“Ozwald, hurry up! We are going to be late!” Higen called me from the kitchen, after the incident with the titan, we delivered the gem to Lulu she informed us that it was the core of the titan and congratulated us for the unexpected mission, now on Monday we are going to High School to attend classes as regular people, but before that, I worked to put together something for Higen, “I′m coming, wait up!” I took what I was finishing and hid it behind my back.
I skipped to the table where Higen had made breakfast, some toasted bread, and fruits “Good morning, Ozwald, quick! If you don’t eat in the next fifteen minutes we are going to be late to be early to explore the school” he placed a plate in front of me and started to eat, “about that Higen…” he looked at me with a mouth full of bread, I showed him what I did, “listen I know you love your cape and you have been feeling blue without it so I made you this” I had taken a black sports jacket from the clothes we were given and with some of the thread and my new sewing machine I sew the logo of the guards on the back.
“I… I… I” I watched him as he tried and failed to say any other words. “I know it's not the best. I had to practice with the sewing machine and…” he threw himself at me and gave me a big bear hug. “I… I have no words for this. I love it, thank you so much, Ozwald!” “Don’t mention it, so what are you waiting for, try it on!” he let go of me and put his new jacket on, it fit perfectly. “I’m never taking this off!” he was back to the normal, happy Higen I knew. I sat on the chair and started to eat, “Remember to clean it often, then.”
We arrived an hour before classes started, and some of our fellow classmates were starting to arrive too, we made our way to Lulu′s office, to pick up our schedules and other things we would be needing, “come in” she called us from inside her office, “welcome gentleman, I hope you slept well, here” she produced some plastic looking cards with our pictures on them clipped to yellow files “did you stole our souls?” I asked as I picked the card up, “As much as I would love to say yes, I’m afraid those are just your student identifications or I. D′s if you want to use any of the facilities of the school, you are going to need them.”
I looked at my student I.D, it had my name, the year I’m attending, some combination of numbers, and some extra information I wondered how she took this picture it was so small but still retained my features, next I opened the file to see what it had “those are your classes and schedule, classes start at eight o′clock sharp and end at two in the afternoon, any questions?” she asked us, Higen rose his hand, “Higen you know you don’t have to do that here right?” he kept his arm rised as he explain himself “I`m used to asking for permission to talk from an authority figure first; it is respectful,” he said. We are going to have to work on his normal teenage behavior.
“What is your question Mr. Banna?” he cleared his throat “You said that classes end at two in the afternoon, and yet” he turned his schedule to Lulu I looked at mine “What is this class named extracurricular activity?” he was right that spot extended from two thirty to four in the afternoon on some days of the week “you are going to be joining a club or sports team, extracurricular activities will strengthen the bonds you make with your classmates and through them you will learn more and more about the world” that sounds excruciating to me, “today after classes are over the different clubs and teams you can join will have a fair so pick something you like and participate; and yes Mr. Voloro is obligatory” I lowered my hand as she answered my question.
Ozwald and I walked through the now more crowded corridors of the school as more and more guys and girls started to arrive, “Algebra, chemistry, history, these classes sound interesting, right, Ozwald… Ozwald?” I looked behind me and saw that he was still looking at his schedule; his eyes had been glued to that paper since we left the office of the headmistress. “Copper coin for your thought?” I asked him, and he sighed, “I don’t know what I′ll do for the extra thingy. I’m not really good at sports or talking to people I don’t know,” he said, “Weren’t you a clerk for your family store?” “Well, that’s different. It was like we had an unspoken thing of they came to tell me what they wanted, I would give them the items they required, and they would leave or make a contract.”
“wait time out,” I said as I got closer to him to whisper in his direction “You telling me that you can fight a literal monster but speaking to people is difficult?” he blushed and looked away, “is… is not like I can just say “begone” and they′ll leave me alone” he sighed again “Higen I’m not like you, you know what to say to people and you are big and tall nobody will think to mess with you” he slide down the metal closets along the walls “people didn’t understand why I couldn’t… I mean, why did I choose to be a seamstress and not a blacksmith, At my old school, people… let’s say, were not the best… Malika got in trouble once when a group of students were picking on me, and one day I just stopped attending, and Malika taught me from home.”
