Eirin sniffed and dragged her aching knees as her body trembled.
'Lies. He said he doesn't like sweets so how could he like cakes?' the teenage girl thought as she wiped her tears with the back of her palm.
She felt dirty, and her legs that those men sullied appeared to be disgusting for her that she could not afford but to stare at them with hurt in her eyes.
'It's because I look like this.'
The storage room of the laboratory was left with men and only them. Awkward silence and groaning in agony filled the room. Shade's piercing gaze caused those seniors to flinch. He then lay on the floor with his eyes closed.
"You wouldn't tell this to the school director, wouldn't you, Cromwell?" One of the seniors sounded so anxious.
"What? Afraid of being punished?" Shade opened his eyes and scoffed. "You should have thought of the consequences first before you tried to do a crime."
The seniors glared at him, but they were all aware of who would end up losing if they fought Shade Cromwell.
"What? Your measly brains must not be capable of thinking of the consequences then," Shade laughed.
"W-We're seniors. We can't get in trouble for this. You understand, right, Cromwell?" The tallest senior student looked so small in front of Shade as he spoke meekly as if trying not to offend the young man.
Shade stood causing the seniors to flinch which made him chuckle as he moved on the chair near the open window.
"Why are you talking to me about this? Shouldn't you be talking to that girl you tried to defile?"
The young men let out an awkward laugh as they all exchanged glances with each other. "She probably wouldn't be able to talk about it. She'll feel embarrassed being in that situation," they answered proudly.
Shade's face turned dark as he scoffed. "What a trash." Hearing such pathetic words made him see no worth in them.
"This isn't a big deal. Why don't we give something in exchange for keeping this a secret?"
The young man leaned on the chair's backrest and heaved a sigh. "Hmm, I just remembered something," he said, making all the other men in the room flinch. "Was it correct or was it just my imagination? I thought I heard you saying that everyone was annoyed with 'that demon first year' so maybe you could get your revenge on him by stealing his girl."
Shade sat back straight with a grin on his face. "Based on your expressions right now I think you all know that the rumors about that girl and I are not real." His smile vanished and his eyes glowed in red. "But knowing that you wanted to steal what's mine pisses me off."
"H-Hey, that was a mere joke! A joke," the senior forced a laugh and nudged his friends to laugh with him. "We really need to graduate this time, and then you'll never see us again after that, I swear!"
"Ha!"
They all froze after hearing Shade laugh like a maniac. The same thoughts filled their heads, this guy is a demon.
"Just remembering how you people touched her pisses me off, what to do?" His eyes turned bloody red, and they all froze in fear of him. "But hey, if you want to leave this place that bad, I'll help you."
He flashed his brightest smile, making the seniors sigh in relief despite the lingering fear inside the room.
"You know the easiest way to leave this place?"
Shade raised his hand and a blazing flame formed on his palm.
"Death."
"N-N-No! Don't do this."
The seniors screamed as they ran towards the door, but it was too late.
"Die."
Shade's flame landed, burning the whole room and creating a loud explosion due to the hazardous chemicals that were inside the laboratory room.
"Good riddance," Shade said as he jumped out of the window and started walking away as if nothing happened. "Tsk, that left a bad taste in my mouth."
Meanwhile, Eirin was on her way towards the dormitory to take a bath and clean her 'dirty' body.
'Why do I have to experience this?'
Before she could get out of the campus halls, a loud explosion came from behind and the impact reached her causing her to fall on her knees, and screams from all directions filled her ears.
"W-What the heck?" Eirin gulped as she looked back. "T-That was the direction where I came from."
"Ah! It's fire! Someone, help us."
Eyes wide, Eirin froze right where she was sitting after seeing a huge flame engulfing the building where she came from.
"W-What is going on?"
"Eirin! Are you alright?"
Eirin turned around and saw Link and her other classmates rushing towards her.
"We heard that there was an explosion in the laboratory room. Were you hurt?" Link tried to touch Eirin's arm, but the teenage girl flinched and moved away from him.
Her heart started beating fast in anxiety. "S-Shade Cromwell... he was still in the laboratory." Just the thought of being touched by a man's hand disgusts her.
"Did you say, Shade Cromwell?"
All eyes landed on Mr. Arthur Blade who was standing behind his students. His face was pale as a white sheet as he sauntered towards Eirin. "Did I hear that right? Shade, that little punk was in the laboratory?"
Eirin gulped and felt her body trembling after her teacher's hand rested on her shoulder. Her stomach churned and it felt like she was about to vomit due to disgust.
"Was it him who made the room explode?" Mr. Arthur asked with his eyeballs shaking despite not having a clear answer yet. "Is he the only one there? He's alone, right? Please tell me he is."
The way Mr. Arthur sounded so nervous caused Eirin's eyes to widen even more. "T-There are seven other guys with him."
Mr. Arthur did not think any further as he rushed in the direction of the laboratory room. 'Please let me be off the clock on time today,' the teacher wished with all his might.
