Chapter 6 - The Shift
"HAHAHAHA!"
"What the hell is funny Natsu?!" shouted Gray as the three friends walked home after their ordeal in the principal's office.
Natsu smirked at both Gray and Lucy.
"Well..."
...One hour and fourty-five minutes earlier...
"Mr. Dragneel! The principal will see you now!" shouted the old secretary at the room before the principal's office.
As Natsu approached and entered the door, he looked back at Gray and Lucy. Gray was sitting down on the bench outside the office, stopping his feet and mumbling. Lucy was walking back and forth in front of the bench, rambling and messing her hair in dissaray and confusion. Natsu became a little depressed after seeing his friends suffer because of him.
"Uhm..." said Natsu softly.
"This was all my-"
"Mr. Clive does not have time to waste. Stop talking to me and get inside!" shouted the old secretary.
"Grumpy old woman." said Natsu as he entered the principal's main room.
"Why you-"
Natsu quickly closed the door and locked it. Natsu then focused on the surroundings of the room. On the left side of the room, he saw pictures of delinquents who were suspended or expelled from the academy and each picture was stickered with the word "EXTERMINATED".
"What kind of principal is this?" thought Natsu with sweat flowing from his neck to his back.
On the right side of the room, he saw all the trophies, plaques, and certificates the academy has gathered through the years for its outstanding excellence in education and sports. He even saw the famous photo of Gildarts taking a picture with the Pope and the Prime Minister of Japan, which was only seen in the news.
"Ok, I'm screwed!" screamed Natsu inside his head. His mind was beginning to boggle of the punishments that the three of them would have.
At the center of the room, there was the principal's table and huge rolling chair. The chair was faced backwards and Natsu began to imagine scenes when the man in the chair turned around and administer his brand of justice. He stood in that room shivering and looked left and right like in a warzone where it was one against all.
And he stood there, and stood there, and stood there...
Ten minutes passed and still, nothing happened. Natsu's fear turned into confusion.
"What's going on?" asked Natsu.
Natsu willed himself to approach the chair and turn it around. And all he saw was an empty chair.
"You're kidding me right?" asked Natsu to himself.
"I wasted ten minutes of my li-"
Suddenly, Natsu heard a large voice below the table. It sounded like a pissed-off drunk who lost his alcohol. He then heard a board being pounded to a wooden table.
"What in the world?!" shouted Natsu inside the room. He quickly covered his mouth as he shouted.
He then placed his right ear on the floor below the table. He could heared rock music and CPUs running.
"Is that you Natsu?" said the voice below the floor.
"Yeah, who are you?"
"It's me, Principal Clive. Look, I need your help. You see the Rubik's cube at the left side of the table? Pick that up and place it at the top of the white coffee mug that says 'Best Dad in the World'. Quick!"
Natsu quickly grasped that it was really Mr. Clive. He quickly picked up the Rubik's cube and placed it on top of the mug. And suddenly, he felt the ground shaking like an earthquake. He looked around but the walls were not even moving and the frames on the left side were not vibrating. Then, he saw the floor space occupied by the table and chair flipped and turned into a metal floor with a control panel in the middle with two buttons saying "Up" and "Down".
"A scary principal, talking floors, and earthquakes inside one room, am I dead or something?" said a stunned Natsu as he slowly approached the control panel.
x
"I just can't stand that guy!" shouted Erza while lying down on her bed wearing her favorite pink pajamas with purple crosses.
"Don't shout at the phone!" replied Mirajaine, who was talking with Erza on her cellphone. Mira had just finished her shift in a maid cafe in town. She was still wearing her black maid's gown while lying down in bed.
"On the first day, he embarrassed me in front of the whole school and doesn't even apologize to me after? What kind of guy is he?"
"He did seem to be pretty down after the whole incident. He tried to look for you after that, but he still was being toured around by the faculty."
"He had time after classes, didn't he?"
"He tried to look for you, but I saw him talking to someone on the phone and quickly left."
"He must have a date. It's his first day and already going out with someone."
"Are you jealous?"
"Of course not; He could go out with anyone he wants to!"
"Even you?"
There was a minute of silence in the conversation...
"Erza?" asked Mira.
"She must be blushing to no end after thinking about it." thought Mira as she rolled left and right in her bed.
Another minute passed...
"Are you still there?" asked Mira again.
