“How’s class, Ava?” [Allen]

“Not bad, I guess. But, it’s boring.” [Ava]

“You should take it seriously.” [Allen]

“When I feel like it.” [Ava]

A week after Allen fought off his three classmates that were bullying him, he and Ava were having their lunch on the school rooftop. The three that were beaten up mysteriously dropped out of school three days later.

“I still can’t believe they suddenly left.” [Allen]

“Guess you scared them too much.” [Ava]

It would appear that their families were pressured into doing so by an unknown group. Ava had a pretty good idea who it was since her clan as well as the other six wanted to keep her powers a secret. Before leaving, she was told to not use her ability by Nylian, the head of the Luceran clan. She received a letter, telling her that they would clean up her mess this time, but if it happened again, she would be punished.

“(How are they going to punish me? I’m already stuck wearing a dress)” [Ava]

With those carefree thoughts, she took a peek at the red-haired boy who was drinking milk while sitting next to her. Those three bullies were forced to leave and to not utter a word of what happened to anyone. But, Allen was still attending school like normal. This told her that his family had enough influence that Faywood kingdom couldn’t touch him. It would appear that he came from quite the important lineage, like she thought.

However, he wasn’t completely untouchable.

“So… About what happene-.” [Allen]

“Stop bringing that up.” [Ava]

“But, but-.“ [Allen]

“Didn’t you say that you got a letter from your family telling you to keep my power a secret too?” [Ava]

“Yes.” [Allen]

“Then stop talking about it.” [Ava]

Just like Ava, Allen received a letter from his family that forbid him from disclosing any detail of her magical ability. As such, the news that Ava made Allen faintly glow like a lamp and that he beat up three classmates with unrivaled strength wasn’t spread through school. Luckily, his victims were too scared to talk about what happened before the elven kingdom’s influence forced them to leave.

“Well, are you sure this is enough to thank you?” [Allen]

Allen asked and pointed at her ham sandwich. When he said he wanted to show her his gratitude, she told him to buy her lunch for the rest of her stay in Sanctuary Academy after he kept insisting.

“Yeah, it’s good enough.” [Ava]

Ava shrugged her shoulders and threw the last piece of her meal in her mouth. The two finished eating, lazed about for a while and went back down to go to their next class, ignoring the occasional stares caused by Ava.

“Ah, look. It’s the half-elf.” [Student]

“She’s been hanging out with that guy lately at lunch.” [Student]

“Guess she finally found a friend.” [Student]

“… Think he’ll get cursed for being friends with a half-elf?” [Student]

On their way, a certain sight caught their attention. In the hustle and bustle of students going about in the hallways, a conspicuous space was created around a group of harpies. Their physical appearance was similar to humans, but their arms had feathers that formed wings of the same color as their hair and their nails were black. Because of their physique, their shirt consisted of something similar to a camisole where the sides were tied by strings.

A small girl, looking flustered and on the verge of crying, was sitting on the ground. Her long, brown hair that reached her hip covered the left half of her face and her black eyes were full of tears. The five harpies were mockingly giggling and sending glances at her direction. Unlike the girl who looked like a shivering, scared animal, their wings were big, visibly made to fly. Hers were small like a flightless chicken, showing clearly that they couldn’t lift her off the ground and into the sky.

“Sorry for bumping into you. Here, let me help you up.” [Harpy]

The girl with green hair who was in front of the group approached the harpy on the ground and extended her hand, offering her help.

“… T-thank you.” [Small harpy]

“No problem. After all, with those wings, it must be hard to get off the ground.” [Green harpy]

All of her friends started laughing again.

“Lighten up. I’m joking. Here, give me your hand.” [Green harpy]

“…” [Small harpy]

The girl froze with her hand in the air while the cute harpy was still smiling at her. When Allen saw such a scene, he frowned and remembered what happened to him only recently. The other students either looked on or completely ignored what was happening in front of them. He found it hard to believe that this was taking place right in public and in the middle of a crowded hallway when this school was strict with this sort of thing. Indignant, he went to help her up.

“Are you alright?” [Allen]

He asked the small girl and grabbed her hand before she took the smirking harpy’s hand. As such, the smile fell off her face and her friends stopped making any noise.

“Y-yes. Th-thank you.” [Small harpy]

The small harpy said as she looked up at the boy that helped her get back on her feet.

“Is there something you need?” [Green harpy]

The leader harpy asked in an obnoxious tone as her friends gathered behind her and glared at Allen. The red-haired boy glared back and stood in front of the teary-eyed girl as if protecting her. The small, brown-haired harpy was grasping her hands in front of her chest while hiding herself behind the kind boy.

