It is about the facts of the life which is really happening in fellows life's

On a well developed city called Paseo, there's a young guy who is really excited to get on college. He is a Bachelor of Science Major in Applied Physics student. He really wants to change the world that he tried to make an innovation that he thinks his life will get better. He is 5 feet tall, with white skin, good looking guy with braces on teeth, he is also wearing glasses. He tried to invent a floating car before but it didn't work. 

It's now 6am in the morning. He wake up and stretch his body. He was so excited in his first day of class. He is really optimistic and wants to know how many things he will learn today.


"Hi, Mom!" Dane said. "Dane, why are you so early? you're first class is 8am?" her mom said.

"Mom, I'm just want to be the earliest student in class. I like to know what's the room looks like hahaha" he replied.


He finish his breakfast, a soft creamy egg omelette with sweet and good hot chocolate. He takes a bath and exact 6:30 am, he ride on a luxurious car going to Paseo State University. 

"Sir Dane, its rush hour, there's a heavy traffic right now, this is a great idea to go on school early." His driver said. 

"Yeah, I will not let myself be late on my first class" he replied.

His family is rich. His dad have own hospital and a well-known Neurologist. He is living on a luxurious life that he is able to get what he wants. Even though he was rich, Dane is so humble. He always listen to his dad's advise. " Be thankful on what you have and learn to put yourself on the other person's shoes"

"We are here now, sir David. Goodluck on your first day!" Driver said. "Thank you, I hope this day will be a great day!" Dane replied.

He is 16 years old right now. Full of positivity, full of hope, hungry for knowledge and wants to be a greatest phycisist in the future.

~~ Class Started~~

After he finished attending two classes, he is now attending on his General Physics class. 

"Guys, before we end our class, I just want to share with you a trivia. Do you know that we have electricity in our body?" Professor Clin said.

Students is talking each other and Dane is thinking what his professor said.

"It is produced when a positive and negative atom is out of balanced. Human skin and hair has it and it can accumulated electric charges, can you guess what is it?" Professor said with a smile in his face.

" I think I've read about it before but I can't recall it. Did you know that Dane?" Biston said. He is Dane's classmate. A long hair guy that loves to play guitar. He also love science that he created a scientific security system on his house. They became friends immediately when they find out that they have same interest in science.

" I don't know either" Dane replied. 


Professor Clin: "that's static electricity! I just found it interesting to tell you guys. "


Some students amazed on that facts.  While other students is talking each other about these facts, one student raised her hands and ask the professor. " Professor Clin, do you believe in alchemy?"



" If you will ask me, I believe in the fact that alchemy has been a part of philosophy and science from the past century. One of its main purpose is, to covert materials into a noble element like gold. To find a universal elixir as well. It is seemingly a magical process of transformation." professor said.


"What is that universal elixir Professor?" Dane asked.


"Well... It's the philosopher's stone. They believe that you can have an eternal life using it" he replied.


Dane became interested on alchemy and wants to know more about it. After that day, he started searching about this matter and see if it was true, especially about the universal elixir or philosopher's stone.



(Author's Note)

- Thank you for reading the first chapter. I'm so happy that you read my first book. I hope that you'll enjoy reading my story in the next chapter. Please be informed that this story is fictitious. Anything you will read in this story is just a fiction. Enjoy reading!

A young guy who is able to transform any element material into a gold and mold any solid material for battle. He is looking for the elixir that has been made many centuries ago. Is he able to find it? Is this guy is a true alchemist?

I have been in my new training regime for the past few weeks.  And it is significantly different than what I have been doing previously.  The one big thing, is that I am no longer being abused in any way.  I appreciate the fact that I am no longer getting hurt, but, much as I do not want to admit it, I have gotten used to be tortured.  I know I do not enjoy those sessions, but to some extent, the routine was cathartic.

To some extent, I miss the times where I am getting physically tortured, as it made me learn to keep my focus.  I am not sure if that is true for others, but for me, it was a learning experience.  I cannot say if it was a good experience, but I will at least say, it was not completely bad, at least for me.

My morning exercises are no longer one of my requirements.  Other than getting forced to push myself beyond what I should do, I never truly disliked the exercise.  Keeping my body fit is something I know is overall for the best, so I continue that part of my training.   Though, I am not pushing myself beyond my limits, at least I do not believe so.

Studying is one of the new things that I am doing.  I have been given journals of those that have trained other Unleashed.  Not all of them have maintained the type of training that was given to me.  And in those journals that veered away from the normal training, There have been some success with other types of training.  But, for the most part, the majority of the participants, while are able to control themselves under normal circumstances, when they have encountered stressful situations, they lose control.  Unfortunately, it seems that what the most common training is, it is more likely to work.

Otec let me read his journal, that he wrote when he was training me.  While I am abject to his truths, at least based on his writings, I understand where he was coming from.  His writings, unlike his way of speak, is less prone to emotions.  He writes in an almost scientific way.  I can see that he has also been tainted by the training Unleashed receive.

I am taking it for granted that he is writing down the truth, as I can plainly see that each page is newer than the previous one.  Either it was some long con that he is enacting, or he is being honest.  Such a long laid plan would be difficult to keep on doing, and it does not seem that that is his style.  I still question his motives, but I am willing to believe him.

Along with reading the journals, I am also, along with the other un-Chained Unleashed at my level of training, taught general knowledge.  It is a true education, more than that I ever received under my parents tutelage.  It is more of a modern education than that of one that the majority of people receive.

Maths, sciences, and history are the main topics of learning.  The maths are under the level of what I have learned previous.  Admittedly, I have a previous, modern, world of knowledge behind me.  It is not rudimentary in the slightest, just less fleshed out.  As I was never the best in more advanced maths, I was never truly able to understand the benefit that some of the theories entailed.

With science though, there are concepts that I am being taught that I was never taught in my past life.  This world has developed differently than my previous one, therefore different things have developed do different extents.  At least the scientific method is similar enough that the goals reach conclusions that are approximating truths.

The history of this place, though, is something completely different.  Less focused on specific people doing certain things.  Studies in history are more about the why something happened.  For a bunch of kids, this is beyond what I could imagine.

For instance, instead of it being that Prince Ralph set fire to a marketplace, and that set out an uprising in his province.  What I am taught is that due to a wave of droughts, the populace started to rebel.  Wanting to put down the rebellion, before it gained steam, Prince Ralph brought out some troops.  Due to some accident, the marketplace caught fire.  As the rebels thought that Prince Ralph was the cause of the fire, they attacked, leading to a bloody conflict.  Cause and effect, instead of rote memorization.

All Unleashed, other than those at the initial level of training, are given chores to do.  For the un-Chained, it teaches us the skills that we need for daily life.  It is on a weekly rotation for the un-Chained, the Chained Unleashed stays on the job that they are either better at, or the one they like to do more so than others.  Gardening, cooking, cleaning, and some basic carpentry are things that I have done so far.  I am very unskilled at these tasks compared to the rest of the people there.

The last new item on the menu for my training, is conversing with the rest of the un-Chained.  Where previously I was forbidden to speak to others, I am now forced to.  This is the hardest part of the day, being forced to converse with others.  I have not had that luxury in years, and now it is difficult.

Other than my family, I have never had much interactions with other people, just social interactions.  Now, though, I am to interact with others of my own physical age.  Like me, all the others are socially inept.  We can discuss facts, but when it comes to personal experiences, it becomes harder.

I can speak of what my family was like, and what we did on a daily basis.  When it comes to funny stories or other such trivialities, I am not able to express what was important about those situations.  Some of the older un-Chained are more able to, though they also have trouble getting the nuances out.  We are, essentially, blind people trying to talk about colors.

