I slept for a very long time at night because I already fell asleep almost immediately after having dinner. For all I know, I’m going to have to pull all-nighters for the following weeks to come, so I’m still grabbing the chance to sleep for a long time. That is why I still woke up early the next morning, even though our classes would start at eight, but still, I went along with Mom, Dad, and Chuck in going to school because I didn’t want to get bored at home, and I also didn’t want to bother Mang Gido this morning because it looks like the food we ate yesterday at Chuck’s office didn’t agree with his stomach. Besides, even if Manuel and I see each other at university, I could easily avoid him because I could talk to other people there, whether they’re classmates or even the staff in the building, just to avoid him. After Dad dropped me off at the university (traffic wasn’t heavy at this time so I arrived early yet again), I immediately went towards our classroom for Histology. I should have looked at the list of students for this class but there is another student staring closely right at it: a guy that looks like he’s from England that’s really tall, a larger-than-normal body, white hair, extremely fair skin, green eyes, a sharp nose, and thin lips. He was wearing very fine clothes; as though he just came from a formal party, but there’s an air in his expression that he’s completely clueless to his surroundings. He’s carrying a very large backpack; I think he’s carrying all our books for today. I daresay that he’s one of our extremely rich classmates because they were the only ones who dared to buy the complete list of out books for this year. I’m already contented with the PDF files in my tablet because I didn’t want to carry heavy stuff and if I can remember, all of Ash’s books were borrowed. I kinda stared at him for a long time too, so the guy couldn’t help but turn his head to me. “Good morning, my comrade. I would like to ask if this is going to be our room for our lesson this morning.” He was talking in very formal English with a heavy French accent, and there is no doubt that he’s a foreigner by the way he speaks. I still applaud him for trying to learn English just to converse with others here in the country. “If you’re talking about Histology, yes, we’re assigned here in Room 516,” I answered while scratching the back of my head. He smiled and said, “Thank you very much, my comrade. Ah! Forgive me for the lapse in my manners. I am…” He didn’t finish his sentence. It looks like he was thinking for a long time. After thirty solid seconds, he started again. “I am Elvis Potter. I was a former Biology student in the kingdom of Regalceltic, but I arrived here in your country in order to continue my studies to become a doctor.” “Oh, um, it’s nice to meet you,” I answered blandly. I couldn’t really answer properly because of what came to my mind. First, he’s got the same surname like Harry Potter, and there was something in his name that sounds like it was completely made up. Second and what’s more important is where he came from. I don’t know where in the world is the kingdom of Regalceltic. I have never heard of that place ever before. I just went back to reality when Elvis spoke again. “My comrade, have I perhaps said something you didn’t fancy?” he asked me, confused. “Hmm? Oh! Sorry. It’s nothing… I think. I just thought of something. It’s not really that important. Ahaha! Uh, yeah, I’m Ramon. Juan Ramon Sereno,” I answered hurriedly. My blank expression might have been too obvious because I often pull that face when my mind flies. “Hrm…” He closed his eyes and crossed his arms. I surmised that he was also thinking something deeply. I was just surprised when he suddenly stood up straight and said, “Sir Juan Ramon Sereno, it is an honor to meet you,” as he offered a handshake. I didn’t think twice and took the handshake. “Ah, just Ramon. I’m also glat to meet you, Elvis.” I looked at the list that he has been staring at. “Uh, is it okay if I look for my name in the list?” He slightly panicked at what I said and he suddenly placed his overly-large hand on the entire list. “Ah, to tell you the truth, um, that won’t be necessary, com – er, Ramon. I already saw your name here and we will not need any certain arrangements in sitting.” I was confused as to why he was acting like this, but I just brushed this aside for now because I didn’t want my mind to go at full drive this early in the morning. “We still don’t have a seating arrangement? Nice.” I nodded in approval of this and looked at my watch. “Or class is about to start. Guess we should go in?” “Yes, I consent to your notion,” he answered. “Let us enter.” He made me go in the room hurriedly. I don’t know why, but I just followed him. We went to the very back row and we sat there. When we were settled, Elvis brought out a hardbound book. I was intrigued by