The courtyard was empty and the portals at the end were deactivated since they were not and were not going to be in use any time soon. Even the trees were not making any whistling sounds.
Hitori raised his eye and saw the bully striding toward him. He groaned under his breath, I don't want trouble the first thing during my break.
He covered his hand and continued reflecting on the past things, but he could hear the bully closing the distance between them.
Hitori stayed like he was and only removed his hands when he saw the bully's shoes from the cover of his hands. He removed his hand and raised his eyes at the bully. He was wearing a frown and was surely angry about something.
"Get up," the bully said, "get up, you bastard!" Even after he shouted and everyone paused where they were, Hitori kept staring at him.
"You already got me, man, what do you want now? I am not ready for another beating," Hitori said, he decided to put on the act of a victim to get away with it somehow, but the bully had something else in his mind.
"I got you? Oh, motherfucker, you know what it is. You got me! You and that bastard plotted me!" The bully pointed his hand behind him.
Hitori followed his direction and saw the nerd standing next to Mono, or a step behind, staring back at him with a plain face.
He looked back at the bully. "I was punished on the first day of school. Everybody laughed at me, and the teachers hate me. They blacklisted me on the very first day of school. Do you know how much that hurts!" the bully shouted.
But Hitori frowned and said, "What do you mean we set you up? You were beating the nerd yourself and you attacked me, makes sense if you get punished."
The bully clenched his fist and charged at Hitori. "You bastard! Don't you dare act like it was not your setup!" He stepped forward and swung his arm.
Hitori casually leaned forward, clenched his hand into a fist, and punched the bully in the stomach. The punch created a hole in the bully's T-shirt on impact. Hitori had used Bakuhatsu without a wand.
The bully's body jolted, then jerked away from Hitori. He pulled back his punch and watched the bully's arm dance in the air, out of his control. He leaned back and sat on his spot when the bully fell to the ground.
His boys stepped forward and grabbed their boss off the ground. Hitori clicked his tongue at the sight and looked away.
"See," he said, "I do not know what misunderstanding you have created, but I think you should clear it. Take a seat and let us talk."
The bully rose and he rubbed his stomach. The punch had sent his anger back down his throat, but the pain would anger him again.
"Why me?" he asked, "why me, you bastard? What have I ever done to you? Why did you have to corner me? Why bastards why?" He spun and threw a glare at the nerd.
"Stop whining," Hitori said, "tell me what the heck happened."
The bully was on the verge of crying because he sniffed and said, "That nerd… I was not beating him because I wanted to."
Hitori raised his eyes off his knuckles and looked at the bully. "Then? No one will ask a bully to beat himself… unless he is a sadist." He looked at the nerd. "He does not look like a sadist at all."
Hitori leaned back, he moved his eyes from the nerd– that creeped the shit out of him– but he knew he had to make the nerd understand that he is not into those things.
"I don't know what shit you two are into, but the headmaster punished me. He fucking punished me for what I was not willing to do. Because you two fucking bastards, I was punished! I lost my reputation!"
Hitori was not one of those men to care about reputation, so he did not care about the bully's punishment. "See, I apologize for—"
"Oh no, you do not!" the nerd shouted, Hitori saw him coming towards him when the two boys turned and drew their wands.
"Whoa! Stay right where you are, stay out of this shit, let me handle this. You and I are going to talk later," Hitori shouted, he raised his hands and tried to make the nerd stop.
When the bully's boys pointed their wands at the nerd, he stopped right where he was. But he was unsatisfied, with his expressions. Mono was standing out in the show.
Hitori turned to the bully and said, "Do you think beating me again will solve your problem? Will it dismiss your punishment?"
"No, I don't think so, I do not want that either…" he said, "perhaps I might get suspended for this, but if it will satisfy me, then I will do it again."
He drew his wand at the speed of light and swung it at Hitori. "Electrify!"
Hitori widened his eyes. When he heard the spell, to him, the beam of electricity started moving in slow motion.
He saw the nerd drawing his wand and the bully's men swinging their wands. At the same time, Mono was drawing his wand, but he sat at his spot.
The beam came face to face with Hitori after a few moments for him. When the beam was going to hit his face, he lifted his hand and blocked the beam.
