The next morning, Jia woke up quite early. She was sitting on the balcony watching the sunrise. She was quiet. She was still thinking about Neko’s story. She remembered that strange dream of hers about the powerful being and the dragon and it just seemed to be as described in the story. But how…? Was she supposed to know in advance? Was that a prophecy? A revelation? Whatever the reason for her dream was, she tried to convince herself that she was young and it was nothing to worry about.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by the sound of footsteps. Jia tilted her head back and saw Neko coming towards her. He was dressed in his casual suit, the red one. He didn’t look too well, he was still sleepy. Most likely tired. He didn’t seem to have had a good night…

“Good morning.” said Jia. She stood up and hugged him. She was smiling cutely, hoping that would brighten his day. She wished today would be as good as yesterday, but Neko had another thing in mind… And he was not feeling too good about telling Jia about it even though he had to.

“Good morning, Jia… Umm, today, I have to take you to Nexxis School… I will come pick you up when the schedule ends. Then, I will probably be sleeping for the rest of the day… I had a rough night trying to get rid of Kanae… So, you can just have fun around the house…”

Jia sighed. She didn’t expect to hear that and she didn’t really like the idea. It made her remember Kanae’s hateful words from that day… But she saw just how awful Neko was feeling and knowing it was also because of Kanae, she figured it would cause him more trouble if she simply refused to go. She knew he wouldn’t have the energy to convince her and might lose his temper like he did that day… He was quite scary when he did that.

Jia struggled to maintain her smile and grabbed his hand. “Sounds okay.” she responded.

Neko and Jia were both ready to go, so they walked outside, in the yard so that Neko could perform his fast-travelling technique. It was the only way to et there. Nexxis School was far away, in Skynet. (It seemed that Skynet was quite a popular destination. After all, it was one of the most important Sections in Kaara03 for the fact that it had the Main Training Field that was part of some sort of more advanced hero training facility- N3oN Academy.)

They teleported all the way to Skynet right in front of Nexxis School; A huge building with at least 20 floors, crystal glass walls and a very fancy and shiny garden surrounding it. The path that was leading to the entrance was made of platinum platforms.

Jia was so amazed with what she was seeing. She was curious about the inside though. She wanted to see where she would stay and train, all the equipment and the advanced tech. She heard it from her parents that hero schools had the best equipment and most entertaining stuff for their students, like tech tools and even a variety of weapons.

She moved her gaze on Neko and smiled. She wasn’t sure if she should really be happy or feel differently about being there. After all, she was going to meet new people- and it was exactly what she was not good at. She didn’t know how to act properly when talking to strangers. It wasn’t like the moment she met Neko, he was the one who saved her and chose to adopt her. The others were just regular people she had nothing to do with before. She was now looking at Neko like he was her own father.

He stood low, at her level and touched her shoulder. He gazed directly in her eyes. He was looking quite serious. There were some things he had to clarify before letting her go.

“Remember, to the others, I am Neo, not Neko. Understood?” he whispered.

Jia nodded. She didn’t fully understand why he would ask her not to reveal his real name, but she didn’t seem to care that much. She knew he had his reasons for it and didn’t want to make things too complicated by asking questions. There were other things on her mind that seemed a bit more important- like how to properly introduce herself. She tried hitting him with a serious face, but she couldn’t fully hide the happy expression on her face as she looked at him.

Then, Neko stood up and smiled at her. “Good then. Have fun, make some friends, try to learn from the experienced people and most important, don’t let idiots tease you, okay?”

She smiled and nodded again. He patted her head and told her to go inside. At first, she seemed quite happy, but as she was getting closer to the entrance, the feeling of timidity flooded her. It was just the fact that she was not good at trusting new people. Just like Neko, she didn’t really trust him until he showed her he actually cared about her like he promised he would when he found her.

Once she got inside, she was greeted by four people: two girls and two boys. They seemed to be her age, so she didn’t feel that uncomfortable. Yet she remained silent. She was afraid of having to start a conversation. One of the girls noticed that, so she approached Jia and lend her a hand. She smiled.

“Hi, I’m Hinata. We heard you would be coming, so we came to help you accommodate. We are your classmates now.” she said. Her voice was soft and she was speaking with a low tone. Just by the look she had in her big, blue eyes, Jia could tell she was just as shy as her at this point. Jia smiled at Hinata, letting her know that she was happy to meet her. She took a closer look at her and realized that their outfits were so similar. Hinata’s was just ultramarine with neon blue instead of black with neon pink. That matched with her long, dark purple hair.

