4 "Mages are OP"

"Hey, Jade!"

Jade turned around to see one of her friends, Manning, bouncing towards her with a huge smile on her face.

Manning squealed and threw her arm around Jade's shoulders, her grin growing wider and her eyes sparkling.

Jade gave an awkward smile back. She already knew what Manning what up to after seeing her expression...she's probably found another 'cute' boy to fangirl over.

And to be honest, Jade didn't really look forward to being part of her schemes again. She disliked those types of embarrassing situations.

"Jade, guess what?" Manning asked, excitement quickly rushing into her voice. She didn't even wait for a response from her before she started to blabber on. "Oneofmyfriendswenttothecornerstorejustnowandshetextedsayingtherewasanewguyandshesentmeapictureofhimand- oh my gosh! We have to go!" she squealed loudly, earning herself weird glances from the other students walking past them on campus.

Jade forced a nervous smile.

Goodness, here she goes again.

Manning clung onto her arm and pulled, her blonde curls flying crazily. Her green eyes grew into huge tempting circles, begging. "Jade, please! Please come with me!" she cried dramatically. "If I don't see this beautiful man today, there is no point in life!"

Jade groaned and buried her face in her one hand. Once she starts begging, there will be no end. She sighed. "Fine, just this one last time," she relented.

Manning let out a high-pitched scream and instantly starting dragging her through the campus gates while Jade tried her best not to trip over her own feet.

Hell, this better be the last time.

_______________

Gray picked up a few dropped bags of hair-ties and placed then back on its hook. What Althea said was true, these high schoolers really did make a lot of mess here and there, but it wasn't as bad as he thought.

Althea had left the store to him after she finished explaining everything and went to buy groceries at the nearby markets. It seems she had already had a lot of trust in him to take care of her store alone.

School had ended about half-an-hour ago, and the students were still coming and going nonstop. Many of them gave him looks of curiosity, surprise, or confusion upon seeing his unfamiliar face, but not many came up to talk to him.

But that was fine.

"Where's the cashier?" someone called out.

Gray looked up and noticed the small line that had formed at the register after he went to check up on the aisle. "Coming," he said casually.

As he walked towards the counter, the front doors slid open and two girls bumped into him.

"Ah, s-sorry!" the shorter girl with the blonde hair exclaimed, her cheeks reddening significantly. She clung tightly to her friend, who looked away, her long black hair covering her face.

Gray could already tell she didn't want to be here.

He gave a quick smile. "It's fine!" he reassured before stepping behind the counter.

The next couple of minutes were quite peaceful. It was just Gray behind the counter checking the items out while students milled about in the store, the lively chatter bringing a nice atmosphere in the store.

However, he did notice the number of girls that started to file in and it was obvious that they had no intention to purchase anything. Instead, they just stood here and there...staring at him.

It was honestly a bit of a challenge to ignore those who stared. He found it a bit annoying, and in the past when he was Rune...he'd often go confront them with hostility.

These are students, Gray chided to himself. Students, not criminals. And I am no longer Rune, I am Gray. I am a normal civilian...

"Uh, sir. You've scanned my items three times," the student in front of him said.

Gray snapped out of his thoughts and quickly went to fix his mistake. "Sorry, there. I kind of zoned out," he apologized. He finished it up quickly and moved on to the next customer.

"Hello-"

A hand suddenly slammed down on the countertop, interrupting the echoes of chatter in the store.

Gray looked up from his work to see a boy looking tauntingly up at him. It was a younger-looking brat and Gray assumed him to be a student like all the others in the store, considering his uniform that was quite untidy.

His brown eyes were still with disdain and his short, brown hair seemed to be the only thing nice about him. Overall, his face was annoying, and Gray felt like punching him along with his two hooligans that flanked his sides.

"Can I help you?" Gray asked, suddenly realizing how quiet the store was.

Not one person moved nor talked, and they were all looking at him and the boys in front of him, all holding some level of fear in their eyes.

"You work here?" the boy asked, his voice as equally cocky as the expression on his face.

God, was it hard for Gray to keep his cool.

His muscles twitched as he answered, "Yeah, I'm new. Do you need help or something?"

The boy leaned closer and sneered in his face. "Where's the lady?" he asked.

Gray blinked at him. "What lady?"

"The one that's usually here, duh. Are you stupid or something?"

