047

Ron did not go back to his new home, the dorm house, right away. Instead, he decided to leave the campus in order to explore the surroundings. There were some things he needed to buy as well. While the cafeteria gave free food of decent quality, it was only for dinner. The lunch was entirely up to the students. Most of them ate out but Ron planned to cook. It had been similar to a hobby before the bombing and he needed to do something to break the constantly appearing depressive thoughts in his mind. Cooking required one to focus, it would certainly help a little.

That being said, he was in no hurry to buy ingredients, it was still morning before lunch. He decided to first roam around and check out for a decently cheap restaurant. The allocation from the government was of 650 spatial coins (SC) he learnt from checking his account. It wasn't much. Wouldn't have been enough if he hadn't been given a place to crash at. Even now, he considered measly. Compared to his salary of 9500 SC when he worked… At least, he made sure to keep a lot of this money in his account without spending it. If he had, he would have likely ended up losing it all.

Still, the most painful loss would always be the numerous gemstones. They were worth so much and he wasn't even given the time to sell them… They had been too precious for powerless him.

He sighed.

Painful memories weren't good for his mental health.

He walked through the streets randomly as he enjoyed the refreshing breeze and the sights of many new places to discover.

After a time, he found a place to eat that was cheap just like he liked it and happily munched on some buns filled with meat from a species he didn't even know. It was tasty though so, it was fine. He marked the restaurant's location in his wrist-com and left to search for more interesting places.

He stumbled into a park, found a few more cheap restaurants and some shops with low prices…

He came back to the dorm quite late with many bags filled with goods. Grey had been waiting for him. As he approached, Grey began to lecture him about his doodles… He decided to skip the guy since he didn't want to hear any more of this. Grey followed him all they way to his doorstep while continuing his lecture.

As they reached the door and Ron opened it, Grey sighed and said: "I just hope that you will be able to move on. I'm sure it's tough but you need to continue living, Ron"

As Grey left, Ron watched his back. This guy was quite annoying but he was a good and caring man.

Ron entered his apartment and began to organize his new stuff. Then, he went to the cafeteria. Since dinner was free, he wouldn't bother cooking himself and wasting ingredients. While cooking was enjoyable and would help take his mind away from some thoughts, it was still less important than money. And a free meal was too tempting.

He arrived and picked a tray. Once it was his turn, he was served just like the previous day by those robots. It seemed to be the very same meal. Not like he had any complaints since he enjoyed the taste.

He looked around and saw that the table he used yesterday was empty today again. He went for it.

As he began to eat, quite a lot of students began to peek at him, some discreetly, some not. He wondered for a moment if it was due to his appearance then realized that maybe it was because they knew he survived the terrorism attack. Since Grey and many of the faculty staff knew, maybe a rumor spread? It wasn't impossible. He decided not to mind it and ate.

While he was in the middle of it, people kept entering the cafeteria as others left. And after a moment, he heard a commotion as some people began to scream. He turned around to see them pointing at him. He wondered if he was a celebrity now?

He was not.

They came towards him angrily. There were five and they all looked strong due to being tall and muscular. As they arrived, one of them spoke coldly: "Are you challenging us?"

Ron looked at him with surprise in his eyes and pasta in his mouth. He finished chewing before he answered: "No? I don't even know you people?"

The five frowned and another said: "Then why are you sitting at our table?"

Ron looked at the table then back at them and stated the truth: "It was the only place empty"

One of the five flared up: "Nonsense!"

Another calmed him and asked: "There are many seats left all over the place"

Ron looked around. Indeed, there were a lot. But they were randomly dispersed in the middle of tables filled with other students. There were empty seats but no empty tables.

Ron told them: "I don't know anyone, I'm new"

The five of them looked at each other and they had mixed feelings. As the only five members of the Augmented Department living in this dorm, they had quite a few privileges, one being this table. It wasn't official but everyone knew it was theirs. If it had been another student, they might have gone so far as to beat him up for sitting there. But if it was a new kid…They couldn't really blame him for not knowing the rules since he just arrived.

It wasn't new to have a transfer student and while they were in their first years, they had a few throughout their cursus previously. They could tolerate the mistake of someone who didn't know better.

They explained to him: "This table belongs to us. Since you didn't know, it's fine, but from now on, go elsewhere"

Ron didn't want to make a scene so he agreed before going back to his meal. However, that was the wrong move. The five of them expected him to scram. They weren't pleased to see him go back to his meal as if they weren't even here. They felt as if he had slapped their faces and crushed their pride.

New or not, they would be forced to act.