I need this kind of training to be able to become part of society again.  On a personal level, I would be fine not socializing with others, and be left to my own solitude.  However, I have begun to want to see my family again, and as I am right now, I do not want them to see me like how I currently am.

Rehor is reborn into a new world, and his ignorance of the lifestyle along with discovering his magic will make his life difficult.

"I have a working hypothesis I need to further research," I corrected easily.

Elin Auteberry seemed to just accept what I told her. "You would still need to have your circumstances reviewed and approved by the body in charge of the Library—that is, the Council of Scholars."

"And how may I go about that…?"

"My name is Elin Auteberry. I will arrange a meeting with them to review your case if you want?"

"Please do, thank you."

"Your name is…?" she politely inquired while adjusting her glasses again.

"Nori."

"Just Nori? I assume the soonest possible time would be best?"

I barely took a second before replying, "Kuroi. Nori Kuroy. And I'll just be at Rosengarten Inn if not somewhere around here reading."

As soon as I turned to head back to the history section I made a face. Nice one brain; that rhymed. But I was still suspicious about giving my real name out in a world with magic and will continue to do so until I actually knew what one can or cannot do with mana.

Spending the next few days reading about the history and geography of Gaellia, I was waylaid on the third day by the alfr that manned the front desk. (Taskill Lornwisp, Head Librarian and about 400+ years old.)

I followed the pince-nez wearing alfr out of the Library and toward a manor somewhat close by that turned out to be an administration building of sort. Guided to a room, I found myself standing before a panel of older men, a woman, and what a surface Scan told me was a half-alfr.

"Nori Kuroy, was it?"

"Yes," I kept my posture fixed, clasping my hands behind my back.

"You wish to have a pass to the library for after-hours so you can do your research?"

"That is correct."

The older man set down the paper and folded his hands on the table. "What is it you are researching?"

"I have been studying mana and have successfully built magic spells from the ground up based on my understanding of the world's forces, processes, and building blocks of our surroundings. Incantations are unnecessary in the working system I've built but I need further research and testing before I can share this with anybody else…"

I continued to bullshit half my thesis I'm supposedly working on, stringing together facts combined with fiction. Sometimes I used complicated scientific terminology that was completely irrelevant just to make me sound like I was a theoretician. It was an art form I mastered as a student though I admit this was just bald-faced lying.

After I finished "explaining" my working hypothesis like an over-enthusiastic mad scientist, the youngest-looking male spoke up.

"You are a magician, yes?" the half-alfr asked.

Blinking, I gave a confused smile. "Yes?"

Can you not be a magic-user after all the garbage I spouted? Plus, Ing kind of implied one could tell if someone had the potential for magic and that alves were born with the ability to see mana-flow.

"We do not have Tuning Crystal on hand so can you prove you are magician another way?" the purple-haired man asked in his accented Continental Standard.

How did they want me to prove it? By making a <Fireball>?

[Nori, maybe taking out your Grimoire would help under the circumstances. At least it would give less of a hostile impression than what you had in mind.]

True.

"Is this proof enough?" I asked before summoning the black leather book to my raised hands so they were all able to see it appear.

*Skrch!*

The chair clattered to the floor as the youngest looking of the panel abruptly stood up.

I reflexively took a step back.

"Nostradamus?" the only woman of the group asked.

"Zir—The cover," Nostradamus walked around the table and headed toward me. "May I see?"

Is there some etiquette involved in this? Should I actually show it to him?

[There should be no problem. No one can read your real name.]

The council member leaned down, his long hair sweeping over his shoulder and I tried to keep my reaction to the fact he smelled like freesia flowers from my expression. Why do all alves (even only partial ones) smell like plants? Smelling good was nice and all, but his appearance did not match flowers at all.

He murmured the words on the cover before his royal purple eyes looked up at me and I obligingly showed the first page.

Nostradamus inhaled sharply, freezing for a moment, before straightening up and turning to his fellows. "I do not think this interview needs to continue, gentlemen and lady. They are archmagus."

"Oh, we haven't had a new archmagus based in Crown City for awhile," an old man stroked his beard as he started reminiscing.

"Yes, quite. I'm glad you will have a fellow half-alven to discuss magical theory with now, Nostradamus."

I cleared my throat awkwardly.

The purple-haired council member returned his attention to me. "Excuse me. I have not introduced myself. I am Nostradamus, a sorcerer and lecturer in Studium Generale for the Advanced Warding course. Let us get you that pass."

Half-jogging to keep up with the professor who I just noticed was wearing elaborate purple-accented black robes, I settled to following a half-step behind Nostradamus.

"I guess I my request went through?"

"Mn, yes. You will be given complete access to the Library and unlimited access to the magical archives. Though I hope you would keep archives in order during your research?"

Yo. Name's Nori. I'm just an ordinary twenty-year-old university student—really—that woke up transported to this world called Gaellia one day. On my first day, I find myself thrown in jail and met my partner that will travel with me: an AI that I have a telepathic bond with.

[Nori, there are monsters attacking the city.]

Not my problem.

"Big Sis! I bought this dress for you!"

"Bro! Let's head to the gate to see who would get a higher kill count!"

[Nori, if you do this mission, you can read 50,000 words of a new title—]

Ah! Alright already, I get it!


**On hiatus for volume compilation**
***Volume Two being roughed out***
{Note: Written in 1st Person POV. Nori is nonbinary. Romance-free for Nori but lots of misunderstandings happen.}

