Chương 8: New Student

Ed headed inside the school. There were seven classes a day at Quotidian high school. Quotidian high school had middle and high school sections. The high school section was divided into four different years. As a 15-year-old, Ed was a freshman.

Ed reached his homeroom class and a bell rang to indicate class starting. He looked around and spotted Dexter and Yuki were both in his class. 'Lucky. Dexter and I are in homeroom together!' A teacher walked in and introduced the school to them. It was all very ordinary.

Homeroom quickly ended, and Ed headed for 1st period. It was gym class. 'Ugh.' Ed complained internally. 'Of course, Jake is in my class…'

Pwee! The coach blew his whistle. "Listen up class. We're going to jump right into things. Go get changed. We'll be playing basketball today."

The students got changed and met on the court. The coach pointed at Jake and another tall student. "You two are captains. Take turns picking team members."

"I'll go first." The tall boy smiled. He picked a student. Then Jake picked. Back and forth. The number of students rapidly decreased until only Ed, a fat girl, and a boy picking his nose remained. "I'll take snotty, haha." The tall boy laughed.

Jake stared back and forth between Ed and the fat girl. One of the students behind him spoke, "Just choose the girl. A cripple will only slow us down."

"Dude!" A girl yelled. "You can't just say stuff like that! You'll hurt his feelings."

The tall captain on the opposing team laughed, "I don't want the cripple either. Hey, coach! Shouldn't he sit out of the game? He's just going to get in everyone's way."

The coach frowned and looked at Ed. "Just hurry up and pick. I don't care which team he's on, but everyone is required to participate."

"Eh? No way coach! That isn't fair. He's going to slow my team down! Why don't you ask him if he wants to participate?" He turned to Ed. "Hey, kid. You don't-"

"Enough!" Jake yelled. "God, you're annoying. Ed. You're on my team. Get your ass over here." He turned to the other team's captain. "Let's play some ball! Don't complain when you lose."

Ed nodded and walked to stand behind Jake's team. His fist clenched in anger. 'Is Jake pitying me? Or did he just want to get the game started… Pisses me off either way.'

The two teams faced off. Jake took the ball and dribbled down the court by himself. He easily passed through the opposing teams guard. He took a three-point shot and scored. The opposing team tried to do the same thing and missed. The game continued for thirty minutes. Jake's team won easily without most members even participating.

"Dude! You're amazing. You should totally go pro someday!" A student was blabbering excitedly. Several other students were surrounding him as well.

"Screw off!" Jake screamed. "You're all annoying." He pushed past them and headed for the locker room.

"What the hell is his problem?" A girl complained. "Wins one game and thinks he's hot shit?" The surrounding students also started badmouthing him.

'What's wrong with him?' Ed frowned. 'Jake wasn't like this before. Even if he didn't like others, he was never so obvious about it. He even hung out with those other delinquents. How the hell did his personality change this drastically?'

Ed went and got changed. Then he headed for his next class. The day quickly passed. He took gym, history, math, biology, economics, and workshop. His final class was a self-study period. Ed waited outside the front gates of the school. The other students passed in waves as they exited the school gates.

Jake walked out of the school. Ed placed his left hand on his shoulder, causing Jake to turn around in surprise. He spoke, "Let's talk, Jake."

"There's nothing to talk about Ed." Jake shrugged him off and kept walking.

The twenty students from Steam Work Academy boarded a steam bus. It returned them to the harbor and a boat ferried them back to the academy. They attended their extra classes at the academy. Then they returned to their dorms and collapsed from exhaustion. Like this, a week quickly passed.

…

"Huff! Huff!" Ed was currently jogging 10 kilometers. He could already jog a third of the distance without slowing down. His body was improving rapidly as it continued to absorb more mana. Jake and Yuki continued to leave the rest of the class far behind.

Two guests suddenly showed up to the track. It was Ms. Willow and a beautiful girl. "Attention!" Ms. Willow clapped her hands to get everybody's attention. Mr. Sai and the students all headed over. "This girl here is Relm Highborn. She just arrived from London and will be joining your class starting today. Get along well. The Hunter Association has her power graded at E rank just like the rest of you. However, her power has the possibility of reaching SSS grade someday."

Ed looked at the girl. She had pale skin, violet eyes, and violet hair. She looked composed and elegant. As if the world was beneath her. As if everyone should serve her. She was by far the most beautiful girl he had ever seen. 'Is she a noble or something? What a weird vibe.'

"Okay." Mr. Sai nodded. "You can join the rest of the class. 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, 100 squats, and a 10-kilometer run. Get going!"

"Yes teacher!" She yelled respectfully. She dove to the ground and attempted to do a push-up. "Grr!" She growled. Then, she let out a breath as she collapsed to the ground. She failed to do a single push-up. Next, she failed sit-ups and squats. Then, she ran about 10 steps before giving up to exhaustion. "Huff! Huff!" She slouched over while gasping for air.

"Teacher!" Relm yelled. "Can I use my powers during the exercise?"

"No!" Mr. Sai frowned. "That would defeat the entire purpose. We begin combat training next week. You can use your powers then. Keep running. If you don't finish, then I'll give you extra training." Half of the students quickened their pace in fear when they heard those words.

