“Let… us watch the video.”
“Are… you sure?”
“Yes.”
The members of the Academy all looked at each other with the sudden change of the parents’ faces. Just seconds ago, their wails could not be controlled. But as soon as their gazes fell upon Riley, the only trace of their previous sorrow was the trail of tears on the mother’s face.
And so, with Prophet nodding, the monitor was once again turned on– showing the exact moment of Shomari’s death, and what happened to lead to that.
The mother slightly looked away as soon as the spear lodged into her son’s chest. The father, however, only took in a deep breath as he stared at the moment his son took his last breath.
“It… It’s my fault!”
“Scarlet Mage!”
And as soon as the video was over, Katherine quickly kneeled in front of the parents, “I… I should have stopped them as soon as I saw your son struggling but I was–“
“No.”
But before she could finish her words, Shomari’s father gestured for her to stand up, “My son… my son died an honorable death.”
“…What?” Katherine whispered; her eyebrows showing her confusion as she slowly stood up.
“To fight dying the greatest monster is an honor.”
The sound of Bernard’s chair slightly squeaking silently whispered in the air, but before he could do anything, Prophet grabbed his shoulders and quietly told him to calm down.
“…Monster?” Katherine then breathed out.
“You said this video is broadcasted on internet?” The shoulders of Shomari’s father started to straighten.
“…Yes?”
“Hm,” the father nodded, “Then everyone shall see my son’s sacrifice. The One Cursed by God and his evil shall be known.”
“…” Bernard’s hands were starting to tremble; if it weren’t for the fact that their son just died, then he might have already flipped the table in front of him. And perhaps also partly thanks to Prophet trying his best to block Bernard from seeing the two, if not, then something truly will be happening here.
“Will… you be taking action against the student?” Prophet then said as he slightly glanced at Riley.
“No,” Shomari’s father, however, quickly answered; his words firm and filled with dignity, “The Ghost can not be kept in cages. The world will decide his fate now.”
“…”
“…”
“Would… you like to see your son now?” One of the Academy’s staff then stepped forward, breaking the awkward silence the room suddenly found itself in. And without even saying another word, Shomari’s parents both nodded their heads and calmly left the room.
“…”
“…”
“What just happened?” Katherine then said; perhaps voicing out everyone’s confusion.
“There’s something going on here, Prophet,” Bernard once again replayed the video, “You see it as well, right?”
“Hm,” Prophet nodded as he looked at the video, “But be that as it may, the world saw what happened. Prepare your son for punishment– and since he is 17 now and no longer a juvenile.”
“Wait, you can’t seriously think they will send him to prison?”
“No, of course not,” Prophet breathed out as a small chuckle escaped from his mouth, “But the punishment is not going to be light. And since your real identity is already slowly being scattered around the world… the government will surely use you and your son to get the attention as far away from them as possible.”
“Tha–“
“Wait!” And before Bernard could utter a word, Katherine joined in on the conversation, “Didn’t you already see that something weird is going on here? Why–“
“The adults are talking, Scarlet Mage,” Prophet furrowed his eyebrows as he looked Katherine straight in the eyes, “And you’re not out of the woods yet; as the instructor responsible for their class, half of the fault lies with you.”
“That’s–“
“But yes,” Prophet once again did not let Katherine finish her words,
“I think everyone in this room agrees that something suspicious is going on,” he then said as he looked at the African instructor, who arrived with the students during the start of the Festival.
“I…
…I will look into it.”
***
A few hours later, Hannah’s frustrated steps found their way inside their usual hideout– the Korean Shaved Ice store.
Silvie and the others were already there, and even Katrina.
“Hannah!”
“Did they say anything!?”
“What’s gonna happen to our bro!?”
“Is Riley alright?”
And even with all the worried voices echoing in her ears, the only thing that Hannah could do was shake her head as she approached them. She released a long and huge sigh, but it seemed to cause the weight in her body to get even heavier as she dropped on her seat.
But as soon as her butt hit the chair, a dessert was placed in front of her.
“On the house,” Charlotte then said, winking at Hannah before returning to her counter.
“…”
“…”
“S… shit, what do you think is gonna happen now?” Gary then muttered, “You… do you guys think Riley really did it on–“
“No!” Hannah quickly raised her voice as she glared at Gary, “Shut the fuck up! You’re the one on the Potential Villain list!”
