The dorm room was as he expected. It was a medium-sized room with only the essential tools there. The only unexpected thing was the attached bathroom with each room. He was grateful for this service. After all, if it was a public bathroom, then he would've had to create one himself.

He jumped back-first on the bed and found it to be quite comfy. While lying, he thought of the whole day.

『It was indeed a long day.』

He did not waste a single moment. He went to his table and opened the first book. Combat was not the only thing he improved in the rift. In fact, he learned all sorts of skills. One of them was memorization and understanding. For Akio, this skill was so greatly developed, that it would take him only one read to learn a whole book.

He flipped the pages one by one till he was done with the whole book.

After finishing the book, he dropped face-first into the pillow and snuggled on the bed. Although he was not exhausted, he managed to sleep right away without any delay.

The next morning, wearing his new uniform, he went to the class at 4:30 in the morning. To his surprise, he was not early. If relatively spoken, he was not on time either. He was late. All the seats were already filled with students and they were already studying.

He took his seat, the one he sat on the day before, and stared at the blackboard. Feeling awkward that he was the only one without a book, he took out a book and started going through it himself.

Half an hour later, the class door slid open. This time, the person was neither the principal nor any of their teachers from the previous day.

It was a woman. This woman had these bluish-hazel eyes which were extremely attractive. But her eyes had no light in them, as if she was always sad.

『Good morning, students. I am your mentor, Airi. I hope we'll get along for the rest of the year. As you all know.....』

Akio was not listening to her at all. He thought it was boring. Since, actual periods had still a ways to go, it was better to self study instead of listening to the same introductions over and over again.

Airi noticed him. In fact, from the moment she entered, the only one not paying attention to her was Akio. She knew that it was better to self study and that he was not breaking any rules. But she still felt disrespected and wanted to point it out to him. Athough she wanted to, she didn't. Even if there was a fraction of a chance that she could get fired, she would not do the thing. After all, she had a dream. And she had to fulfil it.

During the break of 15 minutes at noon, Akio decided not to eat anything. He was not hungry. Besides him, everyone in class had formed some groups and were discussing about studies. Akio was determined to not make any friends and only make the necessary conversations until he reached the academy.

He wanted to make friends. He really did. But he also knew that no more than two students would actually get scholarships and get to go to the academy. He did not want to be friends for a year only to never see them again. More than that, he was scared. What if he did not get to go to the academy because it turned out to be a distraction. Hence, he decided to at wait until he graduated from the prep center.

After the classes were over, he immediately went to his dorm room and started studying till it was time for dinner.

Once he had his last meal of the day, he laid down on the bed of his room and looked back on his life so far.

『From being popular to a failure then a disowned person of a famous family, a completely useless guy. And now here I am, trying to make a comeback in life. My life's been like a stpry out of a novel. Makes you laugh, doesn't it?』

Years of soltitude had made him able to hold conversations with himself. It was like he had multiple brains with separate consciousnesses. Even he didn't completely understand this. In the end, he just took it as a self-defense mechanism by the body to prevent him from going insane.

While self-talking, he stretched his left hand towards the ceiling and stared at it for some time.

『I will definitely prove everyone wrong.』