In the dining hall, he met with the others, and they ended up playing bubbles. The tag was very different from the first time he had played it. Back then, they had operated at a distance from the machine, never getting within fifteen meters of it. Now that they were older, they played far closer, and joined into a game with eight- and nine-year-olds.

Overall, they lost, and there was a number of older kids they couldn’t touch. At least one of them was reincarnated, as he discovered when he was tagged. Not that he could tell the others to make them feel better. Briana was not happy at all about losing.

They were, however right there when dinner was served, so they were first in line.

As a rule, Tom disliked meal times. Except for Kang and Briana, he didn’t want to get to know any of these kids, and, as a result he and Kang were the active loners of the year level, and they would have had basically no contact with anyone else. That was but for the fact, that amongst kids her age, Briana was a social butterfly and, because of her, Tom found himself learning the names and starting to feel for the other kids. It was frustrating, but there was nothing he could do.

Briana was a mystery to him. She was weirdly confident and outgoing with other children, even if the moment an adult got involved she would clam up. The contrast was amusing.

His eyes scanned the general bustle of activity, showing disinterest to dissuade Josh from talking to him. He noticed Eloise slipping through the doors. There was something about how she was carrying herself that piqued his interest. Despite trying to be sneaky, she walked with purpose, and there was a threatening glint to her eyes.

He was instantly on guard, especially when he observed that she was heading straight for Joseph.

Kang had stopped him from interfering last time, but from what he could gather, the back and forth between Eloise and that group had been continuous ever since. Eloise was not one to surrender, and this appeared to be another escalation.

His instinct was to intercede and prevent the confrontation, but she was moving too fast. By the time he gauged her destination, it was too late, so he sat and observed.

Kang’s hand abruptly gripped his arm, his strength surprising. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the other boy shaking his head. He had noticed the emerging issue, probably by tracing Tom’s focus, and was taking steps to prevent Tom from exploding.

Tom was torn about the best way to react. The logical action was to dampen his senses for a minute until the situation blew over. Close his eyes and ears and wait for Kang to shake him to tell him to come back to the real world. But he also wanted to watch what was about to happen. He needed to see how Eloise planned to strike upwards, and her picking on Joseph was not something that could spark his rage - only if the fighting went the other way.

He could, at a minimum, watch the start safely, and then turn away if it got out of control in the other direction.

Completely unnoticed by anyone at Joseph’s table, Eloise snuck up right behind him, and then, with a savage smirk, poured a vial of liquid down the boy’s back.

The reaction was comical.

First, Joseph slapped his neck, and a look of surprised shock transformed his face as he obviously confirmed the spreading wetness. For a moment, it looked like he was struggling to understand what was happening. His nose wrinkled, and, curiously, he sniffed more deeply, before immediately gagging like you would if you entered a particularly smelly alleyway, and one contaminated with rotting fish at that. A look of puzzlement crossed his face, and he moved his hand from his back to in front of his eyes. As he did so, he rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, agitating the clear liquid on his fingertips. Then he lifted the fingers toward his nose.

Tom cringed in sympathy. He could see what was happening. With fingers just centimeters from his nose, Joseph inexplicably breathed in deeply. This time, he almost vomited in an involuntary reaction, and his tongue stuck out of his mouth as he gagged. A look of disgust crossed his face and deep-set confusion. It was like his mind was incapable of interpreting what was happening.

He thrust his hand away from his face in disgust and then stared dumbly as it began to sizzle. Then the full implications of what had been done to him registered. He roared and jumped up, only to get tangled with his friend who had the same idea.

They both crashed to the ground.

Eloise, meanwhile, was running away while laughing in delight. She was making a beeline for the nearest door. Presumably she had a bolt hole she had set up.

Joseph scrambled to his feet and turned in her direction, but it was too late. Foam was boiling out from the back of his top and the hand that he had smelled was on his friend’s waist in the midst of a similar reaction.

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“What’s happening?” Kang demanded having stood. Tom realised he was also on his feet.

Eyes wide, he stared in shock at Joseph, and then relaxed slightly as he processed what he was observing. Unlike what he had briefly feared, it probably wasn’t an acid. Then, because he was always aware of his surroundings, he noticed who else was standing; Corrine, the guy who did his last testing, and a couple of other older kids that he had tentatively identified as reincarnators had also jumped up.

It seemed like every reincarnator had reacted, and none of the normal children. Tom could feel his cheeks reddening in communal embarrassment.

It was terrible.

