Fifteen minutes ago.
“Urgh…”
A tired yawn escaped Liam’s mouth as he watched his discontent comrade tinker with the Teller sonograph in front of them. A barrier of textbooks was erected to shield the instrument from sight of the doors as they sat quietly on tall stools around the lab counter. Unfortunately for his comrade, Liam had no intention of aiding him in operating the sonograph.
“…”
And so, Stephen fumed silently as the sonograph began running, spitting out the dot-matrix paper that were the readouts from its probing of the ether.
Actually, they had been on stakeout for the past exam week, making this routine a little tedious for the two of them. Donovan had ordered these two to stakeout on all days of the third-years’ midterms, just in case. Surprisingly, however, Donovan himself was supposed to come in today, having noted this day being the most likely to find evidence of wrongdoing, and yet he was absent. A curiosity for Stephen, who found himself continually sidelined from the day-to-day operations of the PSC. The organization was slowly being taken over by Class C, and with Gilbert ousted, he could only watch as he anticipated this to be his last job with the PSC.
Good riddance, too, he thought. While the Gilbert faction might have lost a lot of ground, they were far from down and out. It was up to him, as Gilbert’s right-hand man, to step up and rein in their faction. Sure, they lost a critical lever of power in the school, but with the manoeuvres he had been seeing behind closed doors, including his own manoeuvres, he couldn’t help but be thankful that events turned out better than he imagined. Equipped with twenty-twenty hindsight, he now considered Gilbert’s ousting as a great opportunity rather than a devastating loss to their faction.
That conniving witch… what does she have planned for this school?
He cursed under his breath as he recalled the mastermind behind the events in the past month, but at the same time all of this was only possible with her interference. If even Gilbert was willing to dance underneath her thumb, then he had got no other choice, either.
There was another development in Class A that concerned him, namely the formation of a third faction from the internal rifts in Mona’s, and then absorbing those who left or purged from Gilbert’s. It was an inevitable effect of the current state of affairs. Continued protests led to doubt and questioning of Gilbert and Mona’s leadership of Class A, while the failed siege of Class F had practically blown Gilbert’s coalition into smithereens. These latest developments behind the scenes had worked in a way that allowed this third faction to finally take hold: the breakdown of Gilbert’s authority.
However, even with Gilbert losing hold of the class, there was still more than enough Class A students who were diehard allies of Gilbert. That was the great reach of Gilbert’s personal charisma. He was a character of integrity, worthy of respect and devotion.
Additionally, Stephen was relieved that he was able to purge suspicious or unreliable personnel from their faction, making it much harder for an attacker in the future to put on needless pressure and defeat them. Furthermore, he, Gilbert, and Mona were seeing much more ominous movements in the abyss behind them, and it probably transcended their own real life responsibilities, too. He had to admit that that fear had cowed them, and the future problems they foresaw were truly greater than what their capabilities could handle. They were confident that they and their inner circles had more than enough abilities to survive; they didn’t make it to Class A just for show. However, it seemed like the sun had truly set on Class A’s supremacy, even if they were originally just pretenders.
“Hey, is it working yet?”
“Yes, you can tell it is because it’s printing shit out.”
“Oh, you’re right.”
It had been a few times already and Liam was still as unenthused in his tasks as the first day. Stephen essentially performed all the work necessary to get the sonograph running properly, whereas Liam floundered about lackadaisically. It even took a mind or two of Stephen’s to get Liam to stack the simple barrier of textbooks, for crying out loud.
After the machine started operating, they would then sit in silence for the remainder of the pre-class morning, with the occasional dimwitted remark from Liam, waiting for the first period bell. Of course, they were in different classrooms on different days, based on which around the Class 3-C homeroom were empty in the morning.
“Don said today’s the day. Is there anything different we oughta do?”
“No, our jobs are the same. Collect the data and hand it to him after we’re done here.”
“I see. Wake me when you need me for something, ‘kay?”
“…”
Not like I’ll need your help for anything, Stephen thought as Liam face-planted on the countertop. In any case, Liam didn’t seem to sleep soundly, yesterday waking up quite often in between to ask useless questions. Stephen wondered what quality Donovan saw in this pathetic man that would make him fit for a stakeout mission like this.
