Chapter 40 - Again

Leader ushered the petrified director to come over. With no choice left for him after being ignored by Balin and Dustan, director Joey went ahead and stood up beside Leader when he was about to say something she stopped him. "just be forward, okey? We all know you are not here for inspection so don't milk it, ask whatever you want, we will answer of we can."

Director felt grateful for the exit offered by leader he nodded his head and said "your students yesterday beat up 13 girls who did nothing but try to talk to the kitsune, they came to me with their teachers today, with swollen faces, some were even blinded by the swelling. I am here to give due punishment".

Leader pouted "are you sure my kids did it with no rhyme or reason, they beat those poor girls because they wanted to talk to Reina? Let's find out, HALT, GROUP UP HERE" A moment later all those who were far assembled into the group with Yunan, Reina and Leol standing in front of Leader with inquisitive looks

"This man here claims you beat up 13 girls last night in the cantina, did you do it, if yes explain why". "We did not beat up 13 girls it is very unlucky, we beat up 14, a very auspicious number. First they were saying something about a rule that prevents boys and girls from mingling with girls to make Reina join them, then they changed targets to us and they made so much noise about how they will get us kicked out if we did not move away from Reina, and then one of them pushed Leol's head into his plate and they all laughed claiming that is what he gets for ignoring them, Leol retaliated by hitting the girl who pushed him with a food tray to the face, they got angry and said they would make us move by force, i told them to make us, they tried attacking us and we dispatched all of them with a tray to the face each, the 14th one who started this mess should not be able to even talk for a few days from the swelling, Leol did go overboard when he hit her. That is all the details, if you do not believe me, find the 14th girl and ask the cantina staff, the girls made more noise than a cackle, i am sure they would have seen it all." Reina and Leol nodded at his words confirming them.

"Shall we find those related? I do trust the kids and if they said they were attacked and only retaliated i want to punish who ever tried to harm them personally. But, since they were already beaten so visibly i will let you , mister director to handle it" she then shooed away the director and turned to her own team."Lucian, give them a ten minute rest and play with daggers, feel free to retaliate, keep them on their toes all the time, Bai do your magic thing, the stress have been killing me, you three can help Lucian toy with the kids, off you go".

Director Joey never felt so wronged and out of place in his years since he became an academy director, so as retaliation against Debauchery he did nothing in the matter of the fight, 'Let the kids sort it out among themselves' he thought.

The rest of the morning went fine and soon came lunch time, Leol took the lead and filled the table they were sitting at with enough food for 8 people,ever since they got the starheart, all their growth was translated into energy needs, and they have been increasingly more, the more energy they used. It looked like three gluttons feasting as they chatted and stuffed their faces, when they were about done with the food a group of people loomed over their table but they were ignored as if they did not look threatening enough.

"Were you the ones who injured my classmates?" the one who seemed to lead them slammed his fist on the table to make himself menacing and dominant. "Yes that would be us, how can i help you?" Answer Leol very diplomatically.

"You have two choices, either apologize right now on your knees and we can let you off, or we can bash your faces in" said the leader with a smug look on his face, as if there was no choice but getting th to kneel in front of him, either before or after beating them.

Reina interjected "they did nothing wrong, so there will be no apology, if you insist on fighting we can reluctantly give you matching faces, now decide yourself, we are eating and don't have time for you". Right after Reina finished her words a punch was coming at her face, she grabbed the wrist and pulled on it, the leader found himself on a head on collision course with a food tray that was not there a moment ago.

With the leader down, the rest of the group; made of the girls from last night and their classmates; charged at the trio and the sounds of thunks and thuds and sobs mixed together for moment before all went quiet again. Reina went through the bodies on the floor and made sure that everyone had matching swellings, giving and extra tap here and there for those who were fortunate enough to not get the full tray to the face. Before they left for the afternoon lesson they got themselves some take away to the class for snacks later.

The afternoon lesson was shooting bows and crossbows, one would shoot at Dustan while the other two tried distraction from the front lines, although Dustan was gentle he still caused a few bruises in the kids, by the end of the lesson each one if the kids had landed at least one shot, or hit on Dustan, an achievement for the little ones.

After taking a bath, Yunan, Reina and Leol decided to go to the entertainment hall for some fun. Once there the heards about how there is a society that popped up recently were you need a swollen face to join, and they had a tray wielding friend who can guarantee a matching swollen face as part of the initiation. That would be the way the students made fun of the large group who were beaten by just three people, and got themselves matching faces to boot.

Students were ruthless, if there was a rule about not making fun of fellow students, they made stories and legends targeted at them to laugh about and ridicule them openly, and the brotherhood of matching faces is one of those legends who will stand the test of time.