Drop Out

Jane folded her hands across her chest and looked down at Azrael evenly. Jane knew that Azrael would be shocked by what she said, but she had thought about this for a long time before bringing it to him. What was the point of Azrael going through Divine Academy when he didn't even have a God Aspect? It would just end up with him being depressed because he wasn't able to keep up with the rest of the students.

Although Jane and Azrael were no longer as close as they once were, that doesn't mean that Jane hated him. Jane just hated the fact that Azrael couldn't accept reality. If he continued in Demigod Academy, then the only thing waiting for him at the end was disappointment.

Instead of wasting time here, Jane decided that she would help him get on the right path.

Azrael stared up at Jane with a look of total confusion. The words that she spoke were easy to understand, but what Azrael couldn't understand was why she would dare to say something like that to him.

"Did you just tell me to drop out of school and become a police officer?"

Azrael's voice was filled with total disbelief, and Jane flicked her hair behind her shoulder while sighing like she was talking to a child.

"You don't need to talk like I'm telling you to commit suicide. Being a police officer isn't the end of the world. They are paid well, and with your body, you can be one of the best in the force. I'm just saying you should accept reality and—"

"Leave."

Azrael suddenly cut Jane off before she could say any more, and Jane narrowed her eyes at him. Her face squeezed into a scowl as she spoke.

"Did you just cut me off?"

"Get the hell away from me before I really get angry, you bitch."

The sheer hatred present in Azrael's voice sent a shiver down Jane's spine, and that only served to fuel her rage and make her even more irritated at Azrael's attitude. This was exactly why the both of them weren't friends anymore. Azrael's inability to accept reality was a crutch that he was desperately holding onto to keep himself standing. By the time he got into the real world and faced the reality of things, that crutch would no longer be enough, and he would inevitably fall.

Jane hated people like this.

What was wrong with becoming a police officer? Did Azrael think that he would die if he didn't become a Divine Enforcer?

Even if Azrael somehow made it through the first year as a student here, he would eventually start to hate himself when they got to their second year and he was no longer able to handle the more powerful Daemons that they would be fighting. They might not be friends, but Jane didn't want to see Azrael face such a depressing future.

But it seems that her worry was misplaced.

Jane turned away from Azrael like she was turning away from something repulsive.

"I guess my father was right. Goodwill is wasted on someone like you."

Underneath the table, Azrael's hands were tightened so hard that his gloves were tearing at the seams! The rage present in Azrael at that moment would have been enough to make him end Jane's life, but Azrael held himself back by sheer force of will and he calmly released a breath to try and bring the anger down.

There was no need to get angry about what Jane did. Azrael had already decided that he was not going to allow anything to slow him down, so he redirected his mind toward what he had to do to get the police off his back.

Azrael told Maddison to look into where the interpreter was staying, and according to her predictions, she would be able to get it soon, but Azrael needed to figure out how to get into that place. If the interpreter was rich, then it was likely that they would be staying in either a hotel or a personal building. Both cases would be pretty difficult for someone of Azrael's level.

Also, Azrael couldn't allow anyone to see his face, so he would need to figure out how he wanted to hide his identity from now on. A mask was the most obvious decision, and if Azrael wanted to maintain full anonymity, then he would need a full face mask and some sort of hoodie that would allow him to cover his hair. That way, if there were any surveillance cameras when he met with the interpreter, they wouldn't recognize the killer as Azrael.

A few minutes after Jane left for her seat, the teacher who would be handling them for the second part of the day arrived, and Azrael listened as they began solving math and arithmetic problems. His math teacher was a slow-talking man with greying black hair and a calm aura around him. He walked around the class with his textbook in one hand while looking through the notes that the students were taking, and he would stop and help any student kindly if they weren't solving the problem correctly.

For some reason, the man never bothered going close to where Azrael was seated, and Azrael didn't bother to care since it allowed him to split his attention between the class and his own thoughts.

The rest of class went by uneventfully, and as Azrael packed his bags after school to leave, he was surprised to hear murmuring coming from his classmates as they stared at something at the entrance to the room. Azrael turned to look at who was there, and he saw Maddison waiting for him with her bag held in front of her and a scowl on her face as she glared at everyone staring.

Azrael walked up to her while putting on his own backpack.

"What are you doing here?"

Azrael asked this question once he was close enough to Maddison, and Maddison answered that she wanted to walk to the gate with him.

"What? Why would we do that?"

"The police think we're together now, don't they? If they don't see us acting like a couple, won't they realize that we were just pretending? I think it'll be best to act like we're together at least until things blow over."

Azrael saw the sense in what Maddison was saying. Maddison had basically lied that they were having sex in order to get the police to back off, so if they just went back to the way things were before, then it would seem a little suspicious that they weren't even talking in school.

Besides, this way, Azrael would be able to keep an eye on her while also working out the plans that they were making. Even though Azrael had already agreed to not kill her for now, it was only because he didn't see the benefit to it. Her God Aspect was strong, and it would be beneficial to him if he took it for himself, but it would be more beneficial to have an ally who was willing to help him with his plans.

Azrael couldn't do everything on his own, so Maddison was going to act as a tool for him that he would use in carrying out plans that required more than one person. So, it was up to Maddison to determine just how useful she could be as a tool. If Maddison ever made Azrael think that he didn't need her around, then he had every intention of simply getting rid of her.