Chapter 4:

Who Really Are You?

Apathy at Gifted Academy


I removed the envelope from the cupboard. A neatly folded sheet of paper was inside.

I looked at the contents of the letter, written was a single sentence.

"You still haven't found me"

What was this. This was not what I was expecting.

Was I missing something? Something felt eerily familiar.

Had I forgotten something so dear to me?

I took the kettle off and poured water into my cup of instant noodles. The smell of the vegetable broth filled my nostrils.


The next day.

It was Saturday, students could do basically anything they wanted as there were no scheduled classes. I was not someone who enjoyed usual recreation activities. As I watched the rising sun through the window, I pondered what I was going to do.

There was some knocking on the door.

"Ollie~"

It was a voice I did not enjoy the sound of very much.

"Come on, let's go to the arcade~"

I ignored her requests, I was not in the mood to interact with her. Why had she suddenly decided to speak to me?

I stretched my arms, attempting to clear my mind.

"Stop ignoring me I know you're in there!"

She acted very differently from her usual self.

"Come out, this is an order from the vice-president!"

I was pretty sure that the student council didn't have powers like that.

It wasn't that I disliked the idea of hanging out with people, it was only that Maia seemed to be uncomfortably close to me.

"At least come and hear what I have to say~"

It wasn't like I had anything else planned with other people, I had just wanted to go to the convenience store to get some things.

Reluctantly, I walked towards the door and opened it.

Maia was wearing a comfy oversized shirt with a little skirt. She had her hair in a messy bun with a tiny red hair clip.

"Aren't you a little too casual?"

"Aw~, is that your way of complimenting me?"

I don't understand how that could be possibly thought of as a compliment.

"So are we gonna go to the arcade together?"

"No, I'm going to the convenience store and then straight back."

"Wow, you're just like an old man."

"At least old men have things to care for."

"What?"

I walked past Maia towards the elevator. I looked around at the rooms as I made my way down the well-kept hallway. The floor was a nice soft carpet and there were always housekeepers cleaning the rooms when the students were away. It was like a hotel.

"Aren't you going to wait for me?"

"No."

"You're so mean~"

I pressed the button to signal the elevator, Maia sauntered towards me like a little puppy. The elevator door opened.

The two of us enter the elevator and it gradually began its descent.

"What did you want to talk to me about."

I had been wondering why Maia had been acting like this.

"I want you to be my assistant."

"Why would you want me? I'm just a dumb class C student."

She laughed under her breath.

"We're like family, right?"

I felt a shiver down my spine.

She began talking again.

"If you're Sonya's little brother, then you would at least be pretty capable."

I didn't know much about my older sister, I had no idea this assumption could be made.

The information I had on my sister was little to none. I had no thoughts or feelings towards her, I never saw her, I had no idea what she was like apart from what was written in the letter.

"But even so, why me? I'm sure you could find other more capable people."

"Honestly, whilst I could probably find a higher-ranked person, you're one of the only people in the entire school who I can at least kind of trust."

"Where is this coming from?"

"Oh come on Ollie, we have history~"

The elevator door opened

"Also, you're the only other person who will understand what I'm going to do."

"What do you mean?"

We made our way out of the elevator through the reception and down the path.

"I want to overthrow Caleb."

Her face suddenly soured.

"It's not like Caleb has done anything wrong, it's just that I want to access..."

Caleb was the first ranked in all of the first years. This guaranteed the position as the student council president for the year, regardless of anything else. Normally, it would be impossible to change the order of the student council (Not including the assistants as they could be changed at any time). However, under extreme circumstances, it is possible to change the order.


The conditions were either.

- A member is expelled

- A member is unable to fulfil his duties due to outstanding physical illness or distress.


It seemed Maia was planning some extreme measures.

"What exactly do you want access to?"

She took a deep breath.

"I'm pretty sure there's information on Theo on the database which only Caleb can access."

I was somewhat puzzled.

"I thought you were pretty close to your brother, what information could you possibly want?"

"He was the student council vice-president for two years straight, yet in the third year, he only managed to get a position in the council as your sister's assistant."

While it wasn't impossible, it didn't really make sense for someone to suddenly fall out of the student council considering it was very unlikely for their grades to suddenly drop that far.

I wasn't really all that interested in the politics of this school.

"Haven't you tried asking Caleb directly?"

"I did, and he did a little search but didn't give me much information. I feel he might be hiding information from me."

Eventually, after all the talking, we made it to the convenience store. The doors of the convenience store slid open automatically. Whilst it was technically not as large as a supermarket, it was where basically every student went to get basic goods. 


Run and Don't Look Back (4)

Mother never speaks to me.

I don't know why Mom hates me. All the mothers in the television always play with their children, they read stories with them, they play games with them, they go on walks with them, go shopping with them.

I wonder why Mom doesn't do these things with me.

I usually watch the television, but sometimes Mom closes the door. She used to hit me if I opened the door. So when the door is closed I get my sister's old textbooks and read them.

Sometimes I read the textbooks for several hours, even days on end. I think there is something wrong with me. I feel like time has stopped, I am entranced in the textbook, nothing in the world could distract me.

All I do is read the textbooks. When I am reading I feel nothing, I feel no hunger, no sadness, no thirst, I just read.

Do normal children do this?

I think I am weird.

I think there is something wrong with me.