The best disagreements are intense, quickly resolved, and have crazy implications. This one is no exception. ENJOY!
.
.
.
“F-For real?”
Jack froze at what he saw.
Inside the classroom, Miss Valencia and Sharky were facing one another, with the latter’s jiggly body shaking with pure anger as he growled almost akin to a beast.
“Take it back. Teacher or not, I don’t care. Take it back.”
How had things even reached this point?!
By now, Miss Valencia had clearly spotted his appearance, her lips rising into a playful smile as she gazed straight at him, with Sharky turning his way too. Yet, before his best friend could complete the motion, her voice echoed once more.
“Now, now. Why don’t you tell me precisely what I should be taking back and why. You aren’t too cowardly to repeat yourself, right? Go ahead, it’s just us here anyway…”
Her voice was so melodious it covered the threat…
But that’s when Jack felt it. Something was wrong. Sharky turned, he looked straight at him, and then his gaze wandered without ever stopping, as if he had turned invisible.
‘It’s just us here anyway.’
‘It’s just us here anyway.’
‘It’s just us here anyway.’
…
It had been a spell.
Her words themselves hid mesmerizing magic. The “only us” she had referred to included the three of them, yet that wasn’t how Sharky had understood it, his vision affected.
Not even sensing him, he regained he regained his calm, his raised fists lowering as he forced himself to stay calm. Then he faced the teacher with the renewed determination, his fists still clenched hard enough to turn white.
“Take it back. You called his answer bad. You called him foolish. Said he was looking to fail. There’s no way that’s true. I know him enough for that. That’s not Jack, not at all!”
“Oh? Are you contesting my judgment?”
“Yes, teacher, I am!”
It was brash. It was dumb. Sharky’s statement was a lot of things, but one thing it didn’t lack was conviction. He stood there akin to a mountain, facing a Super far superior to him.
How strong was she? It wasn’t something any of them would know, but she wasn’t just a respected Magical Language Teacher, but even an Envoy for Siren’s Lament. It was insane.
Yet, he didn’t falter, with the courage of a hobbit demanding a second breakfast. His gaze stayed true even as the teacher parted her lips, her voice echoing all over.
“We’re done. Leave and don’t come back.”
“We’re done. Leave and don’t come back.”
“We’re done. Leave and don’t come back.”
…..
The words bounced off the walls.
Then they hopped in their ears like worms, burying deep into their brains, every neuron in there flaring in reaction. ‘Right. They were done, and so was he, no point arguing’.
Jack felt his feet move by themselves. The sooner he got out of here, the sooner he could live his life and— motherfucker! He came back to his senses, his eyes on Sharky.
The man was forcefully clenching his legs with his arms.
“N-No.. I’m not done. Not yet, I won’t leave!”
His hands dug deep, flesh bruising and fat compacting. At that moment, he wasn’t just standing up for his friend, but for himself too. As if such a trick would work on him! He slowly rose back to his feet, Miss Valencia whistling enthusiastically.
“I take it you’re the Valor Bastard, eh? Not bad, not bad at all. Oh, but don’t get me wrong you’re weak, especially that Quirk of yours, it’s just your willpower that’s admirable.”
She praised, only for her next words to send him to hell once more.
“Still, are you stupid? Why raise that up now?”
He should have waited to be out of her class. It wouldn’t have been too late to meet with the Direction to advocate Jack’s case then. All he was doing now was pissing her off.
It showed a clear issue with his reasoning. Was it the idiocy of youth that had clouded his judgment, or perhaps he was simply blinded by his sense of justice? Actually, none of that.
“I’m afraid I’ll forget it all, just like the questions…” He uttered so softly, merely a murmur leaving his lips, and yet it was enough to drown the sound still echoing even now.
“We’re done. Leave and—”
“We’re done— ”
“We’re—”
…
Quiet returned to it all.
A fiery head nodding pensively stopped to observe the youngster before her for the first time. Even now, he stood strong, and even his test answers hadn’t been that bad either.
“It seems the Valor blood really flows through your veins.” It was just an offhanded comment on her part, but Sharky was way too busy to react to it.
After all, before him was a glowing message visible to all…
[Ding! Successfully Passed Language Test!]
[Do You Wish to Join the Class? Y/N?]
[Warning! There be Homework!]
