As the winds continued to blow, Natria pedalled. He drove past the 'Alte Bibliothek', the town's old library; home to the entire history of Avenriot, all neatly compiled in a million of books, articles and many more. Oh, how much he loved to read! Seeing the library, he found himself reminiscing about his early years, when he was just a kid; his father would bring picture books from the library for him to read. Oh, how much scared he was once upon seeing a dragon in one of those and then his father came to his aid. His love for books and his father only increased after that.

Soon, the picture books turn to books of history, philosophy and theology as his father went from a handsome man with a thick chevron mustache to his adorable plump old man. The appearance might have changed, but his love for him never changed. After all, it was his father who had worked all alone to help him grow.

A sad smile came on his face.

'Alone? Yes, that's what he was. Without mom, he took everything upon himself. I wonder how different things could have been if you were here, too. I wonder, would you also take me to the park like he did? I wonder if auntie and uncle would bring me treats. I wonder if how would we play if those two were here. I can just wonder.'

"FWEET!" a high-pitched voice came.

Natria snapped out, pressing the brakes of the bicycle. As his feet touched the ground, he looked around; he had reached the institute, 'Weiterführende Schule der Elite'. The most prestigious school in all of Karsen attended only by those which are the absolute best in their field; specimen at their finest.

"FWEET! FWEET!" the watchman at the gate whistled.

"Natria! Where are you going? The schools right here." said the watchman.

Natria was lost in his nostalgia that he didn't notice when he had reached the institute. He thanked Roh for not letting him into an accident.

"Oh, hello Mr. Gilmore. I was just taking a ride around the block. I thought I had a couple of minutes more before gate closes." Natria replied.

"Young man, it's already 10:25 a.m. if I were you I wouldn't have done so. You know today's the beginning of a new session. You yourself know you would be required there." scolded Mr. Gilmore.

"I get it. You don't have to act like my father, too. Here, give this back to the Mayor I'll be going inside." Natria said, giving Mr. Gilmore the bike.

"Where did you get that? This looks expensive." Mr. Gilmore commented.

As Natria reached the gate of the building, he looked around and said, "Oh that, I took it away from the Mayor, please return it to him."

"What! From the Mayor?" exclaimed Mr Gilmore in shock.

No response came, Natria had already entered the building.

Weiterführende Schule der Elite, otherwise known as the school of elite, was massive. Funded by the Federation itself to create the finest specimen of all in the entire state of Karsen. It was one of the twelve state schools established after the Nao Tragedy in 1917. Needless to say, being a student here was no joke!

As Natria walked through the lively hallways of the building, he noticed various students standing in their groups, talking to each other. As Natria would walk past them, many of them would stop throwing him a respectful handshake. Natria would simply go with the flow, completing the handshake and continue. As he reached the end of the hallway, he saw the notice board, it read,

'𝕾𝖙𝖚𝖉𝖊𝖓𝖙𝖘 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖗𝖊𝖖𝖚𝖊𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖙𝖔 𝖓𝖔𝖙 𝖈𝖗𝖔𝖜𝖉 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖍𝖆𝖑𝖑𝖜𝖆𝖞𝖘 𝖆𝖓𝖉 𝖆𝖗𝖊 𝖙𝖍𝖚𝖘 𝖎𝖓𝖘𝖙𝖗𝖚𝖈𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖙𝖔 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖈𝖍 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖆𝖚𝖉𝖎𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖎𝖚𝖒 𝖇𝖞 10:45 𝖆.𝖒., 𝖑𝖆𝖙𝖊𝖘𝖙. 𝕯𝖊𝖋𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖔𝖗𝖘 𝖜𝖎𝖑𝖑 𝖇𝖊 𝖕𝖚𝖓𝖎𝖘𝖍𝖊𝖉.'

As he read the message, he felt a tap on his shoulder. As he turned around to look, he came face to face with another pair of eyes. Short brown hair, slight freckles on the cheeks and dressed in a navy blue sweater was Leon Valishkapov, the only person Natria considered as his friend in the entire place.

"Ahoy! Captain." cheered Leon.

"Did you read something about pirates now?" Natria said with a sigh.

"Aye! We have the new man as a bummer, ain't we?" said Leon in his pseudo pirate accent.

"Listen mate, lots of holler-poller goin' down here. Should ya' continue, Imma punch the fist out of yer mouth." Natria replied in his pirate voice.

