Nobody

Chapter 2

Visiting the prefect's office would mean two things: Matilda Cavalier herself would applaud a student for their excellent behavior and walkthrough at Penhearte, or instigate a cascade of interrogations and tainted imprints on their academic record.

For Kioshi, the whole affair would exacerbate the troubling woes of his mother and contributing to that was the least of his priorities. Hell, he wanted to help her—ease her feelings in the wake of Shoji's evanescence.

Unfortunately, he had gotten himself in a situation that would end up in the inbox of Yua's emails with the subject in bold: From the Prefect of Discipline.

Her gaze wouldn't have to hit the first line of the letter as she would know, right from the beginning, that the letter sent to her had been of a serious issue at Penhearte, involving her son.

The process, as expected, was to examine the students encompassed by the heated encounter. One by one. Matilda was no stranger to the community-provided labels at Penhearte. The predator in the profession. She whose tongue burned with honesty.

Kioshi was deep in his thoughts until the office door opened. An unfamiliar face emerged from the office. A female student. Her eyes, lit in the fire of serendipity, stumbled upon Kioshi, who sat himself in a chair, expectant of a cue to enter.

He hadn't seen her until now.

Perhaps, he had passed by her several times this school year, but paid her no heed. She easily melted among the ocean of identities that Kioshi barely cared for, however, in this moment, he seemed interested.

She took a leap to widen the fissure of their boundary from strangers to people who got to interact with one another. "Now, I'm intrigued. What put someone like you in waiting for Mrs. Cavalier?"

This movement was subtly appreciated by Kioshi who smiled despite the restraints of his worry. "Got myself involved in a brutal mix-up." He slipped a glare at Maxwell who sat on the other side.

The woman followed his gaze and looked the perpetrator up from head-to-toe, the wheels in her mind turning to produce an impression out of him.

Now, this time, Kioshi was curious. He had theorized that this girl, whom he had no name for, was here for an important reason. "How about you?"

She returned her attention to him and shrugged, her eyes rolling up at the ceiling. "The prefect wanted to check in on how I was doing. I can say that, in under two weeks, there's been more action here than in my previous settlement."

"So, I take it. You're new here?" He lifted an eyebrow.

"Yeah. Penhearte is cozier than whatever institution I used to be in. The students here are, at least, a tad bit better." Then she diverted her gaze, hiding a smile. "Maybe I have a new motivation to go to school now, too."

Kioshi cleared his throat, somewhat taking the hint. A soft blush tinted his cheeks. "Uhh… what's your name?"

"Delilah. Delilah Cooper. At your service. And you?"

"Kioshi Watanabe." He beamed up at her.

Then, the alarm rang, scaring Delilah off her calm posture for a millisecond. "Damn, they still need to fix that volume. One thing that I dislike is the loud." She chuckled, slightly embarrassed with her reaction. "Anyways, I'll see you around, Kioshi."

As soon as she left, the illusion that the prefect's waiting area was a meet-cute waned from the heart just as his time there came to a halt. The door had opened. Nadia beckoned for him to enter. Out of all the people, they chose him first. Kioshi could only hope that he was an outlier in this situation who only inserted himself to break up the fight. Well, a one-sided fight initiated by the school's infamous jock.