Chapter 8

It’s about 4 in the morning and I’m already doing my usual routine, no let me correct that. My usual routine is me running for at least 10 trips around the neighborhood, but this about my 18th run and instead by jogging, I’m more like running.

But I do have a reason for this.

When I woke up early in the morning, my right hand was already holding something soft and warm. I was still pretty tired and woozy so I rubbed my eyes and checked on what was on my hands.

“Mhmm…be a little…more gentle, James…mmm…”

It was the naked body of my classmate whom I just meet yesterday; Robin Altorez is sleeping on my bed with nothing on but her birth day suit.

Her arm is still around my waist and she’s been moaning and mumbling provocative things in her sleep for a while now.

Even if the blanket is covering her body, you could still see her well toned waist.

With her erotic body and her moaning while hold on to her breast, my emotions started to swell up again. But before that happens, I quickly put on some clothes and ran out of the house.

And that is the reason why I’m out here running like I’m some kind of vehicle that lost its breaks.

I’m starting to think without that spell casted on me, I might actually become a woman hungry animal………I’ll pray, pray for that scary day to never come.

The people in the neighborhood market are already getting ready to open their business. That would mean that it’s already 5, I was running without rest while brooding about something so I wasn’t able to notice.

Now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t think I have anything in my fridge. And in all honesty, even when I started to live alone my cooking never improved. I guess being a chef in the future will never come.

But seeing all of this fresh vegetables and fruits makes me hungry and I bet when Robin wakes up she would be to. I couldn’t cook even if my life is depending on it though.

So I decided to go to the local convenient store and just buy the usual microwave lunch set. Good thing I brought my wallet with me.

But as soon as the automatic door slides open, someone called out my name.

“James! *Hah* *Hah* so this is where you were. Hah*”

It was Robin, she’s holding down her knees while gasping for air. Don’t tell me that she ran all the way here? The distance of the market is pretty far from my house, I could run this far easy but I’m not sure if it goes the same for normal civilians without proper body training.

“Hey, what’s wrong? You could have slept in you know.”

She was about to say something, but then she held her chest and gave me a gesture with her right hand saying “Give me a sec.” and finally took a deep breath.

“*Exhale* When I woke up you weren’t beside me, I thought you disappeared somewhere, so you know…I got a little worried and...”

That is far from being a little worried. If she was, she wouldn’t have run all the way here. But I guess I should have told her I’d be out for a while.

Still, normally you’d wait inside the house. But then again, it’s my fault that I made her worry and made her run so far.

“Sorry about that, I guess I should have told you that I’ll be out on my daily jog.”

“You got that right; you made me worry for nothing.”

Now I feel even guiltier, Thank you.

And here I thought she woke up because she was hungry. That goes to show that we men are different from the women.

“Were you planning to get breakfast here in a convince store?”

She did see me headed inside. Does she want me to buy her something?

“Yeah, I was about to buy food for us. Do you want anything?”

“No way…”

“…Eh?”

“There is no way I’m going to let you eat some ready-made food in a convenient store.”

Wow, her face looks so serious. Does she hate microwave food that much?

“God knows for how long those lunch boxes were in stock. You might get a stomach ache or even worst.”

“Um… Ok, so uh…what should we do then?”

“What else, were already here in the market, so let’s go and buy the ingredients we need.”

“Yeah, alright”

I suddenly got this different vibe from her; she’s like a housewife now.

Ah! But before we do…

“Hey Robin, can I go inside for a while? I want to buy something.”

“Huh?”

Whoa! What’s with that stern look?

“Didn’t I just tell you? We are going to buy the ingredients for our breakfast? Don’t tell me you’d rather have those lunchboxes?”

Scratch the housewife comment from earlier; she is totally like a mother, a very picky mother.

“No, it’s not that. I’m planning to buy something else.”

“Well…if you say so, but I better not see you carrying a box lunch when you get out, alright?”

“Yes mom” but of course I didn’t say that, she might get offended. I’m surprised to see her act like this though. I wouldn’t have thought that she would be picky when it comes to health.

As I walk in the store while having the thought about my own classmate who I slept with, now acting like a nit-picking mother. I eventually found what I was looking for.

I quickly got to the cashier and left the store. I don’t want Mama Robin getting mad at me after all.

