章節 36: Strayed Afar

––

|| CHAPTER 36 | Strayed Afar ||

"A young one that strayed far from their path. Lost and cold, hiding beneath the roofs that nature had provided. Eating only wild fruits that they found, only to be found dead beneath the grasp of a beast.

"A child that knows nothing. A soul that shows no curiosity. One that holds no life.

"Little one, tell me. What would you do when you've walked away from the path that had been set out for you? The fate that is written in your book, by your own hands. One that hides many things and reveals many secrets.

"Would it be possible to rewrite our own lives, I wonder, too. Would you do so if you could?"

––

Wednesday, 22nd of July, Lunar Year of 3020

It was bright outside. However, the temperature spoke otherwise.

The scorching sun wasn't enough to warm the frigid winds that kissed their skins cold, even in the season of summer this year. It was getting colder and colder each day.

This time, the class of 1-6 had gathered in the sixth gym after homeroom was done. It seemed like now they're going to learn magic and the basics of fighting in the world for real instead of so many of Asuma's weird homeroom sessions.

Shizuka never got to check out her gym clothes and others' gym-wear in detail, so she took this chance to look at everyone else's as well.

Their gym clothes consisted of one-piece black rubber clothes that had similar material as most swimwear. They wore a loose white t-shirt and dark grey shorts over it.

The attire they wore was considered much of a blessing, seeing how oddly cold for summer it was outside. They felt oddly warm in them, though not too hot nor too cold. Shizuka speculated that the warmth was probably due to them being in a building.

The last time she checked, it was somewhat cold when they went outside, but not as cold when they wore their plain old uniform.

The one-pieces were covering their arms and legs. They were all also wearing the same kind of shoes. The pair were translucent and see-through. Sparks and bubble-like substances were seen decorating the soles.

Shizuka tapped the end of her shoe to the floor, testing how it fit her. It was oddly comfortable, despite how the shoe hugged her foot tightly.

Feeling light on her feet, Shizuka jumped up and down to test the water out, satisfied how she could jump without much effort put into her legs.

"Hmm... It's light. I'm guessing it's injected with mana?" she wondered to herself, fascinated by the pair of footwear.

Although she wore a similar pair of shoes back in junior high, the ones she wore now felt somewhat different, but she couldn't put her finger on what could possibly make them feel that way.

The clothes that they wore were light, even though they were wearing several layers of them. They were enhanced by magic to also give protection to the children. Though not the best, they were enough to prevent any injuries, but not good enough to prevent death.

'Huh... I wonder if they cast a speed spell on these...' Shizuka wondered to herself as she examined her clothes.

A sigh was heaved and the female Ichijou looked around.

Her classmates were restless, yet, they were silent.

It had been half an hour or so since they'd been there, and their supposed teacher was nowhere to be seen. They knew not of this teacher Asuma had spoken of. If any of them knew, they would've called the teacher here by now.

"Have anyone seen our teacher? It's been a long while since we've waited here," Nerea, the long-haired girl, asked gently to no one in particular as they also didn't know where the teacher was.

Her voice was so quiet, but the silence within the building upped her volume levels above.

Not long after, as if their prayers had been heard, a middle-aged man came in bursting the gym door wide open.

Not what they were expecting, but it's better than nothing.

The winds kicked in, causing the ones by the door to shiver beneath mother nature's cold touch. It seemed that the warmth provided by their clothes weren't enough to keep them from quivering.

"... I think the doors are broken now," Kishi commented plainly on the man's entrance as he walked up to them, smiling widely.

"GOOOOOD MORNING STUDENTS!! I AM PLEASED TO MEET YOU ALL!! THE NAME'S ULOSIER CHELWOSIA, CALL ME 'MR CHEL,'" FUHAHAHAH!!"

His loud booming voice rang throughout the whole gym. They had to forcefully cover their ears so that their eardrums wouldn't burst.

They could note his ginger hair and beard. His eyes were neon blue. He wore all sorts of colourful clothing. Did they forget to mention that they're all neon as well? Bright. Too bright.

Kishi covered his eyes from all the bright colours as Shizuka awed at them. The others could only laugh at odd tastes in colours.

However, even Shizuka would say that Ulosier's attires were a bit blinding to the eyes. If it wasn't for Mizuto casting a quick spell to lessen the brightness of the man's clothing, they would go blind sooner or later.

"OKAY, SO, CAN ANYBODY GUESS WHAT WE'RE GOING TO DO TODAY?" he questioned the students with his booming voice. Kishi could swear he felt the ground shake when the ginger-bearded man talked.

"We're probably gonna go to the hospital to get our ears checked out," Yuzuru joked as the others laughed. Some students just stayed quiet and just observed from the sidelines.

"NOPE, WRONG!!"

"That wasn't even an answer! Don't take it seriously!!"

"Are we going to train sir?" Elloise raised his hand as he asked innocently.

Imaginary arrows could be seen striking the girls' hearts as they clutched their chests while thinking, 'SO CUTE!'

Seiya chuckled at the girls while Keita... Uh, well...

"Wake up, you, sleepyhead...!!" Kishi shouted at the aqua-haired male, but the latter ignored him and continued to sleep. The lavender-haired boy sighed and returned to his original position. Yuzuru patted his back in a comforting way.

"Maybe practise our muscles?" Zannera swung his arm around, warming up while jumping in his spot slightly.

