CHAPTER 4

Kid's POV

That insolent, asymmetrical, snarky bitch! I thought as I flopped onto my bed with my hands covering my face. The tour had gone horribly, with two more near fights (regrettably initiated by me) and several threats on my life. The scariest part was that I had a good mind to believe her when she said she would stick her foot so far up my ass that the sweat on the back of her knee would quench my thirst. My stomach felt queasy just thinking about it. I hadn't even learned anything about her, other than that she was an insolent, asymmetrical, snarky bitch. I couldn't take my eyes off that scar on her jaw for the life of me, but she made a point of guarding her other cheek from receiving a similar treatment, even for symmetry's sake.

I rolled over on to my stomach and faced the mirror my father had placed opposite my bed. Stretching out my arm, I wrote out my father's number on the glass and watched as his shadowy form materialized behind it.

"Hiya, Kiddo!" he chirped. "What's up, son?"

"Hello, Father," I greeted him, failing to suppress a small smile at his chipperness. "I was wondering if you could give me any information about our new student. She was a little... standoffish."

"Stein had told me she was a 'bitch,'" he sighed. "I'm not quite sure why I didn't believe him."

"Professor Stein knows her?" I pressed.

"Stein has a habit of walking around Death City with Spirit in the wee hours of the morning."

"What does he do? And what does that have to do with his relationship to the new student?"

"He fights crime," Father chuckled. "I think he's trying to relive his glory days. Anyway, he spotted a figure breaking into a grocery store, so he and Spirit tried to stop the robbery. But he found that the burglar was an excellent fighter. In fact," he paused briefly, as if he couldn't believe it himself, "he told me that the fight ended in a draw they were so evenly matched. And that was with Spirit on Stein's side. The burglar merely used random broom handles or loose bricks. Whatever it could get its hands on."

"Let me guess - the burglar never actually tried to attack them?"

"Right you are," he responded. "Spirit had said it was like it was toying with them."

"And, the burglar was the new student?"

"Right again." This whole thing was ridiculous! She tried to break into a supermarket in the wee hours of the morning and ended up coming to a stalemate with who was probably the world's best meister? I didn't quite buy it.

"And why exactly did you admit a burglar to the DWMA?" Father merely shrugged his shoulders.

"Stein told me she was an excellent fighter and could be useful," he answered. "I figured her outstanding service would outweigh any possible propensity for petty theft."

"You do have a point, but you still haven't fully addressed my original inquiry. Who is she, exactly?"

"Well," he searched his memory and rested his chin in the crook between his thumb and forefinger, "we don't know much, as she seemed incredibly hesitant to reveal any personal information. Stein was able to coax a bit from her, but not much. All we know is that she is eighteen years old, ran away from home when she was fifteen, and is named Riley."

"And is a world-class meister," I added skeptically. "Are you sure we can trust her? Someone able to withstand Stein's attacks may be more than just an ordinary meister. What if she's a witch?"

"I trust Stein's judgment. He was able to tell that Nurse Medusa was a witch by sheer intuition, and he says that she's just a normal girl with ninja-like reflexes."

"If you say so," I sighed and rested my chin on the bed. After a comfortable silence Father spoke once again.

"So I heard she's quite the wit."

"Don't get me started," I groaned. "She threatened to cut slits in the side of my neck and hold me underwater for twenty minutes to see if they develop into gills."