“Hey, are you there?”

  The owner of the voice was poking him with their hand—or rather, trying to snap him out of it. When Kaelis got lost in the corridor of memories in his mind, it was like his connection to the world cut off. His thoughts ran that deep.

  Kaelis's eyes were slowly opening. He tried to open them all at once to wake himself up fully. He still wasn't completely awake.

  The first thing he saw when his eyes opened was the math homework on his desk. The hand poking him kept going.

  The poker wasn't alone, probably, because another male voice came from nearby.

  “Does Kaelis always do this”

  “Sort of. He probably doesn't get enough sleep at night.”

  “If he keeps this up, I'm not sure he'll be any use.”

  That other voice wasn't very familiar. He started thinking with his mind. That voice belonged to another classmate, Seamas. The one poking him was Brain, who had just come for the homework.

  Unusual people, an unusual setting, an unusual present... Kaelis lifted his head a little and looked at them.

  “Our guy finally woke up, huh?”

  “Be a bit nicer, you idiot. Kaelis, by the way, I put your homework back on the desk. Thanks a ton for it.”

  The homework part was normal, but it shouldn't be in such a noisy environment. Why had things changed after three years? What could they be here for? While asking these questions in his mind, Kaelis was also looking at the third person there.

  “I guess he's uncomfortable with me being here. In that case, I'll leave you guys to talk.”

  “Where do you think you're going? Declan, stay put—he hasn't even opened his mouth yet.”

  Right, Kaelis hadn't said a word yet. He was going over possible situations in his mind, but nothing came up. What could the topic be? Kaelis thought he was awake now and started speaking.

  “Ah, no problem, Brain.”

  “———”

  “You said we need to talk about something. What was the topic again?”

  “Will one of you two explain, or should I?”

  “Fine by me either way.”

  “Do whatever.”

  “Alright then, I'll start.”

  Brain, having gotten approval from the others, was about to begin speaking, showing his politeness.

  “Kaelis, it's April, you know, and May is coming up soon. In May, there's the inter-class soccer tournament across the school. We want you to play with us.”

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “———”

  “Like Brain said, the last time we all played together three years ago, we won.”

  “We won, huh? You weren't even on the team back then.”

  Seamas was talking to Declan in a mocking way. Their chat wasn't that important—everyone's eyes were partly waiting for Kaelis's decision. Their ears wanted to hear that yes.

  Kaelis thought to himself. Was this really the big secret they were hiding? But he had changed; there was a glitch in the machine's code.

  Three years? Actually, it was four years ago—in the second year of high school. It didn't even count as full high school back then; they were more like classes just moving from middle school to high school. Kaelis and his team had won the May tournament despite all the upper classes.

  Kaelis played average back then, but he could carry team play and spirit like a true leader. You could say he had real leader spirit. After that tournament, Kaelis never joined again. The class hadn't become champions since.

  A chance had fallen into Kaelis's lap. A tournament where he could win one last time with his friends—could he become friends with all of them after that day? He was curious and wanted to find out.

  Could the last missing piece of the collection—perfect relationships—be fixed this way? Kaelis wanted to say yes right away but paused and continued like this.

  “A tournament, huh? Are there tough opponents like in the old days?”

  This question wasn't something someone about to refuse would say. Did this mean yes...? Declan and Seamas's pupils grew wide—they were so happy.

  “Sort of, but now there are no upper classes above us. We can have an edge in talent and build. After all, we won once when we were at the bottom.”

  “Winning once doesn't mean you'll win every time.”

  Brain was a bit stunned. Was Kaelis trying to jab at him? It was so like someone whose pride had just been hurt.

  “So, what's your answer?”

  “I'm in, but I can't say I've fully decided yet. So, Brain, would it be rude if I asked for a little time?”

  Declan and Seamas looked at each other—this answer, to them, was just a roundabout yes, a way of saying it while playing hard to get. But a win is a win. Declan and Seamas high-fived each other hard in the air. The slap was so strong that it echoed a few times in the class.

  Brain then, in a polite and showy way,

  “Of course, no problem. The sooner you let us know your answer, the better.”

  “Please take your seats.”

  Seamas and Declan moved to the window side, Brain to the front rows, heading to their desks. Kaelis stayed seated at his.

  ***

  Some time had passed. The sunset sun was still lighting the school yard in a soft, dark way. A bright yellow sun shining in a light orange sky.

  The school yard was empty. School had ended a while ago, but Kaelis had left a bit late—not something he usually did. With slow but firm steps, he left the school gate behind.

  Right in front of the gate, he started thinking. First he looked right, then left. The right side led to the road home, the same path he took in the morning. The left was a road he didn't know because he hadn't gone that way in a long time.

  Kaelis kept thinking. The same loop for three years had been broken. Would he leave this break as just a moment? He thought he needed to change some of his behaviors.

  He turned his gaze to the left and started walking with solid but unsure steps. At the same time, he was trying to sharpen his decision a bit. After all, these were foreign actions to him.

  Kaelis was observing his surroundings. It was a long road between streets lined with 5 or 6-story buildings. In short, it could be called the city center, even if not too crowded.

  Around him were people just off work, teens hanging out with friends, or little kids playing down below, not caught up in city culture.

  He walked a bit more. Still nothing different caught his eye. The same as what he saw before, now with families added—probably families out to spend time with their kids after work.

  A sign pole appeared in front of him. The sign showed directions to points in the city. He started scanning the sign. Meanwhile, he repeated what was written in a low voice.

  “Hospital, city hall, banks…”

  Nothing really interesting caught his eye. At the very bottom of the sign pole, a green sign drew his attention.

  “National city park? I think this is the park the girls in class mentioned.”

  He muttered in a voice only he could hear, but it seemed to interest him. The sign pointed right, and about 100m ahead, there was the gate.

  He had decided where to go. He started walking that way.

  The park wasn't too crowded, because work and school hours had ended, there were couples or people wanting to unwind from the day's fatigue by having fun with friends.

  This crowd was near the park's entrance gate. The park was really huge, like it had no end. As you went deeper into the park, the number of people decreased, and it slowly got emptier.

  Kaelis was walking on the park path. There was no one around. The trees around him almost wrapped the path. Green leaves above, brown roots below.

  While looking at the roots, something else caught his interest. Between two roots, there was something like a path. Bored of always the same direction and giving in to curiosity, Kaelis headed that way.

  After walking a very short time on the path, a place came out in front of him with green grass, no one around—like a natural paradise.

  He walked a bit on the grass and came to the slight middle of the clearing. This area surrounded by trees was probably a place most people didn't know.

  Kaelis took off his blue school uniform and made it into a pillow with his hand. He took off his shoes and put them next to his bag on the ground. He placed the pillow he made as best he could and lay down.

  Thoughts were passing through his mind again, and he was questioning himself.

  “So today is that day—the day the loop breaks. Those guys are inviting me to the team; I can't say that ? don't want to accept and play, but I didn't want to rush. Probably tomorrow I'll tell them my decision.”

  Kaelis, talking to himself, was slowly getting sleepy from the day's fatigue. The pillow under his head wasn't that comfortable, but the surroundings were quite peaceful.

  His eyes were slowly closing. He was about to fall asleep and did. He closed his eyes.

  Kaelis wasn't someone who fell asleep this easily under normal conditions, but somehow right now, here, he could sleep very comfortably.

  Kaelis usually didn't dream, or if he did, it was very rare and about random things. This sleep was one of those rare times Kaelis had a dream.