Speaking of Donovan, Stephen really was distracted by the fact that Donovan didn’t show up. He couldn’t make heads or tails of the issue, and it weighed on his psyche like a cloud of metallic dust—a sensation so odd that it sent shivers down his spine. As such, he was well aware that Donovan had the chops to qualify as a leader like Gilbert, and therefore Donovan’s absence on this critical day gave him a terrible premonition about what was to transpire. Stephen knew the extent of his abilities, and his absolute limits were that of being merely a right-hand man to a superior dignitary. His unease was justified. He couldn’t figure it out on his own.
“Dammit…”
At the same time, on the fourth floor.
In a familiar audio-visual studio, the remainder of the Elites of Class F had gathered under a rather sombre atmosphere; instruments were laid out on the carpeted floor, and none of the wannabe musicians heeded any attention to their practice. Instead, they merely idled with apprehension, not unlike awaiting the return of a particularly difficult exam.
“Well, what do we do now?”
Alice was the first to break the cold silence. She sighed as she watched her friends remain utterly distracted by Eon routinely entering and exiting the studio’s foyer as he patrolled the floor. There was no practice to be done today.
“We’ll just wait. In any case, we’re fine as we are for the talent show, right?”
When no one spoke up, Yui was the first to give Alice a soft, apologetic reply. Yui looked on worriedly at the other two men, especially Kato, who sat quietly as they stared off into space. Even the ever-positive Franco, who was sat behind the drum set, was uniquely forlorn.
“I suppose. After our audition was successful, we could go on stage as-is, I guess.”
Alice mused as, like Yui, watched Kato intently. She was, admittedly, almost just as distracted as they were.
“If there is any consolation, Alice, I think you can take it a little easier on yourself from now on.”
Yui walked over to whisper to Alice, who slacked her shoulders in fatigue. It was true. It wasn’t easy to teach almost complete newbies and get them presentable in such a short time span. That in itself was indicative of Alice’s abilities.
“Jeez…”
Alice quietly stormed out of the recording room and into the foyer, grabbing Yui by the hand and pulling her along. The other two didn’t pay any attention to them leaving.
“From what you know of them, do you think it’s even possible for them to recover? Even with our performance?”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“What? I mean what I mean.”
It was Yui’s turn to ponder curiously.
“I think it depends on what you mean by ‘recover’. To you, what scenario can be considered ‘recovered’?”
“Well, I just want things to go back to normal, right? What else could I mean? And why do you seem so calm about this—relatively speaking, that is.”
Yui laughed lightly. It was a cute laugh made by a cutie, and Alice didn’t realize Yui had the charm to pull it off until now.
“I’m not their long-time classmate for nothing. While I’ve only observed them from afar until recently, I’m quite aware of the nature of the drama they constantly get themselves into. I don’t think any of the other long-time classmates would think otherwise, either.”
“So, you’re saying this is normal?”
“It’s normal for friends to get into fights with each other, right? Close friends have fights, because that’s how much they care about each other.”
Alice held her tongue for a short while, but before she was able to continue, Yui started again, which a much more severe expression than moments ago. She hadn’t answered Alice’s initial question yet, and while she intended to, she changed the subject into a bizarre direction first.
“I heard you intend to stick yourself back into your family business in order to become a nomenklatura on your own.”
“Not only that, but you heard that from me myself.”
Alice dropped a pinch of sarcasm in her retort, immediately softening Yui’s expression again.
“What concrete steps have you taken so far to achieve that?”
“Huh? What does that have to do with Kato and them?”
“You’ll see the reason later. So, have you done anything about it yet?”
Alice was unconvinced, but her situation wasn’t some secret anyway, so she answered.
“I’ve made some initial moves. I called some old classmates and acquaintances back in Breisgau that I can trust or are useful to me in the future when I join the business. I guess you can say I’m building my power base, so to speak.”
“That’s interesting. It does sound like a good opening move. Then you should understand that feeling.”
Yui sat down on a cushion chair, and Alice followed her lead. She continued.
“We know why Mayumi came back to us, right? That Mirabelle had asked her to come back.”
Where was this going? Alice thought.
