Parallel Memory

"Hannah, are we really going to do it? Her brother is a genius that The Authority had kept their eyes on. If she told him, we would be in trouble."

"Huh? Are you an idiot? Even if her brother is a genius, what can he do to me? My uncle is also one of the agents working for The Authority and even if her brother is a genius, he could not possibly harm me."

Hannah replied to those girls, expressing her confidence and superiority.

She was a spoiled girl who was pampered ever since she was born. With her parents doting on her and belonging to a Diamond-Graded guild, she was treated as a princess everywhere she went. Moreover, her uncle who worked at The Authority doted on her and would send lots of mana herbs and potions which made her quite strong.

She believed that she was a genius and that other people were only trash. She thought that even at Ace Academy, the number one school for Explorers, she would be first and would be fawn over by other students and professors.

However, Yui Ernest came first leaving her in second place. Many people were fawning over Yui and because of Yui's brother, Yui was even respected by seniors. On the other hand, Hannah felt inferior and became jealous of Yui because of her popularity which should have been hers.

As spoiled as she was, she went crying back home to complain to her parents and have Yui expelled from Ace Academy by explaining that she must have cheated in the entrance exam. However, even her parents could not do anything to change the situation at Ace Academy.

Let alone Diamond Graded guild, Ace Academy had nurtured many Platinum-graded guild members and had an extensive network in The Authority. Moreover, with the Rank-SS principal and multiple Rank-S professors, the Diamond-graded guild was nothing to speak of in front of Ace Academy.

They just consoled her daughter and brought lots of things that she liked. However, her hatred was only exacerbated by this incident. Since she was a child, she had everything she wanted and having her wishes ignored enraged her.

Therefore, she thought that instead of relying on her unreliable parents, she had to do it herself. She wanted to make Ace Academy hell for Yui Ernest. As for the consequences, she had never suffered a setback to think about that.

*****

It was lunchtime and Yui was having lunch with her friends including Elysia. Elysia had also joined Ace Academy.

The idea was discouraged by her parents for safety reasons, but Elysia decided to do it because of Yui. She felt that attending Ace Academy would be more interesting than other schools and her friend Yui was also going there.

She was also interested in Yui's brother and moreover, there was someone else that she wanted to meet at Ace Academy.

"Yui, was your brother always talented?"

"Is your brother still single?"

"How did he become so strong?" …

Yui's friends would occasionally ask about Hiro and most of their talk would be about him. However, that was not the only thing that they talked about as they would also talk about other things like viral posts from TwitFlick and various rumors about Ace Academy.

Yui didn't mind them and would try to praise Hiro though thinking about how normal Hiro was, she thought that nobody would believe her if she said that Hiro was just an average person.

They ate their lunch while occasionally having small talk.

"Hannah, Yui Ernest is seated there."

One of her followers pointed at where Yui was.

That day, Hannah decided to embarrass Yui in front of everyone. She could not tolerate her presence any longer and wanted to show everyone who the real genius was.

She along with her followers approached Yui while also carrying food.

As Hannah walked past Yui, she made a show of stumbling and reaching out to steady herself on the table.

"Oops, sorry!"

She said, a sly smile playing on her lips as she upturned her juice carton, letting the sticky liquid gush out onto Yui's tray and lap.

Yui gasped in shock and looked down at the mess.

"What are you doing?!"

Elysia exclaimed, leaping up from her seat.

Hannah shrugged, still pretending to be innocent.

"It was an accident."

She said, with a saccharine-sweet tone that betrayed her true intentions.

The other students in the cafeteria turned to watch the commotion, and a murmur of whispers ran through the room. Yui stared at Hannah.

Elysia can already tell that Hannah was there to create problems for Yui. Having already seen this type of behavior at the last school, Elysia knew that Hannah was jealous of Yui and wanted to make things difficult for Yui.

"You did this on purpose!"

Elysia said through gritted teeth. She really wanted to beat Hannah who was trying to act like this was an accident.

Hannah just laughed and shrugged again.

"Come on, Elysia, don't be mad. It was just a little juice. Everybody can make a mistake."

Elysia said while smirking. She wanted Elysia to create a huge commotion and have Yui accuse her so that she could show how petty she was. Even if Elysia was the one to take action, Hannah thought that she could drag Yui along with her friend.

"Y-You!"

Elysia exclaimed with anger. She really wanted to punch Hannah's smug face.

Yui, who had finished cleaning the juice that had spilled, stood up and gently placed a hand on Elysia's arm.

"Wait, Elysia."

She said calmly.

"Let's just forget it!"

Elysia let out a sigh and reluctantly nodded. Elysia didn't really want to let Hannah get away after messing with her friend but having known Yui for a long time, she knew that Yui didn't want to make a big deal out of this.

"Fine! But I'm keeping an eye on you, Hannah."

She said, pointing a finger at the smug villain. Hannah thought that Elysia's words were the words of a sore loser and in reality, couldn't do anything to her.

"If you try anything like this again, know that you are not going to get away easily like this time."

Elysia said while releasing some of her mana to show that she was serious.

Hannah came second in the entrance exam which meant she was very strong but it didn't matter to Elysia. Elysia was not weak either and if she wanted to, she would have also gotten the same points as Hannah but because she wasn't really interested in competing, she only got average marks.

Nevertheless, her rank-E strength was enough to show that she was on equal footing with Hannah.

Elysia just released her mana for a second but that was enough to frighten most first-years including Hannah and her followers.

The students could have never imagined Elysia, who was only in the 200 ranks, would have such strength. Even Hannah felt pressured by Elysia's aura.

After such a shocking display of power, Elysia returned back to eat with Yui and others. Yui was not surprised by Elysia's strength, but her other friends showed shock.

Hannah and her followers left after such a commotion. They wanted to make more trouble but after Elysia displayed her strength, they were too shocked to continue their plan.

Even though Hannah's background was strong, it didn't mean that other parties wouldn't beat them. Judging by Elysia's strength, Hannah's followers knew that Elysia was not someone that they should provoke.

After they left, there was a moment of silence in the cafeteria. Their friends looked back and forth between Elysia and Yui, showing concern while also being surprised by what had happened.

"Are you guys okay?"

"I can't believe Hannah would do something like that. She's always been jealous of Yui, but I never thought she would go so far as to pour her juice on her."

"Humph! She would bully anyone just because her family is strong. Even some professors were fawning over her." …

They let out their anger by telling all the gossip that they heard about Hannah. They could tell that Hannah was not really loved by other people judging by the gossip.

Elysia let out a sigh and picked at her food, her appetite having been spoiled by the confrontation.

"I can't believe she tried to act like it was an accident,"

Elysia said, her voice laced with anger.

"I wanted to punch her right in the face."

Yui placed a calming hand on Elysia's arm.

"It's okay, Elysia. Let's just forget about it and move on. It's not worth getting into a fight over."

Elysia let out a grudging sigh and nodded.

"You're right. I'm sorry, Yui."

After thinking for a bit, Elysia realized that Hannah was intentionally provoking them. If she had attacked them, she knew that Hannah was planning to drag Yui into it and expel them.

After all, spilling juice was not as great a crime as beating someone.

"Anyway, you wanted to ask something right?"

Yui said to Hannah. Before the commotion, Elysia wanted to ask something of Yui though it was interrupted by Hannah.

Yui thought it was perfect to forget the incident that happened and change the subject.

"Oh, right!"

Elysia also changed her expression quickly showing that what she wanted to ask was more important than her anger toward Hannah.

"Do you know whether your brother is acquainted with someone called Zero?"