Home school wasn’t a choice for me when I was little as it happened with noble children I was targeted in a kidnapping, it was a scary thing at the time but I was saved by my grandfather and my father, I sat next to Ozwald “hey listen we are not at your old school here nobody knows us, so this is what we′ll do, we check the clubs and sports fair and see if something picks your interest and if someone ever says something hurtful to you I will introduce their jaw to the floor” I ended my speech with the biggest smile I could do, he nodded “you are right the least I can do is see what they got, but” he stood up and raised one of his fingers “you have to promise me that you won’t join the same activity I pick, you have to pick something Higen likes” I pouted, I like spending time with him but I guess that is not an extra activity “fine…”
“Alright class I’m going to introduce you to two new exchange students from overseas, guy please introduce yourselves to the class” Higen took a step forward and began the introduction “Greetings and salutation, my name is Higen Banna, I like sports and exercise I hope we can get along during our classes” the class filled with “he is cute” “look at those guns!” “Is he royalty? I wouldn’t be surprised” “Mr. Banna please take one of the empty sits at the back of the room, and you, please don’t be shy to introduce yourself” Higen walked to his desk left his bag on the floor, and gave me two thumbs up I breathe deeply and rubbed my left arm, “my… my name is Ozwald Voloro, I like art and sewing, nice to meet you”
The room filled with an awkward silence, I did not know if they expected more or what so I walked to the other empty sit in the classroom but a girl quickly took it “Sorry I kind of need this sit You can take the other one over there” I didn’t want to argue so I just sat away from Higen, as I walked to my new sit I heard “Art and sewing? Yeah, make sense. “he seems weird.” “What a loser,” I guess school is the same here or back in the underground.
I opened a notebook and started to take some notes of what the teacher was explaining “Ptss” I heard from my right, I looked up to see a guy, with tan skin in a darker shade than mine, puffy hair that curled at the tips and black eyes, “hey you new guy, my name is Niko, I like your style” “th… thanks” “wanna hang out at lunch?” this never happened to me “sure I guess” the teacher cough “Mr. Cruz, please refrain from chitchat until the end of the class” the other students laughed a little, “Hehe sorry”
“I′ll be there in a moment Ozwald I don’t know why my last class before lunch was so far away, save me a sit” Higen and I have most of our classes together but a few classes we are separated, I sighed, and returned my phone to my pocket and walked to the cafeteria, I bought some food and looked for a table, but must were full, “hey, hey Ozwald!” I saw Niko, the guy from class, calling me. He seemed too energetic and tough to handle, but… he did have a table and I do need friends besides Higen, so I took a deep breath and walked to his table.
“Hi Niko… mind if I sit here?” he nodded, and I laid my food on the table. “Thanks, is the cafeteria always this crowded?” “Nah, after a few days, people would decide to eat somewhere else.” I nervously laugh. I′m not sure what else to say, so I just started to eat. All I had to do was wait for Higen to get here, and he could do the talking. “So… where are you from?” I should have seen this one coming. “Oh, I’m from a city named Jutan in am… New Zeeland” Higen and I had agreed that we should have a cohesive place where we came from, Lulu suggested that place and used the official name of the underground as a cover-up.
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“Interesting, I have lived here in Merrionette City ever since I was ten, but I was born and raised for a while in Mexico. Is that Higen guy from there, too?” I nodded, “Yeah, he is, actually, he should be here any minute now. Is it okay if he sits here too?” “No problem, the more the merrier, am I right?” We chatted for a while, and Niko was pretty interested. He pointed at a few places Higen and I should visit, and after a few minutes, Higen rushed to our table. “Sorry, Ozwald, I got caught in an argument with some guys and girls on my way here… oh, you are from our literature class, right?”
