Interesting Junior
As soon as Shroud entered the room, he was greeted by the presence of two individuals.
One was the principal, while the other was somebody he had never seen before. After briefly surveying the room, Shroud looked at the old principal and greeted him politely.
"Good afternoon, Director Orpheus. I hope you are doing well," Shroud politely greeted the old principal before looking at the girl.
The principal saw this and understood that Shroud was inquiring about the girl. Without a second thought, the principal began to speak.
"Oh, this person right here is Miss Luna. Miss Luna, meet Shroud, one of the students in our school," Orpheus introduced the girl to Shroud.
Shroud nodded before the principal noticed something.
'Wait, shouldn't I have asked Miss Luna for permission before introducing her? Also, why did I immediately answer without thinking?' The old man realized what he had done, but it was too late.
The girl was indeed not happy with what had just happened. In her mind, she thought that the principal had shown favouritism to the kid.
She thought that because he was a student of the school, the principal was biased. She then glared at the kid, but as soon as her eyes met Shroud's, she stood up from the sofa as if she had seen a ghost. Seeing Luna's unusual behaviour, the principal asked if she was alright.
"Hmm, is something wrong, Miss Luna?" the principal asked, a little confused by the girl's hyper reaction.
However, she didn't answer. She continued staring at Shroud with eyes full of uncertainty and caution.
The principal was puzzled by her behaviour, meanwhile, Shroud just stood there. Eventually, even Shroud couldn't deal with the silence.
"Is there perhaps something on my face that you find amusing, miss?" Shroud asked the girl, but she remained silent.
Now this was a little awkward. Shroud was hoping that the girl would say something, but no, she just fixedly stared at his face and the silence continued.
The atmosphere was getting more and more awkward by the second. To Shroud, the girl looked like a toddler who would stare at you in a supermarket for no reason.
Shroud glanced at the principal, signalling him to do something. The principal also noticed Shroud's glance and began to speak.
"Umm, Miss Luna, I think you are intimidating our student. He is quite a shy guy, so please understand," the principal pointed out that Shroud was quite shy, well, the previous owner, that is.
Luna, who seemed to have been frozen after seeing Shroud, also came back to her senses. Meanwhile, the principal noticed that he had again spoken automatically.
The principal was genuinely confused about why he was behaving like a machine. It was as if his brain went on autopilot.
Orpheus looked at Shroud, thinking, "Is this perhaps his doing?" However, after seeing the frail and skinny boy, he rejected this thought.
In the school database, Shroud had set a record for being the weakest. The teachers even said that, unlike other children, Shroud didn't possess the aura of a brilliant student.
He was barely average in his studies and weakest in terms of physical strength by a huge gap. It was surprising that he could keep up until now.
'Maybe I am too stressed out from work. I should take a break, perhaps,' Orpheus made a mental note to take a break from work.
Orpheus believed that he had been too stressed lately; however, if he were to see things from the girl's perspective, he would think otherwise.
In Luna's eyes, just like how the teachers said, Shroud didn't have the aura of a noteworthy person, but this made him more unique and mysterious.
Luna swore that she wouldn't notice his presence if he did not notify her. It was as if he was unreal, just like a ghost.
While these two were lost in their thoughts, Shroud abruptly spoke, "So, if there is nothing, I will be taking my leave." Shroud informed the two that he would be leaving, which brought them back to their senses.
Shroud was about to leave when the principal said, "Wait, Shroud, can you guide Miss Luna to her class?" Orpheus asked if Shroud could guide Luna to her class.
"Which grade is she in?" Shroud inquired.
"8-B. She is the new transfer student, so she is unfamiliar with the school." Orpheus answered almost immediately.
"Hmm," Shroud nodded before looking at Luna.
"Please, this way," Shroud signalled Luna to follow him. At first, Luna was unsure but soon nodded and followed Shroud.
After this, both of them left the principal's office, leaving the principal alone. It was also at this moment that the principal realized that the same thing happened again.
To Orpheus, what just happened right now felt as if it was all scripted, like in an act. He held his head as he was getting a headache from the recent interaction.
'Seriously, what the hell is going on?' Orpheus asked himself, puzzled. He felt like a complete NPC just now.
Meanwhile, in the hallway, Shroud was guiding Luna in the school's corridor. He was also giving her information about the paths and corners that the halls led to using the previous owner's memory.
After walking for about a minute or so, they arrived at class 8-B. "Here is your class. If you have any questions about the different areas in the school, ask your class leader," Shroud suggested.
This caused Luna to frown, not because he was talking informally but rather because of his suggestion.
