22: Still Not It

Struan dashes up and stands in front of Cascade, holding out an arm in front of me.

She takes a few deep breaths, interpreting Struan's motion as him defending me — but I know it was really meant to tell me to hold back.

I wish I could say he intervened out of concern for me, but a small part of me thinks he would like me gone. Mostly though, I'm almost certain he jumped in so that there's not a repeat of the last time I accidentally lost it.

"I'll have a talk with her, so please let her go for now," Struan says. After adding a few more quiet words to Cascade, the orb bursts open from the top like a pricked balloon, and water spills onto the ground.

I softly land in human form, fully shifting in the little time between the sphere bursting and the water starting to fall.

Cascade acknowledges him with a nod. "A hero must always protect their friends."

I cough up some water then squeeze out my hair, taking a brief moment to shake off my arms and legs.

"What was that about? I was just trying to hide! What's a tiny birdie like me going to do against a force of nature!" I say.

Struan just raises an eyebrow at me, definitely not buying it and even looking a bit irritated.

[Ama, don't start this now.]

[But you're the one who gave me the advice!]

[Don't you dare blame me. We both know you did it because you chose to and wanted to. Cascade is right — you could have done serious harm to the weaker students.]

[Then why'd she pair me, technically one of the weaker students, up with him!? Where's the concern for me?]

Struan turns on his heel and walks away, silently raising his hand to me in farewell and dismissing my agitation.

He returns to the girl he's been nearly inseparable with since the start of the academy. She hugs his arm and gushes over him, praising him for stopping the teacher from being unreasonable and saving my ungrateful self. As they turn to head back to the rest of the class, she looks over her shoulder and shoots me a condescending glare, as though to demonstrate her superiority for being chosen by Struan over me.

I roll my eyes in exasperation. Doesn't she realize this isn't a competition? That she's not even worth the consideration? If I really wanted to, I could make her regret the day she was born — with Struan participating in it too.

No matter. I'll let Struan have his fun. I'm sure he has something in mind.

Besides, she knows nothing about him, nothing about what he's capable of and the atrocities he's committed — together, with me. Heck, he's a monster in his own right — even without me.

I chuckle to myself. She can think whatever she wants, all day long. Because at the end of the day, she better enjoy it while she can — I won't tolerate that sort of attitude for long.

Haha… It's laughable that she thinks herself so superior.

A few other people, who wandered closer for a better look at the drama, follow the pair back to wait for their own matches. I suppose, I too, should rejoin the class.

"Dude, you just got owned by a bird!" Neil's friend teases.

"A tiny, itsy-bitsy, miniscule hummingbird no less!"

"Maybe we should be calling you the Fly Zapper now."

"Knock it off! I didn't lose anything!" Neil protests.

[So? Who is she?] I ask Struan.

[We bonded over our shared hatred of villains. Her name is Rachel.]

[I… I see.]

[Apparently, she lost her family to the Primordial Sovereign.]

[Gotcha.]

[It was Los Angeles.] His eyes meet mine to gauge my reaction.

[Yeaahh, well, California is still trash… Maybe I shoulda done more and gotten rid of the state entirely.]

[...]

He doesn't respond, but he doesn't cut off our connection this time.

Maybe I went too far…

Still… I've been trying to rein myself in with his conditions, but I desperately need an outlet. This match just sparked my appetite without quenching my thirst.

"... So, to reiterate, the purpose of these matches is to learn from each other, gain some experience, and potentially find new ways to use your abilities," Cascade's voice filters into my mind.

Somehow, I get the feeling that it wasn't the purpose of my match.

"So, now that you've seen how it's not done… split up into the following groups…"