"Don't say that, Ven. I know that they were irritating, but they are still our teammates. And even though we couldn't do anything with them, we at least managed to work well together, so that's better than nothing."
"*Sigh* I guess you're right."
"Oh, by the way, Ven, I wanted to ask you. How in the world did you manage to score this high in the theory exam?"
"What do you mean?" He tilted his head to the side.
"I don't mean to say that you're dumb, but you're not the brightest either when it comes to theory. So I was just shocked to see that you managed to get such a high score. Especially when I could see that you were training way more than learning your lessons."
"I didn't know that you thought so low of me..."
"Nah, I'm just surprised, that's all. Why would I even think lowly of you? You're one of the best people I've met."
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"Good," Ven finally harbored a smile on his face and answered Kye's earlier question. "I just did what you told me back then. That if I were to listen during classes, I will be able to learn a lot easier the topics. So I did just that, and learning was ten times easier. That's how I got such a high score.
"But how about you? You got a perfect score last time and now you got just a little bit more than me."
"Well... I answered some questions wrong on purpose. I didn't want to be in a team where I will be looked down on every time. And I didn't want what happened last time to happen again."
"What do you mean by what happened last time?"
Kye looked at Ven's eyes for a few minutes without saying anything. It was stressing Ven, but Kye was debating whether he should tell him his theory or not. But in the end, he decided to tell him. He was his best friend, so surely nothing bad would happen by telling him that.
"You don't think that the balena which attacked my team was only a coincidence, right?" Ven's eyes were telling him to continue. "Just think of it like this. We all know that there are no monsters near the city in Supi, and yet the balena came very close to the former as if it was attracted by something.
"And to add insult to the injury, the balena only attacked me before going away. It didn't chase the rest of my team."
Kye paused for a moment to let the information be processed by Ven's brain. It wasn't something easy to take, after all.
"So you think that there's someone who did everything from the back?" Ven tightened his fist unconsciously.
"Yeah, and I do think that I know who did it."
"Maria and John?"
"You know them?"
"Yeah, I know them. We wanted to make them suffer because we were sure that they were the ones who did what happened to you, but we stopped before beginning anything."
"Why?" Kye tilted his head. He was happy that his friends wanted to take revenge for him but didn't understand why they stopped mid-way.
"Because we all agreed that it wouldn't have been something that you would have liked. You were always kind and forgiving, so we decided to let them go." Ven looked at Kye in the eyes when he said that. Though, he didn't understand his expression. He looked baffled. "Kye are you okay?"
"Y-yeah... It's just that I never thought I was such a pushover."
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"You're not a pushover, you were just kind, and we didn't want to tarnish the image we had of you by taking vengeance."
"Well... I mean..." Kye was at a loss for words. So he calmed himself before finally finding the right words. "You know, I was indeed kind with people, but it was a matter of life and death. I could have died if not for... I mean I could have died if I didn't find the potion in the ocean." Kye was trusting Ven a lot, but he didn't want to reveal Aria's and Ras' existence to anyone. It wasn't a secret that he could share. "Maria and John could have helped me, yet they didn't and only ran away, leaving me dying and drifting apart in the ocean."
"So you mean that you want to beat them up?" Ven's voice was excited.
"Yeah, I want. I probably won't mind going a little further, but since we're watched here, I can't do much. I beat Maria last time, but I still couldn't do much."
"Then can I help you? And I'm sure Yugo and the other would like it as well."
"I..." Kye paused mid-sentence to think a little. On the one hand, getting the help of all his friends would be more than great since it will be easier, but on the other hand, it was clear that there was someone behind Maria and John that he couldn't touch. So he didn't want to put them in danger. "Are you sure? Even though there's almost a hundred percent chance that there's someone big behind Maria and John?"
"Are you talking about Azul?" Kye nodded with a shocked expression. "Haha, don't worry we already knew it as well. That's also the reason we didn't manage to ruin their lives either. But I'm sure that it can change with you."
"Thanks for saying that Ven, but even I can't do anything." He smiled brightly. Ven was still like how he remembered, so Kye was more than happy. "Azul is an adult, so he's very strong. Not to add that he's from Sylvia's family. And even though I'm not sure how things work in the big families, I'm sure that he's a rank higher than you guys. So we won't be able to do a thing to him."
"Then let's just see him as the final boss."
"What? Final boss? What are you talking about?" Kye asked.
"Yeah, final boss... "