"Were elementary students normally this fierce?"
Calvin furrowed his eyebrows.
He felt somewhat annoyed that he wasn't given any time to contemplate what just happened for he was just thrown right into the fray. Staring at the several bullies surrounding a lone student, Calvin knew that he had to do something. If not, then that would be wasting the opportunity given to him by that thing that transported him into this place.
"Find a way out of this place... Hmmph, that's such a piece of vague advice..."
"Of course, I'll find a way out of this place!" Calvin softly uttered.
He walked out of his room and shouted.
"Stay your hand!"
Calvin's voice rang loud and clear that the jeering students abruptly froze.
"Ivan? You're trying to help Ziya again? What? You have a crush on her, huh? Hahaha, that seems fitting. Birds of the same feather really do flock together. Both of you are trash after all!" A student who seemed to be too big to be an elementary student coldly spat at Calvin's direction.
'Ivan? That's my name in this place?' Calvin inwardly thought.
His attention then turned to look at the studied that was being bullied and he found that it was a little girl who looked to be in seven to eight-years-old. She was holding her stomach in pain, and the contents of her lunchbox, as well as her lunchbox itself, was thrown onto the ground.
'How horrible... just what kind of a school is this?' Calvin inwardly commented.
He glanced at the time and formulated a plan, "Are you sure that you are going to continue this when the first period is about to start? Do you want to get punished for truancy?" Calvin crossed his arm in front of his chest. He moved closer to Ziya as if he was trying to protect her from the bullies.
Ziya raised her head.
The shock within her beautiful sapphire-like eyes indicated that she was thoroughly astonished that someone stepped up for her.
But...
Ziya bit her lips.
"Why did you step up for me?"
"Don't you know? Now that you are protecting me, they will also target you from today!"
Ziya softly whispered.
Calvin could hear what she said, but he merely shrugged.
It's not as if he was going to stay here for a long time anyway.
He just needed to get out, subdue that notebook, then complete this final phase along with the other newbies.
"All right, Ivan... Since you're obviously trying to protect her, then watch your back when class is over later..." The student glared angrily at Ivan.
He even wanted to throw a punch, but considering that there were only a few minutes before the first period started, he held himself back and ran towards his classroom.
"Hmmph..."
Calvin merely scoffed.
He found it beneath him to pay any attention to that student whose age looked to be between five and thirty-five.
He turned his attention to Ziya, and he found it incomprehensible as to why such a beautiful little girl was being bullied by the others. Although he had a good idea of why she was being bullied, Calvin knew that he couldn't just assume things.
He needed to investigate this matter properly.
Calvin squatted down and helped Ziya clean the mess on the floor.
"I-Ivan... Let's go now... We can't be late or sir Nick will punish us!"
Ziya seemed to be very afraid of sir Nick.
It was as if he was her nemesis.
"You go ahead, I'll clean this mess first." Calvin proposed and Ziya didn't complain.
She ran towards the classroom for Class 3.
Calvin was finally done within the cleaning and he was now walking through the corridor, trying to find a trash bin where he could throw the trash that he picked up.
Soon, he found one and after throwing the trash. He discovered that this school was indeed quite similar to the school on the third floor of the Administration Block.
This place appeared to be in a completely enclosed building, and it seemed to be isolated from the rest of the world. All the windows were barred with wooden planks and Calvin walked for quite a long time, yet he still couldn't find the way out.
"Hey! What are you doing here loitering around? Which class are you from?" A fierce voice rang from behind Calvin. He turned around and realized that there was a person standing on the empty corridor where he had just passed through. A fat middle-aged man who looked to be a mountain of fat stood in the corridor, glaring at Calvin.
Calvin glanced at the nametag attached to the left chest of the middle-aged man, "Nick Babatuon, Head of the Disciplinary Committee."
"It's already a few minutes since class started, don't loiter around." The middle-aged man realized that instead of showing some respect, Calvin seemed to be suspicious of him, so he firmed up his attitude, and said: "Which class are you from? Show me your Student ID!"
