Arslan stood up in front of , his eyes gazing at curiously as they lit up under the moonlight.
"Hey, i rember you..." He said, smiling like he'd run into an old friend.
anwhile, it took all the will power to hold my face and composure together.
"You're Victor, right? From before, too?" Arslan said with a smile before returning back to sitting on the bench.
"What?" I stood a few steps away and blinked dazedly. Arslan turned, catching my expression but gave a charming smile that curved and reached his red-orange eyes.
"You rember my na..." I said, paused awkwardly, then added in a small voice — "sir."
"Of course i do." Arslan readily replied with a shrug. He leaned backwards, his arms spread comfortably along the back of the bench, and crossed his legs like soone sitting outside for a pleasant night breeze much like he was.
His loose front bangs fluttered.
"I never forget a face. Plus, you've been getting famous a lot lately, it's hard to ignore a na on the rise like yours... Victor." The way he emphasized the latter half of his words made my gut wrench.
I felt uncomfortable under Arslan D. Blank's gaze.
The first ti i t him over a month ago, the night just before the Practical Field Experience, i thought he was so weird, suspicious Instructor — maybe a pervert — with a questionable sense of direction who was lost.
But then i found out he was none other than my Vice Headmaster, the very next day no less.
All of a sudden, my nonchalant character which may have co off as rude and the way I treated him last ti ca crushing down on all at once.
I never really had...good relationships with my Headmasters or Vice headmasters in school from Earth in my past life before i dropped out...
...And aren't i also trying not to get dropped out of this guy's academy recently?
'Should i apologize?'
I should apologize, right?
"I, uh..."
"How nice of it that i could run into you on another fine moon like this one again. Don't just stand there, Vic, co sit with ." I tried to apologize, but before i could get the words out, Arslan gestured at to co closer.
His eyes glead then he pointed at before i could think of an excuse.
"Ah, and don't think you can get away now. I absolutely won't take no for an answer this ti around. I also know there's still ti before curfew. And although I'm not fond of throwing this around like this, but if it'll help... it's an order, Cadet." Despite his words, his smile was pleasant and almost inviting.
Almost, if my gut and instincts still weren't screaming to run away.
'Damn...'
But like he already said, it was an order.
I swallowed a sigh and hesitated.
"Yes... Sir." Then with legs heavy like lead, i walked up to the bench and took a sit right next to him.
The bench was wide enough fortunately, so i sat as closely next to the edge as i could while almost making myself look as small as possible.
I knew my reaction and response may seem a little over the top right now for my Vice Headmaster, and I should have faced many more situations that would have built a much stronger fortitude.
But lately my confidence has been forced to unravel from the inside out, and with everything going on around at once like chain reactions of calamites one after another, my paranoia was reaching a new high ever.
And i was barely holding it all together.
It couldn't be helped i was tensed.
The mont i thought that, i heard Arslan speak.
"There's no need to be so tense, kid." He said gently, so of the pressure lifting around him. His reassuring voice strangly felt like a breath of fresh air, it was almost soothing.
I exhaled a small breath and regained so composure at his words. My shoulders relaxed without letting my guard down completely.
"I'm sorry, sir. I've just been going through a lot lately."
Arslan turned to look at from the side curiously.
"Oh, is that why you're out taking a walk alone like this by this ti?" He said.
I regarded his words quietly for a few seconds, maybe three.
"Well...yes."
He wasn't wrong. There was still so ti before curfew.
And speaking of which...
I reached into my pocket to pull out my Communicator to check out the ti. I needed to know how long more I had to endure this for.
Just then, Arslan spoke up once again.
"Hmmm, i see. And one would think you'd be happy, right?"
My hand froze as i was about pulling out my Communicator at Arslan's words, and i turned to him.
I looked at him with slight confusion.
"Pardon...ahem...sir?"
By this point, the mysterious Red haired Vice Headmaster was no longer staring directly at , and was staring forward at the brightly lit convenience store perched upon the hill upfront. A bright stream of white light was cast into the surroundings, and park, from its windows and lamps.
Arslan took a deliberate mont to respond and turned back to face with a thin smile.
"Oh well, i an— you recently broke through to the next Rank, and you've also managed to climb up the rankings from last place in your whole year. Oh, congratulations by the way..." He said, and just when i thought he was referring to the new temporary Ranking that was released before the Mid-term assessnt, he added with a grin—
"... Cadet 579."
But i was wrong.
I stared at Arslan strangely with reservations for a while. Should i be surprised or worried? I wasn't sure.
This ant he already knew about my latest... exploit from earlier today. But, how?
It hasn't been a full day yet, but not only Arslan, but even Aurhea already knew about my new ranking as of today.
Aurhea, i could understand, but at the sa ti, i guess even Arslan's information network must even be a dozen tis wider than the president of the Student Council. He was the Vice Headmaster after all.
'He knows my na, and Rank position.'
Out of over a thousand first year students, and even more across the entire academy, how strange was it that the Vice Headmaster seed to know this much about personally? And i was bottom ranked until recently as well.
My thoughts began to trail...
Also, a few minutes ago, he said sothing...
'—You've been getting famous a lot lately, it's hard to ignore a na on the rise like yours... ' he was probably talking about my wrong Assessnt, and how i broke through beyond all odds.
I missed it then, but he clearly knew a lot more than just my na.
I stiffled a deep breath in my lungs.
'Has he been watching ?' once my thoughts hit this point, my newly sensitive paranoia hit it off at once.
Dozens of thoughts, 'what ifs' and questions ca at at once.
Questions like:
When? For how long? What does he know? What does he want? Is there really no longer hope for in the Academy?
Then a low chuckle ca from Arslan next to , his words striking like a rod to my head.
"You're tensing again. I guess you thoughts are finally racing in the right direction."
Suddenly, i felt all the hairs across my whole body stand on end and prickle without realising. A suffocating sense of dread squeezed my gut at that mont out of nowhere.
My eyes widened, it felt like my head would burst. But before i could recognize the on i felt...
My body jerked in place — a searing pain tearing through my left hand all of a suddenly.
Then it burned.
"Mgh-aargh!!" An anguished cry squeezed from my lips as i fell off the edge of the bench and to my knees, grabbing my bandaged left arm like it had been caught off.
A high pitched ringing pierced through my head like a needle, providing no form of comfort to the cure situation at all.
I couldn't even think of what was happening, i didn't understand it. The burning pain and spasms from my left arm like it was having so kind of seizure filled my world.
The skin of my palms sizzled under the cover of the bandage like a hot rod had been pressed against it. A red hot glow slowly burned through the bandage over my palm as the incessant ringing in my head intensified, it felt like my head was about to explode.
And then, i heard Arslan's voice. At so point he had risen to his feet, standing over my crumbled body against the ground beneath him.
"Did you really think you could hide it?" His voice sounded low— the forr, calm, soothing and amiable tone of his gone and stripped bare by an unsettling cold that filled his words.
His words barely even registered to at the mont as he bent to one knee and grabbed my left arm, yanking it free from underneath as the strips of bandages unraveled into the wind
"That mark on your left arm."
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