Chapter 106: Mindblown
While Moon was sprawling in the whirlwind of emotions, fighting the invasive feeling under his skin and the twitching of his body, Uon finally entered the classroom, followed by the recently enlightened Basil.
"Good morning, young ascenders," Uon said, his face full of smiles and enthusiasm.
"Good morning, Assistant Uon." Barrett was in his seat, and Basil was on his way to his; they responded at the same time.
Satisfied, Uon nodded. Then, he placed the notebooks he had under his arm down on the desk.
He turned around to finally notice Moon writing something at the very back of the classroom; he hadn’t even responded to the greeting.
He seemed so focused on something that he failed to sense Uon’s presence or the noise around him.
Uon looked closely at Moon, who seemed to be holding the pen with difficulty. His tongue was sticking upward.
His eyes were swollen and even somewhat watery.
"Ascender Moon," Uon called softly.
But Moon was in a realm of his own.
Suddenly, his arm twitched on its own.
"Fuck dammit," Moon cursed before his eyes went back to the paper again. His lips bent downward.
Uon moved closer to Moon, casting a huge shadow over him and startling him.
Moon dropped the pen and tried to cover the notebook with both hands, attempting to prevent Uon from seeing what he was writing.
Uon looked down, his yellow eyes smiling at Moon. Moon looked all the way up as if staring at the ceiling with his semipermanently squinted eyes.
Neither said a word for a long second.
"Mind looking the other way?" Moon spoke nicely, in a not-very-threatening tone.
Uon responded with a squint. "I’ve been looking, but I can’t read whatever this is," he explained.
He turned around. "Focus now; the class is starting." Uon walked back ready to start the class, having what he needed to say perfectly planned.
20 minutes passed.
"Thus, we conclude that humans and all sentient beings don’t have what’s known as a mating season. Mating seasons belong to lesser beasts." Uon paused before pointing at the board.
"Also, marriage in human society is based on the mutual willingness of both sides. They must be old enough to make the decision and bear the responsibilities of their agreement."
"Any questions?" Uon asked with an unwavering smile.
At the very back, Moon, who refused to move to the front to avoid having anyone other than Uon see his occasional uncontrollable convulsions, was now, to say the least, mind-blown.
His eyes nearly fell out of their swollen sockets.
Uon’s casual smile looked like mockery.
’Did... Did 9th bro lie to me?’ he questioned. In his mind, 9th bro was the most trusted source for anything he wanted to know about the world.
He was both the oldest and the latest to join, so he’d had a chance to see more of the world than the rest of them.
Or so he thought.
Until now.
’This is impossible.’ His mouth was wide open, unable to respond. His eyes stared into Uon’s.
Yet, Uon stared back at him, smiling.
"Young kids cannot get married," Uon struck again. "Adults are responsible for raising kids; anything outside this norm is but an error that must be corrected."
Moon wanted to hold his head; it felt like it was about to explode.
’What about us? Where were the adults who should have raised us?’ he questioned in his mind.
"Forcefully taking a partner is also a crime," Uon explained finally.
It was the most obvious point, but it suddenly snapped Moon out of his conflicted mind.
That guy he killed.
He remembered that night.
’Was that why I felt like killing him?’ He questioned his own actions and decisions again.
Moon understood, to an extent, the gratitude of those two girls. ’What were their names again?’ He couldn’t remember.
He had tried to act as natural as possible around them based on his observations over the days, and he thought he had nailed it.
Still~
’Did 9th bro really lie to me?’ He snapped back to thinking about the brother who died and left him behind after lying to his face with a smile.
’You stupid son of a bitch, you’d better be alive.’ Moon rubbed his face through gritted teeth. ’I gotta beat that bony ass.’
"Oh well, off to the next topic of the day—"
Creak~
Moon pushed his desk and seat apart. "I need to go out for a moment."
Uon’s eyebrows rose. His eyes glanced somewhere for a fraction of a second before he said, "Fine, let’s take a short break; stay nearby," he instructed.
Outside.
Moon squatted down behind the classroom gate. His face rested in his palms, his eyes closed.
’Did that bastard pull a prank?’ he thought, unable to get over the embarrassment he felt.
’Did he lie, waiting for the day we’re all free so he could finally laugh at me?’ He shut his eyes tighter.
’No wonder 0th bro never took what he said seriously; he didn’t seem curious about anything at all.’
He tried to calm his thoughts, taking deep, long breaths in before exhaling sharply.
He stood up and went back into the classroom. Uon was about to start again.
The class continued with more knowledge about the political structure of the Tower, basic Echo control and its nature, and the history of the facility.
Things Moon had either heard before and forgotten or didn’t bother listening to, since they were basically irrelevant to him right now.
Why would he need to know the history?
Didn’t Uon smack his face with the history and goals of the facility during his first few minutes in the place anyway?
Why would he need to learn Echo control? What would it even control?
A roundish lump?
’I need to find a way to use arcane,’ he thought. ’I can’t keep attending this class.’
His head suddenly shot up.
’Didn’t that yellow bastard say we need to confirm first? Why am I here?’
He looked down at the book of grudges, at his utterly unreadable handwriting... even for him, to a certain extent.
’Should I add two more grudges against Ed and Uon?’ he contemplated.
"Alright, with this, the class is finally over, young ascenders," Uon announced, finally drawing back Moon’s scattered attention.
"Tomorrow we’ll be sparring." He looked at Moon. "Ascender Moon, you must teach them how to fight well since it’s the three of you together now," he advised.
Moon wasn’t interested in whatever.
’I’ll try not to beat them too hard.’ He made up his mind without saying a word and found his way out.
He completely forgot about what Ed had said.
And instead of going to the eatery again, he found his way into his room.
Samuel shouldn’t be there right now, so it was a good time to try different things.
Maybe today was finally the day he used arcane, settled things, and marked one fulfilled at last.
Once he was finally in his room, he closed the door and sat down quietly on his bed.
"What else can I try?" He spoke his thoughts aloud to himself.
He held his forehead. After a long time of thinking, he came to a new, uncertain conclusion.