Allen sighed tiredly as he walks along with Ryan. In his whole entire life, this must be the most exhausting situation he had ever experienced.
"What's wrong, Allen? Don't tell me you're already in the verge of breaking down for just one quiz?" Ryan chuckled lightly. He secretly looks at Allen in a slight sadistic manner, no one notices this except Allen.
"Unfortunately, no." Allen grumbled. A moment later he faces Ryan. "By the way, are my words really hard to believe? Like is it often?"
Ryan blinked at Allen, a bit off guarded by the statement. Honestly, he didn't expect that Allen would question this kind of thing out of the blue. Ryan just chuckled and gave out a slight shrug. "Probably. After all, you lie a lot. Whenever you do that, there's always an evil scheme in your mind. It is expected that people won't believe you easily if you often fill them with lies." he answered.
"I guess this is my karma for stalking Bella and lying to a lot of people." Allen sighed. He rubs his temple as his stress levels slowly risen. "Unfortunately, I was telling the truth this time, and they won't believe me."
Ryan looked at him with a questioned look. "What do you mean by that?" he asked, clearly wondering what Allen's blabbering about.
"Before, I used to tell lies and most people believe them. But now that I'm telling the truth, no one believes me. Like, literally no one! For goodness sake! I just want some space, why can't my brother just leave me alone!?" Allen exclaimed in frustration, flailing both of his arms. His brother, Ron, isn't only the problem. Those servants too, they are gluing onto him more like crazy. It's much worse than before.
Ryan looked at Allen. He shook his head in amusement, as he hears the boy complain. "You're odd. How come you're talking to me comfortably even though you already knew that I dislike you?" he asked, arching a brow.
"As you can see, I don't have friends. So I don't have anyone to rant to. Since I'm being desperate right now, you're the closest person I could find. I'm totally pissed as hell right now." Allen growled. Then a moment later, something clicked in his mind. "Well, Az is my friend, but he's not here." he added, remembering that he had to introduce Az as a friend back then.
The reason why Allen is in a bad mood, it's because he tried to clear up a misunderstanding with Ron and the servants, but they didn't believe him in the end. In Allen's entire life, he never felt this much frustration. Don't even get him started with Dr. Cassandra, he doubts if that doctor was even convinced to his assurance back then. Allen suspects that Dr. Cassandra doesn't believe him one bit, but he sure do hope that's not the case. He doesn't want to add any more problem in his hands.
Sean (the butler) keeps following Allen around like some kind of bodyguard, Kyla (the maid) kept on sending Allen sweets out of nowhere, and Ron keeps on asking persistently about Allen's well-being. Even the twins, Kivy and Ivy Sylvester, who came from a dangerous organization like Sean, they kept on suggesting high-classed assassin guilds to Allen. Not only that, the knives that Kivy usually snuck into Allen's belongings, they all upgraded into guns. Allen doesn't know if he should continue being clueless about the fact that his belongings are secretly being filled by dangerous weapons. On top of that, they're all high quality. If anyone sees such kind of weapons with Allen, he might get suspected as a professional assassin.
Allen doesn't understand why they are sticking close to him lately. He could understand Ron, since he's his older brother, it's normal for the man to be worried for him. While on the other hand, he doesn't understand Sean and the others. They clearly hated him to the core, they even wished to have nothing to do with him. Just what on earth are they plotting? Allen doesn't understand anymore, his brain hurts from thinking.
Meanwhile, Ryan, who's now with Allen, doesn't understand what the other was thinking at all. He just assumed that it's just a siblings quarrel.
"Ouch. I thought Calia and I were considered as your friends." Ryan said, obviously faking out a hurt expression.
"Fake friends, you mean?" Allen snapped. Ryan just chuckled.
"Even Calia too? You figured it out?" Ryan said, looking amused. A moment later, he whistled. "It seems we have underestimated you."
Allen looked at Ryan for a while. For some reason, Ryan seems to be a bit carefree in this timeline. It's probably because it hasn't happened yet. In the novel, Ryan would be forced by his family to kill random people as a tradition. Unfortunately, he failed to do so and got punished mercilessly. Obviously, no matter how much of a jerk Ryan is, he doesn't want to kill. He dislikes it from the bottom of his heart, he always kept this no-kill-rule. So except for him, his family are the only ones who kill. You could say that they're quite good. No one could even track a single trace of them, so they always remained unreachable. Unfortunately, in the novel, Ryan's no-kill-rule was broken because he killed one of the lackeys of future villain Allen. If present Allen have to admit it, that lackey actually deserved it. In the future, Ryan considered Calia as his friend. Unfortunately, she was tortured by one of Allen's lackeys, causing her to be on the brink of death. Then of course, anyone would have a violent reaction. That's why, the unknown lackey suffered a terrible fate.
