Chapter 5 - Life Is Hard...

Even though he was scared, Kairen didn't give up. Reyan was the only one he knew, he had to stick to him somehow even if he was scary and annoying.

While eating breakfast, he once again collected his courage and broke the silence.

"Well, the doctor said yesterday that there is no guaranteed way to bring back my memories right?"

The doctor had indeed said that. It was after hearing that that Reyan grabbed his collar and tried to beat the poor doctor.

"…."

Kairen was ignored. Reyan didn't even look at him and was focused on his plate. But Kairen still continued.

"Ahem, so, even if we go do lots of tests again, there will be no result."

"…."

"And so, instead of wasting our time, we can do other things, right?"

Tak

Finally, Reyan put his fork down and looked at him, a frown still visible on his face. This simple action of his made Kairen scared af. He shut his mouth and lowered his head like a 5-year-old kid who was caught by his father while doing something forbidden.

Reyan knew that doctors couldn't help much in this case and insisting on it was something stupid as well. However, he still felt like he had to do something to help his friend, but he didn't know what to do. And that's why he was still annoyed.

"What do you mean by other things?"

'Don't look at me like that, argh, scary!'

Unaware that his behavior was making his friend frightened, Reyan frowned more and talked with an annoyed voice.

"As far as I know, I have fully answered your questions yesterday."

'What? Did I annoy him again? You kidding me?'

"Haaa!"

Kairen sighed. He really didn't know what to do. He didn't know where to start searching and what to look into. Even if he knew, how was he supposed to do it? He didn't even know the city he was in. Kairen sighed again as he decided to ignore this weird dude's behavior and just ask whatever he wants.

"First, yesterday you told me I fainted before being hit by my opponent."

Kairen didn't know what they meant by practical exam, opponent and attack but he could somehow guess it as he was said to be a cadet. What kind of exam was that? Were they beating the crap out of each other or something? He didn't care that much about it and listened to Reyan's explanation.

"… Right. You were in the middle of the practical exam, sparring with Serria when your spell suddenly broke apart and you fell."

'My spell?'

What spell? He didn't understand that part as well but just decided to ignore it and think about more important things here.

'Is it possible that Kairen and I... um... let's call him Kairen 1? Did Kairen 1 and I switched places at that moment?'

"Did something strange happen at that moment? Did you see something like… um… cracks… or a gray light?"

Reyan tilted his head as his friend kept on asking weird questions.

"Didn't you ask that yesterday as well? What's with these questions?"

"I need to know. Just answer. You want me to get my memories back as well right?"

Reyan nodded his head then thought for a moment.

"Ah! I remember that Serria said your mana suddenly reacted and moved in a weird way… I sensed a little bit of difference as well but didn't mind it that much."

'Wait what?'

Good explanation and all but what did he say right now?

"What? My mana?"

He had decided to ignore unimportant things but couldn't do so in the end.

"Yes?"

"What is mana?"

"It… is what you use to do magic?"

"Do magic? Me?"

"…You… can't even remember that…?"

"You didn't tell me anything about it!"

Kairen wasn't told about it, and his body felt the same as before! Where in his body was this mana thing located?

"Does that mean I can cut things down in that super cool way as well?"

"....."

He was suddenly excited and curious about this mana thing. Well, it was natural to act like that if you had read so many web novels in fantasy and magic genres...

"You are not a swordsman but a mage… a mage uses mana… not aura…"

"Aura…!"

Yeah, aura. What was aura? Kairen didn't understand anything and it was written all over his dumbfounded face.

"Wait… you can't even sense your mana?"

"Sense my mana…!"

It was obvious that his answer was no just by looking at his stupid face. Reyan closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. Then stood up while talking.

"How are you going to pass the exams if you can't even sense your mana?"

'Right, how am I going to pass- oh wait, why would the exam matter to me anyway?'

"Exam and that mana thing don't matter now there are more important things!"

"There is nothing more important than passing the exam now! Even your memory loss can wait until after that!"

'Hey, slow down!'

No really, there was no need for him to pass the exams as he wasn't Kairen… no he was Kairen… still, he was… Kairen 2… so there was no need for Kairen 2 to do whatever Kairen 1 was doing. Kairen 2 felt sorry for Kairen 1 as he would most probably ruin his life.

"But-"

"What are you going to do if you are expelled? Without a degree, you can't get a job! Where are you gonna live? Do you want to sleep in the streets? Did you really get dump by just losing some memories?"

Reyan quickly walked around the room while nagging nonstop. He was picking up books from here and there and piling them up in Kairen's study desk.

'Why does he switch moods so suddenly?'

But Reyan had a point. It would probably take a lot of time for him to find a way to go back and he had to have money and a house if he was to stay here.

Didn't this Kairen 1 have any place to go? He casually asked his question.

"Don't I have a family or a house to go back to?"

Reyan stopped at that question and looked at his eyes. he shook his head while answering his question.

"As much as I know, you don't"

'Ah… poor Kairen1…'

How sad, he was really homeless. Did he really have to pass this exam then? But he really didn't want to live here; he missed his home, he had even started missing his blanket.

"Here, you should read these all, and those, and all the books in your bookshelf! Oh, and your notes are on your desk. Study them all as fast as you can!"

"…."

"You should at least be able to perform some simple spells till your exam! But I can't help you with it, sorry."

"…"

Looking at the huge amount of books on his desk, he suddenly felt like sleeping in the streets wouldn't be that bad of an idea.