“It probably means that there’s some hidden power struggle going on among the power players in our grade, though I think you know of this already. With Mirabelle kicking things off, everything will undoubtedly change.”
“Sure, but I still don’t see the connection to my situation…”
“When you made contact with your old classmates again, that’s a signal of the start of something new, correct? Something that’ll inevitably change the trajectory of your life.”
“Well, of course. That’s what’s gonna happen the moment I choose to become a nomenklatura.”
“In our case, we’re also seeing the start of an inevitable change in the trajectory of the Elites, because they’re making the same kinds of choices that you are.”
“Huh? Are you saying they’re joining the nomenklatura too?”
A stupid question rolled off her tongue in haste, but Yui caught it gently.
“No, not that, but they’re making big decisions relative to the Elites, all right. Not just Mirabelle and Mayumi with their secret agreement, but Caius and Eon too. Eventually, I expect Kato will get roped into this and make a big decision too.”
“What big decisions?”
“Decisions reconsidering their relationship with the Elites, of course.”
“…”
Alice was a little stumped. Yui was talking about this in quite a roundabout way. While it was quite a serious thing to declare, was it that serious to not have it stated from the start?
“Caius is, for certain, making a decision on that. Eon is likely doing the same. Mayumi already made a decision about it, and it stands to reason that Mirabelle and Kato are involved in this, the former being the instigator, and the latter suffering the consequences.”
Alice stiffened at the remarks about Mirabelle and Kato. Certainly, that must have been a given, but having it said aloud was a different matter. Yui took a deep breath, sparing a glance at Kato’s figure through the gigantic glass window of the recording room.
“While Mayumi has likely already decided, I have a feeling that no matter what Kato does here, Caius and Eon will follow Mayumi’s lead. Very likely, there’ll be an irreparable split in the Elites, and we won’t return to the ‘normal’ that you’ve seen so far.”
“What? That’s so… selfish!”
Yui smiled gently at Alice’s justified outburst, who was half in disbelief.
“Remember how I asked you about you joining the nomenklatura? That decision wasn’t a simple one for you, was it?”
“…no, it wasn’t.”
“It’s the same degree of significance here. They’re all going through something similar, again, and it never ended with going back to normal.”
“…”
When Alice seemed to still be unconvinced, Yui continued.
“When you decided to join the nomenklatura and started taking steps towards that goal, you’ll be changing your situation and the situation of the people around you, right? In your future, you’ll eventually be entangled with your old classmates more and more, your relationship with Gilbert was already irreversibly changed, and even your relationship with Mirabelle or the Elites be transformed by second- or third-order effects of those. Maybe with more time spent on building your network, you’d have less time for the Elites, and so on.”
Maybe it was good for Yui to have taken the windy route to this explanation after all, Alice thought, otherwise she would have started shouting by now.
“Okay, I think I get where you’re coming from. Thanks for bearing with me. In that case, are the prospects really that grim?”
Yui smiled again in reciprocation, grateful that Alice realized she was imposing herself a little bit.
“It was the same before.”
“Not this again…”
Alice sighed in exasperation, realizing she was once again, out of the loop. A little stung by the fact that Yui knew much more about the Elites than her, she started again glumly.
“So, which side will you choose? I think it’s easy to guess that the Elites are fracturing into Kato’s and Mayumi’s groups. I’m obviously following Kato, but you…”
“There’s no need to ask. I’ll be following Kato’s lead, of course.”
“Okay. I just thought you might’ve had more history with Mayumi’s group.”
“Everyone in Class F has a history with the Elites. It just so happens that I was more involved with Kato than Mayumi.”
Yui let out a light giggle, thoroughly composed throughout this ordeal. Alice was once again surprised by the different sides her friends possessed. Yui was a lot stronger when it came to emotional adversity, something you couldn’t tell from her outward appearance. Yui seemed to have picked up on Alice’s wondering gaze, and replied gently.
“It’s just a character flaw of mine. If my sense of self-preservation wasn’t this strong, I wouldn’t survive in the ghetto.”
Then, suddenly, the door outside swung open with a slam. That was when they both realized that Eon had not returned for quite a while since he left for another round of hall monitoring. In addition, it was not Eon who had blasted the door open.
