Chapter 3: Trouble at the second break
"Oh, another great class", Gryz said, ironically, once he got into the classroom.
Professor Raja, the Social Studies teacher, was already in the classroom when they arrived. He looked at each of the students as they came in, but he kept on staring at the new, pink-haired student. "Wait... the new girl has horns, or is it just me?"
"This aren't horns! These are my ears...", Rika said, covering her ears, shily.
"We haven't warned you... he loves making stupid jokes at everything and everyone", Chaz whispered her, in haste.
"Please, don't make any silly jokes about my ears, sir!", Rika pleaded, as soon as she heard Chaz's last comment.
"Alright, odd child, if you ask it... I'll try not to do them"
"He won't resist it", Kyra mumbled, chuckling.
"Poor me", Rika said, whining. Right now, she was wondering why Seed considered that she had to go to a normal High School... when he knew everything about Algo. She would get a much better gasp of knowledge by his side, rather than here.
"Alright, kids...", Raja said, picking the book while also staring at Rika's ears. "Let's open the book at unit… Sorry, Miss Newcomer, but does that piercing hurt in that long ear of yours?", he asked, completely distracted by the numan's longer than average ears.
Most of the class laughed, tempted.
Rika sighed. It was going to be a long class, with that green Dezorian ahead.
/
Another break finally came, after what must have been ages for Rika. She didn't learn anything new about Palman History –she doubted she could learn something else, since she knew well about it from first-hand, from Seed-, but she learnt quite a number of bad jokes about her ears and about everything else. She enjoyed the general ones, but the ones about her ears made her feel embarrassed. She was thinking in getting some new hair cut that would cover those damned things for once and for all, or some hat or hood, even if that went against the School's regularions.
"What's the next class? Will I get as embarrassed as in this one?", she asked her new friends, once Professor Raja had left the classroom.
"Oh, no, not at all", Chaz said. "Computer science's next. It's a good subject, and the teachers are quite nice…"
"But don't ever think about getting into any chatroom or webpage, because the androids will get you just as you think about doing so", Gryz warned her.
"Androids?", she asked, surprised. "Who are the teachers?"
"Professor Wren, and his assistant Demi", the blonde boy replied, surprised that she may know them. "You don't know them beforehand, do you?"
Rika nodded, in relief. "Yes, I've chat a couple of times with Wren when I lived at Birth Valley. Seed often got in contact with him, and so I learned a lot from those two"
"Who's Seed?", the boy asked.
Rika hesitated before answering, but Chaz seemed to be a nice person, as well as his friends, so there wasn't any risk. She could talk about her past without troubles, couldn't she?
"He's my father… well, not strictly… in a way…", she said, trying to find the words. How could she describe him, since he was a computer? "Well, it's too long to explain, but let's say that he's the one who looks after me, my paternal figure."
"Alright, sounds reasonable", Kyra said, smiling. "But I don't know if we'll have that class, since there's some sort of act or announcement today, I can't recall why…"
"They didn't say what it was about, that's why you can't recall it", Hans filled in.
"Oh, Little Brains talked and reminded us that we don't know anything", Kyra teased him.
"Hey, you stated that you didn't know what was going to happen next!"
Rika slowly walked to Chaz's side, who was ahead of her. He was like a soft breeze, in comparison to that often quarreling Esper kids.
"Troublesome?", Chaz asked her, when she got next to him.
"A bit… A bit lost, and a bit overwhelmed by the different people here", she explained, with a shy smile on her face. "Thanks for looking after me, Chaz"
She had said his name in such a cute way, that Chaz felt almost in Heaven with that strange newcomer.
"Hey, look over there!", Gryz exclaimed, excited. He had been walking ahead of the group and was now peeping at a dark corridor. "There's two people kissing over there, in the shadows…"
"Could it be Alys and Rune?", Chaz asked, also excited. "Those two sure have some sexual tension between them"
"I have to agree, even if I don't like Rune, even if he's an Esper like me", Kyra said, disgusted.
"Who's that disgusting?", a familiar voice asked behind her.
Kyra shivered, as she knew it was Rune who was behind her. And even if she desliked him, she knew he was rather powerful, and respected him for that.
"I was talking about Hans!", she protested as she turned back, only to find Rune frowning at her, and Alys covering her laughter with her hand.
"Come on, I love when you use me as your scapegoat", Hans mumbled, annoyed.
"So, if you are here, who are those?", Rika asked, curiously.
"Just what are you doing?", Alys asked, entertained with the entire subject.
"Well… I spotted a couple kissing, and I thought it could be you", Gryz explained, embarrassed. "Now, we don't know who it could be"
Alys stared at Rune and started laughing. "So you are still thinking that we are a non-cleared couple?", she asked, between her laughter. "No, guys, you are wrong. He's just an old friend, nothing could happen between us… or am I wrong, Rune?", she said, staring piercingly at him.
