Chapter 19: Back to School – Part 1 (1/2)

A week after the tournament incident, the school was back to normal. It was Monday and even Elijah Ferreira had fully recovered. He went back to school as if nothing happened with a little smile on his face, and he had that same aura he had before losing to Amon. He wanted to forget about what happened a week ago and pretend nothing happened, but even if he tried to hide it, the simpler girls in school looked at him with disgust visible on their faces as they spoke in low voices to their friends, it was as if they were gossiping about him.

He was confused when he saw the attitude of these girls, after all, it's been a whole week since that tournament incident, and his face was as perfect as ever. He didn't understand what's going on, he even tried to smile at one girl but it didn't work, the girl just looked at him with disgust visible on her face as she spat on the floor, it was like these simple girls were looking at a piece of trash.

What Elijah doesn't know is that every person in this world wears a mask, each person has a mask that hides their true self, like a laugh, a smile, a simple poke in the cheek, but when you realize that person is not what you think they are, it's almost impossible to forget; it's like an illusion that has stopped working, and now...

Elijah is suffering the consequences of his actions. It's as if people started to look through this mask that he always had, not only do you see the most beautiful and colorful parts or the ones you like the most about that person, but you also see the ugly and disgusting ones. And, sometimes, you find that for a long time you were deceived by this mask that blocked your vision, and when you finally saw that it was all an illusion, people can't help but wonder:

Was it that simple? Was I so foolish that I didn't see through it? Why? People wondered such things when the mask finally fell off.

But of course, there are exceptions to everything in this world, and the girls who were rabid fans for him still cheered when they saw him arrive and nearly passed out when he smiled at them.

It also helped fuel Elijah's ego. He once again got confident and entered room 301. 'Next time I won't lose!' He made a lot of 'sacrifices' and promises to his stepmother, so he was confident he could still surpass Amon. After all, money always speaks louder in this world. He would now have the best of the best while Amon can only look at him getting stronger and stronger.

*

Maisa who sat next to Amon muttered, ”I always knew he wasn't a good person!” She clicks her tongue at the end in disdain.

Of course, she also changed the way she treats Amon a lot. Before she misjudged him because she thought he was even worse than Elijah, mainly because of the way he was indifferent to everything like he didn't care about anyone, the way he behaved like a delinquent didn't help set a good impression of Amon either.

”Amon, good morning,” Barbara spoke in an excited tone as she looked at Amon who was sitting in his usual spot with an indifferent expression.

Barbara was in the same room as Amon, usually, she missed class and didn't even participate in the tournament that happened at school since she had no interest in these subjects. But, she was still interested in the friendship she made with Amon so she came to class today after the school was rebuilt.

”Oh,” Amon finally realizes Barbara's existence, and says, ”Good morning.”

Hearing Amon's words and looking into his eyes for a moment that felt like it lasted for a few seconds, Barbara couldn't help but blush a little. When Maisa saw this interaction she couldn't help but be furious, she didn't even know why she was furious but seeing the two interacting as if they were close to each other (in her view) left her with a bad taste in her mouth.

'When did they become so close?' Maisa wondered internally.

”Hehe, my chair is behind you, lucky~” Barbara recovered quickly and stuck out her pink tongue. Lately she even stopped smoking, she used to do that out of rebellion, but now she couldn't even imagine herself with a cigarette, it was really weird for her. But, it wasn't bad either, because she felt good the last few days, it was like the air she breathed was cleaner.

”You got stronger,” Amon commented in an indifferent voice as he stared at Barbara with his honey-colored eyes.