“Hey, guys! Do you have a sec? It’s sort of an emergency!”
A slightly strange combination of words spilled from Scarlett’s lips, confounding the two allies of Kato sitting there together, wondering what would qualify as “sort of” an emergency. Nodding to the pair, Scarlett quickly scanned the area for Kato, to which she rushed over to the studio’s door, opened it and shouted into the room.
“Oi! Mira’s back! She’s calling for you guys to come to the student council room!”
All the occupants were momentarily stunned. They did not expect this to happen, and given the current situation, there was little doubt that this absolutely had something to do with Mayumi.
The science lab, “Chem 1”, next to 3-C homeroom.
The door opened slowly and quietly, and while it prompted Stephen’s attention, he did not immediately react. Seeing it was Cecilia who entered, he froze in place, surprised.
Cecilia spotted Stephen just as quickly, and as she was prepped with Mayumi and Eon’s plan in mind, she didn’t need to hesitate. She put a finger over her mouth, motioning to Stephen to continue to remain silent. As she treaded quietly toward him, she motioned for the others still outside to enter the classroom.
When Stephen noticed that Mayumi, Eon and Caius were also stealthily treading into the classroom, quietly shutting the door behind them and then shielding themselves behind the lab counters that circled the classroom, he almost let out a shout. However, he was stopped again in his tracks by Cecilia, continuing to make eye contact with him as she approached.
Stephen wasn’t stupid. While he was quick to resort to physical resolutions to problems, this didn’t seem like a possible selection yet. He held his hand and tongue, waiting for Cecilia to reach him while not waking Liam from his sleep.
Cecilia planted herself on the opposite side from Liam, with Stephen in the middle, so that at least she was out of view for a few moments if Liam were to feel some strange presence and wake up. She motioned for him to put their heads together so that they can whisper to each other.
He had to hear her out. The presence of the other three really only meant one thing, and that Donovan’s prediction had come true.
“Please, save me.”
Cecilia uttered these simple words so tenderly yet so clearly, Stephen was stunned for a second, momentarily not recognizing her voice at all. An understandable response, as they have only ever had acrimonious exchanges. He almost could not believe his ears, but it only took another second to be snapped back to the present. He stared into her eyes, which were soft yet determined. Normally, he had no reason to accept this unbelievably selfish request, but he was not in a normal situation, not attending a normal school, and nor did he have a normal relationship with his cousin.
She seemed to know exactly what he was thinking, and she continued, determination unwavering.
“We’re family, big brother.”
That was all that was needed to spur a response from him. He almost grabbed her by the lapels, but he held himself back so as to not disturb Liam from his sleep.
“Only when it’s convenient for you.”
They weren’t in a position to chitchat idly, but he allowed that one to come out in order to not have his anger manifest physically.
“What’s the plan?”
“They’ll take care of whatever happens in this room. You need to stop Don on the other side of this door—”
She pointed to another door just a few paces away, which led into the neighbouring classroom, which was also another chemistry lab: Chem 2. Many of the classrooms on this floor, the science floor, had interconnected classrooms for obvious safety reasons.
“He has another Teller sonograph running. Take the result papers printed so far, and slide it through the door I’ll hold half-open. I’ll handle it from there.”
“Is force the only way?”
There was no hesitation in his final question, and there weren’t any in her reply either.
“Yes.”
Stephen knew enough to know what this meant. He correctly assumed it was a plan that Mayumi came up with using her future sight. Normally, he would have loathed trusting Mayumi’s judgment, but given the bigger picture now, he was no longer held down by the responsibilities of his position at school or at home. It allowed him more freedom to act according to what he personally wanted to do, which was to mend things with his estranged family—both Cecilia and Mayumi.
Glancing backwards, he noticed the two other boys, Eon and Caius, had surrounded themselves around Liam. There was now no doubt that they were also resorting to force. On another lab counter, not too far away, was Mayumi with goggles, gloves and a surgical mask on, carefully and quietly handling a large glass tray that was specially made for handling liquid chemicals, which was a dead giveaway on Mayumi’s plan of action.