Forcefully, he grabbed one of the jugs of water and pretended that he hadn’t stood in response to the commotion, but rather everything he had done was just a normal part of his day. He had stood up because he was thirsty, and the tables were too large for a six-year-old to reach the vessels when they were placed in the center of the tables like they were. Messily, he poured the water into a cup and drank it, and then immediately retreated into the contender’s room. He would play it by ear, but this was intended to be a brief visit. He just wanted to do a sanity check on how everyone else was reacting to the commotion. His eyes were fixed on the main monitor, and he was unsurprised when his avatar stared at the unfolding drama around Joseph with unabashed curiosity.

Focusing on the drama was going to be seen as natural. His perfect acting self was doing it, as was everyone else who were busily staring and laughing at the unfortunate kid. With the path forward validated, Tom took control back.

Joseph was, of course, distressed.

Only a few seconds had passed, and the foam had expanded far enough to start inhibiting his range of motions. Tom had a suspicion about the nature of what Eloise had used, and he suspected that Joeseph’s problems were only going to get worse.

That minor consideration aside, the memory of how many of the reincarnators had reacted troubled Tom. It made sense, he wasn’t disputing that, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t problematic. The only positive bit about the situation was that Danger Sense had not triggered. But just in case, and conscious of both his known and unknown titles uniquely positioning him as the first line of defense, he scanned the rafters. Nothing was lurking up there unseen; at least, nothing that he could detect.

Given his many advantages, he was confident that the room was safe.

Kang sat down heavily next to him, a grimace briefly on his face before it vanished. Tom knew what he had done, and he agreed with it. These sorts of situations, where someone was being laughed at rather than with, was not one that was easy to act appropriately in. Tom took the hint Kang had given him, and retreated into his contender’s room, this time intending to stay until the scene fully played out. His body was laughing at Joseph, who was by this point completely cocooned.

Joseph’s face was making interesting distressed expressions that alternated between annoyance at the constraints and reaction to the stink which had cleared everyone else away. Despite how quickly the foam had spread, neither him nor his friend appeared to be in any danger. Something, probably community fate, had left the area around his face clear but it was also possible that one of the many adult volunteers had interceded magically to prevent any issues.

Tom didn’t care. Internally, he was cursing his own quick reaction. It was not acceptable. He needed to do better, and, if he got alone time with the others, he would remind them of that, too. Eloise had played a simple prank, and it was almost enough to reveal their identities.

Collectively, it was a debacle. His reaction had been too fast, but Corrine and the other older kids doing the same was worse. Tom at least had the excuse that Eloise was something of a friend, and so, of course, he was going to be more cognisant of her presence.

He watched as Dimitri approached the two boys who were encased in foam. The chief caretaker did not look happy.

“Dimitri, can you fix this?” Joseph begged. “She sucker-punched me.”

The older man frowned down at him. “No, Joseph, you should have known better. I don’t condone what Eloise did. But there are rules.” He shook his finger at the trapped boys. “If you’re going to pick on someone from a younger year level, you need to accept the consequences. I have no idea who Eloise sourced this from, but it was clearly from an adult.”

“Her not-parents.”

“Not them,” Dimitri interrupted. “They’re over near the wador territory, and, given their contribution to this town, if they had done this, I would not reprimand them. They have a right to look after their daughter. But no, it wasn’t them. But I know what this unpleasant stuff does.” He tapped the substance that constrained them. “It’s called Aerated Hardening Foam, and was only recently added to our shop. It’s a mostly-failed combat potion with a well-known half-life. Give it two hours, and this should unstick enough for you to pull yourself out.”

“It’ll be sleep time by then. Can’t you make it go faster? This is unfair.”

“Yes, it will be late,” Dimitri agreed. “Consider that your penance.” With a jaunty step, he walked away, having clearly enjoyed the interaction.

“This isn’t fair,” Joseph yelled. “She blindsided us. Let me out of here. Please, I need to get out.” He struggled, but apart from causing veins to pop out on his face, his attempts were having no impact. The foam was even stuck to the ground, so he couldn’t even rock from side to side.

While they begged, threatened, and carried on, dinner continued as normal, with the exception of two whole tables being abandoned because of the apparent smell the foam gave off.. At some point, one of the adults used a silencing spell which helped. Whenever Tom looked at the two trapped boys, all he could see were red faces and open mouths as they tried futilely to get attention.

Eventually, it was time to sleep. He went into the contender room and looked at his status sheet. It was one that he had constructed manually by incessantly using the ritual status screen every opportunity he had.

The errors and holes in his understanding were glaring but, given the constraints, he thought he had done a good job.

“Display my created status on the wall,” he ordered.