Then everything went back to the normal playback speed. He was seeing the bully widen his eyes, the nerd stopping in the middle of an incantation, and the bully's guys turning around to see the output.
It all happened in a flash of light. They all moved their eyes to Hitori, he was still sitting where he was. He was leaning against the wall with his legs apart, he was staring at the bully. He was waving his wand beside his shoulder.
The nerd took that chance. "Oi! Get the hell down—"
Hitori raised his wand and threw an explosions spell. The nerd swung his wand and created a barrier in front of him. He blocked the attack, but could not stop himself from sliding back.
He rose from his seat and let his hand fall near his hip. The nerd rose from his cover and looked at Hitori. The bully and his men exchanged confused glances. Mono was glancing between them too.
Hitori raised his head and said, "You. Stay. Out of this, nerd."
The nerd shuddered. He did not dare to look into his dark blue eyes, they gave him a scare. So he stepped back and kept his wand inside.
Hitori glanced around the area and looked at the bully. He was filled with mixed emotions. He was angry because the nerd, whom he tried to save, had played a trick on him. The bully was now back and trying to hurt him when it was not his fault, to begin with.
Then the last thing that the bully did which pushed Hitori to the edge– he cast a spell Hitori's great friend used to cast, and that too, half-assed.
Hitori knew if he had not blocked the spell, it would have inflicted low-level damage. But he did not want to humiliate himself again, by taking damage from that spell, when he could dodge it easily.
He clenched his wand and raised it rigidly like a robot. On the wand's way up, Hitori kept his eye contact with the bully constant, nothing could make him look away.
The scare in his blue eyes froze one of the two guys behind the bully. They were first years and he was a third-year student, of course, his spells were more powerful than theirs, and that scared them even more than his eyes.
The bully hesitated to raise his wand, he found it absurd to be unable to raise his wand and cast the same spell again. He saw what Hitori had done to the nerd, the bully was unsure whether the nerd was stronger than him or not, but he knew one thing– Hitori was more intimidating than anyone in the courtyard.
The bully wanted to run, but he could not find the strength to move his legs and run out of the courtyard– or even save himself from the incoming attack.
Hitori pierced the bully's soul with his glare and he stopped when his wand reached its peak. He moved his hand and the bully's guys screamed.
They found the strength, somehow, to run away from Hitori. Although they stumbled on a mini-step and banged their heads– falling unconscious– they did find the strength to run.
He focused on the bully, he did not let his henchmen disturb his focus, and now the bully was even more scared than before– cause he had his men to take the blow, but now he did not.
Hitori looked at the bully, the bully looked at him, and Hitori said, "If you are going to use that spell, you better use it with perfection."
The next he knew, the wand was coming down. Hitori conjured electricity at the top of his wand, and he did not throw it till a big ball of electricity was formed on the tip.
Mono covered his eyes, and the nerd ran to cover him and the bully's guys from the effects– and while he did it, he had a smile on his face– he had a strange, satisfactory, smile on his face.
Hitori gave his wand a swing and the electricity left his wand. "Electrify!"
At the right moment, the bully mustered the strength, turned, and jumped on the ground. But it did not save him from the electricity giving him a high-voltage shock.
He struggled like a fish on the ground. Hitori imagined how Kamiya must have died– the same way, but worse. He diverted his eyes from the bully, but he was sure he had not done the wrong thing.
When the effect had worn out, he looked at the bully who was lying on the ground– still conscious– and said, "I hope this either gets you or me out of the academy."
He turned, it was hard for him to hurt someone innocent, he wondered how the hell did the bullies bully other innocent nerds, who were going on with their lives without bothering anyone, without feeling guilty?
He was sure the guilt was going to eat him afterward, even when it was not his fault– the bully had come to him– but the guilt would not leave so easily.
Now he wanted to move to his next step– the nerd. Just who the hell was he? Hitori moved his eyes to the right side of the courtyard. Mono was standing still and the two guys were lying still. The nerd had moved.
Hitori scanned the whole courtyard for him. The trees, the mess he had created, and the wooden seats around the courtyard. But the nerd was nowhere to be found.
The nerd was missing. Hitori realized the nerd had escaped before Hitori could get a chance to talk with him. He knew the nerd was someone strong hiding his identity, but he had never supposed the nerd was strong enough to teleport from the courtyard.
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