"Help us out, or I increase the intensity of the spars."
Liam's eyes widened, and he glanced up to see Lee smiling with his eyes narrowed to slits.
"How tiring," a deeper voice said to Liam's right. He glanced in that direction, and he nearly jumped at the sight of Kazumi casually walking beside him.
Kazumi glanced down, murder in his eyes. "Screw up, and you're dead."
Liam went pale, and he wept on the inside.
WHY ME?! WHY ARE THEY FLANKING ME?! MY ESCAPE ROUTE IS GONE! NOOO!
Liam's face immediately fell into quiet seriousness as laughs and giggles surrounded them.
"Wow Lee, you were pretty fast," a girl smiled. She was red-skinned, with horns atop a head and a whip-like tail behind her. She glanced at Liam, then locked her eyes on him.
"Hey, I know you. Weren't you the boy who saluted the statue outside the auditorium?"
Liam looked up at her calmly, but on the inside he was screaming.
Huh?! Me? I believe you are mistaken! Yes, I saw you, you laughed at me with your friends! But you do not know me!
"Hm? I don't really remember," Liam shook his head.
Am I better under pressure or something?!
"Well, that aside," said a taller girl with a more... mature build than the others, "Do you guys want to hang out?"
"Yeah, there's a karaoke place nearby," a shorter girl with black eyes smiled.
Liam glanced at the other two boys as they tried to steer the conversation away from the subject.
Kazumi answers with monosyllables, or the occasional long sentence. Lee's a good talker, but he seems... tired? Wait...
Liam narrowed his eyes as a horrible realization dawned on him.
Did these two call me over to help them?!
Liam almost screamed at them, but the moment he opened his mouth, the girls bombarded him with questions.
"Hey, Liam right? What's your full name?"
"What kind of ice cream do you like?"
"What kind of music do you like?"
"What's your type?"
"What's it like being in the Hunter Class?"
Liam felt dizzy from the rapid-fire questions, and his composure began to crack.
Dear Father, please send a miracle-
"Oh hey, is that you Liam?"
Liam froze in disbelief.
"It is. Let's go say hi."
Liam turned his head around, and a relieved smile broke across his face.
Lisa, Hannah! Wait why is Hannah here? Doesn't matter, I'm saved!
Lisa noted Lee's arm around Liam's shoulders, Kazumi beside him, and the small group of girls.
"On second thought, why don't we leave him be? He seems to be enjoying himself after all."
Liam's expression turned pleading, and Hannah laughed as she grabbed Lisa's arm and waved.
"Liam! Long time no see!"
****
Ten minutes later...
"Thanks Hannah," Liam sniffed as he put a spoonful of ice cream in his mouth.
"No worries!" the girl grinned.
"Yes, thank you. I owe you one."
Liam gave Lee a cold side-eye. "And what exactly are you still doing here?"
Lee pulled out a cup of ice cream from the bag he'd been carrying and opened it. "Do you have a problem with me being here?"
"Yes," Liam glowered with narrow eyes. "You might end up attracting more girls."
Lee coughed and looked away as he put a spoon of ice cream in his mouth. "I... don't know what you're talking about."
After Hannah and a reluctant Lisa had saved the boys from the social firing squad, Kazumi had left immediately. Hannah suggested they go to a fast food joint to hang out, so they were currently sitting at a round table of a pizzeria on the second floor of the mall.
"Liam."
Liam turned to look Lisa in the eye. "Yeah?"
Lisa sat back, folding her arms. "Hannah here tells me the two of you talked for nearly two hours at the Library yesterday."
Liam looked down at his ice cream and immediately filled his mouth with half the cup.
What do I do?! What do I say?! I didn't think they'd meet up! How was I supposed to anticipate this?!
It goes without saying that Lisa was actually a very sociable person, unlike Liam, and had she kept her Venma secret she could have made quite a lot of friends in class.
However, if she were to make genuine bonds with people after her secret got out, they would be much, much stronger.
Which was why she cherished her friendship with Liam.
And also why she couldn't fathom why he had lied to her.
This idiot. Does he think I don't know him? Simply passing by a library isn't possible. When I ran into Hannah, she struck up a conversation, and everything came out. Why would he think I'd be mad if he was a few minutes late-
She paused her thoughts and frowned at the sight of Liam shoveling more ice cream into his mouth.
"Enough of the soft serve and answer me Liam J. Paxton," she growled.
Liam almost choked on his ice cream at her expression, then swallowed it quickly.
"U-um, well, you always used to flip out whenever I missed an appointment or something. I guess I didn't want you to act childish-ow!"
Lisa had kicked him under the table, and when Liam looked at her face properly, he could see the light blush on her face.
She glared at him, her eyes yelling: Shut up! How can you say that with people here?!
Liam glanced at Lee and Hannah, then looked back into her eyes: I'm sorry okay? I didn't want to lie.
Then why did you?
You get violent.
Shut up!
Hey, cool it. There are people here. Have my mango ice cream, I know it's your favorite flavor.
"Hmph," Lisa pouted as she grabbed the ice cream out of his hand.
"What... was that?" Hannah asked as she looked at the two.
"Are the two of you a couple?" Lee asked, waving his popsicle stick at Liam.
""Nope.""
Lee and Hannah blinked in surprise at the simultaneous denial.
"Why?" Hannah asked as she turned to Lisa. "The two of you are always together!"
"He's annoying," Lisa took a spoonful of her ice cream and smiled.
"We're old friends. Been like that since we were kids. Met back up in this school," Liam explained.
He looked up and pointed at Hannah with his spoon. "How'd the two of you meet up anyway? We assumed most people would avoid her because... well, you know."
"What he said," Lisa nodded as she turned to Hannah. "I've been meaning to ask you that for a while."
Hannah sat back and put her arms behind her head. "Hmm... I guess you could say that I just don't care?"
Liam and Lisa turned to Hannah in surprise. Lee spoke up right after.
"I must admit, I share the same sentiment."
The two turned to Lee in less surprise.
"I've been thinking about it," Lee said as he looked into his empty ice cream cup, "Why tell us you have that power? It would obviously put us on guard around you. But I keep seeing Liam hanging around you, and the two of you always had genuine expressions, so I came to two conclusions."
Lee raised two fingers, "One, you were lying. It would explain some things, but it's simply foolish to tell a lie that will harm you instead, so that brings me to my second conclusion. You wanted us to be on guard."
Silence fell over the table. Hannah's expression showed clear surprise, while Lisa and Liam exchanged looks, then shrugged.
Liam nodded, impressed. "You figured it out."
Lisa's head rocked from side to side. "Yeah, that's pretty much it. The more active a person's mind is when conversing with me, the lower the chance I can hypnotize them. Doubt is at the top of all my weaknesses."
Lee frowned at her. "Why would you tell us something so important?"
Lisa shrugged. "It isn't like I told you everything."
Silence fell on the table once more, and Liam sighed inwardly.
Well this is awkward.
"My Venma is Construction."
The other three froze, then stared at the person who had spoken.
Hannah chuckled at the disbelief on their faces. "I can manipulate objects to create large constructs, as long as they all have synergy. Like-"
"H-hold on!" Lisa yelped, "Why are you telling us?!"
Hannah rose an eyebrow in confusion, then shook her head, "Does it matter? I told you I don't care about stuff like that. I don't know about Lee, but the two of you are my friends. If you can trust me with your secret, I can trust you with mine."