"A word that's closely related to indoctrination is brainwashing."
The good thing about brainwashing was that it sounded so obviously nefarious that the people subjected to them knew to put on their guard. This was why brainwashing only worked these days when accompanied by force or sophisticated technology.
Indoctrination, which was brainwashing's marginally more acceptable cousin, worked more insidiously because few students were sober enough to put up their guard when it happened.
Teachers taught knowledge. Yet nobody said this knowledge consisted of pure, unbiased facts and widely-accepted beliefs.
Sometimes, even if the scientific community came to a consensus on those widely-accepted beliefs, a deviant thinker might have come up with an even better theory, but failed to gain acceptance due to existing inertia.
In fact, many researchers faced a lot of doubt and skepticism, especially when they came up with radically new or subversive beliefs!
"Once upon a time on Old Earth, people believed their world was flat. A visionary known as Galileo came up with the theory that it was round, yet did the people and the established institutions believe him? No! They called him crazy!"
An uncountable amount of visionaries, scientists and inventors faced the same storm of criticism whenever they advanced something new that was out of the scope of the public's imagination.
Even the initial emergence of mechs almost flopped due to the universal ridicule their inventors received. If not for the heroic efforts of the pioneers along with the emergence of the MTA, mechs would have never become humanity's principal war machines of the Age of Mechs.
The point was that almost every scrap of advanced knowledge was mired in some form of controversy or another. The advancement of cutting-edge knowledge at the forefront of the sciences resembled a chaotic battlefield where scientists ruthlessly fought to convince others of the validity of their beliefs!
If the researchers managed to convince enough of their peers that their beliefs had merit, it transformed into accepted theory. However, these success stories became exceedingly rare at this day and age. Researchers had to climb over millions of failures and thousands of rivals in order to gain acknowledgment from the scientific community.
"The lucky ones spend as much time in converting others to their beliefs than performing actual research." Ves observed. "Those with worse luck have to spend the majority of their time on gaining new converts."
Convincing intelligent, self-confident peers who held their own set of beliefs often turned out to be an up-hill battle. Researchers looking to gain support for their beliefs either had to come up with something decisively convincing, or they could start with defenseless children.
Young students attending universities and recent graduates looking to specialize even further became the favored suckers for these kinds of desperate researchers. They were smart enough to possess potential but lacked the accumulation to guard their minds and retain their original thoughts.
"People in my age group and life phase are prime targets for indoctrination!" He uttered as his eyes widened in realization. "Our foundation is deep enough but our minds are still too shallow, leaving us ripe for the picking to any researcher who wants to build up support!"
By necessity, these researchers became proficient in indoctrinating students and the like with their complex, multi-layered research publications. Anyone who hadn't sufficiently kept up their guards became slowly more sympathetic to the viewpoints espoused by the researcher.
They were being indoctrinated without knowing it because they forgot to think critically!
It wasn't as if the more unscrupulous research publications prodded their readers to cast doubt on the beliefs espoused from within. Research findings along with statistics could be presented in a myriad of deceptive ways.
"Almost every researcher is taking part in this race. Modesty will get them nowhere, not in a galaxy filled with rivals who can catch up to them at any time."
This pattern went on for thousands of years, spanning multiple Ages and continuing to thrive so long as researchers continued to convert more followers. At this stage, the scientists have become incredibly skilled in the art of indoctrination.
"You could say that teaching has become indistinguishable from indoctrination at this height."
Ves felt sad when he came to this conclusion. When Ves injected knowledge in his mind after purchasing various Skills and Sub-Skills from the System, he never truly encountered something controversial.
Now he realized that the System only dabbled in established theories and widely-supported models. This enabled him to assimilate the purest branches of a given field, but cut him off from the most cutting-edge of research. It also blocked him from immersing himself in more advanced applications of knowledge that had not yet gained acceptance.
"It's like I'm designing boring mechs. They're safe to pilot and come with rounded performance, but they're too bland for many people to like. Confining myself to established theories is as colorless as eating a nutrient pack each day. This is no way for me to excel."
Mech designers were often attracted to extreme pieces of knowledge. They willingly embraced unsupported beliefs as long as they could use it to design better mechs.
It all centered around their design philosophies. If they wanted it to bloom, then they were practically compelled to seek out unorthodox sources of knowledge. The reason why higher-ranking mech designers became eccentric was because their design philosophy was built on a foundation of beliefs!
"Every design philosophy is a house of cards! It only takes a single shock for all of it to collapse!"
Ves understood now what he was dealing with and how reckless he approached the issue. He toyed with knowledge beyond his ken, unaware of how insidious they wormed their way into his mind.
The main issue facing Ves right now was that he lacked sufficient depth and understanding in the fields of stealth tech and ultracompact energy storage tech. How could be maintain a critical mind if Ves lacked the prerequisite knowledge to base his judgement of what he read?
"It's like I've mastered parts one to three of a book series, but now I'm saddled with someone's version of part fifteen! I'm missing too much in between to provide me with a good foundation on what is going on in part fifteen!"
The result was that Ves had to take the latest author's word for what truly went on in part fifteen, because Ves lacked the content to call out potential inaccuracies or cast doubt on dubious passages.
This was what it was like for those below Journeyman Mech Designers to access knowledge way above their limitations.
For some reason, the mech industry treated Journeymen as if they possessed much greater resistance against mental contamination. Was it merely a matter of accumulation, or had their design philosophy gained enough strength to withstand the demonic whispers of foreign research philosophies?
"Both are probably the case. Journeymen are just better at everything in almost every aspect compared to Apprentices. I've got to find a way to advance as fast as possible."
Ves gained a lot of progress from his short period of study into this topic. He constructed a model of how mental contamination worked and became enlightened how much of the scientific community insidiously utilized indoctrination to gain now converts.
While these insights didn't help him process the research papers faster, he could still formulate some means to cope with his sluggish progress.
"If I lack the prerequisite foundation to think critically on what I'm currently trying to learn, then why not draw from the opinions of another researcher? It would be great if I can gather the research papers of two opposing scientists!"
The Skull Architect hadn't passed too many research papers to Ves, but a lot of them came from different experts in the field. Each author possessed their own opinions, and now that he thought about it, they spent much of their time arguing for or against the assertions made by other experts!
Ves slapped his palm against his face. "I should have figured this out! The research papers are interconnected!"
He turned his attention back to his console and summoned up a second projection alongside his primary one. He opened up a different research paper in both projections and laid them side-by-side. Just minutes after he scrolled through both documents, he leaned back and laughed.
"Hahahaha! So this is it! This is the right approach! It's a shortcut!"
He would have never come up with such an idea if he hadn't taken a step back from his intensive study session.
As someone who used to be a student, he was accustomed to reading a pile of literature by their order of publication. However, that was the wrong approach to take here, because another researcher's retort or follow-up to an older paper might be published several years or even decades later.
Once Ves sorted the research material by topic rather than date, and put together two contrasting papers written by bitter rivals in their field, his progress accelerated enormously.
Putting the two research papers side-by-side and reading them concurrently made him feel as if he gained a front-row seat to an academic brawl of epic proportions!
Subtle words as soft as silk addressed to other research turned out to be brutal kicks and punches.
The academics basically tried to beat each other up in the academic arena in order to prove whose beliefs held up the longest against a sustained barrage of attacks.
Deductions and extrapolations of empirical data became their weapons of choice, though they weren't above resorting to highly educated guesswork as dirty moves.
The point for Ves was that the battle between two diametrically-opposed researchers revealed which pieces of knowledge he could trust and which he needed to treat with a grain of salt!
He just needed to see what the researchers agreed on and which beliefs they criticised intensely.
Naturally, relying on the testimony of two different individuals didn't mean that the consensus was right. Ves still needed to corroborate the specific theories with as many research papers in his possession.
The more he cross-referenced a specific theory, the more he gained confidence in his ability to judge the amount of support each theory held.
That didn't mean that each theory that Ves encountered received corroboration from the other papers in his possession. A significant amount of them referenced papers that the Skull Architect hadn't seen fit to pass on to him. This slowed him down somewhat, but with the support of the other theories he had already deciphered, he started to get the hang of looking at them with a critical eye.
"My progress will be ten times faster with this method!"
Mental contamination still posed a significant threat to him. Putting two opposing beliefs side-by-side caused sparks that sometimes spilled over to Ves, much to his pain. His headaches intensified, but he grit his teeth and bore through them all because he gained the most insights when the battle reached its climax.
The feeling he got at the end of the day made all of his suffering worth the struggle. His understanding advanced by leaps and bounds, and the more he mastered the theories, the less strain he received from reading through the theories he hadn't touched as of yet.
Like a snowball rolling down a snow-capped mountain, his accumulation ceaselessly grew larger and larger.
The only detriment to his obsessive study sessions was that he began to neglect his other duties a little. Several times, Ketis had to shake him from his addictive preoccupation in order to receive a new assignment.
"You're not being a very good teacher, you know." She pouted as she rested her fists against her waist. "Lately you've turned into a zombie, seeing how you spend all your time staring at those documents all day."
"Sorry." Ves chuckled awkwardly as scratched his head and tried to shake the cobwebs from his mind. "I've been preoccupied with the academic arena. It's a lot more violent and engaging than I thought."
"Really? You aren't yanking my chain, are you?"
"You've only studied from widely-read and well-edited textbooks so far, which spoon feed you all of the knowledge in the most logical and reader-friendly fashion possible. At your level, the science is pretty much settled, so there's no controversy to be found. Once you become a Journeyman like Mayra, you'll have to learn that you can't trust any random theory off the street."
Ves proceeded to lecture how Ketis or any other mech designer ought to regard advanced knowledge, much to her consternation. She wasn't interested in becoming a bookworm!


Humanity has conquered half the galaxy and the Age of Mechs reigns supreme!