Not even half a minute later, Mayumi somehow was able to prepare the two or so litres of sulphuric acid without incident or waking up Liam, a feat that was incredible on its own. The master key for office equipment they had stolen earlier was able to open the storage cabinet for dangerous chemicals. Mayumi nodded in their direction, signalling to them that she was ready for the next, most volatile phase of the plan. Stephen turned back to Cecilia, looking for one last confirmation from her. She returned his somewhat intense gaze with a curious one in response.
“We need to talk later.”
“That’s fine.”
Stephen could already pick up a hint of the irritating scent of the sulphuric acid, so there was no time left. Without a second look back, Stephen left swiftly for the nearby door to the neighbouring classroom. He held onto the doorknob silently, giving Cecilia and the other three a chance to mentally prepare themselves for a moment before they acted. The time for action was mere moments away.
Click!
In the silence, the opening of a heavy metal door would definitely catch the attention of all who could hear it, though by itself still might not enough to wake one up from their slumber. However, a couple of other things had to happen at the same time, making quite a bit of noise too, so there was no avoiding waking Liam up.
As if on cue, the moment the door clicked upon opening, Liam stirred from his sleep, groggily raising his head from the countertop. Seeing this happen, Caius immediately grabbed the pile of printed cata-papers from the output bin of the sonograph.
“Urgh—!”
Skreeeeek!
With a grunt, Caius ripped the currently printing sheet from the output roller, and scurried in the direction of Mayumi before Liam realized what was going on.
“Hey—!”
Liam was only reacting reflexively to the unfamiliar sounds, but they were not going to take any chances. At the moment Liam began to come to and take a look at his surroundings, Eon, who was standing directly behind him, kicked the chair out from under Liam as he grabbed at his waist, pulling him off the chair and onto the ground.
Thud!
They both tumbled to the ground in a tangled mess, with Liam landing on top of Eon, though Liam had the more difficult fall since it was completely unexpected for him.
“Hey! What gives—!”
Liam started once more, but Eon had swiftly swapped places and sat on top of him by the time he figured out he had fallen and started flailing his hands. Eon, on the other hand, did not relent or say a word, focusing on keeping Liam’s body and limbs grounded.
In the meantime, Caius had already reached Mayumi and threw the stack of cata-papers into the wide-open tray of sulphuric acid, producing an incessant volume of fumes from the chemical reaction. Caius immediately backed off the moment the paper touched the acid, covering his mouth and nose with his shirt. Mayumi, with proper protective wear, only needed to back off a little bit as she stood on the side of the counter nearer to Cecilia’s position. A short while prior, at the moment when Stephen opened the door, the noisy things Mayumi had to do was to make her way to the front of the classroom to switch on all of the classroom’s fume hoods, including the one above the tray she was using, so that the acidic plumes could be safely, and noisily, ventilated away.
While they were just about tangled on the ground and the first gusts of fumes billowed, Stephen had already held up his part of the bargain. Cecilia held the door half-open for only several seconds before a stack of cata-papers slid into grabbing range, and she wasted no time in snatching it from the ground and moving out right away, leaving the door to close shut by itself with a heavy metallic thunk.
Cecilia dashed across the empty classroom towards the smoking tray, but stopped halfway to toss the stack to Mayumi, who stood in position just convenient enough to catch it. Like a basketball player, she caught the pass gracefully and carried the momentum into the open tray, prompting another wave of toxic fumes to fill the vicinity of the tray.
Because of building codes and regulations, science classrooms always had windows outside for safety purposes. Cecilia and Mayumi both rushed to the glass windows to open them fully, sending in gusts of fresh air into the room as toxic fumes left in the opposite direction.
“Stop this—!”
Without skipping a beat, Caius quickly made his way to a squirming Liam in Eon’s clutches. He grabbed both of Liam’s legs and lifted them off the ground, securing the knees underneath his arms. Eon, ever the master of un-subtlety, slapped Liam across the face so that he could get off of him, turn around and do the same thing with Liam’s arms. He pulled them up and off the ground, and secured them underneath his own arms. They were now carrying Liam in the air by the limbs, and it was certainly disconcerting for the passenger who did not expect this to happen.
“What’s going on? What the fuck is going on?”
It wasn’t only the physical hindrance that the two had brought upon him, but the faint smell of acid in the air spooked him enough to paralyze his thought process and dampen his resistance. The next claim from the boy “above” him only drove home this fear.