And there she is, standing at the entrance with arms crossed with a stern look. She then looked at my hand to check if I was carrying the box she hated. But as soon as she found out that I wasn’t, her stern face relaxed and made a small smile.

“Here, catch.” “Huh? Whoa…what is…ah, this is…”

What I bought from the store was small case of Gum. Seeing as she starting to cheer up a little, I thought this might help her even more. And honestly, I missed the usual Pop sound that she makes.

“I wasn’t sure what flavor you wanted so I just got you a mint flavored one. Is that alright?”

At first she gave a surprised look but it instantly went back to a smile. She opens the case, took out one gum and put it inside her mouth. It looks like she’s satisfied with and turns her body around. But then she gave me a gesture with her finger, telling me to “come closer” while not turning to look at me.

“What’s wrong? Don’t like the flav…Mhmm!?”

Without her body turning towards me, she pulled down my head and gave me a deep kiss, while passing the gum in her mouth to mine.

“*Phua* The flavor is good isn’t it? Come on, let go buy our breakfast.”

She took out a new piece of gum and continued to walk forward like it wasn’t a big deal. That got me by surprise; I wasn’t ready for a sneak attack! Not to mention we’re in the middle of the market, so a lot of the shop clerks saw what just happened and giving me smirks and giggles. Damn this is embarrassing!

15 minutes has passed and we’re finally headed home. I don’t know why, but I’m a lot more tired when I was jogging.

What I read in a magazine was right; shopping with girls really does tire a guy out.

We didn’t only buy the ingredients for breakfast; we got the ingredients for dinner along with the daily necessities that Robin might need.

And believe or not, I didn’t have to spend much for the ingredients. Robins is actually well known in the market. Apparently she used to work at most of the shops and helped them quite a lot, so some of the food we got is ether given to us for free or they gave us a discount.

I’m happy to see that there are people who worry about her; though I’d be happier if the shop owners did stop asking about us. I could tell that they were really worried about her, but did they really have to say something like…

“Oh my, Robin. I heard what happen! Are you ok?”

“Yes, I’m fine granny *Pop*.”

There’s her usual “Pop”.

“That’s good to hear, but where do you live now? The apartment you used to live burn down, didn’t it?”

“You don’t have to worry uncle, *Pop* I’m currently living with him.”

“Him? Oh! Isn’t that the young lad?”

“Do you know him, Uncle?”

“Why of course we do! This guy always passes by while on his jog, he never misses a day!”

“So very true, whenever we see him pass by, it gives us the energy to keep doing our job.”

I never knew I was a big influence to the market place, but giving all of those praises is making me feel embarrassed.

But not as much from what they talked about next.

“I see, so this is the type of guy Robin fell for. Quit the catch there, Robin. Hohohoho…”

“Gyahaha! With someone as energetic as this guy, you must have trouble getting to sleep, Robin.”

Wha…what the hell are these old couple saying!?

“That’s true. Last night was my first, yet he didn’t even let me rest for a second.”

What the hell are you saying!?

After that, I got so embarrassed and I just grabbed Robin’s hand and ran as fast as my legs can take me.

*Sigh* I don’t think I’ll be able to show my face there for a while.

As I try to take the shame of exposing my night-life out of my head, we finally reach the front gate to my house.

While I open the gate, Robin stood blankly while gazing at the house in front of her. She then looked at me and said…

“*POP* Last night, I was pretty out of it and this morning I just rushed outside so I wasn’t able to notice, but you’re house is really huge.”

“Uhh…yeah, I guess so.”

“You live with your family right?”

I rather not tell her about my dysfunctional family if possible.

“No, I live alone.”

“*POP!* Eh! No way! Are you telling me that you live here alone!?”

Her usual pop is a lot stronger just now, she must be really surprised. But I guess I do understand where her shock I coming from.

Seeing as I’m only 20 years old, owning such huge estate is anything but normal.

Like what I mentioned before, this mansion was only given to me by one of my mother’s clients. The client himself stated that he and his family were being targeted by a Necromancer accompanied with dozens of undead knights.

While the client was practically on his knees begging for help, my mother in the other hand just brushed it off and said that it was a waste of her time. Hearing that, the client went to a state of panic and offered not only money, but this mansion as well. But even then my mother didn’t accept the job.

