Class of Misfits

There was only one thing that Lucius found as scary as Mr. Yami, and that was none other than his older sister. She stood in the doorway of their dorm room, looking down at Lucius with a disappointed look in her eyes. It was the second time today that Lucius had done something against the rules. Lucius's first idea was to immediately prostrate himself and beg for forgiveness but he ruled that it would be pointless. Instead he put up a weak smile. "He-" 

Before he could even get his first word he was meet with a finger flick to the forehead that much more than he would have liked to admit. Lucius fell backward unto his bottom. "Ow! What was that fo-" Lucius stopped in his tracks when he looked up and noticed the look in his sisters eyes. Her arms were crossed and she looked down at him with an expression of contempt and disappointment. The shining sun only made the piercing look in her eyes that much sharper. Lucius couldn't even bring himself to crack jokes like he usually did when his sister was angry. 

"I don't even know what to say anymore." The disappointment in her voice was so palpable that it may as well have had a physical form. "I mean, not only do you skip class, but the next thing that you do is break into 'The Forest of Life.'" Despite how angry she was her voice never rose. She said everything like a fact, almost completely devoid of any other emotion besides disappointment and anger. She seemed like she wanted to say more, but instead, she shook her head and turned around, walking back inside. 

Lucius sat on the ground shocked. However he knew that his sister had gotten so fed up with him that she couldn't find any words for him any more. He had pushed her past her limit. As he got up he thought of how he could make it up to her. Apologizing would mean nothing. Alice always told him that an apology you don't mean is just asking for a pass to do it again. As he walked inside, closing the door behind him he decided that he should take a shower and reapproach the issue. 

As the freezing cold water ran down his body. Lucius stood in the shower, staring at the walls, deep in thought. He was always a trouble maker, it was just how he was. He always had more energy than things to do, so it ended up leading to him doing things he shouldn't have to get his fill. But now? He felt bored with almost everything. It felt as if he was simply doing these things, for the routine, or to keep up his image. IN truth, he was just, bored. Unlike Raiden, who was motivated constantly by his drive to compete, Lucius didn't have anything motivating him. 

And yet I still make things harder for Alice. 

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. He was bored, but couldn't exactly rest. He didn't take much interest in things like Hayato, but unlike Hayato, he couldn't just sit around and do nothing. He wanted to do something to rid himself from the constant feeling of boredom that constantly felt like it was consuming him. It led to him trying to find a balance between his two conflicting feelings. 

What have you done with your life? The cold words appeared in his mind once again, causing him to shiver. Suddenly, it felt like the cold water he usually enjoyed was decreasing in temperature to the point it became uncomfortable. Lucius's breath started to become heavier. 

Promise me you won't cause your sister any trouble. The water got colder. Lucius leaned against the wall, his breath coming out faster and faster. Each second he remembered the words of his parents, and each second the water got colder. His breathing got faster and choppier until it felt like he was going to pass out- 

"Lucius! You done in there?" His sisters voice snapped him out of his trance. He shut of the water before exiting the shower and wrapping a towel around him. He opened the door to see his sister standing outside, an unreadable expression on her face. "You shouldn't waste water." She looked Lucius directly in the eyes, as if she knew what he was thinking. "If you want to stop causing trouble, start taking things seriously. She turned around and left. Lucius stood in the doorway of the bathroom, shocked. He knew his sister was very intuitive but it seemed like she had just read his mind right there.

"What the....." 

 * * *

Lucius sat at the table with his legs kicked up on the table top, and slurping on a cup of instant noodles. He could her the bathroom water running, and knew his sister wouldn't be out for a while, so he decided to take this opportunity to do something she would've normally ever let him due. However just as he took another bite of his noodles, he remembered the words his sister had left him with. If you want to stop causing trouble, start taking things seriously. After removing his feet from the table Lucius turned to the TV. Turning it on he was greeted by a news report regarding the predictions for the results of the upcoming royal selection. 

News about the royal selections reminded Lucius about the tournament, if it could even be called that. It was more like a group of test that if you passed would permit you to actually participate in the tournament. He had no motivation to participate. Even though becoming the champion of whoever was selected as the princess of the royal selection would seem like a golden opportunity to anyone, the fact that one of those candidates was his sister simply made Lucius feel less inclined to participate. 