“There’s an acid spill! We’re getting you out of here!”
Eon lied with a wide grin on his face. In no time, they took Liam out of the classroom and into the hallway, closing the locked door behind them.
“We’d only need to clean this up, and it’s all good.”
Mayumi muttered as she watched the masses of mould-like carbon form from the acid reacting with the cellulose of the paper. It would take a few more minutes for the paper submerged in acid to eat through all of it and the reaction to come to a stop. They could only watch over this, and watch for any movements at the door to the neighbouring classroom. Meanwhile, Cecilia also got herself into appropriate protective wear.
“Is this all over?”
“If things over there have gone down the way I saw it, then it’s all over. You’ll be safe.”
“I’ll be…”
Cecilia was immediately alerted by the subtle implication in Mayumi’s words. She was as perplexed as she was anxious. Sensing it, Mayumi made her way over to Cecilia and began to explain.
“I might as well tell you what exactly’ll happen afterwards.”
Some moments ago.
Upon opening the door, Stephen immediately scanned the dark, unlit classroom for his target. Stephen knew his mission was a battle against time. The moment he opened the door was when his window of opportunity started counting down.
A little more than several paces away from him, near the centre-front of the classroom, was Donovan seated at a counter, alone operating a Teller sonograph shielded by a wall of textbooks from the hallway door of this classroom. There was no further confirmation needed. There was only a mere split second before Donovan would realize the reason for Stephen’s arrival.
Donovan had not joined Liam and Stephen, nor told them about it, on purpose. He decided that on the day that evidence could most likely be collected, he would operate on his own. That way, Stephen would be half a step behind Donovan if he ever realized what was happening, and to make things difficult for Mayumi if she ever tried to peek into these classrooms. While it was certainly within her capabilities to survey both classrooms, it was rather difficult for her, with the limited manpower at her disposal, to deal with both sonographs at once. If one was brought down, the other—namely Donovan—can escape with the evidence. That was how he imagined it would play out.
So, the sudden arrival of Stephen threw him for a loop. He did not expect him to show up at all, much less in this frantic fashion. He thought he noticed another student behind the door, holding the door open, but couldn’t catch the student’s face in the darkness. All this sudden and mysterious turn of events only led to one logical conclusion, and it was that Mayumi’s future sight had somehow led to this situation.
In the moment that Stephen found Donovan, that spark of that slight understanding glinted in Donovan’s eyes, which Stephen immediately realized and had to give mental credit to. Donovan was no lightweight at all. He wasn’t a potential faction leader for no reason. So, there was only one way forward.
Without another moment’s hesitation, Stephen charged towards Donovan at a frightening speed, deftly using his feet to launch his whole body forward. Suffice to say, Donovan being adroitly seated on a stool was at a disadvantage when it came to responding to this frontal tackle. Because it was the morning, most of the stools were still neatly lined up at the back of the classroom, giving Stephen a clear runway to his target.
“…urk!”
Shoulder and body connected, sending Donovan several feet off and away from the stool and onto the ground. There was no way for Donovan to counter that tackle, nor the follow-up kick in the abdomen that sent him into the base of a counter a little farther away. Stephen had splendidly rendered Donovan immobile for several seconds, which was just the window he needed to grab the output from the still-running sonograph, run towards the door held open by Cecilia, and toss it back into the other classroom. The door swung shut after the cata-papers disappeared behind it, and Stephen breathed a sigh of relief. Primary mission accomplished.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
Stephen was immediately met with a chokehold from behind as Donovan hissed into his ear. Of course, Donovan wasn’t going to let this go lying down. Stephen had to manage the aftermath of this gamble, and perhaps surprisingly, it was not something he would object to. In fact, a grin formed on his face despite the pressure on his neck closing in.
“I thought I’d get something useful out of my last day in the PSC, that’s all.”
“You really do have the guts, huh? Well, unfortunately, there’s nothing else left I can do at this point, so let’s have at it, shall we?”
Donovan growled with such an emotionless voice that you could not believe it, given his public persona. Stephen, however, was not perturbed. From what Donovan said, it was safe for Stephen to assume that he knew exactly what Mayumi was going to do, and now that Stephen had succeeded in removing the evidence, Donovan had lost on that front. So, why not have an honest brawl here and now—was what Donovan was suggesting.
