System Down (2)

"Noel, your position as the class helper will be reassigned to Eunice, is that alright?"

First period was English, teacher Glib's class.

"I don't mind."

And honestly, I don't really get what Liliath meant about Teacher Glib testing us. Though, she sounded genuinely apologetic when talking about my change of position for some reason, a stark contrast from her pissed attitude earlier. It wasn't a simple 'I feel sorry for changing your post' kind of apologetic-- but there was a little reverence to it.

After shifting the post from me to Eunice-- a life saver-- teacher Glib continued with class as usual.

Kai looked pretty gloomy when he heard that, but he didn't try to reprove it. In any case, all troublesome tasks are now pushed to them. Things like taking attendance each morning, keeping the class in shape, silencing loud students, and assigning students to a class cleaning duty.

At least that creates distance between him and Liliath-- though, nothing is for certain.

Biology class was next and everyone was to head over to the laboratory. It's the first time I've come to the laboratory in this school so you could say I was quite interested.

Of course, Liliath asked if the lab was some creature dissecting cult or something--

There, teacher Eyl-- wore a white coat over her work clothes.

The lab was for the most part, clean and neat, infographics on the wall stating the regulations in the lab, and numerous models of various sciency stuff-- atoms, skeletal system, volcano model, etcetera.

8 large tables-- supposedly where students would do experiments in groups were arranged in columns of 2, stools were used instead of lean-able chairs.

"Take a seat class, anywhere is fine, limit yourselves to 5 to 6 students at a table, giddy yup!" teacher Eyl exclaimed.

The students in Class E numbered 36.

Liliath and I exchanged gazes-- and we parted ways.

It isn't all that good to stick together all the time.. is probably what I felt when i saw her eyes. I don't really get why either but it just happened.

In any case, I was sitting in the middle back row, together with Voux when Kai joined in.

Teacher Eyl introduced herself-- a young maiden whose age was unknown-- literally inciting the class to roast her when the truth would be revealed.

It was a tradition of hers to give out pizzas to the class who managed to figure out her age-- you could call it bribery to shut the student's mouth but it was considerably effective? Since she mentioned that a number of her ex-students managed to guess it correctly-- but they kept their word.

Jokes aside, teacher Eyl started to teach while us students sat and listened-- at least that was supposed to be how it is.

Referring to the notes I've created before on enzyme function, I listened as teacher Eyl's voice brought me closer and closer to dreamland.

"You're quite the hardworking person Noel."

"Hm? Not really.."

"Noel, can i ask-- who is Liliath, by the way?"

"Hm? Liliath?" I turned to Kai, the person who asked such a question, "What? You fancy her?"

"Come on.. I don't mean that. I was just curious. Her mental aptitude is amazing, not to mention her EQ. I remember the first time we met, I felt a shiver down my spine. I literally ran away after that," Kai laughed. "Must be her TALENT."

Bloodlust? Did Liliath use bloodlust back then?

"Probably. And you're still trying to approach her?"

"Well, of course. Why not? Everyone is curious about her, you know? She has like-- purple hair, natural purple hair. Where else can you find someone like that? " Kai tilted his head.

"True..."

I looked to the front of the group where Liliath was sitting. Sure enough, she's getting quite a bit of attention. Those from the other tables were obviously trying to strike up a chat with her. Same goes for Prune. The two stand out a lot.

Wait.. what kind of person is Kai again?

Liliath told me to be careful about Kai but-- he doesn't seem to be all that bad of a guy..?

That time Kai may have just been scared away by Liliath on purpose-- then the reason why he wanted Liliath to be the class helper may have been justified as Liliath being the most suitable candidate. Kai can tell one's mental ability to a certain extent after all..

Could Lilaith be over sensitive?

Confusing.. no.. iIm judging people, that's why I'm confused. That's not good..

"Liliath is my summon," I confessed.

"Really? Figured as much. Though summoning a girl is as ridiculous as it gets," Kai's eyes were wide open.

"It is.. i suppose… you're not surprised?"

I might have held the wrong image about Kai?

From the corner of my eye, I checked the update screen on the status window again-- Liliath was still walking on the cog. Darn, I wish the update had a status bar where Liliath was walking on a straight line instead, then I'd be able to tell the progress of completion.

"I've heard of worse.." Kai said in a gloomy tone.

"Are we going to do the-- what's the weirdest TALENT we've encountered challenge?" Voux chided all of a sudden.

"Good idea, who goes first?" Kai's expression brightened.