the book so I couldn’t help but ask. “Elvis, what’s that book you got there? It’s almost as big as our book in Histology.” He smiled and answered, “My friend, this is our book in Histology.” “W-what? How did that happen? From what I heard, only paperback copies are available in Book Heaven, right?” I asked, shocked. He laughed and said, “Oh, this? This came from our kingdom.” I thought deeply for a while. “From your kingdom? In Regalceltic? Uh, if I’m going to be honest, I have never heard of anything of any sort about your kingdom of Regalceltic ever before.” He laughed again. “Oh, well that’s because it’s a very small kingdom in between France and Belgium. All conquests for our kingdom by outsiders failed, so we still live in peace in our kingdom.” I looked at my watch again. “I would really like you to tell me all about your kingdom, but if it’s alright with you, let’s do this later because I think our professor would arrive at any moment. It’s already past eight, so he’ll be here in a minute.” But even after ten, twenty, and thirty minutes have passed, there was still no sign of our professor. I looked at my classmates and found Manuel in a chair in the middle of the room. She was difficult to find, but Michelle was sitting near the front row. I’ve looked at the rest of the room, but there was also no sign of Ash. A bit later, we didn’t expect Dr. Quamar to arrive. “Good morning, everyone. Is this the class in Histology from eight in the morning up to one in the afternoon?” inquired Dr. Quamar. All of us nodded. Dr. Quamar brought out his cellphone and announced, “Dr. Lardizabal is still in her research tour in South Africa. She wants all her students to know that she will arrive here in the Philippines next week. You can all go for now. For those who will have classes this afternoon, please don’t forget to come back here. Thank you.” Without me realizing it, I found myself smiling really widely at Dr. Quamar’s words, so I immediately spoke to Elvis. “Elvis! We’re still not having our classes this morning in Histlogy. We could loiter at any part of the university as we please.” “That is a very good suggestion, my friend,” he answered while putting his large book in his backpack. I then noticed something written on its cover. A very long name written in cursive writing that read: Richard Andre Evergreen VI of Regalceltic. I stopped myself just in time when I was about to ask him who Richard Andre Evergreen VI was. We were just about to stand up when I was able to ask him a different question. “I guess your family is extremely rich. I could see it by the cover of your book a while ago.” He chuckled and answered, “Yes. In fact, I was just able to purchase this a few days ago at the publishing house of our kingdom. I arrived at your country only yesterday.” “Is that so?” If he was able to but the book a few days ago, there would be no valid reason for Elvis to borrow another book from Richard Andre Evergreen VI. Before I could finish what I was thinking, however, Elvis spoke once again. “Because I just arrived at your very beautiful university, I would like you to render your services as my guide in going around,” he said with a commanding air, as though from a leader. “H-huh? Oh, sure,” I muttered. I tried to arrange my thoughts properly so I wouldn’t seem suspicious to him. “We still have up until two in the afternoon as a vacant period. Where would you like to go first?” Once again, I saw that clueless expression on his face as he tried to think, but soon, he just sighed and said, “I still don’t know the places here in the university aside from our building. I think you’re the one behind the wheel.” I smiled and chimed, “If so, we could go to the museum first in the oldest building of the campus.” “Yes, please! I really like museums. I have visited numerous museums around the world, but I haven’t seen the university’s museum before. So you should bring me to that place, my friend,” he smiled. Barely a minute has passed when we were already entering the oldest building of the university where the museum was located. We stayed inside for a long time because a few minutes pass everytime the two of us approach an artifact or painting. He had a lot of questions for me regarding those things, like the model of a mosque that can be found in Cotabato City. “Have you entered one of these places, my friend?” he asked. “I’m sorry, Elvis,” I answered. “I’m a Catholic, so I haven’t got the chance to enter any mosque. But if that chance ever arrives, I’d go grab that chance immediately. I’ve wanted to enter one in Mindanao for a long time.” “Me too, I haven’t entered a mosque before, even if I was able to go to different countries,” he added softly. “But as far as I know, the Muslims pray facing the holy city of Mecca. I guess their altars are positioned in a way that the people would pray facing Mecca.” “Our teacher in Social