Two young men were standing side by side in front of a vending machine in the University cafeteria. The first among the pair of young men was a rather tall and muscular young man of African American ethnicity. He wore a jersey above his burgundy-colored shirt but his expression was haggard and tired.
Meanwhile, the second young man was curiously looking at the vending machine in front. In the end, taking his credit card, he turned toward the other young man and asked him in a quizzical tone.
"Coffee or Coke?"
"..."
"Let's go with coffee then."
Adam shrugged his shoulders, seeing his lack of answer, and pressed the coffee button. Soon, he received two instantaneous coffee from the machine and presented one to Steven.
"Or would you rather have tea?"
Steven looked up in silence before taking the can from his hands, opening it, and then gulping a few mouthfuls of the bitter drink down his throat. Feeling better, he proceeded to drink away and only after gulping the rest of the contents in one go and accurately throwing it in the trash, that was a few meters away, did Steven seem a lit bit more in control of his hazy emotions.
"You have changed, Adam."
Adam's eyebrow rose in response to his words but then he merely chuckled, "That, I did."
"Is it true then? That you joined a gang or something?"
'Oh?'
Adam immediately became wary of the man. He verified once again and was sure that Steven was indeed nothing more than a normal human. How could a human know he joined a gang all of a sudden?
Frowning, he asked him in a deep tone, "What do you mean by that?"
"Sigh~ Sorry. I know it's dumb."
Steven lowered his head and muttered in a weak voice, "It's just… You, Natasha, Alberto, and even… Sae. All of you guys suddenly vanished from school altogether. The law faculty suddenly lost its four best students just like that. You can imagine the rumors that were going around due to that."
Steven shook his head and scratched his hair, feeling stupid even as he spoke his next string of words, "Some say you guys died in an accident. Others said you got killed by Jack the Ripper and there are rumors that you joined the wrong crowd after being expelled from school for cheating."
"Pfft. Hahaha~! That is a rather interesting theory, not gonna lie."
It was funny how those rumors were so close to reality. But this wasn't why he brought Steven here.
"So… Tell me. You didn't come to me just because you are worried, right?"
"I…"
Steven opened his mouth ever so slightly, as if he wished to argue but in the end, he simply lowered his head and sighed out loud. Adam had hit the bullseye.
"Sorry. I have been having many shitty moments lately. I couldn't contact Sae at all and Mister Kirishima made some excuse about her going out of the country for a holiday. But I know Sae. It isn't her style to leave without saying a thing to anyone. This only intensified my worries."
He was truly worried about Sae and this could show in his day to day life, "My performance in training and school dipped over the month. I might lose my scholarship and my girlfriend stopped seeing me because I quote 'I might be in danger' or we are 'too different.' I don't understand if you wanna break up just say so. I am not so petty I would be disappointed but I wouldn't make a fuss."
The more he spoke, the faster his words came out. It looked like he had been wanting to share those words buried deep in his heart for some time already. He just didn't have anyone he could lean on or vent out to.
Looking at Steven rambling on about his problems… Adam came to the realization once again how much his life had veered off from what was deemed normal for humans of his age.
One month ago, like Steven before him, his greatest problem in life was his school performance and perhaps his stagnant love life. If one added his mother's sickness into the mix, then it was about how to acquire enough money to treat all her injuries.
Now though. Those 'problems' seemed so mundane that a part of him wanted to scream the absurdity of it all out loud.
Is that it?
Why the hell are you crying for something like that?
But he knew that this was unjust to a normal person like Steven. After all, he was sure that in his case, the many little things he had been struggling against in the supernatural world were things others, who were more experienced and had lived a more difficult life over the years or had more experience than him in the supernatural, would find utterly laughable.
Be it Yui, Cecilia, or the others that he had met along his journey… They had never looked down on his struggle just because they went through more over the years.
He wanted to chuckle to himself for the thoughts that were coursing through his head but feared that it would be poorly received by his longtime friend who was going through a sort of midlife crisis.
"To begin with, take hold of yourself, would you, man? I remember you were always the stoic kind, right?"
He took a seat next to Steven and looked at the sky, "For Sae, I do know where she is and yeah she isn't in America so you don't need to worry much about her well-being. She didn't write me or text me either by the way. I just got hold of her father and we had a lengthy discussion. In the end, she told me her location but also asked me to not disturb her, so there's that."
Steven nodded in understanding, "Sorry, I just got a bit worried there. I was just so used to her being near me that… I must have looked really lame there, right?"
"Nah, man. Trust me. If worrying about the safety of a friend is being lame then this world is long done for."
He chuckled and drank a bit of the carbonated coffee in his hand. It didn't do much to him. Not like he needed it to stay awake in the first place.
As for your girlfriend…
'His girlfriend is that girl called Marlen, right?'
Adam remembered that back then he had not really checked whether she was part of the supernatural world or not.
'I was a little too carefree back then.'
Even though 'Back then' was only around three weeks ago though… Many things did change from the him of that time to the him of the present…
"Honestly I can't say much. I know nothing about her after all. But, perhaps she broke up and wanted to look like she wasn't doing it for bad reasons? Girls tend to do that. Try to be in the right all the time…"
Adam had absolutely no intention of telling Steven to go back to his girlfriend.
If someone from the supernatural told you that it was too dangerous to be near them, then it really was too fucking dangerous to mingle with them and it was best if one stayed clear of their way.
If he said something stupid like Steven should try talking to her, he was pretty sure he might find out about Steven's death very soon, and that too for bizarre reasons. He didn't want his long-time friend to die.
In fact. Why did he even need to be passive about this? He could simply make sure to stomp on the problem right now and avoid any future complications.
He might not be as close to Steven as he used to be but this man had been his friend for three years now.
If the problem was a little too difficult then…
He could still comfort his friend if his ex-girlfriend mysteriously vanished as well.
"As for your performance in school. Well, you know better than me about what to do about it, right?"
Truthfully speaking, Steven's parents were rich enough that Steven wouldn't need to enter into debt for his University studies.
But even then, it was something he had gotten thanks to his skills and no one had the right to take it away from him just because he was well off.
"So, what do you say? Ready to fight back?"
Steven looked blankly at his stretched fist before laughing quietly and bumping Adam's fist with strength returning to his arms.
"You really changed."
"I became more handsome, didn't I?"
"That you did. You also talk a lot more than before. It's good when you talk like this, man."
He stood up and clapped his face from both sides, acting as a sort of wake-up call.
"Thanks, man. Your pep talk sucked ass but I am glad I got someone to talk with."
"Happy to help."
"Also, I am sorry. I was only thinking of myself that I didn't even ask about the truth of your situation. How have you been? Can I ask why you ditched school like this?"
Adam sipped on his drink absentmindedly, "Well. I got my own circumstances, you see… But yeah, I decided that school ain't for me any longer."
Steven frowned. "Is it…"
He wanted to ask if it was a problem of money but feared that phrasing it like that would sound like an insult to his friend.
"Don't worry. It isn't money. I just got a new priority I need to focus on."
Steven looked deeply into Adam's eyes and saw no despondence or negative feelings. Clearly, he was telling the truth to him right now. So, he could only leak out a dejected sigh at losing another one of his friends. Who knows when he would be able to see him again, that thought soured his mood.
"So today you came because…"
"I am dropping out."
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