[July 15, 2056.
A terrorist attack took place at the Lock during the battle royale games of the inter-academy tournament.
Two teleportation devices were found to be installed during the event. Investigators have linked this attack to the Monolith.
With the brave efforts of two young students, the portals were soon found and their activation was prevented.
Unfortunately, in a last-ditch attempt, one of the perpetrators directly cracked the core installed in the teleportation device.
A massive explosion followed suit, killing 260 people and injuring more than 80 in the process.]
'”Click!
Turning off the TV, Emma threw the remote to the side.
"It's about time." Dressed in a black dress, Emma turned around. "Let's go, Kevin."
"Hmm"
A weak and hoarse voice replied back.
"...Kevin."
Emma's lips tensed.
Staring at Kevin who was sitting on a white sofa dressed in black, Emma felt her heart tear apart.
Ever since 'that' day, Kevin had not been the same. He was skipping out on meals, and for the most part, he was always absentminded. He had even stopped training, something that she had never seen him do throughout the whole year.
His whole complexion was white, and his eyes were bloodshot. Glaring black circles appeared underneath his eyes.
"It's all my fault..."
He repeatedly muttered to himself.
Emma did not understand why he was blaming himself for Ren's death. It wasn't something he could've controlled.
But.
Every time, Kevin would mumble those words. Blaming himself for Ren's death.
"...Kevin."
Emma called out.
"...Ah, Emma... Give me a second."
Kevin finally looked at Emma. He tried to smile cheerfully, but that made him look all the more pitiful. His lifeless eyes coupled with his glaring black circles caused Emma's heart to stir.
Emma understood.
Ren's death had truly hit him hard.
"We need to go. Attending is the least you can do for him"
Today was the day of Ren's funeral. For obvious reasons, there was no corpse at the scene. Even then, no one questioned his death.
Unless a miracle happened, there was just no way for Ren to survive.
"...E-emma, what do I do?"
Bringing Emma back to reality was Kevin's hoarse voice.
Staring at her in the eyes, he weakly muttered.
"I-i, don't know what to do...Had I not been so stupid, and just left wi'”"
"Enough!"
Emma cut him off.
"Now is not the time for this! How long are you going to wail in self-pity?"
She was starting to get angry now.
It was only natural for someone to be distraught upon the death of someone close. She too was sad. Although she wasn't particularly close to Ren, she did interact with him quite a lot in the past.
And although Kevin and Ren were really close, the last thing Kevin could do was drown himself in self-pity.
It wouldn't be something Ren would've wanted for him. Even though, Emma didn't interact with Ren much, she could see how much he genuinely cared about Kevin.
He would never want Kevin to blame himself for something like this.
Lifting his head, Kevin weakly asked.
"...Then what should I do?"
"Get stronger." Emma's voice became firm. "...Get strong enough to prevent this from ever happening in the future and make those that have caused this pay. Be it the Monolith or anyone that was involved!"
Whilst she spoke, Emma's eyes never left Kevin.
She wanted him to understand that instead of beating himself up for what had happened, it was better for him to pick himself up and mature.
Even if took years for Kevin to recover from this, Emma wanted Kevin to use this incident as a reference point for his growth.
She wanted him to grow stronger. Strong enough to prevent any of this from happening.
"...I see"
Kevin said after a brief moment of silence.
Staring at Kevin, Emma was able to notice a subtle change in Kevin. Even though the sadness never disappeared, there was something else within that sadness.
Resolution.
The resolution to grow up and change.
Seeing the change, Emma smiled beautifully.
"I'm glad you've picked yourself up." Emma extended her hand "Let's go, it's time we say goodbye to him."
"Mhm."
Taking her hand, Kevin stood up.
***
Laying on her bed as her hair scattered all over her pillow, Amanda blankly stared at the ceiling of her room.
A couple of days had passed since the incident, and unbeknownst to anyone, she had already started packing up her stuff.
She was planning on leaving the academy soon.
If before it was about the guild. This time, her reason for leaving the academy was different.
...it was because the academy reminded her of 'him'
Everywhere she walked in the academy she would recall her conversations and memories with him.
Although few, Amanda could vividly recall every single interaction she had with him. Even the small ones she had during class or around the campus.
Despite having witnessed Ren's death right before her eyes, Amanda still couldn't quite grasp the situation.
At this point, she was almost numb to the pain of having someone in her life disappear.
Yes.
Important.
