Chapter 51: Dodgeball
As Gray attentively listened to Plato's teachings, he was glad that he was gradually reintroducing bits and pieces of knowledge he had known before the wiping of his memory.
The parts of the lesson he enjoyed the most were the Theory of Forms, the Allegory of the Cave, and Plato's theory of the Soul.
Plato considered the ψυχή—psyche, otherwise known as the human mind, both conscious and subconscious, to be the essence from which a man's personality and behavior was derived from.
This soul was eternal, timeless, and formless. He believed that when people died, their soul continued to live on, reincarnating endlessly in a process that is known as metempsychosis, the transmigration of a soul.
Plato thought that souls couldn't be created or destroyed. They effectively were inside an endless loop of transmigrations. Thus, the number of souls was always the same.
He also hypothesized that the soul was composed of three parts: Logistikon, otherwise known as reason, the part of the soul that allowed people to seek rationality, located in one's head; Thymoeides, otherwise known as spirit, the building in which emotions such as anger, courage, and spiritedness were housed into, located near the chest; and Epithymetikon, the desire and appetite, the pleasures in which humanity is driven towards, located near one's stomach.
Plato argued that the Logistikon should always rule over the other parts of one's soul, creating harmony between them.
Being also the first known person with the following idea, he proposed that the soul was both the giver of life to the body, and also the mind every human possessed.
While objects cannot move unless something else moves them, living things who are bearer of souls, can drive themselves forward independently.
To be alive is to be able to move oneself; therefore, the soul is a self-mover.
And since the soul is one's mind, the soul consequently moves things by one's thoughts.
…
As the hour and break ended, the class entered the gymnasium to have physical education.
Gray stepped on the blue floor, his and his classmates's steps echoing through the closed off area.
He scrunched his nose and smelled a leathery scent mixed with a tinge of rubber inside.
Since people mostly played sports such as football, basketball, and even dodgeball, the room would naturally retain the smell of the leather or rubber balls.
Gray decided not to try too hard.
Even if he wasn't tired, working excessively for two hours would just hurt him in the long run—especially because he had to train inside Casanova's warehouse after school.
He would also have to visit Mnemosyne's Antiques, for real this time.
Since Selene wasn't there, he figured he could chat with Franz about the work he'd do, the store's compartments and other things.
Gray suddenly realized a crucial fact.
Many parts of Mnemosyne's Antiques had almost been destroyed during his battle. That was including the walls, the jewelry glass panels, and much furniture inside!
How could he visit the store if it was in that condition?!
'…Franz told me to visit regardless, though. Maybe he has already sorted everything out…'
Even with this kind of hypothesis, however, he was still puzzled.
How could he fix such a mess in less than a day?'
Gray smirked.
'Nephilim abilities…!'
'Many Nephilim have powers I can't fathom, it's not unrealistic to have someone with supernaturally good house-keeping skills!'
The professor then entered the gymnasium. He brought a carriage full of balls inside.
Although Gray couldn't recognize him right after his memory wipe, he now knew all the names of the professors.
All thanks to Rowan!
This one was named Michele Santini.
He was pretty young and fit. Yet while his face wasn't that of a model, instead being pretty much ordinary, his toned body greatly enhanced his looks.
"Good evening, my dear students!" he exclaimed. "Today we'll play dodgeball!"
Many boys in the class were visibly happy about this. A smaller amount of girls, especially Veronica Sacramento and her close group of friends seemed slightly upset.
After the teacher made the teams, Gray found himself stuck in a team made of people of which he was completely unfamiliar with.
He now knew their names at least.
Gray's group was composed by one scrawny guy and two girls from Veronica's inner circle. Rowan had been luckier. He found himself with Veronica, the girl he was trying to get with.
Gray glanced at him.
As he saw Rowan trying to engage in chit-chat with her, he muttered a quick prayer for his friend's success.
She wasn't the most commendable girl, he was aware of it. Yet Gray still hoped for his friend's success.
If the situation went awry and she ended up on breaking his heart too, Rowan would at least learn more from this experience
"As you know very well, the rules are like this:
When a player gets hit, that person will have to go out of the field. And if a player from team A catches the ball thrown by the person belonging to team B, the team B's player will subsequently get eliminated, while one of the eliminated players will get revived!
"Every part of the body that gets hit will conclude with your elimination, so protect yourself very thoroughly!"
"Rowan, Veronica, Ramona, and Alessandro, your new name is: team A!"
"… Francesco, and Pietro, you guys are now known as team B!"
"…and Gray, you'll be team C!"
"…and Nekare, you're team D!"
There were eight groups starting from team A, to team H, all composed by four people.
The teacher used tape to record the area where eliminated student went. He also created a rectangular area and split it in half—the teams would face there.
The then teacher spoke,
"By winning a match, you'll enter the quarterfinals. The team who wins the finals of this little tournament will win a special prize!"
The class erupted into a huge roar of excitement upon hearing this.
"Team F and team A you're up!" the teacher exclaimed, grasping at the students' excitement skillfully.
The two teams quickly entered inside the makeshift stage while the other teams sat on the floor to observe their match.
Now standing in the middle of the gymnasium, Rowan shot a sneaky glance towards Veronica as he screamed words of encouragement inside his heart,
'This is my chance. If try-hard, she might really fall for me!'
After putting three dodgeballs on the center of the arena, the teacher whistled, signaling the beginning of the tournament!
