Chương 23: Why Are You Here? (1)

(1) Lunchtime on a Monday afternoon. I saw that my usual bench at the back of the school grounds was free, and that meant I could finally read Night Hoppers in peace. Ever since Cayman and Ellie arrived at my school, I haven't been able to read Night Hoppers at all. It felt like everything was trying to stop me from reading in peace, such as being bullied by Theo and Ben and the arrival of the complete enigma Devon Donaldson. But finally, I could sit down, relax and start reading my favourite web novel ever.

"Hey!" Huh? What was that? I stood up and turned my head around. That voice sounded oddly familiar.

"What the absolute heck are you doing at this school? I want to know." Oh shit, here we go again. Everything really was trying to stop me from reading Night Hoppers. Cayman and Devon were arguing again. Why? What was the point of their arguing? What was the point of arguing in general?

"You still haven't answered my question. Why are you here?" Cayman acted like he had just blown a fuse in his brain.

"Why do I need to tell you that?" Devon rebuked.

"It was my decision to come here after all."

"Is something wrong? Did I do something wrong and that's why you're here?"

"Think about what you did first," Devon said.

"Think about what you have done on this planet and why you've been here for several weeks." Cayman gave the question some thought.

"Maybe it's because I want to get away from you."

"Grrrrr!" It was Devon's turn to blow a fuse. He lashed at Cayman with all he had; his extremely smooth and silky hair was now flying all over the place. This version of Devon was obviously the complete opposite of the Devon I talked to in class in the morning in terms of personality traits. The Devon I had been talking to in the morning was cool, calm and bubbly, seemingly effervescent, but this Devon was insane and, to summarise, a monster. I had no idea if I should even be watching the argument.

The kids around Cayman and Devon didn't seem to care as if an argument of this magnitude was an everyday occurrence.

"Get out of my face, will you?" Cayman was getting desperate.

"Go make some friends of your own or something. I already have a group of friends that are actually considerate and are unlikely to ditch me out of the blue." That was the last straw for Devon. It didn't seem like he was willing to make new friends. Maybe Cayman and Devon were childhood friends on Planet Zero, I thought. But that couldn't explain why Cayman was in the novel and Devon wasn't.

"I am not making any new friends!" Devon bellowed.

"I came here to see you and get you out of here! Do you not understand what you've done?" Cayman, who was being grabbed on the shoulders by Devon, shook his head. He seemed genuinely confused as to why Devon was acting in this way.

"This is what I've been worried about the most!" Devon was losing it.

"I've been worried that you would cause trouble on this so-called 'Planet 500' and spread the word about skill users! That's what! Don't you see that there are skill users on this planet now?" Oh, so that was what Devon was worried about. If he was worried about Cayman's presence on 'Planet 500', then why the hell was he shouting the term 'Planet 500' in the middle of a school with kids nearby? Maybe he truly was going cuckoo.

Well, I remembered that when Cayman first found out that there were skill users on this planet, he had a rant as well, but not as loud and insane as the one Devon was having. At least Cayman never shouted the terms 'Planet 500' and 'skill users' in the middle of a public place.

"How are you going to fix your mistake now then?" Devon continued to shout.

"How are we going to correct the fact that there are now skill users outside of planet-""Shut the fuck up!" Cayman boomed at the top of his voice, cutting Devon off.

"Let's talk about this in private, you brat. I don't want to hear you say anything about skill users and Planet 500 on this planet, let alone in this school. Do you understand?" It was Cayman's turn to grab Devon on the shoulders. He looked like he was about to start pulling Devon's hair off. The argument was getting more and more heated as the minutes ticked by. I didn't know when the best time to intervene was. I didn't know whether I should even intervene.

Cayman was cursing like crazy, like the typical Cayman, and Devon was worrying like crazy.

"You said that you had done extensive research over the past few months just for this trip! You said that I was just a worrier and that there's nothing to worry about! You said that everything was fine, and that you weren't going unprepared! What's happened now, huh? What the hell have you caused?" Devon's eyes were bloodshot; he looked like he hadn't slept in at least a week. From my eyes, he looked like he wanted to punch Cayman until he fainted, with foam bubbling out of his mouth.

I didn't know a timid-looking kid like Devon could rant like that.

"I spent so much time researching this planet!" Cayman hollered.

"I took time off hopping to other planets to research this planet! I looked up all the risks and rewards of hopping to this planet, and the rewards outweigh the risks. Just you watch, you skinny, long-haired bitch!!!" Punch! Cayman punched Devon in the face. Devon fell back, hitting the ground and rubbing the area where he had been punched. When he got up, he cracked his knuckles, ready to punch Cayman. Both were letting their anger out on each other.

