When I walked through the hallway, I met Mr. Halloway, the gym teacher. He always walked around with a frown on his face, as if he had never smiled in his entire life.
"I saw you come out of the school president's office."
"Yes sir. Arisa asked me to come."
Mr. Halloway saw the door of the school president's office for a while and turned his face to me.
"I hope you didn't cause trouble at school."
"Arisa didn't call me because of that."
"Is that so?"
I thought he's overly suspicious of me or every student, like a police. Maybe because there's a lot of students who cause a lot of trouble, like boxing club members. Thinking about that makes me understand his suspicious behavior.
Suddenly I heard someone's shouting voice from the stairs.
"Mr. Halloway!"
It was Ms. Venester. She climbed up the stairs and looked up at Mr. Halloway, who was taller than her.
"Are you suspecting students without any basis again?"
Mr. Helloway answered with his fierce eyes.
"I was just curious about why this student came out of the school president's office."
Ms. Venester doesn't seem to trust his words. She looked at my face.
"Mia, Is Mr. Halloway telling the truth?"
I watched Mr. Halloway's face for a while and nodded.
"Yes, Ms. Venester. He's telling the truth."
"See? All I did was ask. Not doubting as a suspect in the case."
Ms. Venester frowned as Mr. Halloway spoke triumphantly.
"I wouldn't think this if you stopped doubting students out of limit."
Mr. Halloway took a step toward Ms. Venester and brought his face close to hers.
"But you do know why I am thinking like this. It's all because of that bald fatty..."
"MR HALLOWAY!"
Mr. Halloway's mouth snapped shut at her screams. He sighed for a while and passed through Ms. Venester.
"I hope you remember that not all students are kind, Ms. Venester."
Mr. Halloway left the hallway and entered the teacher's room. Ms. Venester also entered the teachers room.
'Bald fatty? I wonder who he is he talking about.'
As I walked down the hallway, I heard two teachers arguing. I headed to the class and decided to talk alisa about their conversation later.
When I headed to the class and looked around for Linda, she wasn't there. I asked Violet.
"Hey violet, Have you seen Linda?"
"Oh yeah. I saw she was heading to the rooftop."
"I see…"
When I tried to head to the rooftop, Violet approached me and whispered.
"Did Arisa notice your idenity?"
"Well… yes."
Violet's expression became serious.
"If she's blackmailing you, I will smash her…"
I quickly cut her words.
"Whoa, calm down, Violet. She didn't blackmailed me, She said she'll keep it secret if I help her."
"Helping a witch?"
"Look, she didn't ask me to do something illegal. So don't worry, I'll be fine."
It was a lie. I wasn't sure about what kind of help Arisa needs, but I didn't want her to do something reckless because of me. Violet sighed.
"Well, I don't like Arisa, but I know that she's not evil like boxing club members."
She seems convinced. I agree that using curse magic is wrong. Even that person is bullies like boxing club members.
"If she asks you to do something illegal, call me."
I nodded and headed to the rooftop. And I hope that Arisa won't ask me to do dirty work.
I saw Linda on the rooftop. She stood on the railing at the edge of the rooftop and looked up at the sky. her expression filled with anger. I spoke carefully.
"Hey linda."
Linda slowly turned around her face at me. Her face began to relax.
"Hey mia."
"Are you ok?"
Linda sighed and looked down at her desk again.
"To be honest, no. I'm not ok. Nina doesn't listen to me. I tried to convince her to delete those photos. I know she's berserker, but I don't want her to get expelled or arrested by the police."
I understand her concern. She is a violent girl, but I also don't want her to ruin her own life.
"How did you become friends with Nina?"
"Well, we're not friends. We just know each other."
Linda told me about the first time of day she met Nina.
"When I was bullied by two seniors at the alley, Nina came and helped me. She was strong. So she almost beat them into death. I appreciate her helping me, but I was really scared about what she did."
I can imagine that Nina could beat them easily. Linda continued.
"She told me that I need to learn how to fight if I want to survive this school."
Linda began to feel sad about her own incompetence.
"Maybe I should learn how to fight and become stronger. Then no one will look down on me and bully me like weak kids."
"That's not the only way to make you stronger."
I told her straight away. When Linda looked at me, I explained why.
"Physical strength isn't the only thing that makes someone into a strong person. There are other ways to become strong, like mentally and emotionally."
"But I…"
"It is not advisable to solve each crisis that occurs before your eyes with violence. Violence breeds more violence. And I don't want my friend to become the same as those kids who bullied you."
"Mia… I… never thought about that."
As Linda listened to me, she suddenly hugged me.
"Linda?"
"Thank you. for saying that."
I returned her embrace, comforting Linda with my warm and gentle touch.
"You're welcome, Linda."
I patted her head gently. Linda chuckled.
"You're really like an adult who's good at advice."
"Um… thank you."
I thought myself.
'Well, I'm a real adult after all who transformed into a teenager.'
Linda said it with a determined look on his face.
"I'm going to meet Nina and convince her."
"I'll go with you too."
"You don't need to. It's my fault for not stopping her back at the beach."
"I also want to convince her. I don't want her to be arrested by police."
Even though Nina was a child with violent tendencies, for some reason I couldn't just leave her alone. I grabbed Linda's hand.
"This time, let's convince Nina together."