Back then, I was already done with one my training that was given to me, so I thought that I might as well see what I can do with my new found skills. I then asked my mother if I can take the job and all she said to me was…

“Hmph…Do whatever you want, just be quick about it.”

And just like what my mother said, I ended it quick, to the point that it didn’t even kill my boredom. Since I was the one who took the job, I was the one who got the reward. But as soon as I got the rights to the estate, my mother renovated the whole area, like an underground firing range and secret compartments that contains different kinds of fire arms, bombs and other weapons, like swords and knives.

This reminds me, I haven’t held “THEM” for quite a while now. Sure hope they won’t get mad at me.

Oh! When I say “THEM” I didn’t mean real people. I’m talking about the two partners I had, back in my Hit-man days.

“Hey James,*Pop* are you expecting anyone coming by?”

As I reminisce about mu past, Robin called out to me.

“No… I don’t recall meeting with anyone………!?”

What is this? This feeling I’m getting. As soon as I saw the person waiting at the front door, a sudden burst of emotion quickly spread throughout my body!

No…I think I know this feeling. It’s the same feeling as guy who just got caught cheating on his girlfriend.

The person who is standing in front of my entrance door is the very same person who lifted my girl hating curse as well as the first woman I slept with.

“Morning James, sorry for just coming over without telling you but the Chairman wanted me to call for when you when classes are over.”

Reshulla Morrigan, the witch that freed me from my mother’s cursed spell and the woman I had my first night with, is now standing in front of me with a bright smile.

My knees won’t stop shaking…

To my surprise, I wasn’t able to react fast enough and didn’t even say as single word.

“*Pop* Prof? What are you doing here so early in the morning?”

I’m still stuck on the ground, but Robin went closer to Reshulla and questioned her.

This is bad, really bad! A Catfight, a catfight is about to start! No, that’s not going to happen first, most likely they will come and attack me! And what’s even worst is that one of them is a fully fledged Witch!!!

“Hmm? I should ask you the same thing, Altorez. Why are you with James?”

This situation is really bad, but as a man I can’t just run away from this. I need to be responsible and tell them the truth. But first I need to get them inside and explain there, I don’t want the neighbors to see what is about to happen to me.

Reshulla, Robin and I are now in the living room of my house. An hour has passed when I explained the reason why Robin is with me so early in the morning. But I still didn’t get to the “I slept with both you and Robin…” part of the story.

What!? I couldn’t help it! I’m scared and I’m sure that no normal man can say it easily as if it’s just a simple greeting!

“Phew…so something like that happen to you, Altorez? Talk about bad luck.”

“Luck has nothing to do with it; it’s all because of that stinking neighbor of mine. Anyway Prof, will you be eating breakfast with us?”

“Oh, you don’t mind do you? To tell you the truth I haven’t eaten anything since last night.”

I was thinking on how I will tell them, which made me even more nervous and wasn’t able to say anything. Eventually

Robin finished cooking breakfast, yet I still haven’t thought of a way…damn it!

The kitchen, dining area and the living room doesn’t have any walls, so it’s like a big room, one could easily get to the kitchen if needed to. The dining area’s table is like a classic thick wood that you could see in a large family house hold, having 3 sits on each side and 2 sits on the other. I’m sited in the middle making Reshulla in my left and Robin in my right.

There is no longer space for me to escape, I’m surrounded!

“Wow! This tastes great! I never knew that omelets could be this fluffy to!”

“Really? I just made it normally though.”

“…………”

Huh? What’s happening? Aren’t these two kind of close now? But they were just glaring at each other just an hour ago.

No…wait…this might actually a good thing. I don’t need to tell them at the same time. They just need to keep this up and once we’re in school, I’ll tell them individually. Yeah…good plan James, good plan.

“Hey James, I’m kind of parched. Do you have any drinks? All that talking with the Chairman made my throat dry up.”

“I think I made some ice-tea yesterday, I’ll go get it.”

“Thanks, James.”

“Oh, can you get some for me to?”

“Three cups it is.”

Hehehe this is good. None of them wants to dig any deeper about what happened last night. I need to keep them away from that subject at all cost!

I took a tray at the kitchen counter and got 3 glass cups and a pitcher of ice-tea. Like I said, it’s convenient to have the kitchen and dining area in the same room.

