Chapter 1 - Reincarnation

"You will never be known as a hero. Never!"

Those words always pop up in my mind as soon as I wake every morning. It's become somewhat of a routine for me and the sad thing is - I believe it.

How can I be a hero or make a difference in the world when I've been terrible at EVERYTHING I do? It's simply impossible and I know some of you disagree with me but my opinion stands and it's not going to change anytime soon...

It's yet another mundane day at Flora Spring Academy. I know. What kind of a dummy names their school as if it were a Disney princess?

I'm in class on the farthest side of the room, clutching a helpless soft ball between my fingers. As usual, the teacher is late for class and all we have are our companions to pass the time by, but my companion is this ball here and it seems like time is running slower for me than for others.

"Hey! It's Sea Turtle. Sea Turtle! Long time no see."

I move my head lazily to my right and spot 3 school boys approaching me.

"What's shreaking up, Turd?" The 'dominant' one of the boys says.

"Nothing much. I'm just waiting for the teacher to arrive so I can finish this day as quickly as possible and go sleep." I reply with an unbothered face.

"Haha. Same, same. But...you don't want to truff off school today? I've heard there's a new ice cream diner that's opened up round the Benge round-a-bout.

I sigh, slowly.

"Nah. You should enjoy without me." I add a quick smile before returning to my 'I can't be asked' face.

"Haha. I think I'll stay in school." The boy says but then he lowers his face towards my ear.

"You know what this means, right?" He asks in a more serious and less jokey tone.

Sighing again I answer, "Yes, I know. I'll meet you at the auditorium after school."

"That's what I like to hear." He says just as the teacher comes in from his daily 'traffic'.

The boy and his posse are the 'bullies' of my class and they're the best the Academy has got because even though they bully students, none of the teachers or staff know since they act like hidden devils under angel's robes.

"I apologise for the tardiness students. I did not expect to be this long-"

Really?

"-Anyway, in this lesson, we'll be covering the basics of the quadratic formula I talked about yesterday..."

* * *

Lunch has arrived and I'm right by my locker, as usual. To be honest, I've grown tired of seeing the same view every single day that I sometimes think of transferring schools just to get a fresh scenery.

"Tenshi!" I hear my name being called out amongst the crowd of students.

A boy with sleek brown hair, a cheery smile and a backpack too big for his back emerges in front of me.

"Rumi. You came back?" I say with a fake act of surprise.

"Yeah...Jump Punch High wasn't exactly the school I was looking for."

Of course it wouldn't be. Nothing ever is good enough for you. Oh, by the way, all schools in this district have weird names made by comic enthusiastic dummies. I should have mentioned that sooner.

"Anyway, what's up with the new look?" Rumi points out.

"I didn't like my boring black hair so I decided to dye it grey." I answer, simply.

"Well, I liked your 'boring black hair' over this one. You look like an old ghost who's too lazy to do anything so he spends his day washing his hair with detergent." Rumi replies with a scowl as we start walking towards the Library.

I smile.

"That's the best compliment I've heard anyone give me."

"You welcome your ghostliness." Rumi jokes.

"Oh thank you Sir Maru Rumiere." I say in my poshest voice.

"That's alright my fair Tenshi Zendri. It's my pleasure to have made your acquaintance on this marvellous day."

We look at each other and then laugh out loud hysterically.

"SHH!" The Head Librarian hisses at us.

"No LAUGHING in the LIBRARY!" She whisper shouts at us with fire-hungry eyes.

"Sorry." We mouth back to her, still chuckling.

This is why having a best friend like Rumi is a huge advantage because you can get in trouble together and not have a bother in the world.

"Psst."

Rumi and I stop walking. We turn back to the Librarian but see her reading her magazine.

"Over here." The voice comes again from our left.

We move our heads over to see a student in an unusually dark aisle of bookshelves.

"Come closer." The student, who seems to be a boy (by the voice) whispers.

Rumi and I take a step closer.

"One more." The student adds.

Obediently, Rumi starts to move forward until I stop him with the force of my right hand across his chest.

