To gel...or not to gel...that is the question.

The question that John has been going over for the past 10 minutes while he got ready for his first day at Wellston. The final touch to his appearance, besides his blazer.

His dad had given him some gel products while he had been packing, something about looking dapper for a private school or whatever, as if his appearance would really matter.

But, it's a new place and a new start he supposed, so maybe he should take the opportunity to try something new out.

He thought of having it the way his dad does but...hmmm...

Nah, he can't pull that off. He doesn't even have enough here for that anyway.

"Fuck it, let's just see where it takes me."

...

"That...isn't too bad."

He finished the final touches, having done a slicked style with a very moderate amount of gel. He found that he really liked the look. After giving it time to dry up, he put on his blazer and tightened his tie, looking into the mirror with a smile.


Blyke leaned on the wall beside his dorm's door, till he heard the sound of footsteps coming to him. He looked up at John and did so for a prolonged amount of time.

"Is there something wrong?" John asked, confused.

"You're like...the first guy in this entire school I've seen wear the complete uniform." Blyke noted. He'd forgone the vest himself.

John looked down at his outfit in surprise. "For real?"

He shrugged. "For real. So, you ready?"

John gave a nod, slinging one of his backpack's straps over his shoulder. They shared homeroom, so they figured to just head over together, Blyke could help guide him.

Lingering eyes were on the two as they made their way, whispers among a couple of other students as well. It continued even as they entered their English class.

Of course they would. Someone new who's become friendly with one of the most powerful students is sure to catch people's attention. John figured, doing his best to pay them no mind.

The roommates stood near the entrance for a moment.

"Well look at that, he actually made it to first period." Blyke muttered to himself.

Isen glanced and saw him, sending a wink at Blyke, who gave him a middle finger with a smile.

John's eyes only meant to glance over to where Blyke was looking but found himself keeping his gaze there, looking at a girl with long purple hair tied in a ponytail with bangs.

She was looking out the window with absolute disinterest. It was like there was a disconnect between her and the rest of the world.

It seemed he had looked over there for too long, as the girl's eyes met his eventually and they narrowed, appearing annoyed at his unintentional staring. He snapped his eyes away to stare somewhere else.

"Nice going." Blyke tapped John's arm with his fist. "For your safety, don't get on Seraphina's bad side."

Seraphina... Ah, so she's the Queen. That makes sense.

John shrugged. "I'll try."

Noticing her new student, The teacher stood from her desk and motioned for John to stand at the front beside her.

"Introductions, huh? Good luck." Blyke whispered, moving off to take his seat.

"Gee, thanks." John replied with sarcasm.

After getting the attention of her students, the teacher began.

"I know it's a bit late into the year, but we have a new student joining us!" She turned to the student in question with a smile. "Please introduce yourself."

John gave the students a wave and a friendly smile. "Hello, my name's John! I look forward to attending here and I hope we're able to get along." Short introduction, straight to the point.

He took his spot in the third seat of the middle row and readied his materials for the lesson.

The class was relatively lax for his first day, boiling down to just note-taking for an upcoming quiz. John was all for it, he would probably drop dead had he needed to take an exam on his first day back in school. He shivers even at the thought of it.

Chatter filled the classroom as the lesson came to an end. John took notice of how a few of the students seemed to linger rather close to the door of the class, practically all of them appearing nervous or even fidgety.

If he had to take a guess, they must be some of the weaker students, hoping to get to their next class as fast as they could before they became prey to someone stronger.

His mood darkened and disappointment crept in. He had thought...he had hoped...that Wellston would've placed a higher importance on academics than abilities. Was there no escape from this bullshit?

He tried to put his mind off it, deciding to look at his schedule to make sure he didn't go to the wrong class.

Next up is...Math. Great. Woohoo. Blegh.

To his left, John took notice of Blyke chatting with a guy who had orange and black hair. He thought to join their conversation until he heard a voice and felt a tap on his shoulder from his right.

"Hi, John!"

He turned his head, looking down and meeting eyes with a girl giving him a bright smile and a wave. She had aqua-blue hair that draped over her shoulder in a twist, making it akin to a cyclone, along with bangs and green eyes.

John couldn't deny she was cute. Super cute, even.

"I'm Elaine, welcome to Wellston." She said cheerfully. "How's your first day been?"

John was silent for a moment before answering. "It's been good so far." He replied with a smile, trying to ignore the warmness rushing to his face.

"That's great to hear!"

Elaine had a good feeling about the new student. She had seen him talking to Blyke before class started, so he had to be strong. Friendly too! Not to mention he was rather handsome.

"So, where did you transfer from?" She asked.

