"Hi! I'm Jessica, the class president of our section," a pretty girl with long straight hair said. She smilingly offered her right hand and introduced herself to Aki. She was happy to have a new female classmate that she thought she would like. She didn't like almost all of their female classmates because of their behavior.
Unlike all those girls, Jessica already liked Aki the moment she laid her eyes on her.
"They call me Aki," Aki answered. She immediately accepted the class president's hand and returned her sweet smile.
"I know. Sorry, I didn't get the chance to approach you yesterday because I have a lot of work to do. Besides, it seems you're fighting with Cubic Meter? Is one of them your boyfriend? Is it Mario? Alas! Be careful, or at least keep a close eye on him if he's really your boyfriend. That one is a womanizer. Aside from the number of girls that he made cry, there are also many flirtatious girls hanging around him," Jessica said in a single breath.
Now matter how lengthy the newly known friend had said, only one thing caught Aki's attention.
"Cubic meter? Like the measurement when you pay water bills?" She had heard those words on television that was why she had the idea. But she was confused about how to talk to and fight the water meter.
Aki's explanation was confusing but the other person understood what she wanted to say. "Yes. As in 'm³'. Because all three of their names start with 'M'. Mario, Matthew, and M—the one who doesn't let anyone his name," Jessica explained, referring to "Cubic Meter" she was talking about.
"You're right! That's amazing! Who came up with that name for them?" Aki didn't notice M's name anymore and focused more on the group's amazing name "Cubic Meter".
"Their fans," the president of their class simply responded to her question.
"They have fans? Why so? Are they artists? Are they popular?"
"The girls here are crazy, Aki!" Jessica answered laughing to Aki's puzzled expression.
"Crazy? I'm crazy too," Aki said. Her voice was filled with seriousness.
Jessica burst out laughing and then said, "You're being too hard on yourself, Aki."
"What's the matter? Am I not? That's one of the names M always calls me."
"I'm crazy too, but those girls are just way crazy!"
They took a long time on that matter. Especially when talking to Aki, there were things that were difficult to explain to her. Sometimes she took Mortal's joke too seriously.
"So, you don't really have a man in Cubic Meter?"
"I don't. Based on your explanation of what a boyfriend is, I don't have one. But Mharc said that M and I are already live-in," Aki explained innocently.
"You are living together with M?!" Jessica asked in disbelief. Her natural rounded eyes were about to pop up off their sockets.
Aki answered her with a nod. "Hmmn," she said.
Fortunately, there were only a few students in their room and M wasn't there yet. Otherwise, there would be a lot of news about the relationship of the two, which could also anger the young man.
"You're crazy, girl! It's live-in! It's a different level! But be careful with M. That one is a delinquent. He likes to fight. We don't know if he hurts his partner too, so better be careful." Their class president couldn't help but make an accusing comment of their difficult classmate.
Smiling, Aki defended her friend who was helping her during her stay in Mhortaeo. "M just likes to fight, but he doesn't hurt us. He's really kind, especially to his sister."
"It looks like that's what you really believe. It's all up to you as long as you're still being careful. What I said was just a friend's advice."
'How is M going to hurt me? I just have to flick him and he's going to fly in an instant?' Aki thought with a smile.
It was true that this delinquent Mortal, M, was powerless compared to her who was an Archein. There was one time Aki couldn't control her excessive energy, M accidentally threw himself against the wall of his room. Aki simply slapped M's hand that prevented her from playing the guitar. She didn't even use force on it but he bounced off and hit the wall.
It was also true that she believed that M was incapable of hurting innocent women. M was kind and helpful. He helped her when she needed help back when she first set foot in this unfamiliar place.
Aki and Jessica talked for a few minutes while waiting for the time of their first class to arrive. Aki went in early because Mharc had to go to school early. She went along with her because M didn't seem to have any plans to come to school on time. If she woke him up, she was afraid that she might anger the young man again.
As she thought, she was definitely stronger than him when it comes to physical strength, but he was the only one in Mhortaeo who knew about her. He was also the only one who helped her in her stay here, who was the owner of the place where she was staying. She was not afraid that he would get angry because he likes trouble or because he was strong, but because he gave her shelter and she was afraid of losing a true friend in this foreign kingdom.
"Ok, class. Get your activity booklets and answer activities number two, three, four point two, and four point five on chapter five, page fifty-eight to sixty," their math teacher announced.
Aki's school supplies were now complete. When they returned home yesterday, they found in M's room all of the things she needed. She only borrowed a uniform from Mharc yesterday, now she has his own. But the uniform prepared by her father was like the one she usually wore in Vandeshna and other Hariaq in Hardivez. That outfit was short and hugged the curves of Aki's body. It was why the men who saw her followed her every move. She didn't have a problem with that because she was also used to such clothes.
She also had no difficulty in answering the activities their teacher asked them to do. That was the exact lesson they tackled yesterday after all.
The Archein seemed to enjoy what she was doing and didn't control her energy well. When she finished completing the activities, she handed it to the teacher and he praised her for doing the activities excellently. This was the source of the girl's joy—causing her to accidentally break the bench she was sitting on.
Their classmates were worried about her, especially their teacher.
"I'm fine, I'm not hurt," she reassured her classmates and the teacher who was still worried about her fall.
"It looks like the chair Aki sat on is weak so it broke easily, Ma'am," said one of her classmates.
The day ended with Aki still often failing to control her strength. She broke a few other things because of it. But unlike her first days in Mhortaeo when only M could see her strength, now many Mortals have witnessed it.
"Woah! Why are you so strong, Aki? Do you do weightlifting?" Mario asked when the five of them were walking home to M's house. Mario and Matthew still didn't know that Aki lived in M's house, they all just agreed to hang out there after class like they often do in the past.
"What about weightlifting?"
Although the Cubic Meter did not see what happened to Aki in their math class, they laughed a lot when they heard about it from their other classmates.
The second class was about to start when M arrived and frowned when he saw Aki's uniform. That's what his eyes immediately saw and didn't notice Mario's laughter because of the story he heard about Aki falling to the floor. Mario only arrived near the end of the first class so he was also late to know what happened.
"Weightlifting you say? She's more likely the hulk. She looks like a female hulk," M commented.
He was rebuked by his sister. "You're too much, brother!"
Until they reached the house of the Angeles siblings, M and Mharc, they were still discussing and arguing about that.