Right now, the reason why Ryan's sticking with Allen, it's just because he was forced to. Ryan fears his family and feels deep hatred for them, but the one he hated the most is his father. The Sullivan family is a picky bunch, they're the ones who chooses friends for Ryan.
Allen snaps out from his thoughts and grabs Ryan's sleeve. He walks in a slightly fast speed, dragging the boy along with him. "Now be a good pretender and listen to my rants until your ears bleed." he says with a blunt expression
Allen didn't miss the twitch on Ryan's eye. Ryan may not seem like it with that fake smiley face of his, but Allen could imagine the internal horror of the boy. 'Take that, you two-faced son of a bitch. Since it's impossible to avoid you because you have no intention of leaving me alone, I'll just irritate you as a payback.' he thought evilly, secretly smiling with satisfaction.
"Hey, hey. Isn't that mean? You're gonna torture the heck out of him." says a chuckling voice.
Ryan and Allen turned around to see Az standing behind them. Az looked at Allen with an expression that says 'what do you think you're doing?' or something more like 'you idiot, do you have a death wish?'
Allen just rolled his eyes.
Ryan eyed Az critically. After a moment of silence, he smirked and walked closer to Az. "You don't seem like it, so you couldn't blame me being surprised about the fact that you're a mage." he revealed.
Allen and Az gaped at him with twinned looks of horror.
"H-How did he—" Az sputtered, looking at Allen for an answer. Unfortunately, Allen doesn't seem to know as well.
"How did I know?" Ryan grinned, finishing the sentence for Az.
"Yeah..." Az trailed off
Allen's eyes narrowed. He stepped forward, facing Ryan. "How?" he asked with a stern expression.
"Dunno, I just happened to know." Ryan shrugged. "In case you're wondering, no one else knows. So rest assured. I know there's a lot of toxicity in most academies from the mage realm. I'm not that cruel." he added.
Allen and Az felt somewhat relieved at Ryan's assurance.
Allen knew that Ryan's telling the truth, he isn't that cruel to send someone to their own demise. Unless he's provoked, the victim would totally be sorry.
"However..." Ryan spoke up.
This made Allen and Az flinch.
"I admit that I have been observing you ever since the day I found out. It's honestly frustrating that I can't get a clue about your intentions. Even if I ask what you guys are up to, I'm pretty sure you won't tell me." Ryan gave out a smug expression, starting to walk past them. "But that's okay for me, as long as you're not enemies to humanity."
Allen blinked. Wait a minute, Ryan didn't consider him as a threat to humanity?
Ryan stops on his tracks and faces Allen once more. "To be honest, I thought you're just some normal individual with a rich family... but it seems that I have miscalculated. Huh, I guess you also have some interesting secrets. Although, it doesn't change the fact that you're suspicious." he tells the boy.
"You're suspicious too!" Allen blurted out. A moment later, he regretted it. He wants to punch himself right now for his stupidity.
Ryan just stared at Allen with an amused smile. "Indeed." he says, raising his index finger through the air. "We're both suspicious." he stated. Then he looked at Az, then back to Allen. "The three of us are."
Az and Allen just stared at him blankly.
'If you're just gonna admit it like that, then we have nothing else to say.' they both thought in unison.
"Since the ball party got delayed because of the attack, it was moved on Saturday. Today is Monday, that means we still have time to prepare. Would you both kindly teach Larence how to dance? Consider it as your gratitude for me in keeping your secret." Ryan smirked again.
'Aren't you telling us this because you're just too busy to teach Larence!? If you're that occupied, you shouldn't have accepted our teacher's request in the first place!' Allen yelled internally in his thoughts. As someone who had read the novel, a teacher from our dancing class had asked Ryan to substitute him as Larence's tutor because he was occupied at a moment. Imagine Allen's surprise that the great almighty Larence doesn't know hot to dance. Allen could guess that Ryan accepted the teacher's request because he wants additional points for his grades.
"Oh, don't worry. I assure you that it won't be that hard to teach him." Ryan gave out an assured smile, which doesn't seem assuring at all. The slight grin on his face makes the boys doubt him.
As Allen was about to retort something, Ryan interrupted him.
"Now, if you'll excuse me. I shall be taking my leave. After all, I'm a busy person." Ryan smiled. He felt more satisfied when he saw Allen twitch in slight irritation. A moment later, he walks away.
As Ryan is finally out from sight, the two boys started to communicate.
