Madam rushed out of her seat, covering his mouth.
"They're a little bit new here. Had a rough night the other day, sorta shy, bad partner mistreated them, nowhere. Call him Shadow."
"Oh, good morning Shadow."
Sehki nodded, waving their hand as Madam warned him not to use his powers loosely until she left, just clean the table behind them, eyeing the others to move around.
"So what brings you here, Cal?"
"Well I heard that there was an attack nearby when I was busy. Is everyone okay?"
"Yup, no problems at all. Handled it pretty well. Although I should train them to take better care of themselves when I'm not around," spotting a bookbag. "What's that?"
"Oh, I heard Sehki went missing. I thought I could use his belongings to find him, but I lost the trail."
He was cleaning the tables, hiding underneath the couch to get under the table and hide in case she used Lynx to figure out the truth.
"Weird how he disappeared again. You weren't letting him out of your sight last time. What happened? Did a date go terribly wrong?"
She sighed. "I had to make the hardest gamble for the sake of my dream. Whichever path I take, I have to bear the consequences of. But for that brief amount of joy, I just need to see it through."
What does she mean?
"So you know where he is," going straight for the throat.
Sehki rose high enough to witness a face of guilt transform into a confident grin.
"Nope, but that's the fun part! He left before and the world changed. Now he's back, and I have no idea what he's going to do next. If you see him, give him this, and tell him two things for me.
"Sure," taking his bookbag. "What is it?"
"One, use those raffle tickets that he won. I was going to sneak him in if we lost, but they shouldn't go to waste. And two, remind him I said not to let anyone other than me break him, including the heirs."
He sprouted out, attempting to determine what she meant when her finger aimed at him.
"Hey, you in the bad superhero costume. Shadow, is it?" He nodded. "Heal, then stand up for yourself, even against the people you care about. A mask is just as useful as the heart using it. Don't let Madam down, understand?"
His head bobbed while she left and waved goodbye to everyone. After a few minutes, everyone turned to Sehki. His darkness scratched his hair from her.
"I don't understand that girl," taking his bag back and searching his pants, finding the tickets wet, but intact. "A gamble, with my life? I'm not her toy! If siding with them was her gamble, she'll regret that when I humiliate them all in front of the whole world!
He walked through the pain back to the kitchen. "Make me do anything you need!"
Madam smiled as they gave him instructions to wash up the dishes. "Even heartbreak is a good motivation. Calypsa, you weren't-I see now."
Throughout the week he was given a variety of instructions. Until walking stopped aching his legs, he and his shadow had to spend the whole time in the kitchen cleaning, forcing him to control the latter better to not break any plates. Apologies were made.
Next day: control his Cardinal skills by organizing every table with cups, plates, menus, and utensils, adding pressure to his arms.
"Find a way to exert less physical energy. Use any muscle at your disposal," she yelled.
"Every muscle," jittering the top half of his fingers. "That's it," using them as the medium for controlling lifting up a small amount each time, moving back and forth without straining himself. Yet, he ran out of time. Asa and Elaine had to bail him out.
"You'll be doing that every morning until you leave!"
"Yes ma'am!"
Day after: security, and assisting Asa against unwanted customers. Madam's rulers were that they were allowed to deal with unruly customers or those that didn't pay, but deal with the situation creatively before getting to physical.
A patron was about to reach for Asa's butt when Sehki's thoughts manifested into his power kicking the guy's hands up to his own face, knocking down the water she intended to pour into a cup onto an assailant.
Sehki moved it to cover Asa's face, who accidentally activated her magic, making the patron's hand recoil from the pain of punching a solid frozen fist. He rushed over to her aid, telling her to repeat what he whispered.
"If you would like a more physical service, you should use your good hand to pay for it."
Frightened, he dropped his money and left, leaving the two workers and their emitted powerset to fist bump with smiles while Madam approved.
"Huh, Elaine, Asa, how about I give you some more physical training as well?"
They gulped. The next day, she announced to everyone the theme would be gym uniforms. Every worker barring Sehki was dressed in either sport, exercise, or yoga clothes. The most physical of the session content creators, Bridget, had sweat and a dumbbell on one arm, while Asa and Elaine were wearing weighted training gear.
And most of the customers were distracted by Sehki's assignment: shooting one hundred darts with his shadowing, just using the arm extension throughout the entire day.
"Great job everyone," as the night shift approached and he needed to rest. "Nikki, get him something to eat.
They offered him to eat with them, since they needed more energy for the night shift, respecting his desire for a lack of alcohol.
"Bridget, how do you have so much stamina?"
"Exercise and breathe consistently so it feels like you're always active and ready for what comes next. Just make you hydrate consistently."
By the end of the week, Sehki woke up with strength in his arms. Making a locked sled of shadow with his feet down the stairs, he arrived downstairs, only to find the staff armed up against a mysterious individual with long violent-gold garbs, blasting Madam back.
"Who is that?"
"Interested in joining the Astrovoids?"
YOU ARE READING
Celestial University: A Bully Romance
Romance"A bully romantasy about finding your greatest strength in the darkest of times." Trying to save his younger brother from his abusive father, a deadly fire leads Shemar Thomas separated from him and teleported to another world. Finding out he's the...
