The Earth After Rebirth

"Well, Dean Whitmore certainly knows how to handle the both of them." Isla was impressed.

So was Hiro and Saanvi, as they nodded. Agreeing with Isla\'s statement.

Kiro didn\'t bother telling them he had yet another punishment added to his ranks. But they didn\'t need him telling them that, his very sour face was confirmation enough.

"Yeah, we have all the time in the world to do this." Kiro complained under his breath.

He thought this was a waste of their time, since they had a much bigger mission to accomplish and for that, they needed to train.

It was definitely a hypocritical way of thinking, considering they spent the whole weekend not training but instead playing games.

Both of them, including Isaac were cleaning faster and more precise now. Which made the three stop and watch, whatever the dean had told them, clearly rejuvenated both of them.

They occasionally bumped into each other but instead of getting into another fight, they\'d forcefully smile at each other then continue with the work ahead of them.

"I think the dean broke them." Saanvi whispered as though she was scared that the dean would burst open the door if she was heard talking.

After leaving the toilets sparkling, they moved to the forest. Kiro and Isaac disappeared right before they finished, neither of them wanted to be seen doing something like that, especially together.

Kiro having been trained in cooking, he hadn\'t thought the next punishment would\'ve posed any difficult problems. Until he realised just how tired he was from working all day.

\'Sh*t, and here I thought this would be a piece of cake.\'

But at least, it wasn\'t the whole campus they had to cook for. Just the dean and their dorm building. Though this was still a lot for just two people. Usually the workers, were about 10, tackling the same job.

Kiro started by cleaning the dishes and the station they\'d be using to cook for everyone. Isaac stood dumbly by the door, he\'d never been in the kitchen before.

"Start on those dishes," he said leaving the job for Isaac, and walking up to chop up some ingredients.

Isaac was clearly a little heartbroken that he was being given orders, by him, of all people. But he\'d never set his foot in the kitchen, at least not a time he remembered, so he decided to nip in the bud and did as he was told.

He couldn\'t help but be impressed with Kiro and his knife skills. They weren\'t amazing or anything, but he was skilled enough to not chop any of his fingers. Which was something Isaac couldn\'t do even if he tried.

They cooked rice with a lot of side dishes, this had never been at their school. They usually had a variety to choose from, from junk foods and healthy ones.

But they were just a two man team, they only made rice, the variety was in the side dishes. Kiro figured this would take much less time, they were given just three hours before it was dinner.

They were also the ones dishing for the students coming. It was embarrassing but they took it with a grain of salt. Kiro put Isaac on dishing the rice. While his job was dishing the side dishes.

People laughed looking at them.

"Oh how the mighty have fallen, is that Isaac dishing out school food?"

"That\'s Kiro besides him, what a strange combination!"

"Yeah, are they friends now?"

Both cooks wanted to yell no, but there were too many customers to attend to, so they let them speculate and hoped they didn\'t land on anything very strange and wrong.

Their friends walked in, even Nikolai and Felix came to eat at this cafeteria, it was one thing they didn\'t want to miss. They couldn\'t help but laugh at the spectacle.

"Our cooks, great job!" Saanvi said first, she was amused to the highest degree.

Kiro had scrambled things together, he cooked what he knew. Most of the dishes they\'ve never seen before, they were very skeptical to eat things that weren\'t posh. But they were soon lining up for seconds though.

He was very satisfied that his mother\'s cooking didn\'t fail him here. Isaac wore an expression of utter shock. Only after they were done serving the students, were they allowed to eat too.

After that, they had to do the dishes and leave the kitchen clean. Both of them were on the verge of death. Kiro didn\'t know why this drained his stamina so much, he\'d been exercising for months after all.

After they had done, they left. It wasn\'t even a minute after that the dean entered the kitchen with another man.

He was tall and lean, he looked around the kitchen, as if to look for small fires the pair would\'ve started. He sighed deeply relieved that nothing seemed to be amiss.

"They even cleaned, I didn\'t tell them to do that." The dean said with a toothy grin.

"But Sir, don\'t you think you were a bit hard on them?" The man asked, he wasn\'t happy to have given up his sanctuary to the kids.

He was passionate about cooking, so the kitchen was something he held to the highest standards. He grew up around fires and knives after all, it was all he knew, and he was quite proud of it.

"I told you, didn\'t I, Mr. Hale? Your kitchen is even in better condition. And no, their crime fit the punishment. I did this mostly for young Isaac, he\'s lost, he does need to find his own path." He said sagely.

"Sir you needn\'t call me that, you know as well as I do that I have since denounced that name." He reminded the dean, disgusted that he was even related to them by blood.

"Ah, yes, I\'m old, I forget these things but you know James, abandoning the name does not erase the crimes." He said eating some of the leftovers, clearly enjoying this delicacy.

James knew this, but he just didn\'t know how to fix their wrongdoings. He\'d been approached by the dean as a student here, learning about everything and confirming from his family. He decided that, that was not anything he wanted to involve himself with. That\'s why he came here to Eden Academy, to be a chef for the students.

"I know Sir, but it\'s the least I can do, for our countrymen that have suffered in their hands. I\'m just one man." He knew these were excuses, but he said them anyway.

"Son, it\'s not the least you can do. There\'s plenty. But I have no intentions to drag you along if you don\'t feel like it\'s your calling. It\'s always been the kitchen for you." He told him sincerely.

"Then, is that why Sir? Is that why you still keep your name, you intend to fight?" He was bewildered.

He\'d never met anyone quite like the dean, but he also never thought he would have the courage to take a stand and fight.

"Intend to fight? Oh James my son, your naivety will be the death of you one of these days. Do be careful, I must best be going, a lot of paperwork awaits these old bones."

James didn\'t stop him, he didn\'t say anything else either. He watched as he walked out of the door. He never thought he was naive, but if the dean had said it, maybe he was a little.

He hadn\'t the slightest clue that, the fight had been going on for decades. But because it wasn\'t in his face, he never imagined that, there were people fighting. The dean hadn\'t confirmed it, but he was sure now.

What he wasn\'t sure about was whether to involve himself and if he did, how on earth could he help. He wasn\'t trained in combat, the only thing he knew was cooking but the fact that the dean had approached him all those years ago must\'ve meant there was something the dean saw that he didn\'t.

But would he be able to kill his family, when the time came that they were face to face? He didn\'t know, he wasn\'t sure. This made him scared, scared that his resolve wasn\'t as strong as he thought it was.

Abandoning his surname was easier, it was much easier than the options that were staring right at his face. The options that didn\'t exist just a second ago. Before this conversation with the dean, he was content with his life but now, what he\'d done seemed too insignificant.

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"Maybe, maybe I could?"