"Just my luck. If I didn't read the novel, I would've believed him." Allen muttered.
"Indeed. You and I both know that Larence is horrible at dancing." Az sighed. "That guy sure always good at finding out people's secrets. I guess it makes sense. After all, the novel stated that Ryan has some weird phenomenon surrounding him. So his battle skills aren't the only ones that make him stronger."
"Huh..." Allen nodded in understanding.
"By the way, remember the day you told me that Ryan is suspicious of you. It was the day where you went ice skating and accidentally fell with you on a pile of snow. You said that Ryan suspects that you know something about him. I remember you telling me that he was so straightforward about it." Az brought up, bringing back memories.
"Yeah...?"
"Ryan probably thought that you're some spy. Since there's a lot of enemies he needed to handle, he would have an additional work in his hands. Luckily, he found us doing something that made him think that we're not spies, so it saved him much work and probably cancelled his plan to eliminate us."
"What!? E-Eliminate?"
"Uh, yeah. After all, this is Ryan we're talking about, and it's a 'Ryan Sullivan' thing to do."
"Well, that makes sense." Allen nodded in agreement.
"Okay, because of that, he doesn't need to investigate much further. Although, he might continue observing us a little bit. Anyways, he considers it lucky because we could be useful to him in the future." Az finished. Allen stared at him in amazement, it was like he's wondering how did Az know all that. Az noticed this and continued to speak, "Hey, I'm not really sure though. I'm just basing on what Ryan would think in his perspective. But there's one thing I'm sure, we're totally safe from him. He doesn't consider us enemies, so that's good."
Allen nodded with a convinced expression. A moment later, something came up in his mind. "I think I finally know when he found out about your abilities." he spoke.
"Oh?"
"I'm guessing it's probably when we were fighting the little fur ball monsters. You know, the back when the three of us are looking for clothes. That was the only moment where Alicia isn't mostly with us ever since you became a character. Because your powers were weakened, none of us are able to sense that there's someone watching us."
"I see. That was the only moment we slipped up because Alicia wasn't there. Right now, she's the one who's stronger than me." Az stated, remember the scene as well.
"At least on the bright side, we were able to get an update about Felix Oswin, aka Abigor." Allen said. "It seems he's doing nothing for now. He's just working as a normal bartender."
"Ah, the demon who brainwashed you in the novel, turning you into some psychotic villain." Az nodded, putting a hand on his chin.
"Earlier, I remember Ryan telling us that he doesn't care as long as we aren't enemies to humanity." Allen said, starting to reflect from his memories.
Az waves his hand and tells Allen. "Yeah, it's just his way of confirming that we're not enemies."
"I don't understand." Allen grumbled.
"You don't need to." Az chuckled. A moment later, he pats Allen's shoulder. "By the way, I'll be busy later because I have a group project to do. There's a chance that I'll be late."
Allen looked at him in horror. "Doesn't that mean I would..."
Az nodded with a sheepish smile. "Yes, hermano. You're going to have to teach Larence while I'm not yet there. Since I'm a character now with a weakened mana, I can't walk away from my new responsibilities as I please."
Allen just sighed. Looks like he needs to prepare for later...
---xXx---
"So.... you can't dance." Allen stared at Larence. He stood there in front of him with his arms crossed.
Honestly, Allen had thought that he would be greeted by some scary aura. To his surprise, Larence seems less scary than before. If Allen had to recall, Larence always gave him a much scarier expression than now.
"I can dance." Larence lied quickly. At first, it isn't obvious because of his calm expression. But a moment later, the next thing he said, gave it away.
"Kind of."
'Kind of?' Allen thought, starting to suspect him. The novel stated that Larence sucks at dancing, that's why Allen doesn't believe him somehow. As silence was filled again in the room, he spoke again. "Oh. So there's no problem then. You can still dance."
Larence averts his gaze from him, refusing to say another word. A moment later, he finally spoke. "Honestly, I can't."
"Huh?" Allen blinked.
"I said I can't."
"Why are you being honest right now?"
Allen eyed Larence carefully. He knows that this guy isn't usually the type who reveals his weaknesses to an archenemy.
"Since you're the one who's going teach me." Larence grumbled, like he's being forced to say it or something.
Allen gaped at him in pure shock. This guy just suddenly asked him for assistance. He couldn't tell if this guy is serious or not. Normally, Larence would reject him.
"Also, you seem tolerable lately, so I would take Bella's offer of trying to be nice with you." Larence added, his eye is obviously twitching from distaste.
Allen stood there for a while, then opened his mouth to speak. "What? Are you joking right now?"