Typically in this situation, shouldn't the boy say, "You can ask me anything? I will do my best to answer all of your questions", It should have been like this, however, Shroud said the exact opposite.
What he was saying was, "Don't bother me." This displeased the girl, not because he was blatantly ignoring her, but because of his tone of speaking. The way he spoke was as if he was of higher authority. Well, he is, because he is senior to her, but...
'Isn't he being too authoritative?' Luna commented in her head, displeased at Shroud's assertiveness.
"Alright then, I will be taking my leave. Do enjoy your life in this school, little—I mean, Miss Luna," Shroud told her about him leaving before heading to his class, but at that moment...
Luna grabbed his wrist tightly. This action caused Shroud to be taken aback for a moment; however, it was not because she suddenly grabbed his wrist but rather because she was quite strong. It would be better to say she was too strong for her stature.
Shroud noticed how strong Luna's grip was. It wouldn't be far-fetched to say that her grip could crush rocks. Noticing the difference in strength, Shroud put up his guard but made sure to not make it seem obvious. Still, the grip of the girl was getting tighter with the passing seconds.
'This isn't good. I will have to think of how I can escape her grasp quickly. Otherwise, I might end up with a broken wrist,' Shroud quickly analyzed his current predicament.
While Shroud was currently stuck in an awkward situation, Luna, on the other hand, had a different thought, "He is quite resilient for a weak-looking guy, or is he just keeping up a fake facade?"
Luna was surprised that Shroud wasn't crying in agony right now. She thought that all his assertiveness would be gone when he realized how strong she was, but that wasn't the case.
Shroud did not even budge ever so slightly. He still had his aloof expression. This, in return, sparked curiosity in her to know more about this senior in front of her.
"Do you have a doubt? If not, then let go of my hand. Otherwise, it will not end well," Shroud said in his monotone voice.
'Hmm, I cannot sense any hostility. Furthermore, this barely sounds like a warning,' Luna could tell that Shroud wasn't threatening her.
On the contrary, it felt as if he was warning her about something. Curious, she asked, "Hmm, why should I?" She asked in a provocative tone to get a reaction from Shroud, however, Shroud barely even took it as a provocation. He instead was expecting her to ask this kind of question.
Not willing to miss this golden opportunity, he said, "I am not liked by the majority in this school, so if someone sees us like this, you might end up being bullied like me."
Shroud revealed how he constantly got bullied in school and did not want her to end up the same way. Hearing Shroud's answer, Luna couldn't detect any falsehood, so she nodded and let go of his wrist.
If Luna had detected any falsehood, she wouldn't hesitate to break his hand. Luna then gave a small bow as an apology before going to her class.
Seeing her leave, Shroud also headed toward his class. Since his class was on the 3rd floor, he had to walk a bit more to reach his class.
After reaching his class, he knocked on the door, and after some time, a husky voice said, "Come in."
Shroud then opened the door, and sounds of gasps came. It was probably the students who thought that Shroud wouldn't be coming back after the last incident.
Shroud quickly scanned the room and found surprised faces, but one face stood out among them. It was a guy with yellow hair who had a grin on his face.
Shroud knew exactly who he was. It was the bully who tortured the previous owner. The bully looked at Shroud like how a predator would look at his prey, but in Shroud's eyes, the bully looked even more hideous than an orc. Seriously, although the bully had a fit body, his face was ugly.
To be honest, Shroud was surprised that the previous owner didn't even puke once out of sheer disgust from seeing the bully's face.
In the watchful eyes of the entire class, Shroud went to his seat. He put his bag on his desk, and as he was about to sit, the bully tried taking Shroud's seat.
However, "*Achoo!" Shroud sneezed directly at the bully's face. This action caused the bully to back off. Shroud rubbed his nose as if nothing happened, but the bully was furious.
The bully was about to attack Shroud, but he stopped. The teacher was still in the class, and he couldn't afford to get suspended again.
"Just wait for the break bell to ring," the bully thought, barely holding back his anger. Some students in the class looked at Shroud with concern, but Shroud wasn't concerned about what had just happened.
Instead, he had a different thought, "Hmm, the stinging still hasn't gone yet," Shroud inwardly commented while looking at his left wrist, which Luna had grasped. It was swollen, and there was still the marking of her hand on his wrist.
"I have gotten myself quite an interesting junior, it seems," Shroud jokingly said, trying to ignore the pain in his wrist.
To be continued...
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A/N: Hope you enjoy the chapter and feel free to comment. Your thoughts and criticism are valuable in helping me improve and stay motivated to write more.
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