…
T-That did that mean he was in?! Did that also mean that she would listen to him at least? As she waved for him to get on with it and try his best to change her mind, Sharky beamed.
“Alright! Let me tell you more about Jack. He’s amazing! Ah, but not the kind of amazing who’s talented and a genius. No Quirk, no background, no wealth, but he’s one Hell of a fighter! Just today, he evaded an Enforcer who…”
The more Sharky talked, the more heated he got, pouring his soul out. They had been best friends for a decade, and he’d be the best hype man ever if it was the last thing he did.
“So you totally need to accept him in your class!”
There was a moment of silence, a baffled expression on her gorgeous face. For an instant, she had even lost herself to the youngster’s tale, one almost sounding too Super to be true.
“Congratulations, young one, you’ve successfully changed my mind.”
“You have?! YES! You won’t regret it for—”
“Not him, only you.”
Sharky’s high hopes were cruelly dashed as the words left her lips. Even with this, she hadn’t changed her mind about Jack?! Wouldn’t that mean that he was still out?!
As for the only him part, he soon understood it…
[Miss Valencia is Offering You a Job!]
[Invited to Work at Siren’s Lament!]
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
[Don’t Forget Your Bathing Suit!]
…
“It can’t be?! You want me to do it?! But what about the selection being random? What about the other applicants? More importantly, what about my best friend?!”
“Only an idiot would care about them. So, what will it be?”
“There’s really no way to get Jack in?”
“Afraid my mind’s made.”
As she clearly stated, Sharky made up his mind, too. He didn’t even bother arguing with her. He turned tail and left, a self-deprecating cold laugh escaping him.
‘I tried Jack. I’m not a miracle worker like you.’
[Warning! Leaving the Language Class!]
[Warning! Passing a Life Opportunity!]
[Warning! No Second Chance Giv—]
…
He muted it all.
He didn’t give a damn. So what if it was a great opportunity? It was a matter of principle. She wanted to diss his good brother and then expected him to work for her? Screw the bitch!
Miss Valencia, more like Blind Valencia! She could rot in Siren’s Lament with all her Siren friends for all he cared, but he wouldn’t entertain her. Or at least he didn’t plan to…
“Did I say you could leave? Why don’t you stay with us for a little bit?”
As the words left her lips, they flew in the air akin to dragons, coiling around his legs and restraining him. Yet, that wasn’t even what stopped him dead in his tracks.
It had gone from ‘Only Us’ to ‘Stay with us.’
If there was still an ‘us’ after he left, then wouldn’t that mean there was someone else in the room? With this, the spell was broken, and Jack appeared in all his glory.
“J-Jack?! What are you doing here?! Since when?!” but before Jack could even reply, Miss Valencia interrupted, a crystalline laugh escaping her as a torrent of words escaped her.
“Him? He’s been here since nearly the beginning. Now, I think you’re misunderstanding something. He passed the test. He’s also the one I chose to go to Siren Lament. At first, I was going to surprise him, but I might as well tell you both before you two go crazy.”
“….”
“….”
“What? Why do you both look like you’ve eaten a brick to face? It’s my task anyway, one assistant, two assistants, who cares— well, as long as they have decent willpower. Can’t have kids die on me again, now can I? Don’t fret; it will be a neat experience for sure!”
“….”
“….”
“As for when we’ll be leaving, it’s hard to say so just be ready whenever. We’ll have to wait for a favorable dimensional tide or else your bodies will explode upon transfer. Luckily there should be one in a couple of days. Actually, let me give you a gift so we can keep touch.”
They were still stunned, and there she was, shoving Emblems in their hands; small pebble-like things with tongue-like engravings filled with countless mysterious runes.
“Keep those with you. I’ll use them to call upon you when the time is right. Auspicious tides only last a few minutes, so you can’t miss it. It’s late, so you two boys get some rest now, alright? Enjoy yourselves, and don’t overthink this too much!”
“T-Thanks, good night?”
“Y-Yes, see you later.”
They left, shivering like newborn lambs, only to share an overwhelmed look. She accepted them both, gave them an amazing job, and became so damn chatty!
So much for the mysterious teacher. Her attitude had done such a huge 180 that they still couldn’t believe it, their gaze as uncertain as their steps, as if zombies.
Shellshocked, they left Legendary-U…
.
.
.
“Lilly, I’m home!”