Under her apparently entertained appearance, a hurt girl was waiting for a real answer.
Rune hated Alys for that kind of attitude. He had already explained how things really were. Well, not completely. Still, they remained as friends. But he couldn't tell how much longer they would remain like that, if she kept on attacking him at every moment she had.
"That's right. We are friends since kindergarten… well, we had a time when I wasn't around, but we are still friends… and nothing more"
Alys smiled. "See?", she asked, naturally. "If I were to date him, I would feel like dating my own brother, if I had one."
But that wasn't how she really felt.
"And that's wrong, right guys?", she continued, giggling. "So… will you stop thinking that we are going out in secret?" Her friendly voice turned into a menacing one.
"Alright, you two weren't kissing… so who are the ones that are kissing each other with such a passion over there?", Kyra asked, tired. She was eager to know.
"Kyra, you'll get me in trouble again, won't you?", Hans mumbled, worried. He was sure that his fellow Esper companion would put them all in a tough situation… much like she always did.
"Hey, it's not nice to keep on watching. It would be like opening people's cabinets", Chaz protested.
Rika giggled at his statement. "How considerate"
"More than consideration, it's thanks to Alys yelling at me that I learnt that", Chaz admitted, embarrassed, rubbing his neck violently, as his cheeks turned red. "I used to be attracted to cabinets and other people's belongings like a magnet"
"Oh, I see…"
"Whatever… a glimpse won't hurt, would it?", the short, blue-haired Esper girl said, anxiously. "I'll try to get a better look", she said, walking slowly and carefully towards the couple.
"It's just incredible that they go on kissing like that, with all the fuss that we are making right next to them", Gryz chuckled.
"They must be in an almost out-of-this-world experience to not hear us"
"Come on, let's try to get a better look!", Kyra insisted
"Couldn't we leave whoever they are alone? We'll come to know, eventually", Rune protested.
"Oh, stay behind, if you don't like it!", the younger female Esper scolded him, irritated. "Nobody called you!"
"That brat…!"
Alys chuckled. "Hey, calm down… she's irreverent, just like you, but at another level. You don't have to respond on her behalf if she's caught. She can look after herself really well"
She was always there, Alys, ready to set up the differences between the Esper students. As tough as she was, she had a huge heart, and a motherly instinct that she had to do great efforts to hide.
While Rune tried to calm himself down with Alys' help, Kyra and Gryz tried to get a better look at the unaware-of-being-watched couple, with such bad luck that they ended up falling onto the ground, after putting the balance of their bodies too ahead of them. The fall call the loving couple back to reality, and rushed to their aid, under Kyra's uncountrolable laughter. "My, my… if it isn't Hahn… and the kindergarten teacher, Saya"
Saya looked down, embarrassed, hiding her hands in the multi-colored pocket of her teaching apron. Hahn rubbed the back of his neck, as if he was about to knock it off from his shoulders.
Gryz got up and helped Kyra to stand up, whose belly was about to explode. "Hey, who would have said it? You sure had this quite well hidden!"
"She's right… I didn't know you were after her", Alys said, friendly.
"Nice price you got yourself, champ!", Rune patted Hahn's shoulders, a bit enviously.
"Just what are you doing here?!", Hahn finally cried, shocked.
"So you are dating Saya?", Gryz asked, surprised. "What a lucky guy"
"You were so absent-minded, you never noticed that we were right next to you, even if we made such a scandal!"
"Hey, don't walk around with all your jewelry in front of the poor ones", Alys teased the embarrassed couple.
"Hey, Hahn, I think I'll use this in my advantage!", Kyra clapped enthusiastically. "I have a couple of absences… could you gently erase them from my log?"
"Kyra, that's blackmail!", an embarrassed Hans objected.
"No, blackmail would be asking you 500 Meseta to keep our mouths shut", Alys said, smirking
Kyra clapped once again. "That's the way, Alys!"
"Alys, you must be crazy!", Rune yelled, surprised.
"That's like a quarter of my monthly wedding fund", Hahn cried, nervously.
"Hey, I never thought you would consider paying us!", Alys exclaimed, laughing. "I can set you up a plan of payment, then…"
"Alys!"
"Hell, Rune, you are no fun", she complained, sighing. "I could have been able to buy some necessary things…"
"Like a dress, uh?", he asked, sarcastically. "You would have ended up at the Guild's bar, drinking like if there was no tomorrow"
"Oh, look who's talking!", she charged towards him, annoyed. "Who do you think you are to talk about me like that! As if I didn't own a pair of dresses! Only because you haven't seen me dressed up doesn't mean that I don't have a feminine side! Wait to the prom, and then you'll see how much of a lady I can be if I want to!"
"Surely, you'll be elected Queen… and I'll end up drinking bitterly with the PaoPao girls, right? Isn't that what you mean?"
