Chapter 24

I refrained from reacting out loud, but I'm pretty sure I let it show that I recognized Zeik's name. Thankfully, nobody pointed it out if anyone noticed.

That was Zeik? Well, I knew that nobody looked the same in this world, but I had expected myself to at least recognize my best friend that I hung out with every day. Looking back, I guess I couldn't really have had a logical reason to think I would have.

"Uh... My name is Zeik... I don't really know what I'm doing here, but I'll do my best?"

Well, I could certainly hear that line coming out of Zeik's mouth.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that stuff for now! I'll tell you all about it later. For now, let's take you to meet the others from your world, shall we?" The girl that had dragged him in the room began dragging him out in the same way.

"Others?" Zeik looked around the room, locking eyes with me and Harris before he was dragged out by the very enthusiastic girl with blue hair leading him around.

Harris looked a little surprised. I decided to take this chance to cement my character as someone who knew absolutely nothing about them.

"You know him?" I asked.

Harris nodded. "He was a schoolmate in our world. Quite a nice guy, too."

I wasn't aware that Zeik and this guy were on good terms. Last time I heard them talk was... Never.

"Really? Then he'd fit right in, would he not?"

"I'm not so sure about that." Harris said with a massive grin on his face, his egotistic act returning. "After all, just 'fitting in' wouldn't do him all too good. We only have hard working and well-rounded people on this team, after all." - Followed up by a really hearty laugh as he walked out of the room.

Wasn't he supposed to be reporting something? It wasn't really my business to care.

The more I heard him talk, the less he sounded like the Harris from the other side. I understood where the ego came from, but it was like his views on hard work and ability had completely changed, too. I don't exactly remember the guy being too much of an advocate for hard work.

"You'll set out tomorrow with them." The emperor directed his attention to me, as everyone else had left the room. I felt that the amount of respect everyone showed him was pretty low compared to what I had expected. I mean, you'd think one would have to be given permission to talk, stand, or leave the room in the presence of the ruler of an entire race of beings, but this guy was about as casual as they came. The only thing kingly or emperor-ly about him was the room he was in. Hell, he was even wearing slippers. Nothing about his actions or attire matched up with the tone of his words at all.

I left the room, having nothing else to say. I then realized that my sense of direction did not improve from what it was before, and I had no clue how to get to my room from the throne room, despite being able to navigate the opposite.

After making a few circles and going up and down a couple of flights of stairs, I managed to find myself at the "Academy" part of the building. Instead of going back up the stairs that I had gone down, I decided it would be a nice time killer to explore this place, it being the most prestigious school in the entire empire.

Despite it being so famous, the place didn't look all too extravagant. The lecture rooms were standard size, with wooden floors and plain walls. There wasn't any fancy carpet or wallpaper like I'd expected to see, and everything down to even the desks and chairs were completely standard, like you'd find in any school, anywhere. I guess it was one of those places that boasted the ability of their teachers instead of their environment.

As I walked down the halls, devoid of students because it was a day of rest, a strange pain from my chest made its way through my body, bouncing to and from every one of my bones. From the time that I had spent in this body, I had found that it was practically invulnerable, so this pain worried me.

Though, as I peered into more and more classrooms, the reason for my pain became clear. I had rather vague memories of how I died, which got more and more hazy by the day. I knew that the reason I was in this world was that I had died, and that something caused the same to happen to my schoolmates. Whenever I tried to recall more, however, a sharp shock in my right shoulder jolts me out of my thought process. My mind was trying to lock something away from me, and as much as I wanted to, I couldn't pry into it. I knew that I could remember more before, and that my memories were almost crystal clear when I had first found myself in this world, but that wasn't the case anymore.

There was something about standing there, in a school, that I wasn't comfortable with. I tried to think of why, but the pain just got worse the more I thought. Unlike other times, though, this pain didn't go away after I stopped trying to remember. My legs shook too much for me to stand, and my arms refused to catch my fall. It wasn't long before my vision went dark and I lost consciousness.

---

An hour earlier...

---

Juni had kept her promise, and completely covered the room that she had destroyed. In fact, she made such a large donation, every room in the entire inn got upgraded, and Zeik couldn't afford to stay there anymore.

But finding a new inn was an easy task, right? Well, coincidentally, all of the cheaper ones were full. Zeik hadn't heard of any upcoming events, but there might have been something big going on soon, with the inflow of people into the Capital.

"Did she seriously go through that just to screw me over?" Surely not... Zeik couldn't see any way she could have come up with such an elaborate plan.

He sat beside the gates of the Academy, chewing some dried meat that was left on him. He'll just ask Arek for a recommendation. It wasn't like he knew anyone else in town, anyway.

"What are you doing out here?" A smug voice came from over his shoulder. The sunlight coming through her hair gave her a ghostly appearance, seemingly making her pale skin glow ever so slightly blue. Juni.