It was only after Amanda witnessed Ren's death, that she had realized her feelings for him.
...she liked him.
She didn't know when, but at some point, she had started to long for him. Every day, a small part of her would look forward to the lectures, and classes. The ones that had him in it.
Just the casual things he would do from cringing whenever the class attention was on him, or when he would randomly slap Kevin in the head to get a reaction out of him.
All of those moments were deeply etched inside of Amanda's mind.
At first, unfamiliar with this type of feeling, she couldn't quite grasp what she was feeling. But now she knew.
...and the realization was a painful one.
One that once again shut her heart completely.
Tok, tok'”
"Young Miss, it's time."
Disrupting Amanda, was her attendant, Maxwell.
"The car is waiting for you downstairs.
"...I'm coming"
Weakly lifting her body up, Amanda responded.
Staring at the neat black dress on her desk opposite to her, Amanda calmly walked up to it.
It was time for another goodbye.
***
'”Click!
Dressed in black, Melissa closed the door behind her.
"..."
Right when she was about to leave, her footsteps halted. Turning around, she looked towards the room that was next to hers.
By now, the room was already empty. Everything that used to belong to Ren had already been taken by his parents a day prior.
'...he's really gone, huh.'
Ever since meeting him, she had wished nothing but for him to die.
...but now that he had actually died. She felt lost.
Perhaps because she had never talked to anyone else but him, but his death hit Melissa harder than she had expected.
This caught her by surprise.
For the past few days, she wasn't able to focus like before. She made a lot more mistakes than she would've normally have done.
"Haa..."
Closing her eyes slightly, Melissa exhaled before muttering.
"Just what is wrong with me."
Turning around, she left.
***
July 17th.
Two days after the tragic incident. It was a clear and sunny day in Ashton city. A day that completely contrasted the gloomy atmosphere that was revolving around the whole city.
Inside a funeral home.
"Waaaahh...Whaaaaa..."
Several people stood by the side of the room. A high-pitched wail echoed throughout the whole room as a young girl cried in front of a picture frame. Her eyes were red and snot fell from her nose. The scene was heartbreaking for anyone that was watching.
"Bwuddar!"
It was Nola.
Next to her, her mother and father tried their best to console her.
But.
"Waaaahh...Whaaaaa..."
No matter, how hard they tried, the crying wouldn't stop. It was only after someone used a sleeping spell on her that she stopped crying.
By the side, Emma, Jin, Kevin, Amanda, Melissa, Leo, Ram, and Donna all stood by the side. Staring at Ren's picture in the middle of the room.
All people who Ren had influenced throughout his life.
For some he was a best friend, for others he was something else. A business partner, a student, a friend, and the person that changed their life.
Unknowingly, unbeknownst to Ren, for better or for worse, he had influenced the life of every single person present in the room.
Listening to the funeral hymns, everyone lowered their head.
For the next thirty minutes or so, no one talked. They all mourned for Ren's death.
On this day, to the world, Ren Dover was officially dead.
*
"Haaa..."
Staring at the blue sky, Kevin exhaled. With the funeral coming to an end, Kevin decided to go out to take a breath of fresh air.
His mind was a mess.
Despite what Emma had told him moments prior to the funeral, Kevin still couldn't quite pick himself up. He knew better than anyone else what had happened that day.
Had he not been so fixed with the idea of saving those eight people, and had directly left with Ren, none of this would've ever happened.
This thought alone was eating him up from inside.
"How are you holding up Kevin?"
"Miss Longbern?"
Disrupting Kevin out of his thoughts, was a familiar voice. It was Donna.
"What are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you."
"Me?"
'Why would Donna look for me? Did something happen?', Kevin wondered to himself.
"What do you need me for?"
After a bit of thought, Donna let out a soft sigh.
"...I think I know what may have resulted in Ren's death"
"What!?"
Shocked, Kevin's voice raised a few pitches.
Putting her finger on her lips, Donna gestured for Kevin to lower his voice.
"Shhh...lower your voice."
"Ah, sorry."
Realizing his mistake, Kevin apologized.
"...What do you have?"
"Here, take a look at this."
Extending her hand, a phone appeared on Donna's hand. Taking the phone, Kevin tilted his head to the side.
"A phone?"
"Give me a second."
Pressing on the screen of the phone, a video appeared.
"Take a look and tell me if you've also noticed something strange."
"...sure."
Pressing onto the play button, Kevin played the video. In the video, Kevin saw Ren.
