Riley Ross

"Why are you guys in my room?"

"We just wanted to check if the children of the wealthiest man's children had privileges."

"All rooms are the same! The only difference is if it's shared or single! And why didn't you guys just go to my brother's room?!"

"Because he's a boy? Duh. And he's also here."

"Ack!"

Yes. Riley and the rest of the Baby Crew were in Hannah's dorm room, all seated on the floor with Gracey even lying down—only Riley was seated on a chair.

"You fuckers should have at least brought some snacks!" And of course, she was fuming. She had just unpacked all of her bags and wanted to lie down and maybe take a nap, but the others arrived before she could even put her butt on the bed.

"And why the fuck is this school so lax about dorm rules?!"

"I-isn't Mega Academy pretty lax overall… even with students dying."

"Aight, Pauline, I like you, girl. But don't be bringin' that dark-type shit around here. Let's talk about somethin' that actually matters… y'all brought your laptops?" Bella pulled out her laptop from behind her, "I ain't never had no laptop before, so don't expect me to know how to use this thing."

"T-they're just the same as phones?" Pauline also pulled out her laptop from her bag, "They're using a different OS, but it should be easy to use. And—uhm… why is your laptop a different color?"

Pauline narrowed her eyes at Gracey's laptop when she pulled it out.

"Oh, I wrapped it. Look, there's a dragon there. And this is Meng Hao from ISSTH," Gracey said as she started pointing at the characters on the cover of her laptop.

"You… had the time to do that already?" Pauline blinked a couple of times as the only thing she had done with her laptop was turn it on once in her room, "Wh—huh?"

And her eyes, which were already confused, widened even further as she saw Tomoe opening her laptop—she didn't have any covers on it, but since she was sitting beside her, she saw her screen… and it looked completely different.

"Why… does yours look different?" Pauline asked. Tomoe didn't answer at first and just snuck a glance at Pauline's laptop, she then pressed something on her laptop and it shifted back to the normal interface.

"I installed a different OS," Tomoe said casually.

"You… can do that?" Pauline gasped, "And are we allowed to do that? Did… you bypass the school's firewall?"

"I tried," Tomoe narrowed her eyes as she reverted back to the other operating system, "Even with a custom OS, their security's airtight. Can't access anything you're not supposed to."

"What… OS is that anyway?"

"I made it," Tomoe revealed casually. "I'm more comfortable using my own OS."

"...We just got this a few hours ago."

"Guys, c'mon! I just told you. I don't know how to use a damn laptop!" Bella bellowed, and Gracey immediately looked at her funny.

"Bitch, we can barely understand you half the time," she said.

"I ain't got no speech problems," Bella gasped. She was about to say something, but then she saw Victoria's laptop, "...Why yours look old, though?"

"Oh…" Victoria softly giggled as she touched her laptop, "...I've had this for two years now. I… live here, remember?"

"Damn… they ain't hook you up with a new one or what?"

"Oh, no. They told me they can get me a new one, but I can still use this one, and I've already personalized it and stuff."

"I wonder why they didn't just give us phones?" Gracey narrowed her eyes as she started fidgeting with her laptop, "It's a hassle to read my novels here."

"I… heard it was because they didn't want us using it unnecessarily?" Pauline said as she started teaching Bella how to use her laptop, "And it's easier to be distracted with a phone, I… I think?"

"You guys serious?" Hannah could really only blink a couple of times as she saw everyone with their laptops, "You guys look fucking distracted enough."

She sighed, but then also leaned over her bed to get her laptop to check it.

"I heard they installed a messenger for us to talk to each other?" Hannah said as she finally joined the others on the floor, "Can we make like a group chat or something?"

"Ah, I'll check!" Pauline slightly got excited, her usual meek tone slowly fading away due to the talk of computers. Even Tomoe, who was extremely quiet, seemed invested in everything. The group started huddling up as they invited each other on the laptop's integrated messaging app.

"Is… everyone in the Baby Crew group?" Pauline asked, and Victoria quickly turned to Riley.

"I think… Riley still hasn't joined?" She said as she stood up from the floor and approached Riley at the desk, "Oh, you still haven't opened your laptop?"

