As the agreed lunch time gradually approached, Jack lit a cigarette in a place where students secretly smoked, avoiding the teacher’s gaze.
There were already a few kids in the spot aside from him.
They were all friends close to Jack.
It was quite a pleasant time for Jack to smoke with his friends during break time and chat about gossip.
“What have you been up to? You haven’t been coming to the academy.”
“Just went on a trip with my girlfriend.”
“What? Don’t your parents say anything at home?”
“They’re not home, so it’s fine. They went on a trip somewhere else.”
“Oh, really? So your house is empty now?”
“Right. Want to come over? We could throw a party at my place since it’s been a while.”
“That sounds great. I should tell the others.”
As the smoke from the cigarettes lingering in the back of the academy thickened and the conversation deepened, stories about what they had been doing and what was fun these days eventually led to the topic of Third.
Jack flicked the burnt-out cigarette butt with his fingers and spoke up.
“Oh, by the way, I’m supposed to fight someone during lunch today.”
“Puh. You’re starting a fight as soon as you get here. But who is it with?”
“With a guy named Third.”
Upon hearing Third’s name, Jack’s friend practically screamed in shock.
“What? Are you crazy?”
“Why? Is there a problem?”
“That guy named Third is a real psycho!”
“What do you mean?”
—-
Today, Jack had made an appointment to fight Third on the roof.
However, from what he was hearing, it seemed the guy he was provoking was quite extraordinary.
The rumors about Third were completely different from what he thought.
“What? Are you saying that guy is that impressive?”
“Yeah, you idiot! That guy is a total monster, a monster! What made you pick a fight with him?”
“Just thought he looked like an easy target…”
“How could you not know anyone in your class?”
He carried a bandage on his face like someone who had been hit, making Jack think he was someone who gets beaten up.
Moreover, his expression seemed strained, and he sat quietly without talking to anyone, just sleeping. Jack also thought he looked more fit than himself, and seeing that silly Umi hanging around him only reinforced his impression.
However, combining everything he had heard, it sounded like he was far from an easy target.
“I heard he almost killed someone who woke him up. There was a guy in class playing soccer who accidentally kicked the ball his way, and he popped the ball with one hand while threatening to kill him.”
“I also heard about Carlos, you know? He tried to recruit him, but Third told him to get lost and took down thirty people by himself.”
“Plus, it seems that guy has connections in the underworld. Someone overheard him talking to an unknown person in the bathroom.”
There were numerous rumors circulating about Third’s terrifying nature.
“Well, there’s likely some exaggeration in the rumors.”
It was unclear where the truth ended and the lies began.
Rumors tend to get inflated from person to person until they almost become untruths.
Especially, rumors related to the underworld seemed completely far-fetched.
How could a 15-year-old possibly have ties to it already?
However, no matter how one looked at it, the fact that such rumors were circulating was the issue.
That meant it was reasonable enough for such rumors to associate with Third, indicating that Third was a figure strikingly different from Jack’s assumptions.
And that was what worried Jack.
Third was indeed a being that suited such rumors.
After hearing all the stories about Third from his friends, Jack lost all desire to continue smoking.
He threw the remaining cigarette stub to the ground and stared at the ember with a complicated look.
“This is bad…”
There had never been such vicious rumors circulating in the academy.
So the moment when the class’s atmosphere had turned chilly was actually because the classmates were more scared of Third than they were of him?
Those glances of sympathy directed at him from the students weren’t about him after all?
But why did that guy act so nicely to him back then?
It was something Jack could not understand at all.
‘What am I going to do?’
Even if only 10% of the rumors were true, Jack wouldn’t stand a chance against Third.
Unlike Third’s expectations, Jack had no hidden talents whatsoever.
He knew how to fight decently, but he knew it was nowhere near what was rumored about Third.
If he went up to the roof unprepared, he would undoubtedly get completely wrecked.
Jack quickly racked his brain to find a way to avoid humiliation.
But nothing came to mind.
Just then, someone called for Jack.
