Rumi pulled down the sheets and stared in horror at how close Tenji was to her bedside.
"How did you–"
Not speaking, Tenji had his eyes glow with a fixated gaze on her.
Rumi pushes back, scared about his strange behavior, preparing to resort to escaping through her portal if things go out of control.
Deactivating his ability, Tenji closed his eyes and shook his head at how complicated his life had been since her confession.
"You had read in on me when you touched me, didn't you?!" He spoke coolly and had his arms folded.
With no response from Rumi, Tenji pushed back his hair and let out a peal of laughter in disbelief.
Unable to take it anymore, he walked back to her bedside and leaned forward. "You know about Maiyu's true abilities."
Rumi felt uneasy with their locked eyes and brought her head down to avoid the accusation.
She couldn't understand what was so special about knowing about her headmistress's abilities. Dread began to creep in on her knowledge, fearing she had learned of something that was meant to be kept a secret.
Tenji nodded his head, taking her silence as an affirmation, piecing the real reason she had invited Maiyu to his home.
"I don't care why you did what you did, she's not in her ward and back in the academy."
Rumi raised her head and her eyes doubled in size with how sudden Maiyu had acted with her open display in front of the healer.
"I feel sick being used." Tenji sneered and took a step back. "I would be leaving, I just realized how carried away I was."
"Professor T–"
She swallowed her words when he glared at her over his shoulder.
"See you in class, when you're done spending enough time here," Tenji spoke on a final note and walked out.
As soon as he was out of the door, he saw a dark figure pass by with a hissing sound.
~You are curious aren't you? Dare to find out?!~ The smoky voice hissed in his thoughts.
Tenji closed his ears and shook his head, summing up the figure he had seen as an apparition that used to haunt him on a few occasions.
His main focus was on getting back to the academy while it was still in session for the day.
'I have three hours till the end of the day.' He calculated when he looked at the wall clock above the exit of the healing bay.
*****
At the academy gates,
Hah!
Hah!
Tenji was crouched over as he tried to catch his breath. He had used the numerous shortcuts and augmented his speed to make it back with an hour and forty-five minutes to spare.
"Professor Tenji?" An armored guard with a cape strapped on his shoulder with a leather belt, questioned in confusion, knowing he had never checked him out, yet he had managed to get out and was trying to get back in?
He pulled off his helmet to reveal his dark blue spiky hair and gray pupils set cautiously on a suspicious Tenji.
He had been the sole guard in charge of guarding the huge silver gates that led to Erīto academy.
With an ability to bend and manipulate metal to his will by his mana that is only akin to the Iro clan, he had been specially chosen by the sorcerer supreme to guard the academy just like the numerous academies and business enterprises in Meiji his clan was chosen to be in charge of.
"Kan, please I need to get back in. I have the last class before the end of the day and just fifteen minutes to spare." Tenji spoke out of breath.
Alarmed that his mana depletion had taken a huge hit after what Maiyu had done to quell his dark side, he placed his hand on his chest to the discomfort he felt.
"How did you manage to leave?" Kan hissed in suspicion, throwing his helmet on the floor.
Clak!
Clak!
The huge lock was locked with a white aura manipulating it in place. The white aura outlined the rest of the gate and shook lightly, resonating the anger of Kan for attempt to intrude.
'Fuck! Why did I think this was going to work taking the front door?!' Tenji wiped down his face.
Feeling he was a threat, the guard's armor protruded numerous spikes which were outlined with the same white aura before it broke off and levitated.
All spikes converged six feet away and around Tenji, ready to rain down on him with the control of Kan holding it up with his hand raised.
'Really, you think I am an imposter?!' Tenji coughed and held his ground, not flinching on the dangerous situation that surrounds him.
"Kan, you've got me mistaken for an imposter, who would be dumb enough to disguise as me?!" Tenji tried to reason using their personal interactions when he leaves for his home, with Kan before it escalated.
There was no way he was going to leave his things in the staffroom and risk them being incinerated during the routine check after the academy closes down for the day.
Kan hesitated but decided to ask one question to verify who he was. "How did you leave the academy without an authorization?"
'Simple, teleportation.' Tenji had wanted to spill.
Doing so would bring about an automatic demerit for his students by the board of sorcerers, who he had incited to sneak out of the academy.
Unable to stomach the disciplinary action that would be done to Rumi and Asahi because of him, he chose to keep it a secret.
"I can't say, but you could meet the headmistress to confirm my identity." He replied with a shrug of his shoulder.
This answer was not enough to convince Kan and he sneered, "that's what an imposter would likely say to cover their tracks and infiltrate the academy."
"I seriously don't want to engage with you, you are merely doing your job and I respect that. It wouldn't take much of your time to send a message to the headmistress." Tenji tried to reason, disheartened he couldn't prove his innocence with his Identification card in his bag in his staffroom.
Shaking his head and laughing hysterically, Kan barked in ecstasy at finally getting an opponent to duel with after internally questioning his job as a guard with no competition, "not on my watch!"
'Why don't they try to take the peaceful approach?!' Tenji tilted his head, apathetic about engaging for the wrong reasons.
Kan brought down his hand, controlling the spikes to rain down on Tenji.
Whoosh!
'This is what happens when you act irrationally and without proper planning.' Tenji chastises himself and lowered his head with a light chuckle.
"Be glad I'm weakened and you are not a threat to me," Tenji muttered to himself with a twisted smirk.
A few seconds later, he raised his head to reveal his already activated pupil with his hand raised in front of him just before the metal spikes crashed onto the floor with a cloud of dust rising in its wake.
*****
A/N
I had originally kept Tenji low-key and needed a bit of a slice of life, but then a little action once in a while is also needed and boom this weird scenario came to mind.
Also as promised for the 500 collections, here is an early chapter. Let's keep up with the goal and more chapters would be published.
I would really appreciate your comments and support of this novel with your power stones. Your active comments would motivate me to write more chapters.
¶ Do you think this would end amicably?