Days had passed since Kai's defeat, but the rumors still lingered in the academy.
The shame and pride made Kai stay indoors. The same could be said for Heina, who seemed to be in a complete lockdown.
The students now looked at Ethan in a new light. And Ethan, needless to say, felt proud, although he felt this was a double-edged sword. Just the way the black-suited woman acted, all confident, means she's no joke.
Ethan pushed all this thought away and shifted his gaze to the chicken breast, which, of course, had veggies sprinkled on it.
Ethan, Noah, Ileus, and Helen sat at their usual spot inside the canteen.
The students at the neighboring tables looked at Ethan with a curious gaze.
"Someone seems happy." Noah placed a fork in his mouth while staring at Helen.
"Oh, it's nothing." Helen flashed another smile before she focused on her food again. She bent her head down and glanced at Ethan from the side of her eyes.
And when Ethan felt the gaze and stared in her direction, she would focus back on her food before Ethan could even look in her direction.
And this didn't escape the eyes of Noah, who seemed to be moving his eyes constantly between the two.
"Helen, do you mind passing me the water?" Ethan pointed at the water bottle closest to Helen.
"Sure, sure." Helen's cheek turned rosy. Her hands shook slightly before she grabbed the plastic water bottle. She attempted to open it with her shakey hands, but unfortunately, she used too much force, and the water spilled on everyone at the table.
"Am so so sorry." Helen hurriedly said, pulling her white scarf out, and started cleaning Ethan's uniform.
"Dude, this looks weird, right?" Noah leaned closer to Ileus and whispered.
"It is, certainly." Ileus brought out his scarf.
"You're all dried up," Helen said after some time.
"Thanks," Ethan replied.
"Helen," Noah called out. "Thanks for the water splash, we needed it."
"I'm sorry; I completely—"
"It's OK. After all, you looked busy cleaning up Mr. Prince, so we understood. "
PRINCE? Ethan's heartbeat accelerated a little. He placed the water he had been chugging down back on the table and stared at Noah. He tried to study Noah's facial expressions, but he found nothing. And the latter only had a smile while chatting with Helen.
"hope he was just being sarcastic," Ethan mumbled to himself. He knew he couldn't risk blowing up his cover, especially to a human. The people of this world consider dragons myths. He would like it to remain like that.
Although Noah seems like a nice person, he would still keep it away from him, at least for now. Only Ileus knew about him being a dragon, but even he didn't know about him being royalty.
"Bro." Noah moved his plates away. "The academy transferred me and Ileus to your class."
Their actions made Ethan trust them more. He overheard Noah and Ileus discussing how they would transfer to his class so that they would be able to watch each other. This made him regret hiding his race from them, but, in a way, he had protected them because he wouldn't want to see his only friends drop dead.
"This means a lot–"
Ethan trailed when a loud bang echoed across the canteen as the metal door slammed against the metal wall.
"Wait, who the hell is that—"The student quickly covered his mouth with his hand, squatted down, and hoped the intruder wouldn't notice him.
The students looked in the direction of the sound and saw Kai, who had no trace of any visible burnt mark on him.
They didn't linger long. Although it surprised them since this canteen didn't accommodate any pureblood.
The pure blood had their own private canteen, which was finished with soft sofa chairs, not metal.
"Get out of the way!" Heina screamed, but to her surprise, the students had already cleared the way.
They all moved to the side and made a straight line to the canteen counter.
"Hmph." She held Kai's hands and walked towards the counter, as though they would be meeting a priest.
All the students at each table shut their mouths, except for one particular table.
Ethan and his gang refocused on their conversation after seeing the person who walked in.
"I thought it would be someone important," said Noah.
"yeah, thought like that–"
*BANG
The plates on the table flew up, splattered everywhere, and the remains fell to the ground.
"What the—?"
They all shifted their gazes to the large fist, the cause of this mess, and saw Kai's menacing expression.
"I know you're feeling all cocky because of your little victory," Kai said.
"Yes I am," Ethan responded.
"Well, don't be."
"Oh, why shouldn't I?"
"You will find out soon," Kai said and focused on Helen.
"And as for you?" Kai walked closer to Helen.
Helen slumped back in her seat.
"You have unfinished business with my girlfriend."
"She doesn't," Ethan bellowed, and flames whirled on his hands beneath the table.
Ileus grabbed the fork and Noah, folded his palms together, and made a sharp ice knife.
"She has no business with you."
The atmosphere suddenly became tense and heavy.
"I don't know why you all hang out with this worthless piece of trash," Heina said. "But I guess it's because she rides you guys each night."
"What did you say?" Ethan leaned in close, his eyes narrowed, and he tightened his grip on the metal table.
Heina darted away and stood behind Kai's huge physique.
"Come on, let's go." Kai glared at Ethan. He spun around to walk away.
"Wait." Noah raised his hands as if he wanted to ask a question.
"What is it, Blue Head?" Heina folded her hands.
"I would like to ask you a question."
"Is it important?"
"Certainly," Noah said. " I would like to know how your boyfriend's ahm... dick fits in there."
"What are you insinuating?" Heina's face darkened.
"I mean, he can manipulate any part of his body."
"You... you... I would—" Heina gritted her teeth. "Come on, let's get out of here." Heina stomped out of the hall.
"Get out of my way," she yelled, pushed a female student to the side, banged on the door hard, and walked out.
"Hahahaha!" they all burst into laughter.
Helen cleaned up the tears trailing down her cheeks." Thanks, thanks, guys. " She wiped another tear away. "This means a lot to me."
"You're welcome and stop crying; it makes you look uglier," Noah said.
"What did you say?"
"Hahahaha! It's just a joke. "
The gang continued to chat among themselves, but Ethan had other pressing issues.
[Hello, all students. This is your senior commander].
"GOOD DAY, SIR!!!" All the students got up and saluted.
After their salute, the announcement continued.
[The Academy has introduced a new system.]
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