Somehow during the course of their friendship. Mark managed to convince Patrick's parents to send him to middle school. It helped that Mark's parents were literally their superiors and that Mark promised to look out for Pat while in school.
It was Mark who stood up for Patrick when many of the children in the school ridiculed Patrick for his empty eyes and rude personality and it was Mark who defended Pat when a teacher tried to beat Pat after Pat corrected her in the middle of class. Mark became Patrick's best friend.
But after the Anima attack claimed the lives of their parents, there was something that changed inside of Patrick. Jeanne, Patrick's sister, took some time before she really noticed the change, but Mark was the first person to notice it. It was the eyes. Those eyes that seemed to be able to see through everything and everyone so easily.
Eyes that could break apart any problem and lay it bare in the simplest form. Just staring into those eyes was enough to make even the most intelligent man feel like a fool. Mark could tell that something changed in Patrick after the Anima attack, but there was nothing that Mark could do about it.
After his parents died, Patrick tried his best to distance himself from the real world and Mark thought for sure that Patrick would become a neet for the rest of his life. But, Patrick suddenly told Mark that he was going to get a scholarship to study physics at United Alliance University, the best university in America.
It was shocking to Mark, and Mark didn't know what caused the sudden change in Patrick. Mark had no idea that he was the one that actually caused the change. He was the one that made Patrick want to be better.
Patrick knew that Mark was going to go far. The moment Patrick heard Mark say that he was a superhuman and saw the look in Mark's eyes; that hunger for battle, Patrick knew that if he did not do something with his life, Mark was going to leave him behind. Patrick did not want his best friend to leave him behind.
So, since Mark was going to be the strongest and there was nothing Patrick could do to compete with that, Patrick decided that he was going to be the smartest.
That was the declaration that brought tears to the eyes of thousands every year.
---
Four-time Academics Championship winner.
Three-time winner of the best student award in the UA physics department.
Three-time winner of the UA best student award.
Three-time winner of the Dean's award for best student in UA.
Three-time winner of the Student's Prize for major breakthroughs in the field of physics and astronomy.
---
Oh, that means the mask didn't do anything.
"I guess there's no need for this."
Mark took off his mask, and the blonde girl who had been pointing at him immediately screamed in joy as she saw his sharp features! Her scream was so loud that even Mark took a step back in surprise, but at the next moment, she fell back to the ground and passed out immediately!
Mark blinked as he saw her fall, and he turned to look down the long hallway that they were standing in as one of the blonde girl's friends shouted her name and knelt down to check her head for any bleeding. Thankfully, there weren't any other people coming down the hallway, and only the four of them were there so, at least he wasn't going to get swarmed by people.
Mark turned back to the unconscious girl with a look of disbelief.
'Now, what the fuck am I going to do with you?'
...
"Oi, you okay? Wake up. Come on, wake up already."
"Mmh, just five more minutes, daddy."
"I'm not your father. Get up."
The blonde girl's eyes suddenly flickered open as she heard a deep voice talking to her in a disappointed tone. Oh yeah, she had been sleeping, and she dreamt about something absurd. She thought she saw GHOST in her school, and he even spoke to her. That was crazy.
The girl chuckled and finally cleaned her eyes to see where she was. Her eyes widened.
Mark waved at her.
"Yo."
"Oh my god, GHOST!! You're real!!" Discover hidden content at m,v l'e-novelhall.net
The girl shouted again, and Mark shrugged. He was real the last time he checked.