And it looked like they were secretly using mana to make their punches stronger. When I looked around, I could see Theo, Ben and Maya walking towards the back of the school. Surely they should have heard the argument from where they were. And I was right. Once Cayman finished shouting, they were on their toes and running towards Cayman and Devon. You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. I did the same.

"I didn't miss out a single piece of information in my research."

"But there may be things that Hoppers haven't discovered yet that isn't included in your research-""Stop right there!" Theo jumped in and blocked Cayman from throwing any punches at Devon.

"Devon, calm down. There's no point in arguing." I stopped Devon from grabbing Cayman again.

"What the hell is going on here?" Ben sneered.

"Cayman, why are you arguing with the new kid on the block?" Cayman sighed.

"It's a long story," he said. He wanted to continue punching Devon to a pulp, but the athletic, strong and muscular Theo Parker was standing in his way. Maya pointed at Devon and asked, "Does this guy know you?"

"Know him?" Devon shouted, his voice loud enough to almost make Maya flinch.

"Of course I know him. I've known him for almost all of my life. Knowing him is almost like an understatement." He scrunched his face in anger, then added, "unfortunately." It was Cayman's turn to scrunch his face in anger.

"Unfortunately?" he screamed.

"Unfortunately? Are you serious? We've gone on so many missions together and hopped to so many different planets, and now you're saying that it was a misfortune that you somehow met me?" Theo sighed.

"Let me at him!" Cayman yelled.

"Theo, let me go right now or I'll beat the shit out of you as well." Theo sighed again.

"Stop arguing please," he said.

"Is arguing going to get you guys anywhere? You're gonna make the situation worse if you continue to argue! You'll injure each other. Just stop, please, I beg!"

"You too, blonde kid," Maya said to Devon. Oh yeah, in the heat of the argument, I totally forgot that Maya was in a different class to all of us, so she wasn't going to know Devon's name. Devon sighed. He just wanted a place to let out all of his anger, and he unfortunately chose Cayman.

"Listen." It was Ben's turn to speak.

"Don't argue. It won't get you anywhere, and it might lead to physical violence. Instead, now that your friends are here, let's talk everything out. Talk to us about all of your problems. We're here to support you." Devon smirked.

"Friends?" He looked puzzled.

"Who said that these guys were my friends? I've just met you guys now. What makes you think I'm your friend? I'm out of here." I stretched out my arms in an attempt to block Devon from leaving.

"Yeah, teach him, Robert." Ben was cheering me on. Devon sighed and let his head fall to his hands. When he raised his head, he said, "Fine, you guys seem like nice guys anyways. Let's see what you have to say, Cayman." He stressed Cayman's name, which made Cayman click his tongue.

"Tch."

"You don't know how serious your argument was," Theo said.

"I saw you two throwing punches at each other. You're seriously not trying to injure each other, right?" Cayman and Devon gave no answer. Theo face-palmed.

"This is going nowhere," he muttered.

"These two are like each other's arch-nemesis." There was an awkward silence for what felt like ten minutes. Devon was the first to break the silence.

"OK, I admit defeat. I'll tell you all about what happened, but promise me to not tell anybody else." Theo nodded.

"I'll start then," Devon said.

"Go on." Ben urged Devon.

"There's nothing to be scared of. We'll be listening." Devon hung his head in defeat.

"It all started one day when Cayman decided he wanted to go to this planet with human life," Devon began.

"This planet had life, languages and established governments, like our planet, and he was planning on intruding and pretending to be one of them." Ellie shook her head as if to disagree with Devon.

"You really think I came here without a reason, huh?" Cayman said, trying to worsen the mood again.

"I came here with a definitive reason and you won't understand." Devon, on the other hand, continued.

"He began researching this planet's way of life and how to travel to this planet. It had never been done before, but with our advanced mana communication systems, all his research was made possible. It was extremely risky, and there was no guarantee that his plan would succeed."

"Yeah, and I'm a risk-taker," Cayman snapped.

"I'm willing to do anything to achieve my goals. I'm not alone. I have Ellie, who has the same amount of experience as me." Cayman pointed at Ellie, who smiled at Devon.

"On the day that Cayman and Ellie were supposed to leave for this planet, I tried to hold them back and say why it wasn't a good idea, but they wouldn't listen to me," Devon added.

"I tried to tell them that the research into this planet is incomplete and that this planet does not have any presence of mana, but they didn't seem to care." Cayman sighed.

"Every planet has some amount of mana. Don't you understand? There's something on this planet that I need to get and I haven't found it yet."

"Then where is it?" Devon roared.

