Volume 7 Chapter 52: I Was The Same As Well.

Later that day,

"..."

"What's the matter with you, Krystal?" Everyone was now having their meal. But Keith noticed something: the girl had a dark expression as her eyes darted around. It was even more so a few hours ago.

"..." Do you really need to ask?

"Yeah. The headmaster and deputy headmaster eat with us." Alfia answered her question.

"..." Why? There was something wrong with this.

"So delicious." Cadmus smiled as he continued to eat his food like any other day. Sohma looked at Krystal, "Student Krystal, we come here all the time." At this point, he had to accept this.

"...I see." She needed some time to adjust. A few hours ago, this dragon was ready to bring the hammer down on her. But this time, he ate like there was nothing wrong.

Dinner went on with a calm and disturbing feeling.

"Krystal, help me out with the dishes." Many dishes were in Keith's hand.

"Okay."

"Keith, I can-" "Diana, it's fine. Just take a break this time." Diana helped out with dinner as the two walked to the kitchen.

"Wash it like so," Keith handed the scrub over to the girl. The two started to wash the dishes. As the two did, it was silent, and there was nothing to discuss. As they continued,

"Krystal, I want to make it clear; you're living on my island starting now, which means you follow our rules."

"...Okay." Not surprising.

"Because you live on my island, I'm your leader going forward."

"..." Krystal scowled, "Don't worry. I won't shame your image." She understood what he meant. With her living on the island, if she did anything crazy, she would affect their island's reputation.

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"That's good." Keith shook his head as he continued to wash.

...

While Keith continued to wash with Krystal, everyone was sitting in the living room.

"Come on! Why do we have to do something like this?!" Herrick was about to cry. Scarlet scoffed, "Of course we need to. We need to bump up your scores. Unless you don't ever want to go the dungeon, then study."

"Ugh." Herrick groaned as he stared down at his nemesis: studying. It was decided that there would be a study session after dinner. With Aidiun here, this had become a no-brainer.

"Jack, you're doing this wrong," Gabriel commented, pointing at an error.

"Ah, I see."

"Sarah, try this as well." On the other side was Faelyn. The two were acting as assistants.

"Alfia, what's the matter?" While Scarlet continued to chew out Herrick and Melor, she noticed the dark look Alfia had.

"It's because of you." Alfia's gaze was directed at Herrick.

"Me? What did I do?"

"I mean what you said about Krystal." His words had been on her mind the whole time.

"Oh, that." Herrick was the only one who agreed with Keith. He didn't go further in explaining what he said about Krystal.

"I'm curious as well." Scarlet was curious.

Herrick explained, "I got the feeling Krystal is like all of us."

"Hmm?"

"Yeah. Like all of us were stuck in one circle. We didn't know many things before meeting Keith." Herrick realized it a long time ago. They could only change so much because they stayed with Keith and his island.

"..." Alfia and the others nodded to that; Keith basically opened a new door for all of them.

"That's why I'm assuming the principal brought her to this island, am I right?" On the side were Cadmus and Sohma, who drank tea like nothing was wrong. He tried to be nonchalant.

"Oh, I wasn't the one who decided." Cadmus shook his head.

"?"

"Then it had to be Keith," That meant the other person who did this was none other than Keith. Herrick turned to the others,

"All I'm saying is you guys should give her a chance. Gabriel and the others gave me a chance, and I became like this." Herrick was welcomed by the others even though he was so cautious and wary.

And look at where he was.

"You guys willingly joined his island. Krystal didn't; I was the same as her." The only person who really went through the same situation as Krystal was Herrick. The others joined for a different reason, while the two were punished and forced to join.

How Krystal felt right now and how the others did were two completely different things.

"..." Alfia and the others blinked.

"When did you become so understanding?" Melor gasped. Herrick saying all of this was too surprising. Leona was the only one who stared with a bright look.

"That's because I learn." Herrick scoffed.

"...Alright, we'll listen to your words." Alfia nodded.

"And she's pretty chill for the most part." In class, Krystal was the silent type. Besides these last few days, she didn't do anything crazy.

"Yeah, she's fine," Jack added.

"Since we all agreed, let's get back to work!" Aidiun clapped his hand.

"..." That only caused Herrick's expression to distort.

"Dammit!"

...

"..." Later that day, Cadmus and the adults were in the living room, drinking some wine.

"I'm surprised Herrick would say something like that." He didn't expect him to say something like that. If this was in the beginning, the child would never have said something like that.

It was the same for others. Keith really had a positive effect on all of them. Before, the others were pretty closed off to their own thing. They didn't want to do anything else but stay inside this bubble.

Keith was an outlier to all of this. Dude is a duckling that runs into a face of danger and survives. And that affected everyone.

"I wonder what kind of effect he would have on her." Cadmus could only grin.