“I don’t think that’s fair–“
“You shut your mouth as well!” Hannah also violently pointed towards Silvie before she could finish her words, “Why did you suddenly jump on him like that!? I thought we were your friends!?”
“I… I’m sorry…” Silvie could only look at the table, “I… I don’t know what happened, I just…”
“H… Hannah, please calm down,” Katrina then gently waved her hand, “We’re… we’re all just a little agitated–“
“Ugh!”
And before Katrina could say anything more, the sound of Hannah slamming her head on the table reverberated throughout the entire shop.
“I… I don’t know what to do anymore,” Hannah’s words of frustration whispered through their ears as she looked to the side; and as she did so, Tomoe was already handing her an ice pack to put on her swollen forehead.
And add that to the flavored shaved ice, Hannah slowly started to calm down.
“Are… they putting him in jail?” Silvie then carefully asked.
“…No,” Hannah shook her head, “But they were saying something about… a public apology.”
“A what now?”
“A public apology. Although Prophet said the Academy would be shouldering the responsibility as much as possible… but I don’t know… everything’s turning to shit.”
Hearing all of this, Tomoe could not help but blink her eyes– Darkday apologizing to the masses? If only they knew.
“I don’t know man, this whole thing all feels a little bit suspicious, my dragon whiskers are tingling– something is off about the African students.”
“Bro, you talking shit about my brothers from another country now?”
And as soon as Gary had said his words, a familiar voice entered the shop. Gary slowly turned his head, only to see Bella making her way towards them.
“Woah, Woah,” Gary then raised both his hands in surrender, “I’m not racist. I will have you know that I watch interracial por–“
“Fuck, Gary… no,” Hannah quickly shook her head to stop him from saying anything further; Silvie and the others, however, were slightly confused.
As for Bella, the only thing she did was shake her head as she sat on top of the table in front of them,
“I did some recollecting,” she then muttered as she placed her phone on Hannah’s table, “Your girl here watched the video a couple of times… until finally, I noticed something wrong.”
Bella tapped on her phone, showing the moment before the spear shoved through Shomari’s chest.
“You guys saw that, right?” Bella then said as she replayed the video.
“The… spear,” Silvie was the first to notice, “It already stopped when it passed the line!”
“Yes!” Bella slammed her palm on the table as she pointed at Silvie, “And then it trembled less than a second later, and then woosh,” Bella waved her hand.
“And check this,” Bella then continued as she slowly wagged her finger along with her head, “I did some digging; and it turns out, some of my brothers from the other continent are in some kind of tribe of some shit.”
“…A tribe?”
“…Like Apokalipto?”
“…Those were Mayans,” Bella squinted her eyes at Gary, “But yes, something like that. It’s kinda weird you know that movie, not gonna lie.”
“Hm, I dabble.”
“W… wait, guys. We’re losing track here,” Hannah then snapped her fingers a couple of times to get everyone’s attention, “What kind of tribe?”
“Oh hear this– they have a prophecy about some kind of… creature called the One Cursed by God.”
“…And?”
“And you know what this One Cursed by God looks like?” Bella breathed out, “White hair, white skin, white everything.”
“…Even the pubes?”
“Gary!”
S… sorry, just trying to light up the mood,” Gary once again raised both his hands in defeat, “But see? I’m not the racist one here.”
“I… I don’t think this has something to do with racism in the first place,” Katrina slightly stuttered as she found the chance to join in on the conversation, “Before Mega Woman, I heard some tribes in the world hunted… people like Riley.”
“…Autistic?”
“No!”
“It… it’s not about that,” Bella then interrupted Katrina and Gary before their conversation became worse, “This tribe, they truly believe that the One Cursed by God…
…will one day destroy the world.”
And as soon as Tomoe heard those words whisper in her ear, the only thing she could do was furrow her eyebrows.
Destroy the world? Then… even if it was just a coincidence… then isn’t Riley the very person that fits that description?
“Okay…” Gary then once again spoke, “But get this… Besides the lesbo, am I the only one that noticed that I’m the only guy here?”
“…”
“…”
***
“Empress.”
“Twice in one day… I feel like I should call a meeting at this poi–“
Once again, back in Hope Guild’s meeting hall, Empress was visited by another member. But unlike with Bulwark, her words completely stopped as soon as she saw Bernard entering the hall– not even bothering to wear his mask.
“…Bernard? What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Any arrogant tone that was in Empress’s voice was completely gone as she watched Bernard fall onto his chair.
“Adaeze…
…I need your help.”