Everything was calm in Balamb. Only the random noices of seagulls flying over could disturb the peace that had settled in the harbor. Sure, peace was a good thing but Seifer thought it was boring. He had been fishing for a good while already but now he was having a break. Almost asleep, he was completely unaware of an approaching threat.

"Take that!" an angry-looking youngster said while kicking him.

It hurt, but Seifer was soon on his feet with the gunblade in his hand.

"Make the smart decision... and leave me alone."

The kid ran away, obviously very scared. It wasn't new to Seifer that somebody tried to assault him. They thought that he had served Ultimecia out of his own free will, and couldn't understand why the SeeDs hadn't killed him. Those people felt like they should finish him themselves and Seifer was quite depressed by that at times.

However, he wasn't that disappointed about being kicked out of the Garden. In fact, he understood very well that they had reasons to do so. Well, at least three reasons: 1), He wasn't a good student, 2), he had low chances of becoming a SeeD and 3), they would get a lot of bad publicity. What actually troubled him was that he had been an easy opponent to the SeeD. They had only seen him as an obstacle on their way and after everything was over, nobody cared about him anymore.

"Hey, man."

Seifer didn't hear Fujin and Raijin coming. His instincts were no more what they used to be, mostly because of the lack of training.

"AGAIN?" Fujin said, looking at Seifer holding the spot where the youngster had kicked him.

"Yeah. Can't blame 'em, though."

Without Raijin and Fujin he would've already left Balamb. He had often thought about travelling to the Shumi Village, the only place where he wouldn't be recognized. But it just didn't feel right to leave the posse.

"Disciplinary committee is boring without ya," Raijin said and sat himself next to Seifer.

"TOO BORING."

"Meh. I wish I could be there... By the way, I've got a lil' plan. I thought about travelling to Shumi Village. I doubt if I find any angsty teenagers wanting to hang me in there."

"You're not just gonna leave us here!"

"Of course not. But maybe you guys could come along?"

"NOT YET."

"Yeah, Fujin's right. We've got to wait for the next summer before we graduate. But then..."

"I can wait," Seifer said, getting excited. "Then we'll go and leave this place behind! It's gonna be fun!"

At times, life could show its brighter side. No matter how dull it is, it's easier to live when you know to except something good to happen. And another thing that Seifer was beginning to realize was that he had two good friends who were always ready to stand beside him. With them, it didn't matter that most people wanted to see him dead.

Author: Geezzz... I know that if I read this chapter again someday, I won't like it. Luckily I never read my own work...