A brand new day and a brand new beginning.
The group of five were gleefully making their way to their school. Although Diavolo was briefed on the occurrences there, he still couldn't help but feel slightly anxious.
If it was the old Diavolo, he wouldn't really care how others reacted, but for some reason, now he felt a little concerned as to how he'd be treated.
He wasn't sure why. In fact, he didn't think about the question of why. The change in him just felt like a 'thing'.
Regardless, his anxiousness took a steady increase with every step he took. How could it not? Not only was he now self aware that he was treated as a prodigy transfer student along with his friends, but he was also witnessed to release that insane fire pillar that evening.
What happened afterwards was an enigma. But people knew that he was hospitalized and probably also knew that he would be returning. If so, how would he be treated from then on? Would be also branded a monster because he killed someone out in the open? Even if Hannah said that matter was taken care of, he still couldn't help it. After all, nobody can force a change in how people think.
Diavolo gulped as they walked through the final hallway that led to their classroom.
Thankfully, till now he hadn't encountered many students and those who did see him had a startled expression but then returned to whatever they were doing. As for Sector-A students, those who saw him, didn't recognize him.
"You know… you don't really have to be that tense," Shin said with heavy eyes, "It's just the school! What happened to you?"
"I'm thinking the same thing," agreed Hannah, "Weren't you supposed to be the glum, overbearing type? This is actually starting to feel weird."
"I actually think Diavolo-kun looks cute like this!" Suzume said, giggling.
Diavolo paid no attention to his friends teasing him and continued to walk on. At least, that's what he was trying to show, but when he quickened his pace to create some distance from them, his displeasure was exposed and they inwardly laughed.
As soon as he reached the door, he quickly slid it open. "Let's get this over with," was what he was thinking, but then--
*Pa!* *Pa!* *Pa!*
"WELCOME BAAACK!!!" the entire room resonated.
Diavolo was taken aback and stood blank for a moment. As the confetti rained down on him, it took him awhile to process what he was seeing, "This is…"
"What, did you think yesterday's party was the only thing you'd get for your recovery?" Shin grinned as he walked up behind him, "Get in there! It's all for you!" and smacked his back.
Truth is, ever since that day, Diavolo had left an everlasting impression on the students of Sector-B. The good kind, of course!
Initially, everybody had mixed feelings about the trio. A bunch of nobody showed up and turned out to be really special people. How could they not feel conflicted?
But after the incident with Claude, they all started to veer towards Diavolo's favour. It was basically a 'the enemy of our enemy is our friend' kind of effect.
For too long have they felt pressurized by Claude's presence. They could only glance from afar as he did whatever he wanted. Although he never did his deeds indiscriminately, his actions were so sudden and random that they seemed to have no rhyme or reason. Nobody could really pinpoint on what actually caused him to do what he did, so they always felt pressurized as to whether his next victim would be them or not.
And of course nobody dared to pry into his personal life. They all knew how that ended once.
Rumours definitely spread like wildfire, and Diavolo was basically a celebrity by the next day after the brawl. But to everybody's surprise, he didn't appear in school the next day.
Later some heard that he was hospitalized, which was odd because a few students saw him wake up and leave with Suzume soon after the fight.
It was only a few days later, after revealing to the public meeting that they got to know that it was Diavolo who was responsible for the insane fire pillar that same day! When the news spread, they all flipped!
To everyone's dissatisfaction, the brawl had reached an unclear conclusion. Some believed Diavolo to be the winner, while some believed otherwise. And of course there was also the neutral party. But after the source of the fiery incident was disclosed, many of them internally thought Diavolo was definitely the true winner.
There was no way someone with that kind of power could be weaker than the Claude they know! And when they connected it to the fact that Claude acted abnormally silent and broody the past few days, they were completely convinced it was Diavolo's victory. After all, if Claude himself believed he was stronger, he should've at least spoken back once, right? Yet he walked past the gossiping as if they never even entered his ear. Something was definitely fishy about that!
Nevertheless, they still felt anxious and unsafe as long as Diavolo wasn't there to back them up. Turns out that Claude had no reaction even when Shin and Yukio returned. There were many speculations based on that.
But ultimately, they just wanted Diavolo to return. They just felt something would change if he did.
As soon as Shin's cell phone rang during class and he was informed of his discharge, the whole class got to know, thus planning a small surprise. They all had less than a day, so an abrupt confetti driven greeting was the best they could do.
But that didn't matter. He didn't really expect something like this. To gain such acknowledgement right after he was just beginning to open up again, made him feel weird. It invoked a different sensation in him. A bountiful feeling of being connected to a bigger whole.
Diavolo basically didn't even know these people. They were nothing to him. But still, even thinking of such a thing and carrying the deed out on such a short notice was something he smiled at.
