The Earth After Rebirth

"Right, Nathaniel, nice to meet you." Kiro hadn\'t a clue what he wanted but he knew he couldn\'t trust anyone with those surnames.

He understood his hypocrisy very well, most of his friend group was made up of people he didn\'t want to trust. He was almost certain that Nikolai and Ishaan were on his side, he wanted to believe the girls would be too.

"I\'m a second year, academy president. I\'ve heard quite a lot about you. If you ever need anything, don\'t be shy to come straight to me."

\'Aren\'t you a chipper little bird.\' Kiro sized him up, he nodded brusquely at his offer trying to match his enthusiasm. Intending to never act on it though.

Their slum rat status seemed to have changed across all three campuses. Kiro was especially more popular since he was even on the news about the kidnapping.

Almost everyone they passed stopped them to ask the gruelling details about the kidnapping. They were mostly just interested in gossip. Of course he refused to indulge them, a simple smile, a slight chuckle was enough to get away without having said a single word.

Felix was very tempted to tell the tales, while over exaggerating the details. Making it more gory and scary, just to shut them up, that would most likely make them unapproachable. Nikolai glared at him before he even started his antics. He smiled as innocently as he could muster.

Almost every girl was flirting with them. It was awkward since they had the girls they liked walking right with them but these girls didn\'t care, people who treated them badly before the schools were closed, were suddenly nice.

\'Ah f*ck. I hate how money can do this to people.\' He thought to himself.

Money and looks were pivotal in their society. Someone can tolerate you if you have one of the two, but neither was considered unacceptable.

That\'s why Ishaan was being showered with attention he wasn\'t used to. People who never looked at him before couldn\'t take their eyes off him now.

It didn\'t help that he had a new attitude. Instead of his happy go lucky attitude from before, he became a little distance, and brooded a lot. Which was a hit with most of the girls.

He was the \'idiot\' girls tolerated but never really liked. He was always the one taking the first step making conversations with them, but now, he couldn\'t care less. He had more important things to do.

Destroying his own father was slowly eating away at him, but it was something that needed to be done. He understood that much. That\'s what made him seem like a completely new person.

"I more or less expected your popularity to rise, but this is above and beyond." Isla commented unable to decide whether she should mark her \'territory\'.

Kiro put his arm around her, "don\'t get too jealous Bel."

Instead of denying that it was getting to her, she blushed. They all walked to their respective dorm rooms with much difficulty, combing through the crowds. Nikolai and Felix bid them farewell as they stayed somewhere else.

Kiro was about to enter his room when he remembered something, "Hiro, I need you for a bit. Put your bags away and come here."

He left the room open. He was still unpacking when Hiro walked in. Dumbfounded at what he was witnessing.

"You brought it? Are you insane?" He reprimanded.

"I had something to do regarding that thing, in case something happens to us? Besides I\'ve made some great changes." He said proudly.

"Y-you did?"

"Why sound so surprised?"

"Well, you\'re good at theory aren\'t you, while I\'m better at practicals."

"It wasn\'t that hard. If anyone who isn\'t us tries to get into it by force it\'ll self destruct." He shrugged.

"You did that?" Hiro couldn\'t exactly hide his surprise.

"I\'m not dumb you know, I can do one thing or another."

"Yeah, I can see that..."

"Now then, help me stabilise it, I couldn\'t for the life me get it 100% right."

Hiro looked at him incredulously, he had a strong urge to smack him senseless. It was too careless, this was akin to a ticking time bomb.

"You can be an idiot sometimes." He complained while tinkering with the parts.

"Yes, yes." He said as if to tell him to reprimand him later, this was more important.

It took Hiro a few hours to be done with the computer. Even though he wanted to reprimand his friend, he couldn\'t help but admire how brilliant the idea was, the execution could\'ve used some work though.

"This was really a great idea, though your practicals could use more work." He shrugged deciding to give him half a compliment instead.

"Tsk. Thanks, I mean I have you, why not teach me more of your ways, master Hiro!" He said, bowing to him respectfully.

The next day they woke up very early to do Wilfred\'s training. All of them were present, showing how serious they were. They used the forest that would lead them to the second year campus.

They were at it when Kiro\'s phone rang. He saw that it was Loki, that was strange, he never called him before and he never would unless it was emergency.

"Bro, hey, I\'m trouble here." He said smiling innocently.

Kiro couldn\'t believe it hadn\'t been a day and he was already in trouble with the school, he could picture what had happened clearly.

"What the hell Loki, what did you do?" He whispered.

"Some stupid kid, he thought I\'d take his crap, so I showed him. He was a bully Ki, he was bullying me and my roommate?"

"Did he hit you?"

"Uh, he was gonna, eventually." He said trying to sound as innocent as possible.

Kiro pinched his nose. His breath evened out from the trouble his little brother was dragging him into.

"I mean, it\'s kind of your fault. You did tell me to retaliate a hundred fold." He said when he saw his reaction.

"That\'s fair. Have you told our parents?" He asked.

"No!"

"Good, don\'t. Take me to your principal!"

Loki dropped the call, telling him he\'d have to ask permission first, explain the situation to the principal if she agreed, he\'d call right back.