Albert

*Ding* *Ding*

The bell to signal class had ended.

"Okay, enjoy your lunch, I will see you in a few hours." Fedrick dismissed his students and walked out of the class.

"Yawnnn~"

Li stretched his arms out with a big yawn as he prepared to leave the class.

'Wonder where DumDum is…' He wondered as he stood up from his seat.

"Hey Li! Wanna have lunch together?" An annoying squeaky voice called out to him.

'Oh god…' Li turned towards the culprit and saw a curly haired ginger kid with freckles across his face and large round glasses.

"Hey Albert" Li simply greeted and quickly hastened his pace out of the classroom.

"Wait up Li!" However, Albert was hot on his tail and followed Li.

'Urgh…' Li tried to take a few turns to lose him but Albert still followed him.

"What do you want?" Li gave in and asked.

"Let's have lunch, it's been ages!" Albert complained as he quickened his step to be side by side with Li.

"It's only been two days…" Li replied with a sigh.

'Why does he always follow me?' Li found Albert to be very weird because since he started class, Albert was always around him.

'I helped this guy once and now he sticks to me like glue…' He didn't get Albert's behaviour, he saw that some students were picking on him while he headed to class. They were blocking the way so Li asked them to stop and move out the way which they didn't take too kindly on but since Li's body was sturdy, their attacks did nothing and eventually they gave up.

However, ever since, Albert was always trying to talk to Li any chance go got.

"Are you busy?" Albert asked, looking a bit sad.

"Yes, I have to attend my counselling session." Li answered annoyingly.

Albert walked silently beside Li for a few minutes as they left their building.

"Hey Li…" Albert finally spoke again.

"Yes?"

"Why…why do you need counselling? I've been meaning to ask but I wanted to give it a few weeks."

'For my suicidal tendencies obviously' Li thought but kept it to himself.

During his first few days of the Academy, he was asked to not ask students or teachers to kill him openely which Li grudgingly agreed.

The Academy also placed him into their counselling support that was designated for problematic students but only a few people know the reason why and they promised to keep everything confidential regarding his discussions with his counsellor.

However, though the reason for his need of counselling is kept a secret, any teacher would or could know that Li attended counselling and other students were able to find as well if they wanted to like Albert.

Since Li wasn't the most noticeable individual like Iris or other students, not many cared or even bothered to find out about his life.

"I go because it's on my timetable. It's a waste of time in my opinion" Li explained.

"You're finally here! What took so long huh?!" A small cute plushie sized black panther ran up to them in adorable fury.

"Oh! Hello! You must be his companion beast!" Albert spoke as he tried to pet DumDum.

However, he moved back "How dare you try to pet me! Do you know who your messing with!?" The black panther growled at Albert.

'Oh boy…'

"Alright, see ya Albert, we gotta go." Li wanted to quickly dispel the situation so he picked DumDum and ran away.

"O-oh! Okay, see you later!" Albert gave a goodbye wave to Li but his face wasn't very happy 'Dammit!'

"Huff…huff" Li continued to run and eventually stopped once Albert was out of view.

"Human…you really think I'm a joke huh!?" The plushie panther said annoyed. Suddenly, he bit at Li's thumb but of course his fangs couldn't pierce through Li's skin.

"Okay okay," Li laid DumDum down "You have good timing, thanks for the rescue" He gave a thumbs up.

"Tch, I didn't come to rescue you, HMPH! Who was he anyway?"

"Some guy in my class, I helped him once and now he follows me like glue" Li responded as he beckoned DumDum to follow him.

"Sounds annoying"

"It is"

"So why did you ask me to meet you?"

"Counselling."

DumDum stopped moving "Nope! Nope! I'm leaving! Bye!" He quickly turned around and wanted to make a run for it but was quickly grabbed by Li and captured in a hold.

"You have to come! You're my companion beast!" Li said in a pout as he continued forward.

"Who's your companion beast? I'm nothing of the sort! I refuse to see that lady again!!" DumDum grumbled and tried to wriggle out of Li's hold.

"I have to take you though! I don't want to talk to her! When you're there, she doesn't ask too many questions!"

"Yea? I have to suffer for that! A great beast like me being dwindled to a companion beast is already humiliating enough! Let go, human!" DumDum tried to nibble at Li's hands but it failed.

"What do you want? I need you to come with me" Li tried to bargain with the panther.

DumDum stopped struggling for a moment, making Li breathe a sigh of relief.

"You haven't spent any Ascension Points right?" He asked.

"I have not yea, I still have one thousand points."

"I need you to buy me some things there, do that and I'll come."

Li immediately agreed "Okay, you can buy whatever you want but you have to come to ever session"

"Hmph, as long as you have the points, I'll continue coming! Now let's go!" DumDum pointed with his paw towards the counsellors building.

"Haha, yea, let's go!"