During class, even though they couldn’t interact with each other, and tried to avoid contact so as not to arouse suspicion, Lohan and Isabella were constantly watching each other.
Just as Lohan had been surreptitiously watching Lisa’s interactions at college with curiosity, not out of jealousy, but out of genuine interest in what her routine was like, Isabella was doing the same with him.
And in doing so, she was surprised to see him talking to someone for the first time.
Even though she hadn’t paid close attention to Lohan in class before, she knew that among the students in the Lower Zone, practically no one talked to each other, much less acted so close as to whisper to one another the way Lohan was doing with that boy.
’What are they talking about?’ she wondered, very curious.
From the quick glance she cast at Lohan, she realized that the two were deeply engrossed in their conversation, apparently talking about something truly interesting.
She, on the other hand, was feeling suffocated by such boring and uninteresting conversations.
"You won’t believe what so-and-so did..."
"My hair in Elysium is so beautiful that I want to dye it in the real world too..."
"My dad’s company..."
The people who came to talk to her tried to force a closeness that didn’t exist, telling things about their lives as if it were the most interesting thing in the world to everyone around them, when it was only interesting to themselves.
In this, it was extremely common for people to only listen to what they were saying, while when someone else spoke, everyone just pretended to be interested while their minds searched for what they would say next.
Unlike when she was talking to Halon in Elysium, where they actually conversed, listened to each other, tried to understand what the other was feeling, and kept the conversation going out of mutual interest, in the real world conversations were much harder for her...
’Sigh...’ Isabella sighed inwardly, disappointed that she couldn’t get up and go sit with Halon. ’At least now I have something interesting to look at and pay attention to.’
Even without being able to make direct contact with him, just glancing at him from time to time was much more interesting than just listening to the lecture.
Knowing how rare his Race was, she knew that his rate of assimilating power from the other world would be much faster than that of normal people, so knowing this, Isabella began paying attention to the physical changes he underwent every day and was shocked by what she saw!
Even though he wore loose-fitting clothes that largely hid his physique, like the other students in the Lower Zone, she could still notice some details that changed in him little by little every day.
Lohan was sitting in a relaxed manner, but Isabella noticed that compared to the first day she had noticed him, the day he first clashed with Julian Neal, his posture seemed to become more and more perfect with each passing day.
The black overcoat and loose-fitting clothes didn’t hide his shoulders, which seemed to have broadened, filling the thick fabric with a firm and proportional structure. His skin, which she remembered as having been pale and sickly before, now displayed a healthy, smooth glow.
What shocked her most was the density he exuded; it seemed as though every muscle fiber was being sculpted by an invisible force every day, making his musculature long and functional like that of a professional swimmer.
While the other students seemed artificially "puffed up" from using the various strength-enhancing and aesthetic drugs developed by the Federation over the past centuries, Lohan’s evolution was purely qualitative.
Without the mask covering his face, she could see his jawline becoming more defined and the sparkle in his blue eyes growing more intense.
’He’s actually pretty handsome, isn’t he?’ She was surprised to realize this.
Having never paid this much attention to someone of the opposite sex before, Isabella was surprised to notice, upon examining Lohan more closely, that not only was he quite handsome, but he seemed to be getting more handsome every day!
He didn’t wear any fashion-forward accessories, just hiding in old, baggy, cheap clothes, but despite that, his refined appearance combined with his indifferent and confident attitude made him stand out a lot.
’If he were from the Upper Zone, with that appearance and personality, he’d be surrounded by people!’
While Isabella was lost in thoughts about Lohan’s appearance, letting her creative and curious mind wander over details Lohan had no idea about, he, on the other hand, was lost in thoughts about Devon’s proposal.
His mind was torn between refusing and walking away from it, focusing solely on his life in Elysium and avoiding trouble, but thinking about all the problems that had befallen him, and considering that none of those problems had been actively caused by him, he realized that simply hiding wouldn’t help at all.
Problems always seemed to knock on his door, and he couldn’t count on Isabella to deal with them all the time.
She was able to help him with Julian Neal because they were in the same classroom, but if Julian were waiting for him in the Lower Zone, not only would he be unable to contact the girl, but even if he did, she wouldn’t be able to get there in time to help him at all.
So, thinking about Devon’s group, the way he described that group won Lohan over.
Unlike the typical Lower Zone gangs that were solely profit-driven, not caring about the morality of screwing over other Lower Zone folks in exchange for a few crumbs of profit from the Upper Zone, or too arrogant to care about others’ well-being, his group cared far more about the well-being of the place they lived than about profit.
Even before Elysium, they were already a considerable force in the Lower Zone, and after they managed to get their hands on an Elysium helmet and a small portion of their members were lucky enough to obtain above-average Stats, the situation became even more favorable for them.
’Didn’t you complain so much that the Lower Zone was a shithole, that someone had to do something to improve that place? Then be that change you want to see in the world, Lohan.’ He said to himself.