1 WINDS
Standing by the window with two balls being juggled in between his fingers, Joaquin tried his hardest to ignore the stench of blood sweeping into the hallway. His classmates of House of Shine class 2E supra, were roughhousing inside. There was barely any noise made apart from the whispers of the girls and the tokens exchanged by the boys.
In front and behind Joaquin were two boys standing guard, watching out for teachers and the disciplinary committee. A few tables were also placed outside to make space inside but ended up creating traffic in the hallway.
Joaquin was focused on an experiment he set up on the roof and he observed it from the window. He had to be this far away from it because he didn't have permission from his teachers to do it. And should the experiment fail he would be in deep shit.
"A condensed monster core being held upside down and slowly, extremely slow. Drips into a D tier healing potion, but because I tweaked the container, the potion should at least be at C tier. Within the potion is another monster core, but this one is from an ant monster so it is very small. In this experiment I am going to try and fuse the two through electrolysis.
"The drip has been set to release the lowest possible droplet per minute, I originally thought 35 droplets would be enough. But since I was wrong, we might witness another majestic explosion today."
Tee!
Joaquin's watch rang signalling the passage of 60 minutes, he turned it off, put the balls in his pockets and sighed. "I'll take a core from a less violent monster next time I guess." He whispered again to himself as he started to walk away from the window, in the opposite direction of the setup.
His light brown skin and large white lab coat made him stand out from the other students, at this point he was basically famous. He couldn't pass by a group of people without hijacking their attention for at least a second.
Many people had a lot to say about him but couldn't say anything to his face. Some blame it on the school rules, but Joaquin knew that it was because even though he had no mana, he was still very strong. Pair that with intellect and most people suffer embarrassment at his hand.
After walking for a few minutes Joaquin finally reached the stairs, he looked back to his class before checking his watch and descending the first flight. On the first landing he found a familiar face.
"Pretty soon I'm going to wipe that smirk off your face." From Joaquin's position looking down at the black haired student, one could tell that he was agitated. What angered him still remained a mystery that Joaquin wanted nothing to do with.
He turned to go up the stairs and the black haired kid ran up to catch him.
"Did you really think that I won't realise what you did?" His white blazer with golden stripes along the collar and sleeves shined as he grabbed Joaquin's arm.
"Good afternoon to you too Ruben," Joaquin said after a sigh. "Now can you please unhand me, I want to use it." Joaquin calmly said.
"The toilets are upstairs." Ruben pulled Joaquin from the top stair to his level and looked down into his eyes. "What did you do this time?" he snarled in a low voice.
Joaquin pushed him back and tried to turn. Ruben already expected this, and was holding on tightly to Joaquin's coat.
"You're not going anywhere, unless it's the disciplinary committee to repent for your sins."
"You don't want to do this." Joaquin turned his head slightly to expose his eye to Ruben.
"I can't let you go unpunished for your crimes, or else you will…"
"You don't even know what I did, and even if you did know how are you going to prove that it was done by me?... Ruben, stop being hindrance and let me go."
"I know that you're up to no good, my stomach has been turning all day." Ruben's blue eyes sparkled as he glared at Joaquin, saying nothing as the seconds ticked by.
"Oh, brother." Joaquin said as he relaxed himself and slid his hand into his pocket. Ruben noticed and loosened his grip, Joaquin used this moment to pull himself back up. It was enough to free him, so he used this moment to try and run away.
He only made it up three steps before Ruben came back to his senses and started pursuit. Again, Ruben attempted to grab the coat. He successfully caught it and pulled hard on it, the coat followed Ruben to his plummet off the stairs.
Joaquin continued up until he disappeared into a direction opposite his class. He again checked his watch and there was about 25 minutes before study time began. Joaquin's goal was to reach the laboratory block before that time to spend his study there.
As he kept on speed walking down the hallway, moving people out of the way with a glare from his golden brown eyes. While some people were afraid of him, some wanted to bring him down. Joaquin started to notice a group of boys picking up trail to follow him.
The other students started to mumble among themselves, Joaquin could hear every word but chose to ignore. Magic exists and the concept of reality has been altered a bit, but unless Joaquin is a beast man, it is definitely not normal for him to have enhanced senses and physic.
He lifted his head and slowed down, that way his pursuers will slow down too and block Ruben's sight. The next set of stairs were just a few steps away anyway. After one last look backward and being met with grins from the incoming boys, Joaquin made his turn.
SWOOSH!
SWOOSH!
SWOOSH!
Three boys passed by Joaquin very fast and landed at the bottom of the stairs, they chuckled a bit and the ones behind Joaquin pushed him. Causing him to stumble forward.
