25th chapter : a sudden look in their eyes .

Two days later, May 8th 19xx,

In the middle of their work Alice got a call.

“ok, I’ll send someone as soon as possible, have fun at work” Alice spoke genuinely, responding to the call.

“Who was the caller?” Arthur asked.

Seems that both Sophie and Arthur started hanging around the restaurant a lot, Marco wasn’t fond of the idea at first and not annoyed by that either but he found it stressful to look after them like that.

“Marco, can you deliver food to Alex at school?”.

“Huh, you want me to deliver lunch for her?” Marco found Alice’s suggestion strange.

“Yeah, it’s just food delivery to the school. she said she has some urgent work and she can’t come here for lunch” Alice explained what she asked for.

Marco sighed as he accepted, he had no choice but to do so.

After preparing a fast lunch, Marco took it and went ahead since the school wasn’t that far from the restaurant and it takes around 20mins walk if he hurries a little bit. Marco took 10 mins as he was running, he knew that Alex gets mad when he gets late.

“It didn’t take much time, and I’m in a good shape too” Marco was talking to Yuna as he reached the front gate, “Been a while since I came here” Marco looked around before entering.

“Hey you!! no strangers allowed!!” The gatekeeper said as he tried to stop Marco at the entrance.

“I have a delivery for Van sensei, can’t I go through?” Marco responded as he showed him the food.

“Sorry but no delivery is allowed, this is the school’s policy kid!!”.

The man apologized somehow then Marco sighed.

“Then I’m going ahead” he calmly said, making the man startled.

“Wait!! I said no deliveries!!” the gatekeeper protested.

“Yeah, I know. I just decided that I don’t wanna hear your warnings” Marco replied as he went ahead.

The gatekeeper looked at him then sighed, he knew that it’s useless to go after Marco at this point because it was just food delivery.

“Strangely he didn’t follow after me, well the lunch break is almost over”.

As he was walking around, Marco was looking at the students eating together. He changed a lot since the last time he showed up at the high school, so no one really recognized him. He was tying his hair to the back the same as Shoko tied it for him and wearing his glasses. He forgot to change the work’s clothes and at that moment he was looking a little bit shiny than his usual gloomy look though he kept the pale look in his eyes.

While walking to the teacher’s room a lot of students were gazing at him.

“Marco kun?”.

Suddenly a teacher who recognized Marco well saw him.

“Sia sensei? been a while”. Marco greeted her.

“You completely changed!! if it wasn’t for the look in your eyes I wouldn’t recognize you!! What are you doing here !?! in these clothes too?” she was kinda happy to see him.

Marco is quite known for the teachers. Since he doesn’t attend the classes a lot and tends to work, he rarely comes to pass exams and always gets a good score.

After meeting with the teacher Sia, Marco mentioned that he came to deliver food for Alex. She giggled a little as she heard him.

“You look a little lively like you used to do back then!! I’m glad!”

Sia praised him as Marco thought It was for no reason.

He sighed.

“Marco!!! What took you so goddamn long!?!!!” Alex came from the other side roaring “I told you to come before midday!! What took you so long !?” She kept scolding him, ignoring that he was with Sia.

The students were watching closely. After that, they entered the teachers’ room so she could eat.

“Sorry. I was talking with Sia sensei here, also I just arrived so don’t yell that much. You aren’t yourself when you get hungry, same goes for Carla I guess” Marco gave her the lunchbox then was about to go.

“Wait!! Since you are here, come and help me with something!!” Alex said as she accepted Marco’s apology too quickly.

The teachers were still looking at Marco like he was some famous guy not straying their gazes.

“When you say that, I get the tension that I’m gonna be a slave for something” he protested.

Marco tried to refuse and Alex didn’t let him.

“Refuse and you’ll get my load of work in red mermaid ” she threatened him with ease.

Few moments later,

“Anyway, I made a promise to the sports teacher that I would help him in cleaning the pool for today but I have a lot of work today so take my place!!!” she bluntly spoke.