“I’m just helping her up.” [Allen]

“Huh? Couldn’t you see that was what I was doing?” [Green harpy]

Tension rose around them as they silently stared each other down. Onlookers started gathering in a semi-circle since they were next to the windows. Some nervously gulped while others waited in anticipation for a fight to break out. Among the inaudible whispers and murmurs, one clear voice was heard.

“Allen, you done?” [Ava]

Ignoring the mood, Ava, who was a few feet behind Allen, asked him with a laidback attitude. Naturally, this diverted everyone’s attention toward her. But, instead of flinching because of it, she waited for her red-haired meal contributor to answer her.

“Huh? What do you want, half-elf?” [Green harpy]

The green-haired harpy asked without hiding her irritation and glared at Ava.

“We’ve got a class soon, so we need to go.” [Ava]

“Can’t you see we’re busy? Just go by yourself.” [Green harpy]

“Whatever you say.” [Ava]

The black-haired elf nodded to her words, then turned her line of sight to Allen once again.

“Allen, you done with your kid’s fight yet?” [Ava]

“K-kid…?” [Green harpy]

While the green-haired girl’s eyebrow was twitching, her opponent’s serious expression was replaced by a troubled one.

“Um, Ava, it’s not really some petty fight.” [Allen]

“Really? Your enemy’s pretty petty though.” [Ava]

The sound of something snapping could be heard.

“Listen here. Could you just leave? You’re a bother.” [Green harpy]

The harpy with the stiff smile said to Ava as she dauntingly took a step forward. In response, the black-haired half-elf walked passed Allen and the small harpy behind him and stood right in front of her.

“Look, bird-.” [Ava]

“Bird!?” [Green harpy]

“Stop provoking us and go to your class already. Fighting in this school is really bad.” [Ava]

“… O-ohhh? Who said we were going to do anything to you? Besides, if we did fight and I’m not saying we will… Can Miss Goody-Two-Shoes even hit me?” [Green harpy]

After she got back her composure for being called a bird, the green-haired harpy asked in a mocking tone and her four friends snickered at the half-elf.

“No, it’s really bad.” [Ava]

Ava waved her hand in front of her face without changing her sleepy-looking expression.

“Hahaha! You hear that?” [Green harpy]

“She talks big, but she can’t do anything!” [Harpy]

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“She’s only acting tough!” [Harpy]

With her prompt, the five of them burst into laughter. Allen wanted to step in and shut them up, but seeing how his friend was calmly standing there under the deluge of their annoying laughs and insults, he chose to observe for a bit longer. The small harpy was grasping onto his sleeve and looked up at him with her round eyes, wondering if they shouldn’t help her. To reassure her, he patted her head and smiled wryly before turning his sight to the half-elf who was scratching her head.

“The teachers will scold me.” [Ava]

“Look, why don’t you just go to your important class already? No one wants you to stay here…” [Green harpy]

The green-haired harpy whispered to the impudent girl so that no one else could hear her.

“Just like at your home, half-breed.” [Green harpy]

She smiled wickedly and waited for her reaction. From public knowledge, half-elves were really disliked by elves. There was no doubt that she hit a nerve just now and like she expected, the half-breed blinked twice while looking like she didn’t know what to say for a moment.

“Like I said, it’s bad. I’ll get scolded.” [Ava]

A triumphant expression covered her face when she saw how the black-haired elf could only repeat herself.

“I’ll be in trouble after I knock out your teeth and make you cry like a baby.” [Ava]

Her grin froze in place right away.

Her friends’ eyes were round like saucers, the audience was buzzing about, the small harpy had her hands covering her mouth and the red-haired boy had a troubled smile. None of them expected this sleepy-looking half-elf to nonchalantly utter such brutal words with her lazy expression.

“… I’m joking.” [Ava]

Then, in a deadpan tone, she easily defused the situation and everyone could feel their body relaxing. Her eyes flickered to the side to look behind the harpies for an instant and focused back on the one in front of her.

“Allen, stop flirting with that shorty.” [Ava]

“Huh? But, I’m not.” [Allen]

Allen said, wondering why she suddenly told him that. For some reason, the brown-haired girl behind him was blushing and looking down while fidgeting. This in turn made them the center of attention as people curiously stared at them. While the students were wondering if a romantic comedy skit was about to start, Ava stepped forward until their nose nearly touched each other and whispered to the girl that had green wings.

