Chapter 13: Just Worlds Apart

(Kaede's POV)

I stared in horror at the lava sizzling on the ground. Whoever that guy bullying Spencer was, he was not to be messed with.

“We gotta go help him!” I tugged at Cadel, who was calmly watching it all unfold.

“Relax, they can’t do anything,” he said, looking off in another direction.

I gazed at the direction he was facing and noticed some school security guards rushing over. Each of them held an Esper Nullifier. I recalled how Ms Reina had used that device to effectively disable Daxston after he tried to attack me.

The boy with the golden hair, who I assumed was their leader, merely laughed in the face of danger. He turned back to Spencer.

“I won’t forget this, pal. Remember, you’re on my list of bad children now.” His voice was dripping with malice.

A chill ran up my spine. I found myself still clasping onto Cadel’s sleeve, and felt grateful for his company. He had cast an unassuming figure at first, and he seemed harmless, so I had sat next to him on the first day. Little did I know that he was one of the most powerful students in this school.

Ever since he saved me, I noticed he never failed to maintain a calm demeanour, and he always seemed to be in control of whatever situation he was facing. I found that and the sense of security he provided very reassuring, and I gradually realised that I really just wanted to be around him.

I did mention to him that I wanted to practise with him so I could get stronger, but I would be lying if I said that half of the reason wasn’t because I simply wanted to spend time with him. When Scarlette had requested him to train her as well, I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of jealousy. However, I knew that Scarlette was going through a tough time, so I didn’t want to aggravate her mood any further. I had seen her cry when she confided with me the other day, and I hoped that she didn’t see me tear up as well then.

When she requested to meet with Cadel on another day instead, I was relieved, but I had felt guilty at the same time. Was I putting my own selfish desires over the well-being of my friend? Then again, she did tease me right after by subtly implying that there was something going on between me and Cadel. I had denied it, but was that what I wanted? I couldn’t understand my own feelings, and my emotions confused me, so I refrained from doing anything risky.

Cue today, when we had spent some time together at the mall, I kept experiencing constant weird, warm sensations. When Colleen appeared, I had gotten a little bit irritated, which surprised me. She seemed like a friendly person. Even better, she hadn’t assumed that Cadel and I were a couple, and treated our relationship as friends, which I appreciated. If I were Colleen, I probably would’ve assumed that we were dating. I knew I was just being immature.

“Kaede, let’s go,” whispered Cadel, pulling me along.

“Don’t you wanna see how it unfolds?” I asked.

“It’s not safe here. Just a gut feeling,” he replied.

Sure enough, just as we exited the crowd, a blinding flash from behind me illuminated the entire mall. Screams of pain erupted around me and the crowd dispersed wildly. I squinted my eyes, desperate to vacate the scene. “Cadel, what’s going on?!” I asked, my voice trembling in fear.

Right as I said that, the light vanished. I blinked, trying to recover my vision. My ears rang. The flash had happened while I was running away, so fortunately, it had occurred behind me. I whipped around to see the aftermath.

What I saw brought my heart to my mouth. My fellow schoolmates were all lying scattered on the floor, some of them still scrabbling at their eyes. The security guards were in the same predicament— they must have not had time to activate the Nullifiers. The Horizon High students were nowhere to be seen.

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“Oh my gosh, what happened?” I was standing there, stunned. I reached out to the nearest student near me, who was trying to get up.

“We gotta go,” Cadel insisted.

“Shouldn’t we help them? Where’s Spencer” I asked.

“It’s still dangerous. We should get out of here while we still can,” he replied.

I swallowed my fear down. I was worried, but I knew he was right. The Horizon High students could come back at any time. Following his lead, we weaved our way through the panic-stricken crowd and exited the mall.

I leaned over, resting my hands on my knees. “What was that all about?” I gasped.

“From what I could tell, those Horizon students just came here looking for trouble. More importantly, are you okay?” he asked.

I turned to face him, brushing my hair out of my face. His face was unreadable as usual, but I sensed what I hoped was concern in his eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine. What about you?” I asked, even though I already knew the answer.