"Not yet, V," Riley said, spinning on his chair before expertly stopping right in front of the desk, "I will open it now."

"Hmm…" Victoria leaned closer to Riley, and Bella's smile was as wide as it could be as she nudged Hannah and motioned with her eyes to look at the two of them. Hannah, however, only softly chuckled and rolled her eyes.

Gracey, however, was not as subtle.

"Oooh. Someone's in love," she loudly blurted out while pointing both of her index fingers at Victoria. And of course, Victoria glanced at her and quickly leaned away from Riley.

"I'm… I'm just helping him!" Victoria's breaths stuttered before turning her focus back to Riley's laptop and pointing at the messaging app, "T-that's the messenger—Oh? You already have a notification?"

"Oh?" Riley tilted his head as he clicked on the messenger, "It would seem so, V."

"Is it from the school? Wh—H…huh?" Victoria's eye twitched as soon as she saw who it was from, "Why… is a senior contacting you?"

"Hoi! " Gracey almost jumped from the floor as soon as she heard that. And it wasn't only her, everyone except Tomoe stood up from the floor and started huddling behind Riley—their faces stuck to each other as they stared at the screen.

"Hera?!" Bella almost screamed, "Why she messaging you, R?!"

"I do not know, Bella," Riley shook his head, "But I do believe I have an idea as to what the topic could be."

Riley was about to tap the message, but then stopped as he glanced back at the others.

"Come on…" Gracey smiled, "...Open it."

"I do not think so, Gray." Riley once again shook his head.

"Open it if you're not hiding anything!"

"I am hiding a lot of things, Gray. But this is not one of them," Riley muttered, "I do not mind you reading the message, but I can not say the same about the other party—and she is not here to give her consent."

"...Okay, now that you're saying that, I feel guilty about reading my brother's messages," Bella scratched her chin as she started backing away. And soon, everyone else followed her.

But then, as soon as Riley clicked the message, everyone ran back to Riley.

"What the?! You're meeting her tomorrow?!"

"Riley…" Hannah's eyebrows began to furrow, "...What's that about? You… huh? An audition?"

Her tone was reprimanding at first, but then softened as soon as she read the rest of the message.

"Audition? You mean like… an actor?" Victoria gasped, "You… I can see you doing that, Riley!"

"Bruuh…" Gracey groaned, "...You really are the MC."

Riley let out a small sigh as he closed Hera's message, glancing back at the group. They all started slowly backing away, with only Victoria staying by her side and giggling.

"Let's… just invite you to the GC."

The Baby Crew spent some more time checking their new laptops and hanging out before finally returning to their respective dorms, and when everyone was gone, Hannah just let out a long and very deep sigh as she fell onto her bed.

"Finally," she whispered. But soon, a small smile crept onto her face. Due to her abilities, she never really had friends before. But most importantly, Riley was also being exposed to people, which she thought was great.

"It… was the right decision to enroll here."

***

[Morning Class - The next day.]

"Alright! Today, we will be learning how to properly season your food. Now, I know you Americans are allergic to seasonings other than salt and pepper, but…"

I am watching you, Chef Jordan. If only Tomoe were here, then she could also help me with trying to determine whether you are the mole that Father speaks of—but I believe the first thing I need to do is to check whether or not you are actually a Super. But how do I do that? Hmm… I think I know now.

"Are you a super, Chef Jordan?" Riley suddenly asked, raising his hand as soon as he got the chance to. Jordan Ramsay blinked a couple of times as he stared at him for a few seconds, and then just said,

"No…?"

Hmm. It was worth a try.

[Afternoon Class]

"Alright, everyone! I know you're all still tired from that field trip, and most of you are probably still shocked about what happened. But life moves on!"

Spectacular Mustache Man's loud voice reverberated throughout the entire room.

"Are we going to have another practical?!"

"I love your enthusiasm, random student!" Spectacular Mustache Man's mustache pointed at the random student. But no, half of being a superhero is in the state of our minds. So, today… we will be talking about Tiers. For supers in general, for superheroes, and lastly… for supervillains. And for the final part, we are going to talk about something you might be uncomfortable with—the potential villain list."