Leon went silent. A moment later, they both burst into laughter.

"That was terrible!" Leon laughed.

"Can't do anything about it, can ya' mate?" Natria continued.

"Oh, please stop. I can't take this!" Leon laughed.

"Aye, mate! It ain't that terrible now, is it?" Natria continued.

"Oh.. Oh, I'm sorry. Just stop it!" Leon begged, as he continued to laugh.

"There, there. There is no need for you to die; I'll stop." Natria as he gave his friend a firm handshake.

"You just killed me there, bastard." Leon said.

"You can't complain. You were the one who started this." Natria replied.

"Okay, there is no winning from you. Anyway, so how is our Mr. Ace in the house? " Leon said.

"I have told you many times to stop calling me that." Natria protested.

"As if that's gonna stop me from calling you." Leon replied.

"You know what? You have a good point there." Natria said.

"Now don't you get angry. You look just like a girl with you red fluffy angry cheeks. I wouldn't want you to break the heart of young lads anymore." Leon teased.

"Leon, I'll-" Natria raged but was interrupted.

"Attention students of Weiterführende Schule der Elite, you are all requested to move to the auditorium right now. Please move in an orderly manner. Thank you." came the voice of the principal from the speakers above.

"You can kill me later. For now, let's get moving." said Leon as he pushed Natria out of the hallway.

Gradually, the crowd moved from the hallways to the auditorium.

Perle der Weisheit, the auditorium, was a work of art. Given life by the greatest architects from all across the country, it was truly a sight to behold. Leon and Natria walked on the carpeted floors of the auditorium, they felt like a royalty. They have been to the auditorium countless times, yet every time felt special. Today was the same. As they settled on the corner seats of the eighth row, their hair rose in excitement.

"I'm getting goosebumps already." Leon said with excitement.

"Uh,huh." Natria replied.

"Hey, I have heard some rumours! Maybe the military will be here for enlisting." Leon said.

"Ah, huh." Natria replied.

"Do you think I'll get a chance?" Leon asked.

"Hmm." Natria replied.

"Are you even listening?" Leon scolded.

"What? Oh, sorry, I was just thinking about something." Natria apologised.

"Is something bothering you?" Leon asked.

Natria pointed his finger towards the stage. Leon looked in the direction of Natria's finger.

"You were thinking about the curtains?" Leon said in a confused voice.

"Not that dummy! Why the heck would I be troubled by curtains?" Natria said.

"Well, if you could have used your mouth instead of your finger, it would have been a lot more clear!" Leon replied.

"Uhm. Okay! I meant those guys in the front; you see those fancy lads?" Natria asked.

"Oh, the Mayor is here!" Leon exclaimed.

"Yes! You get it now?" Natria exclaimed.

"What? I still don't understand." Leon said, puzzled by his friend's riddle.

Natria sighed.

"You see, I happened to meet the mayor in the morning." Natria explained.

"And?" Leon questioned.

"I took his bicycle; without permission, that is. I was in a hurry." Natria continued.

"This ain't the first time you did something like that. So why are you so tensed?" Leon asked.

"About that; you see the one sitting next to him?" Natria said in a hesitant tone.

"That's Michelle Danon. Oh, I see where this is going!" Leon exclaimed.

"Shh!" Natria tried to silence Leon.

"Grabbing his friend by the neck, Leon lowered Natria's neck and asked, "Why didn't you tell me about this man? You takin' shots at the Mayor's girl." Leon said, trying to control his laughter.

"I'm not taking shots at her!" Natria said, getting all flustered.

"There, there, Mr. Romeo. You ain't going to get Juliet, if you get flustered on such small matters. Have your cool pal, like you always do." Leon said.

"I guess. I try to, but I don't act like myself whenever I see her. My cool, my confidence; everything just vanishes." Natria explained.

"You are just nervous. Don't be a coward. I'm pretty sure any girl would be head over heels for you if they saw your usual self." Leon encouraged his friend.

"Do you really think so?" Natria asked.

"Of course not!" Leon said as he burst into laughing.

"You son of a-" Natria cursed as he punched Leon's shoulder.

"Ouch! That hurts, man." Leon cried in pain , but he still continued to laugh.

"That's what you get for toying with me." Natria grumbled.

"I'm kidding, of course." Leon said.

"And so was I." Natria said as he joined Leon in his laugh.

