Zendrian

I

Inhale...exhale...

Eyes on the target.

He release the string.

Wind from the released arrow rustle through his hair.

Thud.

10.

The crowd roars loudly for the winner.

"Congratulation to Luke Miura! Ple-"

Without waiting for announcer to finish, Zeno immediately turned around and went to pack up his equipment then head towards the office to receive his award. He open the door and was greeted with a warm welcome.

"Ah! Luke, you're here! Congratulation once again."

"The reward?"

"Straight to the point as usual, I see." He said as he pulled out an envelope and handed it to Zeno. "You know...you could earn more money if you play for us."

"Nope," Zeno replied as he quickly count the bills. "And stop asking me. The answer is always going to be the same." He continued as he exited.

Walking down the hallways towards the exit, he headed towards the bus stop and waited for few minutes before it arrived. Stepping on to the almost empty bus, he scanned the bus for a seat towards the back. Placing his equipment on his lap, he looked out of the window, watching the scenery change from peaceful, nature filled lands to lively, flashing lights with music buildings then it stopped in front of a place with neon lights flickering called Aurora.Hearing music from outside, Zeno quickly head in towards the side door and into the locker room, he quickly changed out of his archery uniform to reveal a button up shirt with a black vest underneath his uniform, along with black pants and shoes to match with it. After placing his equipment in to the locker and lock it, he went up to the mirror and started to comb back his brown hair with a bit of gel to keep it in place. After checking that everything looks good, the door open and the sound from the music outside got loud for a moment then muted to where only the bass could be heard.

"Luke! You're here!"

"Hey, Dan. Sorry, I'm a bit late." Zeno apologized.

"Oh, don't sweat it!" Dan smiled. "There weren't that many people at the bar today."

"I see..." He started to head towards the door. "Um...Thanks for covering me for a bit."

"Hahah, you're welcome." Dan replied cheerfully. "Good luck! Night shifts are always busy."

"Thanks." Zeno left the locker room and went towards the bar. He saw that there were no customers yet, so he decided to clean the glass cups.

Suddenly, he heard a voice from the counter.

"Hey bartender, let me have your best drink!" The guy ordered trying to speak over the music.

Zeno immediately went to grab the drinks needed for the specialty drink. He quickly mixed the drinks and started to pour the liquid in to the glass cup. He turned around to place the glass down and made eye contact with the customer. Few seconds had past and neither had look away, Zeno noticed that the customer's curious eyes were sea green, which were unusual, but really beautiful. He noticed that his platinum blonde hair, despite the contrast, matches with his warm brown skin tone very well. His outfit was, how should he put it, very out there. He wore a maroon suit with a black mesh shirt underneath, which was quite revealing had his blazer not covered most of his body. Zeno immediately looked back at the customer to see that he was still looking at him.

"Sir?" Zeno questioned to see if he was okay.

"Oh, oops. Was I staring too hard?" He asked. "Sorry, I tend to stare a little longer at those who looks like a masterpiece." He winked and grabbed the drink, "Thanks, handsome." Then slide down a single bill. "Keep the change, I hope to see you sometime in the future." The man gave him a smirk before heading back towards the dance floor.

"...What a strange man..." He mumbled under his breath as he went back to cleaning around the bar ignoring what just happened. He saw the bill and his eye widen. "Who the hell pays $100 for a small drink and say keep the change..." He looks towards the dance floor looking for the ostentatious guy before he scoffed and went back to what he was doing before he got interrupted.

Few hours passed by.

Tonight wasn't as busy as other nights, so Zeno was grateful that he was able to get off a bit earlier than usual. He went back to his locker and grabbed everything then head back to his apartment by taking his usual bus home.

Arriving in front of his apartment complex, he went up the stairs towards the last door down the hall. He started to dig in to his bag, looking for his keys, and unlocked the door. He immediately went straight to bed without changing and knocked out for the night.

Beeeeep. Beeeeeeeeeep. Beeeeeeeeeeep.

Zeno slammed his hand on the alarm clock and groan loudly to himself. He drag himself out of his bed and wore his bar uniform first then wore extremely loose sweat pants and oversize hoodie. He pulled his hoodie up and went towards the bus stop to get to school. Zeno stared out of the window to see his surround slowly changing to a road surrounded by trees. In the far distance, he is able to see his school surrounded by a black, adamant metal gate. If this was the first time people visiting the school, the largeness of school would have overwhelm them, but this is nothing new to Zeno. The bus stopped at a nearby bus stop and Zeno sluggishly got off the bus and pulled out his student I.D to show to the front guard and was granted permission to pass. The walk from the gate isn't that much of distance, but walking from class to class tires him out pretty quick. The school is so spacious that they're running out of extracurriculars to add. Sometime Zeno just want to curse the person who made this entire place as a school. Not only is it in a secluded forest, it's also pretty old at some part despite the new renovation to make it more modern and "comfortable" for the students. Finally, Zeno made it to his first period tiredly dragged himself into his classroom and skillfully avoided all his classmates into his seat in the far back and just as he was about to take a quick nap. He was suddenly greeted by the same voice he had heard last night.

"Morning, handsome." The man from last night said as he pulled out a chair next to him.

"..." No responses from Zeno.

The man continued by himself, "Heeeeeeeeeeeey, are you awake? Are you fake sleeping? Are you ignoring me?? Don't ignore me! You're hurting my feeling..."

He pretended to sound dejected for a moment and then started to introduce himself after not getting any responses from Zeno. "My name is Adrian, which I am sure you know or at least heard if you attend to this school, but..."

Zeno slowly tried to block out the chirping noise until he heard, "You know it's against the rules for a minor to work, right? Not to mention at a BA-" Zeno immediately cut him off by placing his finger over his mouth to hush him.

"What do you want." Zeno glared at him. Adrian just gave him a smirk and slid a note onto Zeno's desk.

"See you here after school," and gave Zeno's finger a quick peck.