Queentus University, Class 1-Alpha

Chapter 11: Faith in Yourself

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The morning breeze caressed Cael's light skin as he cupped his warm mug filled with hot chocolate. He tucked his feet close to his upper torso, feeling the chill of the late-summer dawn lingered through even with his white hoodies and sweatpants, while he stared at the blueness around him. He looked up to the twilight sky searching for those vaguely visible stars as he remembered their adviser asking them to internalize a goal that they wanted to achieve in this three days three nights retreat. He started to get lost in his thoughts as he slowly recalled his reason for even applying to this school.

Cael was doing this for money. He knew that heroes were one of the highest paying jobs out there, and he wanted to get stronger because the higher the rank, the higher was the pay. He closed his eyes, then his four little siblings appeared in his thought. Tears began to stream when he slowly opened his eyes. He sniffed and chuckled a little as he took a sip while some of the untied strands trailed in his cup. The white hair grimaced as it's an embarrassing sight in case someone was already out and awake, he subconsciously looked around.

"G-Glace." He stuttered when he found that there's a guy sitting on the other side of the long chair. The gray-haired sported a charcoal coloured shirt and sweatpants while his heterochromatic eyes looked at Cael intently. He slowly put down his mug on the space between them and he brushed down, with his fingers, any chocolate stains on his hair, as he tried to break the silence. "You're up early?"

Glace looked away and replied. "You too."

"I can't really sleep well. How about you?" Cael asked while he picked his cup and handed it over to the gray-haired. "Hot chocolate?"

Glace shook his head and was followed by an uncomfortable silence. They can only hear chirping from blue jaybirds and gentle rustles from pine trees.

"I'm about to take a jog." The white-haired looked at the person who talked. He stared at the greyness of Glace's left eye that was almost the same hue of his tussled morning hair. "Wanna tag along?" He asked, still not looking at the person on his side.

Cael smiled and sipped the rest of his drink. "Sure."

~•~

"Glace... Can we stop now?" The white-haired uttered between his pants as he stopped, hands on his knees while he looked down the rich grass, trying to reach his breath. Glace gradually halted jogging but compared to the other, he was still ready to finish another lap or two. "We've been... running for almost an hour now..." Cael rose and looked at the grey-haired. "How come you have so much endurance?"

"Changing temperatures abruptly takes a big toll on my stamina, that's why I need to train to increase my stamina." He explained, then he scoffed teasingly. "Training your body helps you train your mind, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. That's what Mr. Manifesto advised me too but it's exhausting. I wish I'm as hardworking as you are." Cael's words seemed to be in a contrast for he cheerfully smiled to the grey-haired.

Glace looked at the white-haired and snorted quietly. "So that's 4-12 then. I'm on the lead." His one-line lips started to slightly curve upwards as his heterochromatic eyes met Cael's amethysts.

The smile from the white-haired slowly faded as he regretfully asked, "I... You still remember that?"

"Of course." Glace replied as his smile from his lips turned back into a straight line right after he heard the other exhaled uncomfortably. Silence filled the hill that they're standing as the sun gradually rose ahead of them tainting a bright orange across the blue canvass. They have already took their glances away from each other as the grey-haired looked directly at the sunrise without caring if it's going to hurt his eyesight while Cael turned the other way.