…
"Um… Fei, do you think Elizabeth will be alright on her own?" Carlos stood at the entrance to the garden, scratching the back of his head. He squinted towards the direction that the mech landed.
The bodyguard lowered her head. "If Master is talking about the girl that you were with, she is in the school already."
"Eh?"
"She rode on the mech that you saw."
I should've expected this… I bet she is in a lot of trouble… All because of me and my impulsiveness…
Will she ever forgive me?
To make it worse, I even abandoned her at the critical moment! What kind of friend does that?! And the thing is, I just asked her to be my friend less than an hour ago! Will she think I'm a coward? Will she think that I'm a bad person to be friends with and leave me?
The boy furrowed his eyebrows in worry. The thoughts of being a loner once again rushed into his head.
But there was a more pressing situation.
Carlos had ignored his teacher, ran out of the school without permission (students can go the gardens but only after telling the teacher), and ran away when the teacher (he assumes that his teacher was sitting in the mech) was approaching…
I'm in a much worse situation than Elizabeth, and she is already in a lot of trouble herself!
The boy recalled what he thought when he first saw the mech in the air. He had thought of the prospect of being transferred away to another school, being grounded by his father.
That possibility seemed to grow larger and larger by the second.
I… I can't get into more trouble, Carlos thought in dismay.
After a few moments of silence, he finally said, "Fei, I'm gonna go to my next class. I'll see you after school."
No matter what happens, he needs to face it head-on! He would be a coward if he couldn't even solve such a 'simple' case! If he couldn't even solve his own problems, how could he help Fei when she is in trouble?
He always relies on her, even though he said he would protect her, just like what happened today.
"I will be waiting, Master." The bodyguard, who was unaware of her master's thoughts, smiled as the two waved at each other.
Taking a deep breath, Carlos stepped into the main school building.
In truth, Fei had sensed that some chaos occurred earlier in her master's classroom. But as she was not a student, the bodyguard could not enter the school just because she wanted to check up on him. Just as she was getting nervous and steeled herself to barge into the school, she sensed Carlos rapidly approaching the gardens with another person.
At this time, Fei was on the other side of the campus, so she took a while to get to where her master was.
When she had finally gotten close enough, Carlos and a girl with curly blonde hair had a peaceful atmosphere around them, and they seemed to be having a pretty good time together. It was only then that the bodyguard could breathe again.
The mutant's gaze turned warm as she silently bowed in the direction that her master left in. She was thankful that he seemed to be very happy with his friends.
The corners of her mouth curled upwards even further as she thought about what Carlos would brief to her today after school ends.
…
Outside the door of a certain classroom, a boy with fluffy blond hair could be seen with his hands tightly bound to his sides. His emerald eyes were showing slivers of nervousness as he peered into the clear windows of the door.
After a long time of hesitation, he was about to leave when he suddenly lost his balance, and his hand landed on a particular area of the door.
Curses!
The door slid open without a noise.
Seeing that no one had noticed him, Carlos breathed out in relief. Just as he was about to close the doors—
— One of the students sitting near the door felt a gush of wind and looked over in curiosity. Eh?
"Carlos Rochester?!"
Carlos flinched.
The teacher who was at the head of the room peered over with annoyance. "Travis Burrows. If you speak again in the next 30 minutes, you have detention for the Wednesday after the next."
"Bro! Come on, Nigel! I already have a ******* week of detention."
"You now have another week of detention, Mr. Burrows."
A burst of laughter erupted among the students.
"F***! Nigel, uh, no. Professor Burton, please let me off! Just this once! Ple—"
"Two weeks of detention, Travis. Please do not spout profanities in my classroom, nor address me by my first name."
The teacher called Mr. Burton, glanced at the blond boy who stood in the doorway fidgeting with his uniform and paused. "Mr. Rochester, do I have to invite you into the classroom?"
He lifted his eyebrows, unamused.
"N-No, sir." Carlos gritted his teeth and walked in. He headed towards the empty seat beside a certain girl with blue eyes and curly blonde hair and sat down cautiously.
There were very clear gasps of surprise, and low whispers began to surface.
Clack!
The crisp sound of a wooden ruler hitting a desk could be heard; silence prevailed immediately.
Mr. Burton turned back to the three-dimensional projection at the front of the classroom. "Well, then! Children, let us continue on the journey of Algebra!"
Seeing the teacher was focused on explaining some sort of formula, Carlos found the courage to sneak a peek at the girl sitting next to him.
She was looking straight ahead, her pose stiff.
In an instant, the boy's courage was gone.
Oh no! S-She looks mad! W-What do I do? What is the most appropriate thing to do? Do I pass her a note? No! That's too bold! Do I talk to her? W-What if she doesn't answer?
The life of a loner was hanging right before his eyes.
No! I don't want to be a loner!
Gulping down to soothe his dry throat, the boy chose his words carefully. "Umm… Elizabeth, are you alright?"