I recalled the injuries I had seen on the water assailant’s face. The cuts were shallow, looking like paper cuts, but the bruise left the biggest impression on me.

  I’m no expert on bruises, but I’m certain the skin discoloring spreads out from where the injury originated. The fact that it was bruising on the forehead stuck out to me as odd, but I dismissed it in favor of celebrating my summoner fighting against his bully. Now that I’m fighting him, I can’t help but wonder how the bully got their injuries.

  In a fistfight, the last thing anyone would think about during the heat of the battle is controlling how the injuries would form. Assuming that logic applies to my summoner’s fight against his bully, then whatever he did against him required a strike from above, not to the front. If he punched him in the face, hard, bruising likely would’ve occurred around the lips or the cheeks. Even if the discoloring went above the eyebrow, most of it would be below the brow. The bully’s injuries had most of the discoloring above it.

  I launched another dodgeball at him, and he deflected it by maneuvering the ball he was spinning to intercept the one I launched.

  Two more were launched at him, and he dodged one and deflected the other, responding faster than the first one he deflected.

  I was starting to have an idea of how he fought back.

  The easiest way to disarm him was to dissipate the dodgeball in his possession, but I wasn’t here to give him a one-sided beatdown. I’ve had my fill after sending a surprise dodgeball to his face.

  He was getting closer.

  I conjured more dodgeballs in the air at various elevations. He paused, seeing them appear. At random, I sent at different speeds and trajectories. The first two of the group were easily dodged or deflected, so I made sure to send a third when he was the most distracted.

  Somehow, he predicted that, by carrying the movement of deflecting one of the dodgeballs into intercepting the third. I was wondering what to do with the fourth one, but he simply hit it out of the air with a single swing.

  Did his string become longer?

  I got up from my chair, seeing that I was in swinging range of his improvised dodgeball weapon.

  The hell do they teach at this school?

  Panicking, I decided to fire more dodgeballs at a faster rate, effectively becoming a dodgeball machine gun. Quickly, he reeled in his dodgeball and started blocking, holding firmly onto his dodgeball as his only defense.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  It worked… for the first three dodgeballs of the machine gun tactic. I unconsciously increased their speed and ended up launching a ball fast enough to send my summoner’s dodgeball out of his hands. Two more unceremoniously hit my summoner, one of them in the face, before I ceased all dodgeball launching activity.

  I ran up to him, checking if I accidentally hurt him. Although they’re simple rubber balls, it was trivially easy to turn them into something lethal with my power.

  He spoke some syllables before getting up. I checked his face, and it looked fine. Still, I conjured a miniature version of the hospital bed in the nurse’s room, hoping to convey that he should check just in case, and that you can never be too careful.

  My summoner got up, then pointed to all of the dodgeballs littered around the arena, before making his voice deeper and speaking some syllables. I didn’t know why he did that, but I had a feeling he was imitating someone we shouldn’t piss off.

  The dodgeballs I had launched at my summoner had piled up in the corner of the arena, where he started in.

  Never thought I’d be playing dodgeball like this in my new life.

  I recalled playing dodgeball once back in high school. I tried throwing it as high and far as I could in hopes of making a meaningful throw, but it got caught because of how easy it was to see coming.

  I started dissipating the dodgeballs one at a time, getting whatever was closest.

  Actually, where is the ball he used?

  It was securely tied in its cradle despite how thin the string looked. I was amazed at how my summoner would wield the improvised weapon with such proficiency, reminding me of characters with similar abilities in various story media I’ve digested.

  I tried looking for the ball that was used as his weapon when I heard my summoner behind me speak more syllables.

  I turned to him, only to get a dodgeball straight to the face.

  Oh?

  I was tempted to make another dodgeball and throw it at him, but he made the stop hand sign before speaking more syllables. The way he spoke told me that it was time’s up, as he- both of us had classes to attend. Right, we’re at a school, not a gym.

  He took another stray dodgeball and rolled it to me, making a sound and weird hand signs. He was imitating the time I dissipated the mirror from when we first met.

  After gathering all of the dodgeballs, I made them levitate above me. They were gathered like a bunch of balloons at a circus. With a swipe of my hand, all of them faded into blue motes of light. The lightshow was unnecessary, but I simply felt more inclined to dissipate all of the dodgeballs this way.

  My summoner cleared his voice and pointed to the monobloc chair I produced earlier. With a flash, that chair also dissipated.

  After cleaning up, I took out my map to see which class I would be going to. My summoner walked up and took a look at the copy of the map Mr. Blonde had given me, visualizing my itinerary. It’d be nice if I knew what to expect, but all I can do is attend all of these classes and learn what they’re about.

  I should’ve tried asking what they’re about.

  All I could hope for was that the learning curve for these subjects wasn’t demanding enough to excuse me, being a slow learner.

  My summoner spoke some syllables, waving goodbye before leaving through the giant double doors. Guess that means I won’t be in the first class with him.

  I picked a door and followed the shortest route to my first class.