Ves Larkinson lacked the genetic aptitude to become a famed mech pilot. Fighting against his fate, he studied mech design in order to express his love for mechs as a builder instead of a soldier.

When Ves graduated from college, he returned to a new but empty boutique. Left with a small, newly founded mech workshop that his father painstakingly built with a mountain of debt, Ves somehow needs to make ends meet with the bank breathing down his neck.

In the midst of his despair, he found salvation from another legacy his father had left.

"Welcome to the Mech Designer System. Please design your new mech."

--Join The Mech Touch's unofficial Discord server: https://discord.gg/APB5KCU

My name is Timothy Philips. I will not bore you with the details. All you need to know is I am one of the doctors who handled the autopsy of the Gold Men boys.
I'll cut to the chase. They appeared to be gold, but that's only the case outside of their bodies. A massive chunk of people was sort of glued together to form a statue made of gold. We soon realized that these golden statues contain blood and muscles and bones and the whole human anatomy within them. Now, one could say here that this is just another case of an art form to bastardize the life of men, and this is only a work of the messed up mind of Giuseppe San Sebastian, but I wholeheartedly disagree. Everything is too intricate and advanced for even professional forensic pathologists like me to perform.
We have three different cases in our hands at the time. There are the bodies that were covered entirely with gold. Again, be mindful that they are not golden people; they are people covered with gold. Their skins turned into gold. There are only a few cases of these men wherein their bodies contained a few gold particles within their bodies. There's also the case of the two bodies that had their insides became gold. Their entire digestive system all be gold while their skin is completely untouched, save for their arms.
The last case, of course, is the infamous Giuseppe San Sebastian. He is a simple case, really. Let me roll out what's in everyone's head already, and that is the fact that his head is gold. Simple conclusion: He dipped his head in the contraband to off himself. Now, this is where the case takes a huge turn. I know it is not my jurisdiction as a doctor to make any conclusions, nor is it my job to make any conclusion, but it is quite evident at this point that he dipped his head in the water.
To be honest, there's nothing much to say about this case when it comes to my part of it, but the best I could say is that whatever it is that Detective Morrison was saying is false. I heard him once say that it is their destiny or something why they all turned into gold. I think that's an unfair analysis of the Gold Men Case. I respect Detective Morrison as a human being, but his belief made it seem like they had no choice other than to face whatever it was that was coming to them. That is very unfair to these poor people, and it is very unfair even to think that he would say that they were in the right place and at the right time when they died. That is horrible, and that is something one should ever say about deceased people, in my humble opinion.
These men are a more prominent victim of an affair way bigger than any of them or any of us, for that matter. If we looked at it subjectively, they are both a victim of the Cleveland scandal and their own will to stop whatever it is they wanted to stop. It is all muddled as to what their goal is for raiding rich people on the street. I do not condone their actions either. However, I will not come here and say that having their bodies turned into gold is something they had coming, or was it something that was a part of their destiny. They are unfortunate people who had an unfortunate encounter with something they never expected to face.
As for the gold, there's also nothing much to talk about them. The gold is real, authentic gold, and there is no scientific way as to how I can explain why these people had a portion of their bodies turned into gold. The only lead we have is, well, San Sebastian's fantasy story.
My point is that this is something a human could do. What we're seeing is not a big crime wherein someone carefully placed human body parts on perfectly made human statues. The case at hand is not the work of destiny or whatever it is that they were thinking about to make sense of that case.
Does it matter at the end of the day? We cannot explain what happened to them. We don't even know if we'll ever be able to unravel the secrets in it. I sure was curious a few years before, but now, I'm not so sure. I feel insecure about the fact that there seems to be nothing we could do to explain it. It ruined my interest in the matter. Why would I waste my time in further research on this phenomenon that one never encountered before?
All I could hope now is that this will be the first and the last of such a thing.
Imagine thinking that these sorts of phenomena have been happening since the Middle Ages, and we didn't know anything about it? Or imagine the prospect of having a future where people would use such a technology that could turn people into gold in wars.
Either way, it's a scary thing to think about wherever I may go.
Now, if you wouldn't mind me going back to the topic at hand, if we dig deeper into the rabbit hole, we'll start seeing some more abnormalities in the victims' bodies. Let me cut to the chase. They're under the influence of a considerable amount of morphine in their bodies, but that is also a phenomenal part of the entire investigation aside from them being gold.
You see, if we follow San Sebastian's letters and apply his convenient recollection to what happened to the case, we can probably infer that San Sebastian died just a few more hours after the other gold men. We also analyzed the two other corpses lying beside the wooden contraband, and it matches up. All of them died almost at the same time.
The problem with this is that the insides of the gold men, you know, their system, is entirely preserved. I do not understand how it happened. I wish I could pinpoint you to an answer as to how their bodies get preserved inside their golden shells. However, what I can tell you, as concise as possible, is that staying within the gold statues made the insides of their body look as if they all died a few hours before we unraveled their system. Finding out about this is unbelievable. Take note that it took three months before we could even see the statues and another month before we could even touch them. It took another year before we were allowed to dissect what's within those statues. It took a year for us to know for sure that there are people inside those golden statues. It seems unreal to think that the victims' blood remains as fresh as ever by the time we conducted the autopsy on them.
To make all that clearer for the ordinary viewers, they died a long time ago, but the insides of their bodies looked as if they just died an hour ago. It seemed like time had stopped inside those golden statues. It's unbelievable. Like, you can't even preserve gold properly. To think that anything inside gold could stay fresh is, well, it's beyond science. I'm sorry, but that is beyond me.
There's a silver lining on this, though. That means we can examine the bodies of the victims with the mindset that they had all just died. Knowing this is why I find the letter of Giuseppe San Sebastian as, well, its fiction. It's a drug-induced fantasy. I'm sure not a lot of people would go by me talking about this regarding a dead person, but this is only the facts we have gathered along the way.
First, well, I'm not sure if detective Morrison already spoke about this, but we found three pounds of cocaine below their hideout. All of them are not at all well-hidden below a wooden compartment a meter away from the contraband. Second, we saw traces of morphine in a used syringe right beside the letter of San Sebastian. Though we cannot prove anymore if he's under the influence of the drugs, we can prove one thing, and that's my third point.
There are traces of morphine in the system of the so-called golden men. Now, I cannot explain how their bodies turned that way, but I can tell the magical realism implanted within the words of San Sebastian, and that is why I am still an astute critic of the man's words. We cannot prove if he's using drugs, but it seems plausible enough for us to conclude that his fantasy is an effect of the opioids in their bodies,
To be fair to San Sebastian, though, he is the only lead we had in explaining the gold men phenomena, but where are the pieces of evidence supporting this matter? Where is the water he speaks of in the letter? Based on what he wrote, it seemed that he used the remainder of the water to dip his head in it. Why? Most of his actions and most of what he wrote do not make sense.
I guess that pretty much summarized the entire case. It does not make sense. It continues to be an enigma none of us could explain.
Facts are facts, though, and the data shows that the men are under the influence of whatever drug they were putting within their bodies. They are drug-addicted individuals who got lucky, or well, I guess, in this case, they weren't so fortunate because they are too unhinged to understand what they stumbled themselves upon in that cabin.
I remembered having a short conversation with San Sebastian's mother. Poor woman, I forgot her name, though, but she seemed sweet and kind. She's very polite too. Well, polite until I talked about the truth behind her son. See, I told her with all honesty all that I found out regarding the case. I was just a doctor doing my job.
I told her straight up. The man is on drugs. None of what he said is real. Sorry. That's just the truth.
And, haa… Well, the woman flipped. It seemed that I had triggered a switch I shouldn't have triggered. In my defense, I was in the assumption that she's well enough to believe in the data I am showing her. She's a determined woman; that I can say. She kept telling her that my words are lies and how her son is an honest to god Christian boy and all that which is a massive contradiction if you think about it because the boy lied to her about whatever it is he was doing while he's under the pretense that he's a hero. He's a hero of drug addicts, that's what he is.
She kept lambasting me for the entirety of our conversation and how the devil possessed her son, haha, I mean, can you imagine the amount of mental gymnastics people would come up with just to make sense of their tragedies? She kept that belief for the remainder of her life. She kept saying that the devil influenced her son and all that… stuff. I spoke to other parents, too, but they weren't as hysterical her. Most of them were reasonably mad, but they did not curse me for doing my job. This woman truly believed that her sweet little son, Giuseppe, who's probably just as much of a junky as most of his friends, was possessed by Satan. I mean, reading his letters is enough for us to know that he's not well. He needs therapy. He seems to believe that he's living in this dystopia Middle Ages world, and for all I know, his words are just something he read in a book about alchemy or some other fantasy novels he might have fancied.
They're all fiction, but we do also have men turning into gold, so sure, I can welcome the devil in the equation too! Hahahahaha!


