'Wait, I'm Supposed to Become a Goddess?! But I'm a Guy!'

The notification wasn't loud or quiet, but it was more than audible enough for the two in the living room to hear it.

Mize's finger paused momentarily, secretly glancing over Liam's figure, which remained unmoved from the sound just now.

After confirming that he didn't notice, Mize breathed a sigh of relief.

One hand was over his lap, and the other held the phone, trying to make it as casual as possible.

After all, what would happen to Derek if this freak Yama were to see that he was texting another guy...

'Well... a possessive Yama doesn't sound that bad' Mize thoughts churned internally within, his fingers over the phone began to type as the messages between him and Derek started for today's morning.

At first, it was just some simple greetings and questions, asking whether he had eaten, or taken a bath, and some other common questions. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

It was normal as far as one's eyes could see, and Mize didn't mind replying to him, after all.

Given that the guy had sent him some money, tending to the guy's message a couple of times wouldn't hurt.

But then, the conversation shifted. Derek was asked about his opinion on the awakening ceremony.

Mize's eyes turned slightly. The sticker that he was about to send paused momentarily as he deleted it and began to type.

[Well... I am unsure. But I hope I will become what I wanted]

To this, Mize waited for a moment, waiting for Derek to type. It was much longer than usual, quite a few minutes at that.

'Is this guy inside the toilet or something?'

But then, not too long after, the typing ended as a whole passage of words came into his view.

[I had been thinking for a while, regarding the chance of the ceremony to siding with the person's wishes. And for the most part, I was once a high schooler myself, in the same position as you, filled with hope for the hopelessness. And I had seen and felt the true despair that I would be that one normal guy without any talent for the remainder of my life. And also, dreams are nothing but a bubble of water, waiting to be evaporated under the glare of the sun]

[Well... to get straight to the point, I want to help you... for you to achieve your dream]

[and you might refused it, but I had already sent it to your mailbox. It's a handy item, but as long as you don't accept it from the mailbox, it won't be delivered to your house. It's just a potion that can substantially increase your luck on the ceremony day... It isn't a 100% increase in luck, but more than enough to guarantee that you will be able to attain the awakener title]

[And I know, I might be the type of guy that you will brush it off any other day in the future, so I hope, at the very least you will remember me, even if it's just the name, then I will be more than happy enough in this life, sincerely Derek]

Mize read the whole passage of text with care, and once he finished doing so, the words he wanted to type before were stuck at the back of his throat.

His eyes lingered on the profile picture of the Derek guy, who had gone offline the moment he sent these texts just now.

'I... ' Mize was speechless... dumbfounded even. Not knowing how to reply to this message, but still... it touched him, he must admit that.

'He was willing to go this far for a person he barely knew'

'...' Mize has nothing to say about Derek's guy personality but to thank him. After all, Mize knew what the potion that he had mentioned was.

'Could it be... ' He scrolled to his mailbox and with a swift gesture of his fingers, he trailed it towards the newest message at the top of the chain.

And there it was, the potion that Derek had mentioned, ready to be delivered on moment's notice.

The moment he opened the mailbox of the said message, discerning the appearance of the potion that had been mentioned and said to increase a person's luck by a large margin, Mize confirmed it on the spot.

'It's the luck potion... no way that guy bought it for me. Is he crazy?' Mize was utterly speechless at this time, completely blown away after all.

He knew just how expensive this potion could be at the auction house.

Yes, you heard it right. This potion has no direct purchasing channel other than buying it through the auction house, which means even if you have a lot of money, you will have to compete against others to win it.

It sounded powerful, yes, but there are restrictions on the use of this potion.

'It can only be used by the mortals, which was suitable for those rich second generation to take during the awakening ceremony... as one of the many guarantees for a successful awakening chance for them' Mize secretly thought within, his mind trailing off towards the implication of him using this potion on the day tomorrow.

'It seems, the chances of me being an awakener tomorrow is quite high huh' He mused, happy even as a smile was slowly etched on his face.

And again, his gaze hovered over the Derek profile icon, rethinking some of the decisions that he had made.

'Maybe... ' He began, 'I should give him a reward as the last parting gift'

While Mize was deep within his thoughts, Liam chimed in from the front, with one leg over the table and the other below, his eyes that were filled with curiosity carefully observed Mize from top to bottom, as if he was assessing what Mize had been doing.

"Say, Mimi... "

"Don't call me that, and what?" Mize regarded it casually...

"Are you going to school or not... it's 10:45 already" Liam remarked, one hand hovered before his eyes as he discerned the watch on the wrist.

And to this, Mize shook his head, the hand holding the phone shifted to the side, with his gaze slightly twisted to the right, the hair falling beneath like a black waterfall...

"Because I skipped class yesterday, you could've guessed the reason right? Mister Prince Charming that carried me all the way here"

"Well... " Liam mused for a moment, a soft chuckle escaping his lips as he beckoned with a casual tone "Is it because of Mr.Killer?"

"Hum... part of it" Mize replied half truthfully, but then... he remembered something, his eyes met Liam's for a moment, and the lump in his throat was quite heavy to be said, but then as if he had decided to go with it... he muttered

"Actually, I am scared of Mr. Thompson more than Mr. Killer class"

"Ohhh?" Liam was intrigued... and when Mize saw that he had taken the bait, he then went on to explain.

"You see... that guy had been constantly harassing me, looking at me weirdly, and even tried calling me into his office a lot of times these days"

"It was really weird, one time I simply was looking at the bird nest next to the class from the window, and he called me out for it, labeling me as a bad student who didn't want to pay attention to his class, and called me to his office... " Mize explained thoughtfully, his hand gesturing here and there in full motion, not noticing that Liam's expression was slowly changing, darker and darker.

"And so I went there in the evening after all of the classes, he held me down onto the chair, kept rubbing my legs for quite a while, and told me that I could come to him if I needed anything... but luckily enough he didn't do anything creepier than that and I managed to go home safely"

"But from that day onward, I never dared to heed his call whenever he called me to his office, each time it was his class, he would reprimand me in every single thing he could pull off"

And seemingly to notice that Liam's gaze was hung long towards the floor, Mize called out, thinking that this freak guy wasn't paying attention to what he was saying just now.

"Liam... hey, are you ignoring me? And I thought I was yours right?" Mize pouted, a bit dissatisfied with how Liam treated his story so far...

"You don't care about me huh?"

"No No... I am listening" Liam smiled, the flash of darkness from his face just now vanished in an instant as he lifted his gaze upwards, his eyes meeting the cute puffed cheek of Mize's face.

With his arm crossed and his cheek pouted, Mize didn't want to believe whatever this guy had to say now... turning his gaze away to pretend angry with the guy.

Liam could only sigh, stood up from his seat under Mize's surprised gaze, and sat next to him, with their proximity close, so close that they were touching against each other.

As for what would happen to Mr.Thompson and Derek, the shadows that just vanished from Liam's side just now weren't meant for anything.

Especially for that Derek guy, even for a dying man like him, he's still quite daring to do this one last ride.