Achoo!
Owen froze mid-breath.
He stared straight ahead, eyes wide, hands hovering awkwardly in front of his chest as the echo of his own sneeze caught up with him.
"...What?" he muttered, confused.
He sniffled once, experintally. Then again.
That had co out of nowhere, and apparently caught the attention of Luca Kyros who turned at once.
"Oh!" he said, imdiately concerned. "Are you feeling sick?"
The question hadn’t even fully landed before Owen and all four of his friends shook their heads at the exact sa ti.
Perfectly synchronized.
It was honestly impressive.
Then again, even if he were on crutches or a sick bed, he and his friends would’ve probably still gone even if he had to roll himself here by force.
No chance they were missing this!
From the sound of those strangled words, the blond teen was sure it was his friend Mason who said, "Oh! H-he’s fine! Soone’s probably just talking about him!"
Another guy tilted his head and added, "Correction. A lot of soones."
A third, who had to be Art, very helpfully added, "Hahaha! Please don’t worry about him, he’s too robust for his own good!"
Owen slowly turned to look at them.
Traitors.
But before he could even retaliate or acknowledge his privilege, a familiar voice cut in.
"Brother, the kids are right," Ollie said cheerfully. "In all the years Owen has been alive, he’s never gotten sick unless there was a test involved."
Gasp!
Owen wanted to lt into a puddle as he wondered why everyone woke up on the wrong side of their bed today of all days!
Also who wouldn’t end up sick when faced with school exams?! At least he still attended school!
However, much to his surprise, Luca’s golden eyes lit up in excitent.
"?!"
"Oh wow!" exclaid the suddenly excited cadet, clapping his hands once in genuine amazent.
"You’re really so much like your brother! It would be nice if you also recovered as fast as him! Normally, your brother would start recuperating the mont the bell rings! Sotis it’s even instantaneous! It’s always so cool to see!"
The clap landed like a critical hit.
And over to the side, one shining older blonde almost keeled over.
"!!!"
Owen, realizing what just happened, puffed up with extre pride. "Yeah. I learned from the best!"
The mop, who was blessed in other departnts save for height, snapped out of it just in ti to lunge.
"YA!" Ollie protested as he jumped, short grubby arms flailing, trying to reach the giant’s towering head.
He missed.
Tried again.
Missed again.
Owen laughed so hard he had to bend forward as Ollie finally managed to ruffle his hair with the tips of his fingers, clearly fueled by pure sibling spite.
But while that was happening, the teen noticed sothing odd.
His friends.
Their faces were glowing.
"???"
He was wondering what had happened when he finally noticed that the great Luca was talking to them, smiling warmly as he introduced himself properly to each of them, shaking hands like this was the most natural way of greeting people.
Nas were exchanged.
Hands were shaken.
Brains and souls were lost.
Owen could already tell those idiots were never going to shut up about this for the rest of the year. Then again, the guy who woke up his family with clanging pans wasn’t exactly the model student for staying calm and laying low.
He, too, would definitely talk about it all year. Ahem.
And just like that, Luca and his older brother gently ushered them forward, reminding them that they could head inside first to check out everything available today.
The goodbye was bittersweet.
They wanted to stay.
They wanted to talk more.
But the pressure of the crowd was real, and the staring was intense enough that Owen was fairly certain soone might actually bore holes into their backs if they lingered any longer.
So they went.
As soon as they entered the tunnel, Owen pointed sharply ahead and said firmly, "Alright. None of you are getting out of washing your hands later."
"No," one friend said imdiately.
"Absolutely not," another agreed.
A third scoffed. "You only say that because your brother is clearly Lord Luca’s best friend. Easy for you. What about us simple people?"
"Yeah," soone added. "We don’t get that kind of connection."
Owen had a lot of things to say about that and was about to unleash it all when all of them stopped at once.
Their eyes widened.
And clearly, the allegedly simple people didn’t feel so simple anymore once their eyes recovered from bulging at the scene before them.
Because the view ahead was unreal.
Everywhere they looked there was sothing unique to see. Moreover, the teens hadn’t been prepared to witness such a sight because they missed the livestream that was taking over Star Net.
It was... wow!
And they probably would have stood there gawking like statues if not for a calm voice cutting in from the side.
"It would actually be a very smart choice to wash your hands, several tis a day," the voice said nonchalantly. "But especially today because a lot of the activities involve food."
Owen jumped along with the others.
He turned so fast he nearly collided with the person who suddenly appeared.
Really tall.
Blue-haired and definitely well-built.
He looked put together in that effortless way that scread competent, cool, and untouchable.
The kind of presence that made teenagers instinctively know this was soone who had it all together.
Owen’s brain stalled, unfortunately, his mouth did not.
"Brother-in-law?!" he blurted out.
Silence.
His soul left his body.
"Oops," he added weakly, clapping a hand over his mouth. "Sorry!"
The blue-haired cadet raised an eyebrow.
He looked at Owen.
Then at the gawking teens.
Then back at Owen.
"Sorry for what?" Kyle asked calmly. "Last I heard, I am your brother-in-law."
The teens almost fainted.
When would they be able to confidently say sothing like that?
Kyle turned and walked back toward the front desk, tossing a glance over his shoulder.
"Well?" he added casually. "You guys planning on coming over?"
Oh, hell yes!
They were coming even as the people of the Empire burned with fervent jealousy.
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