I stared in disbelief at the scene before me. My summoner and his bully were standing before Mr. Blonde, the effective principal of the school.

  Both of the students were alerted by my sudden entrance and turned to face me. My summoner, looking a little worse for wear. His hair, more disheveled than his usual haircut would suggest, and his bully, appeared less prim and proper than when I first encountered him.

  But what was surprising wasn’t the fact that the bully was here, as surprising as that was. It was the fact that there were cuts on his face, even a bruise forming over his swollen left eye.

  Wait, did he!?

  I looked back and forth between my summoner and the water assailant, before turning to Mr. Blonde for confirmation.

  He understood my movements and nodded. These two were fighting, and in typical fashion, were being reprimanded for reasons they didn’t particularly care about. Only the fact that they were interrupted and being punished for it. Possibly for reasons like destruction of property or public endangerment. I could only guess what was spoken beforehand, but his nod already confirmed what was obvious.

  My summoner fought against his bully and won.

  I heard some syllables from Mr. Blonde, pointing to the paper cutout in my hand.

  I showed it to him, and it got a reaction from the water assailant. My summoner seemed confused as to why I had a cutout of his bully.

  I answer his apparent confusion by spitting on the water assailant’s cutout before tossing it to the floor. That got him to raise a brow.

  Water assailant noticed by apparent disrespect and lunged at me with a ball of water in his hand.

  This time, I was more prepared. He was in my field of vision. Anything could happen. Break his bones, levitate him, and press him against the ceiling. Every malicious thought I’ve had could manifest in this very moment. As nice as it was to have options, I wouldn’t be using any of them.

  Golden orbs of light appeared around the water assailant. His movement halted, as if some force declared he wasn’t allowed to move. He was frozen. A closer revealed he wasn’t completely restricted. His chest rose and fell with his breathing. His eyes darted back and forth, trying to see Mr. Blonde restraining him. But it was futile; his movements were Mr. Blonde’s to dictate. I’m starting to realize why Mr. Blonde was the headmaster of the school.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  No way I could challenge him with my current abilities.

  I’m glad I didn’t make enemies of him. It would’ve been a complete disaster with the old man.

  Mr. Blonde spoke some syllables. Whatever he said garnered immediate reactions from the water assailant and my summoner. Their surprised exclamations made it hard to discern who those words were directed at, and it didn’t help that he stared at the others before landing on me. It was hard to tell if he was speaking to me or just wanted to see my reaction.

  Whatever water assailant wanted to say, he struggled with on account of being frozen by Mr. Blonde’s power. My summoner, on the other hand, spoke his syllables with clarity. I could sound them out, but that wouldn’t accomplish anything at the moment.

  The conversation proceeded as normally as it could sound, and I quietly waited by the circular table in Mr. Blonde’s office. I didn’t fidget, sensing how important the conversation was for my summoner. All I could do was sit there and occupy myself with my thoughts.

  I’m not sure how, but I felt their conversation nearing its end. My summoner, Caori, or however you pronounce it, was eerily silent. It was unnerving, despite not understanding a thing. So I decided to poke fun at the water assailant by mimicking the pose of pulling down an eyelid and sticking a tongue out, taunting him.

  He sounded angry from his muffled screams toward me.

  Mr. Blonde barked some syllables at me, as if shouting “Hey, stop that!” or “Hey, quiet down!” I guess this was as far as I could go before he sicced water assailant on me and would watch the fight play out in his office. I was a bit tempted to do that. I had long prepared some visualizations to further torment the water assailant.

  Instead, I quietly waited as the conversation between my summoner and Mr. Blonde eventually concluded. Caori bowed, and Mr. Blonde dismissively waved him off before turning and walking toward the door. I quickly followed after him, not wanting to see the water assailant unleashed and run rampant with me in close vicinity.

  The door closed, and we walked together to his dorm.

  I’m not sure how he interpreted telling Mr. Blonde about his bully, but this wasn’t what I expected. Confronting your bully, although reckless, could have left him feeling triumphant.

  But the only way to tell is if I talk to him.

  I called out to my summoner and held my hand up, offering a high five. If he looked confused, I’d demonstrate in front of him by clapping, effectively high-fiving myself. It’d be awkward, but how straightforward a demonstration could you give than being the recipient of your own high-five?

  He turned toward me and smiled before jumping up and meeting my high-five. Nice, he gets it.

  “So, how does it feel?” I ask him, despite knowing he couldn’t understand me. But I just had to know, to the point of breaking my self-imposed silence. This is something I needed to hear to understand. If I couldn’t understand his words, I could approximate his feelings through his mannerisms.

  He stared at the path ahead, not looking at anything in particular. Although he was trying to show no emotion, the corner of his lips rose enough for me to know how he felt. This was his victory.

  I lightly patted his back, letting him know I was celebrating with him. In return, he returned the widest smile I’ve ever seen on him.

  Suddenly, the idea of going to this school against my will didn’t seem so bad.