Rika approached Chaz silently. "What's a 'prom'?"
"Oh, she's making reference to the Prom Ball, where graduate students attend, all dressed up in gowns and suits… and have dates. It's at the end of the year, but I never thought that Alys would toss that idea to Rune, and less in this way"
"Are you sure these two aren't already dating?", Kyra joined the chat, curiously. "They seemed married to me"
"There's love in the air", Saya stated, and she knew what she was talking about.
"No, there's blackmail, honey", Hahn corrected her, still hurt at the blackmail attempt from his students.
"That's already old history, honey, don't let them remember that and let's get out of here!", she proposed him, giggling.
"Hell, you are right, darling… let's get away right now!", he said, grabbing her hand and running along the corridor. "Now that they are distracted!"
"Hey, I understood that we had to hide while kissing, but why do we have to run away from your students, now that the blackmailing is over?"
"Better take advantage of the situation, rather than staying to see if what's to come is better or not", he shrugged. "Now, walk faster, if you don't want to run, but I have to loose them!"
"Hey! They are leaving!", Gryz warned the others, but it was already too late to try to catch the runaway couple.
"Oh, we wouldn't have been able to get a cent from them… what a shame!", Kyra complained, and hit Hans' arm, who shouted at that.
"And what's wrong with me now? I haven't said anything!"
"Just because I needed to let go my disappointment!"
"Great, it's lovely to be your cushion"
Meanwhile, Alys and Rune kept on arguing, saying to themselves all those things they had been keeping in their minds about each other. It seemed it would be a neverending deal, but Alys decided to finally cut it out, in her own way.
"Oh, Goodness! I need something to drink… or some fresh air, whatever I can get here first!", she turned back and left the corridor, enraged.
"Alys, stop! Don't be so childish!", the blue haired Esper boy protested, but the brown haired girl ignored him and went on walking out of his sight. "Alright, do what you want!"
"As if she needed your blessing", Kyra mumbled, enthusiastically. She dreamt of facing that guy the way Alys had just done.
Rune was already annoyed at Alys to pay attention to Kyra's hateful comments, so he decided to follow his classmate. He hated to be left behind when he had something to say, and he almost always had to have the final word. Alys great outing had just defied everything in his order. If he caught her, he would be able to tell her a thing or two before class started… maybe even telling her an attempt of apology, if his pride would let him.
The rest of the group started following Rune, so they wouldn't lose any detail in their argument.
Alys got into the school ground, only to find Zio menacing a group of first year students, in his way to become students' representative at the School Council. Why would he want that position was a question she couldn't answer, considering his hideous nature. Maybe it was the feeling of having some kind of power in his hands what led him to postule himself for that place.
"Zio, stop messing around with those students, I've already told you not to mess with them anymore!", Alys exclaimed furiously, getting into the youngsters' group and Zio.
"Oh, the Alys-hen came to the rescue of the little chickens", Zio teased her, ironically. "Babysitting time's over, Alys, so move out if you don't want to get hurt", he warned her, coldly.
"Would you really fight with a girl? How manly", she replied, sarcastically.
"Since you are in the Hunter's Guild, you aren't really a girl, but a Hunter, and they are genderless for the fight. Or do you just take comissions that involve girl villains?"
Great. Another jerk that couldn't see her as a woman, but as a genderless warrior. "This isn't the Guild. This is school, and I'm a girl here. Not that I'm scared of you, for your knowledge", she said, seriously. "Whatever, stop playing the tough guy with the youngsters. Shesss, when will you grow up?"
"Alys, just stop getting between them!", Rune shouted to her, in haste. "I don't think it's a good idea this time!"
His heart bumped quickly and anxiously. He knew something bad was about to happen, and he couldn't prevent it.
Rika stared at him, surprised. "Do you sense something wrong's about to happen, too?"
Rune stared surprised at her. "Yes… How is it that you can also sense it?"
"I don't know. I should ask Seed when I have the chance"
Alys stared at Rune, and smiled, but her smile was odd. It was as if she was both proud and saddenned at the same time. "Rune, I can take great care of myself. I don't need you to babysit me"
"But Alys…"
Alys turned back and ignored him, and kept on arguing with Zio. Soon, they started pushing each other. Alys lost her balance and fell backwards, hitting her head against a wall.
"Alys!", Chaz shouted, shocked.
Zio stood quietly in his place, staring at the fallen girl.
Rune rushed to her side and knelt down by her side. "Damn you, I told you!", he told her, worried, and it was then when he noticed that Alys was uncounscious. "I'll take Alys to the first aid room!", he said, picking the Hunter girl from the floor. He grabbed her gently, yet strongly, and carried her on his arms to the nurse's office, where a horrified Mito welcomed them.
Just as she had foreseen it, something bad had happened to her "little girl Alys".
/
Notes: I've tried to make a bad joke for Raja, but that's beyond my abilities, hahahaha