Inverse System

"Eeek!" She reacted when she felt his hand touch her shoulder, turning around to him retracting his hand, laughing nervously.

"What was that Rein!?" She angrily whispered.

"Ahaha, there was a mosquito on your shoulder. Here, look," he showed her his palm, which had a dead bug splattered across it.

"What?! Did it smudge on my clothes?!" She frantically voiced as she checked her shoulder sleeve on her orange half-coat.

"No, I was able to swipe it off cleanly and crush it in my hand. You don't have to worry," he reassured, making her sigh in relief.

"*phew*. Thanks… But you should probably go wash your hands," she opined, feeling slightly disgusted.

"Miss Willow!" Rein called out.

"Just call me Zophie. And can't you see I'm in the middle of explainin' something?" She lazily spoke.

"Sorry about that, I just need to go wash my hands. I just crushed an incredibly juicy bug. You guys wanna see?" He jokingly spoke, everyone in the class firmly declining.

"Make it quick. The men's bathroom is in the middle of the hall. Can't miss it," she pointed out of the door as she returned to teaching, Rein walking down the class, looking back at Xenia as he walked out.

The look of confusion on her face was replaced with a look of jubilation as she confidently began taking notes, Core glancing at her notebook and nodding to himself, impressed by her sudden improvement.

"I'm lucky her mind is prone to illusions. Had to use Memory Flip there to copy Saphrilla's Spring, but it's fine. Hopefully, I won't need to use it today," he thought to himself as he entered the washroom, pretending to wash his already clean hand.

"Hey, you're number 30, right?" a tall, brown-haired man walked into the bathroom after him.

He had brown eyes, filled with happiness and ambition. Rein could feel the sheer positivity emanating from his body as he entered the bathroom.

"And you're number 11, right?" Rein responded, pleasantly surprising the man.

"Wow! How'd you know!" He happily responded.

"I heard you yell 'Look! I'm number 11!' to that pink-haired girl. You two were making a ruckus during the orientation, what is she your girlfriend?" Rein scoffed.

"Dang, you pay attention to everything around you, don't you? And… Haha, it's a little embarrassing to say it, but yeah, she's my lover," he blushed.

"Well congrats to both of you," Rein unenthusiastically said as he returned to washing his hands.

"The name's Lance Bowman. And you're Rein, right? I heard you won the entrance tournament, yet you're 30th in the class? You even beat the number 2 and number 3 students during the same tournament. What's up with that?" Lance spoke in a confused tone.

"I dunno, guess I'm just really strong," he laughed, making Lance pumped up.

"Really?! It's like, I get the feeling that you don't have a Spring, but I still feel like you're incredibly powerful!" He eagerly stated, gushing up to him.

"Damn he's sharp," Rein thought in his mind, wanting to end the conversation.

"You see, the only reason I joined this academy was that Elaine was going. No matter how much I tried to convince her otherwise, she wouldn't budge. It made me feel inadequate like she thought I wasn't strong enough to protect her. Besides, her Spring is stronger than mine, so what's the point in pretending?" He laughed nervously.

"And what's that have to do with me?" Rein asked.

"Well, that's just it. I decided that because I scored lower than her in the rankings, I would physically train myself so I could cover her back… And when I heard the guy with the weakest Spring won the entrance tournament, I felt inspired. You did all that with a less than average Spring? I even heard that you weren't even using a Spring half the time!"

"So what, you want me to train you? Sorry, but I don't have time for that," Rein coldly denied.

"That's not it. I would be lying if I said I didn't want to fight you, but that's not it right now. I just wanna be friends!" He innocently said, triggering several flags for Rein.

"I can't tell if this guy's a genius or an idiot…" He thought to himself.

"I might be able to pick up a thing or two from hanging out with you! And who knows, maybe it'll be good for you to have a friend from a higher class?" He persuasively spoke, making Rein's eyes widen.

"That is true…" He uttered, Lance beginning to beg.

"Please, dude… I just want to make Elaine happy. I just want to protect her, that's all I want in life," Lance poured his heart, bowing down to Rein, who could feel the sincerity through his words.

"Heh, in a way we're similar, you and I," Rein laughed, extending his hand out for a handshake.

"For real?! Thanks man!" He firmly shook Rein's hand, who took the opportunity to copy his Spring.

"Well then, I'll head back to class first! See ya, buddy!" Lance ran out of the washroom and back to the classroom as a teacher in the hallway caught him, scolding him for running in the hallway.