He looked around and basked in all the cheering. Being admired, acknowledged, and liked, really did feel nice even if the people weren't really close to him. Humans are social beings all the way, huh?
As he sat on his seat, he was bombarded with various questions. Like for example, how did he manage to learn Material Raze so quickly, how it felt using that large scale technique, why was he attacked and so on.
He had to tread very carefully on the line though. He wasn't supposed to reveal Suzume's secret and managed to fake a story about people planning on attacking the Rose Family. Of course no details were given about the story either! Too many details would only get him exposed after all.
On a side note, Diavolo felt his detective instincts rising as he brainstormed his best to counter each question appropriately. Was he about to enter the path into following his idol's footsteps?!
Sadly, all the celebrative vibes collapsed as a certain figure slowly made his entrance.
*Step* *step* *step*
The entire class went silent. The time had finally come. Would there be an argument? A mindless beat up? Or a gentle confession? Either way, something needed to happen.
Everybody gulped a large ball of spit. Claude seemed to have activated his Material Natura as a gentle breeze around his body blew away the confetti lying around in his path. He turned his eyes towards the zone with the densest crowd and made eye contact with Diavolo. Everybody squinted and retracted their necks into their bodies. Claude then turned his eye back forward and quietly sat down on his seat.
Huh? What just happened?
Nothing, that's what. So the wind was simply to blow away the paper scraps? Apparently so.
This was simply too odd. Right then, the situation had passed the stage of weird straight into eeriness. What on earth was Claude thinking??!! He just gave a glance! A glance!!! What happened to all the enminity and hostility?!
The gossip had already begun. Among them, one was about the still absent Nicolas and Garth. Apparently one of the students secretly made a trip to the hospital and took a peek. They were basically almost ready for regular daily life, and would be discharged pretty soon.
However, Diavolo paid no heed to any gossip. He had his own thoughts to deal with. He simply stared at the back of Claude and kept wondering in mystery.
Even if his classmates claim Diavolo to be the winner, he inwardly knew that was far from the truth. Claude was clearly hiding an even greater power. One that he never bothered showing till now. But no matter how much Diavolo tried to convince them, they just weren't buying it.
Just what was Claude up to now?
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Lunch break and the group was in the canteen this time.
Like any regular school, the students were lined up and served themselves whatever they wanted as they passed by the particular item. A buffet system.
"Greetings, Shin Yen Ron."
Similarly, Shin stood in line, when suddenly a dignified voice called out from behind him.
"Uwah! Oh, shit!" he was stunned as soon as he saw who it was.
He reflexively tried to defend himself with the tray in his hands. It was good fortune that he hadn't taken anything yet, otherwise it would've been quite a mess.
"What's with that reaction? I'm not going to eat you," the person said, smiling awkwardly.
It was Fiona G. Lobelia.
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Shin didn't reply and simply stood there, hiding half of his face with his tray.
He already expected a confrontation with one of these girls very soon. He just didn't realize it would be so sudden.
It was about the employment, right? She's definitely here for the employment!
The lack of response made Fiona disclose a displeased and rather annoyed expression. "It was just a greeting. You don't even know what I'm about to talk about and yet you're…" she clicked her tongue and sighed, "... Am I that unpleasant?"
Shin couldn't really put his finger on it, but something was a little different about the maiden. Hearing what she said, he couldn't help but show a slightly apologetic face as he lowered the tray, "No, well it's…"
"Anyway, leave it be. More importantly," she faced him once again, "I heard… about you accepting an invitation under the Rose faction."
Shin tensed up as soon as he heard that, "What 'don't know'! It's exactly the topic I thought you'd pick!"
"It's fine, rest assured. You don't need to panic. Unlike Miss Elaine, I stand back if someone made a firm decision," a gentle curl appeared at the corner of her mouth, "Although if you weren't already employed, I'd do my best in attaining your skills. I pray you good fortune, Shin Yen Ron. Miss Hannah is lucky to have talented individuals like you. I'll take my leave, then."
"U-um..!" Shin tried to call out, but it was left unheard.
The pacing was not in his control. She just appeared, said what she had to, and left. Plus, even if he did call out, he had nothing to say in reply. Thus he retracted back as soon as she reached a distance of two metres.
As he stared at her back, it was almost as if her figure was reflecting a feeling of sorrow. Something was definitely odd, but Shin couldn't figure out what.
Returning back to the world, he noticed Fiona didn't have her tray with her as she left. In fact, she didn't even take any food at all since the line hadn't moved much since. Scratching his head and shrugging it off, Shin turned back forward and advanced in line.
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In the meantime, his friends were waiting on a table. His empty seat was being occupied by an uninvited guest.