No, not merely suggesting: they were in the midst of it already. The act of brawling in a science classroom filled with dangerous chemicals and expensive equipment would definitely not go over well with the school’s authorities, but Stephen had been the one to throw the first punch. In almost any scenario, the majority of the blame, and therefore punishment, would go to Stephen.
That was exactly why Stephen felt it was good to go through with this fight. It was a done deal, so why not see it through using his fists, like how he resolved most of his problems? As long as neither student went out of their way to rip off the opponent’s cleanse tags, which were actually quite difficult to undo and take off even at rest, punishment, physical or from the school, would not be severe.
As an aside, recently, the school had begun redistribution of plastic fasteners, the same types of fasteners you would use tying up large parcels or packages. They were like mini-belts, pulling on one end to tighten the plastic ring around the wrist with the cleanse tag underneath. Many students had snatched up these fasteners to keep their cleanse tags securely on-person, and were especially useful for those in the PSC, who would expect to get into fights on occasion. There was virtually no chance for an opponent to aim to remove the cleanse tag in a brawl.
“Don’t—mind—if—I—do!”
To break his chokehold, Stephen stepped backwards and knocked Donovan’s feet from under him, sending them both to the ground. Without support, Donovan’s arm momentarily relaxed, and allowed Stephen to extricate himself and roll away to a safe distance. They both recovered on their feet quickly, glaring menacingly as they circled each other.
“Do you really wanna throw down?”
There’s nothing in it for you, was what was in Stephen’s eyes.
“Now that it’s got to this point, I’m not gonna pass up a chance to call everything I do here in self-defence.”
Donovan expertly evaded his underlying implication. Whatever his motivation, he wouldn’t spell it out so easily.
Then, without warning, Donovan stepped forward and thrust his right arm towards Stephen’s eyes, fingers stiff and straight ahead. Not only did it obscure Stephen’s vision as it approached, but if any part of Donovan’s strike actually landed, the fight would end right then and there, and probably with lasting damage and complications to his eyes for the rest of his life, even with the protection of a cleanse tag.
That was when Stephen realized he was not having a merely street brawl. Sure, there were no rules in a street brawl, so unsavoury tactics like this one was completely acceptable, but in almost every instance, no one was trained specifically to make such moves. However, Donovan’s were most definitely not ones picked up from the mere experience of street fighting. It felt like the lethal intent and underhandedness from his opponent were a level deeper than run-of-the-mill street fights.
Stephen instantly pulled backwards. A thrust like that had limited range and difficult to follow up on if it missed, so as long as he was able to dodge the thrust, he had time to recover. Reconsidering his tactics in this moment, Stephen moved to the offensive by crouching slightly and bringing his arms and fists up shielding his face, and charged forward at the Donovan.
Donovan, in response, turned to face him with his left shoulder just in time to soften the force of the charge, and then made a swift hook with the opposing arm, swerving around the guard Stephen formed with his arms. The hook connected with the neck, sending Stephen tumbling to one side. However, since Donovan didn’t commit to fully blocking the charge, the momentum of it and his swing sent him in the opposite direction, again creating space between the two.
They got up and circled each other again, as if the first clash had no effect. This time, Stephen stepped forward first, and this time, he connected a very brutal uppercut by intentionally taking a pummel to the left shoulder, and the breath had been momentarily taken out of Donovan. As he was immobilized for a split second, Stephen sent him flying with a swinging kick, sending him over the counter and falling to the floor like a ragdoll.
However quickly Stephen made it around the counter to get to Donovan, he would probably be met with a surprise attack, so he backed off slightly and waited for Donovan to get up. Sure enough, it only took a few seconds for him to reappear from behind the counter. The circling continued.
It was Donovan’s turn again to attack first, and this time, he took large, almost exaggerated swings with his arms. He steadily forced Stephen backwards until he was almost backed into a counter behind him, and then he suddenly changed his swings into thrusts, prompting Stephen to instinctively block the jabs. The moment Stephen brought up his arms as guards again, Donovan charged with his body into the defence and sent Stephen falling over to the other side of the counter.