Studies back in high school told us something different,” I said. “Inside the mosque, there’s a pillar in the middle where the people pray facing it. Can you see that crescent moon and star at the top of the mosque? That’s the one facing Mecca, so everyone’s prayers will be sent to Mecca if they face the pillar inside the mosque.” “My friend,” Elvis whispered, “I feel that I have become more knowledgeable because of what you imparted to me. I want to thank you for it.” “Wha – just because of that? Ahaha! It’s nothing,” I chuckled. “No, really, thank you. This is the first time I went sightseeing with a friend,” he spoke. I looked at his face and noticed that what he said really came from the heart. “Why? Haven’t you got anyone with you during your travels? It really sounds fun where you went.” He sighed and his smile disappeared. “Most of my travels were done alone. The responsibility my parents were too great for them to accompany me.” “I hope it’s okay if I ask what your parents do for a living,” I asked. Elvis thought for a long time while I noticed in his eyes that he’s trying to think really fast. He just said, “Let’s just talk about something else, my friend.” I got confused again because of how he was acting but I didn’t let him know about it. “It’s already eleven-thirty in the morning. Would you like to grab some lunch?” “I think we can do that,” he said. “I have my lunch with me so we can eat anywhere we please.” “I also brought my lunch today!” I raised my voice a little and a curator happened to be passing by so he approached me and gave me a long ‘ssshhhhhhhh!’ After getting out of the museum, I brought Elvis at the park where music students usually practice. We looked for a spot and there we ate our lunch with stray cats prowling around us. Elvis is having salad today, but it’s a pretty big container so I guess it’s a bit heavy already. I opened my lunchbox Nanny prepared for me. I remembered that I brought my lunch today because I want to accompany Ash this noon. But because I’m with someone else today, and there’s no sign of him, I could probably eat with him some other time. “Elvis, won’t you go hungry with that? That looks light even with that amount.” Elvis beamed. I’m already accustomed to this. I’m also able to eat meat every Friday and Saturday. It’s good for me.” “Looks like it. I can see it with your build,” I commented. “Oh, this is different. I have physical training every Friday and Saturday night,” he responded. “Well, what kind of exercise do you do?” I asked, thinking of weightlifting and other exercises that bulk up your muscle mass. Manuel entered my mind at this point and my day was ruined in an instant. Apparently, I’m thinking of something completely different. “I go through obstacle courses that my trainer makes for me.” “Obstacle courses? Just like the stuff they do in ROTC?” I asked, a bit confused. “ROTC? What is that, my friend?” he said. I gave him a short explanation of what ROTC students here in the university do. “Do you also do that every Friday and Saturday?” He thought deeply again. You could see his clueless expression etched on his face. “If I have to compare my training with your explanation about this ROTC, I think, I can already compare it to a soldier’s training.” I spat out the water I was drinking at what he said. “What!? Your training is that intense? Why –” “If you think about it,” he continued, “my training is even more intense than that. There are your easy tasks like rappelling and crawling through mud pits under barbed wire. But before long, the tasks get more difficult. Probably the most difficult of them all is swimming with your limbs tied up.” I couldn’t believe what I’ve just heard from him. I also don’t believe that rappelling and crawling through mud pits under barbed wire is easy. I couldn’t even last as long as Chuck in table tennis. My mind is still slightly blank at this point, but I got back to reality when he spoke again. “If you think about it, I wouldn’t need any of those training because I would want to become a doctor, anyways, and I entered the a medical course for this, but this is a responsibility that a –” Elvis suddenly stopped talking. He stopped as if he wanted to keep me from finding something out. I looked at his eyes and noticed that he’s thinking really fast again. “What is it?” I suddenly asked. “Oh, i-it’s nothing, my friend,” he answered hurriedly. “Um, can we talk about something else?” I’d really want to ask him what he didn’t want to say to me, but it’s not really my place to ask for it since we’ve only known each other for a few hours. I remembered the name written in cursive on his Histology book again, so I thought of asking him about that, instead. “Oh right, I almost forgot, who is Richard Andre Evergreen VI? I kinda saw your –” Clang! I looked at Elvis who dropped his fork. He might be extremely fair-skinned, but I can