"I've been pissed all day. Who knew that I'd be given a chance to relieve my stress like this?" A voice came from behind Joaquin, violently happy. The others laughed alongside it.
"Honestly this school baffles me, it doesn't allow us to fight but yet they allow us to gamble. It's a fucking joke isn't it?" the voice repeated with a roaring laughter. From the boy's pocket, he pulled out a small tablet. He tinkered with it a bit and threw it to Joaquin.
"How about we have a spar. You, me and these boys here. It will be a battle royal so you won't be overwhelmed by numbers. What do you say?"
"It must be nice." Joaquin whispered before looking back up at his assailant, "Being stupid must be fun. I mean why else would people like you walk around this school confidently?" Joaquin raised his voice enough for the boys to hear him and cringe at his tone.
The one that had been talking made his way down the stairs trying not to get angered by the sight of Joaquin. He thought, 'how someone like him could, not only be allowed to enter this the school, but also wear the same uniform as me.'
He immediately grabbed Joaquin by his collar, "after this year of schooling. You're going to fail and be sent back to whatever kingdom you came from to serve as a slave to people like me. Even if you do pass, the most you can do is become a meat shield for us in the frontlines. If you know what's good for you, accept the fight so I can prepare you for life after…"
"Garr!"
Joaquin bashed his head against the boy's nose and he tripped on the stars trying to get away from Joaquin.
"I'm sorry, but I got tired of your screeching voice. I hope the young master doesn't mind." Joaquin turned to walk away and the boys that were below the stairs made way for him.
"BLLODY FOOLS! STOP HIM!" the boy screamed while holding on to his leaking nose.
The three boys bellow tried to grab Joaquin, one of them grabbed Joaquin's arm and was launched into the wall. The other two immediately backed away. Joaquin looked back at the bleeding boy and threw his tablet directly into his mouth, upsetting some teeth.
"Master Kang," the boys worriedly ran towards him.
"Oops, I guess I used too much strength." Joaquin silently said as he observed his hand while making his way down the stairs.
'But then again, why do I always have to deal with such dumbasses? I've already been coming to this school for a whole year, why can't they just swallow their bitterness and accept that I'll be here for another two years?'
"JOOOO JOOO!"
Joaquin heard a familiar voice scream out to him yet again, he turned to see Ruben holding his coat and even redder than before. He sighed and waited knowing that he needed the coat in order to enter the lab.
"You blew up the roof didn't you!?" Ruben pressed the coat against Joaquin's face.
Joaquin grabbed the coat and tried to pull it away, but Ruben was stronger and ended up keeping it. He took out his tablet and displayed an emblem to Joaquin.
"You see this? I sent a message to the disciplinary committee telling them about your crime and so I was given the permission to apprehend you by any means necessary."
"What if I told you that I had nothing to do with blowing up the roof?"
"What if I told you that I'm not buying that crap?"
'I can always ask Miss Lin for a new coat anyway.' Joaquin sighed again and walked away from Ruben.
'He is not going to trying and run is he?' Ruben thought, after noticing that Joaquin wasn't showing any intentions of slowing down he followed. Joaquin walked into random classes entering at the front and exiting at the back. He walked through crowds of people and even visited the top once, all on effort to lose his tail.
Slowly, the two picked up speed until they walked into the entrance of the Shine House block and Joaquin disappeared in between the lockers. People were watching closely and curiously wondering why a class S student was following around a class E one.
Ruben checked his watch and he noticed that they only had 5 minutes left and that is when the warning bell went off. He stood by the entrance as the kids all retreated to their classes and Ruben smiled, 'if I can't find my own brother I would be a joke.'
He thought this as he saw Joaquin leaving the block wearing a blazer seemingly borrowed from one of the girls in the group he snuck in. But with his skin colour he stuck out like a sore thumb. Ruben grabbed Joaquin and flung him back inside. Making sure to pull off the blazer and give it to the owner.
"Why won't you let me live in peace? I don't owe you anything," Joaquin complained as he stood up.
"It can't be called peace if it comes at the expense of other people's happiness…"
"Spare me the speech." Joaquin said as he put on a glove.
"Is that enchanted? Jojo, these are the type of things that I'm warning you about. If you continue being a nuisance you'll not be able to graduate. Please stop being stubborn and accept your punishment."
"Make me."
"Since you asked kindly, I will."
'There is no way he will listen without any force. 5 minutes is enough to get him to surrender.'
Ruben rushed at Joaquin and immediately threw a punch at him. Joaquin blocked it. And he swung his punch at Ruben's gut and landed a successful hit.
'Shit, I almost forgot that he can fight.' Ruben thought as he flew back. He landed safely and as he raised his head he noticed Joaquin trying to get passed. He swept his leg around the floor and tripped him.
