章 41: Friends or Flag

It had been almost a week since I arrived in Raccoon City. There was still no progress in finding out any indication about the future disaster. But, I knew that it fully began with the N.E.S.T. accident, where Umbrella Secret Service (U.S.S.) confronts Dr. William Birkin to give up the G-Virus he developed. Although HUNK, the team leader, succeed to obtain the sample, his team was annihilated by the transformed William Birkin and accidentally released the virus to the city.

'Well, it's just one week. It's okay, I didn't expect to gain any result yet.' I thought inside my mind.

"Haaah..." however, I couldn't help breathed out the stuffy feeling that I had. It's not that I was dissatisfied with my progress. It was because I'm on my way to school.

"What's wrong? You're nervous?" asked Chris, on the wheel. He drove me to school only for today. I could ride on the School Bus alone from tomorrow onwards.

"It's not that. Can't I just attend School next month? Please...?" I even made a pouting face and sad begging expression, but it didn't work. The Redfields were so strict if it was about education.

"We've talked about this, Ed. Your Aunt was saddened by the fact that you didn't have any friends your age to play with," said Chris. "She was concerned with your... social abilities."

Although it was true, I feel offended. I could gain friends too if I want, you know, but not now. The fuckin' doomsday gonna happen in a month for god's sake. If only I could find evidence leading to Umbrella's dark side in the City to convince him.

Unlike the infiltration in Paris, there was no information whatsoever about them, so I couldn't move freely yet. The Continental also didn't have any information about any underground buildings under Umbrella's jurisdiction either.

5 minutes later, we arrived in front of the school gates. I could see a lot of students walking and chatting with their friends. There were also parents dropping off their children.

It was a community school. There was no private school in Raccoon City for elementary students yet. Besides, going to private school was just a waste of money from the Redfield's viewpoint.

Chris accompanied me into the building to meet my new teacher. Her name was Sarah, blonde and currently 2 months pregnant.

'Damn it, I'm meeting a flag this early?' I deeply cursed inside my mind.

"Be good, Ed. I'll pick you up later," said Chris, while he walked out of the building as the bell rang. I waved at him and followed Ms. Sarah to the class.

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Elsewhere, at the same time.

Raccoon City Community School was the only city that joined all three stages of school altogether, up until the 12th grades. However, they were still separated by their own building.

Students, no matter what grades they are, could be seen running about to their class.

Inside one of the classrooms, a group of three students was talking about the news they got on their long table. The seatings were set so that one table could be used by four students at the same time. Only 7th graders and up had their own seat with a separate desk.

"Did you hear? We're having a new classmate today." said a rather short, chubby-looking boy with freckles on his face.

"We know, Will. You've been talking about it all the time." said a tall skinny girl with deep black hair that reached her waist.

"Still. What do you think, Hannah? Is it a girl or a boy?" asked Will once again whilst hoping it to be the former.

"Oh right, I forgot to tell you guys." before Hannah could guess, a boy with short blonde hair interrupted. He continued after he garners his two friends' attention, "apparently, he's Mr. Chris's nephew. You know Mr. Chris, right?"

"The one that helped us saving Mrs. Jenna's cat on the tree?" guessed, Hannah. "How did you know, Michael?"

Meanwhile, Will"s mood turned down after hearing Michael's words and disappointingly muttered, "It's a he?"

"Yeah, I accidentally heard my parents' conversation when I was going to sleep." Michael motioned to them to come closer. "He was with his nephew back then, when the Paris disaster happens."

The Paris Disaster was broadcasted worldwide. Even until now, there was no News Media that didn't make a separate program, exclusively to deliver any updates about it.

"Good God, I hope he's okay," said Hannah while closing her mouth with her hands. The three of them felt bad about their new classmates.

Not long after the bell rang. One by one their classmates walked into the class, but they were still talking with each other. Mrs. Sarah then walked into the door and tapped on the chalkboard to gather her students' attention.

There was a boy with a blue shirt and white trousers. He also had a yellow bag on his back, making him stand out more. His face was also above average, enough to gain the girl's interest but not losing their minds. This was the 3rd grade, the boys and the girls were starting to be aware of the opposite gender.

After everyone was in their seat, Mrs. Sarah gave the new student a sign to introduce himself in front of the class.

"My name is Edward, Edward Kavka." he glanced at Mrs. Sarah. His expression was asking what else he had to say. "My hobby is playing, of course. I also have a lot of Pokemon cards, if anyone wants to trade you can ask me later."

His last sentence garners the boys' attention as they clapped while the girls were looking at them with questioning looks. Meanwhile, Mrs. Sarah clapped and assigned his seat on the trio's table.

The trio looked at Edward. He didn't say anything when he sat next to them, even after they were staring at him so obviously. The trio then nodded to each other.