Donovan continued on the offensive, nimbly jumping on top of the counter to follow after him. As Stephen tried to get up from the fall, Donovan dived forward with his knee aiming for the head, allowing gravity to provide the necessary pain to the strike.
“AAAAUGH—!”
The knee struck Stephen’s head at full force, sending him to the ground once more in excruciating pain. An exposed head smashing on ceramic floor tiles was by no means light damage. With Stephen on the ground, awareness temporarily paralyzed by the pain, and Donovan on top of him, the fight was essentially over. Stephen had lost.
“I’m a little, disappointed, Stephen. Is this all, you can muster?”
Donovan was not going to let up. As he held his body down with his weight, he repeatedly sent punches into Stephen’s face, almost rhythmically between his breaths, to keep him down.
“Where’s your, pathetic defiance, now, huh? Where, is it?”
Donovan sneered, blows unrelenting. Stephen’s face was bruised and bleeding all over, his nose broken, and his eyes losing its focus. He was no longer in a state to fight anymore, but the beating continued for an additional, very cruel, half a minute. The cleanse tag would protect him from any real, lasting damage, but not everything in this moment. The pain was real, and blood flowed from his nose and mouth.
“C’mon now. Talk, boy.”
Donovan got off and crouched beside him, hoisting Stephen’s head by his hair. Stephen heaved heavy breaths and was slowly losing consciousness. There was no more meaningful resistance he could put up.
“Go… eat… shit.”
Donovan threw the limping head to the ground, clearly dissatisfied with the turn of events even though he had soundly won the fight against Stephen. The impact sent another shockwave of pain through Stephen’s head, but through sheer willpower he somehow retained consciousness.
“You’re a real piece of work, huh? You decided to turn against me at the most crucial moment.”
“It’s not like you didn’t expect it, did you? Not with how things outside school had played out.”
“I must admit, she moved much faster than I had thought. I lost this time.”
“You should’ve never included me in this stakeout mission.”
“It was necessary to sniff out your priorities. On that front, I’ve gained valuable information, at the very least.”
“You think you can get away with this mess?”
“If you think about it, from my perspective, this isn’t a mess, really.”
Their exchange was put to a close as the hallway door opened, revealing Eon, Caius and Liam at its opening.
“This is as far as this goes!”
Caius shouted into the room as Eon flipped the lights on, illuminating the scene of the crime. Liam stood by dumbfounded, clearly having no idea what had happened. Donovan stood up to reveal his own bruised face and a bloodied right hand.
“It sure is, Madam President.”
Though Caius had been the one to speak up, Donovan saw a fourth figure standing behind him, and knew it was her to respond to.
“Why, you’re quite obedient today, Don. What’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing. It’s always been the same old me. So, what brings you here today?”
“To clean up this mess you made, of course.”
“My colleague here was saying the same thing about this being a mess, but sadly, I have no idea what you guys are talking about.”
“Then, do you think I should just let this all go?”
“Of course not. I’ll come with you, to file a complaint. I’m the one who should be calling this a mess.”
“As I thought.”
Eon and Caius rushed to Stephen’s side, quickly assessing the injuries he had taken. It was quite extensive on the face, but otherwise the rest of his body was still very much healthy. Without any words, they expertly picked Stephen up by the armpits and helped him limp his way out the classroom, and headed towards the infirmary on the first floor. The two others watched them go just as silently, and it wasn’t until they left for a short while and Donovan shooed Liam away that they resumed conversation.
“They seem to know exactly what the sequence of events is. They didn’t need any kind of verbal communication.”
“Maybe they just have really good synergy. I would know.”
Donovan scowled. There was no way they’d come out and confess that they used Mayumi’s future sight to see everything that happened up until this point.
“Shut up. Don’t give me that crap.”
“But I’m really not. Me being here’s also just a coincidence.”
Donovan ignored her, patted himself down and fixed himself up. Once his collars were back in spiff order, he made his way to the door as well. He was surprisingly calm for how much emotion he was showing just mere moments ago.
“Whatever you say. After you, Madam President.”
Mirabelle aimed an unreadable smile at Donovan, who promptly ignored that as well.
“Don’t mind if I do.”