Weeks went by without much disarray. Following his day-to-day schedule and abiding by his contractual obligations for the most part. Still a bit fearful of Serizawa, Jean continued to his sparring sessions with Donny and Dae-Ho during their weapons training class in secret, making sure to avoid any suspicious eyes.
Summer was coming to a close as the weather began to grow colder with each passing day. On occasion, there would be light rainfall, wetting the fields and plunging the sky into a dim gray. However, for the most part, the sun continued to shine on most days. On one of those hot and humid days, Jean and Dae-Ho were continuing their sparring session without Donny as he was feeling sick.
“You’re- getting better,” Dae-Ho said while catching his breath.
“Thanks, but I’m still nowhere near you or Donny,”
“You’re gettin there. Pretty quick too. Plus your attacks have been getting heavier recently,”
The two took a seat on the grass, undoing the buckles on their padding. Dae-Ho leaned back on his arms as he took in the sunlight.
“I’m surprised we haven’t been caught yet,” he said.
“Don’t Jinx it,” Jean replied lightheartedly.
“Well, we’ve been doing a good job of keeping it on the down low, so we should be fine,”
The sound of the bell chiming to signal the end of class carried itself throughout the field. Not long after, the bustling sound of several footsteps passed by them in the distance. Jean and Dae-Ho brushed off the loose grass from their clothes, grabbed their gear and joined the crowd. They had gotten a routine down for getting out of weapons training without raising any suspicion. Typically, Dae-Ho and Donny would take their padding and go on ahead of Jean. Jean would stay behind momentarily before joining the back of the crowd. However, this time, Dae-Ho took Jean’s padding for him and merged in with the rest of the group. Jean followed the plan as usual afterwards, waiting for a few seconds before jumping in with the rest of the students.
Even with the effort they went through to keep his sparring a secret, there were times, where he would feel anxious about it. Whenever he passed by Serizawa, he could feel the intense glare trained on him. Regardless of whether she knew about the sparring or not, they hadn’t been caught yet, so Jean didn’t pay too much attention to it. But, there was always a sense of insecurity lingering in the back of his mind.
Once again, Jean managed to get out of weapons training without any issues and met up with Dae-Ho in their next class.
“Another day of sparring, done,” Dae-Ho said.
“Yup,”
The two of them entered the lecture hall and took their seats. Usually, Evelynn would show up right as the bell chimed. However, this time, Evelynn had come early. She conducted her usual string of actions. She approached the podium, prepped her material and wrote a question on the chalkboard. Her usual routine broke as after she finished writing, she approached Jean and leaned in to whisper in his ear.
“The headmaster and Klaus want to see you. It’s best you don’t keep them waiting,”
Dae-Ho looked at Jean in confusion.
“What’d she say?”
“I gotta go meet with somebody,” Jean answered. He figured it was best not to disclose anymore than that as he didn’t want to get Dae-Ho too involved. Jean gathered his things and got up from his seat. Dae-Ho gave him a look of worry.
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“I’ll be fine,” Jean assured.
“Alright, if you say so,” Dae-Ho responded wryly.
Jean made his way out of the class room and towards the Headmasters office. On the way there, he happened to see Klaus waiting outside of the room, smoking a cigarette.
“What’s happening?”
Klaus crushed out his cigarette and tossed it into the trash can beside him. He let out a sigh that pushed out whatever smoke was left in his lungs.
“You messed up, Jean”
Jean didn’t need to hear anymore than that. Jean sighed and pushed open the door into the Headmasters office. The Headmaster was sitting behind his desk filling out some paperwork. Upon Jean entering the office, he put his pen down and pushed the paperwork aside. He gestured for Jean to take a seat, which Jean did immediately.
“Jean… I’m assuming you know why you’re here,”
Jean nodded in silence.
“I genuinely believed that the rules placed on you wouldn’t be an issue. I know that you’ve been sparring with your friends in secret. But, I also believe that you understand the importance of sparring, which is why I’m assuming you chose to go through with it,”
Jean nodded again.
The door opened once more as Klaus walked in. He took a seat in the chair next to Jean.
“Klaus, as his supervisor, I’m disappointed that you haven’t been able to steer Jean away from his course of action,”
“Don’t blame, Klaus…” Jean finally said.
“I’ve been avoiding Klaus and sparring in secret. He couldn’t have known,”
“But, somebody did,” added Klaus.
“Jean, I’m not angry at you and if it were up to me, I would let this slide. However, just the simple act of accepting you into this academy was a difficult task. That means that I can’t let this go unpunished,”
“I understand,” Jean said.
“As for you, Klaus, moving forward, I expect you to keep a closer eye on Jean,”
“I understand,” Klaus said.
“Jean, your punishment will be solitary confinement for two days. It’s the lowest level of punishment I was able to get cleared by the higher ups. Normally, they would have you killed on the spot. Especially considering what you are,”
“Yes, sir,”
Klaus said nothing to protest, nor did Jean. They both understood that this was the best outcome to come from the situation. The headmaster stood up and began to escort Jean out of the room. Jean looked back to see Klaus still sitting in the chair, motionless.
----------------------------------------
The Headmaster led Jean into a building separate from the school itself. It was a dull and dilapidated building. Seemingly, not having been used in recent years, the door squealed as the Headmaster pushed it open. With Jean following close behind, they walked down a flight of stairs that seemed to go on forever. Their quiet descent ended as they came face-to-face with a large metal door that the Headmaster opened with a key.
Behind the metal door was a long hallway with more metal doors lining the walls. The headmaster opened the first door on the right and waited for Jean to enter.
“Jean, I understand that this isn’t the life you want to live, but right now there isn’t much you can do. I hope that moving forward you can understand that,”
Jean clenched his fists and turned around to face the Headmaster.
“That’s why I chose to go against the rules, Headmaster. If this is the world I’m expected to live in, I decided that I’m not going to sit around waiting for somebody to tell me how I need to live in it. Whatever I am doesn’t change the fact that I lived through watching some of my closest friends die. I’m not going to let that happen again,”
The Headmaster gave Jean a slight smile. Despite his best attempts to hide it behind his stern face, Jean felt as though the Headmaster sympathized with him.
“As a teacher, there’s not much I can say to you right now. However, from one human being to another, you keep doing what you feel is right… I’ll be back to get you in a couple days. I’ll be sure to make something up for your friends to explain your absence,”
“Yes, sir,”
With that exchange, the Headmaster closed the metal door and locked the door. Jean rested his head against the cold, hard bed. In the deafening silence of the empty room, Jean closed his eyes and tried to sleep.