She then heard small sounds coming from Erza's end. And shortly after, Mira heard someone take the phone.
"Hello, Ms. Strauss?"
"Rob?"
"Please forgive Ms. Scarlet. She has fallen asleep holding her phone on her cheek. I'm very sorry for this."
"This woman!" thought Mira. Suddenly, she heard a loud snore coming from the background.
"Oh dear..." said Rob.
Mira quickly covered her phone and started laughing.
"Hello Rob, its fine. Erza and I can talk tomorrow. Thanks."
Before Mira disconnected the call, she saved the conversation to her phone.
"This just keeps getting better and better." giggled Mira as she sat up and prepared to dress for bed.
x
"Am I on a game show or something? What the hell is going on?" asked Natsu as his mind began to explode as the platform begins to move down.
As the platform lowered, Natsu saw a large blue-lit room filled with video game consoles, laptops, computers, and large flat screen televisions set up for gaming. For any gamer, it was heaven. For grade-conscious parents, it was hell made on Earth.
"Wow!" shouted Natsu as the platform finally stopped.
He saw Gildarts sitting on a long red couch, playing Tekken Tag Tournament 2 in a PlayStation 3 console with an arcade controller. He was controlling Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima in an online match. Gildarts' hands were shaking in anger as Natsu observed that Gildarts has lost his fifteen consecutive matches.
"Excuse me sir?" asked Natsu as he carefully approached the couch. "What is this place?"
"Good timing Natsu! Get over here!" shouted Gildarts with a bit of enthusiasm.
Natsu slowly approached the couch and sat next to Gildarts.
"Alright, listen." said Gildarts.
"This is going to be a surprise platform for next month's Mayor Ace Memorial Festival. Since competition has evolved into the electronic games, I was trying to become a great player at this so that the final match for the tournament will be against me!"
"Gaming for the festival?! Cool idea!" shouted Natsu as he was excited about the idea. Tekken was Natsu's favorite console game. It was his inspiration to become a strong martial artist, like his idol Paul Phoenix.
"But I need to practice on these combos. I heard from your dad that you are a great player at this. Teach me the combos. Can you help me out here Natsu?"
"Help you play Tekken? No problem! Alright sir, this is how it goes…"
For about thirty minutes, Natsu taught Gildarts the possible combinations for Jin and Kazuya and how to read his opponent's next move in terms of offense and defense. When Natsu felt that Gildarts was just about ready, he encouraged him to go on the matchmaking pool again.
"Yes! I won! I won!" shouted Gildarts as he jumped at the couch.
"Congratulations sir!" said Natsu as he also jumped on the couch.
"Thanks Natsu! You helped me out."
"No problem sir. But…"
"Oh right. The incident a while ago." said Gildarts. His facial expression changed.
"That was hilarious! Don't worry about it. I'll handle the situation. Just make sure you don't do it again alright?"
Natsu smiled and shook Gildart's hand relentlessly.
"Thank you so much sir!" shouted Natsu.
"No problem, my boy. Hey Natsu, you want another round?"
…And now….
"Don't worry about that stuff guys. Everything is under-"
"YOU MADE US WAIT FOR AN HOUR SO THAT YOU CAN PLAY WITH MR. CLIVE?!" shouted Gray and Lucy together as they both smacked Natsu in the head.
"But…" said Natsu slowly as he was on his knees.
"We got off the hook. We should celebrate-"
Another two-handed smack landed on Natsu's head.
"YOU THINK WE WERE CELEBRATING WHILE YOU WERE PLAYING?!" shouted Gray.
"Oh look!" said Lucy as he opened Natsu's bag. "It's a love letter. Let's bring it to Erza's house. It's not that far from here."
"That's a great idea Lucy. Let's go!" shouted Gray as they ran.
"HEY!" shouted Natsu as he chased his two best friends on the side walk.
X
Three weeks have passed since the first day of school and everything seemed to have calmed down in terms of Jellal's transfer to the academy. He has quickly become an idol of the school in terms of looks, intelligence, and athleticism. He was able to join the basketball team quickly due to his fast eye coordination and incredible passes. Even though Laxus was reluctant to play with Jellal, day by day, he slowly began to respect Jellal as a hardworking student and outstanding athlete. They would occasionally have arguments whenever Laxus would print love letters and place them in Erza's locker. And by the end of the day, Jellal would see his locker full of crumpled paper and Erza's menacing stare. Jellal would return the paper and handwrote love letters and placed them on girls' lockers and even placed some letters inside the desks of female teachers.
