Chapter 7
And just like that, now I need to follow Ark. But why am I not, like, more against it? Aah, I don't know anymore. I need to go to sleep.
Then the night makes way for the day. The first rays of light bring with them the hope of a better day than yesterday. Melody wakes up with this hope in her heart, feeling energetic and ready for the packed day that would follow.
She gets up from the bed, goes to the bathroom to take a shower, and gets ready. In the other room, Ark is still sleeping like a bear. When she's finished with her things, she goes to Ark's room and rings the doorbell—one time, two times, three times. But no one answers. Just as she's ready to go through the door, it opens, and Ark is there with his hair unkempt and shirtless, wearing only a pair of shorts. Her face starts to turn red like a tomato.
"Big brother, what are you doing? Leah will come to pick us up in a moment, and you're still not ready."
"Yeah, yeah, five minutes," and the door closes.
Melody just stares at the closed door. Five minutes later, Ark comes out with his hair still wet, wearing only a simple black T-shirt and white shorts. Did he move with the speed of light? Yeah, with him, that's possible.
"Let's go and get something to eat first. Melody, do you know? Not even dying is good on an empty stomach."
At first, I thought he would say something deep, like a real OP character that he is. But I guess I have too many expectations.
When they got down, in the lobby, Leah was already waiting there, still dressed in her maid clothes. It seems that she had already accepted who she is now, they both thought.
"Good morning, Master Ark, good morning, Melody."
"Good morning."
"Good morning."
"Leah, I want to eat something first, and then we'll go to the registration office."
"Yes, Master Ark, follow me."
Because the university was nearby, the area was full of places to eat. So, it didn't take long before they were eating breakfast. The problem was that Ark kept ordering food. Melody and Leah ate only a little bit, not even finishing everything on their plates. Ark was about to eat his 30th plate of food. Everyone wondered if the young man was human. After eating until they were full, they left toward the university.
Leah led the way to the registration office. On the way there, all the other young people turned their heads. So he's the one who fought with the patriarch of the Drakon Clan and won, and now has the clan's princess serving him. Then who is the girl with the red hair? She looks and smells like flowers in spring, refreshing, and I just want to keep admiring her. I think I've found my soulmate, most of the boys had that look on their faces.
"Melody, do you have everything prepared for us?"
"Yes, I already made our papers long ago."
When they reached the registration office, a lady was there.
"Hello, how can I help you?"
Melody steps in and says,
"Hello, my name is Melody Ember, and that's my brother Ark Ember. We have a letter of recommendation to join your Hunter University."
"Can I please see the letter?"
"Sure, here you go."
Melody takes out the letter from her space ring and hands it over. The lady reads the letter and, all of a sudden, gasps and starts panicking. She looks at them, then at the letter, then back at them.
"This is too big for someone like me. Please wait a minute; I'll call the principal."
Then she runs to a special phone on the wall, a red one, and above it is a shield that says, 'Emergency Line, Principal.'
While the lady calls, Leah is surprised by her reaction and asks,
"Melody, what was in that letter?"
Melody looks at Leah and smiles.
"Just something to speed up the process."
Then the lady comes back and says to them,
"I will take you to the principal's office. Follow me."
On the way to the office, the lady kept stealing glances at them, with an admiring gaze, as if she were next to a celebrity.
Ark and Melody were nonchalant about the office lady.
When they reached the principal's office, the lady knocked on the door, and then they heard an ethereal voice saying:
"Come in."
The office lady opened the door and let them go inside.
"Hello, we are the Ember brothers. Ark and Melody."
When they entered, they saw a large room with shelves full of books along the sides of the room. In the middle was a glass table with couches on both sides, and two armchairs at both ends of the table. At the far end of the room was a large mahogany desk with a woman sitting behind it.
However, it wasn't certain whether she was truly there or not, because the light was passing through her body, much like the ghosts in old Earth stories.
Her body appeared for a moment, then disappeared, then reappeared.
She had completely white hair, white eyebrows, and skin as white as snow. She wore a simple, completely white summer dress, with something like a summer jacket draped over her shoulders, also white. Only her eyes were entirely black, darker than the abyss itself. If someone with weak will were to stare into those eyes, they would see their worst nightmares come alive.
She looked at them, noticing their calm aura. She was also surprised by how nonchalant they were about her presence. Normally, anyone else would be too scared to look her in the eyes or would stutter in an attempt to impress her.
"Hello, please take a seat. I'll be with you in a moment."
They both sat down next to each other on the couch at the glass table and waited.
"Melody, I'm interested in the metal pyramid. Make sure we have access inside as soon as possible."
"Okay, no problem, but I can't connect to the internet from this office. It's like we're in another dimension—everything is disconnected from us."
"Then it seems we have to upgrade your quantum computers if you can't even connect outside of this weak ass barrier."
Melody looked at the principal, who was still focused on the papers in front of her, writing something.
"Big brother, please don't talk so loudly. What if you anger her and she won't let us attend the University anymore?"
"Then we'll go with plan B."
"We have a plan B?"
He looked at her and, with the most neutral face, said:
"Of course. Plan B is… killing everyone."
Melody stared at him, a look of disbelief on her face. Are you insane? Why would you say something like that in front of her?
Then, Melody glanced back at the principal, and saw her looking at them with a really scary smile on her face. The principal got up and walked toward them.
"Sorry for keeping you for so long. My name is Niobe Megara. I heard you have an introduction letter. May I please see it?"
Melody first looked at Ark with a look that said, If something bad happens now, it's your fault. Then, she looked at Niobe and handed her the letter.
"Thank you."
Niobe took the letter and began reading it, but shortly after, she looked up at them and smiled. She looked back at the letter, then back at them.
After she finished reading, she put the letter back on the table, but she couldn't stop smiling, and happiness was evident on her face.
When Melody saw that, she let out a relieved sigh. Now she knew everything was going to be okay.
Niobe looked at them with a gentle and happy expression and asked:
"How is she? Where is she? Can I meet her?"
Melody thought, I did think that would help us, but I didn't expect such a big reaction. I need to find out why that is.
She looked at Ark, but he appeared to be uninterested.
"First, I need to ask: why do you look so happy after reading our letter? And second, can we attend this University?"
"Of course you can attend. It would be my honor to have you two."
"And I was so happy because I am the first to hear about the greatest hero of all time, the one who saved us. Without her, we wouldn't be here today."
Melody just looked at her, confusion written across her face.
"What do you mean?"
Niobe looked back at Melody, equally confused.
"Wait, you don't know what your master did, who she is to us, the ones who lived through that hell—hell from the beginning, after the dark matter explosion?"
Ark looked at Melody with a questioning look, and his expression said, 'What did you do?'