I introduced him to Niko. “Yeah, I didn’t appreciate the others being mean to Ozwald. He seems cool.” Higen got all excited, “Right! He is, I’m always telling him that” I hit him in the face, so he sat back down. “Right, can we stop praising me? What was the argument, Higen?” I wanted to know if something weird had happened “My last class was near the courtyard where the fair was going to take place, and a few captains of sports teams saw me and asked me to join their teams” I shouldn’t be surprised the sports from Elysia are a little bit similar to the sports of this place so it was obvious he was going to get scouted “and which one are you choosing Higen?”
Niko asked, Higen scratched his head “I don’t know football seems like a good option I heard is the number one sport of Merrionette Park maybe swimming could be fun too but I’m still thinking about it, what do you think Ozwald?” he looked at me, “you seem more like a football lad than a swimmer if you ask me, how about you Niko, any idea on what are you joining?” he showed us and instrument case “I’m trying out for the music club, if that goes south maybe volleyball, and you?” he asked me, I haven’t thought about it nor have I looked through the list, what’s the point? For all I know, what happened in the first class will repeat again. “Why not the drama club, because you are very dramatic, or this arts and craft club, you are good with your hands” Higen pointed out.
“I wish I could stay more, but” after finishing his meal, Higen stood up, “I have another class in the other building, you will be okay, right Ozwald?” I nodded slowly “Yeah I think I have classes with Niko so it should be fine” “I′ll keep an eye on him big guy don’t worry,” he said joyfully, Higen looked relived as he exited the cafeteria, “so Niko do you think I-” I felt something wet hitting the back of my head I froze in place as to not worry Niko “am… is everything alright Ozwald?” I felt the same thing hitting me again. “Ye…yeah… Niko, I′m going to the bathroom. I′ll see you in class,” he looked worried at me as I moved to the bathroom. I heard him gasp. I was unable to hide that someone had thrown their lunch at me. I just ran to the nearest bathroom I could find.
“no, no, no, no, not again, not again” I was lucky to find one empty stall, I slammed the door closed and remembered the last time something like this happened, a group of people was picking on me for not being able to work in the furnace they threw me to the ground and throw their food, punches, and kicks, I was so terrified and hurt, but then Malika came and punched through the bullies she was so upset, the day she was going to punch Higen did not compare to her anger on that day, she got suspended almost kicked out of school and the once loved by everyone Malika was feared by all and it was because of me.
I passed my hand through my now dirty hair and took my shirt off to clean it. I didn’t realize when the bathroom emptied, nor that I was crying, “I don’t want the same thing to happen to Higen…” I sniffed and opened the faucet to clean the shirt and my hair, “he is so excited about the human world, I don’t want people to hate him for protecting me.” “But… we have powers now, right me?” I gazed into the mirror, my reflection was still imitating me, but his mouth moved by itself, “We could fix this in one word, wouldn’t you agree with me?”
“Why would I want to do that, I…” I didn’t understand how this was happening, my reflection never talked to me, I checked my phone thinking it was a titan like what happened with Higen, but the app didn’t open. “See? We are friends me, as to why…” I didn’t realize when the staff came out of my chest without the need for blood. “How did you, I… why?” my reflection smiled. “Well, me, if you don’t, then what are you going to do? Tell Higen about it so he ends up like Malika? Or involve Niko, sure, it would be a short-lived friendship." “Stop it… I don’t want to hear it.” I turned from my reflection. I didn’t want to ruin his trip, nor did I want to involve Niko, but my reflection was relentless. “It was just one push… You told yourself, they just don’t understand…you thought, I′ve done nothing wrong, why do I have to suffer? … you cry, but what happened in the end?” I held the sink so as not to fall. The staff was still on my hands “… what should I say… me?”
“Ozwald, are you in there?” I heard Niko knocking on the door, “Carter is such an idiot. Are you okay?” My reflection smiled, “Yeah, I’m okay Niko… can you tell me what this Carter looks like?” I let my reflection talk, his eyes became darker and cracked as they disappeared inside of the mirror, Niko described the culprit to me, apparently, he was part of the football team the one that Higen wanted to join, “Hide” I whispered the staff shrank to a cellphone charm size and I exited the bathroom “let’s go to class shall we Niko?” he looked concerned “did you paint your nails?” “Don’t worry about it, let’s go.”