Gym class ended. "You kids can head to your next class." Mr. Sai spoke. "I've got an appointment, so I'll be leaving ahead of you." He jumped in the air and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Relm had barely finished a fourth of the run. She dragged her tired body towards the other students. She glanced at each of them one by one. Then she walked towards Jake and tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hmm?" Jake turned around.

"Excuse me." Relm smiled. "Could you carry me to the next class. I'm quite tired and don't think I can make it. You look quite strong. You can do piggy-back or princess style! I don't mind!"

"Is there a screw loose in your head or something?" Jake frowned. "Find somebody else. I don't have time to waste on weaklings!"

"Hey!" One of the boys yelled. "You don't have to be so rude!" He turned to look at Relm. "I can carry you if you want! I won't drop you. I promise!"

"Why are you losers even here?!" Jake screamed. "Just to play around?! We're here to train! To become hunters! Not be weak and act like idiots!"

"For once, I have to agree with him." Yuki frowned towards Relm. "You should walk yourself. This training is important for the future. Our very lives will be on the line someday. Do you think you can just take it easy like a princess or something?"

"Eh?" Relm tilted her head. "But I am a princess? I was promoted to be next in line to the throne after I gained my powers. I'm the first princess of England."

"What?!" Several students called out in shock. "No way, you're a princess!" The boy from earlier fawned over her again. He turned to look at Jake. "Aren't you going to apologize to the princess! You should know your place!"

"Ass kisser." Jake turned around and prepared to leave.

"Bastard!" The boy from earlier lifted his arm. A green ball of acid formed in his hand and shot towards Jake!

"Gahh!" Jake screamed in pain. The acid slammed into his back and burned a large hole in his shirt. The acid corroded his skin. It sizzled loudly and caused a putrid smell to linger in the air. Blood poured down his back and red flesh could be seen.

"I'll fucking kill you!" Jake turned around and screamed. His face was red from rage. Flames lit up all over his body. It appeared as if his body grew a few inches taller. He wielded a fire ball in each hand and threw them with all his might!

"Ugh!" The boy released acid on his arms and crossed them to block. The acid splashed everywhere. Light burn marks could be seen on his arms. "Is that all you've got!" He yelled as he prepared to shoot more acid.

"That's enough!" Yuki screamed and activated her powers. White and black snow appeared around her. It swirled around her body in a yinyang pattern. "Mordy. Jake. Calm down. We need to go get your injuries treated by Ms. Willow before they get any worse. She can only treat recent injuries. It'll be bad if we wait too long."

Mordy was the acid esper. He was tall, had green hair, and green eyes. He glanced at the flames covering Jake. "Fine. Let's end it here."

"You think I'll just let it end that easily!?" Jake screamed. "Finish what you started lover boy!" He sprinted towards Mordy. A trail of flames was left behind him. They started to spread across the grass.

"You! Are you crazy?" Mordy backed up in fear. He started to prepare another acid ball.

Yuki frowned. She prepared to use her snow to attempt putting out the fire and acid on the boy's bodies.

"Okay…" Relm sighed. "I guess I'll just walk. You guys really overreacted about this… I suppose I'll take responsibility for this incident." Relm rose a hand in the air. A purple light glowed and formed a large sphere that covered Jake, Mordy, and herself. "I hereby declare that no fire or acid shall exist within my domain. Let it be law!" She yelled.

The flames on the ground and Jake's body suddenly sputtered out. The acid ball in Mordy's hands shrunk until it disappeared. They no longer existed within the violet sphere Relm created.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Jake screamed in rage. "Don't interfere in my fight! Do you want to die?!"

Relm turned towards Yuki and spoke, "Do you think you can knock them out or something?" Some sweat dripped from her forehead. "I can't use my powers very long yet. I've just awakened them after all…"

"Just leave it to me!" A girl stepped forward. Her hunter name was Feather. She waved her hands and a bunch of feathers appeared. They appeared like an illusion and shot towards Jake and Mordy. They slammed into their bodies. Bam! Both boys collapsed to the ground. They were both in a deep sleep.

"I'll carry them to the infirmary." Yuki sighed. "The infirmary should be able to treat them or contact Ms. Willow if needed." She grabbed each boy by an arm and dragged them through the dirt like they were trash bags.

"Well… That was something." Dexter pushed his glasses up and turned to Ed. "Should we head for invention class?"

"You go ahead." Ed shook his head. "I have something else I need to do." He waited for the others to leave. Then he headed towards the infirmary.

The infirmary. It was a two-story building. A red cross stood atop the white building. Ed entered and headed through a hallway on the first floor. He reached an open room with twelve beds. Jake and Mordy were both lying down asleep. No one else was in sight.

Ed walked towards Jake and stared at him. 'What caused him to change so much? Why do I even care?' Ed's fist clenched in anger. He looked at a stool near the bed. He rose his hand towards it. Part of the stool broke off and formed a metal blade with a wooden handle. He placed it to Jake's neck.

'Should I kill him? I probably won't get away with it... I'll be labeled as a sinner and sent to prison. I've heard it's a living hell for sinners. Some would rather commit suicide than go…' Ed's hand clenched the knife handle tightly.

"Ugh…" Jake groaned. His body shifted slightly, and a thin line of blood appeared on his neck. He opened his eyes and glared at Ed.