It was not a pleasant dream that approached Pras in his short slumber. The very event three and a half years ago he had wished to erase had resurfaced. It was not a clear vision, but a fast rolling of hazy images surged with negative emotions. The clear ones were just the words said to him.

“It seems Taz-D played his role well, thanks for helping us get to the final. But it is my time to fight in the final now.”

“You are returning, Vertoc? That’s great! With our ace here, the championship is ours.”

As his former teammates celebrated the return of the one Pras had replaced, he was awash with disbelief and disappointment. Pras argued and tried to defend his position.

“You are just a replacement, kid. Not an ace like him.”

“Vertoc’s a better DPS than you anyway.”

Pras tried to defend himself, desperately trying to justify his role in the team. He wanted to be in the final match, for he had worked so hard and even neglected his studies for this. If he could be in the final and won, he could justify his downgrading marks and defend his scholarship.

“Kay, fine, how about I play with your account if you wish so much to be in it.”

“Vertoc, you are risking us getting banned.”

“Come on, Slasher, you don’t want to make a middle schooler cry, eh?”

“Screw him, man. Those are just stupid reasons.”

Rage started to brew within Pras, it was then he spurted that he also needed it to be a pro player someday. There was an eerie silence for a while before a burst of mocking laughter roared.

“A pro? Look at yourself kid. Go back to your mama.”

“You are a TRASH DPS!”

“Off yourself, TRASH!”

“Calm down, Slasher. This kid just dreamt too much.”

“I am calm, but I just think if the kid hung himself, it would be better for the world. He won't be a burden, especially to his parents.”

The mocking continued without letting Pras defend himself. And then, all communication was cut, there was nothing left for him. There was a void in his heart, crushing every bit of hope and warmth he had inside.

Then, another spark burned. Rage. Pras thought, if he can’t have it, then those people can’t as well. He’ll just need to spill everything to the opposing side. 

Another voice rang in his head amongst all the rage he felt.

“BETRAYER!”

“Pras, you okay, bro?”

A gentle shake to his shoulder woke Pras up from the nightmare. Pras quickly swept his watery eyes with his hands.

“You need to go to the infirmary?” asked the voice again. “At least that way you don’t need to attend the flag raising ceremony.”

Pras shook his head, “No, I’m fine, thanks for waking me up, Ega.”

Ega, the person who woke Pras, frowned. He was a bit chubby teenager with an oval face and slightly brighter skin compared to Pras. He had short and straight black hair. In terms of height, he was around 12 cm shorter than Pras. He is also Pras’ constant deskmate for the past 3 semesters, and probably this semester as well.

“I heard you mumbled a lot, was it that dream?”

“What dream?” Eggi interrupted curiously. He himself seemed a bit rushed as if he was almost late. Around them, their classmates were scrambling to go downstairs.

Pras avoided the question by lying, “Nothing, you guys go down first, I need to go to the restroom.”

Ega nodded and tried to drag Eggi away, but the latter insisted on asking another question, “By the way about Zurefgar….”

“Here,” said a rather shrill voice accompanied by a hand that put a bottle of sweet tea at Pras dek. “I got a buy-one-get-one promo this morning,” continued the tall teenager. He had darker skin than the others, a square jaw typical of his ethnicity, and very short black hair.

“Thanks, Toy.”

“Be quick, I can’t handle them all alone to hold a proper line,” said Pitoy while helping Ega to drag Eggi away.

“That’s why you are the vice president, not the class president,” Pras smirked. 

“Whew.”

Pras quickly finished the drink and took some antacid he had brought in his bag. Pitoy was right, the sweet tea had helped him calm down a bit. 

At the restroom, he washed his face while mumbling to himself that he was being betrayed first. He knew two wrongs don't make right, but he didn’t have any more words to assure himself at this moment.

Unlike what Pitoy had said earlier, Pras found that Pitoy was able to control the other students in a proper line before the ceremony starts. Thus, Pras only needed to snuck at the end of their class’ line without doing much other than making sure Ega didn’t start any beef with his nemesis, Alvin - an almost bald boy with a quite dark brown skin and a face resembling that of decades old movie star.

Flag ceremonies like this are a common occurrence on the first Monday of each month. It usually consists of the raising of their national flag and also some talk from their school principal with some announcement.

Naturally, since it was the first day of a semester, the talk was kinda long and there was no exciting announcement. The principal kinda stressed his speech about the twelfth graders who will soon graduate.

Magically, after the ceremony, none of his friends talked about Zurefgar. Pras was not sure if it was a good or bad sign, or perhaps because they all were tired due to the flag raising ceremony.

Another reason might be they were just too confused with chemistry lessons right after the ceremony. Pras saw Ega was just staring hopelessly at the whiteboard several times during the lesson.

Of course, Pras took several chances to admire Mana from afar during the lesson. A habit he knew he needed to delete from his brain’s task manager.

However, the rather peaceful attitude from his friends finally showed its ugly visage just as the first break started.

“So….” Ega pushed back his chair while kept sitting in order to block Pras from leaving their shared desk. “... did Danzo finally learn how to obliterate demons?”

Some electrons in Pras’ brain synapses twitched at the sly evil smile Ega had brought with his question.

“I didn’t know dogs could learn leyak magic,” said Pitoy as he approached Pras’ desk. As usual, he was busy munching snacks. This time, pillus, which is some sort of flour based snack which is moulded into small pellets with various seasonings.

“Too much MSG is not good, you know,” Pras tried to avoid the clear direction of the conversion.

Pitoy didn’t respond with words, he just kept munching as his eyes gazed firmly at Pras.

“Was it teaching his dog magic or perhaps learning dark magic himself in a certain world?” said the person who sat in front of Pras. He is Fathan, the most handsome guy in their class though he had some sort of displeasing vibe to him.

He continued, “Or perhaps too busy day dreaming about the person who once wore the device he had.”

“Now, confess!” Eggi growled from behind. He picked a seat behind Pras again this semester. “You bought the game, right?”

“You probably tried to outlevel us then came as a saviour or some sort,” Pitoy added. “Sly as usual… clear sign of saviour complex… but you can’t sneak away then play the hero this time, Pras.”

Pras sighed heavily. The formation his friends had taken in their seating this semester was heavily woven to corner Pras. He regretted that he had not foresaw the ruthless tactics used by his friend.

Running his hands over his face, Pras cursed, “I hate you guys.”

“We’ll take it as a yes, bro.”