025

They reached the place Laila talked about not long after leaving the school. As she said, it wasn't very far, just a little bit hidden. Nancy and Vanessa didn't seem to mind the shabby outlook of the shop, only Ivan frowned slightly.

They entered and a middle-aged woman greeted them. It was quite rare to see a shop not manned by robots these days. To Ivan, this meant the business was doing badly. Of course, he didn't voice his thoughts, he didn't want to appear like an uncultured boor. They were led to a round table and given the menus.

The middle-aged woman smiled warmly as she told them to call her whenever they were ready to order or had questions. She went back behind the counter to work on things or fake working on things according to Ivan.

Ron checked the menu and was surprised by the different names of cakes: Space Wonder, Nebulae Creamy, Double Asteroids… It was very fanciful. He looked around the shop, it was quite cozy indeed with delicate music playing in the background, not very loud, and different pictures of happy people posted around. It was heart-warming and made you feel at ease.

Nancy and Vanessa approved as well. At least, they wouldn't be bothered here. And if the cakes were as good as Laila said, it would be worth it.

Only Ron and Laila were very secretly glancing at the prices. Laila was wondering what to take so as to not make herself look 'poor' while Ron was solely looking for the cheapest things.

After a moment of silence as they all studied the menu, Vanessa asked them if they were ready to order and called the shop owner over. They all picked their orders. Ron went for the Double Asteroids as it was the cheapest cake. He didn't even take a drink. Fortunately, water was free. This made him happy.

The others looked at him strangely while Laila smiled at him. As long as she was with this guy, she might never have to worry about looking poor or misery.

Done with their orders, they began to chat excitedly about their first impressions of the university. How the place seemed spacious, how the teacher seemed stern but good at his job, how they were happy together in the same class… Nancy smiled wryly at that one. She actually made use of her father's connections to make that happen. She didn't say anything about it though. It was better if everyone rejoiced without being aware of it. She suspected Ivan did the same to be with her as well. The only one who had been placed there without cheating was Ron. She looked at him with a different view as she thought of it. So many had used connections to get in… What about him? He came from a third-planet, it was most likely due to gruesome hard work that he reached this place.

She wasn't wrong. He worked hard and tirelessly. He nearly died, he got scammed and tricked some too. He had to fake a background and lie a few times… He did have a tough time getting to where they all were now but what she imagined was far from the truth. He worked hard but in a different way than she thought.

Due to her curiosity, and the fact that she just thought of it, she asked him: "How did you end up going to this university, Ron?"

The others also looked at him after they asked the question. He didn't even need to think before he answered: "Laila told me I needed an education to get a job so, I went to the closest university and that was it"

They all looked at him baffled, especially Laila. She had scrammed so much before the entrance exams in order to be admitted yet this guy just popped up over there and was allowed in? There was something weird about this. Vanessa asked Ron: "You mean, you didn't take the entrance exam?"

Ron shook his head sideways to indicate he didn't.

They all looked at him with a different gaze from before. Even with their connections, they could only get some bonuses after being accepted through the exams. Or have the teachers be a little fairer towards their exam papers… But to not take the exam at all? This was beyond their abilities. They began to wonder what this kid's background truly was. Laila even thought that he might have been acting all along. The true wealthy had weird quirks after all. Maybe this one liked to appear poor to mock others?

Ivan was the one to ask first: "What do your parents do for a living, Ron? Mine are owners of a robotics company, RobClean, you might have heard of it?"

He made sure to buff his own status first since he was at it. There was never such a thing as a missed opportunity to flaunt himself in front of the girl he liked.

Ron gave them an unexpected answer though: "I'm an orphan"

There was a silence that was soon broken by the middle-aged lady who arrived with the drinks and cakes. Ron was very happy about his own. It was quite big. 'Twin asteroids' was a chocolate cake in the form of two balls linked together. There was a lot of Chantilly and other sweets that came along. It took close to all the space in the plate. It looked appetizing and, for its prize, very worth it.

He didn't waste time before he dug in as the other four still looked at him with weird gazes. He didn't even notice it as the sweet taste filled his mouth and brought him pleasure. Nothing brought him more happiness than food since he arrived on this planet. There were so many different varieties and they were all so tasty!