Chapter 10: Chapter 10: A dynamic entry back to school (Part 1)
My handsome reflection stared back at me through the cold surface of the mirror as I buttoned up my shirt from the bottom up until I arrived at the last button. When I felt the last button slightly constrict my neck, I frowned and then unbuttoned it.
This would undoubtedly give me a slovenly appearance so if I was going to appear on my first day of school looking like a delinquent, I might as well go all the way. I decided to forsake wearing anything over my shirt like a jersey or a blazer. As for the tie, I decided to tie it loosely as well.
I then unbuttoned the long sleeves of my shirt and then folded them up to the point where they were just below my elbow.
Fetching my custom made one million dollar black-gold Hublot Mp 05 LaFerrari 50 Day/1200 Hours Military issue Men's Watch from its box, I fasted it onto my left hand. I had brief thoughts about completing the look with rings as well but I soon rejected them, instead, I opted to wear a simple leather bangle together with the watch.
Noticing my long silver hair reaching all the way to the base of my neck, I made the most painful decision of my life as I pressed a button in order to call my hair dresser to the room. The hair dresser soon arrived and I burned through another thirty minutes getting my upper hair shortened to a short fifteen centimeter length. I then had her crop the hair over my ears and at the back of my head into a buzz cut completed by her shaping out brilliant lightning designs. She then completed the look by applying hair gel to the bangs on my forehead and sweeping them backwards.
Done with her business, the hairdresser left me to finish things up on my own. Now that I had decided to commit to a delinquent look, I looked at my exposed ears and decided to pierce them. After doing that, I put on a pair of simple black studs on the lobes of the left ear and a single black stud plus a pair of clip-on ear cuffs on the right ear.
I smiled as I looked at my reflection. I totally looked like a pretty boy delinquent. It was totally in sync with my true nature refined by the eerie trials of the underworld.
I forsook tucking in my shirt opting to instead leave it unbuttoned at the bottommost button. I then wore my belt over my school trousers, donned a pair of black formal shoes and made a beeline for the dining room.
There I was met with the sight of my mother wearing an apron as she took it upon herself to do the work normally assigned to the servants as she went about readying the table for me and my younger twin sisters to eat before we headed off to school. The rest of my sisters and cousins were still asleep as they were in university and had a looser schedule to work upon whilst my twin sisters were still getting dressed... It took me an hour and a half to dress which was abnormal for any man and yet I still managed to finish dressing up faster than they did...
women!
Anyways, for now, it was just me and my mother alone at the dining table.
"Morning mom!" I called out as I pulled a chair from the dining table and sat myself on it.
Upon hearing my voice, my mom smiled beautifully as she finished wrapping up her breakfast preparations.
"Morning sweetie, glad to see that you are up and early for school today." She set the last plate containing toast and fried sausages on the table before she turned to look at me. Her eyes immediately narrowed prompting me to gulp down my nervousness.
"I see you decided to go towards your first day at school looking like a delinquent?"
I felt extremely nervous as my mind raced to come up with an answer. Luckily, it did not let me down.
"Well, the school is rather loose on the dress code so it hardly matters, plus my chest injury makes it hard for me to wear restrictive clothing so I thought that if it was going to force me to look like a delinquent, I would rather go all the way." I hurriedly explained whilst cold sweat soaked my back.
My mother frowned when she heard my first words, her frown however softened when she heard my follow up words concerning my wound. It would be too much asking for me to dress up properly in restrictive clothing whilst I was healing from a serious injury.
"It's okay sweetie, just don't push yourself hard, okay?"
I smiled when I heard her throw up the white flag as she relented.
"Sure... I won't!" I said whilst chomping down on a piece of toast.
"Are you aware of which class you will be joining?" She asked as she sat herself down at the head chair of the table.
"I'm joining the summer class B right?" I asked whilst seeking clarification.
"Yeah." She replied, "the classes of Einritch Academy are divided into four classes based on the four seasons. The summer class, Autumn class, Winter class, and spring class in descending order."
She was telling me something which I already knew but I decided to humor her and maintain my silence. I didn't want any more infractions with her racking up on top of the huge one about going to school dressed up like a delinquent.
"The four classes are then divided each into two, the A and the B classes. Although your academic record was stellar by being constantly ranked first within the Grand Imperial Academy and second in the national rankings, your attendance record left much to be desired so the teachers at Einritch academy had no choice but to assign you to the summer B class."
Yeah, it was reasonable now that I stopped to think about it. Although I aced all my written examinations, I was hardly at school most of the time occupied by my activities in running Apex and taking care of the more 'physical activities' associated with running an underworld criminal gang.
I could get why my attendance record would suffer and yet, why did I feel like there was something crucial that I should not miss from the words she had spoken. My mind slowly replayed her words and eventually came to the right answer. My heart pounded as I asked a question I dreaded asking at that moment.
"If I recall correctly, you are aware that I always ranked second within the national rankings. Do you have any idea of who was first?"
"Huh?!" My mother asked as she looked at me in confusion, "Did I really say that? I must have made a mistake. What I meant to say was that you were also ranked first on the national rankings."
She then laughed self-depreciatingly as she softly chided herself, "I must have paid far much less attention to you than I originally should have if I am making such an obvious mistake like mistaking your grades like this. I am sorry I failed you as a mother."
She muttered whistle gently squeezing my hand as a sorrowful look appeared in her eyes.
"It's okay. You are the best mother I could ever ask for. You did nothing to fail me as a parent, instead, it was I who failed you as a child." I comforted her whilst my mind revolved around a single question.
Was it honestly a mistake when she said I was ranked second? I could not help but remember a specific scene within one of those dreams.
*******
"Well then, let me enlighten you to a profound truth Ma'am! I am actually ranked first in the academic rankings of the Grand Imperial Academy!"
"Of course, you are! And yet you are forever second in the national rankings after me!"
"Hey! It just means that I'm the second smartest person in the Empire! If that is considered stupidity, I have no idea of what perverted and bigoted benchmark you are using to gauge my intelligence! If you ask me, it seems to be extremely prejudiced against me."
The girl softly giggled.
"You know absolutely nothing Shin! Being ranked second after me means that you are just first in a very long line of losers so there is nothing wrong in saying that you are dumb. You are the first and greatest of the losers after all!"
*************
Was she really just a figment of my imagination? The mistake that my mother made just now, was it really a mistake? Why did I feel my heart pound with excitement and an odd sense of longing when she said I was ranked second? Why did I feel as if I was missing something very important here.
My eyes narrowed.
'She' could not be just a mere figment of my imagination. She is definitely had to be real, right?!
(Author's note: I know, I know! Don't stone me for leaving you guys hanging like this! Its all part of the grand plan! If I had to say, I did a great job of maintaining the info dump at a minimal level in this chapter right? I know how much you guys hate info dumps and to be completely honest, I hate them too!!! So, I did a great job here didn't I? If you guys want to stone someone then do so at me… using power stones. Anyways, allow me to apologize for making you sit through Shinei getting changed but it had to be done cuz that will be his temporary school look until further notice. It had to be taken care of at some point. If you feel like cuffing something at me right now remember to cuff those power stones, okay? So, without further Ado, let us get started on what this story really has to offer! The true story of Apex begins now!)
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