Small and silent, the girl rested her head on her hands as she stared deeply into Diavolo's face.
"U-um… can we help you with something…?" Yukio asked, smiling awkwardly.
"I heard you recovered from a critical injury in a week," she ignored him and asked away.
"....What of it?"
"Nothing. I was just thinking of how unfortunate it is…" she lifted herself up and turned, "It would've been nice if you could regenerate like that within my pets. I wouldn't need to feed them regularly in that case…" and walked away.
A chill ran up their spine and blood went cold, even after she had already left their proximity.
"W-what was that about!" Ryan exclaimed.
"I… I assumed Miss Allium was going to talk about something serious when she suddenly showed up. You know, since Diavolo just returned," Sami scratched his cheek.
"Me too…" (Yukio)
"Yo, guys! What did I miss?" (Shin)
"Nothing," everyone said in unison.
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After school,
The trio made their way out of the premises, when suddenly, "Eh?" a hat fluttered onto Yukio's head.
"What happened, Yu? Whose hat is that?"
"Don't know. It just fell from somewhere…"
It was a large, sun hat with a ribbon tied to it.
"I'm sorry about that~! I wasn't paying attention and the wind blew it off! Could you please wait there, I'll come get it~!" someone yelled from atop the school building.
Minutes later, a figure came running from the building while gasping for breath. "Thank you so much for waiting! Sorry, you must have been— Ah."
When the figure got near enough, she could see who the people waiting for her were.
Similarly, when the boys finally saw the owner of the hat, they all tensed up.
"The most troublesome person has come!" they all thought having awkward smiles on their faces.
The girl looked away for a moment and unbeknownst to the trio, she bit her thumb and frowned, "Why did it have to be these three! I was trying to ignore them as much as possible!"
"Ahem!" she recovered her composure and started again, "I thank you for waiting. Please return my hat," she said and stretched out an arm.
"..." the boys stood there for a moment.
"Damn iiit! Did that sound weird? That definitely sounded weird! I tried so much to regain my composure that I ended up sounding rude and ungrateful!"
"O-oh, yes, here you go, Miss Tulip," Yukio smiled and handed it over.
Taking it back, Elaine let out a sigh, "Elaine is fine. If you're close to Miss Hannah, then we should get familiar. Putting your backgrounds aside, you're talented and she's my childhood friend. It's the least I can do."
"I-I see… Miss Elaine… I understand. In that case, have a nice day!" he said and the three turned around and started to leave.
"Wait!"
They all froze in their tracks. They just did not want to deal with this woman at all! In fact, they actually found all three of these Princesses of Twinsoul unapproachable.
To the rest of the average students here, all of the four 'Princesses' were unapproachable. It was only because of the trio's initial encounter that they found Hannah 'normal' compared to the others. Most of the school found themselves 'unworthy' to speak up to them.
Teresa at first glance looked friendly, but the words she spouted were like spears that stole one's soul away.
Fiona appeared strong and overwhelming, as if she would give nobody a chance to talk back to her, so it was hard to hold a conversation. She held her ideals high and was very direct.
Elaine's usual attitude made others feel like her standing was way above others. A constant pressure was felt as if people needed to earn the right to converse with her.
Hannah was well respected, but she kept herself so busy with work that she unknowingly brushed people off if they wanted to speak to her. To others it appeared as if she gave the cold shoulder, but she just wasn't aware that others wanted to make friends. That's why many of the students were utterly stunned when they got to know that a bunch of unknown boys were so friendly with her.
They made multiple assumptions. Were these people her family members? Or were they people of high nobility? Only people of equal standing could get so familiar with Miss Hannah, right? It just didn't make sense.
That was why people calmed down when it was announced that the three were actually employees hired for a special purpose. Their known background was probably fake and was actually kept hidden on purpose. Being friendly with Hannah was just part of their job, and they definitely were really doing a fine job at it! Enough to make several students jealous.
"Your employment under Miss Hannah…" she muttered and the boys slowly turned around, "...is actually a facade, isn't it?"
The trio gulped. How did she know?! This was supposed to be a secret! "What are you talking about, Miss Elaine?"
"Don't give me that. I've been with Miss Hannah for a long time. I know a lie when I see it."
Getting caught so soon was unprecedented. What now? They can't just tell her, the secret isn't about them!
"Well? Spit it out. What's the real reason? Does it have anything to do with Brandt?"
"U-um, that's a little…"
Elaine noticed that their eyes were darting about among each other and here and there. Suddenly, something snapped and she lost it.
"Why are you trying to avoid the matter?! If Miss Hannah is in trouble, then I want to help! I've been with her since childhood, and yet how does something so important concern you but not me?! Is someone following her? Is someone threatening her? Or does it have something to do with her father and our power struggle?! Tell me!
