This time, since the office wasn't entirely filled with smoke, I could actually see what it looked like. It was particularly messy that day, with random books scattered on the ground, the bookshelves half empty, and a cup of coffee that had gone cold.
The stench of smoke was still strong in that room, there was a lot of dust everywhere, and the floor looked extremely dirty.
After the principal sat down in his own special chair, he took a moment to clear his voice, and then he finally began speaking.
"So, the reason I've gathered you here is—" Before he could finish his sentence, he was interrupted by the mother of the noble guy who harassed me; she forced him to bow down to the principal.
"My son deeply apologizes for the trouble he has caused; he will make sure such things won't happen a second time, won't he?" Her apology to me seemed more like a warning to her son rather than a real apology.
I didn't know what to feel about that. I wanted to see him punished, to be humiliated in front of the school, to be the butt of the joke on everyone's mouth. Only after having suffered through the most amount of humiliation possible was I willing to let things go. That was the price for beating me.
The principal also seemed uncomfortable by the situation, urging the other student to raise his head quickly, immediately losing his composure.
That situation didn't give me satisfaction; in fact, it was only annoying me.
Why do they treat him so well? What does it matter if he bows or prostrates? He's just a kid like everyone else. He may belong to a powerful family, but here, I belong to the strongest family. They should be bothered that someone was crazy enough to kick me down a flight of stairs.
I turned around to take a peek at Leo, and he simply shrugged his shoulders.
After the small situation got resolved, the principal tried to get everyone's story. The student kid started off with his version of the story, explaining how annoyed he was this morning because he woke up a little too early, and then seeing me enter his classroom so arrogantly pissed him off, so he tried to kick me out of the class.
Never once did he mention throwing me across the class, making me pass out, destroying my table, or kicking me on the stairs; not even the principal bothered to mention that to his mother.
In the meantime I saw strange shadows lurking and smiling all around us.
I even took the pill. Was it because I used those powers? Have I just worsened my situation? Ignore them; they're not real.
As soon as his sob story finished, I began telling my version. Before the principal could even comment on it and sweep this all under the rug.
"I think you missed the part where you threw me across the classroom. I don't even know how much class time I missed because I was knocked out. Why didn't you mention that? Or the fact you destroyed both of our desks or the fact you kicked me while we were walking down the stairs?" I commented.
That's when I began to smell something sweet once more; it was fear. I had only tasted it once, but I could already tell it came from the direction of the kid. I had no way of knowing to whom it belonged, but this made my mouth salivate in anticipation.
"Were you trying to kill me by chance? Had I landed the wrong way or crashed against one of those tables anchored to the ground, who knows, that could've been fatal to me." I jokingly added to put more wood on the fire.
That's when I saw the face of the mother go pale. Her eyes darted in the direction of her son with a shocked look; her first instinct was to raise her hand, probably to slap her son, but she quickly stopped in her tracks.
Oh, she knows what that means.
The principal too looked to be in a panic.
"I don't think it's healthy for such young minds to hold grudges—"
Suddenly he fell onto his desk; he put his hands forward to stop himself from slamming his face against it, but it looked like a strong force was slowly crushing him from his back.
My hands were trembling. Even though I was failing to sit properly in my chair, I couldn't turn around, but I could only imagine how poor Leo was.
What's happening? What is this?
My immediate thought was that it came from the old lady sitting beside me, but when I turned my gaze around, I saw she too was struggling to keep her head high, leaving only one other possible suspect.
She walked forward, her rage so intense everyone in the room could feel it; it was slowly crushing us.
As she walked in between us, the air became more and more difficult to breathe; all she took was a small glance in my general direction before turning around to face the other student.
"Because I know what it feels like to be a mother, I will spare your son this time, but there won't be a next time for your son, you, or anyone else in this school. Make sure the other parents know about this." She whispered to the other lady.
"Wait—" As the principal began summoning his flames, she had already ripped out the student's right arm using her bare hands, squeezing his shoulder until it cracked, and then using her power, she made a drill out of blood and used it to skewer his left eye.
His screams quickly filled the room; the blood gushing from his injuries seemed to spurt out endlessly, and it made me turn away immediately.
"Tonight you return home; if I don't see you home by six, there will be consequences." She then whispered to me.
"Now go back to your class." She ordered me, and I didn't think twice before I got up and ran away with Leo.
"Lucky me." Leo commented as he headed towards the elevator.
"Mmmh?"
"I mean, my father doesn't know anything about this; that guy never mentioned me, and neither did you, so technically I'm innocent in everyone's eyes." He explained to me with a smug smile on his face.
Oh, come on, really? How come he gets to…? That's just unfair.
I thought as we entered the elevator.
"I wonder how that's going to turn out." Leo said to break the silence.
"It's just going to be the usual; whatever complaints they have will be met with a threat, and by tomorrow that kid is going to behave like a sheep in front of us. It happened countless times back on the surface." I explained.
Many times when I fought against other kids, I saw the same scenario play over and over again, but after a while, almost none of the guys ever even tried to interact with me.
"Won't this make bullying him less fun?" He asked me.
"On the contrary, it makes things even more exciting, because you know one mistake will get him killed, so you can hang around him, teasing him all day every day, until he gets himself killed." I explained.
"Is it fun? Isn't it more fun when they can at least try to fight back?" He asked.
"Why would I want him to fight back? He got into this mess because he decided to beat me." I responded.
He then shrugged his shoulder as a response and stayed quiet.
Once we returned to the last floor, that's when we were greeted by the same girl that was too terrified to even speak to me; she still seemed to be somewhat intimidated, but she did not fear us nearly as much as before.
"Oh, h-hello!" She sheepishly greets us while standing in front of the elevator; she seemed much smaller than us when she was so timid. She reminded me of a hamster I had once—small, somewhat chubby, and incredibly terrified of anything that got too close to him.
"Oh, right, what was your name again?" I wanted to greet her again, but I had already forgotten everything about her.
"I'm Shia." She answered while lowering her head to not look me in the eyes.
I glanced back at Leo, and he too seemed puzzled, without a proper answer to give, so I put my arm around her shoulder and carried her alongside us.
"So, is there anything interesting that happened here as of late?" I asked as we slowly dragged her away from the rest of the crowd.
She seemed startled and embarrassed about this sudden action, which only made her look more fun to tease around, so I began to whisper to her instead of speaking normally.