Alex was clearly trying to escape the mission she promised she would do, Marco figured that.

“No, what in the hell made you give that promise? What kind of relationship do you have with sports?” Marco asked as he was scolding her.

She sighed then whispered to him.

“Are you serious!?” Marco was pissed from what she whispered.

“Really!! Really sorry!!!!? I will reward you later!!!!” she tried to apologize at least.

“Well. No need for a reward, as a pay I would like if you can teach Sophie and Arthur at home” Marco proposed what he wanted for a while.

“Who’s Sophie and Arthur!!?” a sudden surprise question.

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Sia came from behind trying to hear what they were talking about, she clearly and the rest of the teachers were still looking at Marco.

“My little siblings,” he replied.

“Oh right I forgot that you have siblings sorry!! Still, by home you mean?” she asked curiously.

“I’m currently staying at Marco’s house, I mentioned that earlier in the teachers meeting. weren’t you listening!?” Alex responded.

“When you start to speak a lot of people ignore you, so just forget about it” another teacher replied as he tried to joke about it.

Alex smiled at him.

“I’ll kill you”. That was a serious threat.

“Sigh. She didn’t want to do it and the sports teacher isn’t willing to help too”.

Marco found himself cleaning the pool alone as the sports teacher too ran away the moment he saw Marco working. He clearly took the chance to play around with the girls students.

Marco took off his clothes and changed to some track suit the teacher gave him, he took off the top and started working.

“The pool is quite large. Sigh, Alex senpai will surely do her work later properly” he said as Yuna kept him company at work.

“Well, it’s clearly part of simple training. It shows how much control you have over your own strength with this” Yuna responded as she was looking around too.

The two had a blank reaction after seeing a whole dirty pool as if it was never cleaned before. Because of that small hunting job that Emilis left the red mermaid to deal with. The school was kind of Zack’s territory.

At that moment, Marco realized that these black slimy things laying around the pool were the remains of a monster corpse.

“Good luck Marco. Good luck” murmured Yuna silently.

It didn’t take him a lot of time to finish the pool despite being large. Yuna praised him saying it was due to his current stamina. He took a seat after and stayed to watch over the other students as Sia asked him to do for her class. She was another sports teacher after all.

Marco was watching over as Sia suddenly asked him.

“Say, Marco kun!! Aren’t you willing to return to school?”.

“Not really, I have a family to look after and I can’t just ignore my two siblings at home. So I’m fine as long as I can come and pass exams then go” Marco replied.

“Heeh!? What about your friends here?” she smiled.

Marco looked at her.

“You know that I’ve never had friends at school. Since our city is not big like the other cities, junior high and high school are mixed together in one place. I guess you clearly remember what kind of person I was and I still am”.

After hearing his words, Sia sighed pouting at him.

Sia is a sports teacher so she was always enthusiastic and energetic. She was getting along with Marco unlike a few of other teachers, so noticing him earlier was a bad habit of hers.

“Counting you in, there’s also two other students that didn't come. One had disappeared and the other one was kinda…. well, she’s having trauma or something” Sia spoke out of nowhere.

“What kind of relation has this to do with me?” Marco asked.

“Well, I’m just saying that seeing you here is kinda good for my inner mind and my heart too, I’m glad that you are doing well” Sia smiled awkwardly.

Marco looked at her then stood.

“I’m glad that sensei is doing well too, I’m going to go back now”.

Marco smiled back at her so she won’t feel bad. she felt happy for a second and returned the smile to him.

It wasn’t a matter of not coming to school but it was a matter of social status and situation. Marco wasn’t the type of hard nerds but he did his simple best to outcome the studies he had while working.

Sia was the kind of teacher who loves to get the best out of her students, in Marco's case, he was an excellent grader and good in sports let alone his own health tests, yet he’s still someone who can clearly gain enough accomplishments in no time.

That was why Sia had said these words about Marco being around the school made her heart in peace.

“When are you willing to return already!!! We are stuck with work and you are playing around!!” Carla was scolding Marco over the phone.

