The Mentor and The Ten Heroes

Chapter 3

Forced, Paul finally came down from his room, to meet Olivia who was standing at his doorstep. On the other hand, he also didn't want his mother to open the door for the girl, because according to him, it would be very troublesome.

"Yeah? What's wrong, Olivia?" said Paul after he opened the door of his house, to meet the girl with wavy black hair, who was standing holding Paul's green backpack.

Instantly, Olivia's face turned red as her eyes met Paul's, she lowered her head, hiding her face. Then, in a slightly nervous voice, Olivia said, "I just came here to return your bag that you left behind in class." Olivia with shaking hands gave the bag she was holding to Paul.

Paul immediately accepted it, but he felt something was different about Olivia's attitude. According to Paul, this time, Olivia looked shy, even though usually she was very talkative and annoying. Was there something that made Olivia turn into that? Maybe she's just in a bad mood? The more he thought about it, the more it made Paul's head spin.

Instead of continuing to bother him, Paul also worked up the courage to ask Olivia about it directly. "I think there's something odd about you today, Olivia."

Like being struck by lightning, Olivia's heart skipped a beat when she heard that question, it seemed, she was confused with herself to be this weird, even though she was only talking to Paul. Maybe, because before, she had heard bad rumors from her friends in class, saying that Paul had been officially kicked out of school. Making Olivia's feelings, which were mediocre at first towards Paul, shaken and feel shocked.

"E-Eh!? What are you talking about, Paul? I'm fine, really!" Olivia immediately built a cheerful smile on Paul. "So you don't need to worry about me, it's just..." suddenly, the cheerful smile on Olivia's face slowly thinned and finally disappeared, replaced by a sad, gloomy face. "Hey, Paul. Tell me. Is it true. That you were kicked out of school?"

Olivia's tone was suppressed when she threw that question at Paul, accompanied by a serious look in her eyes, while looking at the face of the young man with black spiky hair in front of her. However, faintly, the girl's eyeballs were filled with tears as if she was about to shed tears, but she was still holding them back at this time.

"That is none of your business."

Casually, Paul answered the question in a cold tone. Because in his mind right now; what if he gets kicked out of school? It was his own business after all, other people didn't need to interfere. That's why Paul gets a little sentimental when someone asks him that. Not hate, but he's just uncomfortable with people who like to interfere.

Meanwhile, Olivia's eyes immediately widened at Paul's harsh answer. Unexpectedly, there must be something behind this, Olivia felt, she had to unravel everything so Paul wouldn't be kicked out of school. It is his responsibility as class president, to help her classmates who are in trouble, especially since this problem is directly related to the principal.

Clenching her hands together, Olivia said to Paul, putting on a serious face. "Don't worry, Paul. I promise, no matter what problem you're having right now, I'll help you! Anyway, I'll--"

"Now you may go, thanks for carrying my bag."

Lazy to hear the words of encouragement that sounded stupid, Paul immediately cut her off and tried to drive Olivia away with a cold tone. It made Olivia who heard that surprised, she didn't think that her good intentions, which wanted to help Paul not to be expelled from school, were not received kindly by this burly boy.

"Excuse me?" Olivia still couldn't believe it, because this was the first time she felt humiliated like this. "Are you kicking me out?"

"And what?" Paul asked in return, raising an eyebrow, pulling a devilish crooked smile.

Finally, Olivia understood after seeing Paul's attitude towards her. No wonder the headmaster kicked this guy out, even from the way he spoke, Paul really seemed exactly like a delinquent, had no manners, rude, immoral, no feelings,  obnoxious, and all kinds of other rubbish. The girl was a little regretful for wanting to help Paul, she was getting very annoyed.

"Okay, I'm going."

Because her heart was hurt, Olivia immediately turned her body, she also deliberately let her wavy black hair fly, causing her hair to slap Paul's face hard. Then, she stepped out, away from the spiky-haired boy. Paul didn't realize it, in fact, when Olivia turned around, the girl shed tears in silence.

"You noisy girl."

Paul went back into his room, put his green school bag in the cupboard, and he raised his head to look at the fireflies flying from the ceiling, but,

“Eh!? They disappeared!”

The fireflies should have been inside, flying freely on the ceiling of the room, but now they weren't there. Gone. No trace. Making Paul panic so much, he frantically looked for the whereabouts of the tiny spirit in every corner of his room, but to no avail. Even though the bedroom window was tightly closed, and besides that, there was no more hole in the wall that they could fly out of. Even when he met Olivia, he had closed his bedroom door tightly, so he was very sure, they couldn't possibly get out when the door was closed.

"Did you see any flying fireflies around here!?"

Paul quickly ran into the kitchen, to find his mother who was busy frying something. Paul's breath was out of breath, so panicked. It could be bad if the ten fireflies spirits disappeared, he could be in trouble more serious than just being kicked out of school.

"What? Firefly? Since when have you kept a firefly, Paul!?"

"Mom! Answer quickly! Did you see it or not!?"

"No."

Without further ado, Paul immediately ran back, leaving his mother who was confused by his behavior, to go out of the house to look for the fireflies. Maybe they accidentally found a gap through which they could fly out, who knows. Because of that, Paul had to find them as soon as possible, before powerful people like Roswel found out about this.

However, the results are not much different, still nil. Even though Paul had searched every location in his yard, he even secretly looked for it in his neighbor's backyard, and the results were the same. So now, where else should he go to look for? Moreover, considering the body shape of a firefly is very small, it will be very difficult to find it.

Instantly, both of his calves trembled and fell to the ground, his shirt and pants were dirty, covered in dust and mud. Not only that, he also felt restless, confused, annoyed, fed up, and confused.

Paul punched the ground until the back of his right hand blisters. End of the story. Everything is over. There was nothing else he could wish for in this world. School had expelled him, his family had been disappointed in him, his peers had shunned him, and now, something that he should have cared for, had disappeared from his sight.

When Paul was desperate, resigned, had no enthusiasm, and thought he wanted to end his life at this very second, he suddenly remembered someone's face.