Reincarnator Returns: Second Shot

Eren saw in real time how it all clicked in Ms. Calliope’s head. Her mouth went slightly agape as she stared at him, now finding confirmation of his identity from Pang Cai’s words.

She walked over towards him.

”Ms. Calliope,” he greeted her.

Surprise flashed in her face, before it immediately turned to relief and gladness. ”Eren Grayson?! Is that really you?!”

Pang Cai looked back and forth towards Eren and the Academic Sector’s proctor. ”Hm?”

”I can’t believe I’m seeing you here. I could barely believe my eyes!” Ms. Calliope had a look of pure wonder in her eyes.

”I’m just surprised you still remember me. How long has it been? Ten years?”

”Yeah...” That slight pause said a lot. It made her remember the things that had happened during the Cataclysm. What she had to do to survive. But seeing Eren had made her feel reverted back to the times when the world’s fate wasn’t at stake with them training young kids to fight monsters.

Ms. Calliope shook her head, as if it would get rid of the thoughts in her mind. ”You look so much different.”

”That’s puberty for you.”

”No, there’s something more,” she insisted. Eren felt her gaze inspecting him, not just physically, but with her own Psions. ”You... you’ve really matured.”

She must be comparing the ’me’ now to the ’me’ ten years ago. But I’m no longer the snivelling little kid I was before. No longer afraid to look people in the eyes. No longer struggling to keep up with basic elementary knowledge...

”Do you remember we spent those afternoons together?” Ms. Calliope said fondly.

”That’s not exactly a good memory from me,” Eren joked. ”I was the only one who you had to give special lessons to because I was so slow.”

It was the reason he remembered her so vividly. All the other teachers in his school gave up on him. No use teaching the dunce, they said. But not Ms. Calliope. She tried so very hard to prevent him from getting held back from advancing a grade.

She never found out if her efforts worked. Shortly after those months of studying, he was supposed to go to school for a final exam.

On the way, they were involved in a fatal car crash that killed his parents and left him in critical care.

”But I’m glad that you’re looking well now!” Ms. Calliope said, affectionately grabbing his shoulders. ”You look really well. And you even made yourself a friend!”

She turned to look at Pang Cai. It took her a second before she recognized his face. ”You’re...”

”Pang Cai,” the chubby scion of the Cai family said with a gravelly voice. He then took Ms. Calliope’s hand and kissed it, before giving her a wink. ”I never knew my friend was acquainted with such a beautiful woman.”

Ms. Calliope chuckled the way she should when she found a child’s antics cute. ”Fufufu, you know, I’ve heard about you.”

Pang Cai straightened his body, looking proud. ”Oh really? Pray tell.”

”I’ve heard about the lobster incident.”

Immediately, the suave and debonair attitude Pang Cai inhabited crumbled, before he shied away from Ms. Pang Cai. ”That—that was a misunderstanding! I’ve already told everyone that I was just trying to... oh whatever!”

Eren would be glad to find out whatever that ’lobster incident’ was, seeing as how it affected Pang Cai so greatly.

Then, Pang Cai leaned towards Eren. ”Friend, how do you even know this woman?”

Ms. Calliope smiled. ”I was his elementary school teacher.

Then, she turned towards Eren. ”I’m really glad to see you up and about, Eren. I thought... we all thought you were dead.”

Immediately, Pang Cai’s ears perked as he regained his vitality. ”Oh, what happened?”

”It was tragic. The whole school was rattled. We set up a vigil for you, you know? Everyone came. Your classmates, your teachers, the whole school. We prayed together so that you would wake up from your coma.

And a few days after that... Well, the Cataclysm happened. And I haven’t heard about you ever since. But it’s good that you look like you’ve recovered well.”

This was the first Eren heard of a vigil. Not surprising, given that his soul was in Immoræ by then. He would have really appreciated it if he knew back then.

”You were in a coma?!” Pang Cai asked, surprised.

”I was.”

Ms. Calliope’s face was filled with pity. ”It must have been a horror waking up to find a completely new world. Where have you been since then?”

She pitied him because she knew he didn’t have any other relatives. No one arrived at his vigil. So, she knew that there would be no one to welcome him once had woken up from his coma.

”The hospital,” Eren replied.

”But what about after your recovery? Where did you live?”

”The hospital,” he answered again.

”You lived in a hospital for years?” Ms. Calliope looked at him with a lot of sympathy.

”No, I only lived there for about a month. Then I came here,” Eren answered. ”I don’t know where I’m going to live after this. But I’ll figure it out once I have my license.”

Both Ms. Calliope and Pang Cai had looks of confusion all over their faces. They couldn’t understand the sequence of events.

”Did you, or did you not wake up from a coma? I’m confused.” Pang Cai asked, massaging his forehead.

”I woke up from a coma a month ago.”

Ms. Calliope was stunned. A variety of emotions created a slurry of expressions on her faces, ranging from pure shock, to incredulity, to worry.

Eren woke up a month ago from a coma that incapacitated him for ten whole years. And now, he was participating in a License Exam that had already claimed the lives of multiple people. She didn’t know if she should be amazed or horrified.

”What... but that’s... that’s not possible.”

He felt Ms. Calliope’s gaze once again focus on him intently. This time, Ræzoň billowed around her eyes.