The Earth After Rebirth

The blazer was maroon with the schools amblem on the left breast. It had a Griffin brandishing a shield and spear. Which was ironic in a world of advanced technology. The shoes were white sneakers for outdoors, and slides for indoors.

Kiro didn\'t like the Jersey so he tossed it aside. Wore the blazer instead. He realised his uniform was a bit small, but figured they just gave him the wrong size. He hadn\'t realised that eating healthy and exercising makes people grow.

Since he had no computer that could take notes for him, a notebook, a sketchbook and pencil could he seen in his hand as he left the room. The rooms didn\'t need keys or locks, they automatically locked themselves and they could only be opened by the owner of the room.

He knew there\'d be a time he would be bored in class, he\'d just start doodling when that happens. He always liked drawing.

He was someone whose attention wasn\'t easily acquired ever since he was a child. So drawing while listening to a lesson was the only way he wouldn\'t completely fall asleep.

He headed out and met with Hiro. He was surprisingly also wearing just the blazer.

\'We didn\'t discuss it, I promise.\' Kiro thought to himself.

Upon getting into the department building, they were assigned lockers that could fit their uniforms, a bunch of shoes and a bag.

Naturally they took off their outdoor shoes and put on slides, that were black in colour. It seemed girls were given white ones in colour, it was a weird distinction but Kiro paid it no mind.

They entered the classroom, it was already half full. They didn\'t give the students that much attention, they were just chatting and laughing, they were completely oblivious that all eyes were on them.

It was too quiet, so Kiro turned his head to the class. It took them a second to quickly look away.

\'How weird.\' Kiro thought.

They still hadn\'t checked what the online community was talking about this week. Kiro\'s fight with Isaac was trending number 1 on socials. So his fame at school changed overnight.

Kiro and Hiro decided they should sit at the back, they didn\'t want any body\'s eyes burning at the back of their heads. The teacher came in. She looked to be in her mid 30s.

"Good morning class. I\'m your professor, Dr. Ramirez. I teach VR Sciences. Who here can tell me what Virtual Reality is?" She said in a well-practiced voice, as if magical the white board started writing her name as she said it along with the subject she was teaching.

\'Wow, straight to the point.\'

Nobody raised their hand. It was understandable, they were all new here, everybody was still on edge. So Kiro raised his hand.

"Yes. Mr.?" The professor said, pointing at him.

"Waynworth, teach," he said giving her a genuine smile.

"The word Virtual in itself means computer generated. The word reality means something that actually exists in real life. So virtual reality is a computer generated world, that mimics real life one way or another.

"Often people say that virtual reality is a \'fake world\' but in my personal opinion, its gotten to the point where it could actually be a second reality and I say reality, without the virtual," he concluded, transfixed at the white board. He was hopeful that it\'d write whatever he said, but it never did.

After a second Kiro took his seat, he could see the professor was taken aback. He narrowly stopped a smirk from forming.

"Ahem." She cleared her throat, "just as Mr. Waynworth said, VR is a computer generated world. But what\'s strange is that, our bodies evolved to accommodate VR. We don\'t need to sleep or eat as much as our predecessors.

"Not only do our brains process information ten times faster, they also reach full maturity at 16. We can be inside the VR world for 10 days at most, without having slept, drank or eaten. Beyond that, it\'s not a physical strain you\'ll feel it\'s a mental one."

The professor looked around, to see if anybody would dispute. When nobody did. She continued.

"In this class we\'re not only going to learn about what VR is, but also why it affects us the way it does, if there\'s a correlation at all to our evolution and VR. Finally, how to create a VR of your own, should you choose to be a game designer. So this class will both have theory and practicals."

This went on for an hour and a half. Kiro listened for as long as he could for the first 30 minutes. Beyond that he had been sketching on his book.

This class wasn\'t that important to him anymore, he won\'t be a game designer, he wasn\'t sure whether he cared about their evolution either.

Then the professor said, "there\'s 30 minutes until class is over, but at this moment, everyone should introduce themselves. Class President and Vice need to be elected too."

She pointed at the first person by the door, so he stood and started the introductions.

"Chase Ronald."

"Son Aiden"

"Hyuk Jin"

"Khan Saanvi"

At that moment, the tips of Hiro\'s ears went bright red.

\'He really liked this girl huh.\'

"Silva Rosabel Isla"

"Bryce Atticus"

"Naidu Brian Ishaan"

"Zheng Shin"

This went on for a whole 5 minutes.

"Rodriguez Felix Alexandre"

"Blakeson Isaac"

For some reason, he didn\'t have the arrogant air he usually had.

\'Did I break him?\' Kiro wondered in silence. It was finally their turn. Hiro stood up, his legs were actual Jell-O.

"Mi-i-isaki Hiroto!" He shouted.

Kiro couldn\'t help himself so he laughed at his best friend. So much that when it was his turn he had to stifle the laugh and pretend he was smiling like an idiot.

Standing up, He said, "Waynworth Kiro."

The teacher looked at him, "Aren\'t you forgetting anything?"

Tch, Kiro clicked his tongue. "Waynworth Percival Kiro."

The class had a total of 50 students.

"I didn\'t know you had two names." Hiro whispered.

"Stupid tradition." Kiro said, more to himself than Hiro.

"Nice sketch by the way." Hiro said chuckling.

It was Kiro\'s turn to feel like the sun was right in front of his face. Isla was sitting not too far from them, so he\'d sneak glances at her and draw.

The drawing wasn\'t bad, if art meant anything in this world he could\'ve made a fortune as an artist.

"Great. Now that we know each other, you will write down the name of the person you\'re electing as your president. Begin," the professor said, cutting their whispering short.

Kiro smirked he had an idea, and scribbled \'Misaki Hiroto.\' Somehow he knew that this would freak him out, hearing his name called.

The teacher went around, and people put their papers in a basket. The teacher took a single paper, opened it and said,

"Misaki Hiroto."

His eyes were wide open, he looked at his best friend, his nose was pink! Kiro laughed and gave him an apologetic look.

Then, the second name was also his. The third, the fourth and fifth. He was sweating now, profusely.