After the wild night I had, I got up and stretched lazily. My clothes spread around the floor, and of course no signs of Violetta being around.

"Not like I wanted to see her around." I yawned and scratched my butt. As my parents went to meet my grandpa, I had all the time in my world to be lazy.

We booked the room for a day, so I had plenty of time. To lie down on the bed and watch tv or simply laze around.

"But I need to have a checkup."

Getting into the shape in the bathroom while reliving the things I did here yesterday, I was ready to go in half an hour. I didn't manage to shave, but I've hardly grown any stubble in a day.

Putting on my clothes, I quickly checked out and looked up how to get to my school from here. I as well checked the finances I was left with and couldn't help but wince. It was already like a habit to me.

How ironic it was though. I've never needed any money in my previous life, as I hardly used it, yet I could've gone all-in on spending it. And now I needed to count every coin to manage everything.

"In the end, I need to look up some work with an hourly wage." Thinking like this after seeing a waitress in a café, I made my way towards the subway.

I took a one-way ticket as it was the cheapest and half an hour later I was much closer to my school. Walking down the rest of the way while breathing in the icy air, it was already noon when I ended up in school.

The lessons and training sessions were still in full motion, so there was almost no one at the school grounds. Because it wasn't my first time visiting the physician, and I found my way quickly. I've made my way towards the infirmary without any hindrances.

"You are?" This time it was a guy in his forties, wearing thick eyeglasses and a coat resembling that of a doctor.

"Student Erlig Grimes. I've had an official fight, fights, and came for a checkup."

He scanned me with his eyes before adjusting his glasses. "Uhum, fine, undress there."

If I remember correctly, the school was obliged to give at least as much treatment as I will get.

Another hour passed before the physician let me go. "You are in perfect shape."

Putting my clothes back, I was left to my own devices.

But what should I do? Visit Jet? Talk with Rose? Or go after Violetta one more time? I strolled aimlessly at the campus.

"If it's not training, I don't know what to do. Should I go and look for a job?"

As I've had nothing better to do, my ultimate decision was to look for a job. It was at this time when I've already left the school's ground, I got a call.

It wasn't the phone number I remembered. "Who is it?" I held my chin in rumination. "Whatever, what can possibly happen after answering the call? The worst-case scenario is listening to some ad."

"Hello, who's talking?"

"Student Erlig Grimes, you should visit my office as soon as you can."

Violetta? And judging by her voice that was neither triumphant nor spiteful, it wasn't something simple.

And before I managed to react, she cut the call off.

"What the hell happened?" I stared at my phone screen.

I quickened up my pace and walked the same road for the third time. Ten or so minutes was all it took me to get to Violetta's office.

Knocking upon the door, I didn't wait for the answer as I entered her office.

"Something happened?" I made my way towards the couch and sat down.

"I've got some bad news for you." As she said it her attention was on the monitor of her pc.

"Then shouldn't you be dancing in joy here?" I smirked. "Whatever bad news there is for me, you should be happy." I looked straight at her eyes through her monitor.

Perhaps feeling my gaze, she rolled backward on her chair and looked back at me. As she made eye contact with me, she opened her mouth one more time. "It's got nothing to do with me."

"What the hell? Speak up already!" The fuck she was doing? Playing these kinds of games wasn't like her. It reminded me of Mara, and I was getting really tired of all of this.

"Your fighter's stipend, as well as scholarship, was taken back. You've got a week to pay for your tuition."

I tried to process what the hell happened. "Wait, it's some kind of joke?" My facial expression jumped from one extreme to another, half smiling, half angry.

"It's no joke, the management of our school…"

"To hell with the management, we both know they ain't worth a shit." My eyebrows kept trembling, and my lips moved on their own. "What the fuck, how could they?" I didn't know where to put my hands as I kept moving them here and there. Trying to hold my head, the next second, I was trying to tap my knee.

As I looked around, I saw Violetta walking towards the water cooler, filling up a small paper cup.

I slammed my hands on my knees as hard as I could. Jumping up, I screamed at the top of my lungs. "I SAID WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!?"

