This whole idea of measuring my compatibility for the sword was jarring. The more time went by, the sicker I felt. And here I thought, the fever was gone.

It most certainly wasn't.

And trouble didn't seem to leave me alone either. As I came out of the clubhouse, a girl followed me: a very troublesome girl. I had a bad feeling about this. "What do you want?" My voice came out a bit more hostile than I intended.

"You were marvelous." The girl's words dripped with admiration and a bit of something else.

I had to turn back and when I did, I saw her expression. There was no one around and maybe that's why she was looking at me like that. Her usual careless smile was nowhere to be found and instead, it was replaced with an awestruck one.

It was almost as though she was fawning over me.

Was she?

"Th-Thank you. I'm getting late so-" I really wanted to get out of here, there was no doubt in my mind.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

The question kind of caught me off-guard but I maintained my composure.

"No, and I don't want one." I already had enough trouble as it was. I didn't need more things to worry about.

"That's too bad. But you slept with that vampire thing…." Her eyes drooped a little. Was she pretending to be sad? If so, it sure wasn't working.

The girl in front of me was a transfer student. She came to the clubhouse with Elsa and I could tell she was aiming for me. It was probably revenge for shaming her family. She was going to play games with me and try to get my guard down. But I was definitely prepared.

"Rin, was it? I don't know where you learned about that but I can assure you, nothing happened. And-"

"Really!" The girl disappeared and reappeared right before my eyes, barely touching my chest. She was fast, too fast, and very close.

'That wasn't just speed…'

My breathing increased but I controlled myself. "You can warp." My voice came out cold.

Warping was an inferior version of teleportation, but it was definitely more effective in close combat. Meaning, she had the edge if we started fighting.

She smiled. "For short distances yes… but." She paused and placed a hand on my chest. "I'm glad you're still pure." She licked her lips in a very misleading way.

I whacked her off of me. "What are you saying?"

And more importantly, how'd she know, I was a virgin?

Were my secrets even safe anymore?

"Ah, excuse my manners." She composed herself and put up her usual smile.

Now that I saw her more than enough times, I could tell, that smile was just a front. This girl was definitely bad news: a bit sexy, but definitely bad news.

She started to walk in the opposite direction. "That's enough for today. You should head back. Your mother seemed very eager to meet you in your room. She seemed rather happy too."

'What part of that was happiness?'

I sighed and just walked. "Yeah, I've to go back." And I had to distance myself from this girl.

"But perhaps." The girl was about to say something but as we both kept on walking, I never heard the rest.

***

On my way to the dorm, I attracted attention as usual, but strangely I got a lot more glares than before: especially from the girls. Usually, they mostly fawned over me, but what happened today?

'Someone didn't film that squabble, did they?'

I didn't know why, but the possibility did seem very likely. This academy was weird and whether I liked it or not, it was getting on my nerves.

I didn't pay attention and walked on. It wasn't worth it.

Something did bother me though.

Real teleportation was rare and very dangerous. But warping wasn't. The power itself was still very formidable, but its applications were limited to close combat and perhaps surprising one's enemies. And since the world was relatively at peace, it didn't have much use in the real world, apart from sports.

I didn't know why but I still couldn't help but be wary of that Battlesuin girl. No matter how I saw it, she smelled nothing but trouble to me. The very beautiful, good-smelling kind of trouble that is.

She was cunning, well mannered, definitely trouble, and yet, why the hell did I feel attracted to her?

Honestly, at this point, I couldn't really believe in my own tastes.

"Whoa!" I almost whacked my head on a palm tree.

If my subconscious hadn't kicked in at the very last second, I'd have crashed.

Actually, it would have been if I had crashed. At least then I wouldn't think about that girl of all things.

"Hey, what'cha doing?"

Selene was behind me, jogging.

"Saving my life, what else?"

She chuckled and stopped. "I heard you had a fight with your mom."

"It wasn't a fight." I most sure hope it wasn't.

'So it really did spread around.'

The sheer stupidity of this academy was making me more than enough frustrated.