"Do I look like I'm joking?" Larence frowned. He remembers the reason why he shouldn't snap at Allen, it's because Bella told him to be nice and both of them should get along.
"No way. Why on earth would I want to teach you?" Allen scowled, crossing both of his arms. The other boy did as well.
"If you don't teach me, I'll tell everyone about your phobia." Larence said. Honestly, he has no intention to do so, but he knew Allen would believe that he'll do it.
At first, Allen was confused. But later on, he realized what the boy was talking about. He remembered their misunderstanding about him fearing naked people. Honestly, he was just uncomfortable because of the yaoi fanfics he read. Even so, he can't let others know about it. It's humiliating for him.
"What? Are you blackmailing me?" Allen glared.
"If that's how you see it, then yes, I am." Larence says with a straight face.
"Then I'll tell everyone that you suck at dancing!" Allen retorted.
Larence rolled his eyes. "Most people already knew. I actually don't mind about it being revealed." he says nonchalantly. Allen's shoulders slumped in defeat.
"Why can't you just ask others for help? Like Einz or Rachel?"
"They're busy right now, I don't want to bother them."
"Then find someone else."
"I don't want to go around. As much as I hate it, you're the one who's available, so I choose you."
"Just what kind of reasoning is that!?" Allen exclaimed. 'You're just probably lazy to look for people to teach you!' Allen screams internally in his thoughts.
Allen can't believe that he's being blackmailed by this guy. To think that someone like him would teach Larence, it's weird. But since he doesn't want this argument to go any further, he sighed in defeat.
"Fine, I'll teach you. You're smart anyways, so what could go wrong?" Allen said, hoping that he's actually right. If only it weren't for Ryan, he wouldn't actually be here. It was supposed to be Ryan who's teaching Larence despite being busy. But now, it changed, Allen's the one who's doing his role.
Little did he know, that he would regret it later when he saw Larence's horrible dance. He doesn't know if the guy's messing with him or not.
'Wha—What is this? His movements doesn't even match the music. He....He really sucks! He's horrible at dancing.' Allen thought. He stares at Larence in pure horror.
When the music finally ends. Larence stares at him with a stoic expression. "How is it?" he asked.
Allen stayed silent, looking at him with a Buddha expression. If he's holding something right now, he would have dropped it because of shock.
"You bastard. Are you messing with me?" he says.
"Huh?" Larence looks at him with a confused expression.
As Allen stares at Larence's expression, that's when he knew that he's not messing around. In fact, that was Larence's serious dancing. Allen realized that Larence doesn't really know how to dance. That guy is totally clueless as fuck. As he realized this horrible reality, he plops on the floor, crying on the inside.
"Oi. What's wrong with you?" Larence asked as he sees Allen's odd expression. He's quite unsure if he should call a nurse or something.
A moment later, Allen glared at him with a very fired up aura. "You bastard.." he says. "You better be prepared. You want me to teach you, right? Then from now on, we're going to have an intense training. We're not going to stop until you perfect those steps!"
For some reason, Larence starts to sweat. "O-Okay...." he gulped nervously.
"My skills in dancing are just average, so I can't actually teach you professionally. But that's better than you having nothing to learn!" Allen reminded.
He can't back down right now, Ryan would surely make fun of him for being a failure as a mentor. It really ticks him off as he imagines Ryan's mocking and annoying face. Allen Coldwell, an individual who only possess average skills, would face the challenges no matter what. He would use every average skill he could muster in order to convert Larence's horrible dance into an average one. Perfectly average that it's just right and at least acceptable for the audience.
Nothing is impossible, human beings are flexible in their own way, it just depends on the mindset. Determination and persistence is key, as long as Allen has those characteristics, he's positively sure he'll be able to pull it off.
Ever since the day he was able to truly grasp about the danger he's in after he finds out about this world being a novel, there are certain things he learned so far. Moping around and drowning himself in too much negativity wouldn't help him solve the problems he continues to face, he must learn to adapt and find a way to survive. Even if he's not as excellent as his siblings who are very much talented, loved, and noticed by their parents and everyone—he could at least try rather than not doing anything. Also, he already accepted the fact that his parents wouldn't ever give him the attention that's equally the same for his siblings, so the only thing he could do is step aside and protect their family in the shadows.
He has to face the hurtful truth, there are parents who favors smart and talented children more than average ones. All in all, he would never admit his true feelings to them—it's not really his character—and he would rather keep up the bratty act, but not much like before.
Going back from the present, in this day onwards, Allen consistently trained Larence. They even reached to the point of doing things extremely just for Larence's improvement. Days and nights, they practiced with lack of rest and diet.