A series of short stories about the horrors of the material world, the fear of the unknown, and a general glimpse of the fragility of the human psyche. 

Witness the tales of several people as they face adversaries beyond human comprehension. Where does the monster truly lies: inside or outside? 

If two worlds collide, both will reign in each other's chaos. Do you place your trust in your own understanding of the world? Welcome dear visitor, welcome to a spectacle you never know of.

----

"And then I saw it. 

Taking his phone is not a wise decision after all. 

Even my jaw dropped and my brows furrowed after seeing it. I understand. The hasty beating of my heart fills my body with unfathomable chill because I completely understand now."
- a short excerpt from Vol. 1, A Serenade for the Innocent

[WEGA Transforms Into STAR, Is This 4 Billion Yuan Well Spent?]
This title was meant to stir up public discussion, while the article body used three paragraphs to objectively portray a simple narrative of the past and present of the STAR Stellarator.
However, this so-called objective narrative was only five hundred words.
And even the five hundred words were only used to merely pave the way for their biased opinion. 
Lu Zhou saw this and raised his eyebrows with interest. He couldn't help but wonder what Academician Zhou planned on doing; therefore, he continued to read the article.
He quickly realized the intention of the article.
Simply speaking, this scientific article had two main intentions.
The first was to pour cold water on this burning fire. They explained the 1-second plasma confinement time from a simple scientific standpoint, saying how it wasn't anything novel in the controllable nuclear fusion field.
Then, it subtly pointed out the work done by the STAR project team so far, saying how all they did was spend 4 billion yuan to buy a "second-hand machine" from someone else. 
As for the central idea of the article, other than criticizing the technical route of STAR Stellarator, they also said that he was "trying to impress people", "wasting our country's resources", and "affecting the development of controllable nuclear fusion".
Lu Zhou could probably guess why Academician Zhou was doing this.
It was nothing more than trying to defeat Lu Zhou before his wings were fully grown.
After all, the country's investment into the controllable nuclear fusion field was limited. If Lu Zhou received more resources, then naturally, he would receive less.
Did this article have any impact?
It actually had a little.
A commentary article signed by a big name had a certain amount of influence in the higher-ups' decision-making process.
Furthermore, this article wasn't a normal article. 
This was written by Zhou Chengfu himself, the head of the ITER China project team as well as the director of the China International Nuclear Fusion Energy Program Execution Center.
If this article were targeting some no-name scholar, they would be killed just by the influence of this review article alone.
As for Lu Zhou…
It did have a certain amount of impact, but it was limited.
This was the power and aura of a Nobel Prize winner.
But then again, average scholars weren't worthy of being personally attacked by Zhou Chengfu.
"Nicely written." Lu Zhou chuckled and turned over the newspaper.
Seeing that Lu Zhou wasn't angry and casually dismissed this matter, Sheng Xianfu couldn't help but ask, "Aren't you angry?" 
Whether it was Professor Li Changxia, or Professor Sheng Xianfu, or the others, the technical backbone of the STAR project team comprised of middle-aged scholars who were in their thirties. They often weren't able to hold back their anger.
After all, if they could manage their anger and understand the philosophy of playing safe, they wouldn't have come work for Lu Zhou.
Lu Zhou knew he was going to ask this, and he smiled as he replied nonchalantly, "Do you see Academician Pan getting angry?"
"I don't know… But how can we just leave it like this?" Sheng Xianfu asked, feeling unjust.
"What else are we going to do? Write a scientific review and criticize the tokamak? Offending most of the controllable nuclear fusion experts?" Lu Zhou threw the newspaper aside and said, "Why am I still doing research then, why don't I just become a reporter for the newspaper…"
Actually, if he really wanted to, he could write an article.
If any unresolved technical problem was a flaw, then every technical route had flaws. 
For example, the tokamak was an external magnetic field coupled with the magnetic field generated by the plasma current, which was equivalent to running tens of millions of amps on an unstable, turbulent conductor.
Serious problems such as twisting, magnetic tearing, and magnetic reconnection could all lead to the collapse of the entire system. And the consequences could be far more dangerous than the stellarator; it could cause serious damage to the equipment.
This was one of the reasons why every tokamak experiment was done cautiously and carefully.
Actually, Lu Zhou sometimes wondered if there were any new ideas that could jump out at him. He wondered why mathematics was so easy to deal with compared to this. After all, he solved the existence of a smooth Navier–Stokes equation and the plasma turbulence problems. If only he could also solve the twisting, magnetic tearing, and magnetic reconnection problems for everyone. 
But then again, even Old Zhou wouldn't use this kind of ridiculous argument to attack his opponent.
He noticed that Sheng Xianfu looked like he didn't want to take this loss, so Lu Zhou spoke slowly.
"Facts speak louder than words, and our result is the biggest counterattack.
"Right now, your job is to prepare for the experiment in August.
"Next time, we will aim for thirty minutes."
After hearing thirty minutes, Sheng Xianfu's facial expression changed; he looked a bit reluctant.
"Thirty minutes… Isn't it a bit too difficult for STAR Stellarator?"
Even with the upgraded water-cooled divertor and improved control scheme, the Wendelstein 7-X was barely able to reach this number.
Lu Zhou smiled and said, "Scared?"
Sheng Xianfu looked at Lu Zhou's confident expression and paused for a second.
He went silent for a while before a smirk gradually appeared on his face and reignited his fighting spirit.
"… No way, I'm not scared of anything."
…
There had always been a power hierarchy problem in academia.
There were some people at the top of the academic hierarchy that didn't talk about specific academic problems. Instead, they incorporated the issue of morality, race, and even politics into academic problems. They also took advantage of the general public's knowledge gaps and tried to incite their sense of justice and nationalism to attack their opponents. This was one of the common tactics used by tyrants in academia.
Even the international big names like Old Qiu had been screwed by the Chinese academic community.
These people didn't reason, didn't disprove. They only selectively chose facts that were beneficial to them and exaggerated them. 
Zhou Chengfu was definitely an expert in using this tactic.
Even if Lu Zhou wanted to respond to this article, it would be difficult.
However, Lu Zhou actually didn't have to do that.
Because the end result was always the best counterargument.
He never really cared about what Zhou Chengfu said.
Of course, even though he didn't care, there were many people that cared for him.
Like Academician Pan.
Even though the old academician was retired, he had been paying attention to the things that were happening in the industry.
After he read that article signed by Zhou Chengfu, his first reaction was to call Lu Zhou. He tried to persuade Lu Zhou not to do anything out of anger. If Lu Zhou acted impulsively, he might fall into Zhou Chengfu's trap.
Lu Zhou obviously already knew this; therefore, he told Academician Pan not to worry.
Lu Zhou knew exactly what to do and what not to do.
Other than Academician Pan, there was also the principal of Jin Ling University, Principal Xu.
Principal Xu's temper was not nearly as nice as that of Academician Pan's.
The STAR project was one of the key projects for Jin Ling University. Furthermore, Lu Zhou was the pride of Jin Ling University. Old Pan had a history with Zhou Chengfu, but Principal Xu was having none of this.
Lu Zhou found Principal Xu. He was about to discuss the control scheme of the stellarator with him when Principal Xu spoke first.
"What is with this Zhou Chengfu guy?"


