As months came and went Julian gradually distanced himself more and more from all the others; but he finally reached what he wanted…
He seats at his desk at home, looking at the ranking, he created almost a year ago…finally seeing his name at the number one.
"I did it…" He thought while looking at it empty.
"I finally reached it…but wait…what now? Wait, I already thought about its months ago; I wanted to change the whole popularity system in this school or have at least a great impact on it…useless any ways."
His daily life and friend group changed so much compared to halve an year ago and one year ago, one year ago, all he did was playing chess and studying, no friends but halve an year ago he was around the top nine hundred of the most popular in school but had a different friend group; now everyone he is surrounded are only people that like him or have interest on him simply because of the popularity, or are just simply superficial, that's just what kind of people high popularity attracts, not spending time with them isn't an option too; because not spending time with superficial popular students could damage his popularity.
"That's weird…now before school I ranked myself as the most popular at school…but something is off I remember back then when is managed to reach the top one thousand or top five hundred, it all felt so…like an explosion…a true cocktail of emotions…but why isn't there anything now; literally nothing…no maybe it's all just so much reaching it now that I don't feel that much, Hehe…"
In school again spend all that much time with all those people he doesn't likes, for some even quite the opposite, in the hallway, he saw Kaito, he had multiple attempts talking with Julian, none worked at all; now Kaito just lowered his head and avoids eye contact.
Right after he passed Kaito, it was not as if he really didn't care, he was actually quite ashamed but only one or two corners further he saw someone coming into school.
His eyes ripped open as never before, his heart began to beat as fast no even faster than in a sprint, he froze, sweated like he got chased but even though all this he tried to stay calm or at least hide what´s happening inside him; after gazing at this person he slowly walked away mechanically.
In his class he began to bite his nails, something he actually didn't do for a long time.
"H-how can t-this…this be? Am I hallucinating? Am I going insane…trembling…they just…look similar right…yeah…y-yeah…that's it…they just look similar, right? Right?"
Falling more into thoughts and playing more scenarios through in his head, his classmates would've got worried about him. "Are you okay?" "Maybe you should go to the schools doctor?" And similar other "Help" They didn't really cared about Julian, at least much; latest you know it because everyone did suggestions but not real offers to help, only what he should maybe do without really helping or wanting to.
"I AM OKAY!" He shouted, everyone went back to their seats, talking about him; almost rumoring!
"Heh…those assholes, once I needed distance, they instantly get a little of doubt in our friendship…pathetic!" His thoughts were trembling.
Later in the cafeteria, sitting with his "Friends" And being surrounded by some that like him he still thought but tried now to calm down.
"Hehe…Julian you are a bit weird aren´t you today, Hihi?" Others started laughing a bit, this was not just a little joke, this meant actually serios but just disguised in humor.
Julian just ignored the unmature idiots, gazing more into nothing he saw something in the corner of his eyes; standing there again, gazing back to Julian and doing nothing else, but the worst was that this stare down kept going for the whole rest of the lunch break.
The whole rest of the school day at every chance he could see the creature, staring at him, then, finally the horror was over.
"Finally, school is over! B-but this doesn't make sense, am I really going insane? Hao Ran is dead for soon a whole year now in a few months!!!"
"He looks slightly taller and older then back then; did he maybe faked his own death? No…how should do this, he was smart but not like that, he is definitely…but still who is this?"
Thinking more let him come to one thought. "I remember the school tried to make his death as silent small as possible, it would be a big damage for the reputation that someone from their school died, also he was only there for a few weeks, means almost no one could recognize him…Shit…the bigger question now is…gulp…what does he want? Revenge?!"
Going further and further, mumbling to himself he bumped into someone. "S-sorry."
A few seconds later until he looked at the one, he bumped to…was Wao Ran.
They only stared at each other for a few moments until Julian took all his braveness together.
"Who, are…you?"
"Hehe…you are really him…but my name is Fu chao, you surely think why I look so similar to Wao Ran…I am his younger brother…"
Chao looked at Julian with cold excitement, they even have the same energy, beside Ran even had colder energy.
"W-what do you want?" The hardest part saying this was not to tremble.
"What, I want? You asked? You killed my brother, I am going for a revenge; even though he was surely cold and indifferent to you we a had a strong bond and loyalty for each other…you are for sure still going to experience what I did…just in a different way; your hiding something…I am going to find it out…" Even though he could've said horrible things he held a gentle calm and polite voice, bystanders only seeing the expression and voice would even think that he praised Julian!
"Tremble…one thing is sure…gulp…if Ran told him how I look; he surely told him other information's, let's say he is as smart as Ran…gulp…he was an big advantage in information´s, hopefully he doesn't knows a thing about the files but there is a high chance that he told him that there is something I hide…careful now!"
Walking home he had at least his privacy but still "What now? Should just wait now about what´s coming or should I plot against him?"
The next day he was super careful, not just in school but also outside, ran broke two times into his house, why shouldn't his brother not at least observe him, doing the same or even worse outside school?
"Thinking about stuff he can use against there are only the files that could be a threat, so…I should hide them…wait… why didn't I thought earlier about this? I need to destroy them…unfortunately…sigh…damn, it's almost nostalgic…" Still in school he deleted everything, the only threat still there is that still up until in forty-eight hours they can be restored.
"Two days, this is the days there is still potential threat, if he does not manage to find them until there, he can't do a thing!"
The first of those two days was aggressive, Chao constantly tried to get Julian´s phone, laptop or overall access to his locker, but Julian always managed to protect his stuff. "Only tomorrow and then; I won!"
The last day wasn't much different, only the last class was left, sport!
"I can't carry my laptop with me the whole class, only after two minutes the teacher would ask me if I am retarted, so I positioned my back with my laptop and phone in easy sight distance, and obviously I need to always have it in sight, Chao already had his last class, for all the first graders school is over."
Everything worked perfectly, they played soccer and Julian tried to play an most unimportant role as possible, even though there are not many, the position where you do the least is probably the goalkeeper, everyone was shocked that Julian, who is pretty athletic after his relay race training, only goes as the goal keeper! "But those merely superficial judgers should care about their own stuff!"
But then he was focused so much on his backpack that he completely lost focus about the field.
BAM!
A fast strong soccer ball hit Julian´s face, his nose bled and he couldn't see a thing, it was nothing bad; but this was Julian´s excuse to go home or at least only watch the game!
"Teacher, if you don't mind, I would stop for today?!"
"Sure, sure…if you want just watch the rest of the game!"
Slowly looking for sight again without all those tears in his eyes he looked at the back, he let the laptop look out of the backpack so that Julian could see if it's still there; the laptop was gone!
"No, no, no, this can't be!" He thought while searching the whole backpack, but he couldn't find his laptop…"