Noontide
Early in the morning. The city of Lucero was full of commercial activities. The economy of the city was booming and the population rose up quickly compared to previous years.
Business establishments opened up. Workers started to do their job for the day. The native citizens and foreigners continued doing their everyday lives.
Several new towering skyscrapers that exceeded the height of tall buildings of the city are being built and nearing to completion.
The roads were full of cars and various vehicles. There were also jeepneys for public transportation.
Terrell and Eirwyn arrived at the downtown of Lucero City in almost 1 hour. They asked the jeepney driver to stop. The jeepney came to halt at the side of the road. They got off and walked.
Before, Terrell and Eirwyn needed woke up very early, every single day. They always waited on the main road at the town of Inayauan to hitchhike on light pickup trucks going to the downtown to deliver goods.
At the entrance gate of Lucero City National High School, students fall in line but the queue wasn't really orderly and straight.
The security guards checked the bags of the students who enter the school campus. This was to make sure no student couldn't slip in prohibited objects such as pornographic materials and bladed weapons.
Fortunately, Terrell and Eirwyn didn't have any problems with bladed weapons.
Terrell opened his worn-out backpack in front of the guard. The guard used his stick to widen up the opening of the bag.
The guard was surprised.
"Hahaha! You actually go to school with an empty bag? I think your mind is also empty." The guard joked as he laughed.
Terrell was stunned. He forgot about the in-game inventory. He shouldn't bring his backpack.
Terrell ignored the guard and entered. Terrell waited for Eirwyn at the side of the covered walkway.
Eirwyn followed behind. He didn't bring anything at all. Except, his school ID. The guard saw his ID, he let Eirwyn enter.
Terrell and Eirwyn walked towards the building complex where their rooms are located.
At the corridor of the main building's ground floor...
"See you later on the gazebo at lunch." Eirwyn waved and parted ways with Terrell.
"Hmm." Terrell nodded.
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Early noon. The bell rang throughout the school campus. The fifth class of the day, Social Studies, had ended.
At the classroom, 50 students cramped inside seated on armchairs. Four ceiling fans kept the room ventilated, but it wasn't enough to cool down the hot temperature.
Eirwyn seated behind the classroom beside the jalousie window.
"Class, your final exams will start tomorrow. Make sure you review, okay? Remember and focus the pointers I gave." Their class adviser reminded them.
"Also, complete all of the requirements needed and ask your subject teachers to write a signature on your clearance if you have already compiled and all is well. Give your clearance to me, okay?" The teacher added.
"All of you must graduate this year. I don't want any of my students to fail. Did you understand?" The teacher was solemn.
"Yes, sir!" The class replied in unison.
"Good luck to your exams. Class dismissed. Goodbye." The teacher waved his hand and left. This was his last lesson for the school year.
"Thank you, sir!"
"We'll miss you, sir!"
"Yes sir, I will not let you down!"
"Hey hey, can we have a group study at your house later?"
"Yeah me too! I can't understand about Humanities, I want to study with others."
"Sure! Why not."
"What do you want to eat?"
"I want chicken curry!"
The class started to chatter and talked about the exams and lunch.
Eirwyn was alone. He didn't have any friends in his class. He was quite withdrawn and reticent.
He left the classroom and walked along the congested corridor, as the lunch break started.
"Damn, I need to study. My grades aren't high! Curse that group projects!" Eirwyn was choleric. His greatest weakness was projects.
He didn't have enough money to spend to buy the necessities. Eirwyn begged everytime to his teachers to give him another work because of it.
Eirwyn went to the restroom to urinate and also to withdraw the money to buy lunch.
Eirwyn entered the toilet cubicle of men's restroom. He activated his Anima. The circuit patterns on Anima glowed with faint blue light. He opened the 'Inventory' and selected 'Withdraw'.
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ー〔 Withdraw 〕ー
Please input the amount of currency.
〖 Gold 〗0
〔 0 〕 [ △ ] [ ▽ ]
〖 Silver 〗 17
〔 0 〕 [ △ ] [ ▽ ]
〖 Copper 〗 21
〔 0 〕 [ △ ] [ ▽ ]
[ OK ] [ Cancel ]
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Eirwyn input 10 coppers and pressed 'OK'.
'Blip!'
'Cling!'
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Convert it into real currency?
[ Yes ] [ No ]
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Eirwyn selected 'Yes'. Five 20 peso bills appeared on his hand.
He placed it inside the pocket of his old black slacks.
After he took a pee, he washed his hands and left.
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High noon, the sun is very hot. Lunchtime. The school's cafeteria was full to bursting. The narrow spaces of the food stalls and kiosks were jam-packed with students.
They sold banana and sweet potato fritters; fruit shakes and cold beverages; bread, pastries and 'kakanin'; and lunch meals with steamed rice. Junk foods and soft drinks were banned in public schools.
Eirwyn barged into the crowd. The students saw him and gave way to avoid him.
Eirwyn was quite famous. He was good-looking but his uniform that he wore contrasted to each other.
Before, Terrell and Eirwyn needed to be stint and save the meager amount of money they earn every week by selling scrap metals, bottles, and stuff that can be reused at the junk shop.
Eirwyn came to 3 different stalls and bought 4 cassava 'suman', two burgers and two mango fruit shakes.
He put all of them inside the plastic bag orderly. The fruit shakes had the lid, so it wouldn't spill.
The students saw him and surprised. They didn't expect he would buy plenty of food. They started to tittle-tattle.
Eirwyn disregarded them and he left the cafeteria.
He didn't want to carry the plastic bag, it was troublesome for him.
He hid in the corner and activated his Anima, and glowed a faint blue light.
Eirwyn opened his 'Inventory' and placed the items inside one by one. It slowly turned into particles as the items entered the window.
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ー〔 Inventory 〕ー
〖 Coin Purse 〗
Gold – 0
Silver – 17
Copper – 11
[ Withdraw ] [ Deposit ]
〖 Item List 〗 — 4/50
• Wren's Sæbø
• Cassava 'suman' x4
• Burger x2
• Mango Fruit Shake x2
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Eirwyn went to the gazebo located at the school's park with molave tree copse.
He didn't know someone saw him and followed him stealthily.
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Noon. Even the sun was very hot, the gentle cold breeze cools down the temperature.
The gazebo was the place where Terrell and Eirwyn hanging out at school for almost 6 years.
No students dared approached this place at lunch break. They avoided the well-known impenicous brothers.
The gazebo was made out of concrete and steel bar post that supports the galvanized iron roof.
Eirwyn sat on the concrete bench. Eirwyn activated his Anima and opened his 'Inventory' to get their lunch and placed them on the concrete table neatly.
He rests both of his hands on the back of his head. Eirwyn waited to Terrell to arrive as he relaxed and enjoyed the time of being alone.
Since no one will go to this place, he opened his 'Inventory' once again. He retrieved his sword from the 'Inventory' to look and admire its elegant craftsmanship.
A dark figure stood behind him.
Eirwyn sensed someone from behind, he placed his sword on the concrete table and slowly turned around.
"Oh Terrell, I've been waiting for you for too long, where have you bee... Oh? Who are you?" Eirwyn was stupefied.