It all dawned on him as Gray realized who this boy was. Well, he'd thought he wouldn't come.

A dry smile spread across Gray's lips. "So...you're the mage," he mused.

The boy looked a bit surprised, as did everyone else, but he quickly recovered and returned to his act. "Well, since you know, you don't mind if I go in the back to check something out, right?" he said with a sly grin.

He reached for the back door and Gray opened his mouth to retort when the doors flew open again, drawing everyone's attention.

A tall boy came striding in, his hands in the pockets of the jacket of his neat uniform. He had a nice haircut, his black strands falling almost past his disapproving eyes, and the aura he released had an imposing edge to it.

Gray smiled inwardly, intrigued. It's another mage...and he's almost even like a younger version of me; same jet-black hair with the same length, aloof, tall, pale-skinned, plus he's a mage.

Whispers were exchanged at his sudden appearance, while nearly half of them took the opening to leave and escape this predicament.

"It's Emrys!" "What is he doing here?" "Eh? The ASB prez is here?"

"Hayden, you better stop what you're doing and leave," Emrys, the nice-looking tall boy said. His tone was authoritative, sounding nothing like that of a regular student.

Hayden, the fire-mage, turned around at the voice, only the slightest bit surprised. "Oh, it's only you," he said mockingly. "Who are you to tell me what to do? I suggest you don't bother me and leave."

Gray raised an eyebrow. Does he not know this 'Emrys' was also a mage?

Emrys stood his ground, unfazed. "You are making a scene in a public place like this and you are giving the worker trouble. I can report this to the staff and you'll have to face the consequences," he said flatly.

Hayden sneered. "Don't you think about trying to threaten me, it won't work. I'm a mage, don't you know?" he dared. "I am more powerful than all you in this room put together. You can't stop me from doing what I want."

Emrys opened his mouth to say something, but Gray butted in. This cocky brat was really getting on his nerves.

"Oh? And why so?" Gray asked.

Hayden and Emrys both turned to look at him, surprised.

Hayden glared. "I'm a mage, do you think you can stop me?"

Gray sneered at him, disgusted. "What makes you think mages can do anything they wanted? What makes you think that you, boy, can do anything you wanted?"

Hayden clenched his teeth, his vein bulging from his temple. "Are you asking for it right now? Of course, I can do what I want!" he hissed. "Mages are overpowered!"

"Oh yeah?" Gray flashed him a dark and threatening look, challenging.

I should scare him off...

Gray matched his own imposing eyes with an evil grin, staring the boy down as he released a bit of his inner energy, letting it seep into the air and ground, crawling towards him. "You're such a weak little pyrokinetic mage, not even worthy of being called one. How dare you to pick a fight with me, b*stard?"

Hayden paled and took a trembling step back; his eyes couldn't look away from him and his aura was completely unnerving, nothing like what he normally feels from Emrys.

Even Emrys looked a little uncertain.

This man...he was a mage, too? Hayden wondered, terrified. "You- you can't scare me!" he insisted. But that only seemed to make him angrier.

Gray glared at him, black flames raging inside his eyes. "Do you have a death wish or something? I give you one last chance. Scram and never come back. If you dare to cause trouble for the shopkeeper or the other ones again, I will find you and beat the living daylights out of you," he pressured menacingly. "Do you understand?"

Hayden gulped and nodded frantically. "Y-yes, I understand."

Then without another word, he bolted out of the store with his two thug-like lackeys and disappeared.

Gray smiled, satisfied. That kid didn't know who the hell he was dealing with.

He called back his power and rolled his shoulders, continuing to check out one of his only remaining customers' items as if nothing had happened.

Man, it sure felt great to use his powers again, even if it was just a tiny portion of it for a short amount of time.

"That'll be eight thirty-two," he said brightly.

The student only stared at him with his jaw dropped. Was this man the same person as the one who just scared Hayden, the school bully, off just like that?

Hell yes, he saw it with his own eyes, and he was going to tell that to everyone at school tomorrow.

Gray smiled at him. "Are you going to pay, or what?"

The student snapped out of his daze and quickly dug out his wallet, pulling out a ten. "K- keep the change," he stuttered with excitement. Then he grabbed his items and dashed out the store.

And Gray continued to do his work for the rest of the day, completely aware of the fact that two girls that had bumped into him earlier had stayed a bit longer than necessary before leaving, and that Emrys was present throughout.