Weirdest TALENT. The first person that comes to mind is Nine.

"You go, since you said you've seen ones weirder than Noel's TALENT," Voux recommended.

"Have you heard of the guy who poops coal?"

"What, seriously?"

Poops coal.. poops coal.. what in the fuck?

"Yeah, dead serious," Kai gave us an unnerving stare. "I'm not here to divulge who he is but-- his TALENT is the ability to eat plastic forks and turn them into coal and oil through defecation. No joke, I pity him… luckily he's not in our class."

"Says the guy who already divulged the guy's gender and narrowing his general whereabouts,"Voux laughed.

I have no words to comment. And here I thought Nine was the weirdest. Honestly-- wow.

"Noel?"

"No, you go next Voux, I don't think mine is that great."

"Okay, here it goes," Voux takes in a deep breath, and in the most regal tone he could muster, he made a hissing shout-like whisper,"MAKE PUBERTY GREAT AGAIN!"

"PFFTT..""

"Ahahahah.."

I choked on my breath while Kai let loose a silent laugh, clenching his stomach.

"What the hell, explain Voux," Kai asked, choking in between breaths.

"I know a friend of a friend that has a TALENT that makes it so his pimple grows diamonds."

"Hah?! What?? PFFTT. AHAHHAHAHA," Kai slammed his head on the table.

While I'm here wheezing, trying not to laugh.

Oh my god, the guy is absolutely rich-- provided his diamonds sell well. Truly a blessing for those who grow up to have a lot of pimples. Heck, with this TALENT, pimples are very much welcomed. Puberty sure is great for a guy like that~

"Too loud, too loud!" Voux hushed.

The two of us went silent in the next moment and shot a look in front where the teacher was teaching-- she didn't notice us. Luckily.

Kai let out a relieved exhale, his shoulder shaking, trying to stifle his laughter.

I noticed Liliath turning to look at me with a worried look.

I placed my hands together and made a bow in apology.

Must be the effects of the concealment barrier. Thanks for covering for us Liliath.

"We're lucky, hey, Noel, what are you apologizing for?" Kai asked.

"Nah. We were probably saved by Liliath."

"Saved by Liliath? What do you mean."

"Concealment spell. That's why the teacher didn't notice."

"What?"

"Noel, you said Liliath came from a different world right?" Voux asked.

"Well, yeah. In fact, she can use all sorts of magic.. not limited to concealment spells, elemental magic and-- bloodlust."

"No way.. she's a jerk! No wonder she's so scary to be...hiikkh?!" Kai suddenly sat up straight. Looking to the front, Liliath was glaring this way.

I gestured an apology once again.

She dismissed it with something like a 'hmph!'.

I'm sorry..

"Wow, so that's bloodlust," Voux was surprised. "You have to be careful Kai, no badmouthing or you'll be dead."

"I envy you Noel, you have an overprotective summon.." Kai whispered the latter part as if to prevent Liliath from hearing. Ah-- no.

"Yeah, yeah," I dismissed it by checking the update screen again. The chibi Liliath on the cog was glaring at me, and I instinctively flinched. What the hell, don't tell me even the UI has a personality?! For the moment our eyes met, she averted my eyes by looking away in the next second.

"Noel, why do you keep staring at the table?"

"Yeah, you've been looking at 'something' for a while now."

You know.. since it has already come to this--

"Uh.. it's my TALENT. I kinda messed up this morning. I actually wanted to explain my TALENT in depth but.. it's.. updating? You know those kinds of status screen windows in anime? That kind of thing.."

"Huh? I thought your TALENT is summoning?"

"Apparently not," I scratched my head.

I've already decided to reveal my TALENT anyways, so there's no risk in telling them.

"So what exactly is your TALENT then Noel?" Kai pressed me this question.

"Manifestation into Reality, that's what Enoch calls it. You two know Enoch right?"

"Yeah-- That sounds.. deep," Kai expressed his surprise while Voux furrowed his brow.

"I don't even know the full extent of my TALENT you know? It's confusing. Before this it was just a simple status screen, I wonder what's next after the update."

"By the way, what is the weirdest TALENT you've encountered? It's your turn right Noel?"

"Oh yeah, about that, it's.."

"Let's see… Voux, can you please come up and answer this question here," Eyl, who fumbled through the students list glanced around class, cutting our conversation short.

Looks like Voux had been chosen on a whim.

"Oh no… Noel, save me.."

"Here," I point to the answer to the question on that black board that had been highlighted in my notes.

In the end, we weren't found out for not paying attention in class.