To the side stood a guilty Kufa Van Peer, who had already received his sentence and was hanging his head in shame. He had confessed his crimes and was now repenting. On either side of him were two students from the disciplinary committee, standing taut and ready to whack him if he so much as displayed a single sign of resistance.

Yeah, the whole scene resembled a session in court. If I were a bit bolder, I would be pointing animatedly and yelling, "OBJECTION!" like the famous game lawyer in a blue suit and had fancy hair.

Teresa Taylor studied me for a moment before finally pa.s.sing her sentence.

"20 points from Gryffindor."

"Excuse me?!"

"That's your punishment, a deduction of points from your house. You didn't think you could get away with breaking the rules, did you?"

"Um, that's not the problem here! I'm not protesting to being punished for breaking the rules, but I don't belong to any house! And even if I did, wouldn't Hufflepuff be more suitable for an average, plain person like me?"

"Don't be ridiculous. Just look into the mirror. You look much more like Harry Potter than Cedric Diggory."

Okay, I had to give her that. I was wearing gla.s.ses and had messy black hair, after all.

"Stop this nonsense." A male teacher in his mid-forties said sharply. He reminded me of a male version of Professor Minerva McGonagall for some reason, what with his strict and serious composure. I recognized him as Fu Xiao Zhang, the vice-princ.i.p.al of Saint Teresa Academy. Finally, someone who was going to take this trial seriously. "Harry Potter was like so ten years ago."

I was stupid for ever thinking that I could believe in the teachers.

"Says who?" Teresa Taylor retorted in a strong voice that belied her advanced age. "Did you not hear that Ms. Rowling has just released an eighth book a few years ago? Granted, it's not exactly the 8th book, but it's still a sequel to the Harry Potter series that supposedly ended 13 years ago."

Uh, if we wanted to be consistent, the legendary Harry Potter series and its sequels were all published about a millennium ago. But let's not allow consistency and logic to get in the way of fourth wall breaking now, shall we?

"Will the both of you cut it out?" An elderly female teacher cut in crossly. "Now's not the time to be bickering over literary relics of the ancient past. Can you take the matter more seriously, Headmistress?"

Teresa Taylor immediately adopted a grave expression and looked down at me in an intimidating manner, as if the earlier conversation had not occurred at all. I didn't know whether she wanted to be Albus Dumbledore or Unohana Yachiru (the bada.s.s version). The old lady was switching between them as suddenly as a model changing underwear for gravure shots.

"Student Richard, you do understand the reason why you're being punished, don't you?"

Yes, indeed. For breaking school rules and getting involved in an unauthorized mission without permission. Even if I did it to save someone, the fact remained that I had flouted one of the regulations that clearly and specifically warned students not to get involved in missions not authorized by the school unless they had obtained permission in advance.

"I understand that you did it with good intentions, to save a friend. Hence your punishment will not be as heavy as the usual sentence we hand out to more blatant culprits. And you were dragged into this by Kufa Van Peer." She nodded in Kufa's direction, and he flinched visibly. "So unlike him, you will be spared the corporal punishment."

Yay. That meant no getting my a.s.s caned in front of the whole school. I was mentally steeling myself for the embarra.s.sment, but it seemed I needn't had bothered. Come to think of it, Kufa only received two lashes of the whip, and they didn't use canes in this day and age anyway. At least I wouldn't be whipped like poor Kufa.

"But you'll be stripped of your privileges and be put on probation for a week, just like Student Kufa. No going anywhere after school. You are to return straight home and adhere to a strict curfew. Let's say you must be home by 7pm for the next week. Think of it as a house arrest."

Great. It wasn't that big of a loss. I wasn't the socially active type, so not going out didn't bother me much. In fact, I did nothing but go home straight after school to either train or teach Adrian and Melina, so this didn't really make a difference in my life.

Still, what was with this court-like scene being enacted out in front of the whole school? While the teachers and Teresa Taylor stood before me, the entire student population of the high school division was watching from the back of the hall, chattering to themselves in amus.e.m.e.nt.

This was downright humiliating. Then again, that was probably the point.

Sighing, I stared upward at Teresa Taylor.

"Why didn't you just…kill me?"

"You don't fear death. You welcome it. Your punishment must be more severe."

Seriously? First Dumbledore, then Unohana Yachiru, and now Bane? Who's next, Greyworth Ciel Mais from Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance?

There was a ripple of laughter from the students, but Teresa Taylor silenced them with a glare. She turned back to me and smacked her hammer against the desk.

"Dismissed. This court session is adjourned."

And so my 1-week punishment began.

"I'm so sorry!"

Kufa Van Peer was bowing his head so low I almost swore that it was touching the desk. He had come to my cla.s.sroom to apologize, much to my chagrin. Everyone was watching us and whispering, a situation that caused me no small amount of discomfort.

This was particularly after Kufa had received two lashes in front of the school earlier, and I felt sorry for him. He didn't seem to be in pain – corporal punishment was nothing to us mages. Our bodies were too tough for whips to damage. That said, the humiliation was a more effective punishment than the agony.