Rowan immediately ran for one of the three rubber balls in the center of the field.
Two other students from the other side also did the same, yet they weren't as quick as him!
Rowan's childhood was filled with expectations from his parents, and because of these expectations, they wanted him to become someone who would flourish and thrive in every single sport!
As soon as he grabbed the ball, he threw that to the player in front of him, the ball whizzing in the air!
Bang!
"Eliminated!" the professor yelled.
The other player staggered, now feeling threatened by Rowan's sudden attack. Using this hesitancy on the enemy's part, Rowan quickly grabbed the other ball and threw it right at his stomach!
"Eliminated!" the professor exclaimed once again.
The two guys slowly walked away from the arena, visibly disappointed in their performance.
Even the remaining players were stunned!
…
Before everyone even noticed, the first match ended, letting Team A pass.
A couple other Teams matched up, yet their performance wasn't as good as Rowan's.
Their matches were also clearly longer. The cause of this was because many players caught the ball, allowing their teammates to return in the arena continuously.
Nekare's team also played soon after.
Her team was made by athletic and aggressive players.
Nekare wasn't anything special
Nonetheless, they still managed to win.
Gray wondered if she was hiding her abilities. While it was true that her power of invisibility lacked any significant offensive perk, and she wasn't an experienced Nephilim, it was weird for her to not be a trained individual.
Knowing that the Nephilim and the creatures roaming around the world were so deadly, surely one would try to improve their chances to survive, right?
This was unless…
This was unless she was completely unaware about this too.
If this theory of his was true, then Nekare was in danger. And since she herself lacked the knowledge of the secrecy that was supposed to hide the Nephilim world from humanity, this was highly likely.
'Should I subtly inform her about this?' Gray pondered. "If she becomes too careless in our new reality…it means bringing unwanted attention to myself, one who is in the same class as her.'
'It would mean exposing my identity, though.' he frowned, recognizing the issue.
'Yet, if I do, will this kick-start the events I'd seen in my real-world revelation with her?'
'Should I do it physically when she's not around?'
He sighed.
'It's really tricky to understand when she's not around, though. She can become invisible…'
Gray wondered if Franz could see her.
"Team C and Team E, you're up!" the professor spoke.
Gray stood up, dusted his pants, and reached the field.
Gray conversed in his mind as he walked.
'If Nekare is an enemy in this tournament, maybe, by pressing her enough, I might be able to understand if her physical condition is really not polished…'
Her team was also really good. If he wanted to test her, he might have to reach the finals.
While he was pretty talented and somewhat experienced with dodging, he could win quite easily.
The only thing was that…
He sucked at throwing things.
He was bad, really, really bad at it. Even if his throws were fast and powerful, he still might miss by a mile.
'This is also a weakness that needs to be accounted for…'
In this hypothetical scenario, Gray would also have to continuously dodge their relentless attacks. And since he also was the best player in his team, he would be alone
This would mean exposing his physical prowess in front of the whole class, which houses Nekare inside.
Gray had always been clumsy.
Unlike him who has forgotten many of his classmates' usual behaviors, Nekare would surely remember this aspect of his.
Gray had embarrassed himself more times than he could even remember, becoming the sole focus of attention for all, becoming a fool for things he would rather keep on forgetting.
Seeing this incredible change happen so quickly would make people think that he lives an unseen life, maybe by regarding him as a ninja, a secret martial arts master and so on.
But for her, one who is a Nephilim, a person who has a broader understanding of the world and someone who has just started to comprehend the underlying reality of the universe?
She might come to understand that this change of his was also unnatural!
This would cause to look at him with suspicion, probably even lead her to tail Gray.
And if she saw him writing that cryptic warning, she surely would come to understand everything.
He sneered inwardly.
'Invisibility is truly the best power a stalker or a voyeuristic freak could have. I surely do hope that Rowan doesn't get a power like this.'
…
Rowan sneezed incredibly loudly, the sound emitted by him traveling right across the gymnasium walls.
Be looked around him, asking himself if someone dared to badmouth him.
Glancing at Veronica, he silently pleaded,
'It wasn't you, right?'
"May the match begin!' the professor exclaimed.
While the students ran for the balls in the middle of the arena. Gray remained still in place.
'While it's true that I'm not good at throwing the ball, I can eliminate the players by catching their shots in mid-air. If I were to run like everyone else, and if the balls were already taken by the enemy team, they would bombard us with their shots, eliminating our defenseless selves.'
'I can probably catch them, but doing so at point blank would attract too much attention. I never liked having many eyes placed on me, much less if they belong to Nekare…'
Since an object slows down the more they travel, Gray decided go stay at the edge of the arena.
He wouldn't cause any uproars this way.
Gray nodded to himself inwardly. He recognized the improvements of his plan-making and overall intelligence.
'Good choice Gray, good choice…'
While Desensitization was a must in life or death situations, it didn't mean that Gray had to rely on it for everything.
'Obtaining an intelligence that can allow you to remain hidden and inconspicuous is also a must, however. I sure do hope it will help me in school too…'
Just as he thought about that, a ball whizzed past his hair, almost hitting him.
Gray looked at the guy who had thrown it and sighed to himself.
'I really do need to focus, though…'
Gray could still get hit if he didn't pay enough attention, after all.
As he started to focus, his lips curved upwards, creating a slight smile.
"Let's have a good match, shall we?"