After leaving Sia to her own work, Marco received a call from Carla out of the blue.

“Don’t scold me and speak with Alex senpai instead, she’s the one who took over me for her work” he calmly replied.

Marco kept explaining what happened. With that, Carla got more annoyed and hung the phone on him. He sighed then finished changing back to his work clothes so he can return back.

“She seems clearly mad huh?” Yuna snorted at Marco.

“Don’t say that, it’ll be a bad omen which I will have to erase before it gets worse” he interjected instantly.

He responded passively as Yuna gave him that good grief sigh saying that was expected the moment he stepped out of the kitchen of the restaurant.

Marco wasn’t a fan of outlaws and on his way back he saw a small group of students smoking. He looked at their hands as they were a total of five students. Strangely he spoke without the intention for that.

“Smoking is against the rules of the school you know, Drop it” he tried to scold them.

“Are you going to play the hero!!?!”.

They got pissed and surrounded him.

Yuna had definitely looked happier because of what the students said. It has come down to the Deca’s nature to mock the ones who are inferior and not excluding Marco, he likes doing that sometimes too.

Seconds later he had beat the shit out of them easily without breaking a sweat for it.

“You know. I would’ve done quite well if I was studying here again. I would have you guys do everything I say while I sit around the library or any class. Maybe I’ll pay a visit to you guys from time to time. So be good boys ok” Marco smiled at them as he was taking a seat next to them.

He beat them quite hard.

The gatekeeper saw everything as he reached the students a little late for that.

“You delinquents!! I told you not to do anything illegal in the backyard of the school” he roared.

The old man came to scold the ones who got beaten hard knowing that he can’t do that to Marco though.

“You are Marco Deca aren’t you?” a sudden question was asked.

The council student came too since she saw everything from the window, she was surprised that Marco was not astonished by her sudden appearance behind him.

“If I’m not mistaken, you are the student council, Sfiel san. Been a while, or not we meet each other every time I get to do groceries” Marco said as he greeted her naturally.

“I don’t mind what you did since they’re punk students that love to act like gangsters but it was actually not safe to beat them with these kinds of methods you know. Although, I guess I need to thank you. Would you like tea?” she asked after thanking him.

“Huh?!”. Marco didn’t get the meaning of her question. On top, he asked her back “Excuse me, I didn’t get what you mean?”

“You don’t like tea?!” she was startled at first “I’m telling you if you want to drink some tea at the student council’s room” she smiled.

“Is this some kind of prank?” he asked bluntly.

“Heh!?!” she flustered.

“Well, I don’t mind some tea, plus it’s almost time,” he interjected.

Marco didn’t refuse her offer and went back to the school, she looked at him as she wiped a sweat then clapped her hands.

“Then it’s perfect!!!”.

She smiled again, although she felt stressed out from that sudden conversation.

While they were walking to the student council’s room, Sfiel suddenly asked.

“Was that pack of grizzlies that night hard to fight?”

Marco took some seconds as he sighed.

“So you know about it?” he replied eventually.

“Of course!! Seeing you night hunting was one of the best things I saw in my life.It must be hard that master Emilis left all of you with such a hard task to deal with” Sfiel replied as they entered the room.

“Oh, you returned. And you brought….Deca san?” a student council spoke as his reaction wasn’t that unexpected for Marco’s side either.

“Been a while, Arlelt san. I see that you are doing good”.

Marco greeted him as another girl popped from behind patting his shoulder.

“Don’t be that gloomy Marco san!!” She said,

Her words were heartwarming because she never actually met Marco in person but it was just their chitchats that brought red mermaid members during the lunch time that made her speak out of friendly recognition.

“Don’t meddle with him, Rachel and same goes for you Maria” The guy said as Roselle pouted at him.

“Sfiel san asked me for a tea as a thanks for beating these punks and I don’t see anything wrong in accepting, plus I don’t feel like I’ve done anything to you”.

Marco replied as the atmosphere got tense between him and Arlelt for some reason. The two girls grinned awkwardly before trying to split the two tensing looks from each other.

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