"Student ID?" Calvin uttered in confusion. He started patting his pockets and he soon discovered that there was something firm inside his left chest pocket. Taking it out, the middle-aged man snatched it from Calvin's hands.
"A first-grade student? Did you not learn anything from kindergarten? Truancy is frowned upon, yet you're already being like this? A student like you needs to be educated properly!" The middle-aged man seemed to have gone mad.
He stretched his hand out to grab Calvin's hand, but Calvin was even faster than him.
Calvin merely took a step backward and avoided his grab.
"What are you doing?" Calvin subconsciously avoided the middle-aged man.
He didn't know what's the deal with this man, but he knew that he needed to find a way out. In order to do that, he must remain unhindered. In short, he couldn't let himself be captured by anyone in this strange place.
"Go back to your damned class! Since you're a first-grade student, then I'll give you a chance. Go back now! But don't even think that I won't warn the teacher who let you loiter around like this!" The middle-aged man's eyes reddened.
Calvin had no idea which class he belonged to. After seeing the middle-aged man's reaction, he decided to take advantage of it by saying, "Okay, I'll follow you back to class." He then stood there and stopped moving.
It was obvious that he wouldn't do anything nor move so long as the middle-aged man didn't lead him to his class.
"Students these days really have no respect for their elders!" The middle-aged man angrily scoffed. Calvin couldn't help but roll his eyes, how could he respect him when his first impression of the man wasn't even that good?
The middle-aged man walked forward and Calvin followed him from behind.
For some reason, they walked for quite a long time until they arrived in front of one of the classrooms that had the signage, "Class 3" displayed above it.
'Isn't this where that Ziya ran into earlier?' Calvin pondered.
Knock! Knock! Knock!
The middle-aged man knocked on the doors, and a few moments later, an old man wearing reading glasses walked out of the classroom. Upon seeing the middle-aged man, he called out, "Sir Nick? What can I do for you?"
"Didn't you notice when calling out the attendance that a student is missing from your class?" The middle-aged man grabbed Calvin's arm, "He's from your class! Take good care of him! If I see him loitering around when class is still ongoing, then I won't let you off too since you are his teacher!"
"How annoying... Even the teachers nowadays are becoming unreliable..."
The middle-aged man left Calvin at the door. He huffed and puffed before turning around. He seemed to have something else to do, so he quickly disappeared in the next corridor.
The old teacher stared at Calvin, "You're a student here?"
Calvin handed over his Student ID.
"Yes, I am... Here's my Student ID."
"I see, then come in. You're lucky that I still haven't called out the attendance, or else you'll be marked as tardy!" The old teacher didn't notice that Calvin was missing because he still hadn't pulled out his attendance sheet and marked every student if they were present or absent.
"I'm not a fan of naughty and tardy students, so I hope that this is the last time that I'll see you being brought here by sir Nick!"
"A-All right."
"Good... My surname is Reyes, so you can just call me sir Reyes. Don't ever call me out with my first name, or else I'll be mad!"
"Mkay..." Calvin half-heartedly answered.
Pushing open the door, Reyes bought Calvin to the podium. The classroom was quiet and at first impression, one would think that the students in this classroom were very obedient. However, as soon as they noticed that a new person came into their classroom. They stopped whatever they were doing and raised their heads to stare at Calvin.
"I'm sorry for interrupting your studies, but this will be brief. We have a new student who will be joining us today. Now, I'll have him introduce himself." Reyes signaled for Calvin to speak. Calvin swept his gaze at the students and discovered that all of them looked nothing out of the ordinary, of course, except Ziya who was a really beautiful girl.
Ziya was staring at him in astonishment and she seemed to be starstruck.
Calvin shook his head and lightly chuckled.
"Hello, my name is Ivan."
"I'm a transfer student, nice meeting you!"
Calvin then walked down the podium and stared at Reyes.
"Uh... That's it?"
"Mhmm, that's it."