As soon as Jack pushed the door of his apartment open, he found himself taking in a deep breath, the smell of burnt radiator and equally burnt meat mixing together reassuringly.
As soon as it reached deep into his nostrils, he heaved a sigh of relief, dropping the large bag he had been carrying, one now full of squirrel fur and discarded Language notes.
And as he dropped on the black sofa, she appeared…
The face of an angel but the mischievousness of a demon, Lilly had arrived. However, just seeing her was enough for him to know she was clearly hiding something.
“Oh, brother of mine, whom I love so much. I have been expecting you. Now, what do you wish for first? Food, a bath, or—” he didn’t even let her finish that he rose.
A quirk search was all it took for him to understand.
Tucked inside their washing machine was a crime scene: a wet outfit so full of blood and squirrel fur that it looked as if a monstrosity had taken root in there, making him sigh.
“Let me guess. You left late, warped to school, landed straight in a dray of squirrels and they exploded all over you? Then you came back in a hurry and tried to hide it all? Yet, you didn’t start the washing cycle cause you were worried it would mess up the machine?”
“T-That yes…”
“I see.”
She showed an embarrassed and slightly pitiful expression, realizing she had been seen through so easily before she could fix the issue herself. Chuckling, he felt warm inside.
Disposing of it all would have been so easy, yet she hadn’t done it simply because she wanted to save the clothes she had worked so hard to buy her— so cute!
“Get me a garbage bag, will you? Let’s clean this up…”
“What?! You don’t mean throwing it away?!”
“Bah, I’m a Bigshot Super now!”
He laughed out loud, something that reassured her a bit. True, things would be way easier now that he had a Quirk, albeit it would probably take him a while to master it.
Little did she know just this morning’s credits would buy them peace of mind. Rent would be so much easier to pay from now on, and getting a better place was possible, too.
He mused to himself, only to be interrupted…
“Squeak! Squeak!” A little creature cautiously but curiously came over. It was the Squirrel that Jack had adopted, and it was following right behind Lilly with a cute-looking expression.
Its expressive eyes revealed its crazy master plan.
1. Cozy up to the gentle human girl
2. Convince Jack to let it follow her instead
3. Either regain its freedom or live as a king!
…
It was drawn to the cute girl as much as it feared Jack. It would never make an enemy of Jack because it understood the “implications”, but she was totally fair game!
There was even a swagger in its tiny steps, especially as it used its little paws to eat bites of meat that the gentle human girl had given it. Yes, following her was simply genius!
Seeing this, Jack raised a brow…
“Lilly, about the squirrel, did you feed it?”
“Ah, it’s yours, right? It came out of your bag, and it begged me for food, so I gave it some. Should I not have? I remember reading that Island Squirrels can eat meat, right?”
“You’re not wrong about that, but sometimes could and should are two different things. Let me guess, someone at school gave you that meat for free after your incident, right?”
By now, he had already grabbed the garbage bag, only to suddenly come to his senses. Actually, what if he tried something else instead? He opened the washing machine door.
“Shadow, awaken!” He focused on using his power, but differently this time. Then, he grabbed the wet ball of bloody clothes and threw it toward it as fast as possible.
The effect was instantaneous; it disappeared entirely!
The two humans cheered, but a certain squirrel turned ashen white. What the hell was that?! It had only been for a second, but it had smelled it. DEAD SQUIRRELS!
No, that wasn’t all. Amidst the smell of the fur, there had been a certain girl’s scent. That massacre was her doing?! How was this possible?! She looked so gentle! She had even fed it!
She had even fed it…
She had even fed it…
She had even fed it…
….
The meat. It now felt familiar, too.
Only then did the poor squirrel realize what it had been eating this whole time. Squirrel meat. Its brethren?! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Foaming at the mouth, it collapsed.
“J-Jack?! Your squirrel’s sick! Don’t tell me it—”
“Don’t worry about it. It does that sometimes. Now, I’m famished, so let’s eat shall we?” He quickly reassured a now very pale Lilly as he himself dug into the meat voraciously.
Would he generally eat squirrels? No, but those ones were already dead and cooked, so he might as well enjoy them, right? Thus, he happily ate as they talked about tons of stuff.
— How her day had gone
— How radiators scared Squirrels
— How she’d train her Warp Quirk
— How she wanted to teach the Squirrel Tricks
…
He told Lilly bits and pieces of the Squirrel incident, just not enough to worry her. He told her about a school outing, just not that it would be in another world. It was all so peaceful.
