Surprisingly, there was a call from Radvils, ordering every participant to gather in the school despite the competition hadn't finished.
Theo didn't understand this call and headed to the school like normal since the gathering was after school.
When he came out of his class and was about to head to the gym, he saw traffic ahead.
Too many people were coming to the gym to see the winner of the competition as they wanted to see who would represent the country to compete in the biggest competition for high school students.
Suddenly, their cheer became an uproar as soon as people found the student council and Alea's former group appeared.
"They—"
Theo didn't care about them, so before he would hear so many unnecessary cheers, he used his Blink to sneak inside the building, arriving at a corridor that was slightly less crowded, only to find his lazy teacher, Rai, standing in front of him.
Rai's eyebrows raised before his expression became distorted, looking at Theo while standing still.
Theo slightly bowed his head to greet him before the latter called him. "If I'm not wrong, you're Theodore Griffith, correct?"
"Yes." Theo was surprised the teacher knew his name. Normally, the teacher wouldn't even bother to know you unless you were someone special or troublemaker. But considering the recent rise of his popularity, he could somehow understand why the teacher knew him. "Can I help you?"
"Not really. I am just here to bring the participants to the center stage and since I found you before even searching, it's a good thing. Come with me, I'm going to lead you there and finish my job here. I don't like being in crowded areas…" Rai explained with a tired expression.
Theo was confused by his explanation, but he still followed him since he might need to move again after this.
Rai actually never looked back and trusted Theo to follow him, while the rest didn't even realize Theo was next to them.
However, Rai could sense that Theo was actually using his Awareness to erase his own presence like how his master erased her own. And Rai was doing the same. They both simply didn't want to get bothered by the crowd.
Not long after, they arrived in a small corridor where Theo found a plate, saying, "Only teachers/participants can enter."
Rai opened the door and led Theo in as he turned around. "Anyway, you just need to go forward. I have heard about your bully case and what do you think about me not helping you in your case?"
"It's normal. I've never expected a teacher to protect a student after all." Theo shrugged.
"Well, that's certainly true. As for me… Just hate me since I'm too lazy to even deal with it. It's not like I'm going to get a pay raise for doing such a job, especially since I will offend a rich family along the way." Rai shrugged.
Theo tilted his head in confusion, not understanding what was inside his mind.
"Anyway, I won't accompany you. Just follow this route and you will find the others."
"Alright. I understand." Theo nodded and saw Rai coming out of the corridor as he became even lazier.
He obviously didn't trust Rai that much because someone might try to sabotage him by locking him inside this corridor.
Before going any further, he took out his Skylink only to find that the group was actually talking about it, directing him to enter the right corridor near the entrance.
Realizing it wasn't a trap, Theo moved forward and found another gate at the end of the corridor. He took a peek and saw this door leading to behind the stage.
He also found Alea, Ellen, and Sihan standing next to each other, waiting for the others to come in. When he was about to enter, he felt a presence creeping behind him as he instinctively turned around, finding a girl.
Her pale face and grey-colored hair reminded him of the one he fought in the second round.
"Hmm… You are… Aisha Gata"
"Hello." The girl politely greeted him. "I am glad that you remember me, Theodore Griffith. I would never expect that we will meet again in this way."
It had been three months since he last saw her and her short hair had grown to shoulder-length hair, making her a bit cuter instead of tomboyish.
"I would like to congratulate you for becoming the participants. I admire you." Aisha put on a small smile.
"There's no guarantee yet."
"What guarantee? My team can't even finish the first assignment due to the huge stress coming from the Hero Rank. That's why I know that if someone participates, I'm sure it's your group. After all, you're there."
"…" Theo tilted his head in confusion, not knowing why she believed in him instead of Alea or Ellen.
"Well, after losing to you, I have watched the battles again and again. I know that you were the real reason we lost. That's why I respect you from the bottom of my heart… It's amazing to see that someone can change his destiny by using their brain alone." She smiled. "If you're going to fight in Grand Gaia, I will cheer for you."
Theo was speechless. Although this wasn't the first time a girl talked this much about him, Aisha was different. She truly saw him as someone strong without even a single shred of doubt in her eyes, unlike the others who still thought he could achieve all this due to Alea and the others.
"Thank you." These were the only words that came out of his mouth.
Aisha simply opened the door and extended her hand. "We shouldn't talk too much. Let's go in."
Theo remained still for a few seconds and stared at her with blank eyes before his lips curved a bit, showing a little smile. Although he didn't want to be popular, getting someone's genuine recognition indeed felt nice.
Aisha smiled and entered first, not wanting to disturb him in this situation. She knew exactly what one would feel in a situation where you had no one to support you, but you still needed to keep going in order to survive. She was once in that environment, so she had genuine respect for Theo to be able to achieve this.
After a while, Theo shook his head helplessly and entered the place.