Chapter 15

To investigate the truth, Atas set aside his arrogance in Class A. With his wit and humor, he had become friendly with several students who loved gossip by the end of the day's classes. Unlike the other exchange students, he was now close enough to the Class A students to share a table with them at meals.

The Class A cafeteria.

Atas glanced at the six exchange students eating together at one table and concealed his disdain. He sat down beside his new friends as if he had known them for ages.

"Ah, I'm so sorry. The crystal shrimp dumplings looked too lovely, so I waited in line for a while. What a pity..." Atas picked up a shrimp dumpling with a torn wrapper, his tone helpless. "The auntie must have been a little busy. This perfect crystal shrimp dumpling has a bit broken off the edge." Asta's face showed a vivid look of regret at just the right moment.

"It's just one crystal shrimp dumpling. Is it really worth feeling sorry about? Atas, you're far too sentimental."

Crystal and broken... Those two keywords got the three gossip lovers talking. The shattered Esper Detection Crystal Ball had been a hot topic of gossip at the Seventh Hunter Academy lately.

"Speaking of which... what exactly happened to that Esper Detection Crystal Ball? The red-haired twins' account hasn't made a peep. It's so strange."

"Tell me about it. I even got a refund and compensation from the red-haired twins. That must be the first time since they set up the account!"

When he heard them bring up the Esper Detection Crystal Ball themselves, the corners of Asta's mouth rose even higher.

They took the bait.

The aristocratic education he had received since childhood allowed him to handle all kinds of situations with ease. Befriending students he could use and getting them to bring up things he was curious about themselves was elementary.

"Was it the Esper Detection Crystal Ball?" Atas smoothly joined the conversation, looking incredulous. "You must be mistaken. That's the hardest and softest thing in the world. It can't be destroyed."

"We couldn't believe it either." The student speaking shook his head. "It was even harder to believe when we heard the Esper Detection Crystal Ball shattered in Class F. We even suspected it was just a rumor."

"Lowly Class F." Attas Flint gave a contemptuous smile. He didn't believe it. "Seriously, everyone."

Atas shrugged and smiled helplessly. "That joke really isn't very clever. Or funny, for that matter. If it happened anywhere, it should have been our Class A."

"..."

"..."

"..."

The conversation abruptly fell silent. They wished it were a joke too. But it was an indisputable fact. Lowly Class F had somehow gained a mysterious transfer student whom even the Twin Know-It-Alls couldn't figure out.

"Hey? What's wrong? Don't tell me it's true?" The sudden silence made Atas glance over the three of them. An ominous feeling rose in his heart. They didn't look like they were joking.

Attas Flint: "..."

Did I get the wrong class?

How is that possible!

Chapter 15

Atas thought he ought to put something on the end of his nose. A red ball, for example.

But...

Class F.

Atas viciously bit into the crystal shrimp dumpling he had torn open with his chopsticks. The striking image of the white-haired boy leaping lightly down from a tall tree flashed through his mind.

What was his name again?

Ah, I almost forgot. He had refused the teacher's answer at the time.

Atas: "..."

For some reason, his face stung a little.

But that was all right. He could simply go to Class F.

A Class A student, even an exchange student, should be very popular in the lowly Class F. The white-haired boy was the first person he thought of. If he became friends with him for the time being, the boy ought to feel honored.

Asta had lost his appetite, whether because of his mistaken judgment or because the food was hard to swallow. He simply picked up his plate and stood. His destination had changed; he shouldn't be here, but at the Class F cafeteria.

"Atas? Where are you going?"

"Hey? Atas..."

Atas didn't respond to the puzzled voices behind him. He put the food he had barely touched on the counter and left the Class A cafeteria. Things with no value to him weren't worth any more of his attention.

Besides, they would find excuses for him themselves. They were no different from the people he had befriended before.

"What's wrong with him?"

"He's probably embarrassed that his guess was wrong. After all, he insisted that the crystal ball shattered in our Class A, but that wasn't what happened. He's always so gentle and sentimental, listening attentively to everyone and getting emotional over whatever we're discussing. It couldn't be that he's deliberately ignoring us."

"Ha... true."

With a well-judged smile and a softly voiced question, Atas soon found out where the Class F cafeteria was.

"The Class F cafeteria, tsk... what a cheap place..." Shabby tables and chairs that would have been thrown out at their academy were arranged neatly in the cafeteria. Having arrived at the Class F cafeteria, Asta looked inside through the cheap plastic strips hanging across the entrance, his brows drawing together involuntarily.

"Even if they're Class F, they're still Esper Ability Users," Atas muttered. Eating in such a terrible environment was no different from living in the slums of the old humans. The Seventh Hunter Academy was a godforsaken place, just as his classmates had said. No wonder it couldn't recruit capable new students and relied on its headmaster to go around picking up the trash other academies didn't want.