"Are you two meant for each other or are you just both stupid?" shouted Erza as the student council called for Jellal and Laxus.
Although their usual rants were occasional, it caused quite a stir in the girls in the academy. Erza had enough of their antics and forced the entire council to agree to have them called up to the office and explain their actions.
"Well, what can I say, It's our last year here, why not make the most out of it?" smirked Laxus as he placed his right arm around Jellal's shoulders.
"I can't approve or deny that claim. You're not happy that Laxus and I are getting along so well this early?" smiled Jellal as he looked at Erza. The female first year representative almost grabbed her phone to take a picture of Jellal's smile. It was rare for him to smile in school.
"You just transferred here and you think you can do what you want huh?!" shouted Erza.
"Well, no." replied Jellal. His tone was a bit sarcastic at that point.
"The student council does not tolerate such immature acts right?" said Erza as she looked at her fellow student council members. Fried was recording every minute of the meeting.
"Well, the acts were not that-"
Before Fried could answer, Erza looked at him with cold eyes and a burning anger about to burst.
"Of course not!" said Fried as he quickly changed his approach on the topic.
Jellal was trying to hold his sigh as Fried's quick change was pretty obvious.
"It is good to see Jellal getting along with Laxus, but that doesn't mean that you two can do what you want all the time alright?" added Mirajaine as he looked at Laxus in the eye with a smile on her face. No one understood Mira's true nature better than Laxus. After all, they were childhood friends who grew up in Tenrou Academy.
Laxus quickly bowed his head and clasped his hands together.
"You're right. I understand" answered Laxus with a softer tone. Everyone in the room was shocked to see Laxus so behaved. Well, everyone except Mirajaine who was happy to see Laxus understand his actions.
Jellal looked at Laxus and saw him sweating a bit.
"Hey, are you alright?" whispered Jellal.
"You remember the time when Mira scolded us in the first day of school after your fiasco?" replied Laxus softly.
"Yeah, she was really scary that time. But she looks like she wants to help us get out of this."
"I've known her since we were kids. She is not happy one bit. Remember that terrifying aura she had that day? She is emanating one right now."
Jellal eyes widened and this time, he was sweating as well.
"I understand as well. I'm sorry!" shouted Jellal as he quickly bowed his head down and apologized to everyone to the room.
Mira smiled and allowed the two boys to go home now. Erza looked at Mira and the white-haired senior smirked at her junior rival.
"That's how it's done, my sweet Erza." giggled Mira.
"Thank you for that, my demonic Mira." replied Erza.
The tension began to rise in the room again. And this time, the student council were experiencing the fear Jellal and Laxus had before they left.
X
"Looks like their best buds now." said Gray as he walked along the corridor and saw Jellal and Laxus laughing near the student council office.
Gray had just finished his training and was headed to the main gate to wait for Natsu to finish his remedial class and for Lucy to finalize the design for the class mascot for the Mayor's Festival. As he walked at the corridor, as usual, the girls would silently giggle and slyly smile at Gray.
"I wonder if I should consider going out with a girl?" thought Gray as he imagined himself with a girl on a date.
"Since these girls are somewhat interested at that, maybe I'll-"
Suddenly, he felt someone bump his back. It was a soft bump but it was enough to grab Gray's full attention. He didn't turn right away because he saw a pendant at his feet. He grabbed it and examined it. It was a small silver cross with small texts beside each side.
"Uhm…Excuse me? Can I have my pendant back?" said the soft voice behind Gray.
The voice spoke in English, but had a certain accent to it. Gray understood the statement quickly because he was interested in the Western society. He always had high grades in English subjects but struggled with his Japanese, something Natsu and Lucy would always joke around with.
"Oh, I'm sorry." replied Gray as he turned around to give back the pendant to the girl behind him.
"Here you go."
"Thank you." said the girl as she bowed down and quickly ran towards the principal's office.
As the girl ran, Gray raised his eyebrows.
"A blue-haired girl with a French accent but speaks good English?" thought Gray as he continued walking to the main gate.
"She's cute."
The updates are not on fixed dates, but there will be updates every week. College life is college life.
- Alexander Drent