"I told you to cover the room you messed up, not upgrade the inn tenfold. I can't even afford to stay there anymore." Zeik sighed. "Or did you do that on purpose to screw me over?"

Juni laughed a bit. "Who knows?"

Zeik shook his head. "Did you get what you were looking for? With my hair?"

"Oh, about that..." Juni grabbed Zeik's arm, pulling him up to his feet. "Your hair is dyed, for sure."

"Wha-" Zeik tried to back away. "I never dyed it though?"

"Well, it also looks like your memories are a bit messed up." Juni said, staring at Zeik intently to try and catch any deception. "But maybe that's for the better..."

Zeik didn't know what she meant by that, and didn't know how to respond.

Juni pulled Zeik's face close to hers, and stared deep into his eyes.

"Wha-"

"Though I have to say, your personality has changed too much even though you've lost your memories."

"Changed? Did you know me?"

"Might you be from another world, by chance?" She completely ignored the question

She was spot-on. It made Zeik wonder if there were other people like him in this world, since she came to the conclusion so fast.

"I..."

"Yes or no?"

"Yes..."

Juni then excitedly started dragging him towards the Academy building without any warning. "Then you're coming with me. You'll fit right in."

--

Now, Zeik stood in the hallway before the throne room of the emperor. Juni had been pulled aside, leaving him with nobody to show him around. With nothing else to do, he wandered around until finding the stairs down into the Academy part of the building. He hadn't noticed it earlier, but the place was completely devoid of students. It was probably a day off.

Zeik chuckled. He wouldn't have even been able to find Arek there anyway. What terrible timing.

Walking through the halls, peering into the empty classrooms, it all gave Zeik a nostalgic feeling. He and J had once gotten into the school building on a weekend and messed around by putting random photos of random things in random places.

"Is the elephant under the bathroom sink still there?" Zeik murmured to himself. That was the one he was most proud of. He had even laminated the photo so it wouldn't get damaged by any water that got to it. He almost went to check, but then realized that this was obviously not his school.

Zoned out, Zeik didn't realize there was somebody in his way until he had tripped over them. He quickly turned around to apologize.

"I'm sor-"

The girl on the ground was unconscious. She looked to be a year or two younger than Zeik, with long silver-green hair that was unusual to see, even in this world. She wore casual clothing that looked like it came from modern day, which caught Zeik's attention at first. A short-sleeved shirt, paired with a short skirt and thin, black leggings. For sure 21st-century wear.

"Hey, are you alright?" Zeik shook the girl, who didn't respond. He checked her breathing, finding none, pressed his finger against her neck to try and find a pulse. Upon touching her, he recoiled at how cold she was to the touch. All those were signs exhibited by a corpse, yet for some reason this girl looked perfectly healthy in every way. Her skin was smooth to the touch, too, despite being so cold. If this was a corpse, then it was one hell of a fresh one.

Then, as if his thought process just abruptly shut off, Zeik picked her up, stood still for a second because he was surprised that he could pick up another person in the first place, and made his way back up the stairs and out of the Academy. He set the girl down against a wall, and then sat down himself, not wanting to run the risk of getting lost in the maze that was the hallways up there.

She clearly wasn't going to wake up any time soon. Zeik went back multiple times to check her pulse, breathing, even performing CPR on her more than once. Her skin remained cold to the touch, and no movement came from her at all. Zeik was at a loss for what to do. If he were to call for help, any guard would surely just dispose of her like a dead body.

But wait, why was he so sure that she was alive in the first place?

Zeik placed his hand against the girl's neck again, once more checking for a pulse. Still stone cold, still no pulse.

He stood up. That's right. There was no reason for him to believe that she was still alive. Did he just hope she was? Did he, in his teenage delusions, hope that this silver-green haired beauty who was cute beyond any possible compare, would fall in love with him upon awakening?

Zeik shook his head. "You've got Annabelle, man." He slapped himself. "Think rationally."

And, as if one sentence had triggered the next, Zeik immediately mumbled, "What would J do in this situation?"

It was his go-to train of thought for any hardship or unfamiliar situation. In terms of rational thinking, J had no rival. In a way, he was Zeik's idol. But Zeik couldn't possible admit that, not to J nor to himself, because that'd just be weird.

As per usual when he asked himself this question, Zeik came to a dead end. He had no clue what J would do, because he just couldn't see himself following the same thought process as J would.

He took a deep breath, and looked at the girl again. Silver-green hair, pale skin, dressed in a modern-style shirt and skirt combination, with thin, black leggings and... Hiking boots? She looked straight out of a shopping mall type scenario. Did all the Otherworlders have these types of clothes?

Yeah, there was no way he could convince himself that she was dead.

Zeik grabbed at his hair, messing it up in the process. "God, what am I even supposed to do here?"

"Introduce yourself, perhaps?" A female voice. Zeik nearly pulled a chunk of his hair out as his head snapped upwards. Before him stood the very girl that he concluded to very possibly be dead a moment ago, her royal blue eyes open wide, and staring straight at him.