Students were gossiping in the corridors, mostly about the news from yesterday regarding a certain individual who became very powerful after the work studies which had led everyone to put them in the spotlight.
"Really? I thought it was just a rumor from his similarities but him?"
"Yeah. He's a hot topic in Korea a month ago. Didn't expect to hear his reputation there during his work studies."
"Jeez. The name is such a cool thing… It's almost like he's becoming the legend itself."
"Shadow Reaper? He's also the reaper of Kamigami Academy!"
"True! I mean have you seen how he handled Haru and Malcolm's group then that annoying senior? I'm sure he's the strongest now."
People talking left and right, discussing his feats and weaknesses from before then now which led some of them to create a fanclub of their own dedicated to Rei. First and second year students admired him while the rest were debatable due to their status and ego.
Some nobles and middle-class respected Rei for his determination to improve his skills and proving himself to be strong without the help of the ancient being that resided within him. However, the others hated him for his sole existence in the academy due to his enigmatic status of being a vessel and someone who had the potential to surpass today's strongest.
It was a heated topic of those who created a fanclub for him against the haters who tried to bring him down. Luckily, the argument didn't went too far since neither of the students are willing to risk their life due to the headmaster being serious prior to the suicide incident from before and were not willing to face their wrath.
"Hmm… That's an impressive growth…" Eri uttered as Elliot next to her stood shocked and impressed at the scans that they conducted for Rei's physical wellbeing while also gauging his current level.
"For someone who's a '6.5' from before, that's a massive jump… You're slightly higher than Neon." Elliot stated while Rei raised an eyebrow, "He's a '7.2' and your seniors, Eunji is a 7.0 and Rinka is a '6.6'."
Rei nodded his head, "I see. Is there anything else that I should know?"
Eri and Elliot looked at the scan once again before shaking their heads, "Nothing for now. We'll contact you if we need to reassess you again. Otherwise, you're free to go." Eri said while Elliot went over to arrange the new documents for Rei's physical health.
Rei left the infirmary before being surprised at how every girl that was staring at him was either blushing or had heart eyes locked onto him.
"What's their deal?" The male questioned himself while Keith inside him pinched the bridge of his nose, "Really brat? Are you that dense?"
"What? Am I supposed to know what they're thinking?" Rei asked without knowing what Keith had implied as they both dropped the topic when Sylvie arrived to meet him at the library upon him arriving earlier due to the early schedule of his workout regime and free time investigation.
"Rei!" Sylvie called out with a tone and expression that softened him up, his coldness and ruthlessness immediately dissipating upon seeing her smile then her eyes.
"Hey there." Rei uttered softly before leaning down to pat her head, "Slept well?" He asked as the magenta haired girl nodded her head in agreement as they both went into the library.
...…
Sylvie was having a dilemma, her heart beating fast especially with how Rei was treating her nicely like a gentleman or anything that every fangirl would dream off especially with those famous tropes that every female would discuss regarding their types of men.
"Holy fxck… When did he start acting like that?!" The magenta haired girl exclaimed to herself internally, panicking as every time she tried to look at him or engage in a friendly talk without any of their complicated situationship had continued to make her flustered and shy from her usual state of being nonchalant.
"What are you gonna study before class starts?" She asked as Rei thought for a moment before responding back, "Advanced Spiritual Energy Theory Studies and Prowess Practical Theory History."
The magenta haired girl was shocked since those two were the most difficult books according to what Ha-Eun and Keitaro had told her during her work studies when they were discussing the hardest thing to read nor to understand regarding academics or any work of art.
"Woah. Quite advanced… Wait- You understand those?!" Sylvie exclaimed as Rei chuckled softly as he scratched the back of his neck.
"A little bit… Maybe a decent amount of studying at senior Jinwoo's internship helped a lot with my academic studies but I guess I did my best to study hard by myself since I don't wanna burden you." He said with a smile that struck her heart, her face blushing which confused the male as she screamed internally.
"Am I in love? No! Definitely not! We're just friends with benefits… with some emotional twist! We are- are just… forget…" Sylvie sighed to herself internally before sneaking a glance on him when he was searching through the bookshelf of what he wanted to study.
His focused gaze and serious face kept on catching her off guard, not expecting for him to look so mature and attractive. He was already attractive with his soft and cute looks from before which was already enough to make her look at him, then now it was more difficult for her to look at him without blushing or being flustered.
Her feelings all messed up as she debated internally if it was just because he's so attractive that the forgotten situationship between them was too pent up nor her falling in love was making her act like this.
While he was already called the 'Shadow Reaper' and 'Kamigami Academy's Reaper', she still couldn't help but see him as someone who was just struggling with his burden emotionally as Sylvie could only help him to such degrees just like now with basic accompanying and talks that would help him to stop being stressed.
Even though she tried to help him, time passed by so quickly that she didn't even notice that they had to go to class with a long period of lectures and classwork as she missed him even more. Her mind is always going around to the time she hangs out with him then she doodles on her book of his face then the glasses that she found to be weird since the latter had never mentioned anything of his eyes being bad until recently.
Sylvie assumed that it might've gone bad due to the workload that Rei was having with the amount of words that he needed to read digitally and traditionally. "I wonder if he's still up for it…" The magenta haired girl thought to herself, blushing alone in the locker room as her mind wandered off to the days they had their 'fun' from their benefits.
"Nope! Can't think of that now! Especially with everything that's happening around us!" Sylvie uttered to herself before changing clothes as she went out to the gym room for the PE class with the assistant teacher now in charge due to the death of William.
It was still the same old activities such as warm ups then their own training, sports or friendly sparring. She was sparring with Ha-Eun since her combat was rather impressive and similar to Eunji, probably being trained by the strawberry blonde.
"Dude… Are they sparring or fighting?" One of the students caught their attention as they watched Rei fending off Haru's attacks while Malcolm was getting himself beaten in every attempt that he made.
Needless to say, it was obvious who would've won even with the assistant teacher and Keitaro's intervention with how the spar was becoming heated and too intense while not using their prowess.
...…
Sylvie sighed as she was on her way to Rei's dorm after a long day of the academy with both classwork or any homework being finished as all she wanted to do was to hang out with. His presence was the only thing that she wanted, his voice then his smile.
Even if he is the Shadow Reaper or Kamigami Academy's Reaper, she still sees him as someone that needed help as Sylvie now understood why he always stood strong, calm and collected until now.
"Rei-" She couldn't even finish her sentence after knocking at his door as she was immediately pulled into the room.
The male was only wearing a black tank top which highlighted his toned shoulders and visible muscles, all sweating as if he was working out intensely. "Hey… Sorry about…" he uttered weakly which confused her before being surprised when held by the hips before landing his lips over hers.
She immediately understood upon seeing his calendar, marked days where she would immediately know that it's a rest day or active day. And today was a rest day so him breathing heavily and working out was something to relieve his stress until her arrival.
"Jeez…" Sylvie uttered, panting heavily from Rei's aggressive kiss yet she didn't stop him as she also needed this. "Didn't know that the supposedly Reaper is this aggressive ~" She teased before Rei grinned as he whispered into her ear while having her legs around his waist, his hand over the waist band of her shorts.
"Looks like you'll find out either way ~"
Sylvie blushed and was flustered.
Looks like even someone like him after a big change through everything still had some features that didn't leave him.
His pent out emotions and frustrations then his desires for her.
Kamigami Academy's Reaper had softened up with his shadow tangling with hers.
...…
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