Grey
Looking at the cat girl? I realized that we truly stood out like a sore thumb. Literally everyone here besides us and probably Ms. Clare had a uniform on. And it became quite obvious that we did not belong here.
In front of me and Elena, a girl with furry cat like ears and a tail with two ends looked at us funny. Elena who noticed that she saw us, quickly went up to her.
"Hi! We're new here. We're also looking for someone to tour us, is it possibl-"
"Go there." The feline girl interrupted Elena, before point into a direction. There, a hallway was visible and it was completely devoid of people. And at the top of the entrance of the hallway, a sign could be seen, Administrative Office.
Sighing, Elena quickly walked back to me, giving me a sigh. We both quickly walked towards the hallway where we were directed towards, but as soon as we were about to step through, a voice stopped us. A voice that gave us relief.
Turning around we could see Ms. Clare and a old lady walking towards us. The old lady had red hair and her eyes were also red. She was using a wooden crane to prop herself up. She wore a black robe with red linings. She held herself with grace and had a stoic face but from the way she moved, I could tell there was more to her than she let off, and that was apparent. Everyone around her moved out of the way for her, clearing the path. As if that wasn't enough, they also bowed to her as well.
As they quickly made towards us, Elena had a look of delight that showed her happiness to be reunited with Ms. Clare, while I had my focus on the old lady, I was curious to who could make everyone around her bow.
In a few seconds they stood before us. There was a awkward silence as if we were all sizing each other, but suddenly Ms. Clare moved behind us and forced us to bow a 90 degree, while also bowing herself.
"Please ignore their rudeness, Headmaster, they're quite sheltered and this is the first time they've been to somewhere like this." She said in a panicked voice, the first time I've ever heard.
"It's fine it's fine, it's quite a nice change of pace to be honest." The old lady, which is the Headmaster of this place said with a smile. She waved us down and all three of us stopped bowing. My hand went towards my back as it stiffened from the studden movement. Her voice completely caught me off guard though. It sounded like someone around Ms. Clare's age, but it was obvious that she aged over at least 70 years old.
The Headmaster stared at me before looking Elena with a glint of satisfaction in her eyes. I already saw the pattern. Everybody that I've met so far in this place completely ignored me, but they looked at Elena with complete interest. I wasn't jealous of the attention, but it still pained to be ignored and treated like a rock on the side. Even Xiao Li called her talented as well, but it seemed he didn't pay her much attention.
As if reading my thoughts though, the Headmaster quickly turned towards me and looked at me in the eyes. There was an awkward silence as I didn't really know what was the reason.
"Hmm, boy. You.. you haven't learned the laws of the jungle yet have you?" The Headmaster asked me with a curious gaze.
"The law of the jungle? Aren't jungles completely gone?" I asked full of ignorance.
"It's when the strong rules over the weak. In the jungle, it's common knowledge that the strong is better than the weak, so they are the kings. Even if the strong is wrong, with power to back it up, it'll be made right."
"Eh? That's sound pretty dumb if you ask me, especially in this day and age."
Ms. Clare looked at me with a panicked look, she was about to say something but the Headmaster raised her hand, signaling that it was no need.
"HAHAHA, you're quite the interesting one, but do you know what it means to insult the law of the jungle?" She asked with a humorous tone and look on her face.
Suddenly something changed. The people around us froze and Elena almost fell to the ground but not before Ms. Clare caught her. The people surrounding us looked at the Headmaster with fear. Something changed but I couldn't tell what she did. It was weird to say the least.
Then suddenly everyone stopped being stiff and continued on. Although they limped and had faces of relief, some still of fear. The Headmaster on the other hand changed from a humorous gaze to a surprised shock. She looked me up and down as if double checking something and it seemed she reached a conclusion.
"Boy, do you believe in reincarnation or having a doppelganger?" The Headmaster asked me, her tone completely different from before. She now eyed me like I was a meal and she was a starving man.
"Your body, it can't keep up with your mind. Your soul has been used already. You don't feel fear at all, what a cursed ability.." She continued. I stared at her as if staring at a crazy person, but when she mentioned my body, I raised my hand and stared at it. It was shaking.
'Why? I never shook this hard before, except when..' A realization hit me. Xiao Li also mentioned how my body was still of a human and how although my mind wasn't scared of him, my body subconsciously feared him.
My mouth tried to open to say something but my voice couldn't be brought out. I also tried to move my legs but I was completely stiff. I was also sweating like crazily, how had I not noticed these things earlier? They were so.. obvious.
