Descending Into A Novel-Chapter 67:Fan Clubs

"Raymond, what kind of pose is that?"

Emily looked exhausted at this point, her patience stretched thin. Turning to another person standing beside her, she said.

"Put Raymond on the DNL list."

"What?"

Lily who was standing next to him, also wearing a set of similar clothes— except hers were a lighter shade of grey rather then black like his. Explained it to to him.

"DNL stands for do not let. Basically, you shouldn’t have any choice when it comes to anything fashion related."

"Just because I dont know how to pose?"

Lily stared at him a bit longer, before deciding to give up.

’Raymond...look at your own hairstyle, and you always wear white clothes, so outdated and bland...’

Naturally she didn’t voice these thoughts out loud. Although she was very tempted to, how come he only ever wore the same clothes to the Coffee Club meetings?

The three of them—himself, Lily and Thomas. Went back to the city backdrop after a quick break. The snow producing machine had been disabled, replaced by Raymond’s own magic. Several prop paper cups had been handed to them, with Raymond’s own steam magic on them to give off the appearance of a hot cup of whatever.

Seeing Raymond’s stiff pose, Emily sighed.

"Raymond move to the left a bit more, now wrap your arm around Lily, now lean in closer, as if you’re best friends. Thomas you too. "

’???’

Lily barely had time to process Emily’s instructions before she felt an arm wrap around her neck. Thomas, meanwhile did the same on her other side.

"Lily, you have to do the same you know?"

Raymond’s face was way too close to her face! (There was at least a foot of space between them). Thomas’s face as well was way too close! (Same foot of space). Wherever she looked left or right, she was greeted by either Thomas or Raymond.

Lily could see Emily slyly wink at her. Her intentions clear as day.

She really regretted telling Emily about her crush on Raymond now. She had a suspicious feeling when she was told that they specifically requested the three of them.

Lily found it more likely that Emily had purposefully made it so that the three of them would be requested together.

She closed her eyes hard, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves before opening them again.

"3, 2,1! Perfect!"

The brown haired teenager who was taking their photo smiled, looking over the several photos.

"Great! You sure I can use these right Emily?"

"Of course, just make sure to print a few extras so I can hand then over later."

This was the ’payment’ the photography club received for doing this photoshoot. They got to keep some of the photos for themselves.

Well, it was their hobby. If they were passionate about it then did it really matter?

Looking over the photos, Raymond himself felt rather surprised looking at it. He had thought it to be relatively decent looking, but the hairstylists and make up artists had really done a good job on him. If he looked handsome before, then he was basically radiant in the photos.

Emily handed him a plastic bag and a rectangular letter, filled with money.

"You can keep the clothes for this one. Said they wanted to make a good impression on the most talented person ever. You should expect to receive a lot more in the future."

A double win, he had only come for the money so he could go out to the capital and enjoy himself but he wasn’t about to turn down getting free clothes as well.

It was a shame it was winter clothes though, they wouldn’t experience winter for another seven months at least.

There was always other opportunities at least.

Waving goodbye to everyone there, Raymond soon left the studio. Meeting up with Ellen who was outside waiting for him.

Complaining to her, he said. "Lets go eat dinner now, I was starving during that whole shoot!"

***

Natalie opened the profile for Raymond Vance again, then checked the profile for Ellen Grace. Sighing out loud.

Every high rank awakened was famous, with many having fan groups dedicated solely to them. They were basically the biggest stars of humanity after all.

For people like Raymond Vance and Ellen Grace, they were practically guaranteed to become probably the strongest of all time!

When a time did come, being able to say ’Ah actually, I was a fan of them before they even became famous’ would be the biggest joy of ones life.

So why? Why did these two barely ever update their socials?!

Natalie screamed internally, Raymond’s profile was completely bare. With a default profile picture. In fact, they only knew it was Raymond’s because Ellen Grace followed him!

