suggestion that triggered a wild flurry of laughter, all of thel calmed and settled down. Ezera had sat back down in front of the dressing table, turned toward the students and no longer pretendint he couldn't hear them from there.
"No. You really didn't know what's Isekai, Professor?"
Ezera shook his head, shrugging dramatically.
"I know I look young, but your teacher is actually too old for this time. Please enlighten me with your supreme teenager knowledge."
More giggles.
Alexandra spoke up:
"Well. That's when you have someone who just, I don't know? Just gets knocked over by a truck or die in their sleep and- suddenly they've been reincarnated as a youthful magical person in a fantasy World."
"Except we didn't die."
"Who knows ? We might have collective amnesia regarding the moment we died. For all we know a meteorite could have crashed in our classroom."
Ezera shook his head.
"Now, now, stop being stupid."
"Hum," Ming looked up at Ezera. "Can I brush your hair?"
Ezera looked down at him, surprised.
Ming was a petite boy with thin chestnut hair in short ponytail against his back, with eyes big and glassy, but also with the shades of cold clear blue ice.
He had a timid caracter by nature. But more than that, he was reluctant to open to the world, life hadn't coddled him for all that he was still young. Ezera had not yet managed to establish a true connection with the boy, even though they got along well.
Ezera gestured at him.
"Come on, the brush's here."
Ming jumped on his feet and darted to Ezera, settling behind him as he took up the brush and started passing it through Ezera's hair with a childlike sort of fascination.
He was cute.
Ezera let him do what he wanted and instead turned back to the raging debate of what could qualify as Isekai.
"People can be Isekaied without dying too!"
"They can but it almost never happens!"
"Your point is irrelevant."
Ah, his kids.
"Now, now!" Ezera chuckled. "Why don't you tell me what those skills are about? Is it like those games Kai plays at in class when he thinks I'm not watching?"
Kai guffawed, his friend Hymei covered her mouth to smother a laugh. He sent her a betrayed look, scathing. Alan looked at them, not even trying to conceal his bright big smile.
"Oh? That depends. What is it like in the games Kai plays at in class?"
"Just stop making fun of me already. I'll bite you."
"Sorry man. But maybe you ought to be more discreet. Alexandra doesn't get caught at least."
Alexandra, who'd been laughing, halted immediately and gasped, looking three times more betrayed than Kai had just seemed.
"Hey!"
Lucas cracked a smile at his friends' antics, then frowned, thoughtful.
"Well... I'd say it's similar but different ? For instance, when I open my status, they appear in front of me and I can see my health points, my power points, the name of my Grace... And all the name of the skills that I have are indicated bellow that, they're organized depending on their main function. For exemple, the buffs are written in the same pack, and the attacks in another one..."
That was a bit hard to visualize for Ezera.
"And there seems to be levels? Something about the level of harmony once can achieve with the energy around us," Shuna stared ahead, as if examining something right in front of her.
Ezera guessed she must have been looking at her status.
"Has any of you gotten a level up yet?" He asked curious. "You've already been experimenting with it, I believe."
Suzuka, the quiet girl, was the one to answer.
"I have. Because I'm a sniper, I have a skill that enable me to gather energy. I tried to absorb it, and then something changed. I think my vision was altered, somehow? It's almost imperceptible."
"I see," Ezera nodded. "And how do you use it?"
Lucas perked up.
"Right. So on the status it's like that, but it actually feels very different when you don't look at it. When I think about activating a skill, I can feel the knowledge on the edge of my mind. It's like muscle memory for attacks, I guess. But for other skills, it's like having mastered a domain of knowledge?
He looked at Shuna.
"Yes," she said. "I'm a potioneer, and suddenly when I think about making a potion, I realize I know about lots of different herbs and ways to combine and cook them that I didn't know before. I think if I went back home I'd probably be able to start a career as a chief."
"Well, that's interesting," Ezera admitted.
"You didn't get any skill, teach?" Leo asked with a frown."
"Not even one! Guess adults are to be discriminated in the face of gods."
"Geez, he's so dramatic..."
Ezera turned serious again.
"If I were to divine the reason, I'd think it's because I wasn't supposed to come with you in this world."
He looked at each of them in the eyes.
"And that in itself is why I'd advise you to be careful while dealing with these people."
He wasn't happy to bring the mood back to such a sober level, but he knew they had to make a choice now, before facing the next day.
"What decision will you take ?"
He could advise them, but ultimately his job was that of a guide, as much as he wished he could protect them. Nearly all of them were seventeen. They were intelligent, and they deserved freedom of mind. His role was only to be along the ride.
That hadn't changed, even if the world they lived in did.
You can do whatever you want, kids. You just have to figure it out.
As if of one mind, nineteen pairs of eyes turned to Leo.
Leo who had been something of a leader for more than a year and half already, and would be a leader to them once more.
Ezera didn't like that thought. But even though, he was relieved to see those kids wouldn't forget to be collective. It was good that they knew they weren't alone, they had each other.
Even Ming's brushin motions had stopped.
"Can we..." Leo exhaled unsteadily. "We can still change our mind, right?"
Ezera met his uncertain gaze with a steady, reassuring one. Warm.
"I told you, kids. You're free to do anything you want right now."
He nodded.
"Then... Then let's listen to them for now. We should learn how all of this works. We'll see for ourselves what their intentions are."
Ezera smiled.
How they grow quickly.
"Alright. Now go to bed, you have a long day ahead."
Guys, here is Ming. He's cute.
I mean, Yuga's cute too, but he's a different kind of cute.
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