Parallel Memory

( Did Elysia know? Is this why she asked whether Hiro knew him? )

Yui curiously thought.

"Yui!"

Sylvia called Yui. She and Lisa were coming to class after their morning training when they saw a big group in front of the class. Though curious, they didn't think much about it until they spotted Yui in the middle of the crowd.

Students surrounding Yui immediately gave way to Sylvia and Lisa. Sylvia and Lisa slowly approached Yui.

"Good Morning, Sylvia! Lisa!"

Yui greeted them cheerfully. A while back, she still called them senior, but Sylvia and Lisa insisted she calls them normally without honorifics.

"What brings you here?"

Sylvia asked.

As far as she could see, even though she was attending the same school as her brother, she would rarely approach him. Therefore, it was unusual for her to appear there and Sylvia thought that she must have her reasons.

"I came here to meet my brother but he is still not here."

Yui answered.

"Oh! If you are looking for Hiro, he is still training but he should arrive soon."

Sylvia replied.

"Anyway, it is unusual for you to look for Hiro. Did something happen?"

Sylvia asked.

"Nothing! I just wanted to ask him about Zero."

" "ZERO!" "

Sylvia and Lisa involuntarily raised their voices, shocking Yui a bit. Though many students gave weird reactions when Zero's name was mentioned, Lisa and Sylvia's reactions were the most intense among students.

*AHEM!

Embarrassed by their sudden outburst, they tried to cover it up with their cough. They never expected that Yui would bring up the topic of Zero.

"So, what about Zero?"

Sylvia asked after regaining her composure. She could not think of a reason why Yui wanted to know about Zero, who she had never met.

"Well, I actually wanted to know whether my brother was acquainted with him but it turns out senior Zero had dropped out of Ace Academy."

Yui said with a tone of disappointment in her voice. She heard a lot of things about Zero through his classmates which only helped pique her interest in Zero.

She then turned to Sylvia and Lisa with an expectant expression and asked.

"Were you friends with him?"

"Friends? Maybe we were."

Sylvia replied. She did not know whether it was appropriate for her to call herself Zero's friend. While she was on good terms with Zero, it seemed that she did not know much about Zero.

The same was true for Lisa who still found it difficult to know her feelings about Zero.

"Can you tell me about him?"

Yui asked energetically. Among the students there, no one claimed to be Zero's friend, and all they told her was about his power. She wanted to know more about Zero, beyond just how powerful he was.

"Maybe next time. Class is starting and you need to get back to your class."

Sylvia said, pointing her finger at Professor Mia who was making her way toward the class.

"Awww! Okay, let's talk next time!"

With disappointment, Yui left. On the way, she glanced at the emotionless Professor Mia Frostine and was mesmerized by her beauty.

( How Beautiful! )

She couldn't help but think about that when she encountered Professor Mia. She had seen her on the first day but it was from a long distance. Seeing her close, Yui realized why Mia Frostine is called the most beautiful woman.

"Ah! What am I doing? I need to get back to class quickly."

Yui snapped out of her thoughts and quickly rushed toward her class.

While she didn't get to meet Hiro, she gains a lot of information about Zero. Well, seeing that Zero was not even attending Ace Academy, she didn't think that meeting Hiro was necessary though she did want to ask him about Zero.

*****

In Yui's class.

Yui barely got to class before she was late. Their head teacher took attendance and was announcing some of the important things that would happen to them.

After their head teacher was gone, Elysia began talking to Yui.

"Yui, did you ask your brother?"

Elysia asked, showing enthusiasm that she normally does not have.

"Sorry! My brother was not in class."

Yui apologized. She told Elysia that she was planning to ask Hiro in the morning but failed.

"It's okay! It is not urgent anyway."

Elysia replied.

"However, I did find out a lot about him. First of all, it seems that Zero has dropped out of Ace Academy."

"Hmmm!"

Yui glanced at Elysia but it seemed that Elysia was not surprised by that which meant she already knew. Yui thought that Elysia's goal was to meet Zero through Hiro but it seemed that she had a different goal.

Elysia wanted to ask why she wanted to ask her brother about Zero but refrained. She unconsciously thought Elysia would be unwilling to tell her.

"Hey, what are you two talking about?"

One of their friends intervened. Her name was Nina and she was one of the friends that were with Elysia and Yui during the incident with Hannah.

"I was just telling Elysia what I heard about Zero from the upperclassman."

Yui said.

"Oh! Actually, I also asked my cousin from second year and heard a lot of things about senior Zero."

Nina replied. She became curious about that senior whom Elysia had her eye on as well after yesterday's lunch. She immediately asked her cousin through TwitFlick.

The three of them then began talking about Zero and soon other friends also joined and began listening to them.

In a short period of time, Zero's name seems to have become famous among first-year students due to the unbelievable things that he seemed to have done. In addition, he was also considered to be more talented than Hiro which sparked curiosity among the new students.

Though many first-year students who heard such information from their friends thought that it was a lie. It cannot be believed that a person who could surpass Hiro, who was already a rare genius that many could only look up to, ever existed.

Yui met up with Sylvia and Lisa during the lunch period and Sylvia started to tell Yui about Zero.

"Zero was an extremely passionate guy who chased Lisa."

Sylvia said.

( That's new! )

Yui thought. She was finally hearing the real story about Zero and the first thing that Sylvia said was how he used to pursue Lisa. It was the first time that she heard this as others were all focusing on telling her how strong Zero was.

She also didn't doubt Sylvia as she believed that with Lisa's beauty, any guy would have tried to approach her.

"Sylvia!"

Lisa shouted in embarrassment.

"What? Isn't that what happened?"

Sylvia said teasingly.

"And he also ... "

Sylvia continued to tell Yui everything she knew about Zero.

Yui listened attentively as Sylvia told her about Zero's pursuit of Lisa and his other exploits at Ace Academy. She was surprised to hear about his talent and passion, and couldn't believe that someone like that would just up and leave without a word.

"It's really strange."

Yui said, shaking her head.

"I just can't wrap my head around it. Why would someone like Zero, who had so much potential, just disappear like that?"

Sylvia shrugged.

"I wish I knew. We've all been wondering the same thing. It may be something that only Zero knows."

Sylvia said.

She had finished telling everything about Zero though she did not mention some things like Zero being able to use Dark Energy and such.

Yui came to know that even Sylvia and Lisa acknowledge Zero to be stronger than Hiro. Since they were close to Hiro, Yui knew that their conclusion would be more trustworthy than other students.

"If you wanted to know how strong Zero really was, you should watch some of his fights. I would ask the professor to give me a copy."

Sylvia said. There were many videos captured by Ace Academy and she knew that Ace Academy had a couple of videos of Zero fighting.

"Really! Thank you very much."

After returning from lunch, Yui was happy and excited to get a chance to see the fights of Zero. She didn't think that she would be able to witness that since Zero had dropped out of school.

She was also interested in knowing whether he was really as strong as other students made him out to be. Due to the unbelievable nature of the information, she would only know for sure if she saw it with her own eyes.

Yui was also wondering why someone as talented as Zero would leave Ace Academy. She also tried to connect the dots with Elysia's reason for seeking Zero.

( Does she also want to know where he went? )

Yui thought. She was not sure but thought that it might be the reason that Elysia asked whether Hiro was acquainted with Zero.

Well, after thinking about it a bit she stopped thinking, knowing that she would never know for sure. Rather she thought it would be helpful if she showed the videos to Elysia.