Suspicion arises

"Lisa, do you have some time? I am dying to ask you something. But we will have to talk in private, if you don't mind", Mr. Black asked with a certain amount of pressure behind it as the teachers were tidying up the training hall after the exam of all the students had finished.

"Can it wait a while? I would like to finish here first", she answered while not even looking at him and continued on with her cleaning of the artefact.

"No, it really can't Ms. Violet", Mr. Black said in a silent voice, so only the person who was meant to hear it took notice of it. By using her last name, Lisa knew he how serious he was and couldn't decline anymore.

Lisa followed along towards a room in the back of the training hall. It was actually quite close to the one where she and Yoru usually held their training session in the evening. Because of the exam, there was no time left for it today and Yoru, just like the other students, went back to the dorms and could for once enjoy her spare time.

Mr. Black closed the door to the room and waited for a bit. Both of them were standing opposite of each other but Lisa remained silent. She knew of course why he decided to delay things a bit…

To make sure nobody followed them and sneaks in on their conversation.

After a while, sweat started to form on Lisa's forehead. She grew increasingly worrisome as the discussion appeared to be on a very hot topic. Mr. Black took notice of this but ignored it. He had his own reasons to be extra safe. From his knowledge about half of the teachers were secretly commanded by the military so that everything went how they wanted it too. Even the headmaster had little freedom in his own school. Lisa probably didn't know about this at all. Without an outside source, the teachers were left with as little information as the students.

"You made a mistake", he said all of a sudden, breaking the ongoing silence.

"I hope no one else took notice of it, but I guess luck was on your side. This time."

"What do you mean? I'm not sure what you are going on about?"

"You faked the test. I don't know how, but you manipulated the artefact so it wouldn't tell the actual grade of the girl. I had my suspicion since the last test also seemed kind of fishy. So this time, I spectated you closely and what gave it away, were your emotions for her. You wanted to cheer her up. So you messed up and gave her a better grade than the fake one the artefact showed."

Lisa remained silent. Her face however was one of regret. The mistake she made came apparent to her now. Instead of giving Yoru a F grade, which only one stone lighting up would imply, she gave her a E. No teacher could mess this up, the grade could be seen by anyone of course.

"If I had to guess, you used your own celestial energy to cancel out the one of the girl. A feat only you could achieve. Even though her powers remain dormant for now, her grade should have been higher. She is actually somewhat able to use it, although in a kind of unreliable way after all. Her emotions acting up grant her more access to them. So what is the girl's real grade? Tell me, I want to know why you decided to hide them so desperately!"

Another period of silence between the two passed by until Lisa gave up and chose to come clean with Mr. Black. Her voice was numb; she could barely bring out a sentence but after a clearing her throat she said: "It is at B grade. Well, it was. That was back at the first exam but now it comes close to even A grade, making her around a B+ to A- grade. Her training with the sword made it flare up even more, I'm not sure if she could even handle that much at her age. Using all her celestial energy could burn her down from the inside."

Mr. Black was left in awe and shock. It took him a while but then he asked: "But that isn't the reason you haven't told her, right? She can discipline herself quite well."

"You know what is, stop trying to probe me. The military. They take away the strongest kids and push them into their special elite team. That team where around 95% of all the members die while training, leaving only the strongest behind. Or rather, pure monsters. You surely have seen those broken hybrids back at the military. They all come from this elite team. Most had their heart and mind broken after seeing so many of their comrades die and all they can do now is following orders. They would take the girl right away seeing her strength and I just can't let it happen. I had to go through this once already, I'm not doing it again."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have teased you when it comes to this. I know what happened to your bigger sister after all. She sacrificed herself to let you live; to let you be a more or less ordinary girl. Back in the day before hybrid schools, before they started to go overboard with it and taking all the strongest kids for their elite team. At least back then you had a chance to slip under the radar. But now. Hardly anyone can. I understand your decision now knowing her actual grade, but you have to be more careful. If you slip up, you both will have to go through horrible things, things I wouldn't dare to talk about", Mr. Black said and turned towards the door.

Tears ran down Lisa's face, the memories that came up once again overwhelming her.

"I will keep it a secret. You have my word."

"You aren't the only one who wants to protect her though, let me share the burden with you. I will make sure she gets strong enough to avoid what you are fearing, even if I have to sacrifice something dear to me. In the end…."

"She reminds me of myself back then and I don't wish for her to share an equally tragic fate…."