The Academy's Time Looper

Standing still with the clothes in his hands, Athen watched as Kai simply waved before resting his head against the windowsill and closing his eyes once again.

Within a couple of seconds, Kai already seemed to be fast asleep.

"...alright, then."

Regaining his composure, Athen spent a minute looking for a bathroom before finally finding one.

"...why is there a line?"

In front of the door that was labeled "Bathroom," two people could be seen patiently lined up and waiting outside.

Not questioning it, Athen simply headed toward the end of the line while glancing at the others, confirming that he was the only one surprised.

*BANG*

As the bathroom door flung open, one person came out, then another came in, and then the door shut.

"private bathrooms?"

Not letting the surprise show on his face, Athen suddenly recalled something and checked the collared shirt that Kai had given him.

And, indeed, right below the collar lay a name tag that read, "Kai."

Well, he had permission now, so it should be fine, right?

Shaking his head, Athen looked up from his clothes, immediately noticing that the girl in front was looking at him.

With silver-white hair that stretched all the way down to her legs and calm silver eyes that conveyed a feeling of tranquility, the girl stared at Athen with an emotionless expression.

"...?"

Had he done something wrong already?

Had she somehow noticed something wrong and was now going to report him to the flight attendants?

Why was she staring at him out of all people!?

Keeping his expression tame, Athen simply ignored the girl and looked through the windows at the outside area of the upper deck.

On the upper deck, it seemed like there was a divide as one huge group of students occupied the couches while the others had control over the standing tables.

The two groups stole glances at each other almost every second before turning back around and obviously talking about the other while laughing.

School hadn't even started yet...how were there already factions forming!?

Turning back to look at the line to the bathroom, Athen sighed upon noticing that the girl was still staring at him, now with a slightly confused expression.

Furrowing her eyebrows, the girl intently stared at Athen before eventually noticing that he was staring at her as well.

"..."

"..ah"

Looking away from Athen, the girl awkwardly pointed at the clothes in Athen's hands before asking.

"Do you know Kai?"

Taking the chance, Athen glanced at the girl's nametag, which read, "Delphi."

Realizing that the girl wasn't out to get him, Athen nodded before pointing at the sleeping Kai in the distance.

"He let me borrow a pair of clothes."

As the door to the bathroom swung open, Delphi gave Athen a quick wave before turning around and saying.

"You should keep those safe...Kai is quite the celebrity. I only just saw him for the first time last night, so I was able to tell you're not him. Others might not be able to..."

Without waiting for Athen's response, the girl entered the bathroom, letting the door slam shut behind her.

Celebrity...?

Recalling Delphi's last words, Athen muttered.

"How is he a celebrity if she just saw him for the first time yesterday...?"

How can one be a celebrity if people don't know what you look like?

Suddenly, Athen came to a realization, a grim expression forming on his face.

He had forgotten the first and only principle he had learned in this world!

Nothing is free.

If people saw the nametag on his shirt said, "Kai," they would crowd around Athen while Kai walked off scot-free.

Assuming what Delphi said was true, people would actually think Athen was Kai because somehow they didn't know what Kai looked like.

Great, massive amounts of attention was exactly what he needed when he was trying to sneak his way into the academy!

Sighing, Athen watched as Delphi exited the bathroom, kindly holding the door open for him.

Nodding his head in thanks, Athen entered the bathroom, taking a couple of seconds to admire the cleanliness of it.

After some time, Athen removed his black-cloth and tattered pants before putting on the nicely ironed collared shirt and navy blue jeans.

Hanging the tie around his neck without knotting it, Athen glanced at himself in the mirror and folded down his collar.

Exiting the bathroom with his black cloth and old pants in his hands, Athen was surprised to see that an even bigger line had formed outside of the bathroom.

Finding a secluded area, he took a seat before propping his head up against his hand and looking out the window.

Enjoying the picturesque scene of the bright sun and pure-white clouds, Athen's mind began to wander, thinking of all things that could happen in the next few days.

Magic...he could learn it!

And this time-stopping ability, there was still much to gain from it.

Time-stopping was a cool ability, but its limitation of turning Athen into an incorporeal being did make it somewhat useless.

Not to mention the long cooldown and the short usage period of ten seconds.

However, traveling back in time with his memories intact was amazing!

Imagine all the things he could do... and all the money he could gain.

With time traveling, anything was possible.

There was just one thing...Athen had no idea how he could do or control it in the slightest.

And, most frightening of all, was there a punishment for doing it!?

Mentally deciding that he would test the ability out two days from now when the cooldown for his time-stopping ability reset, Athen suddenly noticed that the light outside was beginning to fade.

As the clouds began to turn grey and block out the sun, Athen recalled the trial that could be awaiting him upon his arrival at the academy.

The use of his ability three times in this short amount of time...Athen felt he wasn't overexaggerating when he thought dying was a possibility.

As he glanced back inside the upper deck, Athen felt a nagging sensation that he was forgetting something, but nothing came to mind.

Ignoring it, Athen simply gazed outside, contemplating the possible challenges he would face when he deboarded the ship.

...

...

...

Finally, after what seemed like hours...because it was, the ship's speakers suddenly echoed throughout the upper deck.

"We will be landing shortly; please grab onto something to ensure the impact doesn't fling you into a wall."

"We thank you for your patronage and hope you had a great flight!"