"...If you and your companions could cooperate willingly, that would be nice."
The vagrants all stared at the flattened car, their eyes completely locked on it, the very sa way their legs were planted firmly on the ground. And all of a sudden, they stopped talking.
"You are in violation of Ohio Revised code 3767.32. You and your group have been observed knowingly and deliberately littering on public property. I strongly advise you to remove any remaining litter imdiately. Failure to comply may result in formal charges and escalation to a court of law."
"T—"
Soone from the group opened his mouth to talk, but his eyes once again landed on the flattened car. He was going to back away, but soone suddenly nudged him from behind and caused him to slightly stumble toward Riley.
He looked back at his friends, and they all started nodding at him... before subtly gesturing to a corner of the street where soone was hiding in the shadows, pointing what seed to be a phone right in their direction.
The man gulped, but then stood up straight and started violently waving his finger at Riley.
"What... what are you trying to do?!" He scread, "Are you trying to kill us?! E-everyone! This boy’s trying to kill us! Run! R—"
The man was about to turn around to wave at the crowd slowly surrounding him, but found himself unable to move or even speak. His friends also wondered what he was doing, but they soon also realized that they couldn’t move at all.
"Father has taught that your demographic is critically underprivileged," Riley whispered, sighing as he looked at the garbage scattered everywhere, "I am aware that you will not be able to pay the fines—and so, from now on, the only way you are going to be able to move is toward the direction of picking up your litter."
"Y-you think you can do this?!" The man once again scread, "We... we have you on cara!"
And as soon as he said that, the woman who was hiding in the shadows stepped out from the corner, rushing to point the cara right at Riley’s face.
"You... you and your kind are gone! You... you think the Academy can save you?!"
"Get out of here! We don’t need you!"
"Fucking scum!"
And very soon, the crowd that was circling them started joining the fray too. Hurling all sorts of insults at him.
"We hope you fucking rot and die brutally!"
"Super freak!"
"Killer!"
"The Dark Millennium should have just killed you all!"
"If we ever see your kind here again, we’ll fucking stab you in the eye!"
"Oh?" Riley was completely unbothered by all the negative remarks being hurled at him. He even stared right at the lens of the phone being pointed right at his mask.
"We got you now, f—"
The woman holding the phone was about to speak, but Riley suddenly snatched the phone away from her.
"I am livestreaming, you fucking idiot! My... my 15,000 viewers all saw what you did, and they are scattering it everywhere! You—"
To her and everyone’s surprise, Riley did not destroy the phone at all. He let go of it, yes. But it didn’t drop to the ground and instead even hovered in the air.
"The court of public opinion?" Riley muttered as he let the phone dangle in the air to cover everything, "You an there are 15,000 witnesses that you are in violation of Ohio Revised code 2909.23, threatening to commit a serious cri—"
"You’re the one who threatened us first!" The woman pointed at the flattened car, "Look at what you did to that car!"
"That is a junk vehicle, and is therefore considered litter. I rely made it easier to dispose of," Riley glanced at the flattened car, "I am on clean-up duty, after all. It is my duty to clean the litter, the sa as it is all your duty to keep the place you are illegally living in clean."
"You’re calling us squatters?!"
"I did not use that word, but yes."
"Wh—"
The woman couldn’t help but look at her frozen friends, not knowing what to say next. In truth, they have already chosen Riley from the start. He looked to be the tast of all the freshn, and he also didn’t exhibit much of an aura compared to the others and even seed ek and reserved.
They thought he was going to make excuses and completely lose his composure if he found out he was being livestread, but no.
He didn’t care at all and was even turning the situation around them. But most importantly, they were completely wrong about him being ek and reserved—they probably targeted the worst possible student they could.
"What is going on, Riley?"
And out of nowhere, Tomoe slipped through the crowd while carrying several trash bags in her hand. She stared at Riley first, and then at the phone floating above him, and then finally at the entire scene.
And it only took her a single second to connect everything.
"Are these grown n bullying you?" She said, pushing up her sunglasses as she approached Riley, "Did they gang up on you?"
"I suppose so, Tomoe."
"Then—"
"This is enough, enough!"
Before Tomoe could do anything, however, soone from the crowd raised their voice. The people parted to make way for the old woman, who was also being followed by a much, much older lady—Chieftain Arika.
"Julie! He threatened to—"
"Don’t make excuses, I saw everything." The old woman, Julie, snarled at the woman who owned the phone, clicking her tongue at her before shaking her head and glaring at the frozen group of n.
"Are you not embarrassed?! I have tolerated all of your actions, but this has crossed the line! The lot of you threatened to stab a child?!"
Everyone in the crowd lowered their heads as Julie pointed at each of them one by one. She then slowly made her way to Riley, sighing and shaking her head before smiling at him.
"On behalf of the community, I’m sorry for how we have treated you and your friends. It doesn’t make sense, I know—but these people are just... afraid and lost."
"I know," Riley shrugged, letting the phone floating in the air land in his hand before handing it to Tomoe, who carefully gave it to Julie.
"I assu you are the leader of this congregation, Ms. Julie?"
"It’s... not a congregation. But sadly, yes. I’m responsible for these people."
"Okay, then be responsible for them," Riley sighed and took a step back, releasing the group in front of him from their invisible chains, causing them all to drop down to the ground, "I will pass this onto you now, Ms. Julie—Tomoe and I still have many areas to clear and clean."
Riley didn’t even glance back at the group of n as he turned around and walked away. Tomoe followed behind him, but not before bowing to Julie and leaving.
Everyone then watched as Riley approached the flattened car. He stared at it for a mont before it started to shake by itself. And slowly, it started to crumple like foil.
Tomoe quietly stood by her side, glancing at him from ti to ti as the car slowly curled into a cube—well, as much as Riley could turn it into a cube, that is.
It was still crude and resembled a sphere more than anything. But he seed satisfied with it. He raised his hand, and the compressed car floated in the air and followed behind him as he walked away without another word.
As for Tomoe, she picked up the pieces that were falling from the car and put them inside her bags.
And just like that, the two disappeared into the corner, like the situation Riley left behind had nothing to do with him at all.
He and Tomoe started cleaning again, with the compressed car still hovering in the air. Tomoe, however, broke the silence.
"Riley." She whispered.
"Yes, Tomoe?"
"Can I ask what you’re planning once we... get back?" She muttered as she lowered her bags and placed them beside a post, "With my mother and—"
"Are you okay, child?"
Before they could even have a conversation, however, Chieftain Arika appeared from the corner, waving her hand at them with a tired smile on her face. Riley imdiately stopped cleaning, hanging his tongs back to his waist as he glanced at Chieftain Arika’s shoulder.
"I am okay, Chieftain Arika," he sighed.
"It happens every year, you know?" Chieftain Arika also sighed, crouching down to pick up a can and crumpling it in her palm.
"They always try to instigate sothing with us," she said as she threw the crumpled can in Riley’s bag, "That’s actually the lesson we want to tell you in this part of the field trip—even if you try to help people, there will always be soone who would hate you for it. Either for valid or nonsensical reasons."
"I suppose that is a very important lesson, Chieftain Arika," he shrugged, glancing at Tomoe as she stood beside him.
"And it is a very reckless one," she said to Chieftain Arika.
"ga Academy likes being practical. The world isn’t kind to people even if they are trying to do the right thing."
"Okay," Riley nodded."Is that why you are working with the Dark Millennium, Chieftain Arika?"
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