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Eric nodded reluctantly. By the time Flora turned toward the locker room, Jeryon was already heading out the door.

Eric had no choice but to jog after him.

”I suggest you start with the triangle technique. The circle technique is easy, but to strengthen your foundation, you need to...”

Jeryon listened to Eric’s endless rambling, but the words went in one ear and out the other.

They ran into Shani in front of the elevator after Elias had finally let her go. Traces of sweat were still clearly visible in her hair.

”Did you start training immediately?” Jeryon asked, concern lacing his tone.

Shani nodded, forcing a smile as she recalled her grueling session.

”What about you? Why do you look so pale?” She couldn’t help but notice Jeryon’s ghostly complexion.

”I just thought the Prince had a naturally fair face,” chimed in Eric, whose face was completely hidden behind Jeryon’s broad shoulders.

Shani leaned forward to catch a glimpse of the familiar figure. ”You guys...?”

”I’m an unofficial member of the Ribbon Athletics Club, tasked with instructing and preparing the Prince for his Ribbon Club entrance test,” Eric answered, practically beaming with pride.

Shani merely nodded along, utterly speechless.

The three of them returned to the Panther Building and headed straight for the cafeteria. The fourth floor was quiet by the time they arrived, with no sound of chatter echoing from inside.

When they walked in, only three other students were present.

”Shani!” Kiran waved cheerfully at her. ”Come sit over here...!”

Her hand froze midair when she spotted the male student walking right beside Jeryon.

”What are you doing here? Why didn’t you just text me?” she asked Eric directly.

”I’m not here for you,” Eric replied curtly, though he pulled out a chair and sat next to Kiran anyway. ”Prince Jeryon wants to join the Ribbon Athletics Club. The club president assigned me to guide him.”

Kiran nodded in understanding... Until her eyes widened in complete shock a second later.

”The Ribbon Club?!” Sonny’s voice boomed across the empty cafeteria. Noella looked equally stunned.

Shani and Jeryon didn’t bother elaborating, simply stating that it was Instructor Theron’s direct order.

”Let me tell you guys something. Every time I see him, he doesn’t look like a dignified instructor at all. I have no idea how he even got the job,” Sonny suddenly began gossiping about his uncle.

Shani nodded repeatedly in agreement, remembering how mentally drained she felt after dealing with the old man.

”He’s not married, let alone having kids, but his room is packed with teddy bears! At his age, he still plays with plushies,” Sonny continued enthusiastically, especially upon noticing how invested Shani was in the gossip.

To Kiran’s right, Shani was thoroughly entertained by Sonny’s gossips.

Meanwhile, to her left, Eric was chattering away about Ribbon Essence and the Ribbon Athletics Club to Jeryon, who clearly wasn’t processing a single word.

Kiran turned to Noella, who shared her thoroughly exasperated look.

After dinner, all six students boarded the elevator. Kiran held Shani’s arm in the back corner, watching Eric, who was still talking up a storm.

”I thought your partner was the quiet type,” Shani whispered to Kiran.

”So did I,” Kiran replied, just as baffled.

Indeed, Eric was Kiran’s resonance partner, someone who had always kept to himself, or rather, was too busy being an unofficial member of the Ribbon Club.

Kiran knew Eric was always busy, but since she had zero interest in Ribbon Essence, she had always steered the conversation away whenever he brought it up.

That had left her with the impression that he was a man of few words.

She quietly breathed a sigh of relief, shuddering at the thought of how sore her ears would be if she had to endure non-stop chatter from both Eric and Sonny at once.

...

After joining them for dinner last night, Eric tagged along with Shani’s group again for breakfast and lunch, all while relentlessly spreading the gospel of Ribbon Essence.

That morning, a refreshed Jeryon had actually tried listening to Eric’s advice, but he quickly realized Eric was delving far too deep into details that wouldn’t be useful to him anytime soon.

Thus, Jeryon chose to treat Eric’s voice as nothing more than the buzzing of a distant mosquito.

By lunchtime, Jeryon had mastered maintaining a stone-cold, deadpan expression while tuning Eric out completely.

Eric finally paused to chew the food in front of him.

He pointed at the milk carton and milk pie sitting on the table. ”This isn’t standard cafeteria food, right? There was milk this morning, and now there’s milk pie too.”

”Shani likes milk.”

”Jeryon likes milk.”

Both sentences were blurted out simultaneously, the former by Jeryon, the latter by Shani.

Jeryon and Shani turned to look at each other in surprise. A few seconds later, the truth dawned on them: it was a complete mutual misunderstanding.

’So Jeryon bought milk thinking I liked it?! How embarrassing!’ Shani felt like crawling straight into a gutter right then and there.

Shani let out an awkward chuckle. Jeryon maintained his deadpan expression as if the mix-up didn’t phase him at all, though his bright red ears told a very different story.

Noella and Kiran exchanged knowing glances.

Meanwhile, Eric, who had exposed the misunderstanding in the first place, couldn’t care less about Shani and Jeryon’s embarrassment.

He rambled on, ”I know a milk brand that club members swear by. It’s great for bone health and...”

Indeed, Eric only cared about Ribbon Athletics, everything else was completely off his radar.

A short while later, Eric was cut off when Sonny rushed over to their table, bearing the latest news.

Naturally, Eric had zero interest in listening. He simply carried on eating, having only finished a third of his plate.

”Vivienne’s punishment is out. But if you ask me, it doesn’t fit the crime at all!” Sonny huffed at the end of his sentence.

”So what’s the punishment?” Kiran asked, already preparing a barrage of curses.

”She only got demerits and a one-class demotion from today until the end of next month. She got moved down to Class 2... My class!” Sonny looked genuinely repulsed just thinking about it.

”That’s it?!”

...