The Earth After Rebirth

Kiro understood his friends concerns. But he also had conversations with Isla's dad, while he couldn't discern whether or not he was a good guy, he could tell he cared for his daughter.

He wouldn't let her borrow the jet intending to blow the two into bits, or whatever the Sanctum did to those who found out their dirty secrets.

"Why are you two always whispering?" Isla asked, she'd noticed the two ever since a while back.

They didn't notice it themselves but they did it quite a lot. They knew things others didn't after all, the need to talk about the next step or what to do itched at them.

"I mean, can't we have secrets? We're best friends after all." Kiro immediately went into defensive mode.

Isla looked at them, Felix was grinning from ear to ear making things seem more suspicious but since it was just Kiro and Hiro who spoke in whispers, it didn't register to her.

"But look at Ishaan." Saanvi commented.

"I bet the girls will be throwing themselves at him. Why didn't you lose the fat before the academy anyway?" Isla asked him.

They were teenage girls, if they said looks didn't matter when choosing a mate, they'd be lying to themselves. Their society was also one of superficiality, so this was very normal.

"Huh? I was too lazy I guess. But having these guys showed me I can't be slacking." He said with confidence he didn't quite have before.

The girls continued to tease him, thereby hyping him up.

Kiro took one last look at the neighbourhood he'd now grown fond of. Before the jet zoomed through the skies, faster than any train they had in Sanctauri.

Everybody minded their own business, they were all on their phones. Talkalot has Infested their little group, they were a little bit addicted to the social platform, like any regular teenager should.

Nothing seemed to fly above the rumours of this app. There was already gossip about the youngest of the Silva estate dating the up and coming rich young master of the Waynworth estate.

"How did they even? This is creepy as hell." Kiro complained, coming out of the jet since they'd arrived in the middle of the districts.

Isla wasn't sure what to make of the gossip in one hand her father did approve, the other though, Kiro had yet to ask her out.

To Kiro, she was already his. The kiss he asked from her confirmed that. They were usually good at communicating, but this time, they were both very dull.

Kiro put his phone away, as he pretended to do pushups, wanting to hear whether the underground train could be heard from above. They were at student town station, people looked at him like he was a lunatic.

"The hell are you doing?" Nikolai asked him.

"Oh you know, stretching out my muscles. The workout Wilfred gave us still gives me chills."

Hiro brushed his face, ashamed. He knew exactly what Kiro was trying to do, so that he didn't die in shame, he joined him.

The listened attentively, but nothing. Not even vibrating could be heard. It was just utter silence. They quickly got a carriage and arrived at school, at last.

Everyone was in uniform, not a single soul defied this one tradition. They bumped into Isaac, who seemed lost and out of place. He didn't seem like himself at all, the light in his eyes was completely gone.

He wasn't going around bullying and telling people what to do, he stood there, transfixed. Kiro thought he still had the most punchable face, he hated the guy with his all, so even though he seemed sad, his first instinct was to hate him not console him.

Ursa could be seen away from Isaac, talking to who Kiro supposed were her friends. She didn't seem to care that her ex-lover looked like he could drop dead any second.

"Oh, we're back to this hell." Kiro complained.

"At least, it won't be bad as the last term. We had a pretty rough time last term." Hiro consoled him, remembering the beatings they'd received a couple of times.

Though if anyone dared to even want to throw fists with them, it'd be easier than throwing out garbage. Their training with Wilfred was deadly.

"Only use this in a matter of life and death." That's what Wilfred told them over and over during the hellish week.

Those words wouldn't be forgotten so easily. They were woven into their brains, the same way those skills were into their muscles.

Every student was required to stand at the first year campus square. They figured it was a welcome to the second term of the year or something close to that.

Sure enough, the dean walked across and stood in front of them.

"Who's that?" One first year asked.

"Beats me." Another answered.

Kiro realised that this man wasn't exactly known, he only got to know him through the hearing incident too. It wasn't like he was absent from the campus, for some reason people just chose to ignore his presence. It was amazing. It reminded him of assassins.

He cleared his throat and everyone went quiet.

"Welcome back students. It's always the tradition of this academy for the dean to show himself to new students after exams.

"I don't know why myself, it's silly but don't quote me on this. I'm your dean, Grey Whitmore.

"I hope my academy treated you well last term, and so did the holidays. I'm happy all of our students returned safe, as I'm sure you've heard about the two of our students.

"It's dangerous out there, be careful everyone. Don't go looking for things that will put you in even more danger.

"There's still a lot to be achieved before the year ends." He stopped and took a deep breath.

"Achieve it." He said with an impressive commanding voice.

He then dismissed them.

Kiro didn't take his eyes off of him, not even once. He remembered that his family was part of the Sanctum, unless his father was still alive, he was most likely the one calling the shots within the Sanctum.

And this speech to him smelled like a threat, disguised as a welcoming for all the students.

"They're everywhere aren't they." He sighed and said with gritted teeth.

"They, who?" Isla was too close, she could hear his heart beating.

"Haha, what? Crowded, I'm not used to crowded places anymore." He lied, hoping she'd believe him.

She obviously didn't, she wasn't an idiot. But she was also smart to know that, this was something Kiro wasn't ready to talk about.