"Were you alright? Did you get hurt too?" Link reached out his hand, but Eirin drew back. "Eirin? Is there a problem?"
Eirin forced a smile. "I-It was nothing." She tried to stop her trembling body amidst the noises and screams that surrounded them. Most of the students were panicking, while the others were making fun of the situation.
'Calm down... nothing bad happened.'
"Shade, that brute. He really can't live a life without causing trouble to other people," Coleen said, sighing while clinging to Link's arm. "Where is he anyway? I'm pretty sure he wouldn't stay in the building he's planning to explode. And what is the reason? Why would he explode a room where we just finished our class?"
Thousands of questions popped into Coleen's head, and so did the other students. Only Eirin knew what happened before the explosion.
"I saw Shade Cromwell entering our classroom after the explosion happened and everyone left," Sapphire said after passing them all by without meeting anyone's eyes.
It was chaos.
Some students were caught up in the explosion and got injured, but fortunately, none of them got major injuries. The rumors about the explosion caused by Shade Cromwell spread like wildfire, and most weren't surprised at this point.
'How did I get involved in this?'
Eirin started biting her fingernails as she awaited Shade Cromwell's arrival inside Queen Regina's office. Her heart raced and her legs trembled. Just the memory of what happened inside the laboratory room fills her with disgust.
"Are you okay, Eirin?"
Eirin coughed after choking on her saliva due to surprise after Queen Regina talked to her. "I-I'm fine, Your Majesty," she stuttered.
"It will be fine. I have not called you here to reprimand you for what happened."
A knock on the door caused Eirin to jolt. "I have brought Shade Cromwell, Your Majesty." The voice belonged to Mr. Arthur. They entered and Eirin's gaze followed Shade as he took a seat right in front of her.
"Would you mind explaining what you did this time, Mr. Cromwell?" Queen Regina's voice sounded so calm as if it was not the first time it had happened, yet her tone was formal. "There were seven male students severely injured because of what happened. They were also your seniors so I shall apologize for the assumption, but did they bully you?"
'Him? Being bullied? Isn't it the other way around?' Eirin grimaced just at the thought of this young man in front of her knocking up those who almost ruined her. 'Is it my fault? Was it because he was pissed off with what he saw? But why would he be pissed?'
Eirin could not stop biting her fingernails.
"Was it true that you were there before the incident occurred?" Queen Regina turned to question Eirin. "You have nothing to be worried about. You may say the truth about what you know."
Eirin could feel Shade's gaze on her. "I... I don't know what happened," she said while fiddling with her fingers. She could not look into the Queen's eyes.
"You can be honest with us. Don't worry about this guy," Mr. Arthur reassured while patting Shade's head.
'No, I'm not the least worried about Shade Cromwell being punished for what he did,' Eirin thought. 'But I don't even know why he did that. Was he pissed because those men were being jerks? But he was a jerk himself so why would he get mad?'
"I'm not trying to protect him. It was true that those seniors—"
Eirin stopped after seeing how Mr. Arthur and Queen Regina looked at her. She soon realized how messy her uniform was and her stockings were ripped. Maybe the reason why Link kept asking her if she was alright was because of her disheveled appearance.
"This is..."
The teenage girl felt hopeless.
'They won't believe me.'
"If Shade tried to hurt you again this time, you don't have to worry about him. We will do our best to reprimand him for—"
"No!"
Eirin herself could not believe how she raised her voice like that.
"Those seniors... did this to me. Shade witnessed what happened, maybe that's why he got mad."
Eirin felt embarrassed knowing that there was no way something like that could make Shade Cromwell angry.
"Okay, calm down." Queen Regina approached Eirin and touched her hand. "Breathe in, then calmly explain what truly happened."
Eirin took a deep breath, calming herself down. 'It's okay... Her Majesty will believe what I say,' she thought.
"Those seniors tried to—"
"Ah!" Shade interrupted. "Just cut to the chase and punish me already. I burned them because they deserve it, that's all there is to this." He rolled his eyes with his arms crossed.
Mr. Arthur quickly slapped Shade's arm and let out an awkward laugh. "I apologize for that," he chuckled as he kept pinching Shade's ear.
"Ow! It hurts!"
"It's because you keep interrupting Eirin's words."
"Why do you keep asking her? She wasn't even there when I made that explosion." Shade rolled his eyes again as he escaped Mr. Arthur's grasp. "You're going to punish me, anyway, why involve that weakling?"
The cause of Eirin's trembling body changed. From fear to anger. Her eyes stared right at Shade, and she stood up from her seat.
"That's right! I wasn't even there when that happened so, please just punish that reckless jerk!"
Eirin rushed out of the queen's office after saying that.
"You children better get along after this," Mr. Arthur sighed. "Anyway, what should we do with our dear Shade right here?"
"What can we do? The elders have already decided."