"Why aren't you answering me?"
'I can't tell even if he does. My duty is to guide you, not help you.'
"Those are two similar terms!-"
"Master Illy, please forgive me." Rec looked down at me with a strange smile.
Before I could protest, He grabbed my ear and pulled it. "For once, stop acting like a spoilt brat, look at your condition. How do you manage to be so annoying!..."
Nerdie and Salva dived in to save me, but they both got their ears pulled as well. Rec was like a full powered machine who had just finally taken enough bullshit from his best friend, which was me... I guess?
***
"So you really don't remember anything?" Salva asked as we trudged down the hallway.
Giving a positive answer would only make them feed me lies or possibly try to overthrow me or something, I had trust issues, it can't be helped.
"Well, anything which occurred yesterday~" I tried to sound natural.
Salva stopped, and looked at me with flushed cheeks.
"You really don't remember?" She sounded more relieved than sorry.
A wicked thought enveloped my brain, "Well maybe the time when you--"
She lunged forward and covered my mouth, but the force she used to gag me, pushed me into an uncomfortable position between her and the hallway's ice wall.
"Don't say it," she pleaded, letting go. "It's embarrassing enough that we both know—"
"There's nothing embarrassing about having a crush on Young Master, your secret isn't safe with me!" Nerdie whistled walking past us.
One moment he was a triumphant statue, the next, just a punching bag for Salva.
" You stalker! How dare you eavesdrop on us!" She screamed, landing the 58th blow on his face.
"I wasn't.. Rec was there too!"
" Snitching won't save you, man." I muttered, walking by him with a smirk.
Maybe if I kept playing it out like this, I could get sincere answers from the three of them.
"Say, how long are we keeping Nerdie in our team?" Rec asked as we navigated to the next corridor.
"Nerdie?" So that was actually his name~ "His abilities are my priority. I need his skills to accomplish my everyday menace."
I noticed Rec was no longer walking alongside me. He had paused seconds ago, a pained or confused look on his face as he stared back at me, like I was a completely different person.
"'I just want to make fun of him, discard him when he starts feeling like he belongs'.." Rec looked up at me, "you said that last week. I'm the one whose skills you NEED, you said it yourself--"
I did? So Nerdie was actually useless to this protagonist. Then if that was the case, I just had to play along.. right?
Afterall, I had always longed to fit my tiny feet into the shoes of a bully.
"Nerd guy!" I grinned, waving far back at Salva and Nerdie who rushed up to me instantly. Damn, I never imagined that being in charge always felt this good.
"Don't you have ears? I called Nerdie, not 'Salva.'"
She stepped back, realising that I was serious.
"Get lost, Nerdie." I spat the words out. As I did, a sudden chill swept the hallway. A heavy, ink-black pressure radiated from my chest, pooling around my feet like a physical shadow.
I felt my aura rise above me, forming an intimidating dark cloud.
For a moment, there was silence. Rec and Salva immediately prostrated.
"Please, Master Illy,"
"Don't dismiss us! I was just messing with you earlier."
"Really?" I crouched enough to look straight at them.
"Young Master, you know what happens to a student once they're dismissed from you."
"Rec and I have lasted the longest under your wing, I can't imagine the type of life awaits me if I'm cast too."
I really didn't understand what they were saying and I wasn't interested either. Possessing enough power to literally make a person beg, pfft. Even Maddie didn't have it.
This life had to be the most interesting thing that ever happened to me.
Come to think of it, I couldn't just dismiss Nerdie. He possessed the kind of manna even Rec and Salva combined couldn't match up to.
But it was already too late to unsay it.
'Ding!'
{System Update.}
[New Points unlocked!]
Huh?
[Kicking Nerdie out of the team has earned you 5 points for bullying.]
[Extra 5 points for establishing a new command.]
[You have successfully upgraded to Level 2 and can now use Simulation Mode twice a day.]
Too late indeed.
***
"Symbolic Magery is your first subject today, after which is your schedule with Class B on Void Physics.." Salva kept ranting on about the strange subjects we had that morning.
I just woke up from a damn sleep! Couldn't they just spare me from schoolwork at least. Not to talk, I knew nothing about any of it.
"Why do you have my schedule summarised like a damn machine?" I finally blurted out.
"Actually, it's our schedule. We're in the same class after all."
I grimaced. "We are?"
"You are?" Rec added.
Salva pouted, clenching her book like she was about to slap someone with it. I quickly ducked behind Rec just incase.
"I got a notification of my transfer and new schedule a minute ago." She raised her hand to reveal what looked like an intercom advanced phone-watch.
Salva pressed a button which revealed a floating notification board and on it was her student dashboard and transfer notification.
"And then you summarised it like it was poetry." I muttered, leading the way to a class I didn't even know the way to.
But neither Salva nor Rec complained. They followed me round the school in infinite circles until the bell for second period rang and Salva just had to teleport us to the front of a door with the letters 'Class A' boldly written on it.
"Now, isn't this a coincidence!" I grinned. "Pretty sure we passed here like twenty times today. Hehe."
Rec mumbled something like a curse word and I understood that the only thing holding his patience from snapping was the fear of being dismissed.
The once rowdy classroom turned dead silent the moment I stepped in. Some students froze, while others had the panicked look on their face like I was a sudden catastrophe happening to them.
I walked by three rows and was about to sit when Rec suddenly nudged me.
"It's not in my position to disturb you, but you're our instructor and Class Representative." He started. "We have Void Physics right now.."
"..With the Rival class."
"You mean—"
Suddenly, the door flung open and someone walked in.
It was a girl, she had an intensifying aura and void like eyes.
She adjusted her squared glasses properly onto the bridge of her perfectly narrow nose and brushed a pink strand of hair back in place.
"I'm convinced that I don't need to announce my status." She looked up straight at Rec, then at Salva, not even daring to make eye contact with me.
"As the Assistant Representative of Class B, I request Young Master's presence to instruct my Class under the command of my Class Representative—"
"—Liyan Kiir."