see in his face that he has become really pale. He also began sweating profusely even though a breeze is blowing. “D-did I say something that might have offended you?” I asked slowly. He didn’t answer. You can see in his eyes that he’s trying to think quickly but his mind went blank. A bit later, he asked, “I-is there a place where no one can hear us?” I got extremely confused by his request, but I needed to answer his question. “We still have an hour and a half left before our class begins. We could go to the garden behind the seminary house. No one loiters there at this time.” “Thank you, my friend, we need to get to that place as soon as possible,” he answered. I don’t know what’s happening anymore. We’ve only met today but why is he already putting so much trust on me? And what is it that he wants to tell me? As a former Psychology student, I’m intrigued with what he has been keeping as a secret, but as a normal person, I have to respect his decision on keeping it a secret. We arrived at the garden at the back of the seminary house. The air is fresh and the surroundings are quiet. It’s only the two of us and no one will hear us in that place. “Are you sure no one will hear us?” he asked nervously. “Well yeah, no one,” I assured him. “If there’s someone, they can’t probably tell other people. They’re tied to the sacrament of confession so you have nothing to worry about.” Elvis looked around, as though not believing what I said, but after making sure there really is no one, he said, “My friend, do you know the feeling when you have a secret you are keeping from others and you absolutely must not tell anyone about it?” I immediately understood his situation at what he said and I have no plans of prying. Even I have a secret that I must not tell anyone. “Elvis, I totally understand,” I began. “I don’t want to find out anything about you that you’re not ready to let anyone know. So if I have said something that you did not take well, please forgive me.” I looked at my watch. “We only have an hour left. I think we have to go back to our building. Our class in Biochemistry is about to start.” I turned around and walked a few paces when he suddenly spoke. “Please wait, my friend! Do not worry. I’m already used to these kinds of situations. If I tell you everything I’m keeping as a secret since this morning, can you also tell me something that you are keeping as a secret?” My heart jumped to my throat. I don’t know what he’s thinking right now, but I could never ever tell him about my ability. My ability to jump into stories at will with the help of the pendant Granddad gave me. Only Chuck and I know this secret of mine. Granddad also told me not to tell it to others. Besides, even if I did tell Elvis about this, it could never equal what Elvis has to say to me. Also, he might think that I have gone nuts. At last, this is what I answered him: “I’m sorry. I can’t.” I don’t know whether to turn around to look at him or not. How’d I get involved in this, I also don’t know. If only there’s a sudden plane crash near us just for me to escape this situation… but no, I won’t sacrifice others’ lives just for my own self-interest. He also didn’t say anything else to me. I then turned around and saw that he’s smiling. Now I have finally lost track of things. After all that happened, I still can’t believe that he’s smiling at me. But he actually went to me and said, “For now, I think this would suffice: I am Richard Andre Evergreen VI, prince of the Kingdom of Regalceltic.” It was my minds turn to go blank. The guy that I just met this morning, the guy that I thought was completely clueless, is actually the prince of a small kingdom in Europe. But the longer I think about it, the more things I know about him make sense: his travels around the world, his extreme physical training, even his hardbound book. “I need to ask for your forgiveness, my comrade. If we are going to be friends, I should not be keeping things that you need to know. The most important thing among those is me being a prince. Now, I would like to introduce myself properly.” He stood even straighter than this morning and said, “Good afternoon, my comrade. I am Richard Andre Evergreen VI of Regalceltic. It is an honor to meet you.” I have no idea what to do next. My left leg has actually bent without me noticing, but Richard Andre Evergreen VI helped me stand up properly. “There is no need for you to kneel, my friend. I’m just introducing myself. And none of my friends kneel to me,” he beamed. I then stood up straight and said, “I… I’m sorry. I’m Juan Ramon Sereno, from Bani, Pangasinan. It’s also an honor to meet you.” For the second time, we shook hands, but this was different with our handshake this morning. You can feel that it really is an honor to meet each other. I glanced at my watch again and said, “Uh, we’re really going to be late for our class. We need