“Hey? Jack, you’re at the academy? You should have contacted me first if you were coming!”
“Oh, Tenna!”
Tenna, who lightly hit Jack’s head as he pulled out a cigarette, was the number one in the academy’s hierarchy and had recently bulked up, becoming almost double the size he was before.
Seeing him, Jack suddenly thought of a way out.
“Hey, I need a favor from you.”
“Hmm? What is it?”
“Well, you see…”
Although Tenna had vowed not to bully anyone or fight anymore, Jack was confident that he would do a favor for a close younger brother just this once.
——-
Around that time, at Tigr Academy, Kaila began tasting the final product of Luke’s tapioca milk tea.
“How does it taste?”
Luke asked with a slight nervousness.
Creating a recipe without data is harder than it seems, just like alchemy.
In the past, recipes were often ‘accidentally’ created.
Even though Luke was incredibly skilled and knowledgeable, the final outcome could vary significantly based on slight differences in ingredients, hence some reliance on luck was inevitable.
Unfortunately, his luck had run out, making the process take an incredibly long time.
This was a recipe painstakingly crafted after a week of chaos.
It absolutely had to be delicious.
There was no more time left.
-Slurp-.
Kaila took a sip and closed her eyes, savoring it.
Then, she suddenly opened her eyes slightly and tilted her head, finally looking at Luke with a very meaningful expression.
“Y-Yeah, maybe it’s not that good?”
While he thought it tasted good to him, subjective evaluations were useless in this case.
What mattered was whether it had commercial value or not.
Thus, Kaila’s opinion was crucial.
If Kaila said it tasted bad, Luke’s opportunity would be gone.
“…”
As a result, Luke could not help but feel tense under Kaila’s silent gaze.
What did that expression mean?
It was an ambiguous expression that didn’t quite convey if it was good or bad.
If he could at least say something, he could read her feelings and gauge her thoughts using spirit language, but Kaila remained silent, alternating her gaze between Luke and the milk tea.
Then it happened.
“Luke.”
At Kaila’s serious call, Luke instinctively swallowed hard and asked.
“What, what is it?”
“It’s really delicious.”
“…!”
Because Kaila expressed it so seriously, it took Luke a moment to grasp the meaning behind her words, and he sighed, then got angry.
“But why were you making me so nervous?!”
Luke didn’t want such unnecessary tension.
But Kaila only laughed.
“Hahaha! The thing is, I was just thinking about how many more I should order for the festival right after tasting this.”
Luke dismissed Kaila’s concern with a single sentence.
“No need for that! You won’t be able to sell all that you’ve already bought!”
Kaila’s already substantial order was made before, and the tapioca ingredients couldn’t be stored for too long; everything would spoil.
There was already a little problem, but if they bought more, anything extra would become food waste.
And since Luke hated waste, he couldn’t bear to watch such a sight.
“But it’s super delicious! I’m sure it’ll sell out!”
“No way! Even if it sells, my ‘Vital Tea’ will sell way better than this!”
Although Luke had modified the recipe to make it tasty, he stood firm in his belief that this was still a secondary offering.
The drink was hastily created to fill a gap in the existing menu, and Luke was confident that the taste of the tea he had meticulously crafted over the years would far surpass that of this instant drink.
Surely, once people tasted his ‘great’ tea, they wouldn’t even want to think about this instant version.
However, Kaila thought differently.
“But I think this one will sell better than what you showed me first.”
“What!”
Luke shouted.
“That’s impossible! That’ll never happen! People aren’t fools!”
Comparing the deeply brewed, exquisitely flavored tea made from his years of dedication with this vaguely composed beverage that was hastily made in a week under a borrowed name is a huge disrespect to the original recipe’s creator.
Plus, to think that this instant version might sell better!
What could be more insulting from his perspective?
Kaila, who was silently observing that reaction, smiled and spoke.
“Then, how about a bet?”
At Kaila’s gesture, Luke frowned but nodded.
“Alright, what are you thinking of betting on?”
Luke didn’t think he would lose.