After suffering from a heat stroke while working under the scorching heat of summer, Lu Zhou, a hardworking but poor university student, somehow becomes the owner of an advanced technological system. With the cheat given by the system, his university life changes overnight. 
  
A Master's degree? Easy. 
  
PhD? Not a problem.   
  
From a nobody, he quickly becomes a huge celebrity in the world of science. With the missions given by the system, he is on his way to winning a Nobel Prize.   

"System, can points be exchanged for money?"
  
"No."
  
"F**k, what use are you then!?"
  
"This system will make you the ultimate scholar, the kind that lords over all of humanity. What use will money be to you?"

Game 13
It's Just a Game (Chapter 13)

Irish's POV

Nandito ako sa library kung saan ang isa sa madalas kong tambayan sa school. I love reading books about scientific theory, History, Facts, Lifestyle and etc. The way I see those thing it broader my knowledge also can give me ideas. Then sometimes hindi ako late sa kung anong nangyayare sa bansa.

Here in the Philippines. Political issue pa rin at tingin ko ay hindi na talaga maaalis. May upcoming exam na rin kami kaya review-review na rin ako ng Notes. Habang naka-upo ako rito sa hindi mataong lugar ay may naririnig akong usapan.

"Did you know Irish Pimenova, the slutty nerd?" maarteng saad ng isang babae. 

"Anong meron at bakit iisue nanaman siya?" saad ng kaibigan nito. Habang kalapit lang nila ako ngunit hindi nila ako napansin dahil na rin sa nakatakip ang buhok ko kaya hindi nakikita.

"She's flirting sa dalawang member ng BADDEST. Someone saw them at the Peryahan somewhere," maarteng saad nung babae. Hindi na ako tumingin sa kanila pinapakinggan ko na lamang ang sinasabi nila. 

Nakakainis isipin ang mga pinaparatang nila sa'kin na hindi naman makatotohanan. Fyi, hindi ko nilalandi ang dalawa sapagkat pagkakaibigan ang binibigay ko hindi kalandian. Utak ng mga tao ngayon masyado ng madumi konting malisya binibigyan motibo.

Alam niyo yung puso ko na para bang bumibigat na hindi ko mawari. Ngayon ay nagsisimulang mag-isip ng kung ano-ano ang utak ko na hindi naman dapat. Akala ko masasanay na ako sa mga sasabihin nila sa'kin pero mas masakit pala yung kinakaibigan ka ng tao ay biglang may ipaparatang silang masama sayo.

"O.M.G reaaly?, that bitch," galit na saad ng kasama niya. Siguro taga hanga naman ito ni BADDEST kaya kung mag react wagas. Masama palang kaibiganin yung tao. Poket babae ako at hindi naman kagandahan ay kailangan husgahan ng ganito ganyan.

Parang hindi naman makatarungan iyon pero ito anong mapapala ko kahit sabihin ko na ganito ang intension ko pero may mga makikitid pa rin ang utak na iba ang sasabihin nila.

Nagbasa nalang ako ng notes kahit hindi ako nakakapag focus ay pinipilit ko nang sumuko ako dahil wala pa ring pumapasok sa isip ko ay dudukmo ko nalang ng makatulog ako.

Sa pag gising ko ay tiningnan ko ang oras sa cellphone ko. Sa gulat ko ay lunch time na so nakapa skip classes ako ng isang period. Nilagay ko na sa bag ang aking gamit at umalis na.
Nagmamadali akong umalis dahil hinihintay ako nila Christine sa garden kung saan doon kami magkikita. Naglalakad ako ng may nabangga ako.

"Sorry," saad ko ngunit hinarangan ako ng mga kasamahan nito nakita ko si Stella. humarap ko ay namukhaan ko sila stella kaya napabuntong hininga na lamang ako.

"Well, well, well, the slutty nerd is here," maarteng saad ni Stella. 

"Anong kailangan niyo?" saad ko sa kanila. Siguro aawayin nanaman nila ako about doon sa peryahan.

"Well, I'm just gonna tell you something," ngising saad ni Amanda. Lumapit ito sa'kin kaya napaatras ako.

"What it is?"maririing kong saad. Bumulong ito sa'kin na ikinagulat ko. Hindi ko inasahan ang sasabihin ito o baka gawa-gawa lamang nito.

"I think your just fooling me," saad ko rito. Ngumisi itong bruha sa'kin. 

"Wanna bet?" tinaas pa nito ang kanyang kilay. Umalis na ako sa kanila dahil nasasayang na ang oras ko sa kanila.

Medyo napapaisip ako sasinabi nito pero hinayahan ko na lamang ang sinabi ni Amanda. Still maniwala pa rin ako dahil mga kaibigan ko yung tao dapat hindi ako magpapaniwala sa anumang sabihin ng iba.

Nakita ko na sila Christine at Trisha sa kubo kaya pumunta na rin ako roon.

"Sorry guys I'm late nakatulog ako sa library hehe," napakamot ako sa aking ulo.

"It's okay you know this will be our hell week. Exam is near na rin then PT pero pagkatapos Party party," masayang saad ni Chrisitne na ikinangiwi namin ni Trisha.

"Hello, Acquaintance party on Saturday," parang ewan itong nagsasalita dahil mas uunahin pa niya yon kaysa exam na darating─ actually bukas na pala.

"Mag review ka nalang jan Christine matagal pa iyon. 3 Days ang exam natin remember then may asikasuhin ka pa sa shop mo," saad ni Trisha. Ang cute niya talaga.

"Oo na po, MADAM!" pabalang na saad ni Christine na ikinatawa namin.

-

Sa tatlong araw ng exam matiwas naman na natapos ko ito 3 subject per day and 100 items. Nagkaproblema lang ako sa Calculus since hindi pa ako ganon kagaling sa Math. Isa sa kahinahan ko.

Mahirap talaga kaya madalas akong magkulong sa kwarto at natigilan ko na manood ng Anime or Together series. Ito talaga ang isa sa pinaka mahirap na ginagawa ng students ang mag exam minsan hindi pa lumalabas ang tinuturo nila at may ibang teacher na ibibigay ang notes pagkatapos memorize word to word.


"Pass your paper," saad ng teacher namin. Natapos kong sagutin lahat kaya naman proud kong ipinasa ang exam ko.

"You may go now," saad nito kaya nagsi labasan narin ang iba kong mga kaklase. Pinasok ko na rin ang mga gamit ko upang makalabas na rin ako at makauwi.

2 pm ang uwian namin kada may exam. Ayos lang dahil makakapanood na ako muli ng gusto kong panoorin. Lumabas na ako ng nadatnan ko si Christine, hindi kami magkaklase pero malapit lang ang room nito. 

"Labas tayo," aya nito sa'kin hinawakan nito ang braso ko dahil naiisip siguro nito na tatakasan ko sila.