As the girls kept looking at each other, one of the boys barged in and disturbed their thoughts. He had a cringe smirk on his face and his eyes reflected impatience. His messy, dark grey hair kind of revealed what a crazy personality he had. Looking a bit at his outfit and comparing it to the others’, Jia could tell he was not a fancy person at all; he was wearing a dirty hoodie and a pair of large, red jeans.

Jia just smiled at him, not knowing what else to do.

“Hmm, what nickname should I give her, Heineken?” he asked all of a sudden. He was about to laugh, but he was trying to hold himself.

Hinata let out a low grunt. “I am not a type of beer, Zack! Stop giving stupid nicknames to everyone!”

At this point, Jia began to feel even more socially anxious. She was feeling uncomfortable knowing that she’d be called something stupid instead of her name; She seemed to have unlocked a fear of being made fun of, especially when she was surrounded by strangers… It was not a good feeling at all. She already felt like calling Neko to take her back, but she had no phone…

She noticed Zack looking at her with his eyes wide opened. “Hmm, how about “Rain”? I don’t know, but you look like you want to cry. Are you okay?” he said.

“Zack, leave her alone and stop acting like a total idiot! Not like you aren’t be one, but anyway!” added the other boy. He walked towards them and slapped Zack. He thought he looked so cool with that childish face of his. He had his eyes narrowed. That bright red color looked so nice; it reflected his desire to beat Zack… But that messy, crimson hair was spread all over his face and it made him look funny.

Zack laughed. “Oh, how brave of you. What did I name you again? Diabolic Lover? Sex Machine or something?!”

The other boy growled in anger. “You idiot! Stop using that word! You literally ruined my life with it!”

Zack giggled mischievously. “Ah, you searched it up, didn’t you? Did you like what you saw?”

“Yes, especially your mom in the pornographic book!” he replied.

The poor girls looked so innocent in the background. They had no idea what those guys were talking about and that’s why they didn’t bother interrupting… So much innocence…

Zack got mad upon hearing that last reply, so he decided to fight back. “Really?! I am watching videos of your mom on illegal sites and she’s mas…! OUCH!”

Someone hit him in the head before he could say that word. It was an adult. A tall man, with short, gray hair and turquoise eyes. He was wearing a fancy, black, neon battle suit. He had a multitude of pockets and a sword in the back. He was looking mad. He didn’t understand how kids that were so young could use words like that. He was very shocked; That triggered his anger…

“Alright, this has gone too far! None of you noticed me here?!” he said.

Upon seeing him, Zack tried to act innocent by looking away, but that other boy slapped him. The man groaned in anger. He had merely arrived at the spot and he didn’t like what he had heard; Zack’s last phrase freaked him out.

“Explain!” he added.

He looked at Zack with his eyes narrowed. He was struggling not to yell at anyone else. Jia was freaked out. She didn’t even know anyone and they were already making all the things too complicated. She didn’t understand anything from that chaos.

As the man saw the boys were just too quiet, he tried asking the girls. The other girl, who sat back and kept quiet that whole time, stepped towards the man and sighed. He could see the innocence in her big, blue eyes…

“Umm, I am sorry, but I don’t know what caused this argument and I have zero ideas what they are talking about…” she whispered. She dragged her hand through her long, golden hair a few times as a sign of shyness. She stepped back and stood next to Hinata.

The man gazed at Zack again. “You are going to be in some serious trouble for this!” (For some reason, Zack was always in the center of attention every time there was a problem. Because most of the times, he was the one to cause the problem…)

Zack grunted and pointed a finger at the other boy. “Me?! Ayato is the one who made sexual jokes about my mom! And she’s dead, by the way!” he replied.

For a few seconds, silence took over. Ayato could not hide the fact that he was actually sorry to hear that. But after all, it was not just his fault. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Zack.

“You forgot to add that you started this whole garbage when you nicknamed me “sex machine”! How did you expect me to react? Sit in a corner and act like a crybaby?” he growled.

“You are one, tomato-head!” hissed Zack.

Seeing they started all over again, the man covered his face with his palms and groaned in despair.

“Oh, Lyrak, great Goddess of the Seven Heavens, please, show them mercy, because I will not!” he mumbled. Then, he looked at the two boys. “For the Neon Gods’ sake, you guys will destroy me emotionally!” he yelled.

His loud voice reduced them to silence. Nobody dared to say another word. After all, it was also about the fact that they made a bad impression for Jia, who was unable to understand anything. She merely knew Hinata and learnt that Zack was the very lousy guy who wanted to embarrass her so badly, but otherwise, she was too shy to interrupt and ask them to sort things out, maybe while explaining something to her too…