"New Bostin. Quite far away from here, but with Wellston's prestige and status, I wanted to give it a shot and it ended up working out." John explained, hoping to limit the questions about his home.

Elaine nodded. "I see, I see. Well, I'm sure we'll be glad to have you!"

"That's great to hear." John's mood perked up a bit from his conversation with Elaine. She seemed nice and accepting, it reminded him of when he first met Claire.

"So, John..."

But then...

"What kind of ability do you have?"

John's hand gripped his backpack tightly, his eyes losing contact with Elaine's as it felt like something dark had encroached on him.

Sure, Blyke had practically asked him the same question, but he could feel there was a difference. Elaine's words felt much more...sinister and looming compared to his roommate's plain curiosity. And that smile she had? It wasn't anywhere close to being inviting, not anymore.

It didn't help how deadly silent the room had become, John could feel all their eyes on him. The sensation brought back the image of everyone back at New Bostin and he cringed, growing rapidly irritated of being in this classroom.

"Why..." John mumbled.

"Hm?" Elaine grew confused, unsure of what caused a shift in John's mood.

"I came to Wellston for an education, why does my ability matter?" He asks, his voice noticeably lower than what it was before, his eyes almost glaring at Elaine.

Why is that what everything boils down to?

Why can't something be different?

Elaine stumbled in her words, the dark gaze in the taller boy's eyes intimidating her. "I-I'm just interested in learning more about you, that's all!" What's that reaction for? It's a normal question, isn't it?

John could feel the difference in how she spoke again. It didn't take much for him to realize she was someone who easily gave in to those who were stronger. And for those who aren't...

Forget it. She's nothing like Claire.

"I have a class to get to." He muttered, slinging his bag over his shoulder and walking out of the classroom, ignoring whatever was being whispered by the students.

Elaine was left bewildered. She hadn't done anything wrong, had she? Why did he get so scary? Her eyes met Blyke's, who only shrugged his shoulders.

"What's got him being such a sourpuss?" Isen asked, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the door.

"He doesn't want to talk about it." Blyke shrugged.

"Hmm, weirdo." Isen took a sip from his apple juice. "He's your roommate, yeah? Must be around your level then." He concluded.

Blyke nodded. "Yeah, that's what I figured at first." He leaned in closer to whisper. "But honestly? I got a feeling he's stronger."

Hmm, Blyke's eyes are so warm. ...Wait, stronger? Isen became intrigued, his natural detective instincts kicking in. "How much stronger?"

"I would say around Cecile or Remi's level, but even that doesn't feel right. Maybe..." His eyes shifted off to his right with a slight head tilt.

Isen's eye followed his gaze before quickly pulling away from it, almost choking on his apple juice when he realized who Blyke was referring to. "You're fucking with me."

"That's my gut feeling!"

"Your "gut feeling" needs a gut check!"

The two became deadly silent as Seraphina rose from her seat, holding their breath till she walked past them.

"You think she knew we were talking about—"

"Wasn't exactly subtle." Isen interrupted.

"Stop cutting me off, dickhead!" Blyke said, irked.

"Say something interesting then." Isen held a snarky smirk.

"You know what, fuck you."

"You got that backward."

"Hell does that—" Blyke froze, an instantaneous heat rushing to his face.

The look on his boyfriend's face was priceless. To Isen, at least.

Blyke grabbed his bag and speed walked out the door.

"I'm blowing that pen collection of yours to bits!"

"Blyke, no! LEAVE MY BABIES OUT OF THIS!" Isen shouted, rushing out the door.


Halfway through the day and yet John's mood didn't get any better. It seemed people like Blyke were the minority in this school. He couldn't even count on just his two hands how many fearful looks and ugly smirks he saw among the other students on his walks to class.

"Since you're new, we thought we should remind you of how things worked around here." Said the boy in the back, with the hair covering his right eye. Lin.

John rolled his eyes with a sigh. And now here he was, in the middle of getting jumped by three dudes. He was just trying to get to history class...

"At this school, there's a hierarchy that everyone follows. The weak follow the orders of the strong, do whatever they tell them to." Said the boy with green hair who was all up in John's personal space, Crail.

Blah, blah, blah. The same drabble that's been said in the orientation of every middle school ever.

"And with what we've heard, you don't seem to be all that into your ability. That leaves no doubt in our minds you're weak." The boy with blue hair said, Skrev, who was standing beside Lin.

What an astute observation, dumbass.

"Hell, some people think you may just be a worthless cripple!" Crail noted. He smirked, noticing the way John's eyes narrowed at him. "Maybe they were right after all."