Atas concealed the contempt in his eyes and smoothed his brow. He lifted the transparent plastic curtain with his fingertips, carefully keeping it from touching his clothes, and stepped into the cafeteria.

"Excuse me..." Atas put on his trademark smile, intending to ask where the white-haired, red-eyed boy was. Before he could finish, his eyes locked on a spot in the corner.

No one sat anywhere around the white-haired boy. How should he put it? The boy was worthy of being the friend he had chosen. Though his esper ability wasn't much, he had plenty of class. Together with his distinctive bearing, that could bridge the gap between their esper abilities.

"Sorry." Atas walked past the Class F student he had originally intended to ask, his voice turning cold. "No need to ask anymore."

Jin Yuxuan: "..."

Ever since the strange blond exchange student from who knew where had spotted Qi Yue, his eyes hadn't lingered on Jin Yuxuan again. He walked past him toward Qi Yue without the slightest hesitation. Honestly... what rotten luck, Jin Yuxuan thought.

Attas Flint wore expensive clothes, and his blond hair was slicked back with gel. He smelled strongly of perfume, and his leather shoes were polished to a shine. Amid the plain surroundings and the Class F students, he stood out conspicuously, completely out of place.

Accustomed to ordinary people looking up to him, Atas walked briskly with his chin slightly raised and his trademark social smile in place. The arrogance that seeped from his very bones was enough to pickle him through.

The direction the blond peacock is heading...

Is he Qi Yue's friend?

The Class F students looked toward Qi Yue, who had no one around him, and speculated among themselves.

He was one of the guys who had stopped by their training grounds for 37 seconds at around ten that morning. Compared with him, Beixing was more deserving of attention.

Qi Yue's gentle gaze rested on Beixing, who sat across from him with his head lowered, stuffing food into his mouth like a hamster. Although Qi Yue had glimpsed the newcomer out of the corner of his eye, he had no interest in looking up.

The mosaic blocks on Beixing's face seemed to have become a little finer than before. When had the second change begun? When Qi Yue had decided to take Beixing to the monthly assessment?

The question took root in Qi Yue's mind.

The closer Atas came, the more clearly he could see the features that had astonished him at his first hurried glance. The boy had a cold, extremely sharp and aggressive appearance. A single look left a strong, lasting impression.

Even at the First Hunter Academy, he had never seen anyone with looks and bearing more outstanding than the boy before him. Atas swallowed.

The boy rested one arm on the table, the back of his hand propping up the side of his chin as his red eyes stared unblinkingly across the table...

Atas shifted his gaze to Beixing, who sat opposite the white-haired boy. His brows instantly knotted.

What... is that thing across from him?

Honestly, even if the white-haired boy was F-rank, given what he had going for him, he didn't need to befriend someone so drab and gray, did he? How was that any different from sinking into depravity? At the Seventh Hunter Academy, in the inferior Class F, his horizons were bound to be limited.

Assuming the role of a savior, Atas quickened his pace.

Qi Yue had not wanted to pay attention to the strange boy who had been staring fixedly at him and Beixing ever since entering the cafeteria. Unfortunately, judging by his stride and distance, the boy was only one step away from entering Beixing's forbidden zone. Perhaps... it was Qi Yue's forbidden zone too?

In any case, the other Class F students didn't seem inclined to warn the reckless stranger.

"Hey, you..." Out of kindness, Qi Yue briefly shifted his gaze away from Beixing and raised his eyelids slightly, his red eyes calmly settling on the familiar mosaic face he had grown numb to seeing.

There was no health bar, and his strength was unknown. It could be a matter of life or death. Afraid the boy wouldn't understand whom he meant, Qi Yue looked at his hair. "The student with yellow hair."

"!!!"

What... did we just hear?! The Class F students stared in shock.

Students who were eating silently swallowed the food that had nearly choked them, those serving themselves froze, and those who were leaving backed up and sat down again. As one, the students in the cafeteria held their breath and pricked up their ears.

The once-noisy cafeteria fell so quiet in an instant that a pin could be heard dropping.

After all, what could be more important than watching drama unfold firsthand?

So he wasn't Qi Yue's friend. Then... who was he? After all... Qi Yue was the transfer student who, on his very first day, had mocked them with his cold, arrogant behavior and words while standing up for Beixing.

For the arrogant transfer student Qi Yue, who didn't accuse people unjustly and was clear about whom he liked and disliked, to treat him so coldly and mercilessly, mocking him with the casually delivered words "the student with yellow hair," this blond... no, this student who should be called yellow-haired, must have some secret they didn't yet know about. After all... the transfer student Qi Yue, who had made even the Twin Know-It-Alls issue refunds and pay compensation, knew everything.