Private Academy System 53 Unexpected Ally

'That's a little harsh.' Ensen thought as he turned his attention back to his cla.s.s.

As Ensen continued the lesson, it soon came to an end.

He spent the majority of the time introducing the main topics that the course would cover as well as a brief introduction about the piano itself.

After cla.s.s ended, Warren, Brian, and even Stephen sprinted out the door.

'Where are they running? They do know I'm their drive home, right? Well, they seem to be adapting well either way, so I don't mind.' Ensen thought as he saw them run into the hallway.

Turning his attention to the remaining two people in the cla.s.sroom, Ensen noticed that Leah was once again staring at the piano.

After a few moments, she began to walk up slowly to the piano before sitting on the bench before it.

Resting her hands on it for a moment, she began to press down on random keys to see what kind of sound they played.

After watching Leah for a minute or so, Ensen looked at the time. Knowing that he should get back as soon as he could to check on Kaitlin, he spoke loudly to Leah to try to be audible over all the noise.

"Leah, you're free to play on the piano tomorrow for your break, but I need to drive the other students home. Wanna go find your brother to take home?" Ensen said.

Leah stopped pressing down on the keys and paused for a moment before slowly standing up.

Smiling at the piano, she turned around and faced Ensen.

"Okay, I'll go find him," Leah said as she began to head towards the door.

As she left the room, Ensen asked Anabella to head towards the front entrance as he made his way to the staff room to check on if Gerhardt had left already.

Entering the room, the soon found the small stack of completed quizzes lying under the head of Gerhardt who seemingly fell asleep while reviewing them.

Upon seeing this, Ensen thought 'I'm sure he feels a lot safer in this place, I don't really have any reason to wake him up. He can go back to his own world whenever he wants.'

Quietly making his way back towards the door, he slowly shut it.

After a few minutes, everybody was rounded up outside of the building.

As the two siblings began walking home, the others got into Ensen's car.

The drive was relatively quiet today as well, most likely because they were rather tired from the two quizzes today.

After dropping the students off for the day, Ensen decided to make a quick stop at a local store to pick up something for Kaitlin.

Making his way to Kaitlin's apartment, he soon stood in front of her door with a box in his hand that held an apple pie inside.

Knocking on the door with his free hand, Ensen stood there for a few moments before beginning to feel worried like earlier again.

Raising his hand to knock firmly on the door again, Ensen soon saw somebody peeking through the peephole.

Sighing in relief, he said, "Open up for a second Kaitlin, I have a gift."

After hearing the sound of four locks coming undone, the door cracked open slightly and Kaitlin peeked her head out.

"What do you want?" She said coldly.

'Oh, back to her usual voice? That's a good sign.' Ensen thought.

"I brought you a pie." He said.

She paused for a moment to look down at his hand which held a white box.

"I don't need your handouts," Kaitlin said in an annoyed voice before starting to close the door.

Out of reflex, Ensen extended his foot to stop the door from closing all the way.

'I hope she doesn't cut my foot off.' Ensen prayed as he simply stood there in silence.

After standing there in silence for what seemed like hours, he heard a small sigh from the other side of the door.

The door opened as far as he had ever seen before as Kaitlin stood there in baggy clothes that she seemed to randomly throw on earlier.

"... Come inside." She said.

Feeling slightly nervous, Ensen slowly entered her apartment, taking his shoes off at the entrance.

Following Kaitlin who had begun walking towards the living room, he soon realized that the apartment was rather the opposite of what he had a.s.sumed.

All of the furniture seemed rather trendy at the moment, it was also nearly immaculate at the same time.

As Kaitlin sat down on an accent chair, Ensen sat opposite her on the couch after placing the pie on the coffee table in the middle.

Silence ruled the air for minutes as Kaitlin seemed rather hesitant, seemingly deciding on something in her head.

As another sigh escaped her mouth, she began to speak.

"You seemed rather curious about me. I'm not sure why you are, but I need somebody to talk to and you're the only person who will listen." She said in a gentler voice than usual.

After pausing for a moment, she continued. "Do you want to know why I've been acting so paranoid? I thought that my 'friends' who betrayed me were going to come for me. But… they didn't even give me the slightest thought."

As she finished her speech, silence returned to the room for a minute before Ensen finally broke it.

"Why are you telling me this?" Ensen said in confusion, not understanding her motive behind it.

"Well… I might as well tell somebody about my life before I leave this earth." She said in a seemingly remorseful tone.

"Leave this earth?" Ensen muttered under his breath before looking at Kaitlin in panic.

"Kaitlin, you don't want to do this. I'm sure you'll find new friends who-" Ensen said hurriedly, not having time to fully work out what to say.

"Maybe, but it's too late either way." She said after sighing and looking up into the sky.

Staring at Kaitlin in confusion, Ensen took a deep breath and said "Why would you want to end your life like this?"

As Kaitlin's eyes radiated confusion at the question, she said calmly "Why would I want to end my life? I said I'm leaving Earth."

'Ehh? That was literal? Wait how can she even leave Earth?' Ensen thought.

"What do you mean by that? How are you going to leave Earth?" Ensen asked.

Kaitlin paused for a moment as she seemingly collected her thoughts before slowly speaking.

"I don't think you'll understand, but I was chosen by something called a system a few days ago. I wasn't sure if I was going to accept because I thought I had people here who cared for me. But… now that I know there is n.o.body, I can leave without any regrets." She said.

'Umm… what? System! What is even happening here?!' Ensen shouted in his mind.

[So… basically… how should I explain this?] The system wrote as a message appeared before Ensen.

'What? You now too? Just explain it.' Ensen thought in annoyance.

[Fine. This might come as a shock to you but… I told my friend to contact her. He's been looking for a good host for a while and I couldn't let this opportunity pa.s.s by.]

'So you told your friend to take my friend to another world?' Ensen thought, even further annoyed.

[Hey, it was her choice. Plus, it is a good opportunity for her. The Supreme Sect Establishment System is a nice guy.]

'The Sect Establishment System? Sounds… decent.' Ensen thought as he tried to think logically.

[Don't forget the Supreme part! That's very disrespectful to systems.]

'Fine, Supreme Sect Establishment System. Will I ever see her again?' Ensen thought.

[I… I wasn't going to bring this up now, but one of the main reasons I and the Heavenly Sect Establishment System are such close friends is because there are lots of opportunities for the collaboration of our hosts. But there are no guarantees of course since the decision ultimately rests between you two.]

'That… makes sense. Why are you both Supreme rank systems? I thought one would be a rank down.' Ensen thought as he sighed to himself.

[Well… people sometimes call me an off-brand of my friend… but I'm used to it by now. I… I am also losing my lead and might derank to Heavingly, but I'm sure you'll change that.]

'You sure seem confident, I'll try my best but no promises.' Ensen thought after thinking for a moment.

Turning his attention towards Kaitlin once again, he began to speak.

"I completely understand what you mean. I have a system too, you know." Ensen said in resignation, knowing that there would be no changing her decision.

"Wait, you do?" Kaitlin said in confusion.

'She doesn't seem too cold, maybe she's starting to open up to me? Well, she probably thinks its the last time we'll meet anyways.' Ensen thought.

"That's right, actually our systems are friends apparently. We will most likely even have missions together in the future. So, here's to a good partners.h.i.+p." Ensen said, holding his hand out for a handshake.

'Wait, is she embarra.s.sed?' Ensen thought as he saw her cheeks light up.