A plate with a pair of fried eggs and buttered toasts lay in front of Larna.

  The toast was hard at the edges, but when he grabbed it at the center, his fingers sank into the soft crust. Larna led the manjar to his mouth—the smell of the warm bread and melted butter kissing his nose. He bit, and both flavors danced in his mouth. To finish, he swallowed.

  “What happened to your face?”

  Larna choked as the toast stuck in his throat. He glanced at Lia, his face starting to flush as he fumbled for his water glass.

  He touched his neck, breathing heavily. Why does she have to ask at such a moment!

  “I fell when I was running.”

  Larna's father chuckled. “That must have been a great fall.” And his mother looked worriedly at him. “It hurts?”

  Larna forced a laugh and stood up. “It wasn't a big deal.” He took his backpack from the floor and hurried towards the door. “I'm leaving.”

  ---

  It was almost lunchtime. Larna was in his seat, looking at his notebook, pencil in hand. Just to think we still use things like this.

  He didn't know much about the topic, but the creator of Battle was a crazy genius who managed to create a technology capable of altering reality. It would be so useful. Why didn't the rest of the world use it?

  Larna sighed. I'm daydreaming again. He refocused on the teacher's explanation. But not much time passed until... Why do our noses have two holes instead of one? He puzzled over it, looking for an explanation. But when he noticed, he blinked awake again. Why am I so distracted?

  Larna smiled faintly, lowering his eyes at the table. Is it because Garuma's isn't anymore? He chuckled. Looks like in the last two weeks I've become accustomed to Garuma's bullying.

  Larna was staring at the classroom door when he noticed a sudden movement on the blurry edges of his sight. "Uh?"

  He looked around at his classmates. There were so many, and he had never talked to any of them beyond a casual word or two.

  Well, except for him. A few seats away was the spiky-haired boy, who worried about him at first and the next day insulted him. The first challenger.

  He leaned his head on his right hand, idly drawing circles on the table with his pencil. He remembered the first time they talked. He was kind, but Larna was in a horrible mood.

  Still, the next day, he was quite harsh. He spat out all those things to Larna, hurting him more, after being bullied.

  Larna let his mind wander a bit more until the class ended.

  When it was over, he stood up and, with his fists clenched, inched towards the boy’s table.

  He was packing his books in the space below the table. Noticing the movement in front of him, he stared up at Larna.

  Larna scratched his neck and shifted between looking at the boy and away. “Um, sorry and thanks.”

  The boy pursed his lips, his eyes narrowing playfully. “I get the sorry. But why are you thanking me?”

  Larna scratched the table's surface. “At first, I was mad. But I later understood what you meant." He looked him straight in the eyes. "You were right.”

  He stood up from his seat. “So what are you gonna do?”

  “I’ll become strong.”

  “Why?”

  Larna's brow furrowed, his voice deeper than usual. “I’ll become a Battler.”

  The conversation turned into a staring contest. It wasn't long until Larna blinked away in discomfort. But his attention was drawn back by the boy's grin. He moved around the table and crossed his arm on Larna's neck.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  “That's great! Now, I see I was right about you!”

  “T-Thanks.” Larna forced a smile. So easy.

  The boy stepped back and extended his hand to Larna.

  “I'm Vale.”

  His grip was strong.

  “L-Larna”

  Vale nodded and knelt behind his seat, picking a bowl from his backpack. “Do you want to eat?”

  Larna stared at him and shook his head. “Y-Yes”.

  Why am I sputtering so much?! Internally clapping his face, Larna walked towards his seat, picked up his bowl, and sat. He felt a tingling in his chest. He didn't remember the last time he lunched with someone of his age. What are we supposed to talk about?!

  “Larna?” Vale said, tilting his head from the front of the classroom.

  Larna blinked at him. “Weren't we going to eat?”

  Vale turned around with a chuckle. “You aren't tired of this old classroom? C'mon, let's go out!”

  Larna's heart raced. “O-Ok”

  They walked through the brimming corridors of students, ending in the backyard. There, the students shared their food and chatted, seated on stone tables and benches placed around the place.

  Larna recoiled, his eyes shifting to the stone floor.

  “Larna, come, a free bench!” Vale said, dropping into it.

  Larna gripped his bowl and shuffled to a seat beside him.

  They opened their bowls, filling the air with the smell of warm food.

  “I have spaghetti, what about you?”

  Larna flushed and put the bowl on the side farthest from Vale.

  “I don't know… I'm not hungry.”

  Vale narrowed and leaned close to Larna. “Look, that girl is looking at you!” he said, pointing away.

  "Ah, ah?!" Larna slightly trembled as he slowly turned to where Vale pointed.

  At that moment, Vale stole Larna's bowl. "Got it!"

  “Uh? No! Wait!”

  “What's going on with all those hearts?”

  Larna turned deep red, and in a blink put the lid on the bowl and stole it back.

  Vale laughed and later dried the tears from his eyes. At first, Larna glared at him, but he ended up chuckling.

  He looked at the bowl in his hands with a warm smile.

  “My mom always prepares my food that way.”

  Vale smiled. “That's amazing.”

  The silence settled as both stared down at a fixed point.

  Vale gripped his bowl. “I also want to be a Battler.”

  That was expected. As he stared at him, Larna felt a bit of envy at Vale. He didn't seem to fear any opponent and always accepted his defeats and kept going. He was admirable.

  “Em, Vale. How do you train?” Larna felt that his body was a bit stronger. But still, he wanted to know others's training methods.

  Vale swallowed the food in his mouth and gestured as if his fork was a sword. “I go to the Battle Center and battle everyone that crosses my path!”

  Yeah, I believe him.

  Fighting a lot, he would get experience and knowledge. Larna would like to say that his body would also strengthen, and that it was an amazing method. But Battle was a simulation; when the battlers returned to reality, their bodies were still the same as before.

  “Don't you exercise?” Larna asked, hoping that Vale had realized that.

  “With the battles,” Vale said casually.

  Larna sighed. He explained to Vale his previous logic, making Vale’s smile melt. “Crap.” He said, scratching his head.

  He sank on the bench, probably thinking about all the time he had wasted.

  “Well, the done is done. What about you, Larna?”

  Larna scratched his head as he smiled awkwardly. “Well, I'm the opposite of you. I exercise but have practically zero battle experience. ”

  Vale's eyes shone as he clenched his fists and leaned toward Larna. “That's great!”

  “Huh?” Larna leaned back, raising an eyebrow. Why did he get happy all of a sudden? It isn't great. Larna knew he needed to battle. If not, what was the objective of his training? He could become the strongest man in the world, but would lose against a weaker but more experienced opponent.

  “Don't you realize it? That means we need each other! We should train together.”

  Train together…

  “What do you think?” Vale said, leaning closer.

  Larna's throat tightened. This was his chance, and also a big step. Accepting would mean exposing himself to an unknown future. New situations. New things. He would have to abandon his actual routine and restart as a beginner in a new one.

  Despite that, he knew that he needed to get accustomed to the uncertainty if he wanted to get stronger.

  Acting against all his fears, not giving his mind time to find excuses, he bowed his head.

  “Please.”