Before I entered the school building a girl stood in front of my way.

She didn't have a smile, she didn't have a glare either. She was just waiting for me. "Can we talk?"

There weren't many students around, so I didn't see why not. Besides, I already wanted to too. "Yeah."

She took a deep breath. "I understand you don't like me. But- I love you." Those words meant nothing to me. And I got the feeling she knew that. "And- if you think I'm a nuisance then do you think I should disappear from your life? I'm not asking much, just let me at least be your slave."

Just hearing her made me sigh. She was trying to win me over, while also giving me options to make her not see me, while also making me feel bad about the whole thing. Clever girl.

But if I faltered now, there was going to be no backing down. "Look, I do believe people deserve second chances. But what you did-"

"I even bought you an offering." She pulled out a chocolate bar from her purse.

Damn! Who the hell told her about my weakness? I cleared my throat. "As I said, everyone deserves a second chance. And though, I don't want to see your face, I'll at least forgive you." For the choco- ahem! Because I was that nice.

Her face lit up a little. "I know asking to be friends a lot, but would you-"

"No."

She frowned a little. "I have another bar. Would you at least let me become your slave?"

"No." I wasn't some guy who'd just accept bribes, okay?

She frowned a bit more. "Please?" Now she started begging and we started gathering attention. "I'll even give you a pool of chocolate of that what it takes!"

'Wait what?'

A pool of chocolate?

Suddenly my life flashed before my eyes.

A pool of chocolate!

More and more people started to gather near me and seeing me staggered Raea grinned and tried to open her mouth again.

I quickly grabbed my head and gave it a shake. "Umm… I-a…. Stay twenty feet away from me at all times, please. And never mention the word chocolate around me ever again."

And I walked as fast as I could. Any more time spent here, and I might have ended up giving her more privileges rather than actually forbidding anything. I wanted a pool but, I couldn't get it like this. I didn't know to.

Merin was right, I really was just running away.

Sigh.

Well, at least now I had two bars of chocolate, two bars I couldn't eat till next Sunday.

But oh well.

***

I was the second one to enter class.

There was already someone in there.

Someone I knew rather well. And someone I didn't want to see.

Marg was here and now she was looking at me.

I wanted to run away, my feet were even shaking a little. 'Have courage. Deep breaths.' I took deep breaths and tried to calm down. The chocolate bars in my pocket gave me courage! "There isn't anyone here, so let's have a talk. I won't take too much of your time."

My voice shook a little and I was nervous, but I still tried my best.

The room was too quiet. The air conditioner was rattling a little and I sweated.

'Shit, I forgot to take a shower.'

"Sure." She stood up and stood right in front of me. "What?"

I actually didn't think she'd take me seriously. I even thought she'd run away.

Why didn't she run away!

Now I couldn't run away either. I took more deep breaths and thought about Merin. Why? Cause he pissed me off and thinking about his words made me want to prove him wrong. "I love you and want to be with you. What do you say!" I spoke so fast, it was probably hard for her to even hear them let alone understand.

Was being too possessive? Was I being too obsessed? I sure hope, she didn't feel that way.

She just stood there, quiet. There was no answer from her.

The silence was too loud.

I took another deep breath and calmed myself. I actually felt a bit faint now. "I'm not trying to make you mine like some sort of item, I genuinely want to be with you. I don't know if it's love, I don't know if it's genuine, but I want to be with you as a human being, as someone you can count on. I just-"

"Would it-" She averted her gaze. For the first time, she looked sad. "Would it be alright, if I gave you my answer at a later date?" Towards the last bit, her eyes met mine. She wasn't running away.

I didn't know why but a wave of victory coursed through my veins. I already prepared for her to shut me down, so just the fact that she was willing to consider, was, well, definitely a win for me.

I smiled. "Of course." I could almost jump around and I would have done just that if more students didn't suddenly start pouring in. And she hadn't whispered something.

That something being, "You should take a shower."

I actually wanted to cry after hearing that: like seriously.

Did I really smell that bad!?

We both took our seats. There was no more talk between us and eventually, the classroom got full, but honestly, for the first time ever in my life, I felt like I'd achieved something.

Okay, maybe not the first time, but yeah.

I was definitely going to take a shower next though.

***

Classes ended, and since I didn't have anything to do, I went back to the dorm, took a lengthy shower, got changed, and went out again, sightseeing around the campus.

And then I realized, 'didn't I get a memory instiller?' How in the world had I forgotten that?

I had no clue.

I went back to the dorm, and now I had to climb this massive stair again.

Would it really hurt god that much just to let me fly?

Was God even there?

Sigh.

I certainly didn't want to experiment and break my bones again, so I just climbed the stairs.

Merin was out on a date, so I had the room all to myself for the next five or six hours. I locked the door, opened the instructions, and read through everything.

Took me an hour to figure out how things worked and then, bam!

I was logged in just like that.

My body was on the bed, but my mind was in a virtual reality: basically, I looked the same here too, except maybe an inch taller.

It was like a large room with black borders and the floor was like glass: it reminded me of my mind and that dark place, but it wasn't the same.

I had a large 100 or so inch display in front of me with various options.

I could choose what to imprint on my brain and even buy knowledge: I could have even played games on this, apparently.

School-level knowledge was free in the academy, so I didn't need to worry about that. The college-level stuff was very expensive though.

A lot of people never come to schools because they could easily download knowledge like this. But those people don't realize, knowledge without any application, was pointless.

So anyway, without any dilly dally, I searched for the stuff I needed, aka, the sciences, some history, Mutor biology, and started the process. It was a harmless process but would take at least three hours to complete.

But it was harmless for the body. For the mind?

AREGHGHRHHRHGFHF!

Yeah, not so much.