Barnaby

 “Okay, we just need to get through this class normally, and I’ll explain everything later, alright?” Emmett said.

“Yeah, that’s fine, I can work with that.” I answered.

Emmett gave me a thumbs up as other students started entering the classroom, it was almost time to begin class.

Almost all the seats had now been filled, the seat in the row right in front of me was taken by a girl with short blue hair. I found the fact that students at such an elite university having the freedom for self expression through their fashion style was pretty cool, on Earth that sort of look would most likely be frowned upon by rich people since they tended to be more conservative, but in this place it seemed that mostly no one batted an eye. Of course, perhaps there were still these kinds of people lurking, but not in this class, at least, which was nice.

The teacher started the lesson at precisely the designated time, regardless of whether or not some students weren’t here yet. From her manner of speaking, it seemed clear that she wasn’t an oldhead and stubbornly stuck with the old ways, but rather was a person who adapted to new changes throughout the eras.

However, pretty soon after the class started, I realized that the fear of being way out of my league was not only exaggerated: It was the complete opposite. She was discussing poetry in a level I’d taken in seventh grade: The structure of a poem, what literary elements are, and rhyming were all things I’d literally taken in middle school. As I looked around, I noticed that literally everyone was intensely focused, with a majority taking notes, thus I concluded that this wasn’t the teacher being incompetent, but rather the standards of this world being vastly different to Earth.

It made sense actually, if I thought about it. Almost everything was inferior to the progress made on Earth, the most obvious one being technology. I didn’t exactly know how far behind Obrillis was, but I knew that it was far enough where smartphones hadn’t been invented, and potentially even computers, but I wasn’t sure of that one. A lack of computers in the administration room wasn’t exactly evidence that disproved their existence, but still, there was a possibility either way that was left pretty vague.

I couldn’t help but zone out since I was being bored by this lecture, Emmet noticed and poked me in the ribs.

“Hey man, you not gonna take any notes?” He asked. “Just for your information, you’re usually a pretty studious guy.”

“No need, I already know all of this stuff.” I explained.

“Wait, really?” He looked shocked. “Damn, as expected of the Barnaby heir, huh?”

Emmett turned back to his desk to keep taking notes before immediately stopping and turning back to me.

“Hold on a second, how do you know this if you’ve lost your memories?”

“Emmett, are you actually dumb? You don’t suddenly forget how to walk if you lose your memories, for example, right? It’s the same principle.”

“Oh okay, makes sense.” This time he didn’t turn back and kept taking notes diligently, which kind of surprised me because I had pegged him for the type of person to goof off and not take things seriously.

It felt like the class was taking an eternity due to how bored I was, but eventually it finally ended. As everyone started packing up and leaving, Louise started making her way back to us.

“Hey, wanna ditch her and go back to my place so that I can, like, explain everything to you?” Emmett leaned over and whispered to me. Well, attempted to whisper, at least.

“Explain what?” Louise asked while walking towards us.

“Crap, how did she hear that?” Emmett “whispered” again.

“Maybe because your whisper is that damn loud, idiot.” She answered. “Arthur, what does he wanna explain to you?”

“Well, the truth is…I have amnesia.” I decided to confess to her, since that would be a better option than having to tiptoe around this subject whenever we saw her.

“Wait, what?” She looked completely stunned, and I didn’t exactly blame her for that reaction, but it did seem a little weird. “What do you mean, you have amnesia?”

I then told them about how I woke up remembering nothing, leaving out the part where I deduced that I had been Isekai’d, of course. Either way, they listened and nodded intently until I was done.

“That makes a lot of sense.” Louise said. “So that’s why you didn’t know where the station was and ended up meeting my brother, huh?”

“Hey, you gotta give me credit, though, I instantly recognized the problem, within like, 2.9 seconds.” Emmett flaunted to Louise.

“Nope, zero credit.” She answered flatly.

“Damn…” Although Emmett tried to look dejected, it obviously failed, he was a terrible actor.

We then got up and walked out of the classroom, making our way out of campus.

“So where are we going?” Louise asked. “Back to Emmett’s?”

“Hold on just one second, what do you mean, we? don’t go inviting yourself, you absolute fool!” Emmett retorted.

“I think that would be best, right?” She completely ignored him. “After all, going back to your place would be extremely problematic due to obvious reasons.”

“By the way, Emmett, can I ask you something?” I interrupted.

“Sure, shoot.”

“Why have you been wearing that stupid top hat this entire time?”

“You little! It’s a gorgeous hat, what do you mean, stupid?” Emmett went into a frenzy and proceeded to describe the specifics of its materials and fabrication in precise detail for the next ten minutes, barely stopping to take a quick breath before starting up again.

Before we knew it, we stood in front of the train platform, waiting for it’s arrival, as Emmett kept going on and on about that fancy top hat of his.

“How long until he stops?” Louise sighed.

“I’ll bet you 10 bucks he rants the entire train ride.”

“I’ll take that bet and raise you another 10, he’s not lasting another minute!” She said.

“...And, that’s why….you…huff…can’t…hfff..call this top hat stupid, understand?” Emmett finally ran out of steam.

“Looks like I win!” Louise smiled smugly.

“Emmett, you fraud!” I reluctantly took the bills out of my bag and handed them over to the smiling victor. “The one time I’m counting on you, and you bottle it!”

“Wait, what? What did I do?”

“It’s fine, Emmett, you did great, for once.” Louise patted him on the back.

While riding the train, I sat in a compartment that allowed me to view the sunset on the east side. Looking out the window confirmed to me that the sun’s rising and setting were the reverse of Earth’s sun, for some odd reason. But why would that happen? It didn’t make any sense, but there was no use wracking my head to find an explanation.

After a much shorter train ride than the one we took this morning, the three of us finally found ourselves outside Emmett’s home. The building was quite large, but not quite as large as the one I resided in, but very similar in terms of the structure, as well as having a large empty area surrounding it.

“Alright, other than the maids, there’s no one home, like usual.” Emmett said. “Although, if someone was home, that would be pretty freaky.”

“Why’s that?” I asked.

“Both my parents are dead, did you already forget?” he explained. “Wait, no I’m sorry, I forgot that you forgot.”

“It’s fine, let’s just get in and talk inside.” I said.

We entered the house and made ourselves comfortable in the living room. Well, I did, at least, Louise was too polite to do so, even though she’d been trashing Emmett at every chance she could today.

“Now then, where shall we begin?” Emmett rubbed his hands.

“By explaining my backstory, are you an idiot?” I said.

“You’re the idiot, idiot! You ruined my cool introduction to my monologue!”

“Who cares, just get on with it!” Louise said.

“Alright, alright, I’m starting!” Emmett said.

He then went on to explain who I was in detail. My name is Arthur Barnaby, heir to the Barnaby family, one of the wealthiest families in the country. Our entire fortune had originally been amassed by my great grandmother, Linda Barnaby, who was a tycoon in the oil industry, and eventually passed down her wealth to her daughter, Aubrey Barnaby, who happened to be my mother. She married Dan Lyndon, who became Dan Barnaby, and eventually my father.

“Wait a second, why the hell do you know so much about my past?” I asked Emmett.

“I’m gonna be honest with you, this is all basically common knowledge.” He answered. “Even Louise could have told you all of what I just said, that’s just how famous the Barnaby’s are, alright? Now shut up and let me get to the part that concerns you!”