The time will show someone's real face. It will strip away the mask, the pretense, the act, the persona. It will show who they really are, and who they pretended to be. It will show when they were being honest, and when they were being deceitful.
***
"Why do you want to be friends with me now, whereas you didn't even pay attention to me until a few hours ago?" Haste said while walking with Leo toward the gymnasium.
"Well, I know that it's not for a noble reason. Like, I didn't want to be friends with you because I wanted to stop those who were bullying you. And it's not like you will need me in the future, from what I saw this morning at least."
"Then?"
"Have you heard of the interschool competition?" Leo asked as Haste said no. He never heard of such a thing. "Let me explain what is it then.
"The interschool competition happens every three years, and it's divided into two categories. First, all the schools in a country will send five students, and after a series of individual tests and battles, only three students will be able to represent their respective country." Leo explained. "Then comes the second part. All the chosen students from all around the world will go to the world stage, where all the countries will fight each other, once again in different individual tests and battles."
"And what does it have to do with your reason for approaching me?" Haste asked, still not seeing where Leo wanted to come.
"The thing I wanted from you was that you help me pass the first competition," Before Haste could tell him anything, Leo continued. "There is a reason why there are only three students that will go there. It's to represent the three last years of school. One first year, one second year, and one third year.
"So I wanted you to fight as many people as possible and win against them, before putting an act in front of me so that I could shine and go to the world stage."
Hearing his reason, Haste wanted to slap Leo, but didn't do anything in the end. He just stopped in his track, almost making someone bump into him, thus almost creating a commotion.
Almost.
Haste didn't know if he should be glad that Leo told him his real intention without lying, or if he should be outraged by what he heard. Haste could understand that Leo wanted to win the first competition and be famous after that on the world stage because even if he wouldn't win the last competition, fame would still follow him everywhere. But from there to use such tactics.
And it wasn't actually Leo's tactic that disgusted him, but it was more his intention.
Haste had explained to him what a true friend was for him, and he really hoped that Leo would have understood it so that he could have someone to rely on. It would have been the first real person he would have been able to trust, and he was excited about that. But in the end, it just reminded him of one thing.
'Why did you even hope for such a thing, Haste?' He thought. People who come from big families are always like that. What he actually thinks of as a friend is no more than a subordinate. And that's annoying to see that he thought of me as such.'
"So? Will you help me?" Leo asked with excitement. Haste didn't say anything for a while, but he took it as a good omen since his servant were all doing the same thing in front of him.
"Leo, do you perhaps think that I'm your subordinate?" Haste asked. He wasn't angry. Just annoyed by the fact that all he hoped was for nothing.
"Of course not. You're my friend."
"I see," He understood that they weren't on the same page regarding friendship in general. "Please Leo, leave me alone from now on," Haste opened the gymnasium door.
"Why? What happened? You didn't like the idea?" Leo was very confused. He hadn't predicted such an outcome.
"You can come back to me when you will understand. But until then, please leave me alone." Haste accelerated and left Leo alone.
The latter wanted to go after him and ask for some explanations, but the crowd in the gymnasium made him lose sight of Haste.
Haste was slaloming between everyone. He didn't know why there were that many people here since there were still at least 15 minutes for the next class, but he soon got his answer.
A person stood in the middle of what seemed like a man circle while another one was on the ground, beaten up by the former. The circle was quite big, so it made the perfect arena.
And the people who were in this circle were none other than Crol and one of the people he liked bullying so much.
So much that he even beat him up in public.
'Tch, why does he like attracting the attention so much?" Haste thought as he went away from the front. He didn't want someone to notice him, especially if he needed to fight because of that.
But unfortunately for him, luck wasn't on his side.
"Look, there Haste here." A voice almost shouted.
"Who is he?"
"You don't know him? He's from the Laborde family. But he is so bullyable that even a beggar could bully him."
The little commotion Haste had created with his arrival wasn't unheard, and Crol didn't let his chance escape.
"Haste, you bast*rd, come here. I will beat you for good this time."
The crowd gasp as they didn't expect that. They even pushed Haste toward the interior of the circle so that he was forced to face Crol.
'I swear that one day, I will definitively make them pay,' Haste thought looking behind him. If not for the crowd, he would have continued his life peacefully without anyone bothering him. But it was just a wishful dream at this point.
"You won't be able to escape this time. I will beat you up to death," Crol roared and rushed toward Haste, not even protecting himself with his arms. There were so many openings that it would be easy to win this fight. But since for Crol, what Haste did this morning was pure luck, he wanted to show everyone that it was the case and that he was the strongest.
And seeing that, even though he wanted to avoid the attention, it just seemed impossible at this point.