“I got the ice-te…”

“So what was your first night with James like, Robin?”

“…………!?”

Did…did I just hear that? Did Reshulla just ask Robin about what happened last…nah…th…that can’t be right! I…I just misheard it, that’s all. Just a simple mish…

“Pretty intense, even though it was my first time. What about you, teach?”

I…I’m just mis…mishearing things…hehehe…I’m sure that’s it. They must be talking about a…a television show…y…yeah.

“Hahaha! Mine was pretty intense to. You wouldn’t believe what kinds of moves he did to me.”

A T.V. show…it’s a T.V. show that they both watched before…

“That’s true; I didn’t even know my body can do those things.”

A sh…show…I’m…sure…of it…

“But you know, Robin…”

“Yeah, I know Prof…”

“”I felt quite nice.””

“DON’T SAY IT IN THE SAME TIME!”

These two…how in the world did they know? I could have sworn that I didn’t slip any word about it, so how?

“But I’m amazed with James stamina. To think he still had so much energy even though something big happened last night?”

“Huh? What do you mean something big, Teach? You mean when he slept with you?”

Gyaa! I can’t take it anymore!

“All right already! I’m sorry for trying to hide it from you two! But I was going to tell both of you when the time comes! I swear! So please don’t be angry!”

“…I’m not really angry though.”

“I was surprised to see Altorez here, but I’m not angry ether.”

“…What? You girls aren’t mad at me?”

“When I found out that you did it with Prof, I guess I was a little mad at first but…”

“Yeah, after what happened to Altorez. Something like spending the night together is pretty much inevitable.”

“Oh…I…I see…”

I know the spell is gone from my body and I don’t think girls are any different from us men, besides the body of course. But I want to voice something out…GIRLS ARE SCARY!!! SCARY STRONG!!!

How in the world did they know!? Telepathy, are thy using telepathy!? Or can they talk to each other without the guys hearing anything!?

“Any way, back to the last subject. What do you mean by something big happened, was it in school, Prof?”

“Actually, even I want to know what happened. I wasn’t there when the whole fiasco started.”

They both went silent and looked at me. I want to explain, I really do. It’s just that…

“It’s a lot easier to see it for yourself that me explaining it to the two of you. But there’s no way for me to do so. Sorry…”

If I told them about the things I saw and did…yup they’ll just think I’m crazy. But I guess Reshulla would believe me, seeing as she’s a witch and all. But I don’t think Robin will have the same reaction as her.

As I apologized about me not being able to explain, Robin has her right hand on her chin while the left hand on her right elbow, as if she was thinking of something.

“Hey James, that happened inside the campus grounds, right?”

“Yeah, it did. It was inside a building. Why do you ask?”

And again, Robin did the same pose.

“James do you have a…who am I kidding, with a house this big, I’m sure you have your own computer and internet.”

“Well, I have a laptop. Will that do?”

“Even better, can you bring it over here in the living room?”

“Hmm? Alright…”

I did what I was told and got the laptop in my room. At the living room, Reshulla is sitting at the couch while Robin tinkers with the T.V. while chewing her bubble gum.

“I’ll be borrowing you T.V. for a while, James.”

“Go right ahead.”

Robin then took a cord connected to the dvd player and connected it to the laptop. The T.V. then showed the same display on the laptop.

“So everything happened in one of the faculty buildings, right?”

I wasn’t sure on what Robin is doing but the T.V. has been showing a lot of windows and other thing I don’t know about. Reshulla on the other hand has a confused look and started to glare at the T.V. monitor.

For about 5 or 6 minutes, Reshulla and I have no idea what Robin was doing, so I left her alone and started to wash the dishes with Reshulla. When we finished the dishes, Robin gave a satisfied look and called us over. I was still curious on what she was doing so I asked her.

“So what’d you do?”

“*Pop* You said that it’s better to understand if we saw it ourselves, right?”

“Well, yeah…”

“Well then, *Pop* we are going to see it for ourselves.”

“Huh? How are we going to do that, Altorez?”

Asks Reshulla while still having a confused look.

“By *Pop* using the surveillance cameras in that building.”

“Oh, O.K. then…wait, what?”

Did I just hear something outrageous? Did Robin just say that we will use the academy’s surveillance cameras and use that to see what happened last night?

