Small Talk

(Robin's POV):

"School life? Star Academy? Wait, I think I remember you Robin... One of the top graders from that school that achieved almost perfect grades." - Grace

"Honestly, it's not because I'm highly intelligent in academics is why I can handle myself well. Sometimes, Seymour's logistics alone was enough to make me think even more."

"I see, how did you go through your school life?" - Grace

"Nothing big, just normally talking to Seymour and discussing things. We simply have too much time in our hands so we try to spend them just improving ourselves. Michael was in the circle too, before the Asylum was completely developed."

"Asylum... Why do you guys call yourselves "Asylum"" - Grace

For a while I've been thinking about it too. Maybe I should ask Seymour why he called this asylum as a private thing and a banking company for the public.

"All I know is that, Seymour runs two companies each being maintained by us. Denzel manages the banking and the other things with the assistance of Julius, Karl, and Allen. I work on the entrepreneurial side with the help of Mitch, Chesca, Christine, and Ross. Michael on the other hand handles the law part in case someone sues us."

"I see... Wait, this isn't school related at all." - Grace

"Yeah, the reason why it's related is because we all graduated there."

"What?!" - Jay

"Well, some of us have some private matters so we would like to prevent any disclosure of that kind of information. But I'm willing to open my side."

"I see..." - Jay

I took out a platinum coin and start fidgeting all over it. I then explained my school life to the four of them. They were nice listeners but I had to hide parts from my past unless they ask.

"So, for starters... I met Denzel around middle school, he's one smart guy that could easily answer questions in an instant. His accuracy rate isn't that bad, about 80% when we first met. He always finish exams first which is a bizarre thing.

"I see... What about you?" - Ridley

"Well, I'm more or less a logistic thinker. If a choice in an exam makes sense then that's my answer. Michael is a deep thinker, he takes his time in doing his schedule and fully clears it with almost perfect accuracy."

"By almost perfect you mean?" - Grace

"About ninety-eight percent."

"Ninety-!" - Grace

"That's both surprising and not surprising..." - Rylle

"I see, how about your memories there?" - Jay

"Well, there are a few memories where Denzel disappears every lunchbreak. Sometimes, we pay him a visit to his house and just have a nice drink while playing chess."

"Drinking at such a young age is kinda..." - Jay

"Juice, don't assume we drink beer before eighteen."

"Right!" - Jay

"Anyways, in terms of school activities like foundation week or sportsfest, we pretty much led the technical parts where we maintain everything so I don't think there would be that much memory. Aside from the bonfire and slow dancing which was somewhat fun."

"Really? We didn't attend that though..." - Jay

"So, what happen to your sides guys?"

I finally got a chance to learn a little bit more of their past just for a background check.

"Well, we pretty much had fun in our school with the events and all. We skipped some school trips but on our middle-school, it was much better at that point." - Jay

"We pretty much enjoyed ourselves. Talking to each other about things, exploring various spots, hanging around in one of our houses, joining together in events, and suddenly Jay and Gayle standing up on the idol industry." - Grace

"Idol industry? Let's see, Haruki and Kaede?"

"H-How'd you know?!" - Jay

"Erm, I work so of course I'd know."

"What standard?!" - Jay

"Well, I remember Denzel just not turning his eyes away when you two perform something. It's like he's spacing out but I'm not telling you more than that. Mainly because I have no idea what he was feeling there."

"Really? We're pretty curious about what happened to your side so..." - Jay

"I've already said everything about my school life."

"Alright, me and Kaede would always perform on stage when a school festival is up. Though she's still not recovering, at least we managed some progress." - Jay

"How?"

"Well, after some time in the idol industry, she met Lester who was in the baseball team. He was the ace there and there was a lot of things going on." - Jay

"Like?"

"Well, he started making a move on Kaede a lot but once he did manage to catch her heart he suddenly went dark." - Jay

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Kaede would want some affection of course but he won't give any. He would say something like focusing on school stuff or his baseball but yeah." - Jay

"He neglected her pretty much because he thought that everything's gonna be fine now. Now that I think about it, I don't think I saw him even once on their concerts or so." - Grace

"At that point I figured that he's just pretty much trash." - Jay

"I see, why do you guys still hang around with him?"

"Well, Terrence." - Ridley

"Me and Ridley used to be best friends with him but now we're just pretending at this point. And the fact that he's currently Gayle's boyfriend." - Rylle

Or, it's just you pretending because you actually love her.

Ridley was smirking a little bit at Rylle which he responded with a sudden attack from behind.

"Whoa." - Ridley

"We tried persuading him to check on Gayle a few times but it was no use. He was completely stuck in becoming a baseball star." - Grace

"I'll make sure to free Kaede..." - Jay

"Now now guys, calm down. I know you guys want to beat the shit out of Lester but we're diverting from the topic here."

I'm rather impressed because we were talking about how our school life went and it turned into beating the crap out of Lester.

"Anyways, school life on your side was pretty normal?"

"Yep, something in those lines." - Grace

"The only problem was Lester being a douche." - Jay

The atmosphere in this area is getting a little thick so I might as well change the topic.

"Guys, remember when I told you about something planned out? It's not completely sure yet but we'll be going after a major boss here again in the next few weeks."

"In a few weeks? Is it the Skeletron?" - Ridley

"Yep, Michael is currently down there fighting against the wall of flesh so there might be a major change if we stall this out for too long."

"Really? I guess then we have to finish this quickly." - Jay

"From what I remember from the reports, there was a major change compared to what we knew from the lore and logic. So we should be wary. We'll bring most of the asylum, including Denzel's team and you guys. Don't worry Jay, I'll recommend Denzel to bring your sister along."

"Really?!" - Jay

The excitement of Jay made him jump a little bit. I simply smiled since he's pretty much going to be good for the rest of this game with his sister around. The only problem is that Lester might do something real stupid here.

"Well, like I said, I'll arrange things with Denzel once he's back to normal. I'll give you a proper introduction by then."

Everyone nodded and smiled happily while Jay was filled to the brim with excitement. After that, I told them to rest up for the time being since this boss that we're about to fight seems like a big trouble. Even I joined them sleeping around, so I slept next to Jay.

Later: (Grace's POV):

After some time, it seems like I have woken up first. I checked around on my friends to see if they're resting up. I saw Ridley and Rylle just lying down with Rylle faceplanting himself. I walked around to see where both Robin and Jay are but I got myself a nice sight.

My nose started bleeding after seeing such a wonderful sight of Jay hugging Robin in their sleep. He's snuggling up like he's trying to yearn for him. God it's getting worse!

I closed my left eye and made a hand gesture like making a rectangular frame to my current view.

"BL... I love this sight."

When I noticed, Ridley is starting to wake up with his groans going off. I panicked and started wiping off the blood in my nose with a handkerchief while Ridley was waking up. I then moved away from Robin and Jay slowly just to ensure they won't wake up.

Ridley woke up and started moving around.

"Yo Grace, had a nice rest?" - Ridley

"Yep, we should prepare ourselves soon."

"Right, oh... This is quite a bizarre sight..." - Ridley

Ridley seems to have seen the beautiful sight of Robin and Jay but I had to shut up completely.

"If only I had a camera..." - Ridley

True, the only problem is that we don't have a way to save pictures here.

After a while, everyone had waken up. Jay was panicking a whole lot due to Ridley and Rylle teasing the hell out of him. Robin woke up last and decided to get ready for the main event.