Kai refused, making Astra and her friends surprised. They were about to respond, but before they could say anything, he continued.
"I appreciate your offer, but I'm perfectly fine with my situation. In fact, I'm doing great doing my own thing right now with Ren," Kai said, pointing at him. "So I appreciate the offer, but again, no."
Kai pointing at him made Astra and her friends look at Ren.
"Who are you?" Astra asked.
Ren's eye twitched. Did they seriously just notice me right now?
He ignored that and opened his mouth to answer, but Kai replied before him.
"He's Ren Dover. He's from an ordinary family," Kai said, Kai said that because he truly knew what Astra meant by that question. She wasn't asking about who he was as a person, but which family he came from.
Kai knew that because he had heard it so many times when he was younger. People asking him who he was, not caring about him, but about which family he was from — the Mercer family. He had seen the expressions people made when they heard the Mercer name, and the completely different expressions they showed when they asked the same question to someone from an ordinary family.
Being from a hero family was basically like modern-day nobility in so many ways. It wasn't officially that, but socially it might as well have been.
I've neglected telling Ren more about this stuff. I'm sure other than knowing about my family situation, he doesn't know a lot about the social politics you need to understand when talking to system hero family students.
Astra scoffed.
"Seriously, Kai, why are you wasting your time hanging out and partnering with a nobody?"
Her words irritated Ren and officially made his first impression of her really terrible. But before he could do or say anything, Kai spoke again.
"Well, my reasons don't need explaining at all. Now, if you don't mind, we have a test to get into. Everyone else is moving."
Kai waved his hand around them, making everyone look and notice the other students already heading inside the building. They were the only ones still standing outside talking.
"So if you don't mind, we need to go."
Ren and Kai started to walk away, but Astra spoke from behind them.
"My offer is still standing. If you ever change your mind, you can come to me. After all, there is nothing but benefits if you join."
And with that, both groups separated.
Ren looked back at Astra and her friends for a second, then looked at Kai. He stayed silent for a moment before deciding to speak.
"Why did you refuse?" Ren asked.
"What?" Kai exclaimed, looking at him in confusion.
"Why did you refuse her offer?" Ren repeated. "It was great. You could've achieved a lot with their help — with her connections, and with a little hard work from you, you could've easily entered an advanced school if you joined them. You'd probably gain a lot more benefits too. So why?"
Kai looked forward again, staying silent for a few seconds before speaking.
"Do you remember the first time you saw me?"
Ren thought for a moment. "Yeah… you were talking to your old friends for the last time."
"Yeah," Kai said quietly. "Those guys left me the moment I told them about my situation. But not before they mocked me for it, saying now without my family and with a weak power, I'd end up a loser… that I'd achieve nothing."
Kai closed his eyes, remembering all the insults his old friends had thrown at him.
"But Astra already knows about your situation, and she still offered you to join her. She's different from your old friends," Ren said.
"Yeah… I guess you're right," Kai admitted. "But as you might've already seen her attitude toward you isn't good. Me still being friends with you would've been an inconvenience for her."
Ren stayed silent, listening.
"My old friends were all people from hero families too," Kai continued. "Ones that haven't reached the same level as the Mercer family — even though some of them came from families with heroes going back to World War II."
He exhaled slowly.
"And because of that, they all pretended to like me. For a while, I deluded myself into thinking that wasn't the case… at least for some of them. But again, you know what the outcome of that was."
Ren did.
"But I'm perfectly fine with it now," Kai said. "Because they showed their true colours in the end."
He looked at Ren.
"And then I met you."
Ren blinked.
"Yeah, I had friends before… but you're my first true, real friend. So I can't really leave you behind for Astra, can I?"
Kai smiled.
Ren smiled back, grabbing him by the shoulder, and Kai did the same. They laughed lightly together before the two of them finally entered the building.
They followed the same direction as everyone else, moving along the marked lines that guided the students forward. Staff members stood along the way, directing groups where to go.
Soon, the line split.
Students were separated into two different doors — divided by gender.
They were confused for a second about why… until they realized where the doors led.
They stepped inside one giant locker room, filled with rows of private changing stalls and lockers for everyone.
Inside the changing area, Ren found a neatly folded set of clothes and an assigned locker.
When he checked the clothes, he saw they were gym uniforms — black with white lines running along them. The design was simple, but clean.
Ren smiled a little.
This was actually his first time wearing something like an official uniform. His old school never had any. Even during gym class, students could wear anything that passed as "training clothes," which basically meant anything that wasn't fancy.
And since he was attending a normal school on Star Island, there were no uniforms there either.
So this felt new.
Other than that, he was honestly happy they were given uniforms, because he already predicted what this exam would involve — rolling in dirt, running across rough terrain, and fighting.
He couldn't have that happening in what he was wearing today.
The clothes he came in were one of his favorites. He'd recently developed a real sense of fashion, so he was genuinely glad he wouldn't ruin them.
Not to mention… they were expensive as hell.
(Authur's note: Ren might have an incredible sense of fashion, but I don't — so never expect me to describe his clothes. Just know he's wearing something cool.)
Ren quickly changed into the gym uniform and carefully folded his clothes before placing them in the locker. He didn't want to just shove them in and wrinkle everything.
He also placed his phone and everything else from his pockets inside.
Kai had mentioned earlier that they wouldn't be allowed to use their phones during the test anyway.
With that, Ren closed the locker, memorized the number, and left the changing room through a different exit — not the one he entered from.
After walking a short distance down the hallway, he found Kai waiting.
The two of them regrouped… and together, they headed into the auditorium.
(PS The clothes that he found were on top of a box filled with the same uniforms in different sizes, but luckily for him the one that was on top was his size)