章 24: Handshake

"Hey~ you should stop hesitating and just come over with me. You will know once we meet him. It's not like I have a bad intention, right?" Erick smiled as he closed the distance between them.

He wanted to act friendly and thus used his greatest affectionate move by placing his arm at the back of his prey's neck. Every time he wanted to act on someone, whether gaining their highest impression of him, bribing someone or everything, which was intentionally good on the outside, he used this move.

"He's too slow," muttered Draven, unintended.

Erick heard it clearly, as he halted. He took quite a lot of time to process what he heard.

"What did you say?" His tone raised.

He appeared to be offended by what Draven commented, "I'm too slow? If I smack your head with my steel bat, will your mind work properly?" Of course, he did not say it out loud. Although some of his body movements betrayed him, and Draven witnessed it, Draven did not mind it.

'He might have offended by what I said, but it was the truth.' Draven silently shook his head.

"Anyway, will you come with us or not?" Erick asked.

He wanted nothing but to beat the hell out of Draven. He was getting impatient and anxious, and so was Elliot watching from afar. Elliot had already prepared his fist, while Erick, even though his steel bat, was not with him currently. Two of them brutally punching Draven into meat paste should be enough.

"Okay?"

Draven accepted the invitation for two reasons. He did not mind if they have malicious intent, even to the point of beating him. Since he had awakened his power, he could have burned them into ashes. However, he should limit the utilization of his power and decide to test the strength of his body.

He realized the reason why sometimes the time appeared to be slow from his perspective; it was only when he was running. He understood that it might be because of him, who ran much faster than the average human speed.

Hence, speed boost and strength boost? I should test my physical body now, then? A chance appeared, after all. He thought while grinning ear to ear internally. If they raised their fist first, he would retaliate with his own. He could only apologize if he could not control his strength in time and might have exploded his enemy's head.

"No, No, No…" Draven shook his head. "I should control my strength. Who knows if I ended up killing someone in broad daylight? The dream of entering the prestigious awakening academy will be reduced to nothing but a dream."

His eyes flashed with determination to reach his goal and after that goal? He'd know when he got there. He did not have high ambitions like owning a grandiose car and having his own villa or possibly a city. To possess everything that humanity could afford was something he could only dream of, but it was still impossible for him to make it his goal.

While Draven's thought drifted again, Elliot did not mind it. He could not finally hide the euphoric smile on his face anymore, as his mouth widened akin to Joker's smile. He walked to the front, and behind him was Draven. To ensure the latter would not run away, he held his wrist and did not even realize its tightened intensity had increased.

However, Draven's appeared to possess a heaven-defying Quality, which even a veteran person who battled quite a lot of people did not even make his wrist redden from pressure. As though the veins continued to operate normally as if Elliot did not squash it.

"Here they are!" Elliot exclaimed.

He surveyed his surroundings and noticed not a lot of students stayed anymore, as the gate had already been tightly shut by the guard, as it indicated the start of the classes. Elliot could not be happier than this that he even decided the location they would beat Draven's was where he stood.

He looked at his watch and knew there should be some time before their homeroom teacher arrived. He usually comes five minutes late but also comes out five minutes late. Their homeroom teacher was like he had his own time, and the students could not blame him. After all, their homeroom teacher was an awakener.

"Four minutes is enough to beat up Draven and a minute to run over to the classroom."

Elliot gazed at the incoming Erick and Draven as he clenched his fist, while he imagined countless scenes of him and Erick beating up Draven. He then noticed Draven's appearance became slimmer, his body became well-toned, his height became taller, and his face surprisingly turned handsome. His skin was delicate and smooth, contrary to a person's appearance living in the slum.

He was stunned and astonished. However, once they closed the distance, as Erick and Draven finally stepped on the grass, he regained his composure. Moments later, he realized he was charmed by Draven's appearance, and he suddenly turned aggrieved with his fist reddened from the strong clench and veins popped out of his head.

"I'm not gay!" He exclaimed in his mind.

However, the more he tried to deny it, the more unpleasant memories appeared in his thoughts. The color of his pair of eyes turned crimson before it regained rationality.

"Calm down! You are here to beat that man anyway! Deforming his face should help me calm down!"

His hands moved and searched his body for every sharp object he could find. The high school was strict when it comes to weapons, and thus they restricted all the students from bringing any sharp objects as possible.

Although the pen was a sharp object, it was still maintained moderately by placing the student's name through a barcode. Hence, if it was used as investigation material once something happened, the said students who owned the pen would be immediately called and declared as suspicious persons to investigate.

"How could I forget about my nails?" He laughed bitterly.

He then straightened his back, forced a smile, and appeared to be amiable as possible. He could not fail this, as one of the best things to beat someone was to surprise them. Never let others expect your next move, they say… hence he tried to apply this saying as possible.

"Hi, Draven. Long time no see?" Elliot greeted as he extended his hand for a handshake. "Are you okay? The path where you lived was blocked by the Dimensional zone appearance, right? Are you all right? Did it cause you some kind of trauma?"

His tone appeared to be a genuine concern towards Draven. Draven, who heard his question, was quite surprised as he accepted Elliot's handshake. How could an outstanding person be aware of his place despite being an insignificant person? He was nothing but a tool for mockery for others, and seeing Elliot concern himself with him made him feel touched.

However, it disappeared afterward when he felt Elliot tightening his grasp on his hands. He realized these people were too good at acting that he almost fell from it. He learned his lesson and could not help but snicker inside.

"I'm okay. Thankfully I managed to evade the area of the Dimensional Zone. I arrived home safely," replied Draven.

Elliot, on the other hand, his face reddened for some reason. His hands were more crimson red than Draven's hand, which reddened lightly. Elliot's cheeks bulged out sideways as he gritted his teeth to increase the intensity of his grasp, but it was no use. Hence, he tried to take out his hands but he could not even budge Draven's hand.

He looked at Draven, who still kept his smiling face, and Elliot felt trepidation in his heart.

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A/N: So someone had just complain to me. It was normal for me confuse my MC's name since it was still fairly new, and it was even in the first chaps. If someone noticed the supposed name of MC was replaced by Clover, please bear in mind it was the other MC of my other work, if this name appeared in the future, please do comment on the paragraph so I can fix it. Thank you!