43 Boys

Seeing no point in gather names and details as the students seemed to be fighting in their own way, the small group continued forward.

Because they just wanted to leave, they spent most of the time avoiding the shadows. Ryuji, being Ryuji, once again stopped and started cursing at Kamoshida for putting these students through this kinda of torture.

This seemed to be the last straw for Morgana as he said, "Urgh, can you listen for once! These guys aren't real people! They're just the cognition of how Kamoshida sees the students! And from how the students seem to mock him at every available moment, you can clearly see that the students in reality are rebelling against him!"

Ryuji didn't seem to understand but it was a different story with Akira and Axel. Akira fell into deep thought as he was still trying to understand everything while Axel only smiled as he said, "Morgana is basically saying these projections are created and act how Kamoshida sees them. That's to say that in reality, Kamoshida gives the volleyball team hard practice and training yet everyone would band together to complete the training with a smile. Kamoshida would in turn feel that the students are quietly mocking him for resorting to intense training just because he's shown his true petty nature."

If Ryuji didn't understand before, his eyes were now spinning as he couldn't keep up. Akira, however, had a light of understanding in his eyes as he nodded. Morgana actually smiled with a friendly light in his eyes as he happily said, "You understand!?!"

Axel merely smiled yet this was enough as Morgana seemed satisfied. Morgana gave Ryuji a glance as he sighed and said, "When Axel explained it so accurately, how can you not understand?"

Ryuji wanted to defend himself but he also understood that what Axel said must have made sense yet no matter how he wrapped his head around it, it just didn't stick.

Axel saw that Ryuji started feeling glum so he decided to help out.

"Morgana, you shouldn't be so hard on Ryuji. To be able to understand something like this, you'd need prior knowledge on the subject. And it's understandable that Ryuji, as a highschool student, doesn't fully understand."

"But you understand!"

"That's because I have knowledge about cognition and how it works."

Ryuji actually shot Axel a look of appreciation. Akira remained silent as he seemed to understand at least 50% of the conversation.

Morgana scoffed as he suddenly said, "And where would you learn about that kind of stuff? Don't even think about saying that you learnt it at school because if you did, why do those two look like they barely understand?"

Axel remained calm as he replied, "My hobby is reading fantasy novels and stuff. When you read as many fantasy stories as I have, you pick up a thing or two."

Everyone gave Axel an exasperated look yet couldn't really say anything in retort. Everyone's had moments where something they've read from stories or learned through video games and anime actually helps them to understand something.

Axel even remembers when he read a short article online back in his old world where a class that was lost on a school trip in Italy actually managed to find their way back when one of the students took the lead. When asked how he knew the way to the church where they were supposed to meet the other classes, the boy replied, "I've played Assassin's creed 2 before. The area started to resemble the game so I just followed what I remembered from the game and BAM!, we made it."

Morgana smiled wryly and had no choice but to accept his explanation. The group continued forward yet there was a sudtle change. Akira and Ryuji seemed more friendly than before while Morgana actually seemed to have fun with the small group.

As they continued sneaking around, Axel and the group noticed the layout begin to change. The dungeon like layout, at some point, had changed and become a gaudy looking room.

The group continued down a long hall until they came across a weird door. The door seemed to switch between a gaudy white door and a grey school door.

Before Akira and Ryuji could ask, Morgana said, "That right there, is a safe room."

"A safe room? What's that?"

Clearing his throat, Morgana smugly said, "A safe room is a room where the distortion is at its weakest. Because of this, the armoured suits, or the shadows, can't get in."

Ryuji just became even more confused as he asked, "What's a shadow?"

"A Shadow is the true self that is suppressed—a side of one's personality they don't want to see. They manifest and occupy an open palace."

It was a vague answer but managed to get the point across. Inside the room, the fancy room changed and became a classroom on the first floor.

Just as they sat down to rest, Axel suddnly blurted out, "Won't we be able to get outside if we climb out that vent?"

His words seemed to have lit a fire under Akira and Ryuji as they quickly sprung into action. Axel just sat back and watched as the two boys slowly started removing the vent.

"Why are you so calm?"

Axel was quickly taken out of his thoughts as Morgana asked him a question. He seriously mulled over it for a second before saying, "I don't know. I guess after everything I've been through, something like this is just… meh."

Axel was obviously only talking about the sudden change in hiw everyday life. From a loving home and family to surviving in a monster infested forest, not many things could surprise him anymore.

Morgana saw the melancholy on Axel's face and became quiet, thinking he brought something up that Axel didn't like talking about.

Luckily, Axel reassured him everything was alright as he smiled and said, "But, not all things were bad. I may have lost the only home I knew but I gained a very lovable girlfriend and a great comrade."

Both Axel and Morgana were brought out of their conversation with a loud bang, accompanied by Ryuji's voice as he cheered, "Hell yeah! We can finally leave!"

In a couple minutes, everyone was outside. Ryuji, being who he is, cheered with a huge smile on his face like a man who just escaped prison. Akira was relatively calm with a relieved smile plastered to his face.

Morgana began talking about going back in before waving goodbye to Axel and the boys, much to Axel's confusion. In the game, Morgana was supposed to ask them for there help only to be rejected by Ryuji and Akira before they left for school.

However, Axel didn't really mind as he will definitely be back for the experi- *cough* I mean, to help Akira and Ryuji.

Putting all here thoughts to the back of his head, Axel decided to tackle the current problem that they faced.

"Akira, Ryuji. We need to talk."

Seeing Axel's serious look, the boys silently waited for Axel to continue.

"We're late for school."

Just as the boys were about to berate him for bringing up such a topic now, Axel frowned as he said, "Remember, Akira is on house-arrest. What do you think the court will think with him missing the first period?"

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Akira suddenly paled as he muttered, "Oh no…"

Ryuji finally realised how serious of an issue this is and panicked. Lucky for them, Axel had a plan.

With a mischievous look on his face, Axel slowly explained his plan while suppressing his laughter. At the end, both Akira and Ryuji also adapted mischievous looks as they praised Axel for his genius.

Now, all thay had to do was implement the plan…

---

Outside the gate stood an irritated Kamoshida and a yawning Kawakami. He guessed that Kamoshida was most likely the teacher on duty while Kawakami was waiting for the new student, Akira.

Looking back, he recieved a nod from Akira and Ryuji as they supported themselves on Akira's shoulder.

Walking towards the gate with heavy steps, the first person to notice them was Kamoshida. Before he could even get a word out, he choked as he looked at the mess before him.

The boys were covered in dust and dirt while small traces of blood could be seen. After they got to the gate, Axel explained that some idiot pushed them down a flight of stairs.

Kamoshida suppressed the smile threating to burst on his face while Kawakami actually lost her usual laziness. With worry present in her eyes she actually excused the boys from the next period of class and forced them to rest in the infirmary.

When they passed the teachers, Axel, Akira and Ryuji all had victorious smiles on their faces.