My sudden outburst made her shoulders jump, her body trembled. It was the first time I've let go of my emotions like that in front of her. She finally saw me in a different light.

A chair for a guest was peacefully standing near her table until I kicked it with everything I got. Flying through the room, it crashed on the wall.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"HOW THE FUCK YOU CAN EVEN JUSTIFY THIS!?"

Violetta was standing with a paper cup, her eyes as wide as saucers looking at me. She immediately gulped the whole cup. I noticed that her face was now completely colorless, all the blood leaving her face.

"It's because…" she gulped. "It's because you changed your courses." She took several slow steps towards her desk.

"AND NOW THEY CAN FUCKING ROB ME?" I felt the vein on the side of my head pulsating strongly, it felt like it would burst in a second. "HOW THE FUCK CAN THEY DO IT? I'VE SIGNED YOUR FUCKING PAPERS!" I took a random bunch of paper from the table and shook it before my eyes, throwing it to the floor afterward.

She made another step toward her desk, hiding behind it. "This has nothing to do with me."

"IT FUCKING DOES!!!" I smashed the desk with both hands sending everything flying. "YOU THINK THAT YOU ARE FREE FROM THE RESPONSIBILITY? YOU WERE SIMPLY FOLLOWING ORDERS!?" I wanted to crush everything in the room, but taking a swing, I stopped myself in midair.

Violetta took another step sideways to hide behind her desk.

"They used the loopholes in the rules, you didn't participate in the school's tournam…" Her voice was deadpan, and it drove me nuts.

"I DON’T FUCKING CARE!" I held the edge of her desk and looked at her trembling eyes. "You should've done something," I growled.

"Do what? What should I do to a person who uses my weakness and abuses me?"

I almost choked. "Abuse you?"

"You use me, threaten me, what should I call this? And what do you expect me to do? I should risk my life, my wellbeing for the sake of a person who…did what?" she tilted her still pale from the fright face. "You have some dirt on me. Then go ahead." Her voice was steadily getting more confident while I was losing my momentum.

"Go ahead, you can use it, take me down with you. You hysterical bitchy twat. You are nothing less than a speck of dirt under my fingernails. You got lucky once, bravo." She clapped. "So because of this, I should grovel beneath you? Begging for you not to ruin my life?"

"N-no..."

"Then could it be that your brain finally rotted? Before you went to the hospital, you were already thought of as one with mental problems. Yet you managed to surprise and overturn my expectation with how brain-dead you are now."

I felt angry at her words and wanted to retaliate somehow but couldn't find a single word, nor could I raise my hand at her.

"I will give you a piece of advice. Don't bite more than you can chew, and if you do, you should have the balls to finish it. Got it?" Her face was now rosy in color.

"I..." I simply stood there with my mouth wide open.

"You think I should devote myself to you? It's like you got yourself a slave, right? Sadly, you've played too many video games if you thought I will happily defend you."

I've only managed to make a strange sound as my answer.

She hid her face with the back of her hand. "Or you thought that after having sex with me a few times, we are a couple now?"

At the same time that she made her way towards me and looked at me from the bottom, I stood in the same place, completely stupefied.

"Slap!" She struck my cheek, and I felt a burning, stinging pain. "I don't care what you do with the tape, go ahead and send it to the mayor or whatever else. BUT DON'T YOU DARE SHOW YOUR FACE IN FRONT OF ME!"

I rubbed my cheek in complete amazement. "B-but…"

"I used you as a stepping stone, which fits you perfectly well. You used me in return as a relief for your sexual urges. We are even."

"You owe the school one hundred thousand SURs. If you don't want to get expelled, you should get it here before a week passes," she pointed towards the door, "The exit is there, and don't bother me again."

I wanted to get back at her as I flapped my mouth under her gaze but couldn't come up with anything. Her eyes were radiating utter contempt and loathing. Being stared at by her, I felt like I was shrinking.

What the hell just happened?

I stood in the middle of the school's hallway, trying to gather my thoughts.

What should I do? I should answer something to her, but what? I thought that I was treated unjustly, the world wronged me, hence I felt angry.