"No need to apologize. You were just concerned about Saya, after all." I felt uncomfortable under all the stares from my cla.s.smates. Good thing Teacher Einsberg hadn't arrived yet, or he would also be watching this whole scene play out in bemus.e.m.e.nt. Clearing my throat, I tried to change the topic. "So, what's your relations.h.i.+p with Saya?"

Immediately the girls in cla.s.s leaned over, as if to eavesdrop on our conversation. Kufa didn't seem to notice, probably because he was more focused on apologizing to me. He blinked, and then glanced away.

"Uh, well…"

"Ho…" I couldn't help but grin mischievously. "Don't tell me you are in love with Saya?"

"That's…!" Kufa turned as red as a tomato, and he backed away, his face burning. "Please stop this nonsense!"

"Why is it nonsense?" I snorted. "It's only natural for people to fall in love. I did always think it strange that you were 'Saya this' and "Saya that' – so you are having a one-sided crush on her." I nodded sagely and patted his shoulder. "Good luck. You should confess to her."

"Like h.e.l.l I will!" Kufa snapped. "Saya has no interest in other people at all. She doesn't like me. h.e.l.l, she thinks of me as a burden." He grimaced. "She thinks of everybody as a burden. Even David, Jason and the others."

I made a face. "She sounds like a b.i.t.c.h. How the h.e.l.l did you ever end up falling for her then?"

"Nah, I didn't really fall for her." Kufa sighed heavily as he took a chair opposite me and sat down. "I only admire her strength…her skills. She is amazing. You saw how she fought yesterday, didn't you? Even with an arm cut off, and on the verge of death, she continued fighting on. Against all odds. How many people can do that? Don't you find that impressive?"

"Uh, yeah. I guess." I nodded, pondering over that deeply. I was used to combat mages putting their lives on the line and fighting against all odds. I had been doing that, Dad had been doing that, and my friends had been doing that. So did Feng Hai and his Silver Wolves. So it never struck me as anything amazing.

Perhaps I was the one with a distorted view of people, since the people I hung out with were far from ordinary.

"How is Saya doing, by the way? Her injuries were not light at all."

"Oh, she's doing fine. They have regrown her arm and restored her eye. She still needs a few days to completely recover. She's a strong girl, Saya." Kufa smiled somewhat dreamily. "She'll be out hunting Chiropterans again before you or I can ask if she is all right."

"I don't doubt that," I agreed as I pushed my gla.s.ses up my nose.

"Heh? What's this? Kufa, you're with Richard today?"

To our surprise, Rossetti had somehow showed up in our cla.s.sroom. She shook her head and wagged a finger, as if expressing her disapproval at Kufa's actions.

"Kufa, how could you get Richard into trouble?"

"Sorry." Kufa hung his head. "I'm reflecting on it."

"Are you really?" Rossetti put her hands on her hips. "Then that's good. Don't drag him into another of your unauthorized missions, okay? He's not even from our school."

That was right. Despite all that happened, I was a student from Jing Tian Academy, not Saint Teresa Academy. Ultimately, I was only here as an exchange student.

"Still sucks that you were punished, though." Rossetti glanced at me. "A week probation and an imposed curfew, huh?"

"That's not so bad." I shrugged. "It won't affect me much. I hardly go out after school anyway."

"Of course it's bad!" the three of us turned around to stare at Miura La Noir stomping inside the cla.s.sroom, fl.u.s.tered. "I was planning on asking you out on a date, but now you have a perfectly legitimate reason to reject me!"

That was what she was upset about? I wasn't sure if her head was screwed on tight.

"Now, now…" Rossetti raised both of her hands to placate her friend. "It's not as if we have any time to go on dates or hang out this week. Don't forget, we have a test next Monday. We should be studying for that."

"Oh, G.o.d…don't remind me." I sighed and sagged against my desk. I wasn't afraid of tests, but that didn't mean I enjoyed taking them. Kufa seemed to share the same feelings, and he slumped against his seat.

"d.a.m.n it…it is tough being a student, huh?"

"If you've done your homework consistently and revised everyday, it shouldn't be a problem," Miura declared somewhat proudly. The other three of us stared at her, and she frowned. "What? I didn't say anything wrong. It's the truth."

"No, nothing. We're just surprised." Rossetti shook her head. Miura flared up.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean? Did you used to think that I slack off and didn't study? Why would I give off that kind of impression?"

"n.o.body said that," I muttered. "We just thought you would be grumbling about the test along with us."

"Well, I don't like tests as well, but it's our job as students! It's not like we have a choice!"

"Speaking of students…I don't believe the three of you are supposed to be in my cla.s.s."

Kufa, Rossetti and Miura jumped up when Teacher Einsberg entered the cla.s.sroom. They bowed their heads apologetically, and then ran off. He watched them, amused, and then shook his head. Turning back to me, he grinned.

"So how is our Gryffindor ace doing?"

"Not you too, Teacher Einsberg…"

Burying my face into my hands, I sighed and prayed for the week to be over as soon as possible.

Please go to to read the latest chapters for free