"We're not coming any closer." If you want us to listen, speak now." I tell the student.

There's a bit of an awkward silence after this but then the student sighs.

"Fine but we better make it quick. You both have one question to answer from. The response is solely up to you however, you only have 30 seconds to think of an answer so respond wisely." The student speaks fast.

"In what situation would you feel more proud in? 30 seconds starts now." The student proceeds to counting down from 30.

"Wait. What?! What kind of a question is that?!" Rumi panics.

"How are we supposed to answer that in 30 seconds? And why is it important that you know our answer? You're not entitled to know what we think. Only we have the power to tell you what we want to tell you. Seriously, what kind of-" Rumi continues on ranting.

"12,11,10..." The student continues.

I'm thinking as best as I can as if this was my life or death question.

"3,2,1,0. Got your answer? Good. Now think of your answer and clap your hands 3 times."

Reciting my response in my mind, I finish and clap my hands together 3 times along with Rumi.

Nothing's happened.

"And what, if you don't mind me asking, was that supposed to do to us?" Rumi asks, with visible annoyance.

The student smirks.

"To reincarnate you." He says and steps back into the darkness.

"Huh? Wait a seco-" Before Rumi could finish, we both get dropped into a pool of the darkest ender, helplessly floundering around like an imprisoned jellyfish.

* * *

Throbbing...all over my body. I feel hot and cold blood soar through me in an unusual beat. It continues for a few more seconds until it stops and I'm able to relax my eyes.

I open them. Darkness. I try closing and opening them again. This time I am able to see the world around me.

Sitting down, I push the palm of my hand towards my forehead to ease the sudden dizziness. Then, I stand up and check my surroundings.

Strangely, I'm in the Academy's corridor again. Nothing is visibly different...

"Urgh." I hear someone mutter behind me.

Turning around me, I see a girl on the floor by my feet.

"Damn...my head hurts like crazy..." She groans as she tries to stand up.

"Do you need help?" I ask, kinda involuntarily (my mouth just spoke on its own).

"Of course not! You should know better than anyone that I don't take help from anyone." The girl clumsily raises herself off the floor.

"Anyway...where are we?" The girl looks around, a bit dazed.

"Um, we're in the Academy's corridor...uh, if you don't mind me asking, who are you?" I reply.

Immediately, the girl gazes at my face, quite seriously, as if she's trying to figure out the world's hardest Rubiks Cube.

"I think you've hit your head." The girl shakes her head from side to side.

"You know it's me, Rumi. Who else can look as bad ass as me, hmm?"

I blink.

Looking over what happened before my blackout, my knowledge and the surroundings I am in now, I feel that the student in the Library may have actually, somehow, reincarnated us into an anime world...but why?

"Why are you standing there like a statue? Say something." Rumi demands.

"I...I think you should look at yourself." I eventually answer.

"Huh? What do you-" Rumi stops talking when he sees the uniform he is wearing; a white polo shirt, red tie, grey blazer with dark green stripes in certain places, black socks, black shoes and a dark green skirt.

"What. the. FAWK?!" He shouts.

BAM!

Rumi and I jump as a door bangs open. We turn around to find an angry looking student (actually angry doesn't even start to describe it) glaring at us.

"What are you dip wits shouting around? Get in before Aizawa gets here." The student growls.

We do as he says and walk inside the classroom. Upon entering, we're greeted by an array of peculiar looking humans.

"Uh..." My mouth emits.

"You must be the new transfer students, right? My name is Tenya Iida. Nice to officially meet you." A student with navy blue hair and a serious demeanour walks up to us and bows.

Quickly thinking up an answer, I say "It's a pleasure to be here..." I bow back respectively, "I'm Tenshi Zendri and this is Maru Rumiere." I gesture over to Rumi and nudge him to bow as well.

Rumi does so but I feel that he's not exactly happy since his foot is dug deep into my foot.

The door slides open again and this time it's a man with long black hair that looks like he hasn't brushed it in years, a black outfit, a white bandage wrapped loosely around his neck and the most distinguishable part of him...his crazy dark eye bags.

"It took you long enough to transfer..."