“I’m okay,” he reassured me. “Are you still up to practice? We gotta get lunch first though. We shouldn’t go back to the mall now, so maybe we could stop by one of those open-air cafes in the campus.”

My heart was still racing, and I hadn’t even thought about what we should be doing next. I admired how calm and composed Cadel remained despite everything that just happened. I felt like he always had a plan, and that steadiness was something I deeply appreciated.

As we walked away from the mall, the atmosphere gradually shifted from the chaotic crowd of the mall to the more peaceful surroundings of the campus. The tension in my chest had eased, relieved that we were out of harm’s way.

“I didn’t know that students from different schools could enter our campus,” I spoke up.

“The only rule is that students from other Districts can’t enter ours. But there’s no rule saying students cannot enter a different school from within the same District,” he explained.

“But isn’t Horizon High still pretty far from here?” I asked. The two schools weren’t exactly beside each other. There was a small town and residential estates for the non-students who lived in the District. They helped keep the Island running.

“You’re right. Also, it’s still only noon. They must have someone with a transport Ability,” Cadel mused. That might have explained how they just disappeared back at the mall.

“Looks like someone’s excited,” I remarked, noticing the slight smirk on Cadel’s face.

“A little bit,” he laughed.

I shook my head, but couldn’t help myself from grinning in return. Half of me hoped that the Horizon High students would start trouble with Cadel, just so I could watch him beat their asses. Still, while I was confident Cadel would win, I didn’t like violence. I hated conflict in general. So the other half of me just wished they would leave us alone, though my gut feeling told me this wouldn’t be the case.

We bought some burgers from a nearby cafe and lounged for a bit, before setting off for Colosso Dome for my training. It had gotten a bit quiet between us, which I guess was to be expected since we were both introverts. For some reason however, I was a bit uncomfortable with the silence. I decided to speak up.

“So umm Cadel… between Kazen and Scarlette, who do you think would win in a fight?” I asked. It was a sensitive question, but I knew Cadel could take it.

Sure enough, he didn’t even blink an eye. “I think it would be close,” he admitted. “It really depends on how skilled they are at their Abilities. Though if I had to choose, I’d probably say Kazen would win it. He has better defensive options.”

I swivelled my head, scanning our surroundings. “Don’t just say that so casually! Scarlette would be heartbroken if she had heard you!”

“She needs practice,” he replied. “Just like how you need practice. Speaking of which, we’re here. Let’s go.”

As we entered the Dome, I felt a little conflicted. His last sentence had admittedly stuck a nerve. He was only able to act all high and mighty because he was blessed with such a powerful Ability.

Abilities tend to develop in early childhood, with the specific power being random most of the time. In some cases, further genetic mutations in DNA could result in people receiving a subset of their parent’s Abilities, like me. Unfortunately, with how I was at the moment, I was nowhere close to how powerful my parents were. Of course, while they were very disappointed with me, no one was more disappointed than myself.

Cadel was right that I needed practice, but it felt kind of humiliating when he phrased it that way. He was calling me weak indirectly, which is again true. That was something about Cadel that ticked me off. Was that arrogance? Or was that confidence? He wasn’t going around flaunting his Ability, but he spoke as if he knew he was better than everyone else. The worst thing is that he was always right – no one can argue with his logic. So why do I still want to be around him so much?

We made our way to one of the special equipment rooms. “Let’s fight a Boobot again,” Cadel suggested. “We’ll set it to a higher difficulty this time. Show me what you’ve got.” He took a Boobot from the shelf and calibrated it to Difficulty 2.

I took a deep breath as I steeled myself. I didn’t want Cadel to see me as weak anymore. Or at the very least, I wanted him to see me improving. As a girl that he could respect.

He stood slightly behind me as the Boobot booted up. He was out here protecting me in case something went wrong. It’s not like he needed the protection of the force field from the spectator zone anyway.

“Here I go,” I warned as I mustered up the largest plasma ball I could summon without losing control of it, and hurled it at the Boobot.