Parallel Memory

[Ace Academy]

One week after Zero and Professor Mia escaped from the Gate. The main characters from the novel have been spending their time peacefully in the Academy.

There had been no incident and they were training for the Tournament of Academies. With their mentor not sparing any time to rest, they had been using all their time to strengthen themselves.

At that time, one particular news that all the students were aware of was Professor Mia's new rank. It had become a hot topic since they had officially heard about her new rank yesterday.

"Hey, Professor Mia has reached Rank-S -. We have another Rank-S teacher in the Academy."

"Our Academy has been receiving lots of news reporters lately. I have even been interviewed by some. Guess we are lucky to be in this class. Haha…"

"Professor Mia is really an ideal Professor. We should take her as a role model and work hard."

The students were also hyped after knowing about Professor Mia's ascension, especially in the class of Hiro. It was because Professor Mia was their homeroom teacher.

They had even been approached by some news reporter to talk about Professor Mia. They could only say positive things about Professor Mia. Not only was it true but even if it was false, they didn't dare badmouth Professor Mia.

Hiro and others were equally astonished to find out that Professor Mia ranked up.

"She really is a genius. I wish I could congratulate her right now. Pity that Professor Mia is away from the Academy."

Sylvia enthusiastically said with a little bit of disappointment. Professor Mia was her idol and to see her idol reach a new height, she was naturally happy.

"Lisa, do you know about that news?"

"Yes, Professor Mia is really a genius, becoming a Rank-S at such a young age. We ought to congratulate her."

Lisa said with a smile showing a hint of little jealousy and happiness.

She was happy that her teacher was promoted to a new rank. Though that does not stop her from being envious of Professor Mia's talent.

She had everything a person desires; Fame, beauty, and power. There was no single entity who would not feel jealous of Professor Mia.

"Not that one. The one which says Professor Mia was trapped in a Gate before ascending to Rank-S."

Sylvia asked.

"By this point, there is no use asking about that. Pretty much everyone knows that Professor Mia conquered the Gate herself. Our guild had been trying their best to get Professor Mia to our side, promising to even give Rank-S Artifacts."

Lisa said. It was no secret that Professor Mia got trapped in a Gate before emerging as Rank-S.

All the Guild had been trying their luck to get the talent on their side. They didn't care much for resources as long as they could get Professor Mia to join them.

With her ascension, Professor Mia is hailed as a true genius whose talent is higher than Hiro. She is the youngest Rank-S in the world.

Not only that, to conquer the Rank-A Gate all by herself when she is only at Rank-S - shows that her combat ability is no worse than Rank-S+. She was every definition of genius.

Of course, the number of proposals she received skyrocketed to thousands with the young masters of Age 20 to Age 50 Rank-S trying their luck. Her fan base was increasing exponentially since her ascension.

"Yes, she had conquered a Rank-A Gate herself. As expected of Professor Mia, I still have a long way to go before reaching her level."

Sylvia clenched her hand, determined to someday become just like Professor Mia.

"Oh!And by the way, did you know that Zero was also trapped in the Gate."

Sylvia said, remembering the information.

"What?"

Lisa shouted.

Lisa was surprised. She had no idea about that. She had only heard about Professor Mia getting trapped and conquering the Gate.

It was because a majority of the news channel was about Professor Mia's ascension. Who got the time to report about as insignificant as Zero being with Professor Mia in the Gate.

However, some news reporters did not forget to mention that along with Professor Mia, there was another victim trapped in the Gate. With their network, some found out he was a student of Ace Academy.

Though hardly anyone had paid attention to those news articles.

However, Saliva as a die-hard fan of Professor Mia had read many news articles including those which talked about the presence of another person present in the Gate.

Though the news article didn't particularly mention Zero but with her conjecture, she thought it was Zero. There were lots of things to believe that the person was Zero.

First, it was no secret that Zero was training under Professor Mia. Also that she was taking him to dungeons.

Second, the Gate appearance was on the weekend, the same day when Professor Mia takes Zero to the dungeon.

Third, Obviously, Professor Mia was at Agora Town with a purpose which was definitely to train Zero.

Though news articles mentioned Professor Mia was defending the place from Dungeon Outburst before she got sucked into the Gate. However, she was definitely there because of Zero not because of Dungeon Outburst.

The fourth point which surely supports every previous point, Zero was absent from the class. That was also at the same time when Professor Mia was not present.

Sylvia was certain that Zero was the other victim of the Gate.

"How can that be? Isn't he dead then?"

Lisa said almost refusing to believe Sylvia. A Rank-D trapped in Rank-A Gate? He would surely die.

"How come we didn't get any information about it? Is the Academy trying to avoid their responsibility?"

Lisa raised her voice a bit, showing a fit of rare anger on her face.

She knows how big organizations try to hide their mistakes by hiding the truth and revealing only the good things. She thought it must be Ace Academy manipulating the flow of information like the time at the BloodyWolf incident.

"Calm down! How can that be possible for him to die like this? Was Professor Mia not with him? as long as she is with him, he could not possibly die."

Sylvia talked with absolute confidence in Professor Mia. And she also didn't think that Zero was someone who would easily die like that.

She was saved by Zero and not only did she see the overwhelming power of Zero but also his tendency to survive. There was no way someone who has such willpower would easily succumb to fate.

And she knows that even if Ace Academy tries to hide the news, for how long can they do it? People were not blind and they sooner or later found the disappearance of Zero odds.

Zero is the most talented student in Ace Academy, there is no way that Ace Academy could hide Zero's death or avoid the responsibility.

Others may not care much about Zero's death but not Ace Academy. Others don't know about Zeros' talent but people of Ace Academy know.

If Zero dies, they have to shoulder the responsibility whether they like it or not. Especially Professor Mia who was Zeros' mentor and someone who had dragged Zero into that place.

Right now, many are treating Zero's disappearance as normal since he is one of the participants of the Tournament of Academies. They think he is training and as a participant he got the privileges of being on leave for so long.

"..."

Lisa calms down after listening to Sylvia. She knows that if Professor Mia has time to interview then it shows that there was nothing wrong with Zero.

She felt embarrassed after she calmed down. Raising her voice and acting on emotion, she was behaving like a kid.

"Are you sure it was Zero?"

This time, the one to ask was Hiro. He had been listening to them and thinking by himself. He also thought like Sylvia.

"Yes, one of the news reporters is my friend. She had spotted Professor Mia and Zero together one month before the incident. She had been secretly collecting news about them."

Sylvia said while grinning.

Her friend was a gossip lover who had been trying to get good news for a while. The biggest achievement of her life was spotting Professor Mia and Zero together and making a headline of it.

"Hmmm!"

Hiro fell into his thoughts. He imagined himself being inside a Rank-A Gate. No matter how much he thought, he didn't think it was possible to survive inside with his Rank-D + strength.

( What a monster! )

Hiro thought. No matter whether it was because of Professor Mia or not, surviving inside a Gate would be as tough as it gets with their feeble strength.

He has little idea about Zero's strength but if Zero could survive inside Rank-A Gate, it goes beyond his imagination of how powerful Zero was. Not even Lisanna has a hope to survive inside Rank-A Gate.

He thought that Zero being able to survive inside a Rank-A Gate showed his strength. Whether it was luck or his own skill, Hiro had to admit defeat in front of Zero.

"He might as well be the strongest student in the world."

Hiro Muttered.