to go.” “I thought so,” he answered. We walked back to our building quietly. Even if we say that we’re good friends now, I still can’t get over the fact that I’m walking with the prince from a distant land. It’s as though I’m in a fairy tale right now. While going up the stairs to our room, I remembered something. “Oh right, Andre… um, will it be okay for me to call you Andre?” “Oh, it’s alright, my friend,” he answered. “Ah nice, Andre, do our professors already know that you’re a… you know..?” He nodded. “Only our teachers know about it. They already changed my name in the lists, except of course in the list of Histology students a while ago.” “Really? Well then, I guess I still have to call you Elvis in front of our classmates.” “Yes, that is the case, my friend. But I think it would be good if I can trust at least one of my classmates with my real identity. Things will really go easier if I got a friend like you,” he answered, then let out a small snicker. I felt my cheeks slightly go pink at what he said. “Er, thanks. Wait, what’s so funny?” He looked straight at me and said, “You, my friend, were the first one to call me ‘Andre.’ I think I like that way of calling me.” I just smiled at what he said, because the times that I can call him this would be rare. Once we arrived at our room for Biochemistry class, an announcement written in large letters on the board greeted us: BIOCHEMISTRY CLASS UNDER DR. GARCELLANO IS CANCELLED THIS AFTERNOON. SHE HAS AN EMERGENCY. KINDLY READ CHAPTERS 1 AND 2 IN YOUR PRESCRIBED TEXTBOOK. I didn’t realize that Manuel was behind me. “Grand day, isn’t it? All our professors were no shows.” I answered him with, “Yeah, grand, until you came along.” He sniggered and said, “Whoa there, calm down. I just wanted to tell you that there was an announcement when you and your new friend got out a while ago. Clinical Epidemiology was removed from our curriculum to be replaced by any Physical Education course of our choice. Well, not really our choice, because it will be the administration who’s gonna assign us to the P.E. course. I daresay that I’m extremely lucky because I got assigned in baseball. You know how baseball players get all the girls.” I faced him and said, “Thanks for relaying the news to me, but I really didn’t need to know that last part.” At the corner of my eye, I saw Michelle looking at Manuel and me, and it looks like she’s also pissed off with Manuel. I just went away from him and looked for Andre. I saw him sitting in the front row, marking the chapters we needed to read in his Biochemistry book that is a lot bigger than those sold in Book Heaven. “Er… Elvis, would you like to go down already? I’d like to see the list of our names downstairs to see which P.E. we’re assigned to,” I informed him. He glanced at me. “What? We’re going to have P.E.? I thought only undergraduates have their P.E.?” “Apparently, they removed Clinical Epidemiology from our curriculum and reinstated P.E. I’m also relieved. Based from what I’ve heard, it’s hard to pass that subject,” I answered. Andre put his book back in his bag and stood up. “I guess you’re right. That’s also what I heard. Okay, I’ll go with you downstairs. I also want to see which P.E. I got assigned to.” Just as we were getting out of the room, we met Ash hurriedly getting inside. Before he can enter, I stopped him and said, “Ash, we won’t have classes today. Dr. Garcellano has an emergency so we’ll have to read the first two chapters of our book.” Still gasping, he answered, “Okay, um, thanks.” “You can go with us downstairs. We’re going to check our names, too,” I said. He still didn’t stop gasping for air while entering the room to cool down. “It’s okay. Um, I’ve already seen mine. I got assigned in arnis.” Because he already entered the room, I was unable to introduce him to Andre. Andre and I just went downstairs until we reached the bulletin board Manuel was talking about. We looked for Andre’s name first. “My friend! What is sepak takraw? I have never heard of it before,” he inquired happily. “Oh, sepak takraw? It’s a kind of game, somewhat like volleyball, but you can only use your feet, knees, torso, and head. The ball used is smaller than a regular volleyball and it’s made of rattan, a kind of reed.” I looked at Andre’s entire body. At his size, he’s going to do better in a P.E. that involves martial arts. I don’t think he’d do well in sepak takraw, though, because basing from his physique, his dexterity and maneuverability becomes questionable. That clueless expression became etched on his face again. “Oh my, that sounds hard, my friend. But I want to learn playing it. Right, have you found your P.E. yet?” I looked for my name. When I finally found where I was assigned, I told Andre with an unreadable expression, “This is no game.” “Why? What –” Right across my name, printed in all was the word with four letters: JUDO.