"Ayaw ko," pagtatanggi ko rito. Hindi naman sa KJ pero gusto kong magkulong sa bahay ngayon. Ganito ang nakasanayan ko noon pero ngayon nagbago na ng makasama ko sila.

Masaya naman ako na nakasama ko sila pero may nagbago rin napapadalas na ang lakad ko at hindi na rin ako madalas stuck sa bahay. Minsan kasi kinukulit na rin nila akong lumabas kapag weekend then trabaho kami sa shop niya. 

"Sige na, diba may acquaintance bukas kaya shopping," masaya nitong saad. Hinala ako nito papunta hanggang parking lot. Para kaming mga bata kaya lahatng estudyante ay napapatingin sa'min. 

"Ayaw ko kasi~" pagdadamog ko. Ito ang isa sa hindi ko gusto once na ayaw ko hindi niyo ako mapipilit minsan lang din ako maging moody ata.

"Halikana oh, nanjan na pala si Trisha," saad nito nakita ko rin na naghihintay ito sa kotse nitong katulad kay Mr. Bean ngunit kulay pink.

Ang cute masyado gusto ko ng ganyan pero hindi naman ako mabibilhan ni Kuya. Siya ang may yaman hindi ako ang gusto ko lang ipabili sa kanya yung kakailangnin ko pero minsan nagbibigay ito ng mga bagay na hindi ko naman request kaya kinukuha ko lamang.

"WHERE GOIN' TO SHOPPING~!" sigaw ni Christine at pinapasok nila ako sa sasakyan.

Itutuloy…

It's Just a Game Irish Nathally is an Independent-smart girl. She's a dreamer and reaching her Goal in life. A nerd that been bullied to their campus for almost 4 executived years but as she step in her Shs her life change when she meet THE BADDEST particular the group leader none other than Tristan. Tristan Ace is a Heartthrob in their campus. A wealthy person with a badboy/charismatic features. He doesn't believe in love and He believes that love is Just a Game. A game they've create that collide this two person. What will gonna happen?. Tristan will seek and find the true of meaning of love?

"Hiraoka," A firm voice called out. "I'm sure you know why I made you stay behind right?"

 

"Uhh..as much as I want to say that I do, I don't.."

 

Inside an empty classroom after school, was this young female teacher, sizing-up this low-profile student with her intimidating eyes as she continued her interrogation.

 

Her way of interrogating wasn't anything new. The way the questions were asked was way too suggestive and was clearly one-sided, there was only one answer amongst a vast variety of choices like it always was. If interrogating someone only meant forcing out a specific word from another person, then I'm pretty sure word games like Shiratori would also be considered as one.

 

Either way, seeing that kind of scene was truly sad. It made you appreciate the blissful freedom you've always taken for granted in your everyday life.

 

And like any other person, I clearly wouldn't want to be in the poor guy's shoes. But as much as I wished that I wasn't, unfortunately, it was me.

 

In front of my eyes was a female teacher around the age of who-knows-how-much, having her arms firmly crossed to assert her superiority. She had short black hair that reflected the afternoon sunlight that enveloped the after-class scene, and was wearing this sleek, blue tracksuit that gave emphasis to her well-developed figure. She was a physical-education teacher like her outfit suggests, and was also the homeroom teacher of our class, Yasuhara Hina-sensei.

 

"Oh? Are you sure you don't know what you did?" Sensei asked as she further reinforced her folded arms, causing her ubiquitous marks of adulthood to move up accordingly. What was with that sudden glimpse of heaven just now…was it intentional?

 

The way sensei's track-suit amplified her older-woman charm was very effective. Each and every fiber of her clothes' well-being had taken the shape of her adult-sized bust. Just the sight of it was enough to make me take a half-step back.

 

"U-umm...I'm pretty sure that the answer that sensei's looking for is nowhere to be found in this guy's head." I timidly replied, averting my eyes from sensei's womanly charms.

 

"What are you suppose to be, a nun? Will you die if your memories don't  get annually wiped out? I'm sorry to break it to you but science has already proven that your sad excuse isn't scientifically possible."

 

"Nah, I didn't mean it like that," I jested, swaying my hand around in denial. "I just seriously have no idea what sensei's talking about here."

 

"Ehh.." Upon hearing my response, a sullen expression clouded over sensei's face, a silent sigh managed to slip in-between her lips. "C-can't you at least take a wild guess..?"

 

"No." I bluntly replied.

 

"You brat..." Sensei mumbled in irritation. "I guess I'll just get straight to the point." Losing interest on her stupid game of charades, she drew this ominous-looking piece of paper from her desk's drawer, fixating her gaze toward the object in question as she held it up high for the whole school to see. "To change is to lose...I won't lose to society. Does that ring a bell?" She asked as she sent a sharp glare my way.

 

"Eh? Uhh..k-kinda." Indeed, those few, insignificant lines that sensei had spouted just now was awfully familiar. It brought back some long-forsaken memories from the day just before yesterday. At this point, I could already take a wild guess to why I was asked to stay behind. "That's the essay I wrote for Tomura-sensei's class if I remember correctly. What about it?"

 

"Tomura-sensei asked me to deal with this since I'm both your homeroom teacher and a guidance counselor. Tsk." At that instance, sensei's face broke into annoyance, turning to her side as she pretended to spit on the floor. We were inside a building so it's only natural that she didn't really do it. Or did she..?

 

"A-ahh, I totally get you sensei. It sucks when someone younger than you gets to boss you around like that, right?"

 

"Somewhere along those lines." Sensei paused, paying little-to-no heed to my sad attempt of diverting the topic. Too much for that ingenious plan… "Setting that dispute aside," She went on, placing my essay on her desk. "What kind of convoluted manga have you been reading lately to have the balls to show me this shallow stuff."

 

"Uhh..well, it's not like I wrote it for you to see…"

 

Sensei let out an exasperated sigh, rubbing her temple as if my words suddenly gave her a migraine. "Drop the fallacious arguments will you? You're in no position to give me that kind of response."

 

"Oh, then, I'm kinda into light novels at the moment.."

 

"Li-Light no…light novels?" Sensei repeatedly blinked, looking my way with eyes that of an innocent child that was being lectured about the birds and the bees. Even though she seemed to know about the library inside a certain magical nun's head, she had no idea what a light novel was. It looked sensei was the type who would choose the movie over the book.

 

"Uhh..It's kind of like manga, but less illustrations and more words."

 

"Mhmm, I see." Sensei nodded away in slight astonishment. "So what's with these lines that seem to be taken out of a manga?"

 

Uwaaah..it's no use. I'm not getting through this woman at all. And here I thought that I've already established my point of not reading manga recently. It was merely a misunderstanding on my part. Does this teacher even know how to listen? It feels like my words went through one ear and out of the other. Rather, they never managed to get through at all.

 

"I-it's not like I took them out of a manga or anything like that...I merely wrote what I wanted to write." I crossed my arms, averting my eyes.

 

"Is that so? I get the impression that society's some sort of evil organization that you have to take down with this essay. Just so you know, people with dead fish eyes like yours have no rights to be a protagonist of a manga."

 

Geh..could you drop the manga stuff already? Stepping on uncharted waters would only mean digging up your own grave. Also I'm pretty sure there are a number of main characters with this so-called dead fish eyes. Leave my eyes out of this dammit…

 

"S-setting manga aside, I'm not trying to play some cool main character role here. I might not look like it but I'm already past that age just so you know."

 

"I guess I'll just pretend to agree with you on that, mhmm." Sensei paused, discarding my statement with a nod. "Putting that aside, why did you submit some shallow essay like this? Do you think that being cynical is cool nowadays? If I was your classmate and I saw this piece of garbage, I'm sure I'd already given you a nickname and spread the word."