“What’s the matter, bird?” [Ava]

A truly vile and terrifying smile split her face which was a huge, radical change from before. It was for just a moment and no one saw it except for the harpy, but it was stuck in her head. Moreover, the half-elf was discreetly pinching a feather with her right hand from the girl’s left wing, which was on the same side as the windows. Because of how close their bodies were and how everyone’s attention was diverted, it formed a small blind spot, so no one noticed it.

“You don’t look too good.” [Ava]

Her voice was so low and cold it sounded like a growl from a dangerous animal. The green-haired harpy’s face cramped up and fear began to creep into her heart. She actually started shivering and it felt like a weight settled in the pit of her stomach. Furthermore, the constant, small pain from having one of her feathers pulled on amplified her sense of danger.

“Are you scared?” [Ava]

Before she knew what she was doing, she lashed out at the creepy half-elf. Her right hand swung horizontally and she scratched her face with her black nails, leaving three, red, bleeding lines on her cheek. While everyone reeled back at her sudden attack that came out of nowhere, tears quickly welled up in Ava’s eyes.

“Uuu, uguh, UWAAAAAAA~!!” [Ava]

Right after, she started crying loudly as she covered her cheek with her hand.

“A-Ava?! Are you ok?!” [Allen]

“Um, um, um!” [Small harpy]

Allen was panicking and approached his friend whose face was wet with tears. Next to him was the brown-haired girl with small wings who was even more flustered than him.

“Whoa, she hit her. She totally hit her.” [Student]

“The half-elf’s crying.” [Student]

“That was sort of mean, though.” [Student]

Just as the audience was shocked and started to blame the harpy for that sudden and unneeded violence, a booming voice resounded in the hallway.

“What’s going on here?! The next class is going to start soon!” [???]

It was a muscular teacher that had two bull horns on his head full of short, black hair and was walking on two hooves instead of feet. He towered above all of the middle school students and was easy to see, but since he came from behind the harpies, they didn’t notice him. Approaching the group at a brisk pace and dispersing the crowd at the same time, he imposingly stood before who he assumed to be the troublemakers.

“She, she hit meeee~!” [Ava]

While the others were tongue-tied at the appearance of a really intimidating teacher, Ava pointed at the green-haired harpy with teary eyes and denounced her in a wailing voice. The teacher whose slim tail was swinging furiously looked at the wound on the half-elf’s face, then at the green-haired harpy and her friends that had wide eyes and opened mouths.

“What?! I-I didn’t!” [Green harpy]

“Liar! You hit her! Right in front of everyone!” [Allen]

Standing next to Ava, Allen instantly and angrily revealed her lie, gesturing to the students in the hallway. The small harpy, though meekly, repeatedly nodded her head with her hands clenched in front of her chest. The teacher quickly confirmed this with those present as he questioned a few students on what happened. They all said the same thing as the red-haired boy and the student clad in a white dress was quietly sobbing while rubbing her eyes.

“She was going to kill me! I attacked by reflex!” [Green harpy]

Although the green-haired harpy did her best to justify herself, saying that the black-haired half-elf threatened her, all of the evidence showed otherwise. After all, Ava’s current appearance only invoked pity and sympathy from her surroundings and the wound inflicted on her was clearly visible on her face.

“She had no choice!” [Harpy]

“That girl said she was going to knock her teeth out!” [Harpy]

“Yeah! If you’re going to punish someone, then you should punish that half-breed!” [Harpy]

“DON’T CALL HER THAT!!!” [Teacher]

His angry voice caused the harpies to shut up right away. In the end, for attacking a fellow student, calling her with a degrading term and trying to defend their friend who committed an offense, all five of the harpies who started the ruckus were taken away by the horned teacher. They would have a long and stern scolding waiting for them as well as a punishment to teach them a lesson.

After he warned the middle schoolers to hurry to their respective lesson and left with the troublemakers, everyone quickly went on their way toward their classroom. Among them, Ava was given permission to skip class to go to the infirmary and Allen and the small harpy were allowed to accompany her. As the three walked away from the spot where they caused a stir, Ava discreetly lifted her right hand and showed to Allen what she had secretly taken.

“Check it out, a souvenir.” [Ava]

She said with her usual, bored tone of voice. Her eyes that were full of tears were now back to being sleepy-looking as if all that crying was a lie.

“… Well, I guess I should have expected this from you.” [Allen]

Allen smiled wryly while the small harpy’s eyes were wide open. The red-haired boy was surprised, but somewhere in his mind, he believed something like this might happen. After all, there was no way this girl who took on three guys would start crying over a scratch.

In the half-elf’s hand was a single, green feather that she hid in her sleeve right away so that others wouldn’t see it.

“It’s pretty nice, right? I plucked it from the wing of an annoying bird.” [Ava]