Raven still had me locked in her arms; her warm embrace sharply offset by the ice now flowing through my veins.

  I peered over her shoulder, still shellshocked by what I had just witnessed. The unconscious bodies of St. Cirelia’s rugby team lie strewn about the room alongside all the furniture that had been stacked away for future use. The classroom around us that had been neat and tidy before was now an unmitigated mess—a direct result of the carnage she’d wrought. And while the entire debacle was of the dumb gang of jocks’ own making, the violent manner in which Raven had dealt with them had outstripped anything I think they would have done to me, despite their idiotic, blind rage.

  I compartmentalized my shock and wriggled out of her arms. Gently, I grasped her shoulders and slid her back to distance us a bit.

  “Raven… what the hell just happened?”

  She parted her lips to speak, but the classroom door opened before anything came out.

  The jock that had been positioned as lookout poked his head in and said, “yo, you guys are being too loud in here. The whole hallway heard that racket and—”

  His mouth fell open at the sight of his entire team lying thrown around in heaps. He locked onto me and yelled, “how did you… come here!”

  With the intent to avenge his teammates, the idiot burst into a sprint and tried to tackle me.

  He’s a fast one!

  At just the right moment, I rolled under his lunge attempt, and he nearly put himself through the window. When he turned around, I delivered a flurry of punches to his midsection.

  “Ow! I’m gonna juice your damn head!” he raged.

  He tried to snatch me by the collar, but I evaded his grab easily. The punches I gave him did their job in slowing him down significantly, the rest would be easy.

  I kicked out the back of his leg, dropping him to a knee before putting him out with a final, decisive roundhouse kick.

  “Mr. Watanabe!”

  A teacher was in the doorway now, screaming at me. His face was a fusion of horror and fury at the state of the classroom. A crowd of students had also gathered, gasping one after another when they caught a glimpse of the aftermath of the confrontation.

  “Uh… I know how this looks but I promise it’s not what you think,” I insisted.

  “My gods, what have you done?! Stop this insane rampage right now before I call the police and—”

  “Don’t,” Raven interjected. She stepped closer to him and tears began to stream from her eyes. “Everyone was chasing us… I was so scared. These boys forced us in here and cornered me. Shinsuke was just protecting me, so please don’t punish him…”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  I couldn’t believe my eyes and ears. Her entire demeanor had shifted again, this time into that of a damsel in distress. That was definitely not the case just mere moments ago, but the teacher bought it wholesale. He looked at her as if she were the most delicate creature to ever walk the planet.

  “I had no idea!” he gasped. “I heard another stampede in the halls, but I didn’t realize they were trying to hurt you. Watanabe, did you really protect her from them?”

  Raven eyed me intently and silently mouthed, “yes”. Her expression made it clear that she wasn’t going to allow me to answer otherwise.

  “Yes,” I replied, parroting her quiet command.

  “I see.” He called upon one of the students out in the hall to fetch the nurse and then continued. “Well, I commend you, Mr. Watanabe. But even so, you took things way overboard. I can’t look the other way against such extreme levels of violence.”

  I felt Raven’s aura change again. Her tears stopped falling and she stepped up to the teacher again. She looked up at him with two vacant pools that resembled black holes and began to play with his tie absentmindedly.

  “Tell me,” she started, her tone flat, yet vaguely menacing. “Are you really sure you want to punish the boy who protected the world’s most famous actress? Do you think your job would survive that? I mean, I can only imagine what my fans might do if they heard I could have been hurt and staff chose to protect the school rugby team instead. I wonder if you or this school would ever know peace again…”

  The teacher went pale, his complexion growing clammier by the millisecond. She’d put the fear of the gods in him, and he was melting fast under her searing stare.

  “On second thought, although I can’t condone this violence, I believe this may be a rare instance in which a specific level of force was necessary,” he vacillated.

  She smiled robotically with hollow eyes and said, “I knew you’d understand!”

  I thought Eva was terrifying, but this girl…

  “Ms. Blackwell, Mr. Watanabe,” the teacher called, rubbing his temples frenetically. “The gymnasium should be empty right now. Please wait there. I need to speak to the principal about this.”

  Raven and I exited the classroom as the crowd that had gathered outside gawked at us. The teacher waved them off and said, “nothing to see here! Go on, get to class! All of you! You heard the principal yesterday. Anyone else who causes a problem for either of these two will be expelled.”

  The crowd began to disperse, and I could hear them gossiping about the fallen rugby team. At the end of the hall, I noticed Mizuki enter through the front doors. She definitely saw us, but the teacher shooed us away before I could call out to her, though.

  ***

  Raven and I reached the gymnasium. Mercifully, it was empty—just like the teacher said it would be. I took a seat on the bleachers and buried my head in my knees. I rationalized that I was collecting my thoughts, but I think I was hiding from myself. More accurately, I was running from dealing with what just happened.

  “Shinsuke, I’m really sorry,” Raven apologized as she sat beside me. “I didn’t want to make you take all the blame, but I don’t think anyone would have believed that I did all of that back there even if I told them. And even if there was a chance, that teacher walking in on you kicking one of them probably killed it.”

  She made a fair point. I saw it all happen firsthand and even I still barely believed that she was capable of what she did in there. My garbage reputation made me being the culprit an easy sell. Not to mention that, yeah, nailing the jock in the head with a roundhouse just as the teacher walked in was damning to say the least.

  “But I wasn’t going to let you get in trouble,” she promised. “Not a chance.”

  The gym doors opened again, and I stood up, ready to play the part for the principal—only to find Mizuki and Eva standing in the doorway.