Soon enough someone finally came to the gate, and after checking a few short things, escorted them inside. The academy itself was more or less as Ray had imagined, but it was still very grand, so he looked over to the other two members of their strange group, and after seeing no remarkable reaction from neither of them, sighed and just followed.
After a short while of walking around, all three of them were brought to a grand hall, with numerous people inside, sleepers that like them had succeeded in their first nightmare, the ones present were the ones who did so over the course of the last week.
Their guide excused himself, and for some reason only Ray thanked him for bringing them here.
When the three fully entered, the two guys stood still for a moment, both scanning the room and crowd, as if made a silent agreement. The girl with silver hair and headphones still on her head just walked away without saying a word.
"So, what's the plan, my frie-," before Ray was able to finish his sentence, he saw Sunny already disappearing. Seeing this he couldn't help but curse a bit under his breath, but with how much Ray got to know about the guy, he had no doubt, very soon he would either make a scene or already be an outcast. That is at least the kind of vibe Ray sensed from the gloomy boy.
Now that he was on his own, Ray stretched a bit and went through his hair. The groups arrival didn't go unnoticed, but the others walked away too fast for others to approach.
So, Ray, standing there with his 1,87 meters, in the Tracksuit he got from the station, looked around a bit bored. His hair, currently shoulder long and with its unusual hair color, which transitioned somewhere between gray and black, was left in a slightly messy men bun.
Deciding on a random direction to go into, Ray, still in the tight jacket of the tracksuit, decided to open it, it was just that uncomfortable for him at this point.
From the perspective of other people, some new guy, with above average looks, even for the people present, came in scanned them, became bored and flexed his body while walking around.
For Ray, it was less walking around and more looking for some food, which he soon found. He completely ignored the arrogant looking idiots all around. His aunt told him about how people from clans normally were, so any conversation with those so called 'legacies' would end in a fight, very likely.
All the ones who were originally around him, distanced themselves slowly, because most were giving the 'Exhibitionist' weird looks, well, mostly the guys for that part, but there was still this thought in the minds of most of them.
Ray didn't care a single bit about his reputation and those weird looks he received. Even with such an air around him, a few minutes after he started eating the laid-out food, a small group of three approached him, the group consisted of two girls and one dude, all definitely not ugly, but far from the top of the attending group.
"Hey, so what were your experiences like in your nightmare. I tell you…"
Ray chewed lazily on a piece of bread, half-listening to the girl in front of him rambling about her so-called "horrific" Nightmare.
"...It was crazy, honestly. I barely made it through. There was this huge, disgusting beast, and the only way to defeat it was to find its weakness - so I had to stay calm under pressure and think fast. It was so intense!" she exclaimed, flipping her hair back for emphasis.
Ray hummed noncommittally, nodding as he grabbed another plate of food.
The girl, clearly encouraged, continued. "I mean, sure, I had a team with me, but they were useless. I basically carried us to victory."
Ray took another bite. Still listening. Barely.
"Honestly, I think my Nightmare was one of the hardest ones," she went on, laughing a little. "I don't know how some people here survived. Some of them look like they just got lucky, y'know?"
That was the moment Ray's chewing slowed slightly. His grip on his plate tightened, just a fraction.
The other two in the group must have noticed the shift, because one of them, the guy, quickly changed the topic. "Well, at least you aren't like that freak, Sunless. The guy's a total weirdo and some kind of pervert. No wonder no one wants to talk to him."
The other girl giggled. "Right? I heard him talking to some others, he was so unbelievably rude. To top it all off, even when people try to talk to him, he acts like he is the best and just insults them or behaves like a degenerate."
Ray's chewing stopped.
The guy snorted. "Honestly, if he doesn't want to be part of anything, why even come here? I doubt he'll last long anyway."
*Crack.*
The sound wasn't loud, but all three of them flinched when Ray's plate made a sharp noise, his grip almost snapping the ceramic in half.
He exhaled slowly, placed the plate down, and turned his gaze toward them. His usually relaxed expression had darkened, his eyes sharp with irritation.
"Are you three done talking out of your asses?"
The girl's confident demeanor faltered. "W-What?"
Ray crossed his arms, his voice carrying a sharp edge now. "You act like you had it rough, but your Nightmare sounds like a goddamn training exercise compared to what some people went through. If you think running around with a team and solving a puzzle is hard, you'd be dead in five minutes in an actual hellscape."
He turned his gaze to the other two. "And you? Talking trash about someone just because he doesn't want to kiss up to you arrogant morons? Grow up."
The guy bristled. "Who the hell do you think you are-"
Ray cut him off with a scoff. "Someone who actually survived a Nightmare, not whatever field trip you went on."
With that, he grabbed another piece of food - not because he was hungry anymore, but just to make it clear how little he thought of their presence - and walked off.
A few heads turned at his outburst, but as expected, nobody really cared. The social order here had already taken shape - people like him and Sunny weren't high enough on the ladder for anyone to step in, well not that they actually knew anything about them, but the tracksuit gave this impression.
Not that he cared.
He scanned the hall lazily, trying to find a quiet place to sit, but his eyes caught something else instead - Sunny, standing among a group of those pompous 'legacies.'
Ray frowned. He had no doubt that Sunny had already pissed them off somehow - knowingly or not. Those types of people didn't tolerate 'nobodies' acting out of line.
With a sigh, Ray started making his way over. If something was about to go down, he might as well be there for it.