The door slammed open, the sound echoing through the classroom like a gunshot as Principal Voss stood in the doorway, chest heaving. His robot eye whirred angrily, the red light scanning the room.

Voss took one step inside, then another, his shiny shoes clicking on the floor before he froze, mouth hanging open.

Students were slumped in their chairs, some rubbing their temples, others blinking in confusion.

The screens on their desks were all dark, and in the middle of it all sat Zatrice, a smug grin plastered on his face.

Voss's human eye twitched. "What," he said slowly, "happened here?"

Like a wave, twenty fingers rose, pointing at Zatrice.

Voss's face turned red, then purple, as he took a deep breath and growled, "Principal's office, now."

Zatrice stood up slowly, stretched, yawned, and strolled towards the door, winking as he passed Voss.

Two hours later, in the principal's office, Beulla's leg bounced up and down, the chair creaking with each movement, while Zatrice slumped next to her, looking bored.

Voss paced behind his desk, his footsteps heavy, back and forth like a caged animal, his eye whirring louder with each turn.

Finally, he exploded. "Your brother," he shouted, pointing at Beulla, "Almost paralyzed an entire class!" Beulla flinched, but Zatrice didn't move.

Voss slammed his hands on the desk. "He will be expelled for this! Do you understand?"

Beulla leaned forward, her voice trembling slightly. "Please, sir, he's been through so much." She glanced at Zatrice. "Give him another chance, please." Zatrice rolled his eyes, sitting up straight to look Voss in the eye.

"Not my fault your equipment's trash," he said casually. "It's 3025, and you're using ancient tech."

"Zatrice!" Beulla hissed, elbowing him hard, but Zatrice ignored her, leaning towards Voss with a sly smile. "Wonder what Yoshida-sama would think," he said slowly, "if he knew where his money really goes." Voss's face turned from red to white in a second.

Zatrice's grin widened. "Those robo-feet collectables can't be cheap, right?" Voss's mouth opened and closed like a fish. "That's... that's not..." he sputtered. "We're done here," Zatrice said, standing up and stretching. "I'm not getting expelled, right?"

Voss slumped into his chair, all the anger drained from him. "Just... just go," he mumbled. Beulla jumped to her feet, bowing so low her pink hair almost touched the floor.

"Thank you, sir," she said quickly. "It won't happen again, I promise." She grabbed Zatrice's arm, dragging him out of the office.

In the hallway, Beulla let go of Zatrice, then smacked his arm hard. "Ow!" Zatrice rubbed the spot. "What was that for?"

"You idiot!" Beulla hissed, her eyes darting around to make sure no one was listening. "Why didn't you do that earlier? We could've avoided all this!" Zatrice shrugged. "Chrome was slow today," he said. "Needed time to dig up dirt."

Beulla sighed, the sound long and tired. "I've got to get back to work," she said, pointing a finger at Zatrice's face. "Stay out of trouble, I mean it."

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"No promises," Zatrice called as she walked away, her footsteps echoing down the empty hallway.

Zatrice stood there for a moment before checking his watch. 5:55 PM. A wicked grin spread across his face as he started laughing, the sound bouncing off the lockers, filling the hallway.

Doors creaked open, students poking their heads out of classrooms to stare as Zatrice strode past, still chuckling. "Time to have some fun," he muttered, pushing open the back door of the school, the setting sun hitting his face. In the distance, he could see a group of figures waiting.

Zatrice cracked his knuckles, his chrome eyes gleaming in the fading light. "Let's see what you got, Drake," he said to himself, then started walking towards the group.

Zatrice approached the group waiting behind the school. Six guys stood there, Drake in the middle, all wearing smug grins.

"Well, well," Drake called out. "You're smiling for someone about to get their ass whooped."

Zatrice shrugged off his red jacket, tossing it aside. His grin grew wider, more confident. "Funny, I was about to say the same to you."

Drake's smile vanished. He snapped his fingers. "Get him!"

The group rushed forward. Zatrice's chrome eyes flashed, analyzing their movements.

The first guy swung wildly. Zatrice ducked, the fist whistling over his head. He popped up, driving his elbow into the attacker's stomach.

Two more came at him from opposite sides. Zatrice waited until the last second, then sidestepped. They collided with a painful thud.

A fourth threw a kick. Zatrice caught the leg, twisting it. The guy spun, hitting the ground hard.

The fifth and sixth attacked together. Zatrice weaved between their punches, letting them tire themselves out. Then he struck, two quick jabs dropping them both.

Breathing heavily, Zatrice turned to Drake. "That all you got?"

Drake's face was pale, his confidence gone. He threw a desperate punch.

Zatrice caught Drake's fist easily. He squeezed, applying pressure.

Drake howled in pain. "Stop! You'll break my arm!"

"That's the idea," Zatrice said calmly.

"Do you know who my uncle is?" Drake shouted. But before he could finish, there was a sickening crack.

Drake collapsed, clutching his broken arm. Zatrice delivered a swift kick to his face, then turned away.

He picked up his red jacket, slipping it on as he walked towards the main entrance. A low whistle escaped his lips, as if nothing had happened.

Zatrice walked into the busy train station, eyes moved around, looking at everything.

The place was full of bright lights and moving pictures, he went to buy a ticket, The machine was old and didn't work well.

After trying a few times, he got his ticket, he looked around and saw an empty seat.

Zatrice sat down and let out a big breath, his robot fingers tapped on his knee.

Music played in his head through a computer chip, as more people got on the platform all looked tired and bored.

As he raised his eyes, Zatrice saw something blue.

a girl with bright blue hair, And was about to fall as his scanners warned, Zatrice moved fast and stuck out his leg to catch her, the girl didn't hit the floor.

"Thanks," the girl said. She stood up straight.

Zatrice looked at her face, his cheeks felt hot, The girl had pink eyes.

That looked pretty against her light skin.

"Here," Zatrice said. He got up. "You can have my seat."

The girl said no at first, but Zatrice asked again, so she sat down. "Thanks again," she said with a small smile.

Zatrice held onto a bar, The train started to move faster, he tried not to look at the girl, but he kept looking anyway.

"Do you go to the academy?" the girl asked.

Zatrice was surprised. "Yeah, I do. How did you know?"

"Just a guess, many teens that go on this line are from the academy," she spoke.

"You're lucky," she said. "I want to go there, i want to be a doctor who fixes robot parts, but my family doesn't have enough money, we can barely pay for our home."

Zatrice understood. "That's how it is here," he said. "Nice buildings. But life is hard, only the rich corpo rats have it good."

The girl smiled more. "My uncle says the same thing."

They stopped talking for a bit, the train kept moving, Zatrice looked at the girl a few times, his heart beat faster when he did.

After a while, Zatrice finally spoke. "I'm Zatrice," he said.

The girl looked at hi and then put some of her blue hair behind her ear. "My name is Taylor," she said. "But you can call me Tilly. Everyone does."

Zatrice was about to say something. But then the train stopped.

"This is my stop," Tilly said. She got up quickly. She didn't leave right away. She reached out and held Zatrice's hand for a second. "Thanks for the seat, Zatrice."

Then she left. She walked into the crowd. Zatrice watched her go. His hand felt warm where she touched it.

He sat down in the empty seat. He had a big stupid smile on his face. "Tilly," he said quietly. The train started moving again.