"Huh? What?"
Most shockingly, he was quite close to the exit of the dome. In fact, he was practically almost out. Furthermore, from the looks of it, he had a lot of spare time to get out.
"Just what'”"
Kevin abruptly stopped himself midsentence.
That was because he saw it.
Right before Ren set his foot outside of the dome, he suddenly dissapeared. Replacing him was another youth. Kevin instantly recognized him. It was Aaron.
"W-what!?"
Kevin's eyes opened widely. His mouth opened and closed repeatedly. He couldn't quite comprehend the situation. Did the video glitch or something?
...but if it glitched, how come Ren suddenly appeared in the distance? This didn't make sense.
He then turned his attention back to Donna.
"What's this!?"
"...As you can see. I suspect that Ren death's wasn't an accident."
"T-this..."
Once again, replaying the video, Kevin's blood started to boil.
His breathing was slowly starting to get rough. A terrifying red hue slowly enveloped his body.
"Aaron!"
He venomously spat as he stared at the youth in the video. The more he watched the video, the more he was convinced that he had something to do with Ren's death.
"Khhh..."
"Kevin."
Unbothered by Kevin's pressure, standing by the side, Donna calmly spoke.
"Kevin don't act recklessly. We still don't have enough proof"
"What do you mean we don't have any proof? This is as clear as day that he was the one!"
Kevin snapped.
The video alone was enough evidence to prove Aaron's guilt. What else did they need?
Staring at Kevin, Donna shook her head.
"Unfortunately it's not enough. This could very well be due to some sort of lag in the video. With the bomb about to explode and everyone fleeing, such a thing can happen."
"Furthermore, even if we know that Aaron is the one who did it, we don't know how he did it. With his backing, we also can't do too much..."
There were a lot of things that they needed to take into consideration when persecuting someone for a crime. In this day and age where all that mattered was a backing, with the pitiful amount of evidence they had, she couldn't see a way to get Aaron to face a trial.
...they could also of course take matters into their own hand, and try to kill Aaron directly, but that would be far too risky at the moment.
Especially since he was now surrounded by bodyguards. Furthermore, if they found out it was them who killed Aaron, they would be in a lot of trouble.
They couldn't be reckless about this.
"So are we just going to let him walk away like that? Are we going to completely ignore the fact that he killed Ren!"
Kevin raised his voice.
"Calm down Kevi'”"
"How can you tell me to calm down!"
At this point, Kevin was practically shouting. The people around him were looking at him strangely, but he didn't care. His emotions were unstable.
"Please listen to me, Kevin"
Donna's eyes suddenly shone slightly.
Kevin, who was about to scream again, stopped.
"Haaa...haaa..."
Glaring at Donna, he took heavy breaths. A bitter smile appeared on Donna's face.
"Kevin listen to me carefully. I'm definitely not letting Aaron go that easily, that's for sure." Donna's voice suddenly turned grave. "The only problem is his backing. It's not something that we can go up against at the moment."
"...So what should we do?"
Calming down a bit, Kevin softly asked.
If they couldn't do anything now, what could they do? Was there really no other option?
Staring at Kevin for a good minute, Donna closed her eyes. After a while, seemingly having made up her mind, she said.
"...Join the union."
"The union? Wha'”"
"Please listen."
Donna raised her hand and started explaining.
"If you want to truly make Aaron pay for his crimes, the best option would be for you to join the union. With your talent, joining the union shouldn't be a problem."
"Bu'”"
Right as Kevin was about to say something, Donna once again cut him off.
"Let me finish...only with an organization like the union backing you can you enact your revenge. I've already talked to Monica, and she's willing to take you in right after you graduate."
"In the meantime, I'll help you grow to new heights and reach the top faster. Only when your truly strong will you have enough power to take revenge for Ren."
After taking a lot of factors into consideration, Donna came up with this solution. It was the best solution she could think of for Kevin at the moment.
With the Union backing him, Kevin would be able to take his revenge without a problem. No one would dare to fight the union. Kevin also understood this point, hence why he wasn't talking.
Originally, Donna had tried to get Monica to do something, but her hands were tied. With the Monolith terrorist attack that had just happened, the Union was in a complete state of alert.
Almost all high-ranking members had been called back. Monica wasn't an expectation.
She was so busy that she couldn't even attend Ren's funeral.
"So..."
Donna paused. Looking at Kevin straight in the eyes, she asked.
"....Are you willing?"