"CLOSE, BUT NOT QUITE. WE'RE DOING SOME BASIC MUSCLE TRAINING TODAY, FUHAHAHAH!!" Mr Chel answered the were-rabbit and tangerine energetically as he placed his big hands on his hips, laughing merrily.

"Ain't that the same thing?!" the were-rabbit whisper-shouted.

"Basic... muscle training?" the students quoted as the man walked to the door, his back facing them. A timer in his hands and a floating screen right beside the other. "FUHAHAHA!! NOW FOLLOW ME!! WE'RE GOING FOR A QUICK JOG!!!"

The class was caught off guard when the ginger man dashed out of the gym, "Ehh...?!"

"Come on! Let's follow him before we lost him!" Zannera exclaimed as he quickly followed the teacher.

"Wait, but I thought we weren't allowed to go outside of the school's vicinity without the headmaster's permission?!" Vinnetra screamed, panicked as he tried to put on the pair of shoes that he took off a while ago with his hair all messed up.

Elloise and a few others voiced their agreements, contemplating their choices. In the end, the rest of the class followed behind as well after coming to a conclusion.

But one wouldn't know, how their souls would stray away from the main path.

How the world would split and how danger awaited them ahead.

Shadows began showing on the ground behind them, emerging men from beneath the earth. With hoods that hid their identities, even the bugs could hear their vicious chuckles.

"Oh, this will be fun, don't you think so?" one man spoke whilst another laughed.

"Hell, yeah. If messing with those foreign shit in the plan, then I'm all in it."

The first one weighed his body onto one leg, cocking his head to the side as he examined the shadows of the kids. They weren't that far from them, and yet, none had sensed their mana invading the school's grounds.

"Hmph, it seems to me that our mimic's working perfectly," he stated with a menacing smile, chuckling all the while. "It's a good thing that you managed to capture that human earlier."

The second one scoffed and crossed his arms, spitting. "Of course, it's a good thing. The only curse I got was how brightly coloured that human was. It was a pain in the ass to copy all those details," he spat.

"Oh, you're here."

"Now, then..."

The last one emerged from below, walking between the two ominously chuckling individuals. He rose his head and bored holes onto the back of the last running students, glowering as if looks could kill.

He unsheathed his sword and stabbed it to the ground without a sound, creating a crack that would go after the end of one's feet.

The dimension split in half and the sky turned grey.

The ground shook and cracked into two.

He then spoke, heavily and firm:

⠀

"May the plan begin."

⠀

––

"Gracious Gaia, we freaking LOST him!!" Zannera shouted in disbelieve whilst Yuzuru searched for their ginger-haired teacher left and right.

"Gosh damn it, how is he so fast?! And how can he not notice how his students are missing?!" Yuzuru complained along, tearing his hair apart in frustration. "If he was to shout with that loud-ass voice of his, we would've found each other by now."

The whole class flunked down as they rest a bit near a park. They ran out of the school's vicinity since the teacher told them to do so. It was probably too hopeful for them to wish that Mr Chel would cover for them since they somehow broke one of the school rules by following the man out.

They've been running and running behind him, trying to keep up with the ginger-haired man. They passed a few neighbourhoods along the way.

Shizuka gave up on running halfway and used magic to make herself light and floated instead. She didn't really care at this point. As long as she's not short on breath, she would be prepared for any situation at hand.

If there would be one.

Shizuka also cast some spells on those who struggled as well. Remembering back, it looked like they lost the teacher when he dived into crowds of people and turned by the corner of the blocks.

The whole class had been lost for a while now and none spotted him since.

The ginger-bearded man led them into an unknown neighbourhood that even the children knew nothing of. The great Ichisaki Kishi was suddenly questioning if he had memorized Aeorece's grounds right or not.

It was a wonder how he hadn't heard of this neighbourhood they're walking in.

"Okay, now where did that guy go..." Kishi mumbled to himself as he flew up high to get a good look at the neighbourhood. Shadows circled around his feet, helping him propel upwards.

"I do think that it shouldn't be that hard, considering how he wears those bright and colourful clothes," Nerea pointed out gently, quietly sipping the water that Vinnetra had got for everyone out of nowhere.

"You think he's gonna notice us missing and turned back, but NO. He just went on his day!" Zannera stated angrily, a tad bit annoyed at how this session turned out. "I was looking forward to sports lessons today, too..."

Isseiris cast a spell that showed him the map of the neighbourhood. Shizuka and Elloise peered close from beside him. The taller male kept turning the map here and there, trying to figure out where they were.

"Issei-san, does it not show where we are?"

Isseiris was caught off guard at the nickname the female Ichijou decided to give him. Glancing at her, he turned back at his map again before answering, "My map could only tell the buildings and layout of this place. Unfortunately, it doesn't tell what it's called. Which is weird. Looks like we're in a new area."

"I do think it's odd how we've never seen this neighbourhood before," Seiya softly added, frowning a bit at their unexpected situation. "Seems that it's deserted, too. I haven't seen a single soul wandering around the area ever since we lost Chel-sensei."

"How will we get back then?" Elloise asked with a small whimper, a bit sad and scared that they got lost. He looked around for any people, but there's no one around this neighbourhood.

It seemed deserted, just like how Seiya had pointed out.

Though that's what they would think. All the houses seemed completely fine and taken care of. How could they stand if there's no one to take care of them?

Orion clicked his tongue and crossed his arms. He walked around, not far from their sight until he firmly stated:

⠀

"Something's definitely off here."

⠀

|| CHAPTER 36 | Strayed Afar - To be continued… ||

––