Whilst the three continued their mind-numbing explanation of hierarchy, John noticed a figure walking by. It was that girl with purple hair again, sipping on a juice box.

He raised his hands up defensively and put a pleading tone in his words. "Sera! Seraphina! That's your name, right?" He called out. It got her attention and the three boys froze, realizing who they were in the presence of.

"You're the Queen, yeah? Mind helping out one of your defenseless subjects?" He asked, in an almost jovial way.

However, that wouldn't have helped him, as she gave him a perplexed look and simply continued to walk by.

If he let himself get cornered, maybe he's weak after all.

The bullies relaxed and chuckled.

"Dumbass, the hell do you get off on talking to the Queen like that?" Skrev spoke.

John's glaring eyes followed Seraphina as he grumbled. Thanks for the help, bitch.

"Hey!" —Crail activated his ability— "Pay attention when we're speaking to you!" He shouted, ready to slam his fist into John's face.

It wasn't difficult for John to dodge the attack and he quickly identified Crail's ability, dropping his blazer and bag to the ground.

Augmentation. Strengthens his fists. Pure Power.

John quickly took hold of Crail's wrist and twisted his arm before driving his elbow down into Crail's, breaking it.

"Agh! Fuck!" Crail cried out, his other hand clutching his injured arm.

"You bitch!" Skrev shouted, running toward John, While Lin had his palms facing John's direction, their abilities activated.

Blue hair. Augmentation. Strengthens his legs.

Purple hair. Projectile. That'd be a problem but...dear god, he is so weak.

Skrev jumped into the air, readying his leg for a kick at John's neck. "You're dead!"

John took in his position and strategized. If I can get the timing right...

"You're gonna pay for that assh—!" Crail's sentence stopped abruptly as John palmed his face and pushed him back with a trip, slamming him into the ground headfirst. Doing so allowed John to duck and avoid Skrev's kick at the same time, surprising the mid-tier.

John readied his fist. Increased Power and Speed, but it doesn't provide additional Defense. One solid hit...

He twisted and grabbed ahold of Skrev's ankle with one hand and drove his fist into the side of Skrev's knee socket, his strength and technique allowing him to blow out the fucker's leg.

"Agh!" He screamed out in pain as he fell onto the ground. "Fucking bastard! You broke my leg!"

John slammed his fist into Skrev's face, taking him out of the fight. Says the guy who tried to kick my head off.

John's eyes locked onto Lin. The low tier was shaken at the sight, hands trembling.

He's...He's not actually a cripple, right? He hasn't activated his ability and yet he took down those two all by himself?! This makes no sense!

"You're a low-tier. Why would you take part in this? What the fuck is wrong with you?" John's voice raised and so did his frustration as he stepped closer to Lin.

Lin stepped back and sporadically shot off needles in desperation. "S-Step Back! I'm warning you!"

John's arms were raised in front of him to block the needles from hitting his face. They barely even did that much, nicking John's face a couple of times and creating cuts in the fabric of his shirt.

He rushed forward, pushing through the petty damage inflicted by Lin, causing the low-tier to clamor up, not knowing what to do. "Wait! Wait! I give up!"

The air left his lungs as John gut-punched him, damn near lifting his feet off the ground. Lin's hands wrapped around his stomach, feeling like he'd throw up any moment.

"If I see you pulling this kind of shit with anyone else, you're fucking done. That goes for your buddies too." He practically growled.

John threw him off to the side, leaving Lin to run off, horrified for his life.

He turned back, having noticed that...Seraphina had still been there, watching the incident occur.

He acknowledged her existence with a simple look before he went back to grab the stuff he dropped. He dusted off his blazer before putting it back on, holding his backpack by the handle on top.

...She's still here? The hell's she waiting for?

John sighed did a two-step and gave her an exaggerated bow, akin to a jester. "Did you enjoy the spectacle, your majesty?" His tone dripping with sarcasm.

This had caught the Queen off-guard, leaving her baffled even. "What?"

"Appreciate the assist, you really helped out back there. Don't know if I could've survived if you weren't here...sipping on your juice." He noted, walking by Seraphina without care.

He had taken only a few steps past her when she had decided to speak.

"Why didn't you use your ability?"

John stopped, looking back at her. "I didn't need to, I was able to handle them fine without it."

Seraphina took another sip of her juice. "Sounds like an excuse."

John's eyes narrowed but he just shrugged in the end, walking away as he spoke.

"Believe what you want, I don't care what you think."

...

Seraphina stood there for moments, before suddenly crushing her juice box. There was something...No. It was everything he did that irritated her.

That guy...Who does he think he is?