As the boys ran out of breath, Leon laid back a little in his seat. Looking at the roof of the auditorium, he said, "You know, we have known each other for two years. We met in junior high school, became friends and somehow got to the school of our dreams, even getting into the same class. And now here we are in our final year. I feel this would be the last time I would ever get to enjoy with you. Man, I really wish if things could just last like this forever." Leon said as a drop of tear rolled down his cheek.

"I wonder if I would ever get to meet someone like you again. You were perfect from the beginning. Be it sports, studies or anything, you aced them like it was so easy. I on the other hand, would struggle, always dragging you down, yet you would wait for me. I wondered if I ever deserved a friend like you." Leon continued.

Natria punched Leon on his shoulder.

"Aaah! Why did you do that?" Leon cried in pain.

"Because you talk way too much. You underestimate yourself so much." Natria scolded.

"I don't understand." Leon said with a puzzled face.

"Say, do you remember the first time we met?" Natria asked.

"Yeah, of course. How could I ever forget that moment?" Leon said.

"Tell me, what did I say to you?" Natria asked.

[5th August, 1932, Eldrich Junior High School, Shidan, Avenriot]

"Hey you there! Why sitting all alone?" a boy said.

Infront of him was a round table, on the opposite corner of which sat another boy.

"Scram away, bucko! I ain't in the mood to pick a fight today." the other boy said.

"You didn't answer my question. Why are you sitting alone? Don't you have friends?" said the boy as he sat on a chair.

"What? Who the hell said you could sit there!" the boy screamed, as veins started to emerge on his face.

"I see no poster saying this place is not fit for being sat upon. Anyway, I seemed to have the right nail, ain't I?" the boy mocked.

"You bastard! I'm gonna teach you a lesson." said the boy as he lunged at the other boy.

"Oh boy, this is gonna be tedious." said the boy.

As the kid lunged at him, the boy pressed his legs against the table, flipping it over along with the boy.

"Ah!" the boy screamed in pain.

"Lost already?" the other boy mocked.

"Oh, no! I'll shut that face of your for sure now." screamed the boy as he threw a punch towards the other boy.

The other boy swiftly moved to the left, dodging the punch. He grabbed his opponent's right arm with his left as he swiftly place his right behind the boy's waist as they grabbed on to his opponent's body.

"What?" said the boy, confused.

"Oh, this is nothing. Just some basic judo for trying to fight me." said the other boy, laughing.

Using his opponent fulcrum, he bent forward, straightening his legs, lifting his opponent up straight into the air.

"Judoka, third throw, O Goshi!" he shouted as slammed his opponent right on to the ground.

"AAHH!" the boy screamed in pain.

"Don't move. It'll only hurt more." said the boy.

"What do you want? What have I ever done to deserve this." the boy cried.

"Nineth year, section- C, Zia Aaron was found to have pins hidden in her shoe. She said it was you who forced her to wear them, even threatened to stay quite." the boy said.

The boy on the ground had gone quiet.

"Nineth year, section-H, Cranken Darway, his notes were found in the toilet. You two don't seem to have a healthy relation, do you?" the boy continued.

No response came.

"10th year, sec-"

"I GET IT!" the boy interrupted.

"I DID IT ALL! THERE I SAID IT." he cried as he hid eyes with his arm.

"WHAT ARE YOU GONNA DO ABOUT IT? SUSPEND ME, EXPEL ME, GIVE ME DETENTION, I'LL LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY! YOU DON'T KNOW ANYTHING." the boy screamed as he burst into tears.

"2nd May, 1932, Cranken force me to drink water from the toilet. That sucker took Lu as hostage, I couldn't let him kill my kitty.." said the boy (standing) as he read from a diary.

"How do you-" the boy said in shock.

"You should find a much safer place to hide your diary." said the boy as he frisked the diary in his hand.

"Give it back! Aah! My back." the boy said, trying to get up but groaned in pain.

"I told you not to move." the boy reminded.

"Leon Valishkapov, am I right? Currently, you live in the 5th Avery Street, alone with your sister. Sadly, your parents died during the Tragedy of 1917. You were rescued by the government and since then have been living as the guardian of your little sister, am I correct?" the boy asked.

The boy on the ground nodded, his eyes widened with shock.

The boy squatted down, holding his hand forward, he said in a calm voice with a smile on his face, "My name is Natria Av' Hamil. Don't worry, Leon, I know everything. Consider me your ally if you could."