The troublemaker

"Sprinting activity," Cross muttered Officer Sander's words.

"I heard that you have just transferred here to the academy", Noir said to him.

He looked at her. This girl knows his name. She also seems friendly toward him and the way she looked at him was different from how the majority of people here looked at him.

He wondered whether she was the same person as that person in the cafeteria. Due to that incident in the cafeteria the other day, he thought she was an ill-mannered person. However, looking at her now, she seems like a different person.

But it was still too early to judge her personality.

"That's right", Cross replied.

She smiled. No wonder she didn't see him in the welcoming event at the opening ceremony. "Okay. Actually, every morning activity, we do some laps around the field. It's our routine."

"That sounds like a normal exercise, though", Cross said to her.

"Yes, it is normal exercise. Anyway, let's hear what the officer meant with the 'not the usual sprinting activity' he mentioned", Noir suggested.

Cross nodded and glanced around. It looked like the others were also as curious as them.

"This time, you won't just be running around here on the training field. You must climb to the top of Backyard Hill."

"Backyard Hill?" Cross muttered.

Hearing that, "There." Noir pointed to the big Hill that could be seen in the north.

"So that's the Backyard Hill?" He asked.

"Although it was a few kilometers away from here, it was still within the academy's territory, thus it was called the Backyard Hill", Noir explained. "Uhm geez, I don't know the rest of the reason why it was called Backyard Hill."

Cross smiled wryly.

As Cross and Noir were talking to each other, they suddenly heard some whispers coming from the cadets around them.

"Look, isn't that the freak and the troublemaker?"

"Did those two know each other?"

"Well, maybe."

"Talk about a weird combination, haha!"

"Don't come close to them, they will cast bad luck on you."

Cross wasn't surprised that everyone was talking badly to him. However, who did they mean by 'troublemaker?'

Looking at their line of sight, they were directing their gazes at him and… at Noir?!

He did not expect Noir to receive the same treatment as him. Isn't she a popular person in this academy? Looking at her, she was a beauty on par with Cai Lyn and Scarlet. She even had a perfect figure for such a young lady. Besides that, she was from the top clan.

Perhaps it was due to that time in the cafeteria. That time, she was with other students, probably her lackeys. That Noir in the cafeteria looked like a lofty person who likes causing trouble, but looking at this Noir beside him, she looked like a tamed beast who had no friends.

Now that he noticed it, he could not find those girls who hang out around her. He looked around and saw those same girls with Noir that time. But, their number was less by one this time?

Aren't there four of them at that time? Cross asked in mind when he noticed there were only three of them this time. What was more strange was that they were glaring in Noir's direction. Those were not some friendly glares based on how Cross saw it. Those were the kind of glares with hatred in it.

She got nerfed already? This thought came across his mind as he looked at Noir suspiciously. It looked like there was a quarrel between her and those girls. Friendly quarrel perhaps.

Suddenly,

Their attention was snatched by an angry yell from the officer. "Goddammit! Don't interrupt me when I'm explaining!"

His cap jumped along with his hair.

"Is that magic?" Cross whispered, causing Noir to hold his laughter.

"Pufft!"

"You!" The officer looked in Cross' and Noir's direction.

They immediately turned silent with their eyes looking straight, avoiding meeting the glaring eyes of the angry officer.

"Deserve."

"Troublemaker for you."

Some cadets muttered but disappeared immediately when Officer Sander's eyes swept across everyone. Once he noticed that everyone was behaving, he continued his explanation.

According to him, they needed to climb the top of the hill from here before the time limit ran out. This activity was individual, so they didn't need to worry about teamwork.

As long as they arrived at the top of the hill, they could win some points. On the contrary, the loser would be punished as he stated before.

He also said that the fastest to reach the top would get the highest reward.

That's it? It sounds so simple, honestly. Climbing the top of the hill wasn't a spectacular activity. Everyone could do it, each one of them thought after hearing the officer's explanation regarding the activity.

Even Cross was surprised that it was just a normal race toward the top of the hill. But the officer said a while ago that it was an unusual sprinting activity though. Also, the grin on the officer's face bothered him.

There must be more to it. Cross thought. He did not believe that it was just as simple as that.

"Now! I give you 30 minutes to warm up. After that, the race will begin!" Said the instructor before he turned around and walked in front of that guy Garry.

"Listen up everyone! Garry here will lead the stretching exercises! Don't make a fuse and follow his lead obediently!"

"Yes, sir!"

"Okay, sir!"

The year-1 cadets responded asynchronously.

"It's up to you now." The officer said to Garry.

"Yes, sir!" Garry saluted.

"Ah, so that's why Senior Garry is here today."

Cross heard Noir say that. He looked at her. "Is he a highly regarded person in the academy?" He asked.

Noir looked at him, "Senior Garry?"

Cross nodded.

"He's the only student who had a co… co…"

Cross noticed Noir having difficulty pronouncing the word. She didn't seem to be stuttering. More like, she was hesitating to say the word.

"Do you mean common?"

Noir looked surprised.

"Yes uh, he's the only student with that background who managed to enter the Elite Class. As you can see, most members of that class were from top families with great talents. But Senior Garry managed to enter there through hard work. But even so, although it was a very promising achievement, it isn't the main reason why everyone is looking up to him now. His match yesterday is the main reason why he is idolized by the other students now."

"Ah, I see. I'm so envious", Cross muttered.

Cross had no idea what Garry did in his match, but he was also in the match yesterday, though as someone's replacement.

"Aren't you popular also?" Noir suddenly told him. "Though in a bad way, hehe." He wasn't sure if she was teasing him, but she was right.

Students who he wasn't familiar with were talking about him. But their words were not to praise him but rather to belittle him.

"Kiyahh! Senior Garry will be instructing us!" A girl cadet exclaimed.

"Alright everyone, please make a group of 10 people each and fall in line."

"Yessir!"

Garry looked very satisfied that everyone was very obedient to his words.