CHAPTER 9

So, there’s this one song about short people (part 1)

Ryan Belmont found himself quickly becoming a beacon of achievement and attention. Soon after joining the basketball team, he quelled a large menace of chaos that disrupted a home game. It was reminiscent of the time he first became luminescent. And with just as much ease, he jumped right back into the actual game and led the match in points. He gained a fanbase that started fondly referring to him as the campus golden boy. Some of the faculty even compared his potential to that of the late Soren Park.

There was an away game coming for the basketball team, and they would be staying overnight in the opposing team’s area. Ryan was already in his basketball sweats as he walked out of class alongside Erika. But the two weren’t alone this time. In true protagonist fashion, he had gained another party member—another smaller girl, walking along the side that Erika hadn’t claimed. Her skin was as pale as snow, and her eyes and bob-cut hair were as light blue as a glacial stream.

And she clung to his arm, much to Erika’s visible annoyance. “Hey Crystal. You don’t need to hang on him like that, you know.”

“Yes, I do,” Crystal retorted curtly, no particular inflection in her tone. “He’s going to be my husband one day.”

Crystal Morrigan. Second-year student at Halo Ridge University. Status: Halo Tour-approved Star. Currently ranked on the Leaderboard just above Erika Bast.

“Who the hell decided that?!” Being ranked below her was a situation Erika found irksome, to say the least.

The two girls shot each other annoyed looks, though in Crystal’s case it was only noticeable by the slightest crease in her brow and the tangible spark of tension surging between their gazes. Ryan watched with a helplessly awkward smile on his face. A small, nervous chuckle escaped him.

Crystal was also a Star and contender in the Halo Tour. Ryan had met her in a similar way he had with Erika—catching her in a foul mood (though one wouldn’t have known it by just looking at her perpetual poker face). She had hang-ups about being unapproachable and preferred to work in solitude.

Ryan was persistent in getting her to rethink her mentality. However, it was only after he helped her deal with a stubborn Shade that was causing roadways to cave and roof tiles to rain down towards unsuspecting passersby around Halo Ridge that she actually did so.

Moreover, against all logic and good sense, Crystal found herself immediately smitten with him. She felt that he had melted her frozen heart, and that she could do anything now that she was with him. This was, of course, also the reason she had no qualms in staking her claim on him for future purposes.

Just then, someone planted himself in front of the trio with an air of confrontation. His formal, articulate Western was juxtaposed by his noticeable Central Western accent. “So, you are the one everyone refers to as the golden boy.”

They all looked towards the sound of the condescending voice. A young man with tan skin, hazel eyes, and perfectly fashioned, dark red hair erected his chin and sneered at them defiantly.

“But are you truly so incredible? You seem as ordinary as any other Western man.”

Ryan scowled. He instinctively and immediately took a disliking to him. “And who are you?”

The challenger struck a pose, snapping his fingers with an air of melodrama. “I am Bastian De Oro! I hail from a grand land across the sea, and…”

=-=-=

It seemed that Bastian was at it again, trying to assert his dominance over the local populace. His dramatic and elitist acts had historically been nothing but harmless tirades against his peers. And so, the students found that ignoring him and letting him believe his superiority was at play was the best way to deal with such scenarios.

Which was something Pike adhered to as he exited the classroom a few moments later. He had never found himself at the direct receiving end of any of this, being an individual of low profile. He wanted to keep it that way as long as he could.

Sheila didn’t pay the scene any mind either as she exited the classroom alongside him. “Parang (It’s like) you’ve been much more interested in my research lately, kiddo.”

“It’s probably HRU rubbing off on me. I’m constantly surrounded by Stars, so it gets me curious about the links between chaos and lumi, and how everything works.”

His aunt flashed a teasing little grin at him. “Hmmm? Baka gusto mo nalang i-Major sa Luminescence? (Maybe you want to major in Luminescence instead?)”

He just responded to that look with a resigned grin. “I think Dad would disown me. I’m already a disappointment for wanting to be a creative; I need to appease him somehow.”

“Sayang (What a shame).” She sighed as they reached an intersection in the hall, pausing a moment to turn to him. “Well, you’re more than welcome to visit me in High Tower if you want to know more about anything, okay?”

Sheila parted ways with her nephew, taking the hall that led to the main entrance of Central. Pike went the other way for his next class. As he made his way, he approached two tall boys from the basketball team. He started to strafe to the side and avoid them.

But one of the athletes decided to address their collision course more decisively, shoving him out of the way as he got into range. “Out of the way.”

Pike was propelled to the side and collided with a wall. He staggered a bit as he found his footing again and shot a scowl over his shoulder as the two giants passed him by.

“Tangina mo…” he cursed through a mumble.

Just as he started to continue onward, he felt a strong hand grab him by the collar and once again slam him against the wall. Pike ducked his head forward to avoid smacking it against the solid cement, but his upper back jolted at something that would probably bruise later. He was dragged upwards so that the only things keeping him in place were the wall behind him and the fist that clutched his hoodie and pressed against his collar.

The basketball player that had shoved him aside came back for another round. “You say something, you little turd?”

His buddy approached and stood alongside him. He took one look at Pike, quickly sized him up, and flashed a grin that could easily have come from a back-alley thug. “Dude. Emphasis on little. He doesn’t even come up to your waist!”

“You called me something foreign, right? Go on. I dare you to say it again.”

Pike felt all his nerves tingling. His hands and knees trembled, and his forehead began to drip large beads of sweat. Despite all the fear, he managed the courage to scowl at the athlete’s sneering face.

“Let me go—”

“You think you can tell me what to do?! Huh, midget?!” He dragged Pike upwards a little more, cutting his words off.

Suddenly, another voice cut through the air. “Hey.”

Pike’s eyes shifted towards the sound of the new voice. It was yet another tall young man. This one had a head of short-cropped, carrot-colored hair and face full of freckles. While these two bullies were dressed in casual student entire, this boy was sporting basketball sweats. On the left chest of his jacket was embroidered the name Foster.

“Put him down, dude.”

The grip on Pike’s hoodie only tightened, and those menacing eyes didn’t leave its prey. “Stay out of this, Foster. This little rat was calling us names, so we’re teaching him a lesson.”

“We’re leaving soon; why aren’t you in your gear yet?”

“Oh crap!”

“Coach is gonna kill us!”

Pike found his hoodie suddenly free, and he dropped unceremoniously to the ground on his bottom like a rag doll as the two thugs hurried off. He winced a little as he pulled himself back onto his feet. Mental tally: bruise on his back, bruise on his butt. They would be gone in no time though. He straightened out his hoodie and adjusted the messenger bag slung around his shoulder.

The boy they called Foster approached him. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I’m used to stuff like that. Can’t really help my height, so it’s like”—he shrugged apathetically—“what can you do, right? Thanks for the hand.”

Pike gave a small wave and walked off, putting closure to the incident.

Something about what he said struck a chord with Foster. He visibly stalled, staring at him as he walked away. When the comparatively shorter boy moved too far away to regard, Foster lowered his head and scowled to himself. There was the slightest narrowing in his inward gaze, as if the unpleasant scene he had just witnessed hit close to home.

“There’s plenty you can do…”