The rest of the day was uneventful. I almost couldn’t wait for the fair to start. Higen, Niko, and I were looking at the displays and taking flyers for all the possible clubs and teams, “Join the baseball team!” “If you like acting, the drama club is for you!” “Take a chance, roll the dice, the D&D club is waiting!” Chanting could be heard from all sides, “This is such a lively event, don’t you think, Ozwald?” “Yeah, it is, oh look, guys aren’t those the boots for swimming and band?” I asked. I needed to keep them busy as I searched for Carter.
“But didn’t you say I was not a swimming lad, and I should go to football?” “yeah but why not see you might like it more” Higen was confused but he went alongside Niko “Don’t worry guys I′ll go see the arts and crafts boot” I walked scanning the area for Carter, I hid in the bushes near the football boot, until I saw him, taller than me, with the jersey of the team, burnet hair tid in a wolfs tail, joking around with other people, shoving another student off his way while his friend cheer “show time” the staff returned to its size and I pointed it at him “Hurt!” I said in a somber tone as he fell to the ground, grasping his chest.
“Hey Niko, do you think Ozwald is acting weird?” I asked him as we were near each other seeing the flayers of our respective clubs, he looked nervous and cleared his throat “Well… but promise you won’t freak out” I nodded “Carter a player on the football team threw food at him, he always does things like that but I wasn’t expecting him to do something like that on the first day” I was shocked why didn’t Ozwald told me? I had a bad feeling about this, and then we heard the screams coming from the football boot. I knew something was very wrong.
“Couch! Couch! Carter, something is happening to him!” I ran to the boot as fast as I could, Carter was foaming from his mouth and clasping his chest “Carter, Carter talk to me son!” the couch was trying to get information from him, I looked around until the reflection of the sun on the golden disk of the staff pointed me towards Ozwald, he lowered the staff and began to run toward the school to escape, I give pursuit to him “Ozwald stop!” I called him as we ran. I didn’t know he was this fast.
I sprinted harder and tackled him to the ground “Flo… muhrfff!!!” he tried to cast but I covered his mouth and forced him to enter the broom closet, I turned the light on with the chain and looked at him “Now talk” I asked as calmly as I could he looked to one side to avoid the question “listen, Niko told me what Carter did, why didn’t you just told me? I would have helped you” he grunted “…what if I don’t want to be helped?” he said very angrily “I don’t need the tall and brave knight charming to save me, it’s not going to be like last time, I refuse, to let it be like last time, I will not ruin this trip for you!!!” he lifted his head and look straight into my eyes, they were full of tears he has been swallowing all of this emotions all day, Ozwald fell to his knees as he was crying his heart out, “I don’t want people to hate you, I don’t know what I would do if you hate me, I didn’t mean to hurt Carter too much but I couldn’t stop, I… I just did what my reflection told me, I′m sorry… so sorry, please don’t hate me.”
He buried his face into his knees, as he realized what he had done, he always seems sure of himself, I didn’t know how he felt about school or what happened in the past, I have been thinking only about myself and what I wanted, I placed my hand gently on his head “I would never hate you Ozwald” he lifted his head to look at me, his eyes were all big and red form the tears, I clean them away, “listen, there is nothing you can do to ruin anything, and even if you do, I’m sure we can fix it, Carter was a dumbass but you shouldn’t misuse the divine words, just like I shouldn’t beat him to a bloody pulp or send a formal duel request” I helped him to stand up and I let him pick up the staff.
“Now,” I said and held his hand “we start training tomorrow” he looked confused and afraid, “what training? For what?” he asked “You should learn to use the staff as a weapon, and if you don’t want the big and brave knight to protect you, you should do it yourself” I smiled at him, he started to laugh, he was back to the normal Ozwald “I guess you are right, let’s go look for Niko he will have questions… by the way Higen, are you joining the football team?” he asked concerned “yeah, if I can’t beat Carter to a bloody pulp in the hallway I can tackle him in the field, and you?” he fiddled with the staff for a moment looking shy, “…well running and track trains in the same field as the football team and I was quite quick on my feet” I was excited that he was willing to give it a try, “then let’s go to enroll”