This all started after you three appeared! And yet you're so friendly with her? Don't give me that! You tried to fool others with that facade of your but it won't work on me! So, what? It's not really your job and you're actually that close? What the heck is that! It's not fair! This power struggle isn't fair! Why did we have to seperate like that?! Give me back time with my friend! Give me back my Hannah!"
The boys were stunned and their eyes widened. Just now, she dropped the 'Miss'. They weren't expecting such an outburst. This encounter wasn't about recruiting them but Hannah. Unexpectedly, she was prioritizing something completely different.
But this outburst, the three understood how deeply Elaine thought of Hannah. Or at the very least, how much she treasured their bond. It would be outright rude and hurtful if they go back without saying anything now.
"Oh no, why did I just say all that? Something is definitely wrong with me! Who are these people that I just let out all of this? They are the cause, aren't they? Was I just…" she rubbed the small droplets that were forming at the corner of her eyes, "that pressurized by the feeling?"
"Miss Elaine," Shin stood in front of her with a serious expression.
Elaine didn't make any eye contact and simply stared at his feet. Suddenly, he bent down and bowed, "It is as you said, we are not really under the jurisdiction of Rose. But I'm sorry, we absolutely can't speak of the matter regarding this, so please try to understand. And I must make a request, please do not tell anybody about it. Not even a sound…"
Elaine didn't reply as her red nose and ears were returning back to their original colour.
Still bowing down, Shin continued, "But your feelings have been passed on. We assure you, that us coming here and your power struggles are completely unrelated. It's just a coincidence and a misunderstanding. To be honest, we too are confused at the events we're facing. However…"
He stared directly at her face, "I promise, we aren't anyone shady. As long as we're here, we won't let anything bad happen to your best friend. Whether it be Claude, your power struggle or some natural disaster, we'll repel it with full force! She's our friend too.
Also, I don't quite know anything about your power struggles, and honestly I'm not good with complicated stuff. But I pray that when everything has settled down, the two of you can be reunited like in the past. Until then, please leave things to us!"
Somewhere between five to ten seconds passed before Elaine understood and gave up.
"I understand," she said in a soft voice, "I won't pry into the matter anymore. I also won't talk to anyone about it. And… I'm sorry… for lashing out back there."
"It's fine! Don't let it bother you!" Shin said grinning, "I find it cool that you love her so much, hehe!"
Elaine tightened her grip as her face flushed red. She was just too embarrassed!
"Knowing that there's always someone looking out for her even under pressure, it makes us feel assured too! My view of you has changed. If it's not too much trouble for you, wanna get along in the future too?" she held out his hand for a shake.
Elaine gently nodded, receiving the handshake and finally stared back at his face.
"That's a relief. To be honest, we were kinda afraid to approach you all this time. Among you girls representing your respective factions, you seemed the most overbearing. I was afraid you'd chase after us since you already knew the truth!"
Elaine was slightly annoyed. She was overbearing? How dare this commoner insult her like this! However… she didn't have the face to rebuke him like that. Right now, she was looking face to face into the eyes of this man. There was a connection, and she didn't feel like she wanted to entirely step over him.
"Heh!" she snickered, "Don't get full of yourself! I'm not interested in you anymore now that you're 'under the Rose faction'! I'm only interested in fresh unused material, got that? Don't come crying to me when they throw you out! I'm nobody's second choice!" and smirked as she stared at him with a haughty attitude.
"Hehe! That's a scary thought! I better make sure not to get thrown out then, huh?"
The two stood there for a few seconds until they finally let go of each other's hands. In the background, Diavolo and Yukio smiled and they thought of how nicely Shin handled the situation.
"Well then, we'll head back now. See ya!" Shin waved and finally started to walk back comfortably.
"Ah, just one more minute!" Elaine called out again.
"What is it?"
"I saw Miss Hannah back there working on her Student Council duties. So you guys are free, right? I have some things to discuss."
"Ah, well… sorry, can't do today. We're resuming our training starting today and Hannah told us to prepare and warm up before she returns, so… yeah. Maybe some other day?"
Elaine flinched and gritted her teeth. Oh, very dedicated students, are they? Seemed like Elaine couldn't help but get annoyed when these three were being prioritized. It would take some time before she got over it.
"I-I see… well in that case, forget it. Goodbye!"
"Well if you say so, then…" a last wave and then this time they returned for sure.
Leaving Elaine behind, they didn't notice but she finally expressed her lonely expression. Putting her hat back on, she returned to the school rooftop.
Meanwhile, as the tio made their way back home, Diavolo and Yukio said respectively,
"Shin." "A question."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Since when did you become so dependable?" they said in unison.
Hearing this, Shin was flushed red, "Leave me alone!"