Before he knew it, night came, which wasn’t surprising since he had come back so late already. With this, the two went for some well-deserved sleep.
In the quiet apartment, mumbles from a contented girl resounded, blessing his soul as well as his ears as Lilly sleep-talked. There was something magical about being back.
Yet, even as he enjoyed himself, he couldn’t sleep…
He just couldn't sleep on wink…
And as he rolled in bed…
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
JACK, YOU AWAKE? OF COURSE YOU’RE BLOODY AWAKE!
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? WE’RE GOING TO SIREN’S LAMENT! THERE’S NO WAY YOU’RE ABLE TO SLEEP KNOWING THIS! ALSO, I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WERE THERE.
I DIDN’T SEE YOU AT ALL. IT WAS LIKE YOU WEREN’T THERE AT ALL. PROBABLY SOME MIND-BENDY KIND OF QUIRK, RIGHT? EITHER WAY, ITS EXCITING AND SCARY. I GUESS THERE’S A REASON TEACHERS ARE SO WELL RESPECTED.
ALSO, I TAKE NOTHING BACK. I MEANT EVERY WORD I SAID BACK THERE AND I’M NOT ASHAMED! HEHE, I KNOW YOU’D DO THE SAME FOR ME IF OUR POSITIONS WERE REVERSED. IN FACT, YOU’D DEFINITELY DO WAY MORE AND CRAZIER STUFF!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
That was right on so many levels.
Sighing in contentment, Jack started typing on his phone, sending message after message. He couldn’t help but feel excited about the future right now, especially since it was THAT!
He knew that there would be so many things to plan, but for now, he simply indulged in the sheer joy of knowing this would happen eventually. In fact, he could barely lay still.
He kept writing and sometimes found himself writing only to delete his words before he could press send. One sentence especially was one he kept rewriting.
‘Sharky, I have a Quirk now!’
‘Sharky, I have a Quirk now!’
‘Sharky, I have a Quirk now!’
…
Ironically, his best friend was one of the few who still didn’t know. Or rather, he knew he had successfully trained, but that was it. Yet, he was actually in no hurry to tell him.
He’d wait until the weekend. He’d get himself tested, he’d learn to use his Quirk, and then, and only then, would he show it all to Sharky. Actually, he had a goal in mind.
‘I want him to show the same expression as that squirrel.’
Just picturing Sharky with his mouth hanging open and falling to the floor in shock had him burst into quiet laughter. Oh, this would be so much fun! But just as he was thinking that.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
JACK, HERE’S A PLAN. YOU, ME, WOODS, NEXT WEEKEND!
WHAT DO YOU SAY? I TOLD ALFRED ABOUT THE SIREN’S LAMENT THING, AND HE INSTANTLY MADE ME UNGROUNDED… FOR TRAINING!
WE COULD SCALE THE ROYAL SPIRE. WHEN IS THE LAST TIME WE WENT HIKING? IT'S BEEN AGES. WE CAN DEFINITELY HAVE SOME FUN, AND THEN WE CAN COME UP WITH WITH WAYS TO JOIN THAT DAMN RUNIC CLASS!
WHAT DO YOU SAY, ARE YOU IN OR ARE YOU IN? CAN’T SAY YOU GOTTA WORK CAUSE YOU JUST MADE BANKS! DID YOU TELL LILLY YET? I BET SHE’D BARELY BELIEVE YOU EVEN IF YOU DID TELL HER. ANYWAY, LET’S GO OUT AND PLAY!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
It just turned out that this would be the only weekend he would be busy. Sighing, he quickly sent his reply. “We’ll see. I got some errands to run. Been away for 2 weeks and all…”
He didn’t even have to wait for Sharky’s answer to know the latter was disappointed. Yet, there would be no point if he ruined the surprise already, right?
Thus, he quickly texted him something else instead…
“Also, we’re dealing with Runes tomorrow!”
They would?! On the other end of the line, a certain Shark-like youngster was already trembling in excitement as he replied with a flurry of messages filled with questions.
He wanted to know who they’d fight this time around, what kind of plan it was, and especially if there would still be a Legendary-U standing once they were done.
After all, he had to know whether to apply to another school or so he said. Chuckling to himself, Jack quickly reassured him. This time, things would be calm and smooth.
Or at least, he really hoped…