[June’s PoV]

The first day of university is supposed to be, as my parent would say, ‘exciting’. This might hold true for me, if not for the fact that I’m late.

Let me repeat…

I’M LATE!!!

The grand welcome is in 5 minutes, and I’m not going to make it on time no matter how fast I run. Unless I teleport… except that you need a license to teleport, and to be frank I never learn how to do it.

But I know how to fly!

Well, I’m not very good at it, but at least I know how to do it.

I run and run, trying to get to a particular building that hasn’t even appeared in my field of vision. Until it dawns on me that I don’t know what building I’m looking for…

“Dang it!”, I silently curse under my breath.

Oh well, I don’t think there are many options here. I run and run until I reach the speed that I need, then jump and… voila, I’m flying! Not wasting any time, I quickly reach my backpack for the map of the campus and my timetable, trying to find the building that hosts the grand welcome.

“Let see… it should be at the…”

But, before I can find the information, I feel something hard crashes my head, and everything fades away…

[Author’s PoV]

Song looks around anxiously. June is meant to be here already, except he isn’t. The grand welcome is about to start as the Chancellor has taken his place on the podium. Pretty much every other student has arrived and taken their seat.

Then the Chancellor starts to speak… and June is still not here.

The Chancellor goes on and on about the usual welcome speech, in which Song doesn’t particularly pay attention to. He is too preoccupied with the absence of his friend.

“Now, before I stop…”, the Chancellor said. “I’m sure some of you are aware that we’re having an international student this year.”

That got Song’s attention. In this age where education is standardised globally, there’s almost no reason to study abroad; you would receive the same education no matter where you are. In fact, international students are so rare that, as it is right now, it receives a special mention in the Chancellor’s speech.

“Not just any particular student…”, the Chancellor continued. “As he is the son of the deputy prime minister of Ailartsua.”

Ailartsua, isn’t that the huge island in the southmost region of the planet? Weird, why would this student go all the way here to study? This place is the furthest away you can get from Ailartsua.

While Song is deep in thought, the Chancellor pauses, his eyes visibly scan the students.

Is he looking for this international student? Is this student supposed to give a speech or something?

Then suddenly, a huge black crow comes in flying, carrying with it an unconscious body of a tall boy.

Wait, is that… June!?

The crow drops June’s body in front of the podium and transforms into a young man.

“Sorry I’m late. I found this boy.” The young man said before quickly turning around and scanned the room for an empty seat. He didn’t speak loudly, but because everyone else in the room is dead silent, his voice easily fills the room.

As he walks to the empty seat, he finds everyone looking at him with a mix of surprise, confusion, and awe, so he turns around again to the Chancellor. “He flies head first into a tower while looking at his map. The nurse room is empty, so I brought him here.”, he explained. Then he walks to his chair, but the Chancellor stops him.

“Umm… Chan?”, the Chancellor called, hesitation clear in his voice.

Weird, for one boy to make even the Chancellor nervous. Granted, he seems like a cold person. He doesn’t smile, and the way he just drops June’s body on the floor suggests his lack of empathy. Not to mention he is the son of a deputy prime minister, so he has the status.

“Do you want to say a thing or two to the students?”, the Chancellor asked.

Chan stares at the Chancellor for a while, his expression unreadable. Then, without answering the question, he walks to the empty seat.

Dang! Did this guy just ignore the Chancellor!? He has a lot of nerve!

Meanwhile, the Chancellor can only stand on his podium, blinking a few times in confusion. Did that really just happen? When the Chancellor snaps back, he clears his throat and looks at the nurse who is sitting with the rest of the teaching staffs. The nurse gets it and runs to June’s unconscious body, before teleporting away with him.

The rest of the grand welcome is pretty much uneventful.

[June’s PoV]

Ow… What happened?

I look around… Where is this?

When I turn right, I see, in the corner of the room, a middle-aged female reading a book. Then I turn left, and I see Song sitting next to me.

“You won’t believe what happened!”, Song said before I even ask.

He then starts babbling about all these things that happened during the grand welcome. Wait, grand welcome? Oh, right! I was supposed to go there.

He keeps going on and on. I can’t really concentrate due to a constant headache, but I do catch a bit of what he’s saying. Something about a crow and international student and me and the Chancellor.

“He probably can’t keep up with you.”, the female said to Song as she approaches us. “Let him rest.”

She gestures in a way that means to kick Song out of the room. “I’m the nurse, by the way.”, she explained. “Just take a rest for now, I will fill you up with what happened later.”

So I do as she said and go back to sleep.

