Everyone was allowed to leave the entrance ceremony’s room once all the announcements were over.
But they were given one more order:
“Do not say anything about what happened here today, anyone who does will be found and expelled,” that is all Theodore said, and with this simple threat everyone vowed to keep quiet.
“Don’t worry, I’ll do it!” Stark saw all the skeptical members of his group off as they all began to leave the room as the exit door had opened.
Of course, not only were they met with the light of sun, which hit them kind of hard after staying inside for more than 5 hours, but more importantly… what surprised them the most was the sheer amount of people awaiting them.
Hundreds of reporters, cars, and even helicopters were filming their every move as soon as they left.
There were even some cameras on the very tall buildings.
Of course, they were humans, so they absolutely loved the attention.
Meanwhile, Stark, Sora and Lana were the only remaining members of the team to still be inside.
“Are you sure can do it alone?” Lana questioned, seemingly worried that Stark was going on some crazy adventure and trying to fight impossible monsters against all the odds.
“Oh come on, Lana, have you ever seen me die doing this?” Stark smiled confidently.
“Huh, yeah, I did?” Lana remembered the time he did against Judicator, being cut in half.
“Same…” Sora mumbled, as he had died twice in front of her.
“…” Stark rolled his eyes, “Have you ever seen me TRULY die, though?”
And as none of them answered, only glancing at each other to check if what they were hearing was right…
“Exactly!” Stark nodded, “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine by myself, I prefer to be alone anyway as, y’know, defending people isn’t my thing,” this time he specifically looked at Sora, who actually felt a little bit of shame, her emotionless expression faltering slightly.
They soon after left the room, but were also met with the crowd of reporters who kept taking pictures of them.
“…” Stark liked attention, don’t get him wrong, but he actually found that quite annoying.
“How are we supposed to get out?” Lana was an archer, no way to get out, and Sora could potentially injure people using her plants.
But Stark on the other hand…
“Crimson Ball Transmission,” he mumbled as he summoned the crimson ball in his hand, then threw it with all his strength, sending it very far, way above the horde of reporters and classifiers.
[Point Set: It is safe to teleport!]
As soon as he saw that, he smirked.
“Hey,” Stark turned toward the two girls, reaching his opened hands at them, “Hold my hand for a second.”
“W-What?” Of course, Lana was flustered, “What do you mean?!”
“…” but thankfully, Sora grabbed Stark’s left hand without a single ounce of hesitation.
“Thank you, Sora,” Stark smiled at her, he liked her straightforwardness.
“H-Hey, I can do that too!” Lana also grabbed Stark’s hand as to not be left out (she was totally not jealous, obviously).
“Thanks,” Stark nodded, ready to snap his fingers.
But…
“Oh, I’m stupid,” he realized he couldn’t really snap his fingers if both his hands were holding someone, so he removed his hands from Lana’s and instead put it around her shoulder.
“…” Lana didn’t say anything, although she did jolt a little.
And so finally…
~SNAP~
Stark quickly tightened the grip around Sora’s hand, and hugged Lana as to guarantee she wouldn’t stay here.
~FWISH~
~POOF~
And so almost instantly, surrounded by a crimson aura, they found themselves in another street, far from the academy and all the reporters.
Stark looked to his left and right, then sighed in relief as he noticed Lana and Sora were indeed there, although both closing their eyes as they didn’t expect this.
They had never felt something like this in their lives, and to be honest, they didn’t want to experience it again so suddenly.
“Done,” he freed himself from their grasp, then gave them a thumbs up, “Now we can do whatever we want!”
And so he began walking away, with the full intent of going back to his apartment complex to prepare for the rift as soon as tomorrow arrives.
“Well… Goodbye, Sora,” Lana waved at the white haired girl, then began to follow Stark.
“You’re going in the same direction?” Sora tilted her head, but was still holding that emotionless look, though.
“Oh, yeah, we live in the same building, actually right next to each other,” Lana scratched her head in embarrassment.
“…” Sora looked down at the ground, then back at Lana, “Alright,” and thus she began to walk away in the opposite direction.
She didn’t want them to see it, but her face did falter slightly when Lana said that! Why were they living right next to each other? Could it be…?
‘No, doesn’t matter,’ she shook her head lightly, ‘But… what the hell is this feeling… I don’t know…’ she decided to ignore it as she truly didn’t know what it was, having never felt such a thing before was confusing to her.
Back to Stark and Lana, they (yet again) hailed for a taxi, and were transported to their complex, thankfully enough the roads were a bit emptier than before, otherwise it would have been a hassle.
They both used the elevator to climb to the third floor this time, and each went inside their respective apartments.
“Are you really, REALLY sure?” Lana asked one more time as Stark opened the door.
“…” but the boy just looked at her, “Yeah,” he shrugged, “By the way I’ll probably be gone by the morning, so don’t wait up or anything.”
“You plan to go tomorrow?!” Lana was shocked, usually people wanted to take a bit of a break, then discuss their plans with others to conquer the rift.
Yet… not only was he going alone, but without thinking of any viable plan at all?
Lana knew Stark was crazy and reckless, but this was going far beyond the limits of normal.
“It’s fine,” he patted her head, although she didn’t blush or anything this time as she kept staring at him dead in the eyes, knowing the dangers of his actions, “I guess we’ll see each other when I kill that boss, and it’s announced I completed it.”
“And you also plan to do it all in one go? While even the chairman said it would take us two months?” Lana was baffled.
“I mean, the rift has four zones, and it can’t be that big, I think the average time it takes is because people know they have four months, if they were given one week, many would have completed it in under that, plus if your group is injured you have to take a one or two weeks break, which adds to the time,” Stark explained, and the worst of all was that it actually made sense to Lana.
“That’s- I- Sigh…” Lana sighed then smiled, “Alright, then I guess I’ll see you later, you crazy idiot,” she lightly punched Stark’s chest in a friendly way, “Just don’t die on me.”
“I won’t,” Stark’s aura became more powerful as he said that, and so he finally entered his apartment, “Well then…”
It was time to start the trial of the first semester of this academy.
