Varian opened the door and saw Maya. She was thin and petite as always and gave off a feeling of kindness.
"Hi, Maya. How's Ky —" Varian paused as he saw a man with his head covered in band aid come out. He was limping as he approached the door.
Because of the bruises on his face, Varian didn't recognize him immediately. But the familiarity wasn't wrong.
"Kyle!" Varian walked to him and patted him on the shoulder. "I knew you would survive."
"Ouch." Kyle whimpered at the touch and glared at him.
Varian withdrew his hand and coughed solemnly "Some injuries… are inevitable."
"You really wanted me dead, didn't you?" Kyle said in an aggrieved tone. After he got home, he was ecstatic about his awesome first rank. Then Maya visited him.
He thought she came to celebrate, but without a word, she attacked him. Everything at home, from utensils to showpieces, was used as a weapon and Kyle could only dodge. He begged for mercy and when he was about to prove his innocence, Varian's message arrived.
"Maya, come in." Varian ignored Kyle and welcomed her in. Of course, Kyle followed them in.
Kyle, Maya and Varian seated themselves in the living room. It was a modest room with no decorations. There was only a couch, a table and a few bean bag chairs.
"Join me in Breakfast?" Varian asked.
"Yes." Kyle said out loud, and Maya nodded. After all the beating he took last night, where was any room for dinner?
"Good." Varian nodded and ordered meat dishes of magic beast and veggies of specially cultivated plants.
"Why so expensive?" Maya questioned. She knew Varian wasn't poor, but he wasn't rich either. But now, everything Varian ordered was expensive. The breakfast would cost at least 1000 cp. The average income of an adult was only 5000 cp.
"Everything in the academy needs merit points. My credit points are useless there. I might as well splurge these 4 days before I leave." Varian shrugged.
"Our classes start tomorrow." Maya said. "So I want to say something."
With that, she stood up and bowed.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Varian tried to stop her, but she insisted.
"Kyle told me what happened in Abyss." Her shoulders trembled, and she continued in her choked voice, "You would've died. Yet you risked your life to save his."
Under her, droplets of water splashed on the floor and Maya said, her voice full of emotion, "I'm really glad… I and Kyle have a friend like you."
Varian felt uncomfortable. Even though he didn't try to think much of it, it was true that he risked his life and almost died.
In this day and age, it was not uncommon for brothers to backstab each other and for sons to kill fathers. Relationships like these are too rare.
Varian sighed and said, "I'm not asking for your gratitude. If you still keep doing this, it'll make me feel like I did it for your 'thanks'."
Maya raised herself back up and wiped her tears.
Varian glared at Kyle, and Kyle looked at him apologetically. He accidentally blurted this out yesterday during his 'beating'.
That lead to her current scene. But her reaction was considered normal.
Being so indifferent after nearly dying a few hours ago was the abnormal thing. Fortunately or unfortunately, both Kyle and Varian were this "abnormal" people.
{Your order has arrived} The AI informed and Varian signalled to Kyle and exited the room.
Since he retaliated against Kyle yesterday, now he gave him a chance to reconcile with Maya. Varian felt like he was following the system's principle of 'Balance'.
Kyle gave him a thumbs up and started consoling Maya.
"Baby, I'm alright. I'm alive."
"I... almost lost you."
"If I ever go into dangerous places, I'll tell you."
"Promise?"
"Promise."
Maya raised her tear stricken face and glanced at Kyle. Kyle felt his heart skip a beat and leaned down to —
"Boom!"
Kyle and Maya jumped and saw food being slammed onto the table. Varian looked at them and coughed.
"Let's eat and talk." He started his breakfast while cursing them mentally 'You guys… I'm still single. If you want to kiss, go kiss in your bedroom. Why do you have to come and kiss in my home?'
Varian ate voraciously, almost like he was taking revenge on food. Kyle and Maya ate in small bites.
Maya giggled, "You should find a girlfriend so you won't be jealous."
Varian took another large mouthful of food and didn't look up. "I'm not jealous."
Kyle teased, "We can totally see."
Varian looked at them for a second and gorged on another steak. He was already planning revenge.
'I'm not interested in finding a girlfriend for now. But when I do, I'll come to your house and kiss her in your living room.'
They finished breakfast, and Varian ate half of the share. Fortunately, he ordered a lot, and it was sufficient for everyone.
"So what's up?"
"You haven't filled the guardian form, right?" Kyle asked.
Varian nodded. Guardians would be informed when the cadet was injured or needed help beyond what Academy could provide.
For example, recuperation in case of severe injuries inflicted by aura could take up to weeks or even months.
Medical bots weren't enough to take care of the injured in such cases, and Awakeners would be needed.
So every cadet must fill a guardian form. Orphans wouldn't fill anything, but that almost meant they would be in danger if they face risks. Sometimes, treatment needed high cost medicines and only your close ones would spend their money on you.
Sometimes geniuses were crippled, and the academy only gave them treatment. It was only their guardians who really took care of their close one.
"Fill my mom's name." Kyle said and shared her info.
"Your mom… I never saw her." Varian cocked his head and recalled. He knew Kyle for almost a year and visited his home quite a few times, but never saw her.
"Well… I saw her 10 times after in last 5 years." Kyle coughed.
Varian rolled his eyes.
"Don't worry about it. She said I can contact her in case of emergencies. That will extend to you as well." Kyle patted his chest and assured him.
Varian still hesitated.
Maya said in a reproaching tone, "You get into risky fights all the time. If you get serious injuries, who'll take care of you? Only the nurses in the Academy won't be enough. They'll just give you the standard treatment. You'll need to at least inform us."
Varian sighed and said, "Alright. I'll do it."
He thought of the form and his new comm opened it automatically.
He glanced at Kyle's mom's info:
(Name: Alison.
Age: _______
Level: _____)
He signed the form under their watchful gaze.
"Varian, I know you are going to the Academy for some important reason. I won't ask, but please take care of yourself." Maya stood up and said solemnly.
'Is this how having a sister feels like?' Varian wondered, and smiled at her.
"I will. I don't want to die."
"I know you won't die. Good guys like me only live for a hundred years, bad guys like you live for a thousand." Kyle grinned and said.
Varian's face twitched. 'Guess I should've sent the clarification a few hours later.'
"This is our small gift." Maya took out a small gift box from her pocket and put it on the table.
Varian opened the gift and saw it was a 5 Star space ring.
'This is too expensive. It costs at least 20000 kp.'
"I want to ret—Hey!" Varian saw Maya and Kyle running out of his home.
"Just take it. You'll need it, anyway." Kyle's voice sounded, and they literally escaped on their hover bike.
Varian chuckled at their antics and accepted their gift. His current space ring was a 1 star treasure, and it was filled with Aura crystals, which would be enough for a while.
He checked the inside of 5 star space ring and realized the space was at least as vast as a typical mansion.
'If I had this space ring, I could've gotten all aura crystals from that room' He imagined having all those aura crystals.
'Most of them were crushed.' He shook his head and bound the space ring to himself.
He returned to his bedroom to sleep some more when the black box on the table caught his eye.
It was the box he found in the ruins of his old home. Only he could open the box or it'd destroy the contents.
'I couldn't open it when I was unawakened. Now I'm a Level 2 Body Awakener, I wonder if I can open it now?'
Varian thought and decided to give it a try.