She suddenly pointed her cane at me and a green glow surrounded me. My stiff body became eased up and I could feel that I could also talk. I almost fell over due to the sudden relaxation of my body, but I quickly caught myself. I stared at Ms. Clare and then to Elena, both of them were still sweaty and Elena looked ready to go back home already. Ms. Clare though looked at the Headmaster with a shocked face and revelation at what she just said.
"Clare, I'm changing the offer. Instead of your position as a professor, I want him, to be my direct student." The Headmaster who was studying me quietly spoke up while looking at Ms. Clare. I was also surprised that Ms. Clare was going to be a professor again but realized that they probably had to make a deal for us to become trial students.
Ms. Clare who had a look of realization previously, now had her mouth wide open and her eyes blurry. She looked like she was about to pass out from the news but she quickly composed herself. "A-Are you sure Headmaster? You've never had any-"
"I'm quite positive. In fact, I want both of them. They come as a pair right?" The Headmaster cut off Ms. Clare while looking Elena. She still looked tired but suddenly her body glowed green and she looked back to normal, albeit her face was full of confusion.
Ms. Clare suddenly turned serious, looking at both me and Elena before turning to the Headmaster. "If that's the case I want to change the deal. You wanting both of them in return for them being trial students is obviously unfair. If you want them both, I want them to have unlimited privileges, free roam around the academy, and I will have the final say to whatever activities they do.
The Headmaster looked at Ms. Clare with amusement at her sudden confidence before giving a hearty laugh. "Pfhahaha of course! Of course! Isn't that the very least I could do to my very first two students? PFHAHA! Ah right, you can have the right to choose their activities in their classes, no worries."
The Headmaster was obviously pleased at what Ms. Clare had wanted, while she had a look of shock before a look of realization that she had fell into a trap.
"Now then! Shall we get your trial student uniforms give you a tour?"
"Wait," I said quickly. The Headmaster and Ms. Clare stopped in their tracks to stare at me, while Elena was staring at me with worry.
"Don't you think we, the people you want, get a say in this as well?" I declared. This shocked Ms. Clare and the Headmaster but they both quickly had a look of guilt as they failed to recognize us in the process of their deal.
"You're right, it was rude of me to come to a decision so quickly without asking you two. I'll ask now though, do you two wish to be my students?" The Headmaster admitted to her wrongdoings before asking the awaited question.
I looked at Elena for some advice but she had a look that said "I'll follow whatever you want". Rolling my eyes at my useless action, I though about the previous conversation I had with the Headmaster, my mind couldn't help but think about "the law of the jungle". At first it sounded pretty stupid and ridiculous but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was pretty much the truth. The wealth controlled the world and behind the wealth were people with pure power. Power to destroy mountains, power to create, and power to influence. The wealth probably weren't even the true rulers of the world either. Although they climbed up the social status, that was probably due to the fact that money was so important in this day and age. But what about being powerful? If you were strong, you could just steal from the wealth, and become wealthy yourself.
I wanted to experience this law of the jungle more, it interested me to a strange degree, as if a new dopamine I found out about. I looked back to when I met Xiao Li, he was strong, extremely so and if his claim about creating the universe itself, doesn't that mean he's the strongest in the universe? That also meant that I could be like him as well, after all he wanted me to be the successor to the Kairos.
But aside from him, there was also Professor Gon who definitely was also strong. His steps literally shook the whole place and his voice itself was like an attack to the ears and if he was a professor, that meant that the other professors like Professor Xye was strong, hell even Ms. Clare would probably be as strong as well, considering she used to be a professor before she left on her own accord.
'The students here were probably also strong as well.'
I looked towards the Headmaster and Ms. Clare who were staring at me, awaiting my response. While my gaze moved to Elena who rolled her eyes at me and mouthed "hurry up". It seemed that I'll have to let her suffer with me now.
Due to how the Headmaster seemed so defensive about the law of the jungle, and how Ms. Clare became panicked at me insulting it. It's safe to assume this place definitely ran under the law of the jungle.
I looked at the Headmaster and made eye contact, and opened my mouth.
"Yeah I'll accept being your student,"
"Great! Now-"
"Wait, I'm not finished." I said quickly, interrupting her.
'Seriously, I think I might be crazy.. but to learn the law of the jungle, isn't the best place to start is at the very bottom?'
"I don't want any of your privileges or help. I'll only accept being your student."