Rein looked into the mirror and smiled to himself, half of it was genuine and half of it was malicious.

"Yes Lance, we are very much alike. But at the same time, we couldn't be any more different. We both have one purpose in life, granted they are both incredibly different things… Though I still do commend you for your resolve. You've definitely earned my respect," he softly laughed to himself.

"So this is his Spring, huh? The ability to manifest his energy into a shield and cover a wider range of area, while simultaneously boosting its power. Interesting… very fitting for someone as righteous as him. I'll make good use of this," he thought as he finished washing his hands, then returned back to the classroom, walking back up the stairs and taking his seat beside Xenia.

On his way up, he noticed Lance happily whispering to his girlfriend who sat next to him, and Chloe looking at him with the corner of her eye from the front of the room.

"Hey, Rein! Bet you can't answer this question!" Xenia gloated as she showed him her notebook, her having done the question that the teacher just assigned.

"Haha, impressive. Too bad though," he said as he flipped his own notebook open, showing her that he had already done the question.

"What?! But she literally just assigned that one! Don't tell me you flipped ahead in the textbook?! How about you?" She turned to Core, who gaudily laughed while showing his answer.

Suddenly, Xenia and Core felt a swift bullet fly by their heads, propelling past them at incredible speed.

"I'm tryna teach a class here. Both of you shut the hell up," the teacher angrily glared at them as they saw that she spit her cigarette at them, which poked a hole in the stone wall behind them. They bowed their heads and shut their mouths, sitting there, disciplined.

After a while, homeroom was over and the classes divided amongst themselves. Class S joined the principal in their battle strategies class, while Rein and class D met up somewhere on campus.

"Hey! Looks like all 6 of us are here! We should all introduce ourselves! I'll start!" One student among them enthusiastically exclaimed, wearing an obviously fake smile on her face.

"My name is Candice Eilstina! I hope we can get along from now on!" She happily expressed, posing in cutesy fashion.

"My name is Mizubuki Daikuro! I'm from the newly claimed Orthlys territory of Mantos! It's nice to meet you!" The carefree-looking boy revealed.

"I'm Roger Bentley! I hope we can work together to progress through the school year!" He bowed, making Rein, who was sitting with Xenia and Core, laugh as he lay on the grass, sitting up and looking at his fellow classmates.

"Work together? You've gotta be joking right? I mean, that Candice girl can't put on a faker smile if she tried," he pointed out, making the girl laugh nervously, subconsciously cursing him.

"Haha… What are you talking about!" She stuttered.

"And work together? Don't make me laugh. We're in class D, the lowest of the low, and the three of us especially, dealing with the threat of expulsion on our asses. You must be incredibly naive if you think we're working with you. It's every man to themselves in this school," he stood up, followed by Xenia and Core who stood up after him as they began walking away.

"H-hey! But you need 6 people to take the high rewarding commissions!" One of the guys yelled as the three walked away.

"Didn't say they had to be 6 of the same class. Sorry, but we're better off questing with people we're not competing with," Core waved his hand as continued walking away.

"Sorry guys, but we're gonna win! Try and keep up!" Xenia taunted, also waving her hand as she ran to the two in front of her.

"Uhhh, that was… Weird, wasn't it Miss Candice? I mean, we just wanted to work together…" Mizubuki nervously spoke.

"Those fucking heathens…" She whispered.

"What? Sorry, haha, could you speak up..?" Roger said as he approached her.

"THOSE FUCKING HEATHENS!! I SWEAR TO FUCKING GOD I'M GONNA EARN MORE POINTS THAN THEM AND GET THEM EXPELLED! I'M GONNA MAKE THAT WHITE HAIRED MENACE WISH HE'D NEVER INSULTED ME!" Candice exploded, waving her arms in an angry fit as fire could be seen in her eyes, unnerving the two boys who accompanied her.

"Um… Miss Candice… What's come over you?" Mizubuki whimpered as he tried calming her down, Candice suddenly grabbing the two of them by the collar.

"From now on, you're both my dogs, you hear? I don't want to hear a single word of resistance," she imposed her will upon them, the weak-willed boys easily crushed under the weight of her words, folding under the pressure.

"Y-yes ma'am!" They simultaneously obeyed.

"Hey Rein, we said all of that, but where are we gonna get 3 more people? Chloe and Clyde are busy with battle strategies class," Xenia inquired as she followed Rein to the commission board.

"We can still get Reggie or Quint to join us. And besides, I've got an extra person who might be willing…"