Voxx Academy was a prestigious institution.
It was a wide, gate-enclosed campus on the northern edge of the city, and encompassed thousands of acres and hundreds of buildings. With sleek white architecture, all of its facilities were state of the art, and aimed to house, train, and develop the talented individuals from humanity's nine strongholds.
With an entrance exam designed to weed out the weak, and a passing rate that almost always whittled the few thousand first years to a few hundred by the time graduation rolled around, Voxx prided itself on producing the best heroes humanity offered. Almost all of its graduates ended up joining top 100 guilds, and very few ever wasted what they learned there.
Jay on the other hand, was absolutely planning to waste what the other guy learned. As soon as he got the skill he needed, he was leaving and never looking back. Today would be the last day he stepped foot in Voxx.
But after showing the going to the front gate and showing the Gaurd his ID as the system told him was procedure, Jay got a good look into Voxx's campus.
And even he had to admit.
It was pretty damn beautiful.
"This place is pretty cool." He murmured as he walked the snow covered pathways and admired the Sakura trees lining the grassy walkways, he could see why the Union allocated billions a year to it. It was obviously money well spent.
[Cool enough to stay and aid humanity?]
"Don't be silly system. Of course not." Jay rolled his eyes as the system's mini face slumped down in defeat. Jay shook his head, smiling slightly, before he noticed felt eyes drift his way. He clicked his tongue and tilted his hat down. Avoiding the curious gazes of the nearby students.
From what the system told him of Voxx's intro seminar, after the first semester, students lived in dorms for the remainder of their stay in Voxx. So all the second through fifth years that didn't get internships or just didn't want to leave for the winter, were still on campus.
And even though Jay tried to blend in, there was only so much he could do. He had gotten lucky the gaurd didn't ask any questions, probably because this was a combat school and injuries weren't unexplainable. Otherwise it would've been impossible to hide his injuries completely.
The left side of his face was still bruised and swollen, and his right arm was broken, still hanging limp by his side. Jay could feel people noticing them as he passed. One by one. Like seeing a circus attraction moly on past. Jay had to grit his teeth and bear it, making sure he at least didn't act like he was in pain even if he looked like he just got demolished.
But he'd be lying if he said it didn't hurt every time he took a step.
And that's why, when he bumped into someone while he was busy looking around the campus for the arcade, it took everything in him not to topple over and cry like a baby. He sucked in a breath, and bit his lips until he tasted copper, before glancing at the person he ran into. It was a short girl with long pink hair and blue eyes, and behind her was a tall lanky kid with black hair that nearly covered his black eyes. He was playing a game on his phone.
"Ah! Sorry, are you alright!?" The girl asked, apologizing instantly as Jay kept his mouth shut. Not trusting a scream to escape it. He tried to keep his head down and walk around, but the girl seemed to notice how his arm was hanging by his side.
"Hey, are you injured?" She asked, appearing in front of Jay so fast he didn't even have time to register it. He cursed as she glanced under his hat and gasped, "Your face is messed up too. Are you okay? Do you need us to take you to the nurse?"
"He's a student, Fuji." The tall guy said, not bothering to glance up from his game. "He knows where the nurse is. He's probably going there now."
"What he said." Jay looked away as he stepped past the girl again and continued walking down a path. He angled to the right side of the walkway, before he heard the tall guy say, "Wrong way."
"I knew that." Jay said, turning left. Leaving the two other students as he continued around the campus. His eyes low and hat covering his face. He hadn't even thought of it. The fact that he could get healed at the academy.
"Hey system." He whispered.
[Yes?]
"Is the nurse free?" He asked, glancing around to make sure no one was looking at him. The last thing he needed was people thinking he talked to himself.
[For students basic treatment is free. However potions must be purchased. And I am unsure if it is still free when injuries are attained off campus.]
"Damn. I didn't think of that." Jay grumbled, silently debating what to do before he cursed, "Fuck it. Worst they'll say is no. Let's go there first."
[Do you need guidance to where the nurse is located?]
"You know where it's at?"
[Jay Haze went there often in his first semester.]
"Huh, somehow I'm not surprised." Jay snorted. "But yeah, help me out a bit."
[Understood. Go left.] the system directed and Jay smirked. Following along as he made his way to the school nurse. Jay kept his head down and grinned.
"Thanks."
Things were finally going his way a little.
....
Meanwhile a pair of third year students watched as a one of their classmates, probably under by the looks of it, walked away. Arm still hanging limp by his side and seemingly muttering to himself. Poor dude.
He probably got hit so hard he was hallucinating.
"He was pretty beat up, huh." Fuji, the girl with pink hair and blue eyes said. Her tall friend shrugged and returned to his game.
"It happens." He said.
"Yeah but not that bad." She sighed, as the two continued walking towards their destination. They were heading to lunch, without their usual friend groups. Since one was working and the other had gotten injured on a recent mission.
"You think he had a spar go bad? Maybe that's why he's all beat up?" She pouted, "That's no good. Whoever it was should've showed restraint. Or use a virtual dungeon if they're gonna go all out."
"It probably wasn't that simple. It never is with freshman. They're all too busy obsessing over school ranks to make any progress." Her friend said, and she flinched. Her cheeks flushing at the memory of being very much a part of said problem back in first year, she coughed into her fist. "I mean.. you're not wrong. But he never said he was a freshman. Maybe he's just a clumsy second year."
"He's not." Her friend said blandly, still looking at his book as he pointed in the direction of nurse's office. "Second years know where the nurse is. So he was a freshman, and he probably only came here because he needed to get healed."
"What do you mean?"
"He walked from the direction of the entrance." Her friend said, "Probably just got here. He'll leave after he gets healed. Or he won't. Doesn't matter."
"Boo. Emo Yuri is back." Fuji huffed, a sly grin crawling across her face as she skipped beside her friend and peered under his matted hair, "You know you'd be a good detective if this hero thing never works out. All that intelligence seems wasted on an archer. You ever thought of it?"
"No."
"Oh come on." She whined. "You could have your own show. You could invite us to fancy dinner parties! We could have fancy people food!"
"I would rather die."
"Yuri!" She grinned, waving her hands out theatrically, "The gloomy detective! Solving mysteries one monologue at a time. This week's episode: How did Yuri get out of his emo phase! But wait, what is this? He hasn't!? What a twist!"
"I refuse to be ridiculed by walking cotton candy."
"The reviews are rolling in! It's a smash hit! Yuri you're famous!"
"I'm going on ahead." He said, picking up the pace as Fuji laughed. Catching up with him instantly as she grinned, "Oh come on. I'll play nice for now."
"You never mean that."
"And I never will." She smiled, the two running through campus as their encounter with the injured boy. All the while unaware of a man in a black Yukata that had caught their passing conversation . He had good ears, so it was hard not to eavesdrop every once in a while.
"Strange." he hummed, his yellow slit eyes glowing as wind swept through his black hair. He scratched his gray beard and glanced at the other students, most all unaware of his presence, before turning towards the path to the nurse's office.
Freshman weren't assigned dorms till second semester, to give them an adjustment period, so they had no reason to stay in school over winter break. It was odd.
"What's a first year doing on campus?"
He was curious enough to extend his walk by a few minutes.