"Alice isn't even guaranteed to win. And if she does, I'm sure Raiden or Hayato will come out on top anyways. And even if they don't, whoever is chosen is sure to be qualified enough to-" 

The sound of the shower door sliding into the wall with force stopped Lucius from completing his thought. In fact, it helped him realized how flawed his logic was. He was just trying to justify his own lack of motivation and laziness. He thought back to just a few hours earlier, where he had been joking around with Raiden and Hayato in the "forest of life." He had thought that the forest of life was the only thing that could bring back his interest and motivation to find things, but after returning, he realized that it was more of just hanging out with Raiden and Hayato that had brought him out of his slump. 

The bathroom door opened and his sister stepped out, dressed in a pair of Lucius's shirt and pants, drying her hair with a towel. As she walked into the living room, Lucius directed his next words at her. "Hey sis? I think I'm going to participate in the tournament." As she walked over to the fridge and opened it Lucius couldn't get a good read on her expression, but her voiced seemed tinged with a bit of joy as she said, 

"Really? That's nice." 

 * * * 

As Lucius stepped inside of his homeroom class, he was greeted by a familiar sight that was pretty much an everyday occurrence. 

Pure Chaos. 

Yami, their homeroom teacher had yet to arrive so as per usual, students were acting rowdy and uncivilized. However, unlike any normal class of students where the craziest thing that you'd see happen was someone throwing paper balls, and some girl breaking up with their boyfriend. the scene that Lucius walked into was much more akin to one you'd find in some of fight school manhwa. Two boys, were wrestling in the corner, knocking over desks as they launched a variety of very creative insults at each other. Jayden and Luke. Jayden was a dark-skinned boy with dreads, and Luke was a light skin boy with curls. A majority of their disagreements stemmed from race related issues and topics that aren't even mentioned in some of the darkest media out there. 

"No way! He's definitely not natural!"

"Your guy has pubes for hair!" 

"Both of you are arguing over second place!" 

On the other side of things, three girls were having an argument that pertained to which guy model they thought was the hottest, and they looked almost ready to spill blood over the topic. Emma, a olive skinned girl with glasses, Rebecca, an Asian girl with pigtails, and Touka, a girl with debatably, the longest and most well kept hair he'd ever seen. 

Now that he took note of it, Lucius could feel the temperature in the room constantly increasing and decreasing. This was the result of another pair of students, one boy and one girl who were staring at each other down in the center of the classroom, a burning fire, and freezing ice cold aura surrounding them both respectively. Yuka, a girl who might as well have coal embers for eyes, and Kayden, a boy with ice cold eyes and some of the longest twists Lucius had ever seen. 

Another girl sat in the corner of the room, cleaning two old school looking pistols with odd symbols written on them. That was Akira. She had dark red eyes, and an interesting fascination in the two pistols she was currently cleaning. 

In the center of the classroom, two girls sat facing each other, having a calm conversation, which completely contrasted against the absolute chaos going on around them. Suijin, and Izumi.

Lucius walked through the chaos, greeting his fellow classmates, before getting to his seat which was in the center back of the room, right behind Izumi. She turned to look at him, a mischievous smile on her lips. 

"Skipping school and breaking into the 'Forest of Life.' How much of a delinquent are you, Lucius~" 

"Don't say my name like that." Lucius sat in his seat and looked at Izumi with a bored expression on his face. "And I'm not a delinquent." 

Suijin raised an eyebrow. "Not a delinquent? Really. Almost as convincing as Raiden sitting down for, 'silent contemplation.'" Suijin said his name without even trying to hide her obvious discontent. Lucius however, was not about to ask what exactly Raiden had done. 

"You sound happy." Lucius made a very ill-advised joke and paid dearly.

By the time Suijin had finished physically and mentally berating him, nearly everyone had arrived in the class and was sitting down in their seats. At some point, a class wide argument on whether or not water was wet had broken out, and it was pretty much a civil war. However, every single voice was silenced as the sliding door opened. 

The presence that slipped into the room was so potent that nearly everyone could feel it as soon as the door opened. It felt like a poisonous snake was slithering up their spine, but it had no intention of attacking. It could only be described as powerful, but friendly. Strong, but not overbearing and dark. 

Yami walked into the room. adjusting the tie on his suit and tossing his cigarette in the garbage can. He adjusted his glasses before turning to face the class. "Since we have a very important set of tests coming up, how about a little training exercise?"