Chapter 96.

PART 1.

Hatori wakes up slowly. His ears have recovered from the sound attack very quickly, which is sort of unusual. ‘Is magic involved somehow?’ he thought.

But his ears are still tender. He is surrounded by crows, who start to caw when they sense that he has woken up. Their cacophony makes him wince, but he smiles all the same. ‘Thank you, my feathered friends, for saving me.’ He broadcast his thoughts.

The female crow whom he met last year lands on his shoulder. ‘What do you plan to do now?’

‘I’m not sure. I can’t go back to the academy. I’m in no condition to face all my enemies.’ Case and point, when Hatori tries to stand up, he stumbles and falls to the ground once again.

At least he fell on the soft leaves which the crows prepared for him while he was unconscious. ‘I’m alive. And I’ll make them regret every second of the pain they’ve caused me.’

PART 2.

Ramesh looks at Santosh, amused. Looks like his pride and self-confidence have taken a hammering recently. “I did warn you, didn’t I?” Said Ramesh. “You should have known that even a professor wants him taken out.”

“I’ve made a mistake, yes.” Said Santosh. “But I won’t repeat it. Even now, students under me are tracking him down in the forest. I won’t leave him alone. sooner or later, his resistance will break, and then we’ll kill him.”

“Good.” Said Ramesh, impressed despite Santosh’s recent failure. “You will need to be relentless to take him out. Remember, he is the student of Zeko, and he has trained under him the longest.”

“Yes, president.” Said Santosh, and leaves.

‘Let’s see whether you can wipe this stain of failure or not.’ Thinks Ramesh. He might need to consider some other applicants for the position on the council if Santosh fails.

He wouldn’t have failed so badly if he didn’t forget the rampage last year at the festival. Truly, Ramesh is puzzled at how quickly everyone has forgotten about that in the Academy. One grind session and one vacation later, they all forget how the school was invaded, even in the presence of powerful mages.

True, these mages wouldn’t interfere in student conflicts. But to do that despite their presence takes balls. And an enemy that is gutsy cannot be underestimated.

PART 3.

A day before breakfast, an older girl comes to James. “So, you’re James Flora, right? You are quite famous among older girls for your smartness.”

“Thanks.” Said James, not at all thrilled with her interruption. He was thinking about several projects he was planning to build by himself, and with Hatori, and this girl interrupted his thoughts. Though if she is interested, she is welcome to join. He would be happy that someone else cares to build things with him, aside from Hatori.

“Of course, I do think you deserve a reward. Why don’t you eat these sweets?” She hands him some sweets. “I prepared these myself.”

“Thanks.” Said James again. If he would have looked at the item in his hand, he would have seen the dark orange color of it. but alas, he did not.

“High, I’m Neha Desai. Nice to meet you.” She whispers in a breathy tone which causes an immediate reaction among the boys. James, after getting under the effects of her potion plus puberty, is no different.

Ever since, James has spent maximum time with Neha, except for his classes. When he gets to his dorm, Raven is waiting for him. “Where were you?” He sees James combing his hair, and changing his clothes. “And where are you going?”

“On a date.” Shin, who was drinking juice that is good for his throat started to cough and splutter when a girl calls from outside.

“James dear, are you ready?” she called.

Raven goes outside, while Shin is still hacking and coughing. “I am ready.” He comes out right behind Raven.

“These must be your friends.” Neha looked at Raven, evaluating him to see whether he could pose a threat or not.

“Nice to meet you mam.” Said Raven with politeness.

Neha giggles. “Don’t call me mam. I feel old. Just call me Neha, okay?” she smiles, deeming Raven to be no threat to her plans.

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“Of course, Neha. Please do take care of our friend.” Said Raven.

“Of course. Don’t worry.” She spoke. ‘I’ll take care of him, alright.’ She thinks.

When they go away hand-in-hand, Raven looks like that seen. Shin comes out, glaring at Raven furiously. “Seriously? You couldn’t say anything more than that? Something is wrong, I tell you.”

“I think you are right. But what do you think it would have accomplished if we just confronted her like that?” asked Raven.

“Then what do you suggest?” asked Shin, starting to walk with Raven.

“We’ll observe them from far. Do you remember the lesson about the love potion? I suspect it is something similar.” Said Raven. “If only Josh and Hatori were here…”

“They are not here. We must do what we can.” Said Shin.

“Yes, you’re right.” Mutters Raven, while watching the mismatched couple. He wouldn’t have a problem if this didn’t come so suddenly. People don’t go on dates so easily, especially older girls with younger boys who are just starting to crack their voices. This screams conspiracy.

PART 4.

Hatori is resting, since his body is still not over the struggle of yesterday. Aside from his abused ears, there are other superficial injuries, which alone won’t cause any problems, but together, are proving to be difficult to deal with. Hatori doesn’t like to feel pain. Which is quite normal for once in this narrator’s opinion.

But this resting doesn’t last long. “There he is.” Said a female voice. “Get him.” commanded the voice.

A group of eight students comes within range of his sensing, and they all start to attack him. Rolling to avoid their spells, Hatori finds himself once more on the run. He left the crows in the morning because he knew something like this could happen. And he would rather not be witnesses to what happened to Karasu on a large scale. They already helped him enough as it is.

Going invisible, Hatori tries to sneak off. But one of the students senses him. “There he is.” Says the boy and Hatori feels the magic wash off him. His invisibility is stripped, and he is visible to everyone. “You can’t trick infrared vision by just bending light.”

‘Is that even a thing?’ He screamed in his mind and started to run once more. He hates to fight like this.

He is not running all the time, but Hatori can’t afford to exchange spells with these students. He must say though, these are much better at chasing and combat than the students he has encountered so far. Finding himself near a stream, Hatori stops breathing, having reached his limits. His injuries have also flared up, not to mention acquiring some new ones. He hasn’t changed his clothes since yesterday either. ‘Why do these things happen to me?’

“Now, prepare the sound ward.” Said the female voice.

‘Not that again.’ Hatori targets the warders, not letting them put the ward. But he won’t be able to stop them forever.

However, this stalemate is broken by the sudden noise of rushing water, which overwhelmed the gentle sound of the stream nearby. All eight students have to spread out the massive wave of water coming their way, and even then, they are swept by it. On the top of the wave, Hatori senses Josh standing and posing like a hero. “When you need my help, I come crashing down!” He gives a hand to Hatori and takes him on the watery ride.

“I didn’t know you'd get so good with water,” said Hatori.

“There are many things you don’t know, my friend.” Said Josh. The students regroup and try to attack them.

But Josh uses the overwhelming force of water, using it as a shield to absorb their attacks, and using it to retaliate. He even called for more water from the nearby stream to attack them, creating a massive squid made of water, thrashing the eight students with its tentacles. It grabbed four of them, it slammed them repeatedly on the ground, crunching their bones, and opening their skulls.

The remaining four students attack this elemental monster, after which it explodes, repeatedly. “Bomb, bomb, bomb, water bomb, I’ve never seen that before.” Said Hatori with each explosion. By the end of it, all eight students were dead, but Josh seems to be not happy with it. “Why must we kill each other? Why can’t we practice magic in peace together?” he asked, releasing his wave, which flooded the nearby area.

“I don’t know, my friend.” Said Hatori. He has thought of this question repeatedly but hasn’t arrived at an answer yet.

(End.)