"Find it immediately and get off this planet! It's dangerous here! Why the hell have you even enrolled in this school? Why do you even need school? There's no need for all of this!"

"Relax," Ben said.

"I'm sure we're going to hear Cayman's side of the story in more detail soon." Cayman nodded.

"Finish your account first, though, brat." He really didn't want to say Devon's name.

"I kept on telling him that something will go wrong, but he just kept telling me that I was being negative and worrying about nothing. But I had a right to worry, because he had never hopped to a planet where there were other people living their lives peacefully and without any mana disturbances."

"How many times do I have to tell you that there's no need to worry? Ellie and I have blended in fine. All the students here, apart from the skill users, think we're just normal civilians from a different part of the country. What's wrong with that?" Theo put his hand in between Cayman and Devon to signal for them to stop arguing.

"But after you and Ellie left," Devon continued apprehensively, "I discovered a new piece of information that shocked me, and I knew instantly that I had the right to worry."

"You're just delusional. Get all of your worries out of your brain."

"This is real!" Devon was beginning to raise his voice.

"It makes sense! It's a valid theory!"

"Get someone to test it for you then."

"It's already been tested! All of Planet Zero believes it now!"

"Oh really?" Cayman smirked and sneered.

"Then prove it to me. If you cannot prove it to be a hundred percent true to me, then I'll just say it's propaganda and that it's a myth."

"What's a myth?" It wasn't any of us who said that. Not me, not Maya, not Theo, not Ben, not Cayman, not Devon, not Ellie. I turned around. I almost screamed out loud when I saw Daniel De Souza and Jamie Denton staring at us with wide-open eyes. The neutrals.

"Why?" Cayman shouted.

"Why are you two here again? You both aren't skill users, and this is a conversation for skill users only! Scram! We don't need you two here!"

"Why not?" Daniel challenged.

"You've been going at this for the whole of lunchtime now. You've been screaming and shouting like mad men. Are you two arguing or something?"

"That's over now," Cayman said.

"We've gotten over the argument and we're hearing what this new kid has to say." Jamie studied the new kid meticulously.

"But isn't this guy just an ordinary dude who appears to like wearing his hair long?" Cayman shook his head.

"There's more to this that you don't understand, and you'll never understand. Just get out of here, will you?"

"But there's an argument," Jamie continued, his voice turning into a sneer.

"We need to make sure you guys stop arguing or I'll get a teacher to stop it and separate you both." Cayman was beginning to lose it again. He looked like he was ready to punch Jamie in the face.

"Just get out of my face," he said.

"Skill users do exist, but there are only about one or two of them in the world. They don't concern you. So just go, please."

"Huh?" Jamie continued, seemingly ignoring Cayman's words.

"Isn't it natural to want to see what's going on when you hear a loud argument going on? Don't you want to try and stop the argument and ask what is going on? I just want to be friends with them, and Daniel, I think you do too."

"Jamie," Daniel said to Jamie.

"I think we've said enough. Let's get out of here and have them solve this issue themselves. This doesn't concern us. Remember? You're the one who said that skill users don't exist and that it was just a new trend." Jamie sighed.

"Fine, you win. But you better sort this out before I decide I'm getting a teacher." Although I could tell that Jamie was doing his best to help our situation, I could clearly tell that it wasn't what Cayman wanted. In Cayman's eyes, Jamie was a skinny brat with an extremely high-pitched child's voice who just wanted to make trouble. I watched as the neutrals walked off into the distance and rounded a bend, disappearing from my line of sight.

"New kid," Maya said.

"I think it's about time that you finish your story. You said that there's something important that we all should know. What is it?" Devon hung his head again. His shoulder-length hair swayed from left to right in the breeze. He looked like he was going to burst into tears.

"I found something that Cayman doesn't know, and it involves this planet." Devon took a deep breath.

"It's called mana transfer." Mana transfer? That was the first time I was hearing that term. Like Devon's name, the term 'mana transfer' was never mentioned in the novel.

"Mana transfer?" Maya had the same perplexed look as me.

"Please elaborate." Devon let out a deep sigh.

"OK, here goes. The theory of mana transfer states that once a portal to a new planet is opened, mana, which was previously not present or present in very small quantities on that planet, begins to accumulate. Objects begin to be imbued with mana, and veins of mana crystals begin to appear in caves on that planet." Devon paused. Theo, Ben and Maya had blank looks on their faces. Suspense was building up, and I felt my heart racing.

The next sentence we heard being uttered from Devon's mouth was probably the most important sentence we were ever going to hear in our lives.

"One important use of this theory is that it can explain why skill users can appear on other planets."