Linda's eyes widen and smiles.
"Yeah. together."
The class began, and I was thinking about what Arisa would want me to do. Since she's a witch, she could ask me to fight with monsters or criminals. I hope she's not planning to do something dangerous.
When the class was over, I walked through the school gate with Linda and came out of the school. Time to convince Nina.
"I know where Nina's house is."
We took a bus together and headed to Nina's house. Nina's house was in the middle of a mountain.
I knocked on the door and waited for a second.
"Who is it?"
I heard Nina's voice.
"It's me, Mia. I wanted to talk with you."
"Oh… The bitch who didn't choose to fight with boxing club with us. I don't talk to cowards like you. Now leave!"
I thought she would say that. I can't tell that I used magic and beat them all. I thought for a moment about how to make her talk with me. I decided to provoke her.
"And you're scared to come out and meet the coward? I think you're more cowardly than me."
"Coward?! me?!"
Nina opened the door and slammed the door. He was holding a baseball bat.
"Prepare to smash you fucking weakling!"
Nina swung the bat at me. I grabbed the bat with both hands and took her bat. I throw the bat on the ground.
"We're here to talk with you. Not fight with you."
Nina saw Linda's face and guessed the reason.
"You're here to convince me, huh?"
"Yes. I heard everything from Linda."
Nina crossed her arms and looked back and forth between me and Linda.
"Come in. Let's talk inside."
When Nina opened the door and motioned for me to come in, I cautiously entered the house with Linda. Hopefully she's not thinking about killing us. Nina heads to the kitchen.
"You wanna have some drinks?"
Linda saw Nina was holding a bottle of beer.
"Nina, that's a beer. Teenagers can't drink alcohol."
"Oh, come on. You won't die just because you drink this!"
Nina poured the beer into the glass and took a sip.
"You want one?"
We both shake our heads. Nina took another sip and put the glass on the table.
"You know my heart won't change, right?"
Linda sighed and answered in a determined tone.
"And you know I'm not going to let you keep blackmailing them."
I nodded and sided with Linda.
"Linda's right. We don't want you to be arrested by police. That hurricane hit those boxing club members. Don't you think that they're all punished?"
"I'll think they were punished if I beat them with my own hand!"
Nina raised one hand and made a fist.
"I really wanted to beat them; even my fist became bloody."
"And I'm not going to make you become a crazy psycho."
I can see Nina had an expression on her face that she is dissatisfied with what I said.
"You're not going to give up convincing me, right?"
"Until you delete all of them."
Nina looked at me and smiled faintly at my strong determination.
"How about this? Let's fight between you and me, Mia. If you beat me, I'll hand over the memory card, which is filled with photos of naked boxing club members."
Linda didn't like her offer.
"Nina, please. Just delete the picture."
"Shut up! If you want me to do that, your friend has to beat me."
I wanted to solve it without violence. But since that person is Nina, I shouldn't expect that. I decided to fight with her. It was easy to beat Nina. I hope my strength won't cause huge injuries. I remembered a time when I was working at a company. On my way home from work, I met a drunk guy who tried to sexually harass me. I was angry. So I punched him and broke several of his ribs without controlling my strength.
"Alright. But you better promise that you will delete that if I win."
Linda stopped me with a worried look on her face.
"Mia, Nina is strong. You won't be able to give her even one bruise."
"Don't worry, Linda. I'll be fine. Just trust me."
Linda saw Nina for a while and turned her face to me.
"Ok. I'll trust you."
Her lips are shaking. I bet she's still worried about me.
"Alright. We'll fight in the background. Follow me, bitch!"
I followed Nina to the background. The large backyard was surrounded by a white picket fence. And the only thing around it was an old wooden shed. At the door, Linda looked back and forth between me and Nina, looking anxious. Nina prepared to fight with her fists.
"Let's see who will beat up. And that will be you!"
I prepared her fist and got ready for the fight with her. I looked at Nina's smiling face and said to myself.
'Ok. If I use only half of my strength, she won't die.'
We ran to each other and threw a punch at the same time. Nina's fist and mine clashed.
'I can feel that Nina's fist is as strong as half of my power. Maybe I shouldn't go easy on her.'
I throw my fist to Nina's face. Nina blocked my fist easily with her arm. But she failed to block my next attack. My leg hit Nina's stomach.
"Ah!"
I threw another punch to Nina's face and hit her. Nina rubbed her cheek.
"I guess you're not a weakling bitch. But this is only the beginning."
I looked at Nina with an angry expression.
"Why don't you give up and hand over the USB?"
"You can ask me that after you beat me."
Nina rushes to me and attacks me with punches and kicks repeatedly. It wasn't hard to avoid it. I dodged her another punch and spun around to Nina's back and kicked her in the right side.
"You..."
Nina glared at me with fierce eyes. She threw another punch. Still easy to dodge. I found a gap and punched Nina in the stomach.
"Urgh!"
Despite being hit hard, she didn't fall but instead staggering with grabbing her stomach. Nina's fierce eyes haven't disappeared.
"I'll bury you in this ground!"
Nina got mad like a beast and tried to kick my face. I grabbed her leg and pulled her to fall her on the ground. I delivered an uppercut to Nina's jaw before she got up.
"Gah!"
Nina fell to the floor again and tried to get up, but ended up collapsing on the ground.