When I wake up, I see the nurse talking to a tall boy. I can’t get a clear view of his face, but I’m sure that he isn’t someone I know. Is he another nurse? That can’t be, he seems too young. Maybe he’s another student.

When the nurse sees me wake up, the tall boy excuses himself. Just after he leaves, Song enters again. He quickly sits on the chair next to my bed and whispers, as if the nurse won’t hear him, “Did he say anything to you?”.

“What!?”, I asked back.

“That’s the international student I just told you!”, Song said.

“What?”

Then Song explained the whole grand welcome thing again. It makes more sense this time. So this international student found my unconscious body and carried me to the grand welcome, all the while ignoring the Chancellor’s request.

That’s… so embarrassing!

Why on earth did that happen!?

And why on earth did that tall boy has to carry to the grand welcome!? Can’t he just leave me in this room!?

“You probably owe him a thank you.”, Song said.

Yeah, right. I owe him a complaint!

By dinner time, I’m already as good as new and can leave the nurse room. Song walks with me as we head to the nearest food court. I couldn’t have lunch, so I’m starving!

As soon as we arrive, I scan the whole place to find something nice to eat. However, before I can decide on what to eat, I notice an especially good-looking boy sitting in the corner of the room. There’s just something about the shape of his eyes and the roundness of his face that gives him this cuteness, and yet his expression gives away this icy vibe that’s hard to describe. Weird, and somehow… attractive. He stands out even with all the crowd, and more importantly, he looks vaguely familiar.

Do I know him? No way! I would’ve noticed such beauty before.

“…an.”

Song’s voice carried me back to reality. I must’ve been dazing off… (mental facepalm)

“Come again?”

“That’s Chan.”, Song repeated. “The international student!”, he added when he saw my confused expression.

“Oh, right.”

“Well, do you want to talk to him?”

I consider talking to him. I mean, I do owe him a thank you. So yeah, I should…

But of course, nice thing never happens. Before I can make up my mind, I see a group of men much older than me approaching Chan. Who are they? They don’t look like students.

I quickly grab order a random food and sit close enough to Chan’s table to eavesdrop their conversation. They’re talking about… freezing time!?

“No, I don’t literally freeze time.”, Chan said, sounding tired and bored as if he has said the same thing a hundred times in his life. “What I do is freeze everything else relative to it.”

“Is that even possible?”, one of the men said.

“Well, speed is a function of distance and time. So time is a function of distance and speed. By freezing distance and speed, I indirectly freeze time.”, Chan explained.

“But that is…”

Chan seems annoyed at the group of men, which I assume are the teaching staffs, although his expression doesn’t give anything away. If anything, his expression didn’t shift at all the whole conversation. He takes a piece of paper and starts writing. I can only assume the complexity of his writing given how long that it takes for him to write, but when he finishes, he shows it to the group of men, allowing me to peek at its content.

It’s a formula. A magical formula. A very complicated one.

“This is… Oh, wow!”, one of the men said. “I don’t see any mistake here.”

The other men grab the paper of his hand. “But this kind of spell… Just look at how many chain reaction that it takes, one mistake and it will go very wrong.”

“So you don’t make one.”, Chan said matter-of-factly.

“You’re… you’re a genius!”, one of the men said. “You need to help us with our research!”

“Hmm? Sure, why not.”, Chan said.

The men become visibly happy with Chan’s answer. Then the men start talking about their research, and I can no longer follow their high-level language.

“So, you’ve been ignoring me for the past 10 minutes.”, Song said, bringing me back to our table.

“Eh… What?”, I asked back.

“You’re eavesdropping on Chan, don’t you?”, he said rather bluntly.

“Shh… Be quiet!”, I shushed him. Since I can listen to the conversation in Chan’s table, I assume he can also listen to mine.

“You like him.”

“What!? I don’t.”

“Eh… It’s obvious you’ve been star-struck by him the moment you notice him her.”

“Shut up!”, I said before quickly picking up my tray and move to another table. Can’t risk having Chan overheard this embarrassing conversation.

Song follows me. “What do you like about him anyway?”

“What? You don’t find him pretty?”, I asked.

“No.”, he quickly answered. “Well, I guess he is technically pretty. But he is scary. Just look at him! He doesn’t change his expression even once when he talks to those lecturers.”

I look at Chan again. Well, yeah, his detached personality can be a bit unnerving, but isn’t it a part of his charm? I sigh in awe.

“You’re hopeless.”, Song said.

“What do you mean?”

“I never know ice queens are your type?”

“Shut up! Let’s just eat.”