Beside a hardwood door adorned with a metal plaque labeled “Headmaster Veda,” stood a young man with ruffled hair and a tattered uniform. A robe with large open sleeves that seemed like it had gone through hell and back draped his body down to his calves. The edges of his robe were blackened with burns, it was half drenched in liquid, and small cuts appeared here and there. Underneath were a fitted T-shirt and a pair of breathable slacks. Clipped to the side of his belt was a bronze badge with a symbol for the number “two” engraved on the front.
Voices, too low to make out, could be heard behind the door next to him. The young man closed his eyes and stood completely still, as stiff as a statue. Soon, a faint outline of a pair of solid black horns formed on the sides of his head. The base started from above his slightly pointed ears and grew forward towards his forehead only to curve back along the top of his head, ending with pointed tips near the apex of the skull. His ears began to twitch ever so slightly.
After a few dozen seconds, from around the nearby corner, a low voice called out to him. The interruption jolted his eyes open and the materialized horns quickly faded, leaving a mess of hair behind.
“Psst, Z-zett…” The voice was soft and anyone could immediately hear the lack of self-confidence in it.
The tip of a pointed ear popped out from the corner and soon a head of long hair and half of a body revealed itself. With similar clothing to Zett except for a long sleeve underneath and a gold badge with a symbol for the number “one” engraved on it, she asked, “Are you alright?”
Zett gestured a small wave as a greeting. “I'll be fine. Have I told you that you’re very good at sneaking up on people?”
“I think you’ve mentioned it once or twice.” The girl gave a small grin at Zett’s comment.
“Anyways, shouldn’t you be in class for an exam right now, miss honor student?”
“I already finished and asked to leave early.”
Zett let out an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, The brains and privileges of being an exemplary student.”
“Yes, yes, more importantly,” she continued, “I think I should explain to the headmaster what happened after all.”
As the girl was about to step forward, Zett put his hand out, motioning her to stop. “Don’t. I already told you, that’s a bad idea. Your tuition is riding on your honor student status isn’t it?”
She bit her lip at his response.
“Trust me, it’s better this way. For you and me. Please, just let me handle this.” Zett let out a smile.
She frowned. “Then, what’s going to happen to you?”
“Me?” Zett paused for a moment. “I’ll probably be fine. I don’t think they’ll expel me for this, so a brief suspension, maybe?”
“S-suspension?” May’s face darkened. “Weren’t you going to help me study? Now, what am I going to do?” She grabbed the sides of her head and tousled her hair.
“Just ask one of your friends to help you.”
“Ah, friends, right…” Her voice gradually became softer.
Zett raised an eyebrow at the unusual response. “What is it?”
“I, uh, don’t have any, uh, other friends?” Her voice gradually went higher and higher with each passing word as she slowly slid her body behind the corner more and more.
“You’re kidding, right?”
The girl looked away from Zett.
“Meibel, look at me.”
Meibel continued to avert her gaze, a bead of sweat formed on her face.
Zett then craned his neck back with a long sigh. “I know you can be a little quiet sometimes, but shouldn’t you be socializing more? You’re an honor student, I’m sure someone has invited you to a study group or to eat. What happened?”
Meibel replied with a nervous chuckle. “I don’t do well in big groups. I just tell them I already have a study group.”
“Considering I always see you during the breaks ever since the beginning of the school year, I suppose I’m this ‘study group?’”
Meibel reluctantly nodded her head.
Another long and exasperated sigh came out of Zett’s mouth. “You know, you should make some friends. I’m sure you’ve heard my name passed along the halls before. I’m just some dumb troublemaker.”
“I don’t care about those things.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “And I think you’re smarter than you make everyone think you are.”
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“And I think you’re overthinking it. I’ve told you before, I’m not that smart.” Zett showed her his belt, tapping the bronze badge. “Why do you think I have this and not a gold or silver one?
Meibel, still not believing his words, commented, “You seem to know a lot for your rank. A whole lot.”
“I have a tutor.”
“A tutor?”
“Yes, and I’m sure you would’ve figured out everything on your own sooner or later even without my help.”
Zett’s ears twitched for a moment. Although his horns had faded due to Meibel’s interruption, it had not completely disappeared. A very imperceptible outline of his horns still remained on his head.
“Anyways,” Zett continued, “You should hurry on out of here. I think we have some familiar faces coming out in a bit.” Zett motioned her away.
Meibel disappeared out of sight within a blink right before his eyes. The door beside Zett opened with a jerk and two young men and a young woman stepped out into the hallway. Their uniforms were relatively the same as Zett and Meibel’s except the badges on their belt were silver with the numerical symbol for “three” on it. Unlike Zett’s robes though, theirs seemed to be in perfect condition besides the faint orange stain all over their uniform. When they noticed Zett, a scowl formed on each of their mouths.
Zett smiled and waved at them. “Did you have a good time in there?”
As soon as one of the three heard his words, a dim glow shone from one of the boy’s eyes and a pair of black horns slowly took shape on the sides of his head. Unlike Zett’s, his horns jutted out to the sides and pointed upwards.
“Jain!” The girl of the group placed a hand on the fuming boy’s shoulder. “Stop. We don’t need any more trouble. Let’s just go.”
Jain’s eyes lost their glow and his horns slowly became translucent until they disappeared. He placed a finger towards Zett’s face and growled, “You better stay away from us and pray we don’t see you again.”
As the trio walked away to the opposite end of the hallway, the same boy to issue the threat turned back to glare at Zett only to see a smile plastered onto Zett’s face with his tongue stuck out. The boy grounded his teeth and quickly turned around, stomping away.