“What I mean is, I passed through the academy’s security system and hacked one of its servers.” Oh so that's it....

“You hack into the academy’s system!?”

Well that made my doubts clear. But I still couldn’t believe what I heard; Robin hacked into the academy’s server so easily, as if she just opened a bag of potato chips.

“Huh? What? I don’t really get it. What happened?”

Reshulla in the other hand didn’t understand what happened though, so she asked for an explanation from me with a confused and a stiff smile. I can’t explain it myself since even I couldn’t believe it, so Robin answered in my place.

Robin explained on what she did, but Reshulla just gave a blank smile while give lifeless responses like “O.K.” or “I see”.

Yup, she has no idea what Robin is saying.

After Robin’s explanation she started to search the location.

“This is the building, right?”

That was fast! Whatever she is doing is already surpassed on what you call a talent. Even back in my Hit-man days, the people I know who does these for a living can’t even hack or find locations this fast!

“Alright, I’ll start playing it.”

Is it alright for a normal student to find out what happened last night? But then again, with her skills on the computer, it’ll be easy for her.

It didn’t took so long since Robin fast-forward it to the part she wanted to see and of course Reshulla and I was there watching it with her.

“Those guys are made out of clay? How can they move like that?”

I’m surprised that Robin’s reaction didn’t give so much of an impact, but I guess it’s because of her usual composure.

I continue to watch the surveillance footage while Reshulla explains on how the Golems are being used, when I suddenly noticed something.

“Hey Robin, can you show us the footage of the other cameras around the building when Reshulla chased after the last

Golem. You know, after the explosion.”

“Of course I can, just hold on a sec.”

A second was right, that was really fast.

By using the TV, Robin opened different windows showing the area around the faculty building and played the scene I asked her to show me.

Reshulla and Robin asked me if I have noticed something strange. But before I answer them both, I asked Robin to rewind and play the footage again, but this time all the way up to today.

Reshulla got even more curious since I was so silent and asked me again.

“Seriously James, what’s wrong? You’ve been staring at the TV for a while now.”

After watching the footage a few more time, I’m certain.

“Right after Reshulla chased that run-away golem. No one in the faculty building went IN or OUT, besides that golem.”

“I don’t really see what’s wrong with that; it’s pretty late after all, no students will be roaming around that late in campus…”

What Robin said was right, but…

“…except for the faculty members.”

I need to explain this more clearly for them to understand. If something like that happen again, Reshulla and Robin might be able to help the old man and Mr. Douf.

“Alright let me explain. Right after the explosion, no one came out of the building beside the Golem. At first I thought that the culprit used the golem as a distraction while he makes his getaway from another exit. But even then, no one came out, whether from another door or a window.”

For a few seconds, Robin was in deep thought and finally realized what I was trying to tell to them with a surprised look.

“So what you’re trying to say is that, *POP* this was an inside job?”

Right after Robin, Reshulla gave a small nod while having her right hand under her chin and left arm on around her waist. She then faced me and asked.

“If that’s true, do you think it’s one of the Founders of the school? I mean they were inside the faculty building after all.”

What Reshulla said is the most reliable proof we have.

Or at least it’s supposed to.

“The Founders are innocent; they have nothing to do with this attack.”

“Eh?”

“What?”

The two gave me a confused look, I guess they didn’t figure it out completely yet. I might as well explain it to them.

“You two saw it yourselves, right? The explosion was too strong to maintain. The founders we’re lucky enough to have that big table in the room.”

They still have that confused look.

“What I’m trying to say is. That explosion could have killed anyone. So the culprit being one of the Founders is out of the question.”

“So if it wasn’t any of them, then who?”

That’s a good question Reshulla…or more like, why are you raising you’re hands. Aren’t you supposed to be the Professor here?

“I have no answer to that yet, so I think it’s better if we ask Mr. Douf about it.”

“*POP* This Mr. Douf guy is one of the academy’s Founders right? Are you sure we could ask him?”

Since Robin never met Mr. Douf before I tried to tell her about him being the Old man’s…I mean the Chairman’s right hand man…or should I call him the Chairman’s assistant?……I don’t know.

But when we started to talk about the Academy, I get this feeling like we forgot something…!!!

“We have morning lectures today…”