But I couldn't hold this act together anymore. I couldn't get myself to do anything to her. I was frustrated. I was scared.

I wanted help.

To call Greg, ask him to take a loan at the bank? But judging the situation at home, what could I do? We were poor. Would he be able to pay up?

I walked away from Violetta's office and squatted down. The second I started slacking off, ever so slightly, I was immediately dropped down to an all-time low. I feel that my life is like some kind of bullshit plot.

Should I ask Jet?

I cupped my face. How can he help me? Yeah, we are supposed to be friends. Yet what can he do to a friend in need of an absurdly large sum of money?

When I was in need, there was only one person who helped me.

"Jessie…"

As this thought flashed through my mind, I stood up. Pulling up my hair, I started agonizing at the mere idea of this. She fought with her father because of me. I've barged into her idyllic life, my mere existence brought troubles.

I felt a ringing in my head, gradually increasing, as it started aching. The shame I felt towards their family, the shame I felt towards my own pitiful self.

What can I even do?

It will be better to wag my tail and ask Mara for help.

Should I do it?

Taking my phone, I ultimately decided to call Greg. He is my father, he will think of something.

"Yes?" Hearing his voice brought a bit of my confidence back.

As I cleared my throat, I tried to sound normal.

"Hello, father, I just wanted to hear how all of you are doing."

Oblivious that it was a lie, he answered in a cheerful voice. "Oh, we are doing okay here, I'm glad you found time to call us. Do you want to talk with your mother or gramps?"

"Uhm, I don't have enough time right now. Actually, there is something I wanted to ask you."

"U-huh."

"There is some gear I need to buy..."

"You need money?"

"Well...yes."

"Erlig, can it wait for two months? No, one month will be enough, your grandpa will soon have surgery, and we need to save money for it."

I was expecting something like this. Still, hearing this felt like I was thrown down into the abyss.

"Oh, right of course." I hope he didn't catch my trembling voice. "I should go now, take care."

"Take care and don't overwork yourself."

As I cut the call, I felt like I was doomed.

I rubbed my temples. As I took my phone and started looking for my phone call's log in search of her. As I was looking for Mara's phone, I suddenly thought of something.

But what if it's her plot? I stopped in my tracks.

Was it possible for her to use this as a way to punish me? I closed my eyes and started hurting along with my brain.

Or was it Reid, fuck! What to do, in the end, I can't trust her, can I? What can she ask back? What can I give her…

"Fuck!" Why is it so hard to think? I started slapping my cheeks.

C'mon, get together, I'm not that stupid. I can think of something after all I had a dream of my own, right? Something ambitious, evanescent, transcended. Right? I can think of something.

My whole body was shaking as I stuck my forehead against the wall.

"If it wasn't for thinking ABOUT MARA, FUCK!!!" I hammered the wall.

Mara, Mara, Mara, talking about this and that, leading me astray. Astray…

I had a sudden spark of inspiration. The ringing pain flew away as if it didn't come in the first place. My body that felt like it was set on fire was cooling down.

Right, if it's there, I can get enough money, can't I? And with my own hands. Looking at my palms that had a few calluses from working out, I steadied my resolve.

Almost three hours later, I was in the middle of the desolate street, looking at my palms. On my shoulder was my bag stuffed with my gear. Around me was an industrial area. An abandoned building site, used, empty containers lying around, a couple of pigeons were sitting on the heat pipeline. The rare snow was falling, making this desert site and street even gloomier.

A few meters stood a building made out of white stone. Previously it was a gorgeous Baroque-style building. Now though, It looked dilapidated. It needed a capital renovation to be used as a shop or a living place. Despite all of this, a single man was standing near a wooden front door that looked heavy and had an intricate ornament.

I needed exactly this guy.

"Boy, it's no place for you to hang around. Go away." As soon as I went closer to him, he looked at me through his shades.

I thought that my first job would be office work or something like a shop worker as a part-time job. Who knew my destiny would drive me into doing this.

"I need the one who is in charge of the whole thing." I exhaled a puff of hot air and shook the snow from my hair.

"I came here for the money, you have a volunteer fighter."