23: The Sub-Twelve Hour A Day Sleep Schedule D:

Deciding on one of the more secluded cafeterias, the five of them stuck together as they walked through the now dark campus. Keeping near the incandescent streams of light—along with the lamps—installed by the Luminary Institute on each of the walking paths, they took a few shortcuts to try and get there sooner. They had fought until quite late so everyone was starting to feel the pangs of hunger.

After arriving, ordering, sitting down, eating, and hanging out for a bit, they wrapped up their little hangout before bidding each other good night and heading off. Their last few hours had been... quite relaxed and Nyssa had enjoyed it.

Of course, she hadn’t enjoyed it when they realized they chose the same cafeteria as a huge group of staff and administrators, but it was life. She just pretended to not see Kaiser—even though he was, objectively, impossible to miss with his stature and musculature.

It had sparked some conversation about her home life though, stuff she was happy to talk about. Although, she did feel a little bad because most of the answers ended up being “Well, I was napping so I don’t really know sorry...”

Meeting back up with Kaiser, Nyssa hopped in the car and headed back home. It had been... quite a nice day, and before she realized it a couple weeks had passed. By now, Troy and Titus had finished their duel (with minimal fanfare) and Titus had come out on top.

Beyond the informal fighting tradition though, not much else transpired during the starting few weeks of the term. Nyssa had begun hanging out with Celeste more after school, Angelica had done some more testing of her powers, and everyone had settled back into the term.

Nyssa, in particular, had begun to adapt to the sub-twelve hour a day sleep schedule. A true challenge...

Now, however, anticipation was boiling throughout the entire school. One week prior, Slade’s event had been announced to the school. Given Slade’s position as a top hero—plus his charismatic iron-grip over the media—made the school explode with excitement. It was because of this widespread idolatry though, that information about Slade’s relationship with Kaiser had resurfaced.

Nyssa, herself, didn’t find the reappearance of this information too surprising. Instead, she just spent her time praying—and then thanking—the heavens that her own relationship to Kaiser hadn’t exploded as well.

Keeping her head low, she had made it to the day of the event! Safe and sound! After reporting to the Class Zero classroom as ordered by administration, she made sure to report she was present with Angelica before taking a seat next to Celeste.

“Good morning,” Nyssa nodded as a yawn left her mouth. “Are you excited?”

“Of course! How could I not, this is a really big deal, you know?” Celeste brightened up as the cold morning seemed to have no effect on her. “Everyone’s excited, you know? It’s not everyday you get to interact with these people.”

Stretching across the desk and resting her head in her arms, Nyssa gave some agreeing murmurs while trying to resist the urge to nod off. The classroom’s heater was... very warm... Turning her head to look up at Celeste, Nyssa reached out and fluttered her fingers towards Celeste. “I believe in you though. You’re part of this class. You’ll get to a point where you’ll be interacting with those types of people on the daily.”

“I mean, maybe,” Celeste shrugged, while leaning back in her chair. “I hope I can get to a point like that one day. But it’s still so far off that it doesn’t feel real, you know?”

“I guess...” Nyssa murmured as the urge to sleep began clawing at the back of her mind. “I believe in you...”

With the conversation falling into a lull, Nyssa, before long, dozed off on her desk while enjoying the warmth of the heating vent above her. A couple minutes later, however, she was tapped awake by Celeste.

“I think the talk is starting,” Celeste pointed towards the screen Angelica had fired up. “Do you want to listen?”

“I should...” Nyssa murmured between yawns. “It’s the least I can do to support Slade.”

Opening her mouth to reply, Celeste was cut off by Angelica who waved everyone to silence. “Good morning everyone, we’ll be watching a live online broadcast for a couple minutes before heading off to the largest training field. Please quiet down for a minute and watch along.”

Without even having to say another word, the room fell quiet as the video broadcast came to life. Nyssa, blinking herself awake, grinned as she saw Slade and Kaiser’s smiling faces. Slade, with an arm around Kaiser—even though he was smaller by a decent bit—waved to the camera before walking closer and taking a seat on the couch.

Furrowing her eyebrows, Nyssa felt the urge to facepalm. That opening scene was... so... AWKWARD. It was totally a Kaiser move. Or well... probably? She trusted Slade wouldn’t open with a scene straight out of a marketing video like that...

At least they didn’t hold it for long...

Kaiser, following along behind Slade, took a seat beside him before clearing his throat. “Good morning Institute students. I’m pleased to announce the arrival of my son, Slade Ravenstein. Today, we’ll be hosting a full day event exclusive to all of you. I won’t go into too much detail though, I’ll let the man of the hour explain himself.”

“Thank you, thank you,” Slade laughed while patting Kaiser on the shoulder. “As you know, I’m an alumni from this very academy. Many years ago, I was just like each and every single one of you. I sat in the same chairs, used the same classrooms, and sparred on the same training fields. Therefore, I wanted to come back here and... well, pay it forward. I hope in the future when you all graduate you have a similar attitude.”

Pulling over a piece of paper, Slade stroked his chin. “That day is not today though. Today, you all are still the learners. I see here on the schedule it says I have a keynote speech. I did prepare one... but I think the allotted time is a little much so we’ll see. Afterward is a panel where I, along with many of my teammates, are going to just talk through our own experiences with the life of being a hero and hunter. Many of them are alumni of this very institute just like you all, so, it’ll be useful I hope. It should be fun! We’ll also spend some more time on it should I finish the keynote early.”

Chucking the paper aside while whispering a “I will definitely finish early” to the camera, Slade leaned back while patting Kaiser. “Do you want me or do you want to tell them about the more anticipated events? You were the one who proposed them after all.”

“Feel free to say it, I’m unbothered,” Kaiser chuckled while urging Slade to continue, “You’re the star today.”

“Well, well, well,” Slade laughed while rubbing his hands together with a mischievous smile. “The plan for the afternoon is a dueling session. I, along with a couple of my teammates will first do a couple of show matches. However, after that, we’ll open up the floor to you all! Yes! You all will get the chance to fight us! We’ll give you some pointers and some areas of improvement! And, well, who knows, maybe some of you extraordinary students will manage to overpower us!”

Getting a look from Kaiser, Slade just raised his hands. “Well, fine, the chances are very small. Close to zero. After the initial dueling sessions though, we’ll let you all form teams and we’ll do a team against team head to head! It should be an action packed day, so make sure to hydrate well and bring your A game! See you all out there!”

Following his last statement, the video broadcast was cut off. Not even a second later, a voice came over the speakers instructing everyone to file out to the largest training field where the keynote would be held.