As the door creaked open, Neo's heart nearly stopped. His gaze locked onto the girl who stepped inside, her striking red eyes immediately meeting his. She was breathtaking—long, flowing black hair framed her delicate face, and her outfit combined elegance with a touch of rebelliousness. Her expression was unreadable, but those crimson eyes seemed to pierce right through him.
Neo froze, still clutching the incriminating piece of clothing. His mind raced, desperate for a way out of this mess, but he was too paralyzed by fear and embarrassment to think clearly. This was bad. Really bad.
Before he could say or do anything, another figure entered the room. It was like seeing double. The second girl was identical to the first—another pair of red eyes, another cascade of black hair. Twins. And they were both staring at him with a mix of confusion and disbelief.
Neo's anxiety skyrocketed. The walls seemed to close in around him, and he wished more than anything that the ground would just swallow him whole. There was no way to explain away the fact that he was caught red-handed with one of their... intimate belongings.
The twins exchanged a glance before returning their focus to him. Neo felt his face burning with shame, his mouth dry as he desperately tried to come up with something to say. But the words wouldn't come. His mind was blank, his body frozen in place.
For a long, agonizing moment, the room was silent, the tension suffocating. Neo's heart pounded in his ears, his mind screaming at him to do something, anything, to fix this. But all he could do was stand there, caught in the most humiliating situation of his life, wishing he could just disappear.
"Oh..." The first girl, wide-eyed, finally broke the silence.
"I swear, I-I was f-framed!" Neo stammered, blurting out the first thing that came to mind. He dropped the panty back into the box, trying to act as if nothing had happened, but the damage was done. One twin looked at him, shock evident in her gaze, while the other frowned.
"What were you doing?" the frowning girl demanded.
"Don't worry, Lucy. I can handle this pervert," the first twin said, smiling brightly. "Explain how you were framed in your own room, and we didn't see anyone leaving as we came in."
Her words dripped with sarcasm, and the atmosphere thickened with tension. Neo grimaced, realizing that his day had taken another turn for the worse.
"Lily, shouldn't we teach this pervert a lesson?" Lucy suggested, cracking her knuckles as she glared at Neo. Her words sent chills down his spine.
'But wait, I'm a boy. I shouldn't be intimidated by girls,' Neo thought, trying to comfort himself. But the sight of Lucy's fists made him rethink that bravado.
"Go on..." Lily urged, watching as Neo pretended to pack his bag, eager to escape the room as quickly as possible.
Neo finally gathered the courage to speak. "I just wanted to see if my new roommates were girls since my first roommate was."
The twins stared at him, unimpressed. Neo nervously gulped. "I've had enough of this guy. If we're going to be staying with this pervert, then we should teach him how to behave," Lucy declared, her fists clenched.
Neo tried to explain, but before he could finish, he found himself flying across the room.
"What the—" Neo's words were cut short by a sharp pain in his stomach. He collapsed against the wall, stunned.
---
A few moments later...
Neo trudged through the academy streets like a ghost, each step heavy with defeat. His body felt numb, and his mind reeled from the humiliation he'd just endured. The sting of failure cut deeper than any physical pain, though the bruise on his cheek was a constant reminder of how thoroughly he'd been beaten.
*They were so fast,* he thought, replaying the fight over and over in his mind. He couldn't track their movements; it was as if they were on a completely different level. It wasn't just speed—there was precision, control, and an ease that suggested years of training. *Martial artists,* he realized too late. He had underestimated them, thinking he could hold his own, but they had proved him wrong.
And now he had to deal with them from now on. The thought made him wince as his hand instinctively moved to the bruise on his cheek. The pain was sharp, but it was nothing compared to the blow to his pride.
"They beat me like a child and sent me to class in this sorry state," Neo muttered, the memory fresh and bitter. There had been no mercy in their actions, no hesitation. They had taken him down and left him to lick his wounds, heartless and efficient.
*Such heartlessness,* Neo thought, shaking his head. He had never felt so small, so powerless. The academy was supposed to be a fresh start, but now he was already marked by defeat. He continued walking, the weight of the encounter pressing down on him with every step, leaving him feeling more like a corpse than a student.
Calling that incident a fight was unfair that was a completely one-sided beating.