The Note (1)

The snow melted and the chirps from the migrating birds woke spring. Not that weather mattered in the first district with all its barriers, it was a nice change in the scenery. Within the classroom in the first row, I observed the blooming flowers at its peak.

"The four of you will be the school's representative for this year's annual competition. Are you listening, Rika? Daniel walked up to my desk.

I nodded my head, "it's because of our performance at the charity ball."

I already knew about this before the announcement. Both Claire and Yulian came to visit a week ago, letting us know we were chosen. Normally, the annual competition was where all the students from up to the fourth district were chosen from each district to compete with each other. Struggling to survive in school, Luke and I were never picked.

There were two pairs per grade from middle school to high school. It was just another demonstration of the power and wealth the first district possessed as our school always placed first. Charles, Miliana, Alex and Shelly attended the one-week competition last year. I recalled how empty the classroom was without them.

"Indeed," Daniel moved on.

"The four of you will move into the competition area on Monday," he let us know.

Today was Friday, leaving us three days to prepare for the event. It wasn't so bad, knowing the other districts wouldn't study as hard as us. It was a good opportunity to earn some more points. Plus, the third district was a safe place with no presence of fairies or monsters.

"Rika," Luke grabbed onto my hand.

"What's wrong?" I looked behind when I was about to leave.

"We need to get ready for the competition," he explained.

"We'll win. There's no way we wouldn't," I tried to shake his grip off.

"Luke's right. There's no way our school can lose," Charles crossed his arms.

"How would we lose?" I was starting to get offended by their lack of trust.

"It's you Rika," Charles sighed.

Everyone appeared like they were siding with Luke. I knew that they were implying my bad grades, but it was only inside the first district. I couldn't believe they were taking this competition seriously. Last year, I remembered they just went there with no preparations like they were going to play a game.

Seeing how there was no exit, I slumped down onto my chair. A towering pile of workbooks were placed in front of me, leaving no room to rest. I was sure that the competition wouldn't go over this. This was all stuff that we have learned during the past month. A study group was quickly formed as the others left us.

"Why?" I groaned, tired after the first volume.

"There's only three more days left," Shelly comforted me by keeping me accompanied.

"Rika, open the next book," Luke supervised my studies as usual.

"I'm sure that the competition won't be long enough to cover all this," I whined.

"We're against a school in the second district as well," Alex pointed out.

Since there were only so many schools in the first district, there were some families who couldn't send their children to a school here. These students attended top ranking schools in the second district instead. Which meant, they weren't very behind the curriculum here.

"Isn't second place good as well?" I started to wonder.

"We won't settle for second place," Alex frowned.

I was never a competitive person in my former life as well. I liked bringing the good mood in the team rather than being too focused on winning. It was the experience that mattered like making more friends and going to new places.

I sighed as I opened a new book under Luke's pressuring gaze. I hoped this would be substituted for the intense study sessions we had together. I wouldn't be able to handle both. Even with the time-space setting done on the room, I was hungry and tired.

"I'm too hungry to study," I placed my book down.

I needed to get some fresh air by going to the cafeteria. I could order anything I wanted these days since it didn't require any points. My stomach grumbled to show that I wasn't lying. I needed to start eating more of lunch instead of eating too little to take a nap on my desk.

"Let's go, please?" I pitifully asked for permission.

"I bought something from the cafeteria," Ellen opened the door, interrupting us.

Ellen brought all my favourite foods. The plates were filled with cake and more cake. The drinks were large cups of strawberry milkshake. As expected, the only one I could rely on was Ellen. My eyes glittered as she placed it on my desk.

Both Alex and Luke knew about my obsession for sweet things. They stared at all the desserts that would replace my dinner. I immediately picked up a fork and began digging in. I smiled like I was back inside that café that I would always go to rest.

"I didn't forget the ice cream," Ellen took out the item out of her inventory, not having enough hands to hold everything.

"What would I do without you?" I felt tears welling up in my eyes.

I wasn't like this in my former life. However, in this life, sweet things energized me like no other. It was strange how my tastes changed so much in this new body.