 

"..it's not like I'm being cynical or anything like that, I just wrote the truth. Wouldn't you agree if I said that everything written on my essay is based out of facts?" Seriously, if newspapers back in the day had always received such reception, then I wouldn't be surprised why yellow journalism was a thing in the past.

 

"Facts?" Sensei smirked. "If you ask me, the thoughts in your essay is filled with nothing but your mere opinions. I'm pretty sure that anyone who would read this would also think the same." At that very moment, a somewhat triumphant expression came over sensei's face, as if declaring her victory to the whole human population.

 

There was a part of me that felt defeat, while another part felt like throwing a rebuttal. But for some reason, it felt like any form of retort would only be put in vain with this woman. Unfortunately, I wasn't the type of person to step down on an argument.

 

"Uhh, well..I can't really argue with that.." I said, avoiding sensei's eyes with a shrug. "But sensei, wouldn't you agree if I were to tell you that facts merely came about from people's opinions?"

 

"Hm?" Sensei slightly tilted her head in confusion, a puzzeled look on her face. "What are you trying to say here?"

 

"I'm sure that famous theories that are taught in class, and even established scientific laws that we currently believe in were once mere thoughts in some person's mind that sprung out of curiosity. It was from their opinion that they shared with fellow men in their field, that the world is the way it is today. So it would be wrong if my essay were to get denied right here and now."

 

As soon as I finished my piece, I turned to sensei and looked her square in the eyes, only to be welcomed by a slightly taken back Yasuhara-sensei, a repulsed expression playing on her face. W-what, was my words too convincing that you felt my true powers sensei? G-good to know.

 

"You…" Sensei murmured, "If your essay were to play a role in the development of society, then I'm sure this world would be a real dark place with that twisted outlook of yours.." 

 

"Heh- this world is already dark enough with all the stuff that's happening around. I don't see how my highly self-aware thoughts would be able to make it even worse. In fact, I'm pretty confident that my essay would even make others more aware of their short-comings and probably make them pursue the path of betterment, if I do say so myself. "

 

"I see," Sensei affirmed, "So now you're trying to change the world huh. Aren't you aiming too high for someone such as yourself? Even if a notebook that enables you to do so would randomly fall in front of you right now, do you think you can handle such a huge responsibility?"

 

"Who're you supposed to be, Ryuk!? Will you give me that notebook if I happened to answer correctly!?"

 

"Oh..you seem to be rather interested."

 

"I guess you could say that. Although, I'm not really inclined toward the 'changing the world' part. I don't really give a damn about the world after all. I'd rather use the note to finish off those popular types that always seem to always get on my nerves." Seriously, who do you think they are, celebrities? You always had to do as they say and had go along with their shit. And when you went against them, they'd make you enemy number one in class. What's with that anyway. Even I wouldn't treat celebrities like royalty. 

 

"Kehh…you sure you aren't just insecure?"

 

…What the hell is this woman talking about. Who would feel insecure about those carefree bastards. If there was anyone who's insecure here, it would be them and no one else. Why do you think they try so hard to show off to everyone else, because they're confident about themselves?

 

"Uhh..I'm pretty sure I'm not the one who's insecure here." I wearily replied.

 

"Well, if you aren't some chuunibyou-ridden kid, nor an angsty insecure teenager, then why would you write something like this? Do you get off with being alone or something?"

 

"Why the hell does your assumptions get worse by the second…I don't have a thing for being alone or anything like that. I just like peaceful solitude more than boisterous fun is all. Is anything wrong with that, sensei?"

 

At that moment, sensei looked away with a vivid shrug that said 'ahh..this guy seriously doesn't get it' with her mere shoulders alone. Man was that annoying...

 

"Hiraoka," She grabbed hold of my shoulder with her iron-clad hand, giving me this sympathetic look that made me feel like the receiving end of a charity foundation. "Shouldn't someone like you rather be enjoying their youth instead of rotting in some corner alone? Your youth only comes once so you should make the best out of it..."

 

Hearing sensei's remark, a loud smirk found its way in between my lips, forcing out this conceitedly huge grin to surface this very world.

 

"Sensei, including myself in the carefree majority would only spell trouble in more ways than one. They give you this sense of guilt each time you went against them even though you're in the right, and they'd also force you to go along with their shenanigans, only to leave you behind to make you their scapegoat. Also, they're pretty good actors if I do say so myself. They act this certain way while you have your eyes turned on them, then act another once you turn your back away. If they could switch from one role to another in such a short period of time then I'm pretty sure they could get nominated for an Oscar with that kind of acting. In other words, they're practically placing a hell lotta pressure on you in exchange for an ensured spot with their carefree group. It doesn't seem like a practical choice." I took a short pause to catch my breath, pointing my index finger up to further assert my point. "In conclusion, secluding myself from the rest of the world would not only spare me from going through that stupid excuse of acceptance, but would also guarantee me a safe and peaceful life at the same time. So by any means, it's the best course of action to take."

 

As I finished defending my stand, I lifted my eyes and met sensei's gaze. And contrary to my expectation, sensei's face showed no sign of astonishment or amazement after hearing my nobel prize-worthy speech. Instead, she had one eyebrow raised as she sent me this rather sharp glare.

 

"So in short, you're basically running away from the problem, correct?"

 

"Uhh…well, I'd prefer to avoid calling it that. It's more of a tactical retreat...or a strategic play if you may." Indeed, calling it running away would definitely make it sound like I'm Mayweather or something, which is why it musn't be called that at all costs. 

 

"Ohh.." Sensei crossed her arms below her firm chest in an exasperated way, once again lifting those huge signs of adulthood along with it. It made my eyes look away as they got immediately drawn back by her older-woman charms. Gulp. "Humility is one thing, and self-depreciation is another...I don't know if I should feel sad about what I just heard or amazed."

 

"I'd actually prefer it if you stayed neutral about it.."

 

For a good five seconds, there was this aggravating silence that fell over the two of us. No words were able to escape my mouth, nor were there any words that would seem to slip out of sensei's as well. She didn't move an inch from where she stood, and so did I. She just stood there, staring dubiously at me for the first three seconds, whipped her gaze to her wrist watch for the fourth, and threw them back at me for the fifth. 

 

"Hiraoka, do you have a club that you should be attending right now?"

 

"Ahh..not re-"

 

"Ahh, my bad. I was stupid to ask." Sensei interjected, cutting me off mid-sentence. "If it's you we're talking about here then I'm sure you don't."

 

"O-ohh.."

 

So it was already a given huh…

 

"I actually have an appointment with another one of your kind, so I think it'd be best if we continue things there."

 

"Umm…I actually have plans after school." I paused, "Also, another one of my kind? What are you trying to say here sensei."

 

Ignoring my words and my very existence, sensei walked ahead in a rather slow haste. And as soon as she reached the corridor, she turned to me with a look that said 'follow me or I'll break your ribs' with her mere eyes alone. It was seriously scary so I just had to go along.

 

With a terse sigh directed toward this cruel mistress called fate, I stepped one foot forward and decided to follow suit, blindlessly walking toward an inevitable fate with wavering resolve.

 

There's seriously something wrong with this system.

 

Hiraoka Hiroshi is a cynical highschool student who refuse to change. To him,changing is the same as admitting defeat to society's defected system. But when he turns in an essay that shows this exact same view, he is then forced to start a club with a person of simillar traits, a kind of club that helps other troubled children such as theirselves to deal with their problems. How will Hiroshi deal with this dilema?
_______________

note: This work was transfered from my account from a different site, dates specified in author's afterwords (or any form of word outside of the narrative) may not coincide with present time.

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