[July 15, 2056.
A terrorist attack took place at the Lock during the battle royale games of the inter-academy tournament.
Two teleportation devices were found to be installed during the event. Investigators have linked this attack to the Monolith.
With the brave efforts of two young students, the portals were soon found and their activation was prevented.
Unfortunately, in a last-ditch attempt, one of the perpetrators directly cracked the core installed in the teleportation device.
A massive explosion followed suit, killing 260 people and injuring more than 80 in the process.]
'”Click!
Turning off the TV, Emma threw the remote to the side.
"It's about time." Dressed in a black dress, Emma turned around. "Let's go, Kevin."
"Hmm"
A weak and hoarse voice replied back.
"...Kevin."
Emma's lips tensed.
Staring at Kevin who was sitting on a white sofa dressed in black, Emma felt her heart tear apart.
Ever since 'that' day, Kevin had not been the same. He was skipping out on meals, and for the most part, he was always absentminded. He had even stopped training, something that she had never seen him do throughout the whole year.
His whole complexion was white, and his eyes were bloodshot. Glaring black circles appeared underneath his eyes.
"It's all my fault..."
He repeatedly muttered to himself.
Emma did not understand why he was blaming himself for Ren's death. It wasn't something he could've controlled.
But.
Every time, Kevin would mumble those words. Blaming himself for Ren's death.
"...Kevin."
Emma called out.
"...Ah, Emma... Give me a second."
Kevin finally looked at Emma. He tried to smile cheerfully, but that made him look all the more pitiful. His lifeless eyes coupled with his glaring black circles caused Emma's heart to stir.
Emma understood.
Ren's death had truly hit him hard.
"We need to go. Attending is the least you can do for him"
Today was the day of Ren's funeral. For obvious reasons, there was no corpse at the scene. Even then, no one questioned his death.
Unless a miracle happened, there was just no way for Ren to survive.
"...E-emma, what do I do?"
Bringing Emma back to reality was Kevin's hoarse voice.
Staring at her in the eyes, he weakly muttered.
"I-i, don't know what to do...Had I not been so stupid, and just left wi'”"
"Enough!"
Emma cut him off.
"Now is not the time for this! How long are you going to wail in self-pity?"
She was starting to get angry now.
It was only natural for someone to be distraught upon the death of someone close. She too was sad. Although she wasn't particularly close to Ren, she did interact with him quite a lot in the past.
And although Kevin and Ren were really close, the last thing Kevin could do was drown himself in self-pity.
It wouldn't be something Ren would've wanted for him. Even though, Emma didn't interact with Ren much, she could see how much he genuinely cared about Kevin.
He would never want Kevin to blame himself for something like this.
Lifting his head, Kevin weakly asked.
"...Then what should I do?"
"Get stronger." Emma's voice became firm. "...Get strong enough to prevent this from ever happening in the future and make those that have caused this pay. Be it the Monolith or anyone that was involved!"
Whilst she spoke, Emma's eyes never left Kevin.
She wanted him to understand that instead of beating himself up for what had happened, it was better for him to pick himself up and mature.
Even if took years for Kevin to recover from this, Emma wanted Kevin to use this incident as a reference point for his growth.
She wanted him to grow stronger. Strong enough to prevent any of this from happening.
"...I see"
Kevin said after a brief moment of silence.
Staring at Kevin, Emma was able to notice a subtle change in Kevin. Even though the sadness never disappeared, there was something else within that sadness.
Resolution.
The resolution to grow up and change.
change, Emma smiled
picked yourself up." Emma extended her hand
"Mhm."
hand,
***
all over her pillow, Amanda blankly
unbeknownst to
was planning on
before it was about the guild. This time, her reason for leaving the academy
was because the academy reminded her of
would recall
single interaction she had with him. Even the small ones she had during class
before her eyes, Amanda
point, she was almost numb to the pain of having someone
Yes.
Important.
only after Amanda witnessed Ren's death, that she had realized her feelings
...she liked him.
point, she had started to long for him. Every day, a small part of her would
class attention was on him, or when he would randomly slap Kevin in the head to get
of those moments were deeply etched inside
type of feeling, she couldn't quite grasp what she was feeling. But now
realization was
again shut her heart
Tok, tok'”
"Young Miss, it's time."
Amanda, was her attendant,
waiting for
"...I'm coming"
her body
desk opposite to her, Amanda calmly
time for another
***
'”Click!
in black, Melissa closed the door
"..."
footsteps halted. Turning
to belong to Ren had already been taken by his
'...he's really gone, huh.'
since meeting him, she had wished nothing but
that he had actually died.
but him, but his death hit Melissa harder than
her
focus like before. She made a lot
"Haa..."
eyes slightly, Melissa exhaled before
what is wrong
Turning around, she left.
***
July 17th.
tragic incident. It was a clear and sunny day in Ashton city. A
Inside a funeral home.
"Waaaahh...Whaaaaa..."
people stood by the side of the room. A high-pitched wail echoed throughout the whole room as a young girl cried in front of a
"Bwuddar!"
It was Nola.
her, her mother and father tried their best to console
But.
"Waaaahh...Whaaaaa..."
was only after someone used a sleeping spell
Donna all stood by the side. Staring
people who Ren had
friend, for others he was something else. A business partner, a student, a friend,
better or for worse, he had influenced the
to the funeral hymns, everyone lowered their
the next thirty minutes or so, no one talked. They all mourned
day, to the world, Ren Dover was officially
*
"Haaa..."
the funeral coming to an end,
was
quite
those eight people, and had directly left with Ren,
alone was eating him
you
"Miss Longbern?"
was a familiar
you
was looking for
"Me?"
would Donna look for me? Did something
do you
bit of thought, Donna let
I know what may have resulted
"What!?"
voice raised a
Donna
"Shhh...lower your voice."
"Ah, sorry."
his mistake,
"...What do you have?"
take a look
Donna's hand. Taking the phone, Kevin tilted his head to
"A phone?"
"Give me a second."
of
a look and tell me if you've also noticed something
"...sure."
play button, Kevin played the video. In the video, Kevin
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