Ellen’s wasn’t much better, she posted seldomly. The occasional picture of whatever food she ate, life at the academy and her shopping. Only occasionally would one ever get a glimpse of her face, even rarer was the occasional appearance of Raymond.

Seriously, it’s not like the academy banned them from accessing the internet. Why were they all so offline!

She opened the chat group for the Raymond Vance fan group, already nicknaming themselves as the Rays of Light. A play on his name and how he was always so brilliant and radiant.

She expected it to be empty as usual, filled only with past messages of when it was first formed and the hype around him was still at it’s peak. There had been a small spike when he was spotted entering the academy but that was it. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶

But months of nothing had worn them down. Drying out their enthusiasm.

Her eyes blinked, staring at the unexpectedly active chat.

Scrolling up, she found a message from a member.

YnRengineer:Guys! I was just shopping and I found this advertisement for winter clothes. The guy on the right is Thomas Incane! The guy on the left looks a lot like Raymond doesn’t he? Don’t know who the girl in the middle is but she’s probably pretty impressive right?

YnRengineer attached an image:img.01

Clicking on the attached image, Natalie saw an advertisement. With three people standing side by side arms wrapped around each other smiling and laughing. Each clothed in thick winter clothes.

She recognized the one on the right instantly, Thomas Incane. His extremely good looks and high potential score had made him one of the most popular new gen awakened, along with his extremely common appearance on social media.

Not from his own account which wasn’t found yet but because of how often he was included in other people’s accounts.

Looking through any of the first year academy students accounts, you were almost guaranteed to find the guy. In pictures, videos, restaurants and training. He was everywhere.

The guy on the right...

Her eyes sparkled slightly, Raymond only had a few appearances. Mainly from before entering the academy and when his potential score was first revealed. But a true high quality image of him was hard to find.

But now, Natalie felt as if her own obsessing was finally paying off. Because she could just tell, that was indeed Raymond.

His appearance looked even better then in the few images she saw. His white hair, which was strangely tied into a pony tail at the back. His light blue eyes which seemed to hold a deep wisdom in them.

How mysterious, how cool and most importantly! How handsome!

Natalie really regretted not being able to enter the Academy for Heroes. She unfortunately wasn’t talented enough and had to settle for a lesser academy.

Otherwise, she would have been able to see him every day!

Her eyes narrowed slightly, ’but who exactly is this girl in between the two of them?’

She felt an intense anger at her. But most importantly, she felt unbelievably jealous!

’How nice it must have been to be sandwiched between two of the best looking people on Terra!’

If Raymond heard this, he would have scratched his head in confusion.

’We’re only 15, is such a thing really that serious?’

But never underestimate the emotions of a young teenager who had just went through puberty.

Right now, her jealousy was sharp enough to cut holes into steel.

Looking through the chat, she tried to find any hints on who the middle girl was.

RiarRoarea15:Who’s the girl in the middle?! I just want to talk with her for a bit.

1PoliBaRa:Same here. If I had a genie right now. I would use the first spell to replace her with me, then I would use it to make them marry me.

RiaRoarea15:Are you crazy? Raymond is obviously mine.

These damn bastards, who did they think they were talking about her future husband like that?!

Raymond was obviously hers!

Ignoring the argument. She scrolled further down, looking for any hints on who her newfound enemy was.

JhonJohn:She’s also an academy student. I don’t know her name since we’re in different classes though.

JhonJohn, one of the few members who was actually in the academy. Unfortunately, he was in class D meaning he almost never saw Raymond who was in the special class.

But it at least narrowed down her search area. Now that Natalie knew that she was an academy student in the first year. She just had to go through every first year students profile and find her.

Easy work, should only take her a few hours or so.

After four hours however, she finally found it.

She hadn’t realized this account was also from a student in the academy since they had never posted anything related to the academy. But she quickly realized the familiar sights.

’Lily Francesca...you better start counting your days.’

How very ominous, if it weren’t for the fact that Natalie couldn’t actually do anything to her.