"Hi. My name's Hannah." She proceeds to introduce both of her friends who sat next to her. "This is William, you can call him Will and this one is Michael..."

Before Hannah could finish, Michael excitedly asked Edward while holding his hand in front of him, "Hey, do you want to be my friend?"

Michael thought that Edward being this cold because he was traumatized after what was happening in Paris. That was why, he wanted to be Edward's friend, to at least cheer him up.

If it was a normal occasion, Edward would have agreed to his proposal, but there was only one thing filling his mind.

'Flag... Flags everywhere.'

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I didn't answer to Michael's question and simply ignored him. Mrs. Sarah clapped to gain the students' attention again. Once the class ended, and the break came, I was surrounded by the whole class.

They asked everything about me, where I came from, who I lived with, where did I live. It overwhelmed me. Although I keep changing school when I was abroad, this is the first time I met with such a commotion. Usually, they would take a passive-aggressive approach, but this class was so active to uncover everything about me.

I had to ignore all of them, except for those that were talking about Pokemon and wanted to trade with me. Business is business, okay. I don't care about some flag, true men need to increase their card's variation.

However, what truly annoyed me was Michael. He was dead-set in taking me as his friend. I even had rejected him several times. The other students looked at the two weirdos that kept confessing and rejecting all the time. What a complicated love story.

If it was just in class, I could bear with it. But he was everywhere. I mean EVERYWHERE...

"Edward! Be my friend!" he asked, while I was eating my lunch.

"Go away!" I replied while munching a sausage.

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"Edward! Be my friend!" he asked, while I washed my hand.

"Go away!" I hurled my hand, spraying the droplets to his face.

"Agghh! It burns!" he yelled while rubbing his eyes.

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"Edward! Be my friend!" he said while I'm dumping the deed on the toilet.

"Aaaahhh!" I shrieked when his face popped under the door.

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"Edward... Be my friend..." he whispered while I was reading In the library.

"Go... Away..." I replied, whispering.

""Sssshhhh..."" the other students signed for us to be quiet.

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"Ed...Ward..." said Michael while doing a voice-over on a dog with long black wigs. I almost punch him in the face when he did it. Too soon man... too soon...

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Elsewhere in a certain building. Agent Maria Hill was walking in the corridor leading to Nick Fury's office.

*knock! knock!

"Come in," said Fury. When Maria went in, what greeted her was the Director of SHIELD reading a comic book on his chair with his leg on his desk. He also could be seen giggling once in a while whenever he flipped a page.

"Boss, I brought what you wanted," said Maria but Fury didn't say anything except motioning her to place the reports on her hand to the table.

Exasperated by her Boss's behavior, she slammed the thick reports, startling Nick Fury. He grumbled, "What was that for?"

"When will you start working, Sir?" a vein popped up on her forehead. She couldn't take it any longer.

"Okay... Okay... Just let me finish this one, I want to know how the Beagle gang would steal Scrooge's money this time. Who knows, it might help some of our works." said Fury, desperately looking for reasoning.

"Enough, Sir. I got updates about the Umbrella's train derailment, a month ago," said Maria while flipping to one of the pages on the paper.

Fury put down the comic book, but he didn't forget to insert a bookmark on it. He was secretly doing an investigation on the corporation, ignoring his superior's command to turn a blind eye to their activity.

"Son of a bitch..." he couldn't help but mutter a curse after reading the first sentence on the report, "How the hell James Marcus still alive?"

"Technically it wasn't him, Sir," answered Maria Hill. She proceeds to take out several photographs of a certain man in a white robe and what seemed to be leeches in fluid-filled capsules. "It was called Queen Leech, a mutant test subject he created before he died. The leech consumed his brain and gained his memories and went on a revenge path toward the organization."

"How did you find all of this?" asked Nick Fury, curious. Everything in front of him was a confidential report detailing the night when Ecliptic Express, Umbrella's owned train, derailed on its track. It happens just before the Mansion accident, another series of unfortunate events caused by Umbrella.

Maria Hill took out another photograph of a man, "his name is Billy Coen. An ex-Marine, charged under court-martial of killing innocent villagers and abandonment of his mission."

"I don't care about that, where is he right now?" asked Nick Fury. What was important for him now is to find fault on Umbrella to take them down once and for all.

"Currently, he is under my supervision. No one but me and agent Phil Coulson knows his whereabouts."

"Good, keep it like that. I don't want it to be known by anyone, yet. And also, schedule a meeting with him later on. I need to ask him about it in person."

"Yes, Sir."

Agent Maria Hill walked out after she delivered some minor reports. Meanwhile, Nick Fury continued reading the comics. He planned to visit Edward again once he was done with it, and "borrow" another from him later on.