DRAGON: First Link

33.0: School

"Hoffman."

"'sent.'"

"Ilustrisimo"

"Here."

"Kenzie."

I made my presence known to the teacher. There's still about 14 real-time hours left before the start of the Guild War, so the company figured it would be best to attend to real-life business and such. Even if the school boasts of a Link education system, where they can both study and play inside the game, Chiro advised us that it would be better to meet people's real faces once in a while.

"Kanzaki." Ms. Zeneyda, our math professor, continued his roll-call. "Huh? Kanzaki?"

"Not here, ma'am."

"Huh? But the Link system says she's logged out two hours earlier and is currently offline." She said, opening her tab to consult the Link system again. "And, yeah, she's still off."

"Tsk. Probably messing around. What a waste for the school heiress." The leader of the kendo club, Garu Shinsuke, said, enough for everyone to hear.

It was an open secret that hime destroyed Garu in an official battle last year. It was rumored that pinaglaruan daw ng kendo captain si Rin Aozumi, ang official 'damsel' ng eskwelahan and hime's bestfriend. In just a day after hime found out what happened, she challenged Garu into a formal fist-fight, which the latter arrogantly accepted.

That time everyone saw Himekawa Kanzaki as the 'nerd heiress' to the Larksons. Wala itong sinalihan na club, and she's seen to regularly visit the computer shop in holidays. She turned out to be something more, though. Ayun sa mga nakasaksi ay parang pelikula lang daw ni FPJ yung nangyari; nagpabugbug muna si hime bago niya nabigyan ng combo si Garu, which caused the latter to faint.

Himekawa received a lot of damage physically, yes, but the loss to Garu's side is massive. After nabalitaan ng lahat ang kanyang pagkatalo, everyone but a few loyal supporters stayed in his club. Lahat ng tao sa school ay kinamuhian siya, even the girls, despite his looks. Kaya malaki talaga ang galit niya sa prinsesa ng mga Larkson, who is now dubbed as the 'nerd iron princess', 'tiger heiress', at iba pa, which, according to hime; 'lame'.

"Now look here, young man." Ms. Zeneyda looked at Garu, eyes mischievous. "Even if she did spent a lot of time inside the game, she never fell behind from her studies. Heck, from her records, she even has high chance to aim for the top of this school!! As for you, cassanova." Nagtawanan ang lahat sa tinuran ng guro. "One week of the charts because of an unauthorized kendo tournament that you entered-in which you lost- and you are already at the bottom. No offense, Heimme." She nodded to Heimmer.

"Ma'am naman." Was Heimmer's reply, na ikanatawa pa lalo ng lahat.

"Aargh, I'm walking out!!" Garu kicked off his table, then stomped off towards the door. "You guys are all useless anyway." He said, slamming the door behind him.

A short while later the teacher murmured. "As if he is quite useful."

"That's downright bullying, miss." I said, taking my headphones off.

She raised her tablet. "Death to all betrayers!! Hail to the Damsel of Larkson's tower!!"

Nagpugay ang lahat sa sinabi niya. Nerd. Bunch of nerds. I thought, putting back my headphones on again.

---

"Hello princess." Jian said as he passed me in the hallway. "You seem a bit late today."

"Uh, hi." I replied. Shet, paru-parung bukid!! "I'm preparing for something inside DRAGON, so I have to sacrifice a few hours of school time."