“I don’t think it was the best idea to antagonize them after what happened.” Meibel voiced out.
Zett turned around to see her standing where she had disappeared before. “It’s fine. They won’t pick a fight with me again. Especially not with a ‘bronze.’” He tapped his badge once again. “Third-years wouldn’t want to ruin their reputation.”
“You know that’s not true.” She argued.
“Hmm, I guess not all third-years care about reputation, but I’ve dealt with those types before.”
Just as he finished his sentence, the door next to Zett swung open by itself as if it were gesturing him to enter.
“The headmaster awaits. Go back to class and make some friends. With how things are expected to turn out, it might be a good idea for you to find a new friend.”
The door closed before Meibel could reply, leaving her alone in the hallway.
A somber expression filled her face to his words as she rescinded back to class with heavy footsteps. “That wasn’t the part I meant.”
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Zett stepped into a well-furnished office. The ceiling extended to two or even three stories to accommodate the large bookshelves on either side of the room which required a ladder to reach the top shelves. In front of him were two older women, one sitting, one standing. Both had a similar robe to Zett, but the robe of the woman sitting was laced with a crystal white color while the one standing had gold on theirs. Similar to Zett, they had slightly pointed ears as well.
Zett gave a faint smile at the woman sitting behind the desk, both hands behind his back, “Headmaster,” then to the one standing, “Professor.”
With a sigh, the headmaster rubbed the bridge of her nose. “That uncaring and calm demeanor of yours will let anyone guess how many times you’ve already been in here, Mr. Kroh.”
The professor was also expressing her resignation by massaging her temples. “Now, why don’t you go ahead and tell us your side of the story?”
“Is there really a need to? Didn’t those three explain already? I’m pretty sure they’ve already said everything.” Zett tilted his head.
“It’s still a little foggy from where we’re standing, Mr. Kroh. And we want to hear how the situation came to be from your perspective.” The headmaster replied.
“I see. Well, I was practicing making liquid flares in the lab.”
“An advanced elixir. That’s something second years are yet to learn.”
“I have a tutor.”
“Ah, yes. I suppose it’s not too strange for someone like you to have one. I’m sorry, please continue.”
“Of course. I was sure I had my measurements and ingredients right while I was practicing, but I guess something went wrong. I noticed one of the liquid flares bottles beginning to go unstable. Fearing the explosion would destroy the room or, worse case, cause a chain reaction, I tossed everything I made out the nearest window. I didn’t want to risk the chances of having the other ones I made explode on me as well. Unluckily, though, three third-years were passing by below as the bottles flew over their heads. The explosion caused the liquid to rain down on them and they immediately rushed into the lab.”
Zett paused and took a deep breath before continuing. “The moment they opened the door, I laughed at how ridiculous they looked. I mean, their skin and clothes were bright orange and their hairs stood up on ends! It seemed as if they came straight out of a coloring book. They told me if I apologized and compensate them for their clothes, they would forget what had happened. But, I refused. It wasn’t my fault that they just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. I got angry at them for those demands and punched one. And, well, I don’t think I need to go on, do I?”
As he finished his sentence, Zett let out a long breath.
“Knowing you, I always expect a confession, but every time it happens I still can’t believe how anyone could be so upfront about it.” The headmaster exclaimed.
“I’ll take that as a compliment. And what good would come from lying to you? I’m already here and you’ll find out the truth at some point, right?”
Headmaster Veda eyed him top to bottom. “Yes, well, going back to the topic at hand. There was no one else in the lab with you?”
“Just me.”
“You confess to fighting another student on campus without the proper permission?”
“Fully guilty.”
“Did you use any spells?”
“I did not.”
The professor scanned Zett’s blacked, doused, and cut robe up and down. “Did anyone use spells in the fight?”
“Nobody used any spells,” Zett replied with a straight face.
“Your robe says otherwise, Mr. Kroh,” The professor remarked.
“Oh, these?” Zett scratched the back of his head and slouched with a laugh. “That explosion was a little too close for comfort, so I wasn’t exactly safe for it either.”
“You’re very lucky to not have gotten severely injured then. And let me ask once more. Besides you and those three third-years, no one else was involved in this?”
“No one else to my knowledge.”
A long pause lasted between the two parties with only the ticking of a grandfather clock to fill in the empty silence.
The headmaster was the first one to speak. “This seems a little hard to believe, Mr. Kroh.”
“I don’t know what else you want me to say, Headmaster. You wanted to hear my side, so I did as you asked.”
“You know, most people tend to at least try to prove their innocence in situations like these.”
“I guess so.” Zett’s face continued to be unchanging.
The headmaster sat back in her chair and racked her head. After a long few seconds, she spoke. “Fine. Until we finish our investigation, you will return home until further notice. And I’m sure you know the routine already,” She began writing on a small slip of paper which she then handed to Zett. “Take this and you are dismissed, Mr. Kroh.”
“Thank you, headmaster.” Zett took the slip, bowed, then turned to leave.
“And Mr. Kroh?”
“Yes?” He looked over his shoulder.
“You must know that we will have to inform your family of this incident as well.”
“Of course,” Zett replied. As he turned his face away from the headmaster and professor, a smirk rose from the corner of his lips.
Now alone, the headmaster turned to her co-worker. “Do you believe him?”
“I never do. But, what choice do we have? The practicals are nearing and he just gave us a way to end this little scuffle as quickly as possible. Furthermore, his story matches the other party’s as well.”
“Yes, it does, Tala. Both stories match perfectly.” The headmaster’s eyes narrowed at the door Zett had left through while tapping her fingers on the desk. “Down to the very last detail.”