The sound of the closing bell is a sign of freedom for high school students. It is when nerds stick themselves in the library, losers go home lying to each other, athletes go to the field, and the cool people stay to engage in the secret art of high school romance.
On this particular day, everyone from Levels High School was a loser. They had no will to engage in any activity other than going home.
The mathematics exams had just ended. The majority, which were the lucky ones, ran out of time to finish the exams. The unlucky ones finished the exam and are going to receive the teacher's harsh comments. The ones with dog-shit luck just handed in a blank paper.
It was as easy as digging a trench with a teaspoon.
The students carried all sorts of different expressions; the ones with dog-shit luck had smiles all over, covering up the fact they didn't write anything. The lucky ones had average expressions, lying about how they finished every question on the paper. The unlucky ones were causing everyone to feel blue as they talked about questions that the other groups didn't even know were on the exam paper.
There was a very odd group of students who decided to talk about other stories since they slept through the whole exam.
"Guys, can you believe the time Gu Mickey finished the exams?"
A fat boy said with astonishment covering his face:
"In the first hour, he had already handed in his paper!"
The girl on his left scoffed.
"Do you honestly think he finished? Let me tell you, F-grader didn't want to waste his time writing that stupid exam. He probably handed in a blank paper."
"Right, that makes sense."
"There is no way that F-grader will be smarter than me."
The trio continued to mock Mickey's academic talent as they walked past the pavement towards the school gate.
As they got closer to the gate, the girl among the group smiled,
"Don't you find that guy odd? How should I put it, he is silent, but something has changed about him recently."
"Tsk." The other boy sneered and looked at the girl with disdain, "Don't tell me you fell for him already. Let me tell you, there is a rumor that says Mickey caused the death of his mother."
The other boy had a long face filled with surprise;
"What?! Stop lying again! Mickey's grades started to fall the moment his mother died; he is still depressed about it even now!"
No one paid mind to him.
The girl shivered with her arms hugging herself in fright.
"Seriously, Mickey is the type of guy to kidnap you on the streets and burn you in his house. His eyes give me the chills."
The air around the group turned cold. The girl was only guessing, but it felt so real, like it had actually happened.
"That's why I am saying he killed his mother."
The girl immediately put her index finger on her thin lips.
"Shh, he is coming. Don't let him hear you. What if he tells Miss Hugh that we were talking bad about him behind his back? You know how much she favors him."
'I wonder who is the source of all these rumors?'
Mickey shrugged the trio off as he ran past the gate, going into the fine pavement filled with students alone.
Mickey's ears were covered by his headphones. He had finally remastered some of his favorite songs from Earth, and this time he was going to shamelessly call them his without worrying about copyrights.
They can whisper, they can stare, give their reasons why I'm doomed from the start. But I won't let their doubts define me.
The moment the song switched to another one, an unfamiliar voice called out to him in a harsh tone.
"Hey punk! Can't you see you stepped on my shoe?"
Mickey had headphones that were at the maximum volume level, so it was only natural for him not to hear a thing - even though he did.
Mickey continued to jog on the pavement.
Thud-!
He bumped into two muscular boys wearing casual clothes. Even blind people could tell that they did it on purpose, but unlike what they expected, they're the ones who got pushed back.
One of the boys had a fierce expression.
"Are you blind? Can't you see what is in front of you?! Punks like you need to be educated properly!"
'So, this is Mo Bing's doing! Hiring gangsters to get in my way,'
Mickey confirmed. He could see the other students avoiding looking in his direction. The ones behind crossed to the other side of the streets, truly pitiful.
The tattooed buff man who called him before snatched his headphones.
"It is because of this that you aren't paying attention to your surroundings! Are you listening to erotic sounds to make you this dazed?"
The tattooed man put the headphones on his ear, and the scowl on his face deepened.
"What kind of music is this?! There are no vocals at all; it is just going tum tutu, Argh! Disgusting!"
He threw the headphones on the ground and stepped on them, making a small crushing sound.
"One shouldn't listen to this trash!"
Mickey sneered in his mind at how cliché this act was. He could sort of predict their next line of words. Something like this had happened in his previous life.
One of the guys in front of him bowed to the tattooed man,
"Senior, I think it is our job to educate this junior for his rude behavior."
The other one also did the same.
"It is our fault for failing to educate him properly. We will take measures to make sure he won't have the will to step on your feet again."
'Oh-Ho! Do they think they have the power to take away my ability to walk,'
Mickey sighed with disdain in his mind.
'And who is buying their stupid act of treating each other like they only met now!'
Mickey couldn't believe how helpless the trio was, as the one behind released an evil laughter.
"Hahahaha! Not bad, not bad my juniors! As your senior, I request to take a video to keep as a memento to show other idiots like him."
"There is no problem with that, senior."
The two said in unison, before looking at Mickey with malevolent eyes.
"Come with us, kid, we will take the place of your parents and educate you today."
If it were back on Earth, Mickey would have said, "I don't have any parents." or "Educate yourself first, asshole." However, this time he played the obedient child.
The four crossed the nearly deserted main road and went into a dark alley that was hidden between three four-story buildings.
'This place smells like weed.'
The moment the two in front halted their steps, Mickey took hold of the hand belonging to the tattooed bastard.
Bam-!
He swung the boy, who seemed to be over 300 pounds, like a twig, making him crash against the other two, sending them crashing to the ground with a bam.
Crack—!
The arm Mickey was holding dislocated, causing the tattooed man to scream in agony, but that made Mickey's eyes shine with a more vicious light, and he suppressed the urge to kill them like bugs.
To keep himself satisfied, he kept on using the tattooed guy to hit his underlings like he was a belt.
Bones were broken, blood was coming out of every one of their aperture openings, and their flesh was all tender from the continuous friction. Luckily, Mickey made sure to miss on purpose, banging the tattooed guy onto the hard pavement - he was so merciful!
Wham—!
Mickey threw the tattooed guy to the ground, and all of them looked at him with begging eyes.
Mickey was a saint to their sorrow.
"I have inflicted a million miles of pain into your bodies; I should forgive you…"
The young man took a pack of sewing needles from his backpack, and his face turned cold.
"But… there is still a million miles to go."
The trio started fuming, but Mickey stopped them from dying as he used the needles to draw tattoos on their bodies. He made sure to stuff baby diapers into their mouths to stop them from screaming, and also took everything in their pockets.
Mickey took his time examining the 'odd' leaves that he took from the boys, and his expression turned dark.
'Back then, the school seniors saw me frolicking with one of the senior girls. Although she wasn't that beautiful, they forced me to smoke this, or they would make me impotent.'
Mickey looked at the trio that was passed out on the ground and felt like he hadn't done anything at all. He soon broke all the bones in their bodies, even the fingers were twisted a couple of times. Only their flesh was holding their bodies together.
"Sigh...with this, there is enough blood for me to feed X with. 5 liters are more than enough. Such a pity I can't kill them."
Mickey felt proud with the amount of blood he had gathered for his bird.
'I should go to the Southern Forest now.'