"I'm kind of jealous you know. I can't have that."

"You mean, you never have fights?"

"No, I mean, I don't have a mother to fight." She giggled.

I didn't know why she was laughing after saying something so grave, but I sure wasn't going to ask.

It went very dark very fast.

"Oh, sorry to hear that."

"Don't worry, it was a long time ago." She stretched. "Haven't climbed the pole in a long while. Tomorrow, I'll be doing a live climb before midnight. Wanna come?" She was also pretty good at changing the subject.

"You just want me there as your landing spot, don't you?" I chuckled.

I wasn't dumb. I knew she was trying to change the subject, so I just played along.

"You got me." She winked and started running. "If you can make it, do come."

I was just joking around but I guess now I'd have to stay away. Even if she said it while joking, I sure didn't want to get elbowed again.

The rest of the walk was peaceful: Glares and stares from passersby, some random guy handing me letters. The usual.

'I haven't actually opened the recent ones, have I?'

***

I entered the dorm, or I would have if someone wasn't standing in my way.

"Can I help you?"

There was a weirdo standing by the dorm entrance, with sunglasses. The sun had set about half an hour ago, so he looked like nothing but a moron.

"I've been waiting for you, Romswell." The man didn't look at me. He was just staring at the distant skies.

But he established one thing right away. He knew my family.

Judging by the looks, he was some sort of a senior. "I don't know what you're talking about. So do you mind moving?"

"Playing dumb would get you nowhere, Romswell."

There weren't many students around us, but there were enough to start rumors.

"What's a Romwell? Something you eat?" I never took acting classes. But if agencies saw me they'd probably have run in circles to recruit me.

Okay, maybe not.

I don't know why but the passersby found it funny and went on their way.

It worked: kind of.

The guy with the stupid sunglasses clicked his tongue and glared at me. This was the first time he looked at me this entire time. "I'll give it to you straight, become my slave, or I'll leak this information: it took me a lot of money to get this and I'd like to make the best use of it." He pointed at me and smirked. "Oh and I assure you, my info is very highly regarded by the school press. I'm one of the top three prefects too. So you'd do well under me." He was speaking like it was some sort of grand honor for me to be his slave.

'Is this clown serious?'

I sighed. I didn't know what this clown had in mind but he sure was getting on my nerves. This was one hellish day. I had a cold, I had to fight, I had to run around to get my wallet, and more importantly, I was about to be battered by mom.

My sighs gave the guy a smile. He might have mistaken it for weakness. "Looks like you've made your mind."

'Too bad.'

But he was right, I did make up my mind.

I pointed my finger at him like a gun. "I'm pretty sure you're aware of my powers, correct?

If I used my fingers, then I could use gamma to pinpoint accuracy. But the downside was, it was so little that I couldn't use it in actual combat: it took too much time and the effects were negligible at best. But in this kind of situation? It was perfect.

"What are you doing? I'm- I'm a prefect, you know!"

"I don't give a crap who you are, really."

And without a doubt, I fired a thin stream of gamma directly at his precious.

Gamma rays could penetrate clothing and even the human body. But I'd aimed it in a way that it definitely connected to the cells I wanted.

It took him a second to register what I'd just done and not a second longer to grab his privates, falling to his knees. "What have you done!" His face had gone pale. He was shaking from the pain.

This was too trivial for me to even take it remotely serious.

"Are you sure you want to be near me, or perhaps leak anything? I assure you," I went closer to him. "I can make certain dysfunctions, permanent." Maybe it really was a good thing that I saw my cousins at work when I was with them.

His face went paler and he just dragged himself away from me in an instant.

"U-un-understood!'

Actually, all I did was kill three or four hundred of his cells. It wasn't much. Enough to feel like he got bit by one or two fire ants for a minute. And yet, this guy was scared shi*less.

'Is this clown, seriously a prefect?'

I doubted it.

"Do remember my words please." I waved and went into the dorm.

I could see him nodding vigorously through my peripherals.

'Well, that's one battle won.'

But the war was still waiting in my room.

Just the thought was enough to make my blood go cold.