Laura walked around the square for the fourth time after being told she has regained some of her freedom, she thought a walk would help her calm down after what happened.
However...
(When did the principal find the time to get the evidence from the Secret Society? Even I who was a temporary member, couldn't manage to contact them, but she found them after learning of their existence in a few days.)
She then remembered that Raven was supposed to be handling the PR of the school and the parents/guardians of the students involved.
But that was only during the day.
(Could she have investigated this matter at night? No, the workload would be too much though. Then maybe she has someone do it for her?)
Her eyes shifted to a student from class Alpha walking nearby and quickly turned her head the other way to avoid eye contact.
"I hope those guys get what they deserve" one of the student said.
"Yeah, me too. They don't deserve to be here in the first place"
"Likes of them just waste of resources for our class"
"I was so close to learning that new spell but they interrupted my progress, don't they know how long it takes to learn those?"
Laura waited until they left to turn to walk in the opposite location. She stood up and step forward not looking where she is going or where she turned to.
Her foot hit the hard stone wall of the fountain and tripped over it.
(!!!!!)
___
"I would like to call out your helper, Ms.Argonaut, as he is present I presume," said the lawyer of one of the students who attacked class Alpha, pointing at the person next to Raven.
(Oh, it's him?), Laura assumed that he was tagging along with them.
The helper looked at Raven before receiving a nod from her and headed to the stand.
"You may," said Raven turning towards the lawyer.
"Alright, thank you", the lawyer came to the stand to begin his questioning.
The helper then gave out his answers to the lawyer who tried to probe for any loophole in his statement and after some time had passed the judge ended it due to the questioning getting out of topic.
In summary, the helper proves the validity and source of the evidence which was the start of Shin's fury.
___
She then felt her body tense up and...not wet.
Opening her eyes, Laura found herself a few centimeters away from falling into the clear water of the fountain.
"Are you alright?" asked the person next to her.
"...Thank you", with their help, Laura gained her balance and turned to face them.
(Ah, it's him)
"How come you're here?" that was the first thing she said after seeing him.
Catching herself asking that, Laura was about to apologize as she felt it come off as rude.
"Just relaxing after the hearing"
"I see. Are you going back to school after this?"
Everyone present at the hearing is only given a temporary leave of absence from the Academy and is expected to return after the lunch break as it is only a hearing.
"Yes, what about you?"
"...I'm not sure", she felt ashamed of herself for not sounding confident in her words, as if she couldn't decide what to do next.
"Then I'll be leaving first, I have a restaurant in mind before heading back to the academy"
"Alright, see you later..."
(Wait. What's his name?)
But before she could ask he has already disappeared among the crowd.
___
"Ah" two voices sounded at the same time upon landing their gaze on at each other in a restaurant.
"Oh, Ms.Goodwill" said Elena waving to Florence who arrived at the entrance of a restaurant that she and Conner was about to get seated.
"Hello, Ms.O'Hara" Florence waved back with a friendly smile.
The two boys locked eyes with each other for a while as the two girls converse with each other.
"..."
"...."
'Sup'
'Hello'
The two ended their eye contact.
"Wanna join us?"
"Ah, no, that's fine, we wouldn't want to interrupt your...", Florence looked at Conner for confirmation, the latter nodding his head vigorously.
"Our lunch? No problem, the more the better, talking with Conner all the time is hard since we see each other every day after all"
"I see...."
Conner's face in the back O_O.
The four are seated at a table near the window where they can see the bustling street where people are talking and walking.
Everyone ordered their food one by one and are now waiting for their order to arrive, leaving the four to look at each other and glances at the window.
"So, how did the hearing go?" asked Irviel.
"Surprisingly all the evidence presented are viable to the testimony and could be linked to other people in this case, which could be the mastermind behind"
"Mastermind?" asked Irviel surprised at the reveal.
__
"The mastermind?" asked the lawyer toward Raven who came to the stand.
"Yes, as the phone and the key card presented in this hearing, I'm sure everyone can tell that whoever made it are well prepared well before the incident took place which means that they must have existed for some time to establish themselves and be able to hand out their phone this easily"
"It turns out that I was lucky enough to get their phone into my possession before it could disappear, including the user of that phone", she then gesture to the person standing besides Laura, and the helper.
Alexia, Conner and Elena remembered him as the guy who got beaten up.