As Shiro approached the room, he heard a loud voice from inside. One he was close enough, he started to hear what was being said;
"Get up weakling, I'm not wasting my time talking to you for nothing. It seems you don't really want to talk so I might as well tell you what we want one again. You're gonna take off that diamond ring and give it to us yourself, and then we'll run away as the teachers are alerted that you took off your insignia. Oh and don't give us that crap about it being the last thing your mother gave to you cuz' we don't give a shit. Got it!?"
While listening to this, a million things raced through Shiro's head,
'I can't help, it's not my fight. I'll probably just get in trouble. No, but that kid is getting bullied. Ugh... I could probably fight those guys off easily but... What do I do?.'
Then Shiro heard the voice of the person that was probably the victim, judging by the series of movements which he heard beforehand.
"I'm not gonna give it"
Shiro quickly recognised the voice as he finally decided to rush into the classroom.
"Azumi!"
However, before Shiro could go to her aid, the bully from before and also leader of the group stepped forward.
"Well, well, well, look who came as her prince in shining armour. Look I don't even feel the need to bother with another rank zero like you, but well, I can't really let you escape, can I? Let's see... Hayaku, go knock him unconscious"
- - - - -
'It's my first day here and I'm already in a fight. I would sigh if I wasn't being approached by a kid who's giving me a death stare. But I can't just leave Azumi so I have to be on the defensive. I can't use my insignia either but neither can they', thought Shiro as the other kid walked towards him.
The kid then started run at him as if he was playing rugby and was about to tackle him. Shiro stepped out of the way with relative ease and used his leg to trip the boy over. It looked like child's play. The bully, Arano, looked slightly surprised.
"Uh, you know what, all of you go. Just do some damage."
As the three of the boys ran at him, Shiro observed who they were. They were all wearing a black jacket over their uniforms which wasn't against the rules as the uniform was still present. However, looking closer at their faces, they all looked very similar. Then it dawned on Shiro what was actually happening.
"Spell cast: ILLUSION REPEL!", he shouted, but as the magic power was really weak, it wasn't until it was too late that Shiro realised what was happening. The three thugs were decoys and the real one had invisibly crept up behind Azumi. Shiro then looked in anger towards Arano.
"Don't look at me like that, punk. You know what, if you kneel down and beg for forgiveness now, I'll make sure to beat you up lightly compared to little missy princess over there."
Shiro replied with a cold stare.
"Not gonna accept my mercy are ya? You know, I've never killed before, but right now I'm just dying to try it. Screw it, I'm strong, I can probably take on the teachers of they get alerted. I'm gonna use my Insignia."
As he said this, he ripped of his watch and took out a coin from his pocket; his insignia. He flipped it into the air, and as it came back into his right hand, it transformed into a battle axe of sorts: it was quite big. He pointed it at Shiro and motioned for him to step forward with his left hand.
"Hey, Haruto, stand down. I'll kill this shit - head then we'll deal with her."
'Haruto' nodded and stood still. Shiro started slowly advancing towards Arano.
'No matter what, I can't use my insignia.'
Arano suddenly attacked Shiro, aiming straight for the shoulders.
'He should have gone for the head', Shiro thought as he weaved around the axe and attempted to strike his neck with the side of his hand. He surprisingly found his target, but somehow hurt himself more than Arano. He realised that he had a defence spell activated. As Shiro stood flustered for a few seconds, Arano attempted to let go of his axe and quickly punch him, but failed as Shiro had already jumped back.
'Ok, I need to stop fooling around'. Shiro sped behind Arano and quickly put him into a headlock while using his legs to stop his arms.
"If I can't hurt you on the outside, I'll just hurt you inside". After a few moments, Shiro felt the head in his arms stop struggling, and took a step back, slightly out of breath. The unconcious bully slowly collapsed onto the floor as his insignia turned back into a coin and vanished, probably to reappear in his pocket.
The boy who was holding Azumi retreated frantically and started running away, but Shiro quickly went up to him and knocked him out too.
'Thump'. Azumi fell onto her knee with her head on her lap, and started sobbing quietly. All Shiro could do was walk over to her and kneel down as well, slowly embracing her, letting himself be her shoulder to lean on. After a few minutes, he realised what the time was and quickly moved a way to access his watch.
Despite Azumi's wordless silence, Shiro recognised the gratitude she felt towards him.
They both looked at each other as they remembered their first encounter which was literally just an hour ago. Shiro then pressed the emergency button on his watch as Azumi sat there, quietly.
"Hello? Who is this?"
The voice was that of Tadashi - sensei.
"Oh, it's me, Shiro".
"Oh, Shiro. Did something happen, are you alright? Is it something to do with a boy who just took off his smart-watch?"
"Yup. I see these watches actually work, then. Az-, uh..., someone was getting bullied by Arano-kun, so I stepped in and dealt with them but the boy ran off so I didn't see who it was. Uh, there are a few unconcious people where I'm at, then. So... like, can you take them into custody, or something?"
"Well, first we'll take them to the nurse's office and then we'll deal with them, okay? Uh, you just get out of there. They might think you were involved. Ok, we're coming now, get outta there."
Tadashi - sensei then cut the call. Shiro looked at Azumi and they both nodded. They got up and went out of the class.
- - - - -
The next lesson was delayed, due to obvious reasons, and so the two went to an unoccupied class and Azumi sat down. Shiro started tending to her injuries without a moment's delay. It remained quiet for a few moments until they both tried to say something.
"Than-"
"You alright no-". As they both stopped talking, Azumi motioned for Shiro to carry on.
"So, are you alright now?"
"Yeah.."
"Those pricks were bullying you for quite a while now, weren't they? Why didn't you ever do any thing about it?"
Azumi stayed silent and looked downwards in shame. Shiro stopped talking and sat there silently as well. And then she started sobbing... She let it all out: the pain, anger and regret, all in these tears. What happened next surprised Shiro.
"Leave me alone for a while."
Shiro knew that she wasn't mad at him, more at herself, but he couldn't bring himself to comfort her any more. They literally just met today after all. He got up slowly and left the room, closing the door behind him. He prepared himself for the rest of the day.
As he was walking down the hall, the watch on his wrist started reciting the message, "Lessons will resume in 20 minutes. Repeat. Lessons will resume in 20 minutes. Make sure you reach you classes in time."
After hearing this, Shiro decided to go and wait in the cafeteria. He purchased a cola from the vending machine and sat down. The people around him were chatting amongst friends, completely oblivious to what just happened between Shiro and Arano. He ignored them and carried on drinking until he finished and he soon realised the time. He got up and started heading for the battle - grounds, after tossing his drink into a trash can 10 metres away.